Dear Percy,

Handan has some big plusses and some big minuses.

One big minus is the level of personal safety in the city. As a very general rule, Chinese cities tend to be at least rather safe for foreigners. Handan is one of two cities in China where I actually have had foreign teacher friends mugged in broad daylight. One was mugged when coming out of a bank after making a deposit and forced, at knife point, to go to an ATM and withdraw money. It's a prosperous city in the one of the poorer provinces of the country so due care and diligence are in order.

Also Handan is an exceptionally, exceptionally industrialized city, even by Chinese standards and that should tell you something about the level of air pollution in the city. Also, in terms of Chinese cities, it tends to be a little not-so-clean.

On the other hand, the city is flush with money. There is a huge building boom going on everywhere in the city. There are cranes all over. You can be sure that the city has money because very high-end luxury product shops like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Armani have actually set up shops in the newer malls. You can find Western amenities in the city and there are the usual number of Pizza Huts, KFC's, McDonalds, etc. Western products can be had through TESCO, etc., etc. and otherwise you can order them online.

It's a city of generally wide boulevard and surprisingly enough, it's rather green. There are not a lot of foreigners, for a fact, but you will not be stared at consistently and have fingers pointed at you with the "laowai, laowai" remark. The taxis are metered and go by the meter. It's a rather big city.

There are lots of nice Starbuck's, coffee houses, etc., etc. Handan regional cooking is rather bland by Chinese standards -- you will need to look hard to find a really god restaurant unless you like roast duck -- one of the local specialities.

Somehow, somehow with your salary and hours, I think that the agent is trying to flog you off to one of the universities in the city. If that's the case, be careful. They are really, really located on the fringes of the city, far from everything, and you will spend much time in a taxi. Frankly, I just don't know how you will be able to make it in Handan on RMB 4,000 per month. Even by local Handan standards, that's not a lot of money.

You could do better elsewhere, even with no degree.