<p>Did anyone mention the advantages to study mandarin in Beijing, or some nothern places in China? If u wana speak real MANDARIN, plz do go to northern China…beijing U is definitely a first-above-all choice. It has the reputation in China the same as that of Harvard in the US.</p>
<p>I would say Beijing. like some previous posts say, people in Beijing speak the most standard Chinese/Madarin. Though people from other cities can certainly speak madarin to you if you talk to them in madarin, they still have an accent. Especially people in the southern regions have horrible accents speaking Chinese. </p>
<p>Well, if you wanna learn Chinese, then why not learn the best Chinese? And Beijing is the capital of China. Not only does it have everything that all the other cities in China have, but it has lots of historical sights you can go visit. That’s something Shanghai can never compete against. </p>
<p>And trust me, no matter where you go in China, you’ll get a lot of opportunities to practice your oral Chinese. It seems like there’re a lot of foreigners in Beijing and you’re worried that you might not find occasions to speak Chinese very often, but most of the people in China can’t speak very good English and they won’t speak english to you all the time. As long as you try to be social and actively involve in some school actitivities, you’ll make Chinese friends and have them teach you Chinese. </p>
<p>Above is just my advice to you. I used to live in Beijing before i moved to US two years ago. And i’m in a community where so many Chinese people live. But i never tried to stick with kids who can speak Chinese and i’ve only spoken English at school in my first year here. Now i can speak nearly perfectly fluent English and people always wonder if i was born here or at least had been here for a long time. </p>
<p>I hope you can find something from my suggestions. =D and i wish you best luck.</p>
<p>check out universities in Hang Zhou and Ningbo. Those places are nice to visit, and more importantly there are many pretty Chinese girls there. LOL good luck</p>
<p>Actually, the people in Harbin speak the most standard mandarin. But it’s much colder in Harbin than in Beijing. There are some good universities here such as the Harbin Institute of Technology. Goods here are cheap and foreigners are few.</p>
<p>I have to tell you that Chinese people are not very open to foreigners, though Chinese do not discriminate foreigners. To have a Chinese friend is extremely hard. Most of the posts on this thread say Chinese is friendly to foreigners from their point of view which is not representative because we are the people who are going to the USA and are very open.</p>
<p>I would suggest SHANGHAI! The New York of Asia. Definitely. Such a cool city. But it’s all up to YOUR OWN personality and what you are really looking.</p>
<p>Shanghai is a great place to party, get to know international and Chinese people. You’ll also find a lot western stuff there which can be really hard in many cities in China.</p>
<p>By the way, I have to say that I totally agree with knightwinner. </p>
<p>“I have to tell you that Chinese people are not very open to foreigners, though Chinese do not discriminate foreigners. To have a Chinese friend is extremely hard.”</p>
<p>I had some American and French friends interning in Shanghai and they made NO Chinese friends at all. Why? Not because that they were not open minded… just because no Chinese people wanted to be their friends…it all comes around to the magic word of Guanxi.</p>
<p>Anyway, they had a blast there! =)</p>
<p>Shenyang!!!People are really nice!</p>
<p>^Shengyang has its own dialect.</p>
<p>HEY!
I think you should really go the the Zhejiang University. It’s the third toppest university in China according to the ranking of all Universities. Besides, it locates in a beautiful, poetric city named Hangzhou. People and the scenery there both are typical chinese. The picture you get when you read the chinese ancient poems is certainly what you see in Hangzhou. Wheras, there isn’t many foreigners there, because many of my classmates are the undergraduates there, so I can tell it’s the best place for you!!!</p>
<p>LOL it’s been quite a while since the original post and people are still recommending their hometowns. (I actually find it sweet.) And I,too,can’t help but want to say some nice things about my hometown for you guys in the future who also want to study Chinese in China. Let’s just put it this way: Beijing rules.</p>
<p>I’ve been to many metropolitans around the world but no city can compare to Beijing IMO.(not even NYC,I’m serious.) Beijing is just so vibrant and diverse and it’s the oldest in all major cities around the globe. It’s amazing how you can easily get a cab in the middle of the night and shop for Gucci in the same city that has architectures ten times older than America. As for the culture, I believe that Beijing has a personality that is more like Latin America than Asia. It’s much more welcoming and inclusive than Shanghai(no offense). Beijingers are generally warm-hearted and kind, in fact some native Beijingers are so kind that people from southern China mock them for not being “clever” or shrewd as they are.(Actually there is a term “Beijing girl” widely used in China to describe or mock naive, not-so-shrewd girls.) I believe that if you really want to immerse in Chinese culture and language and most importantly, Chinese people, Beijing is the place.</p>
<p>Also, as mentioned above, Beijing is the ideal place to study Mandarin(unless you’re a very feminine girl who wants extremely soft accent–in that case, go for Taiwan). Beijingers are native Mandarin speakers who speak Mandarin on a daily bases. If you go to Shanhai or other southern cities, people don’t use Mandarin when they talk to family and friends so you may feel isolated because it’s highly possible that even if you are fluent in Mandarin, you won’t understand a word. I also don’t recommend you to study Mandarin Chinese from southern people who themselves have hard time to pronounce it right.</p>
<p>So I think it’s pretty clear that if you were to study Mandarin in China, Beijing would be your first choice.</p>
<p>I have an input about befriending Chinese people…</p>
<p>I actually lived in China for about 7 months. Even though I learned a fairly poor amount of putonghua I managed to make quite a few Chinese friends. Most of them I met at clubs or working (I taught English) and they were all very keen to speak to me and practise their English. Chinese, in my experience, are really friendly towards foreigners. Perhaps they still consider us really different and don’t share our views or find us strange, but I’ve never experienced being rude to because of being a foreigner. Quite the opposite really. I lived i Beijing, Guangzhou, Zhongshan and Shenzhen, don’t know if that explains anything… Most of my friends are from Guangzhou and Shenzhen though:)</p>
<p>Whatever city you may choose, I’m sure you’ll have a great time! You’ll always get a chance to practise your Chinese if you want to and you’ll always have chances to meet both foreigners and Chinese. Out of the places I lived, I strongly recommend Beijing. I loved it up there, and the Chinese is as many say the standard. Southern Chinese have quite a strong dialect, as a lot of them speak Cantonese too. Go Beijing! :)</p>
<p>Btw, HK is not the best for studying Mandarin really, as standard there is Cantonese…</p>
<p>Hangzhou is a good place to go . it has a one of the tops university in China which called Zhejiang University. There are so many view in Hangzhou like west lake. it is 3 hrs away from Shanghai (1.5hrs by train),people usually call it as the bcakyeard of Shanghai.</p>
<p>Kunming might be an alternative choice because of its pleasant weather and rich ethnic cultures. Food is fantastic too.</p>
<p>I noticed that nobody had mentioned Tianjin, the third largest city in China, and 100 miles from Beijing, 30 minutes by the express train. As a sea port city, Tianjin has a long history of business and folk arts. The living expense is much lower than Beijing or Shanghai. The local people are much nicer. Tianjin Foreign Studies university has a really nice Chinese program for foreigners, as well as NanKai University. It is fairly easy to get a high pay job as a native English teacher in the universities as long as you have BS and plus. EM you for more information.</p>
<p>Shanghai, Beijing or Guangzhou.</p>
<p>Xi’an is a choice you cannot ignore! As an ancient capital for 13 dynasty, Xi’an has a lot of place to do and things to see! Terra Cotta Warriors， Great Walls and many other are still there, they are protected and reserved much better than those cultural relic in Beijing to some extend. You can also see how people in rural area live in China because many interests are located there…You can find more about this city online and I will tell you that many people in Xi’an has an accent speaking Mandarin but you know…that’s China…Xi’an is not as prosperous as Beijing or Shanghai but it’s rising and I believe it’s a must-to-go city for people who want to know more about China. </p>
<p>And I will also recommend Guangzhou. People there speak Cantonese but many scholar believe that Cantonese is what ancient Chinese people speak…Besides it’s pretty close to Hongkong and you may want to learn martial arts and many Kongfu master are in Foshan which is a city very close to Guangzhou. But I think Guangzhou is too crowded and noisy…</p>
<p>Well to study Chinese, Beijing definitely will be the first choice.
Their accent is much closer to what we call Chinese than any other city in China, including Dalian, Tsindao and Shanghai.
Another option may be Guangzhou or Hongkong, where you can pick up another different Chinese-Cantonese, which is the most popular Chinese dialect in China and overseas.
Wish to be helpful.</p>
<p>if your records is very excellent, Peking university or Qinghua university will be a good choice as the yare the toppest in China.If not, they are many other university available in almost every cities, they are very tolerant to overseas student.</p>
<p>I am Chinese. Frankly speaking, I strongly recommend you either Hongkong or Xiamen,trust me, the southern costal region is the most developed area in the entire nation (I personally dislike Shanghai and Beijing as well) and it’s more open and the environment is conducive,too.
As for Beijing and Tsinghua uni, although they are top uni in China, their world ranking sucks, plus, they are famous for producing nerds and freaks. On the other hand Hong Kong university is the leading uni in Asia(competitive as Tokyo University and National University of Singpoare), also internationally friendly. But one limitation, it lacks tradional culture and most Hongkong people cannot speak Mandrain properly. If you want to experience the Chinese culture, you should visit Beijing and the neighbour area but it is not a place to stay there for a long period coz gradually you’ll get bored and sick.(thx to the air pollution)</p>
<p>Hi, buddy. From ur answer, I must say that u r partially correct. HK is definately a developed city, but local HKers merely speak Chinese mandarin; they, on the contrary, prefer to speak Cantonese or English. Therefore, HK is not a ideal city for people who are inclined to learn and practice Chinese. </p>
<p>Have a nice day!</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using CC App</p>