In terms of quality of life, it mignt well be that that's not so good in big cities in China due to environmental pollution, traffic jams and the general unfriendliness of city dwellers immersed in the rat race. But there is another problem associated with the biggest cities of China, like Shanghai and Changsha, the relatively high preponderance of western grovelling weasels compared to that in smaller cities. Too easy to be replaced if your Chinese employer wishes to dispense with your services before your teaching contract's up.

Yep, Linfen is badly polluted, but not as badly as ten years ago. But as a smoker, I don't mind air pollution from coal. However, one definite plus is it will be relatively free of stingy, self-serving GWs because the salaries of FTs there are average, and there will be few laowai there employed in other areas. As for locals gawking, I can bear that easily, it's no big deal. Linfen is not a big city by Chinese standards, it's just a third-tier one. Never worked there, but visited seven times, only once on visa business, the other times to change trains. Had a look around and a meal near the railway station, for a few hours, while waiting for my next train. Typical Shanxi third-tier city. Didn't see another foreigner during my brief visits. I think the local Chinese in smaller places with few laowai tend to be more friendly to laowai. Maybe it's better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond. Anyway, I didn't come to China to meet other laowai. For every ten I have met here, maybe only one can be a friend. So, I prefer to avoid them. But that's not what most other laowai in China think. They feel like lost sheep in places bereft of laowai. The laugh is, they might well end up in a quarrel or a fist fight when they happen to meet another loawai in a bar or in a restaurant. People here from the west have different needs and priorities, that's the thing. Oftentimes, they can't be friends because they have little in common. Just look at the bickering on the board among laowai with differing views, that's an example of what I mean!

[Edited by Administrator (admin) Thu, 07 Jul 2011, 06:44 AM]