Beijing vs Wuhan vs Zhenjiang

[spock]

Hi guys,

Im having little concern right now., I am going to study in China and I have 3 cities I can go to, each of them is different and I am not sure which one should I choose.

I will do my MA degree in China and I plan to stay a little bit longer after graduation another reason why I want to go there is to learn mandarin,

here is my point on these cities:

I really want to visit Beijing, capital city, historical etc. but what worries me its pollution and living cost because my budget is very limited, I also heard that Beijing is packed with foreigners so it's not really a good place to study mandarin, is this true?

From what I heard its very modern and it's seemts to be not a good place for Chinese experience.

Zhenjiang seems to me less polluted than Beijing, smaller and more traditional ( I'm crazy about chinese culture) and its cheap place to live in its close to Nanjing and Shanghai. Whole Jiangsu province seems to be very attractive place. But because its small is there a chance to stay after graduation?

and Wuhan, little bit polluted, cheaper than Beijing, its in between.

I know this post seems to be very weird but my opinions are based on internet, I would be grateful for advice from experience expatriate.

[anonymoose]

Whether you will be able to learn Chinese depends on your own determination and attitude. It may be easier to fall into an expat circle in Beijing than Zhenjiang, but it will happen anywhere if you let it, and it can be avoided anywhere if you so wish.

Anything negative about Beijing I would say also applies to Wuhan, but there aren't many positives about Wuhan to offset the negatives, unlike Beijing. So if I were you, I'd rule out Wuhan straight off.

If you want a big city and a comfortable life, albeit at an expense, then choose Beijing. (I wouldn't say Beijing is devoid of culture, though.) If you want a rougher life, but at less expense, then go for Zhenjiang. If you're worried about being able to stay after graduation, surely you can change location then.

[roddy]

Presumably you've been offered a place at different universities? Which ones, and how good a choice are they for whatever you're studying. Surely that's a major factor?

[Steingletscher]

Don't really worry about falling into groups of foreigners. It is all up to you. If anything it is a plus because the locals are more used to foreigners and generally are more openminded about things. I find it easier to connect with Chinese people who have other foreigner friends then the ones that have never talked to one before. In terms of developing your Chinese, you should worry more about falling into an English hole where you use English to communicate even with Chinese people, regardless of whether there are any foreigners around you. Since how good a person's English is is a sign of their education level, and many students at good universities, even though they may have never spoken to a native speaker before, can speak English well enough to allow you to fall into the hole. I have fallen in as with my roommates I speak English even though they are Chinese. As your Chinese gets better, it gets easier, but still you have to force yourself.

As for Zhenjiang, they don't speak Mandarin, so if you want to learn from the streets, it wouldn't be the best place to do it.

And by "Chinese culture," do you mean traditional Chinese culture? If so, you won't find much here, mostly because of Mao and modernization. Don't get me wrong, it is still profoundly different, but in a way you might not expect it to be. To be honest, some of the Maoist values still lingering in the air, masquerading as "traditional Chinese" values. You could always go to Taiwan, which while still having been modernized, never had Mao try to destroy Chinese culture there (plus minimal pollution in comparison).

But yeah, you could always move after you graduate. I will. Come here for school, and during that time, travel around and see what places you like.

[Steingletscher]

Chongqing is a culture shock if there is one, Chinese to the core. Not imperial China, but still a far away from the West. Plus the dialect is somewhat intelligible with Standard Mandarin, there aren't many foreigners there, and it is still relatively cheap.

[spock]

Steingletscher, thank you for your thoughts it is very important for me, as I said (wrote) budget is important factor but I can only choose from these three cities.

Is it really that hard to speak mandarin in Zhenjiang? I know that in Shanghai Wu language is widely spoken but I couldnt find any information about Zhenjiang. I know that school will provide Mandarin classes but still practice is important too... it is really a tough one for me

[spock]

Is Jiangsu Province is a good place to learn Mandarin? I know they are using Wu language in Shanghai but is it possible to use Mandarin in everyday conversations after school?

[roddy]

Merged, please don't repeat (almost) the same question.

[addeGG]

I've also became interested in Wuhan recently. I am not from an english speaking country so I can't just pick up an english teaching job if I run low on money, so I'd like to know if any of you guys here have something to say about how expensive/cheap it can be to live in Wuhan compared to other chinese cities. I live in Xiamen now and I read just today on a Xiamen website that average salary in Xiamen just have rised to 3819 RMB per month. To me it sounds high for being China, but I don't know. How much are you guys paying for housing etc?

And are there many foreigners/westerners in Wuhan compared to other chinese cities? For us non native english speakers I've heard we still have a chance to teach english if it's in a city with not too many foreigners...

Any information would be appreciated! :-)

[zhouhaochen]

There is Wikipedia map that shows the areas where which Chinese language is spoken as a mother tongue

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_sinitic_languages-en.svg

This however only shows the language families. Chengdu and Qingdao might officially be on the Mandarin speaking, in reality however the accents are so strong you wont understand people when they speak to each other on the street.

If you want Mandarin on the streets, it is basically Beijing (which has an accent, but it is very close to Mandarin and only spoken by a minority of the people living here by now), towards the North - though I have to say I was not so impressed by what the people in Dalian spoke last time I went there.

So, if you have to choose between those three cities, I agree with anonymouse Wuhan really doesnt offer anything that Beijing or Zhenjiang do, but lacks quite a few of the advantages, so I would take that one out of the list.

I am a very strong pro-Beijing guy, but of course there will be people who think differently.

[Baron]

To Spock and addeGG - wuhan is a charming city filled with all the delights of China. The food is incredible (spicy), jobs are abundant (if you like tefl), the people are loud and opinionated and have exemplary swearing skills, the botanical gardens and Wuhan uni campus are a nod in the direction of nature, and there is every type of shopping mall and KTV lounge you could wish for. Last time I was resident there the average apartment was 1k to 3k a month. Taxis are cheap, buses ludicrously so. It's also well positioned for travelling to other places in China.

It is quite polluted, full of construction sites, has no great cultural distractions, and was where the gutter oil scandal came out from, but none of those is a deal breaker in my book.

7/10, would recommend.

[ZhangKaiRong]

@spock

I've been to Nanjing, apart from the old men everybody spoke mandarin, of course not the standard one, but to be honest, most people in China (including Beijing) speak non-standard putonghua (using s instead of sh, not using zh, ch, etc.)

You shouldn't be too worried about the accents, after one or two months your ears will get used to it, and I firmly believe that on the long-term it will have its benefits for you.