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Q: Where in China have you lived and what are/were your impressions?
Just curious, I've not heard the 'Where you at?' roll call in a while. As for me I've lived for periods ranging between three months and five years in Shenzhen, Yangshuo, Liuzhou, Guilin, Beihai, Guangzhou and Nanning. As for impressions I can do Jack Nicholson, Christopher Walken and a drunk Humphrey Bogart. Sorry, lame joke. The big coastal cities (Guangzhou and Shenzhen) I only lived in for short periods so it's hard to comment on them. Shenzhen is too young a city for my liking and Guangzhou is too crowded. But the others have stretched over a ten year period, none for less than a year. My impressions of these places and their people have been good for the most part. Guilin most beautiful of course, Beihai was the quietest of those towns, Liuzhou is not an immediately attractive place but once you explore a while you find it has plenty of character and Nanning's the best of those for making money. It's really about the people I'm most curious because I hear such mixed reviews and opinions from members of this site, i'm interested to see where they were formed. The most negative experience I've had of the people was in Shenzhen and it was overhearing an old man telling his granddaughter, who had just spotted me, that all foreigners were bad. She did not look convinced. My experience of the incompetent driving, undesirable table manners, staring, queue jumping and spitting is hardly worth noting, these seem to be negative characteristics of the people throughout China as a whole, it's about how the people vary from place to place beyond those negative cultural traits that I'm most interested.
2 years in Qingdao and I liked it. Beaches; average, but that's compared to Aust beaches. Beer; average, but that's compared to beer from anywhere else. Long legged women; above average. Fireworks; constant. Cars; hellish.
3.5 years in Karamay and I'm still here. Big changes as the city is being transformed into an 'International City'. If they get their dream it'll be the most remote international city in the world. First winter here it was down to -35, 2nd winter -25, 3rd winter -22 and this winter has only seen -20. This is to be blamed on the Russians. The Uyghir culture is less noticeable and the Han believe everything they've been taught.
Harbin ---->I lived in small city Huachuan, some 6h by bus away during the winter (Oct -April). Lowest air temp: -33*C. When you spit at such low, saliva ice cube hits the ground. Used to walk some 100m to the nearest Super for groceries shopping. At my return to the apartment, I had to have some 10' warm-up, before I could turn key and unlock my apartment doors. At such cold, normal body power in extremities just evaporate. There're not too many people who live in such conditions.
Fuk., Xinjiang ----> comet hit that area LTA, and there are big rare earth metals deposits/mines, beside Uyghur's food/corn bread/naan, baked in small 2x2x2m shacks/bakeries. Learned some Uyghurs speak with which I usually surprise Uyghurs living elsewhere in China/Henan, where all mostly speak Chinese.They wash the roads twice a day in Fuk. Very clean area comparable to other China.
Jixian, Hebei ----> all Chinese use phrase 'zhi bu dao', apparently only city in China, where Natives talk that way. I had to be carried away from the big city's Hospital completely drunk, after the first&last one-on-one English session with resident Neurosurgeon. I didn't meet too many normal people, who would be drunk in the Hospital, so I feel very special. LOL
Tangshan, Hebei -----> 30 y old city (renewed after the last earthquake), however at rainy weather one better walks in fishing boots, because Chinese don't use bubble level at ground constructions, so there's plenty lakes on walking ground/pavements.
Yingkou, Anshan, Dalian in Liaoning ----->Proper pet's dress code is required in Liaoning. I even saw not too hilly dog's shoes on sale. Yingkou is 'culinary heaven', because you can buy alive jian, larvae, some half finger size moving thing. 200g is right measure for 'delicious' risotto/stew, for which I posted recipe/thread here. They sell jian in 3 varieties: black, brown and white on outdoors market in piles as big as potatoes or apple's, black alive worms being the priciest.
add-it: Liaoning cops are something else: traffic on big crossings is regulated by hand: all female cops, 174cm and taller, skinny, dressed in black leather top-bottom uniform, leather cap too on the top of done hair-do. Moves of the cop in the crossing are military style moves, nothing sloppy. I'm not sure, how one can pay attention to anything else but femcop in the middle. I would go for a walk and then stop and watch 'cops fashion parade' on crossings.
Taizhou, small city in the middle of Jiangsu ------>overcrowded, but I lived alone in 3 floors condo. A lot of sun with balconies on every floor.
Jianou, Fuijian ------> filthy 'paradise on Earth'. Fujian cows have hump, a bit smaller than Xinjiang camels. Was thinking a lot about Darwin and Chinese art of artificial insemination. Xinjiang's camel& regular cow breed. I think, such cow must give some more milk. Or it might have thicker fur/skin. I'm not sure which.... Women in Jianou are ridding vespas in mini's&high heelers. I wish I had T-shirt with bilingual sign 'I can see your undies, tra-la-la-la'
Now, I'm in Kaifeng, Henan, where I'm very busy with teaching, and I don't have time for attendance of Sunday's masses in Christian looking church (2m high cross in red) nearby my RP sponsor (High school).
Did I miss a lot in China?
icnif77:
OK, I'm glad!
Most interesting to me is 'I've never planed all this', like 'ooh next month I should go there....'. It just happened.
hi2u:
Sometimes, despite your visa troubles and non-native treatment by Chinese, I envy you for how much you've lived around China.
icnif77:
Native or Non treatment is personal experience. I'm not blaming my nationality/Non as cause for 'bad' treatment.
Most likely TIC: 'Chinese would/can negotiate anything, even cup of cold water!'
In other words, I believe Native English teachers experience is similar, they just don't talk about it, like I do.
icnif77:
I'm telling you, no planning for me. Going for quick Spain trip next month. 2 weeks (10-days Spain's stay).
Still working on the bus ride Kasghar - Gilgit, Pak. Have poster here, who'll help me with Pak.'s Invitation letter.
Otherwise, it looks I'll stay in Kaifeng. My biggest problem here was only 14 classes/week.
Have offer from part-time Training mill for June's RP extension/full time job, and I'm currently already busy with some 22 classes/week between full&part-time jobs. I became famous in my city with last semester's IELTS/TOEFL prep. 1/4 of Kaifeng is University Campus.
P.S.
I hope, nobody thinks I really ate that 'jian' thing in Yingkou. I just 'prepped' an Italian 'jian' risotto/stew recipe to 'murder' all of your's appetites .......LOLOL
royceH:
We've got 4 Pak doctors staying for 6 months. I met them last week, they said they were advising the local doctors. Friendly fellas but I couldn't understand all of what they were saying. I know the Xi Silk Rd is coming right through here and that they're buying the Pak sea port.
icnif77:
Chinese are all over Pak. Think ME in next 5y Putin&China, meiyou West (USA).
I'm using Pak/India's English accent to show Chinese English accents can be different, and accents aren't that important as Chinese accents/intonations are. I can do P.Sellers from The Party, flick made in 1969, I think.
'But, don't tell anybody..' sounds very funny in Pak/Indian English draft
.
I could be a movie star, I think. I had offer from movie director once in San Diego, however ....I replied: 'You don't have enough money to make me a movie star...' He was driving Bentley or similar. True story.
icnif77:
See 'The Party' 1968. Sellers is Brit. actor, acting in the movie as 'Indian 2nd movie hand' in Hollywood. He should be fired from the movie set, because he detonated by accident whole fake castle too early. Cameras weren't rolling yet.
Then instead fired, he get invited by mistake to the director's home in Hollywood for the party, where he's causing big mess with Indian English accent.
''Hrundi V. Bakshi is my name called. Do you speak Hindustani?''
Free movie download on FrostWire.
royceH:
I know The Party alright. It's great. I want to watch it now. I would have guessed it was made in 1966 but if you say '68, ok. I can't d/l anything these days. On Friday night I watched Spellbound, a 1945 Hitchcock film. It was fantastic. I asked my stepdaughter if she could find Spellbound for me but I meant a film make about eight or ten years ago about spelling competitions for kids. However, I think I lucked out with the Hitchcock flick. I'll ask her if she can find The Party for me. Thanks for that.
icnif77:
I downloaded The Party yesterday. Download 'FrostWire' first, and then you can download anything you want. It's 'peer to peer' network, in other words, if anybody of 10 000 users have it in the library, download will start automatically as soon as one peer log-in to FrostWire.
If you like to watch movies, you should get HD and have 'keepers'. I have some 80 movies on remote HD, which I watch repeatedly, beside worthy books and articles.
Sometimes, I research movie through Yahoo-gle, just to get right release year, and then FW with title and release year in search.
Some older movies don't work for me, because different player is required, but eventually I get download with right player.
I have 'Papillon' (1973), Ipcress File (1963) on the old movies, and I got last week The Revenant (2015) on the newest ones.
I had to edit my reply to Phil here about Hrundi. If you wouldn't know Sellers is Brit, he's 100% Indian in the movie. LOL.
Shanghai - Was back in the 00's and was very different to how it was today. I loved it back then, a great mix of Chinese and western influences. Whenever I go back now it feels like a totally different city. I found the people to be a bit stuck up, they think they are from Shanghai, and are therefore better than you. But having said that I have some great friends there. Probably as they are more used to western people, ideas and behavior, so you don't have to constantly explain yourself to them.
Sanya - Great weather, no pollution, nice beaches. Constantly being treated like a tourist gets old very quickly. They always try to scam/rip you off, like a tourist. Also to live there gets a little boring, there really isn't much to do on a day off except sit on the beach. That's great for a 3 day holiday, but when you're there for several years some more excitement would help. The place doesn't really have many local people. The vast majority have moved there in the last 10/15 years from all over China so you get a bit of a mish mash of cultures.
Chengdu - Loved it! Wish I could go back there. The people are more relaxed and friendlier than most Chinese, and it's generally cleaner and more developed than most Chinese cities. Sadly I feel like it's loosing some of it's character with modern developments. Endless glass skyscrapers and shopping malls, just like any other city. But still the best place Iv'e lived in China.
Wuhan - Also known as Satan's arse hole, it's just a awful place. More of a huge urban area than a city. To give you an idea of how spread out it is the area is almost the same size a Beijing, but has many less people. And there isn't really a city center, just pockets of slightly more development spread out all over the place. On top of that the weather is terrible, the pollution is getting worse and worse, and the food is the worse I've come across anywhere. Avoid!
mArtiAn:
Thanks, I've made a mental note not to visit Satan's arsehole.
royceH:
I'd go there if I could hit it up with Li Na. It's got me beat why she has decided to retire there, esp when Australians would gladly adopt her as one of their own.
Only lived in the first tier:
Beijing - Hippest Chinese people, my favorite accent, best rock music, some nice culture.
Shenzhen - Most diverse Chinese people, everyone speaks different dialects, no music scene, no culture.
Shanghai - Stand-offish Chinese people, the accent is fine, best electronic music scene, large international community, hands-down best/most diverse restaurants.
Hong Kong - Most relatable Chinese people, Cantonese, Expensive, cramped, no real music scene to speak of.
Started in Beijing (1998-2002): Loved it (great apartment, shopping and services were stress-free). A brief stint in Huizhou, Guangdong for three months. Thought it was Deliverance, Alabama until I moved to Bao'an (down a bit).
Lived in GZ from 2002-2004: hated it. Cantonese people are money-hungry and will screw anyone over to get what they want.
2004-2005: Back to BJ briefly, then Urumqi for four months (meh) then Shaowu, Fujian (awesome place with awesome people).
2005-2010: GZ again (great job, great life, then I got married). Spent a month in Shanghai for business during this time.
2011: Zhongshan (meh)
2012-2013: Guilin (meh - hardly the beautiful, fantastic, wonderful, scenic, gorgeous, utopian ideal others seem to think it is)
2013-Present: Bao'an, Shenzhen. I've been all over Guangdong and Xinjiang. I've passed through many places and went to various cities on either business for my school or weddings, etc. If you're looking for the a55hole of the universe, then Bao'an is it! The three months that I spent in Huizhou at the tail-end of 1999 now seems like a paradise compared to where I am here in 2016. Hillbillies? Rednecks? Proles and peasants? Unwashed and uneducated heathens? Thieves and liars? Corruption? Inept and totally unqualified school administrators? Baby-breeders? Unplanned and constant construction (i.e. rip up a road, patch it up, then rip it apart two days later, repair it and rip it apart two days later ad infinitum)? Bao'an has it all!
(You may ask why I'm {still} here and that has to do with my wife's mother and uncle who said, well, I got bullshitted heavily, put it that way).
Next stop, back to Canada, where I can let my kids be kids and actually put my education and experience to good use.
TL:DR: Beijing was awesome (single)
GZ was awesome (single) not so much married.
Shaowu, Fujian was the greatest small city that I've ever experienced in China.
Urumqi: GZ of the north
Shanghai: awesome, but not really China
Guilin: nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.
Bao'an Shenzhen - get your head examined (unless you're a masochist).
royceH:
So now I see why you're such a cranky old bugger. And how do you take your masochism?
Canada sounds nice.
mArtiAn:
'2005-2010: GZ again (great job, great life, then I got married).' Why did that read with such a tone of ominous dread? Don't agree about Guilin though, I had a great time there. Then I got married.
Sinobear:
With Guilin, I worked at the #2 High School and Internment Camp located out in the boonies. There was never enough time to be a tourist and see all of the wonders such as the Tiger and Horse Maltreatment Circus, the Wonders of the Eight Great Toilet Outlet River Adventures, or the 'I've Bet You've Never Had Chicken/Beef/Pork/Rat Served Like This Before" culinary experience.
I had an awesome apartment, and could get the daily necessities (beer, beer, and more beer), a good hotpot place at the base of my apartment building, but it really wasn't some idealistic Eden that visitors (especially those who go through Guilin to Yangshuo) see that those who live there experience.
Ningbo - 1 year, decent.
Xiamen - 4 years, still here and still love it 
2 years in Qingdao and I liked it. Beaches; average, but that's compared to Aust beaches. Beer; average, but that's compared to beer from anywhere else. Long legged women; above average. Fireworks; constant. Cars; hellish.
3.5 years in Karamay and I'm still here. Big changes as the city is being transformed into an 'International City'. If they get their dream it'll be the most remote international city in the world. First winter here it was down to -35, 2nd winter -25, 3rd winter -22 and this winter has only seen -20. This is to be blamed on the Russians. The Uyghir culture is less noticeable and the Han believe everything they've been taught.
Guangzhou 7-8 months and now Zhanjiang 4 years prefer zhanjiang
Lianyungang (Ganyu), Jiangsi Province: My home away from home. Perfect littel town for me. People treat you like a rock star as there are not many foreigners there. Positives: Made many great friends there in which I still have after leaving three years ago. Culturally rich. Big enough for things to do and small enough not to deal with all the headaches. When you begin to miss the western stlye feel, a 45 minute bus trip to Xinpu is welcomed. Close to Shandong Province to have some great weekend get away trips. Negatives: cold polluted winter air. No train service.
Shangrao, Jiangxi Province: Positives: Beautiful, semi-clean, developed enough to make you feel comfortable, yet the outer areas are still very rural to get that Chinese feel. They have a great National park to go hiking in. The rivers are fun to walk along. Many great things to see and do in the area. There is a train station with both high speed and slow trains from Shangrao now, which makes it convenient to travel in that part of China. Negatives: the people are not as friendly there and it is hard to make new friends if you do not speak Chinese. Winters were mild for the most part. But, the air quality was not too bad.
Zhuhai: I was only there for the summer for camp work. Loved the weather and the water. The scenery is pleasant. The city is too "international" with too many foreigners for my taste. It is a stones throw to Macau and a ferry trip to Hong Kong.
Zhangjiagang (Suzhou), Jiangsu Province: This is my latest home. Positives: Clean city. Enough western flair to keep you feeling comfortable. Larger city, but less traffic, plenty of shopping and things to do. My work is what makes this place really enjoyable I think. Not so much the city. Negatives: There is not much to do here. There is no train service. The city is neither Chinese feeling or Western feeling. It seems to have an identity crisis right now.
My travels: Best places: Wuxi, Suzhou, Taierzhang, Rizhou, Huangzhou, Three Gorges region, Chongching, Changdu, Fengdu. Worst places: Beijing, Shanghai, Xian.
xinyuren:
there's a Jiangsi province or did u mean Jiangxi (or Jiangsu)?
GarrettAbbott:
Nashboroguy,
This has nothing to do with the topic at hand, but I was wondering. What school did you work at in Shangrao, Jiangxi Provinc? From what I can find online, all the jobs there don't pay worth a darn. Is that just how it is, or do you a secret, or maybe even a contact?
Garrett
3 years in Wuhan: it's a shithole but it has an odd filthy charm that keeps me going back to visit. Re gan mian is fucking delicious. Lot's of lovely ladies. Locals are aggressive in speech and bad tempered, but you will meet some interesting characters. Cool underground music scene.
1 year in Chongqing: hotpot, hills, babes. Three selling points, but the locals are annoying in general, and the weather is god awful. I think i felt the sun's rays about three days the entire year.
1 year in Hangzhou: quiet and clean, but boring. Locals and local food are both mild, a bit sweet, but lacking in character.
I've been to 30+ cities in china and i really regret not living in either Xiamen or Chengdu
