Living in Hangzhou?

[hannafit]

Hi everyone, 

 

I have been accepted as a CSC scholarship winner for 1 year of Chinese Language at a Chinese University. My top choice was Zhejiang University. One reason I chose this is because I have asthma and it is significantly less polluted than the other cities. I've spent some time on here looking at other threads and have realized that Hangzhou has really humid weather. Does anyone think this is going to be a problem? I see a lot of people complaining about the weather in Hangzhou. Did I make a mistake by choosing this as my number one choice? 

 

Also I have read some comments that the language program isn't the best. Is this true? I want to become as fluent as I can in Chinese while I am studying in China. 

 

I have yet to hear the results but when I do find out, and if I am being sent to Hangzhou, will I enjoy my year there?? 

 

Any advice would be really helpful. Thank you so much!!

 

--Hanna

[889]

I think Hangzhou is one of the better places to be in China.

 

As you said, pollution -- dust as well as auto and industrial pollution -- is more serious in many Chinese cities than it is in Hangzhou. And even inland cities like Chengdu are muggier and more uncomfortable than Hangzhou, in my opinion.

 

But this is of course a matter of your individual condition, so you'll just have to see for yourself if Hangzhou's a good fit for you.

[LinZhenPu]

The flipside is that you got into one of the best (highly ranked) universities in China and get to experience Hangzhou's beautiful West Lake area. If I was you, I would fall in love with the place and probably want to live there permanently.

[hannafit]

@889 & @LinZhenPu

 

Thank you so much for your feedback. These were my original thoughts about Hangzhou and then I read people on here complaining about it. Your thoughts have made me feel MUCH better. I mean really, who cares about the weather when the city is GORGEOUS and has low levels of pollution?!

 

I think Hangzhou will be a great fit for me because I love being outdoors, going hiking and the city is low pollution. I also really hope to find somewhere to go horseback riding!! Since Hangzhou isn't as developed, my guess is there will be more opportunities for me to find a stable. 

 

Thanks again!

[889]

I was once lucky enough to be in Hangzhou during a heavy, wet snowfall. It was mostly gone in 36 hours or so, but in the meantime Hangzhou was the most beautiful Chinese city I have ever seen. Enjoy!

[hannafit]

@889

Oh wow it sounds amazing! I really cannot wait. I did some research on the weather there, it's almost identical to where I live now, except we don't really go through a rain season. However, I don't mind the rain.

I really appreciate you sharing your experience!

[LiMo]

From lurking around these forums and other places on the internet it seems to me that language courses tend not to be very good for Chinese, except in a few places. Too much reliance on outdated teaching methods etc. However, once you are in China there's huge scope for you to practise, and if you really apply yourself outside of class you will progress rapidly regardless of its quality.

 

The key to that will be to balance your time between English speaking friends that you'll probably meet on your course and Chinese friends that you'll have to meet elsewhere. This is more tricky than it sounds (or so I hear) because many of the Chinese people you will meet will want to practise English with you, but its far from impossible. Besides that, you can still get lots of practice in with shop keepers, guards and all sorts of random people who might accost you and demand to know how much cars cost in your country (this really happened to me... alright, I'm embellishing a little, that was only his third question). One of the best things that could happen is if you make friends on your course who don't speak English, so you can only communicate in Chinese. While this may seem counter productive, as you're both still learning, it can be a very effective way of holding off the temptation of the expat bubble, wherein you only speak Chinese in class and at the grocery store and spend the rest of the time speaking English with your friends. 

 

Bit of a ramble there but your other significant questions had been answered already.

Good luck!

[Angelina]

Hey Hanna, watch this video about Hangzhou

 

http://english.cntv.cn/program/documentary/20120514/110167.shtml

 

welcome 

[abcdefg]

Check air quality here: http://aqicn.org/city/hangzhou/

[hannafit]

@LiMo 

 

Thank you so much for your post. This helps me a lot. I plan to use my Chinese as much as possible for a full immersion. Thank you for sharing your experiences. I hope to make many friends who only speak Chinese. I'm glad that unlike Beijing it will not always be easy to find someone who speaks English therefore I'll be forced even more to Speak Chinese. I can't wait to go, I really will have to study hard before I leave and get some practice in!!

 

@Angelina

 

Thank you very much for the video!! I just started watching it and it's wonderful!! It makes me so excited to go to China!!

 

@abcdefg

 

Thank you, that website is very helpful! Luckily Hangzhou air quality is much better than so many other cities!

[hannafit]

Okay so where I live the humidity is around 100% consistently in the summer...I don't think it could be worse than that... so I won't be needing to worry about the humidity..it'd be nice if it was less than where I am though