<p>I will be studying for one year in China, but I’m having trouble deciding what city to study in. I’m kind of against studying at Shanghai or Beijing (especially BLCU) because I’ve heard that there are so many foreigners at the universities there that you aren’t really immersed in Chinese culture and your language skills don’t improve as much as they could. I want to be able to experience typical Chinese life (not always going out partying with international friends) but I also want to have some contact with international friends. Do you have any recommendations for good schools to study at? I’ve heard good things about Dalian and Qingdao.
Thanks so much! :)</p>
<p>HI, I am a Chinese student who is studying in South Korea now.
also , I would like to pursue a degree in USA 2 years later O(∩_∩)O~
first, I don’t recommend you to go to Dalian or Qingdao, because the two cities do not have very famous universities. The two cities are smaller than Beijing and Shanghai, you will not have passionation live in there, even if the environment may be a little bit better than Beijing.
I think Beijing university is a kind recommendation for you. This university is very famous in China. also Nanjing university which located in NanJing, is a good choice.
foreigners are not a problem, I think, if you do not want to hang out with them,you can just say i do not have time, that is OK.
find out a suitable university is much more important.
anyway , I recommend you can apply for the University located in the big city like Beijing , Shanghai or Nanjing.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice!! I am not too concerned about the reputation of the university though…I’m only going to be studying Chinese for one year, so pretty much any university with a Chinese program will be fine for me. As long as I can learn Chinese and speak it on a daily basis, I will be happy 
I’ve stayed in Shanghai for six weeks, and I loved the city but I want to explore the different areas of China. I’ve also stayed in Beijing but it’s too cold up there for me, haha. I was considering Dalian and Qingdao also because Beijing and Shanghai are a bit too expensive. Maybe I will look into Nanjing then!</p>
<p>I’m hoping to make a lot of Chinese friends while I am there From your point of view, are Chinese students open to making friends with foreigners?</p>
<p>if so ,I recommend you Nanjing UNIVERSIY. the living expense will not cost too much there, and Nanjing universy is really a good university. also, in Nanjing, there are dozens of universities you can choose, not just Nanjing university. I am sure Chinese students are very open to make foreign friends. TRUST ME</p>
<p>lol. I’m Chinese student studying at Boston now.
well, personally,I gonna say seems all the coast cities are little bit same. I recommend you go to some cities on the central south part of China. Like Wuhan,Changsha. As you said, if you would not care about reputation, Hunan university would be good for you. It’s located on the Yulu mountain and has one of the oldest library. There isn’t too many foreigners like Beijing or Shanghai. Changsha city is really good to have fun in the downtown, if you want. but university is really amazing and gonna take 45 minutes to the downtown. Welcome to my hometown,lol
[Hunan</a> University - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunan_University]Hunan”>Hunan University - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>@sourmangoo
Qingdao’s quite nice. Have you looked at the universities there? The foreign community is much smaller than in the larger cities, so if that’s what you’re looking for it seems like you’d be fine there.</p>
<p>Also, echoing what SNUBOY1013 said - Chinese people are indeed quite open to making friends with foreigners. Particularly if they’re interested in learning English. You may find that many students would prefer to speak English than Chinese with you, in order to practice their English, but I’m sure you’ll be able to get past that after a while :)</p>
<p>I think you should study in Hong Kong. I got an internship over there 2 years ago and I like it! (although it’s a little bit over crowded)</p>
<p>Wuhan City is a good choice where you can find several very good univeristies with high quality of Chinese tearching, real language environment and still some international communities. Just list a few Universities:
Huazhong Normal University
Wuhan Univeristy
Huazhong Univeristy of Science and Technology</p>
<p>International students in China can apply to Peking University or Tsinghua University incredibly easily if compared with Chinese senior high students, who must study deadily hard to get in second-rated universities. Also, I will remind you that if you decide to study in Peking University, then you will have a terribly limited access to library resources. And I don’t know why.</p>
<p>hey,I am a chinese students.now,i stutying in anhui university.i think anhui university is a good choice for you !first ,its not expensive .second ,there are many international students .</p>
<p>I recommend Beijing. First of all you can pick up Putonghua there very easily cause thats what people speak everyday. Beijing residents are very friendly comparing to other big cities. As for your concern about there might be too many foreigners in Beijing, I can tell you its totally true. but it cant really affect your chance of soaking in the chinese culture. At least its YOU get to decide who do you spend your time with and how do you spend your time, isnt it? Wish what i said helped. :)</p>
<p>Lots of cities(eg. Shanghai) have their own dialects,which sounds totally different from Putonghua(Mandarin Chinese).Consider northeastern China,like Changchun, Harbin.</p>
<p>I suggest you’d better consider Harbin as one of your choice, because the main task you go to China just in order to study Chinese and its culture.As you know, Chinese also has many dialects just as English. In the city Harbin , you can find many advantages , people in Harbin speak relatively stardard chinese, so you can learn stardard Chinese and speak it on a daily basis. Harbin is located in the northeast area of China, living expense there is much lower than big cities ,such as Beijing Shanghai.I am Chinese, I see your post when i am just registered this forum, i am not sure my reply will help you. If you Harbin, you can take Heilongjiang University or Harbin Normal University as your choice.
at last , good luck!</p>
<p>I’m Chinese from Beijing.
I suggest you to go to Peking (Beijng) University. It is an famous and International University with long history and really good atmosphere. It has great representative building of traditional China, especially Beijing.
Although I know you are worried about the weather in Beijing, maybe a little cold for you, Beijing is the best place to learn standard Chinese and culture. Since China has different kinds of Chinese, even we, as Chinese, cannot understand clearly the language in some place. We have a variety of dialects in different Privinces,even cities. However, all of the people can understand the madarin Chinese. Because mandarin Chinese is based on the dialects in Beijing, Beijing dialect is most similar with the mandarin Chinese and you can learn the most common dialects and mandarin more directly. </p>
<p>Also if you want to learn other city’s dialects, you can also find your classmates from that city. Beijing is the center for the different part of people in China. It offer good resources.</p>
<p>Peking University is the place for the best students in China. Both Peking University and Tsinghua University is the dream school for each child. Only the top students with great talents can get in to study there. So it is good for you to talk with them and know more of culture. </p>
<p>I hope it can make sense and help you. Good Luck!</p>
<p>Beijing University.</p>
<p>I have an American friend who has studied Chinese in Dalian University of Foreign Languages and loved it there. He told me the city of Dalian is pretty clean and the food there is great too. He will continue his study there after his graduation. </p>
<p>Well most Chinese students are really obssessed with those big-name schools lol. You can tell by the overwhelming number of appearances of “Peking U” or “Tsinghua U” up there lol. However, I think the school doesn’t really matter that much for a one-year language program. It really depends on which city you want to go to. Big cities like Shanghai and Beijing have better urban facilities and you may enjoy the bars, theaters, shopping malls, museums etc., while you might enjoy more intimate relationships in smaller cities like Dalian or Qingdao. My American buddy whom I mentioned above likes to study in Dalian more than in Shanghai because he thinks he’s a shy guy and Shanghai is a bit too big for him. From your descriptions, I feel Dalian and Qingdao can be the right places for you 
Good luck! (Well I still can’t help recommending my awesome hometown Shanghai lol)</p>
<p>so people are just recommending their hometowns…
No offense to anyone,
but just let me put this straight: there are cliques of foregners everywhere in China unless you go to a farmhouse or a temple or somewhere in between(translate:in the middle of nowhere)
You can’t deny this: the more foreigners there are, the better life you will get. You will be motivated by yourself, as long as you have the adequate resources. There was an old Yankee who had lived in Qingdao for 8 years yet the only Chinese he mastered was “get me a couple Tsingtao (a brandname for beer)”, and a young Irish who learnt Chinese from scratch in half a year in Beijing(talked with me on the phone in Mandarin, sounded as if he got a a Chinese girlfriend)</p>
<p>Definitely go to Beijing, if your primary goal is to learn Chinese–> standard Chinese. Peking university is the most rigorous in this discipline, I believe.
You might not want to acquire an accent too different from standard Mandarin, so no southern cities(not being biased, it is the TRUTH; Putonghua has been based on Beijing Mandarin itself since CPC began promoting it).
Taiwan is a good choice, too, I guess? Taiwanese Mandarin is also decent (suppose you haven’t learnt Pinyin?).
That being said, i actually thought it cute when this half-british guy spoke Chinese with a Northeastern Chinese accent lol…</p>
<p>Not saying I am impartial in judging cities, Beijing is where I was raised so I certainly have this predilection.
Having wandered around many, many cities throughout Asia and around the world, I would not recommend you anywhere to live in other than Beijing, unless you abhor city life whatsoever. Anything sweeter to describe Beijing will be more than what I can articulate. so I will quit trying to delineate its fantasies(+ not to spoil your surprises). </p>
<p>Beijing is an amazing city anyways, hope to see u there sometime. You can fit in regardless your personality. I may sound categorizing and biased; yet, there is something you will only experience when you get there. Big names are mentioned so many times because they do have have good networks. Your experience in Peking University will be recognized by any Chinese. I just don’t see the reason not to pick the best for yourself when you get to CHOOSE.</p>
<p>Beijing is not perfect for everyone so it’s still your own decision to make.
I suppose you will travel around in the summer??</p>
<p>Honestly speaking, it’s going to be difficult to completely immerse yourself in the Chinese culture no matter which city you choose. China is now a country that is growing at an incredible rate economically, and there rural cities are becoming popular industrial sites right before your eyes. I think that every city that you would even consider going would be the same - perhaps there won’t be as many foreigners, but you’re not going to get an in-depth view of China. I’ve been living here for thirteen years - I go to an international school, and I’ve been raised as an American. I’ve been in downtown Beijing several times, but I rarely see any of the hutongs anymore. It’s such a disappointment.</p>
<p>I really suggest you do some research before you decide where to go. Are you studying economics, business, statistics, geography… what are you studying? If you’re learning about cultures and stuff like that, then I highly suggest you go to rural China. There are 55 ethnic minorities in China, each with their own unique traditions and celebrations. It might help to narrow the topic a bit more.</p>
<p>Beijing is good, I’ve lived there for four years.</p>
<p>My son would agree that Beijing is the place to study Chinese. He taught English in Chongqing (sw China near Szechuan Province) for 1 1/2 years and now is teaching Math at an international middle/high school in Beijing. He says that Beijing and Tsinghua Universities are the best in China and that is very important if you want to work in China. Good luck.</p>