Which city do you recommend?

[AllOtherNamesWereTaken]

If someone had the opportunity to move to any city in China (My friend is moving there to teach English), which city would you recommend to them and why? Thanks

[anonymoose]

It depends on why they want to go to China. If it is for yak herding, somewhere in Inner Mongolia would be suitable. If it is for lychee farming, then Guangdong might be better.

[James3]

 

If someone had the opportunity to move to any city in China (My friend is moving there to teach English), which city would you recommend to them and why?

 

How about I answer a similar question, of: "What city in China would I move to, and why?"

 

I would move to Harbin. And the main reason would be, that it's rumored that more broadcasters come from there than from any other city in all of China.  (Is this true?  Who knows?)  I would take lessons from 1to1MandarinWorkshop, and, as I continued learning Chinese, I would have the confidence that when I engaged with locals, my chances that they'd be speaking standard Mandarin would be pretty high. So, I'd think my chances of learning and speaking really standard Mandarin would be great.

 

Also, in the winter, they have what some say is the largest ice and snow festival in the world.

 

Those are 2 reasons I'd move there.

 

I've actually looked into teaching English there. Your friend's goals may be quite different than mine, but there's my 2 cents.

[Simon_CH]

I would recommend you move to Urumqi because it sounds funny.

[esthersun]

Welcome u come to Jiaxing which is in ZheJiang Province, next to Shanghai and Hangzhou.

Check it out on google. I am sure it is considerable.

[Simon_CH]

I am sure you realize by now that you get rather random answers by not stating what you look for in a Chinese city.

[AllOtherNamesWereTaken]

Okay, I'll be a little bit more specific. Haha. My friend is moving to Beijing for now, but he said he would like a place that has these things:
- Relatively clean air (His words were that he doesn't want unbearable air pollution)
- Friendly people (Friendly to foreigners) 
- Good living costs (Housing, Food)

That's all he really mentioned. So any recommendations for that? 

[Mindmaxd]

sichuan，chongqing or kunming 

[ChTTay]

This question is too big to answer.

Generally, your friend should look at almost any large-ish city on the East Coast of China. Apart from that, there are others very liveable as well like Kunming, Chengdu, etc

I lived in Yinchuan. I'd recommend there.

[liuzhou]

 

 

- Relatively clean air (His words were that he doesn't want unbearable air pollution)

- Friendly people (Friendly to foreigners)

- Good living costs (Housing, Food)

 

Guangxi - perhaps not Nanning. or Guilin.

 

But it really depends on what you are looking for? Or "your friend".

 

City nIght life? Countryside peace? 

[Simon_CH]

Ok, relatively clean air actually excludes most cities in mainland China, full stop. Harsh statement, but it's true:

 

http://aqicn.org/map/china/

 

Even Guilin or Kunming, two popular places for Chinese and foreign tourists have periods of pretty bad air. Good air you get on the East coast of Taiwan, though I suspect that's not what you want to hear.

 

So depending on how important that topic is for you it greatly limits your choice. Locals are friendlier where there's fewer foreigners, so exclude all the major first tier cities which also helps in terms of living costs.

[ChTTay]

Nice map. Currently i'm seeing most of the East Coast cities below 100, especially those in the South of China. I think the OP means generally clean air, certainly when compared to Beijing or various northern/central provinces. I don't hear of too many "airpocalypses" in Shenzhen, for example.

Major first tier cities is also a small number, just 4 right? (Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen). Otherwise, I agree locals tend to be friendlier where there are fewer foriegners. This doesn't have to be somewhere completely isolated though. People in Qindgdao were always real nice to me.

Yinchuan has mostly clean air and fantastic sunsets! Great noodles too.

[Simon_CH]

 

Nice map. Currently i'm seeing most of the East Coast cities below 100, especially those in the South of China. I think the OP means generally clean air, certainly when compared to Beijing or various northern/central provinces. I don't hear of too many "airpocalypses" in Shenzhen, for example.

 

You could be right, but I think us expats are used to polluted air and ridiculous AQI figures here, below 100 is already good for us, but still pretty terrible from a Western perspective, where cities like London or Paris (both 30-40 currently) are considered to have 'bad air'. So it's a question of perspective I suppose.

 

Personally I would probably live in a South-Western city like Kunming if I had the choice. If it doesn't have to be China I might go to to a town along the east coast of Taiwan. Hualian comes to mind. But a lot of language students here in Beijing seem to have a good time as well, despite the relative unfriendliness of the people and the pollution.

[淨土極樂]

Don't go to mainland China. The pollution's been crazy lately and most non-Chinese websites are banned here. Including Google and all of its services. Sure, you can get a VPN, but it's just going to be slow and unreliable instead of outright inaccesible.

 

If you want to teach English in Asia, then just go to Taiwan, Japan or Korea. Much better choices.

[AllOtherNamesWereTaken]

Thanks everyone all these replies are awesome.

[ChTTay]

I wouldn't saying teaching English in Korea or Japan are better choice.

Maybe thats off topic.

Good luck ;)

[Chris Two Times]

Dalian in Liaoning province

[tysond]

I agree locals tend to be friendlier where there are fewer foreigners.

....

 

But a lot of language students here in Beijing seem to have a good time as well, despite the relative unfriendliness of the people and the pollution.

 

 

 

If, by friendlier, you mean, taking photos of you and treating you like a celebrity and continuously congratulating you on even the smallest ability to speak Chinese or use chopsticks, then I wholeheartedly agree.

 

 

I think Beijing locals set a bit of a higher standard for foreigners.  Merely being foreign isn't going to win you friends and followers and free drinks at nightclubs (ok sometimes).

[Chris Two Times]

I think Beijing locals set a bit of a higher standard for foreigners.  Merely being foreign isn't going to win you friends and followers and free drinks at nightclubs (ok sometimes).

 

I agree with this quote from tysond and find this to be true in my experience. This is one reason why I like Beijing. I would say that my Mandarin is at a mid to high intermediate level and I appreciate it that the locals in Beijing (in my limited experiences thus far) will just straight up talk to me in Mandarin with no hang-ups or hesitations and expect me to reply in Mandarin.

 

I lived in Chengdu for five years so I am ready for the higher standard now. I could also recommend Chengdu to the OP, although the pollution can be bad there, but locals in Chengdu can be friendly and costs there are lower than those in eastern China.

 

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times

[tooironic]

Xiamen, Qingdao and Dalian should meet the criteria you gave.