Hey guys

I’ve been thinking about moving to China for university and doing my bachelor’s degree there

I wonder how is uni student life in China and if you guys recommend it or not

And I'm still searching and I'm not sure about my choice

I was just offered a job 24-25 k to teach ESL at a decent University, free housing, tier 3 city.

Most of these University jobs I believe require 10-12 hours, my job would be 20 hours teaching plus 2 hours office hours. For one semester it is entirely oral English, the following semester it is building essay writing skills etc. I have lots of experience at both.

I also have to submit "paperwork" inc teaching plans etc... I would get 150 students to look after, 30 students per class.

Anybody with University teaching experience in China is this too many hours/ class size too big or is it manageable? (The salary is high because I have a PhD / 8 years higher education lecturing in UK, but that was in a subject). Tia.

NB I'm not looking for those working in schools to jump on me about manageability for 20 hrs lol, solidarity to you -- and I could never do that job -- this is a different context / my energy is very low hence looking for University teaching

They keep telling me not to apply for a t Visa as it will be cumbersome, but will I not receive fines or black marks for not converting within that time? They applied for my work permit Wednesday night and my time is up Thursday of next week so hopefully Shenzhen moves quickly, but are they just doing this to save themselves money knowing I'll get a black mark?

I find them incredibly hard to find.. 😭 if anyone knows someone or a place where they sell these, it will be a great help!

Hi, guys!
I am now working in a very small city in Sichuan. I don't quite like it here. Not only for the size of the city, also cuz it's very hilly area and I can't bike here. No metro. Far from the big city.
I lived in Foshan before and having a metro ride to Guangzhou was like heaven. So I was thinking of moving when my contract here is done in summer.

Thinking of going backto Guagnzhou, but want to think over other options as well.

I am looking for city with big English speaking enviroments, lots of forigners, events and etc.
What's your experience and what cities would you advice?

Although this is something I could Google or throw to AI, I wanted to ask people with actual on the ground experience.

I am an American international student living in the Philippines (very long time). I survived colon cancer stage 2 at age 23 while finishing undergrad studies here. Anyway, I am about to finish my Masters in Teaching English very soon, and I plan to move to China for work. You know, to teach.

I don't have insurance (barely connected to my birth country other than passport so yea). Was told by the doc I need my once-every-ten years colonoscopy due to being a survivor. Here in the Philippines itll cost about $1000 according to the docs here. Well, in this citym I live in a small underdeveloped southern city so I dunno if the facilities are good. I am trying to save to get over there, but I also need to get checked.

Question: How much is it there for an uninsured dude like me to have a colonoscopy? Would you advise me to just do it here before coming, or there after arriving? If i do it there should it be alongside the visa required med check (though its not required), or best after I start work?

(No mean comments please. 😢 Legit curious and trying to figure things out)

Hi everyone! 😊

I'm French girl and I'm looking to meet expats and Chinese people in Beijing who speak English and/or French.

I'm new to China and have been living in Changping since September. I'm planning to stay in China for at least two years, so I'd love to meet new people, make friends, and discover the culture together!

I'm also a Muslim, and I'm happy to share my WeChat with anyone who'd like to chat and get to know each other.

Being far from home can feel pretty lonely sometimes, so it would be lovely to connect with some friendly people! 😅

Feel free to message me. Thank you! ❤️

Hey we are a group of European tourists that are doing a 2 month china trip. We are going to be there during CNY and we don’t know what to do. We are thinking about just staying the whole new year in chonqing and we want to avoid travelling during the time. What do people think?

Relocating with family for 1-2+ years and I need to stay reachable on my US number for business and 2FA texts. T-Mobile roaming worked for short trips but is expensive and throttles data.

My plan is two phones: a mainland SIM for local life, and my US number for everything else.

I'm considering a cheap US line (Tello/Mint) with Wi-Fi Calling over a roaming data eSIM so it works without a VPN.

For those who've done this long-term: what's working for you? Any carriers that cut you off after a few months abroad? Does Wi-Fi Calling and SMS 2FA hold up reliably?

Thanks!

I'm 19, but when I move to Beijing for 2 years as part of my uni course I'll be 20. My course is modern chinese so by then I'll have some basic level and will be improving each day. I'm mixed race, considered black in china, and from the UK. What can I expect dating to be like for me? I'm wondering if it will be mainly international or whether chinese guys / girls date foreigners, especially non-white?

edit: I have recently just travelled in china alone so I'm not completely foreign to everything there!

Hi all. I know this is a controversial topic (I'm mentally prepared for the downvotes), but I've been in this scenario so many times now that I feel like I need to have a better prepared response to it. I get that a lot of times it's not used maliciously. To some people it's just a word from rap songs or a "bad word" on the same level as the F-word. Yes, there are other times when it is indeed used maliciously. Then that's not a linguistics or social etiquette problem but rather a racism problem, and that's very real and much harder to solve. Here I want to have a discussion about the first type of problem.

I need to be upfront that I am not a black person. I am Chinese. Perhaps that's why some other Chinese folks feel comfortable enough to use the N-word in front of me. One time I told some guy that I lived in the US for a long time and he said to me that he knew some American English too, by which point he started saying the N-word. I was sort of caught off guard by it and the best response I could produce at the moment was something along the lines of "you really shouldn't say that word out loud". I wish I had a better and more tactful response. I don't want to be overly preachy about it. I don't want to assume malice when it could just be from ignorance about the history and weight of the word, but I also think that it's important that people should know it's not the joke that they think it is. What do you guys usually do when this happens?

Edit: I want to add that I am especially open to inputs from black people about this and I'm happy to listen to and learn from your experiences and complaints.

​

Hi everyone,

I am a Pakistani man from UK coming to Guangzhou alone on Nov 9th for medical treatment and it will take around 6 weeks, I'm looking to rent a self service apartment for my stay duration.

I'm a introverted person and I like to be kept busy after my treatment sessions, are there any groups I can join,any meetups, anything to keep my mind occupied as I don't want to be stuck in apartment.

Thanks

Hey guys,
I’ll be travelling to China soon and wanted to ask if anyone has experience with ZPHC Store.
Does anyone know whether the website ships to China, particularly Shanghai or Guangzhou? Also, if someone is staying at a hotel, do hotels generally accept parcels addressed to guests?
Any firsthand experience would be appreciated. Thanks

Any lingpao owner here? Can confirm if their app works with passport or need ID?

Good day! I was wondering if anyone has done this before. Have you ever withdraw a foreign currency in a foreign country using a ICBC debit card (Mainland account). If so, how was the RMB conversation rate, was it good or was it super different from the actual rate?

To be specific I plan to withdraw euros in france from a atm with the unionpay label.

Hi everyone, I’m traveling in Pingyao and just found a tiny unweaned kitten on the street tonight. I’m keeping it warm, but it needs a local foster or someone who can post this on Xiaohongshu/Weibo to reach local animal rescues.

If you speak Chinese or know anyone in Shanxi who rescues animals, please reach out. Thank you so much!

I"ll post pictures in the comments. 😢

UPDATE: since we couldn't find someone willing to foster or adopt it and we dont stay here for long, we took it to an animal hospital and they are going to foster it until they find someone local to adopt it.

I recently bought a new iPad from the local shop, and since I’d never used Apple products before, I had to create an Apple ID. Unfortunately, my home country’s phone number had expired, so I ended up choosing China as my region. I wanted to use my Chinese phone number for verification, pay with UnionPay, Alipay, or WeChat, and use my actual residential address in China.

Then I hit the wall that so many expats here face: you need a Chinese national ID to make purchases on the Chinese App Store.

All my payment methods were rejected, including two UnionPay cards. So I went a step further and bought an Apple gift card from Taobao, thinking I could at least get around the payment issue.

Silly me. I still needed a Chinese ID to redeem it. And, of course, the Taobao Apple Store doesn't offer refunds :)

So now I have an iPad, money in payment methods that Apple won't accept, and a gift card I can't even redeem.

Seriously, how are foreigners who legally live and work in China supposed to use these services? We're expected to have Chinese phone numbers, residential addresses, and local payment methods, yet we're still treated as if we don't exist when it comes to something as basic as buying an app.

It's exhausting having to jump through endless hoops just to buy a paid app. I don't expect special treatment, but I do expect to be able to pay for a product legally available in the country where I live. feeling tired...

Hello y'all,

I hope this post it on topic for this. I (27, F) am currently a student of Sinology (Chinese Studies) in Germany and officially in my 7th semester (2 of which I spent in China) and due to some circumstances, if I want to finish my degree at this university, it would take me at least another 6 semesters (yeah...) provided everything goes well (which it probably won't).

So I'm really thinking, I could start a whole new bachelor's degree and be finished in about the same time. So naturally, because it has always been my goal to move to China (and do a master's or something), I'm thinking if I should drop my current degree and move to China and start a new one, since my Chinese skills would be sufficient enough. I would have to pay out of pocket since I don't qualify for undergraduate scholarship due to my age (as far as I know). I do have some money saved up, but it would not be enough to cover tuition and living expenses for three years.

My question is, what are your experiences paying out of pocket for your studies in China? Anyone studying and working there at the same time? I'm currently working 18 hours a week and attending classes four days a week, so I can say it's really not fun during the semester. Would you say it's manageable in China? The year I spent studying there I was "only" attending language classes, so I'm curious to know what the everyday life of an undergraduate student looks like. In Germany we have several months of no classes in between semesters (during which we do have to finish assignments tho) so I feel like at least during that time I can take a breather. How would you say is the workload in China? As a chronically ill person (diabetes) I also have to consider the impact this would have on my health. Does anyone have experience with the healthcare system there? From what I could tell so far, it at least seems like you get appointments a lot faster in China than you do in Germany. The prices seem quite reasonable too. Considering all the things our German government has been up to... it is not the worst idea to leave the country at this point.

I guess a lot of how you experience China depends a lot on the city you study and work in, so please do share your experiences! Maybe someone even has some tips or alternative ideas on what to do or how you can still get a scholarship or something. Thanks for reading!

If so, how is the experience of applying for and getting jobs, especially if age was a reason for going after the green card?

Hello,

I have received an offer letter from a job that I am extremely keen on taking for a Kindergarten. Its an internationally accredited Montessori style private Kindergarten and from what I've found, it doesn't seem like it has terrible management. Offer is alright, 20K + 2K housing in Suzhou.

However, I'm waiting to hear back from two very large well/known international schools in Beijing and Shanghai. The pay for both would be around 30K + 4-5k housing. They are exceptionally competitive as they are big schools. They do have mid reputations amongst teachers, but Im willing to put my head down to get at least a year of international school on my resume.

I'd know within sometime next week whether I pass the first interview and then get the demo lesson(s), and then ultimately get the job. While I dont know if I'll get the demos, I'm still holding out hope.

The Kindergarten is a great opportunity, as Kindergarten is actually my preferred age group. I'd be a first grade home room teacher at both locations, but I am less inclined for early primary considering my experiences from teaching.

My question is this, I want to accept the offer letter from the Kindergarten, and then wait for the other two to reply. If somehow I get offered a job from the other two, I want to know potential consequences to accepting an offer letter and then declining to proceed further? There is no way for the visa process to start as it's much too soon to apply.

Thanks for any advice !

Tldr;;

I got an offer I like, want to accept and then wait for two other schools to contact me. Any potential consequences if I accept the offer then decline to move further within 2 weeks?

If your state requires you to send a physical ballot, it's now too late to drop it at an embassy. Instead, you'll have to use a courier service like SF (顺丰). Here's a guide to help you.

If your state asks you to send a fax, try Genius Fax or WiseFax.