Small Town Study

[benjaminh]

I'd like to study in a small town with less foreigners and clean air. I've heard going to Heilongjiang or Jilin the mandarin is really good. But can I find a small town without going that far north? I want to meet locals with good standard accent. Thanks for any suggestions.

[Ninja]

VSO are scaling back in China but no doubt still have links with colleges in smaller towns throughout the poorer regions of China. Might be worth contacting them to see if they can give you a few names and addresses.

[wentong]

People from northeast do speak good mandarin, but with Dongbei accent which is slightly different from mandarin and sounds humorous to people outside the area.

there are some colleges in small towns in Liaoning, Jinlin and Heilongjiang provinces, each is more northern than the former, thus the colder in winter. but the colleges might not be of good quality as in big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. You might find very local and traditional culture and custom there.

I would like to recommend a college in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang province. Qiqihar University. I suggest it because i was born there and am living in Beijing at the moment.

Although it is the second biggest city in the province and the life is convenient, the city is not a fast growing one where few foreigners are living. The uni is a comprehensive college.

Hope the info will be of some help:)

http://218.7.49.122/index_en.htm

Address: No.30, Wenhua Street, Qiqihaer, Heilongjiang,China

Tel: +86-452-2738151 zip: 161006 Email: master@mail.qqhru.edu.cn

[mrtoga]

In a sentence, no I don't know of small towns further south that speak as clear a version of putonghua as is spoken in Jilin and Heilongjiang Provinces.

The weather is certainly cold up there in the winter, but the living environment is not that bad. Indeed Dongbeiers complain that when they travel to south in China in the winter they are constantly cold because the houses are not centrally heated! With central heating, spicy 火锅 and the occasional 白酒 the winter can be passed in comfort and at a relatively low cost.

[md1101]

as a compromise i would recommend Xi'an. no where near as many foreigners there as Shanghai or Beijing or even Nanjing. I went to The Xi'an Foriegn Studies University (西安外国语大学）. One of the things i always liked about xi'an is there weren't many english speakers and the people spoke good chinese. there were of course foreigners in the uni but not too many english speakers. i remember from my year there, there were 2 americans, 4 or so italians, about 4 french people, an english bloke, a guy from belgium, a swede and myself. But there aren't any bars where all foreigners go or anything like that as there arent enough.

but another great thing is xi'an has many advantages of a big city (good public transport and most shopping needs - it has a metro(the name of a large shopping centre chain) and a carrefour) but its much cheaper. i rented a 110 sq metre 2 bedroom clean modern looking pad for 1300 yuan a month. and some people considered that expensive. plenty of english teaching oppurtunities as well should you need some cash. you do have to put up with a fair bit of pollution though.

[skylee]

but another great thing is xi'an has many advantages of a big city (good public transport and most shopping needs - it has a metro and a carrefour)

Xi'an has a metro? Is it running?

[gato]

"Metro" is the name of a supermarket, I think. I had the same reaction as yours, at first. Hehe. This reminds of when I was told that a classmate lived across the street from Subway, but it turned out that it was across the street from "Subway Sandwich."

[benjaminh]

Wow, thanks for all the great responses. I like the idea of a small town in the North but the whole average 3 degrees Celsius thing is a hold back. It would be a great experience I'm not sure I'm ready for the shock. I'm living in Taiwan and my hometown is also a warm beach town.

I was given the idea of living in the suberbs of Beijing (given to me by a friend who is from the suberbs of Bejing. I'm thinking 门头沟区 (Mentougouqu) or 石景山区 (Shijingshangqu). Does anybody have any insight into what it's like in these parts? Are there any schools I could attend?

How far out can I go while still managing to get into the city within an hour? How far out can I go while still managing to get into the city by a bicycle ride and the subway?

Thanks!

[md1101]

Xi'an has a metro? Is it running?

lol.. yeah gato is right. its a shopping centre. sorry for the confusion. i shall edit the post. on that note though they are planning on installing an underground railway. and they've started construction on 'bei da jie'. but yeah at the moment there is no metro there. just lots and lots of buses.

benjaminh,

have you you looked into Luoyang in Henan province at all (a place close to the shaolin temple.. fairly small city with no foreigners)? or maybe Ankang in shaanxi (4 to 5 hour train ride from Xi'an, less polluted than the major cities, has some nice lakes)? The furthur away you are from the coast the less chance of running into a foreigner. it does sound from your last post though that you want to be close to a big city.

[benjaminh]

mickdriscoll,

My Chinese friend went to Luoyang this summer. She said they speak with an accent and her son couldn''t understand their speech sometimes. I'd like to have a standard accent. I'd also like to see the Olympics in 2008. So, that's why I'm thinking Beijing suberbs. Being close to the Shaolin Temple sounds cool though. I practiced Long Fist for two years in the States.