Best place to study and live in china?

[Emanuele891]

Hi i'm a 23 yo italian guy and i've been studyin chinese for 3 years. I'm going to China next year through Confucius Institute scholarship and I have to choose 2 cities that i want to study in. I think Peking university and Fudan University are 2 of the best in China but there are lots of cities i'd like to stay such as Xian,Hangzhou.. Do u have any suggestions x me? It's my first time i travel to China and I have to stay there for 6 months so I want to choose the right place to study and live well. Thank you

[liuzhou]

That's an unanswerable question, unless you tell us a bit more. Different people have different expectations and requirements. 

 

Some like big cities; some like small. Some don't like cities at all.

 

Some like an active night life. Some want peace and quiet.

 

I like Xi'an a lot, but hate Beijing. Others will say the opposite.

 

I like where I am very much, but I've met others who hated it (not many).

 

Tell us what you are looking for.

[ChTTay]

There are a bunch of other threads just like this on the forum that start by asking for 'the bes't place to ... whatever. I understand you're seeking recommendations but, as Liuzhou says above, you're not giving us much to work with. Really, your question should be 'What could be the best place for ME to study ... I'm looking for x, y, z.'.

 

Personally, having attended a University run Chinese language course, as well as having friends who have done so else where, I would say it doesn't really matter which University you're at in terms of general classes. What you really want to find is somewhere with small class sizes (I had 12 and 18 at Tsinghua, i've heard of similar at Peking and BLCU) and in a city where foreigners aren't that common. If you are more of a novelty, then people are more likely to want to speak to you and find out about you which will be great for your practice. It's likely your University course will just use books published by BLCU or Peking anyway so the content won't differ much from place to place.

 

I definitely wouldn't choose Shanghai or Beijing (the 'novelty' reason above). What has led you to your other choices? Just heard about these places?

 

I've heard great things about Qingdao as a city to live in and the University is supposed to be okay too.

[studychinese]

Shanghai. If you are new to China it is best to choose the path of least resistance. Beijing is also OK (that's where I was).

[ZhangKaiRong]

IMO study well and live well can rarely go together. I definitely don't recommend going to Shanghai or Beijing if it's your ever first time in China, and if your Chinese skills are not OK. You can bump into an awful lot of foreigners, on the street people are more likely to talk to you in English (this is one of the most annoying thing if you study at one of the so-called "elite" universities, where basically every student sees you as a potential free-of-charge English teacher). Not to mention the distraction factors (pubs, clubs, etc). My experience is that one can study more outside the individual comfort zone. However, I hardly believe that spending 4-5 months in China could really contribute to developing excellent language skills. Realistic expectation is to be able to speak fair/decent Chinese, thanks to the native-speaking environment.

[Emanuele891]

Sorry you're right,i should have been more precise. I know that 6 months in China won't let me speak perfect chinese,my aim is just speaking chinese everyday in any situation so i'd better go to a place where english speakers are a few and people speak the same chinese i've studied on books( i know south china people could speak a bit uncomprehensible to me). Then as it's my first time to China i don't know if a big city like Beijing or Shanghai could make me feel a little bit confused or if it's the best way to know China and its culture. There are lots of nice cities in China and I think I could visit them in a 6 month time. Xian is a nice city with lots of cultural attractions and i know JiaoTong university is a good one but my teacher said It is more a travel destination than a place to study in. I really don't know. Thank u all for ur help.

[英泰inte]

 

Sorry you're right,i should have been more precise. I know that 6 months in China won't let me speak perfect chinese,my aim is just speaking chinese everyday in any situation so i'd better go to a place where english speakers are a few and people speak the same chinese i've studied on books( i know south china people could speak a bit uncomprehensible to me). Then as it's my first time to China i don't know if a big city like Beijing or Shanghai could make me feel a little bit confused or if it's the best way to know China and its culture. There are lots of nice cities in China and I think I could visit them in a 6 month time. Xian is a nice city with lots of cultural attractions and i know JiaoTong university is a good one but my teacher said It is more a travel destination than a place to study in. I really don't know. Thank u all for ur help.

 

nihao Emanuele891!

 

if you are not scared of cold weather, you can study in Harbin or Tianjin. They have good colleges like Harbin Institute of technology and Nankai (in tianjin).

 

if you are scared of cold weather, there's always Nanjing university and Zhejiang university. Those are good colleges too but locals speak a few dialects (nanjing and hangzhou.) But i am sure they will understand your chinese.

 

Those four cities are all smaller than beijing and shanghai, especially Hangzhou. Less temptation to use english! i heard Hangzhou has beautiful lakes and gardens, and so do parts of Nanjing. I only been to Nanjing though.

 

But whichever city you go, there is always chinese friends to meet.

[Emanuele891]

Ni hao! 
I think I'm going to Nanjing because i like the city,life is good and cheap there and there are lot of cultural sites to visit. The only matter is that summer is very very hot and i can't bear the heat. I'm a little bit uncertain if going to Nanjing university or Nanjing normal university. Any of you can suggest me what's best? My friend wants me to go with her to Tianjin but i think the air quality is a little bit better in Nanjing..