Chongqing or Taibei?

[889]

Sure, there’s A Chinese culture in Taiwan, just as there’s A Chinese culture in Hong Kong, and Penang and Singapore. But they’re different cultures from each other and from Mainland culture. And like it or not, Mainland culture is far and away dominant. Putting in the time and effort to learn Chinese means there’s likely to be some practical use of that skill down the road, and on sheer numbers alone it’s most likely that skill will be applied in the Mainland with Mainland people. So spend your time learning how to deal with people in that Chinese culture, not one of the peripheral Chinese cultures.

(Anyone familiar with the problems HK people have dealing with Mainlanders knows perfectly well there’s no singular Chinese culture.)

[Simon_CH]

I have a couple of friends who studied in Taipei a couple of years ago and loved it. They also visited the mainland during their studies but found it difficult to adjust.

[Angelina]

@889 You have never heard about the Cultural Revolution, right? 

 

@Simon_CH It's not that bad

[Juliette (法珠雷)]

I actually feel like the way both places are apprehended completely differ from one (western) country to another. I asked the same questions to French people, and many of them recommended Mainland China. There seems to be a general (probably cliché) phenomenon of "Americans prefer Taiwan, Europeans prefer the Mainland". It's quite funny.

For now I've gone with Chongqing, still have a couple of weeks to change my mind though. 

 

But isn't Cultural Revolution somehow part of Chinese culture ? Why would said culture only consists in pre-modern artefacts ?

[Lu]

But isn't Cultural Revolution somehow part of Chinese culture ? Why would said culture only consists in pre-modern artefacts ?

The Cultural Revolution is of course part of PRC culture and history, but at the same time a lot of Chinese culture and history has been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. So it really depends on what part of Chinese culture you're looking for.

I'm slightly disappointed that you're not picking Taipei (because I really enjoyed my stay there), but you'll probably have a great time in Chongqing!

[Angelina]

The reason why I mentioned it was because 889 referred to Chinese culture in HK, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore as "peripheral Chinese cultures". I have heard that the only major building in HK that was not build according to feng shui was Bank of China (owned by the PRC). 

 

I love the Mainland and have been living here, never been to Taiwan. It just don't think that Taiwanese culture is peripheral. If you are planning to work on the Mainland, maybe it would be better for you to come here and learn more about Mainland culture. 

[skylee]

I agree with Lu's #25. OP, I wish you good luck.

[Simon_CH]

The obvious choice isn't always better for some people. Taipei may offer a better quality of life and an older, more authentic Chinese culture but it's also a smaller, less crazy and perhaps slightly more boring place than Chonqing.

 

If your stress-tolerance is high and you meet the right people, are in the right mood for a place like Chongqing you might love it, and really make it your city. Objectively I should hate Beijing and yet I really like my life here for some reason.

 

So please don't be a stranger, report back with a candid take on your life in Szechuan.

[Lu]

Taipei can probably be boring if you try, but it's actually full of cool people doing cool things. Not sure what it is about Taipei that's bringing about great things in people, but almost everyone I know there is doing interesting stuff that you can easily join in to.

But I agree, if you meet the right people and have the right mindset Chongqing is probably great. Either way, if you're going abroad for a year you'll generally have a good time.