Introductions

I would look at the air pollution indexes for the different cities. You might not be able to even imagine how bad some of these places are. After you rule out perhaps 80-90% of the tier 1 cities, you get a better picture.

Recent news article said smog in Chinese cities reduces lifespan by 5 years. It *might* only reduce the lifespan of people who survive by five years, but how about those who get lung cancer and don't even survive?

You'll need to look at some long-term statistics to see the real trends. Because I've been living all this time down south, I've paid some attention to the stats here over the years. Shenzhen seems pretty good, Guangzhou not terrible, Hong Kong the best in Guangdong.

http://aqicn.org

http://raoulschinasaloon.com/index.php?topic=8110.45

Cheers GW, that was something that I didn't even think of and after reading the link you sent, it is definitely something that needs to be considered. I have lived in the big cities before (Johannesburg,London and Auckland) but I am sure none of them compare to some Chinese cities with all the factories. Will definitely keep that in mind when getting job offers

I'm 24, American, just graduated with a comm degree and couldn't wait to leave behind all my friends just circlejerking in bars.

Love hockey and talking to random strangers then writing about the dumb shit that I get into. So China felt like the perfect place to go. I can do a lot if really dumb shit in China I think.

I'm really just gonna grab China by the haunches and *multiple crotch thrusts* hump it into submission....Can I change my username to Patches O'Hoolihan? I'll have to do something about that...I have much yuan! I will give very much money to Raoul to make happen!

Plan on taking a contract for September 2013

I'll either be the new emperor in a couple years or run home in the first month. This is how I imagine things going over there. Culture shock less likely if you're already f*@$ing weird.

Welcome Anonymous. That was certainly a spirited introduction!

By the way, if you really want to change your name, you can actually do it yourself in profile settings.

See you around the Saloon!

Welcome Patches O'Hoolihan! I really look forward to hearing about your adventures in China. May I offer a bit of advice, being an old lady with years of life experience? You sound like a lot of fun, but please take care and remember that there are a lot of opportunists out there. I'm an Aussie by the way and have never lived or worked in China, but I have visited. There are a lot of very smart and helpful and trustworthy people here at the Saloon, so please don't be afraid to ask questions.

Cheers GW, that was something that I didn't even think of and after reading the link you sent, it is definitely something that needs to be considered. I have lived in the big cities before (Johannesburg,London and Auckland) but I am sure none of them compare to some Chinese cities with all the factories. Will definitely keep that in mind when getting job offers

By coincidence I was in a suddenly excellent electronics department store called Sundan and they had a section for air filters. There was an American brand (IQ Air? Austin? can't recall) and they went for 5000 - 18000. If I lived in a place like Beijing, I'd think about having one in the living room and one in the bedroom. Then again, close statistical analysis might show me that Guangzhou is much worse than I think.

After a decade of saving and putting myself through college, coming back to China is now appearing to be a realistic option for me!

Back in 2004, I taught at a shady school in Taiyuan for 4 months (Mercan), having to leave due to differences of opinion between myself and the owner.  I am happy to see it on one of the lists of bad schools!  Reluctantly, I packed my bags for Beijing to head home (Canada), but not before I blew every last RMB on seeing everything there I could.  I couldn't even come up with the money for the airport improvement fee!  Despite my poor experience at that school, and the fact that Taiyuan isn't a particularly interesting city, I loved the people, the food, and the craziness of the country.

Now, I'm finishing my degree (finally), so I'm actually qualified to work legally over there, and am looking forward to going back.  Definitely intend on doing some research on here to find a better school/city to live in.  I don't like small towns or extremely cold weather, and would prefer if Mandarin is the main language as I have been doing my best to remember what I picked up.

Good luck Bacon (what a splendid handle) hope you make it back.

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I suspect things have changed a lot since you were last here in 2004, and probably not for the better.

I would expect so.  However, things in Canada haven't exactly improved either as far as I'm concerned.  Anything super major (besides actually needing a degree now), or is it a combination of little things?

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Welcome and good luck with the job search!

Thanks for the link redirected Dragonsaver!

So, hi everybody, I'm Ross, a 24 year old English bloke and I'm shortly finishing a year long contract with EF in Wuhan.
Wuhan is boring, it's not very gentrified and consists mainly of malls and alienating Chinese clubs.
BUT I'm moving to Shanghai in the next few weeks (pending visa) and have a new job as In-house writer with OUP - the sort of job I've wanted for a long time and left the UK in the first place having not found in a year long search after graduation. To be fair I did study joint honours creative writing and film studies - subjects I love but ones next to geography as least employment- worthy!
I'm excited, this is the opportunity I've been waiting for - teaching was never a strong interest (although it developed my public speaking skills which I value) and was just something I did so I could live in and experience China.
Big interests (here we go usual! Haha I haven't used a forum in a long time...) jazz music, travelling, cooking, film, writing.

I'm glad to have come upon such a good looking forum and hope to enjoy many conversations with you all

D'you hear that folks we are a "good looking forum" ! Welcome Ross and kudos on studying what you love.

Truly a forum of startling beauty 
Oh why thank you, the pleasure was all mine! I've always just thought, why not, life's too short to compromise.