Qingdao or Beijing?

[pokemon]

Hi,

I want to study chinese for a year but I don't know how to make choice between Qingdao and Beijing. I've already decided the universites I want to apply and there are Tsinghua University and Qingdao University.

I know Tsinghua is a great and a famous university in China so I don't worry about its teaching courses. Nevertheless, Qingdao seems to be a good choice too for its life quality and cost of living.

So if you were me, which choice would you make and why?

Thanks a lot

[Qcash3]

My Chinese teacher chose for me to go to Tsinghua, and I think alot of that had to do with it's prestige and what not. I have not actually been to either school yet so I can't offer and informed opinion, but a friend of mine just finished a summer program at Tsinghua and he told me that he really enjoyed it there. When I get there I will be able to offer more of an opinion on the place, but in the meanwhile I would check out the Definitive Guide to Studying in Beijing thread, while it does not offer any insight into Qingdao it talks a little about Tsinghua.

[Chelsea]

I have been to Qingdao once and i live in beijing now.

Here are some tips and i suggest u choose beijing.

Qingdao is really a clean coutry that i swear which is much much more clean than beijing.Since qingdao is beside the sea,the weather there is wet,and for beijing is drier,especially in spring. Also there will be sand storms in spring in beijing.So,if u care much about the envirment,i strongly suggest u choose Qingdao.

But if u do care your chinese study more, you should choose beijing.For mandarin is based on beijing speaking. That means if u live in beijing, u will have light accent. Then,you can see a lot of people in the street in beijing which is hardly in Qingdao. So,making friends in Beijing is eaiser whatever foreigners or beijingners.

About the cost part, of course beijing is higher than qingdao. But i don't think it will turn out to be too much difference.

And Tsinghua is really famous in china, so it's apparent that it gets the most opportunities in many areas.

[pokemon]

Thanks all !

It would be great Qcash3 if you could offer an opinion about the place, courses, teaching method etc in September after starting the courses.

Others feedbacks are welcome.

[Lihai]

Hey Pokemon,

I also had to choose between Beijing and Qingdao. I decided to go to Qingdao because this City is not so big and there are not so many party-possibilities maybe as there are in Beijing. That could be very useful. Some of my commilitones are studying at Tsinghua University and BLCU. They told me that the teachers way of teaching is not better than others...For that reason it doesn´t matter which university you choose, the way of teaching is nearly the same. Furthermore you should take into account that in Beijing are more foreigners with who you can speak english. Allthough in Qingdao there are lots of foreigners too, there are not as much as in Beijing. That´s an important argument...

There are so many pros and cons...one problem in Qingdao is, that you can feel boring after a short time, because there are not so many things you can do, like discos. And cultural Qingdao is absolutely not comparable with Beijing. But for all that I decided to go to study in Qingdao this summuer, because I really like Qingdao. Something which you can´t take for granted is the clean air and nature in Qingdao. And if you can make party without many discos, you can also have lots of fun at the beach-pubs where the students always meet at night. So you will enjoy lots of living-quality for sure.

If you go to Qingdao too, it would be very kind of you to inform me, because perhaps we can meet.

See you, Tim from Germany

[pokemon]

Thank you Lihai (by the way, your nick is funny !)

I agree with you about all the reasons you've mentionned.

But as you said, there are so many pros and cons, that's why the choice is so difficult...

As far as I'm concerned, I think I would study a semester in Beijing and another one in Qingdao (maybe two if I fall in love with this town...)

It would be a great pleasure to meet you Lihai but I'm afraid it won't be possible cause I plan to go in China on February or March 2007 for the next session

[Lihai]

Hey Pokemon,

I think that´s a good compromise to study one semester in Beijing and one semester in Qingdao. I´ll be studying in Qingdao till january next year and afterwards I´ll do an intership in Shanghai. So, it won´t be possible to meet in Qingdao. But if you have some questions about the university or like to see some photos of Qingdao, just leave me a message - you are welcome.

See you, Tim

[Valeria]

hi pokemon, how was your experience? I'm having the same doubts about beijing and qingdao, can you help me?

thanks a lot,

valeria

[tc1stl]

Hi Valeria (and Pokemon). I lived in Qingdao and studied at Qingdao University for a year. I had a great experience at the university and in the city. Feel free to let me know what kinds of questions you have. I'm more than happy to share my experiences with you. Cheers, tc.