Expat Meetups?

[International_Greenwich]

I was wondering where the expats hang out and what part of town is considered "cool" by the locals? Also, how different is the Cantonese spoken in Guangzhou in comparison to Hong Kong? Any feedback would be appreciated. 

[lukejade]

There are a lot of pubs in Shekou of Shenzhen where expats hang out a lot. 

 

The Cantonese spoken in Guangzhou is almost the same in comparison to Hongkong. 

 

Climbing mountain should be a great group activity theme. Or in cafe or pubs.

[Phil Wareham]

In Guangzhou the big expat area is zhujiang new town and the neighbouring liede in the centre, and to a lesser extent around the five star garden hotel. I live in panyu, on the southern side of Guangzhou. I don't think the Cantonese here is particularly different from hong kong, but I only speak mandarin. it would probably be very different in villages elsewhere in the province.

[Wang7]

Phil; so how is your Mandarin working in Guangzhou? Do people their acknowledge Mandarin when it is used to communicate with them?

[eion_padraig]

Wang7,

It's been a while since you asked Phil, but I find people respond and do well when I use Mandarin with them. Rarely I will encounter a local with really, really bad Mandarin that I have trouble understanding. They still seem to understand me, and I've usually been described as having "还可以的" Mandarin. The older parts of the city you'll hear a lot less Mandarin, but I'd say in Tianhe district you probably hear Mandarin spoken half the time and Cantonese the other half the time.