Strongly agree Nanning is rapidly going downhill in terms of lifestyle and the quality of life and people.

We were in Nanning around 2012 (maybe start of the decline) but NanNing was what I'd nearly describe as a touristy 'sleepy south' vibe. Laid back and actually we found Nanning people to be very honest, more polite, more easy-going.

Well holy hell thats changed in the last 3 years! Generally speaking growth is good and put aside the absolutely obnoxious noise pollution from the never-ending subway construction or the increasingly bad traffic jams but the scammers, racists, crooks, drug/prostitutes and just vulgar shitheads are showing up in droves now!

As far as ESL teaching we were talking to the PSB people and they mentioned new training centers are popping up everywhere almost weekly. Of course, they see the massive (and high-end) construction and 3 million due to arrive with a huge estimate of those being kids of wealthier middle-class arrivals. These are often big chains from established cities like (example) Changsha or Shanghai and what I'd say is the worst part is they come in 'arrogant' and fully prepared to take advantage of these 2nd/3rd Tier lazy southerners.

Sadly that's far far too Chinese. They see anything they describe as 'weakness' (we'd call honesty) and they can't stop salivating in frenzied excitement to take take and scam. They even talk down to foreign teachers here and I heard one say "ya but you guys are 2nd Tier foreign teachers" as if they decided that actually meant something. (most of us here have worked all over China, 1st tier cities etc and if anything you can pay us more for living here).

and finally add to all this a gigantic influx of the migrant villager workers. I refuse to say many bad things about them because they are abused and exploited enough but to say this:
..between the wannabe 'bigshots' and the migrant workers Nanning went from being the one city where I rarely saw men 'hoarking' up phlegm and spitting loudly to where its just constant everywhere I go. Along with that the same 'fuck anything not mine' attitudes, pushy, queue-jumping (linecutters) obnoxious manners.

BTW I just had a bizarre experience with a nearby school that doesn't want to hire me *because* I'm a resident. Which seems bewildering until I was tipped off by some foreign teachers who worked/escaped that school that one of the schools main tactics is bullying and cheating the foreign teachers by holding their Z-Visas and using the Z-Visa as a 'threat'. Especially for new arrivals the threat is frightening and they insist the school would tell them if they don't do XYZ then the Working Visa is cancelled immediately etc.

Oh finally (if anyone is still reading) one of the the single biggest problems in Nanning for teachers (and explains the sudden influx of blatant cheaters) is that NanNing still has just one small PSB and cannot possibly keep up with the schools. The cheaters seem to be wildly aware of this too. They know you can report them to the PSB all you want but without exaggeration they don't have any manpower to even start any 'investigations' or so much as read the complaint anytime soon.

Bottom line.. Nanning isn't the secret sleepy sun city it used to be just a few short years ago