Life In Shenzhen (my first post)

Greetings Y'all,

Well, after some... shady dealings with "EF" in Shanghai a couple of summers ago, I am ready to give China another whirl! Even though the locals seemed friendly enough in SH, I wasn't really crazy about the over-all vibe there - I thought it was too business-centric.

This time around, I was looking forward to exploring the possibilities in Beijing - particularly the rock 'n roll and contemporary art scenes, and actually scored a gig
with Disney there. I had heard quite a bit about the smog situation in BJ, but once I started to dig a little deeper, I discovered that it ain't no freakin' joke!

Disney informed me that they wanted to bump up my start date to November. In doing so, they also reiterated my choices for which city I wanted to work:
Beijing, Nanjing, Ningbo, Shenzhen, or Suzhou. Due to the smog, I opted to switch from Beijing to Shenzhen.

Yup, I imagine that Shenzhen is another Business-Centric city, but I'm hoping that it's scale, cleaner air, proximity to the sea and HK make it a good place to hunker down for at least 14 months. I don't have pipe dreams or anything, but maybe Shenzhen will surprise me(?).

What ever the case, I plan on making some good things happen: like learning how to teach kids, saving a few buck$ so that I may be able to afford to create my own cultural masterpieces, get some good Cantonese grub, befriend a few of the local sweeties, and
hopefully stumble upon some hidden treasures in Shenzhen.

Enough of my babble, but if anyone has any insight to life in Shenzhen (general advice, interesting neighborhoods in which I should look for an apartment, places to take in a good local indie band, etc.) I would appreciate it!

Gracias!

No advice ... just "Welcome"

Thanks !

Shenzhen has a few redeeming qualities...and I know it's changed a lot since I left in 2009. At least they have a better subway now. Keep in mind that the city is huge--almost the same area as New Jersey. Outside the SEZ is like living in a whole other city.

Pollution was terrible while I was there, but I've heard it's improved a little.

Bars can be a lot of fun, but quite expensive. There are some really cool bars with bands. I usually went to the bars as a treat about once a month. My friends and I more often drank at some local restaurants that treated us well.

Shenzhen does have a reputation as one of the least friendly cities because it's full of migrants and businesspeople who don't care about staying there long term. However, it is possible to find some truly great people to spend time with...it just takes effort to find them.

Best advantage is that you can easily take a mental health day in HK or Macau. It's also relatively easy to find coffee and cheese at supermarkets around the city.

Welcome.

Why did you choose Shenzhen? It's sole purpose of existence is business. Seems an odd choice you given the choices.ice f

Welcome.

Why did you choose Shenzhen? It's sole purpose of existence is business. Seems an odd choice you given the choices.ice f

I was thinking the same thing but on the other hand, one of the positives for me for some of the cities in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is ease of access to Shanghai.

I haven't lingered in Shenzhen but have been through there many times, either on my way to HK or to the mainland.  The proximity to HK would be the largest draw for me.  Hong Kong is all business too, if you judge by the northern shore of Hong Kong Island or Nathan Road and environs, but even in those areas it seems more comfortable, more well-designed, than the mainland.  And in Hong Kong, you can really get away from the hoards quite easily by going to an outlying island or even going to the southern part of Hong Kong Island.  I haven't explored the New Territories, but I've been told there are some nice peaceful places there too.

Oh, and OP, there's a Disneyland in Hong Kong!  For when you want to get away from work....

Which one of these might you have chosen Mr Stil:
Beijing, Nanjing, Ningbo, Shenzhen, or Suzhou ?

These are big cities so some of it would have been where in the city I would be located but just as cities, I would have chosen Shenzhen last.

I don't like Shenzhen though and of course not everybody is the same. I would prefer Shanghai to Shenzhen but Shanghai would be second last. I do think being in spitting distance of Shanghai (like Suzhou) is better than living there.

If I just had to choose right now I would say

Nanjing
Beijing
Suzhou
.
.
.

Shenzhen

I left out Ningbo as I've never been there and know little about it but I would still take a flyer on it over Shenzhen.

But this is all coming from a guy who lives in Changsha and really likes it here. YMMV.

Oh, and I'm just Stil. Mr. Stil was my father.