good Chinese city for an artist type..

[tallcity]

Sorry if this may have been posted before, if so, then please direct me to the thread..

 

I am recieving another Confucius Scholarship. the first time I chose Shanghai (ECNU) and while I liked the campus, the Westerner population seemed a bit too on the 'business' side, aggressive, haughty, and too competitive, for me. also, if you didn't feel like eating at an expensive restaurant every day with classmates, you didn't have too many friends. this time, i want a more laidback city popular with artists, writers, or generally calm and chatty Chinese. in Shanghai I spent my time in the galleries, the parks, and i even sold my original art at the school, on the sidewalk. i also hung out mostly by the arts school, a run down area of campus i definitely do not make traditional Chinese art, more on the modern side, but i sold a few (probably because i was a laowai).

 

i have recieved suggestions to consider Kunming, Xi'an, Chengdu, Dali, Jinan, Xiamen. the Southwest appeals to me since some of my favorite Chinese bands, like Shanren and Wang Wen, are from the area. but Xi'an also seems cool. i met a few Xi'an people in Shanghai, and they seemed to have a particular sense of humor and open-mindedness. Jinan has a few famous poets living there, but i also encounter machismo 大男人主义 from the Ji'nan men i have met.

 

Not really into the 'hipster' scene as that implies spending money on the newest stuff..thats the art scene in Shanghai and Beijing, i think. i want more of a Bohemian, as in, live cheaply, make art, take walks in nature. also, I am part of a Samba dance company, so somewhere I can continute dancing would be a plus

 

any advice is appreciated, as all my faculty here is of the "make money, teach English, get Chinese girlfriend" and all that gets me tired.

[Angelina]

Hangzhou!

 

I think Hangzhou is better-suited for an artist than Beijing. Haven't lived in other parts of China. I love Kunming and Dali, but I haven't spend much time there. 

 

Hangzhou is more laid-back than Shanghai and you can enjoy nature. Be careful which part of the city you will be staying at, there are many suburbs and some of them are too far away from the beautiful landscapes. 

 

It is not that cheap, but cheaper than Shanghai. 

 

Air quality can be a problem in Xi'an. Chengdu sounds nice. Xiamen also. 

 

[Xiao Kui]

if you are a moody artist like I am stay away from Chengdu - too cloudy!

[ZhangKaiRong]

Suzhou, Hangzhou and Chengdu would fit you quite well. Suzhou and Hangzhou are a bit pricy compared to Chengdu, however all three have nice scenery, nature, etc. In Chengdu, lifestyle is more laid-back than in the Eastern coast, people tend to enjoy life better. You can see groups of people dancing, playing mahjong, drinking tea on average afternoons. IMO, people from Sichuan tend to have the best sense of humor and they are the most open-minded, most of my closest Chinese friends came from the Sichuan-Hunan area. Chengdu can be somewhat chilly in the winter and humid in spring-summer-early autumn. If you don't like hot, spicy food, then you will have some hard time just strolling and randomly eating in restaurants. 

 

On a sidenot: You can't fully eliminate money, wealth and business when you're in China. Money matters much more than in the Western part of the world, and you're being judged constantly on a monetary level. In a developing country, it is quite understandable that people are chasing money and they tend to care less about arts. You may have some hard time finding Chinese who are interested in art even in the "artsy" cities, but keep up and you will find the right ones.

[Simon_CH]

The only real option I can think of is Lijiang, where a bunch of yet-to-be-succesful artists hang out in their cafés and display their art. I know a couple of (Chinese) artists who live there but hail from Beijing and elsewhere. I can't think any other Chinese city has anything remotely resembling the Bohemian lifestyle and a close-knit artists/musicians community you describe. 

 

But I stand to be corrected. 

[tallcity]

thanks for the great replies!

 

not to imply i feel like sitting around all the time.. i study quite a bit, and i spent a lot of time at ECNU studying..for anyone coming their first time to China, i would recommend that school. though the Westerner drinking culture got on my nerves.

 

does seem that the "normal" 师范 schools are generally more relaxed, perhaps due to the higher female populations that attend those kinds of teaching schools.

 

however, in China, i made friends with Chinese students, especially art and literature majors.. i am just a magnet for those types, i guess. so i would like a place with more of an emphasis on culture than business. of course i know money is important there, but it is also possible to make money without killing yourself through overwork. so maybe i am just looking for a more balanced place this time around.

 

also seems like Mongolia has a different style than the typical Han culture of China, though i also hear that the men in Mongolia can get rowdy and anti-foreigner when drunk...also, i am a short guy, and prefer a short-person friendly environment!

 

thanks so much.

[Lu]

I was going to say Have you considered Taipei? but then I saw you're on a CI scholarship, so that's probably out. Still, if you ever want to try another city, Taipei might be just the ticket. All kinds of artsy places where creative folk sell the things they made (near 红楼 in Ximending, in front of the 24-hour Eslite, and many more places I don't know of).

[Angelina]

He can go to Xiamen and visit Taipei as often as he wants. 

[dementior]

two things, you mentioned Wangwen the band... is it 惘闻 you are talking about? In this case it is not southwest band but 东北, I know 2 of the members since I live in Dalian where they also live.

 

About places go for: Nanjing, one of the best art schools in the country and i have been told plenty of things going on there.

[MF_HART]

Taipei is a must visit for you, if not somewhere to study due to your situation with the scholarship.