Where to work in China?

This is a huge question for many people who have made the decision to come to China, but who have not yet decided on where. For people who have not had previous experience with China, they may not know much else about China other than Beijing and Shanghai. As such many people prefer to come out and teach in one of these two cities. Having been several times to both cities there is a lot to be said to their credit. For new people coming to China these cities are the biggest, most cosmopolitan and have the best access to western conveniences. As well as this there is also the general kudos some people attach to these cities, there does tend to be a leaning towards working in better-known places purely for the ability to tell family and friends. I have a lot of fondness for Beijing and Shanghai, however I think that when people decide on which cities they want to work in, they are not considering some of the things that they should be, and for me the benefits of working in a smaller city outweigh those of working in one of these metropolises.

“I don’t want to be working in the middle of nowhere!”

There is a feeling that cities outside of Beijing or Shanghai must be somewhat backward or in the middle of nowhere. This of course vastly underestimates the size of Chinese cities; wherever you are working it will likely be a large well-developed city with good transport links. To give an illustration of this, Wuhan is bigger than any city in Europe, has an extensive subway network, direct flights to a host of international destinations as well as being a central hub on the fast train network (four hour trains available to Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai and Guilin respectively).

What is great about living somewhere smaller is that the people are slightly less used to foreigners. A lot of people who have travelled will have inevitably run up against the industry of tour operators, beggars and rip-off merchants who prey on foreigners. People often ask me if they will be ripped off or targeted because they are a foreigner. In central areas in Shanghai or Beijing you are likely to come up against this kind of thing, as anywhere with a tourist industry is prone to this. In smaller cities that see slightly less international tourism this does not really happen, if anything it goes the other way around. When I walk past people distributing leaflets for example, they often don’t bother hassling me - as a foreigner they assume that I wouldn’t be able to read the leaflet anyway.

Another offshoot of being in a city that sees less foreigners is that far fewer people you run into are likely to speak English. While this can be troublesome to begin with, it forces you to engage with the language and pick up Chinese that much quicker, getting a more intimate knowledge of the culture as a handy offshoot. Yet this is not to say that you will be the only foreigner in the city – far from it. Most places do tend to have bars or areas that see higher concentrations of foreign people, and many people will go there to hang out with their friends. Because of the relatively small numbers of foreign people this does tend to lead to an inclusive and tight-knit feeling amongst the foreign community. The balance is the most important thing, when people come to China I think the best thing is getting to know the culture, yet you do also need a group of friends with whom you share a common language and culture – smaller cities are perfect for both of these.

It is true to say that wages tend to be higher in Beijing and Shanghai, however this does not necessarily give the whole picture. Wages are rising rapidly in smaller cities, and are now not far behind their larger counterparts. Importantly the cost of living is much lower in smaller cities, so even though wages may be slightly lower, you would probably end up saving more money per month anyway.

Beijing and Shanghai are really great cities, with a number of well-known tourist sites as well as western conveniences – so go there on holiday! For day-to-day life, smaller cities in my opinion are a much better option – go for it.