Daisy inquired about XiaMen and QingDao. She seeks info about weather:

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/local/CHXX0110?lswe=qingd\
ao&from=searchbox_localwx

and the costs of apartments.



John has previously written many details about the excellence of Xiamen, I will
add that QingDao is a lovely city, adjacent to the mountains, directly on the
ocean. It is cold in the winter, with snow, but sunshine.



Compared with other cities in China, I would add that QingDao has cleaner air.
It is not terribly expensive, compared with other large urban centers, seven
years ago, a newly constructed two bedroom flat could be rented for 1000
RMB/month. Such flats were located however, in the ordinary section of town, if
one wished to reside in the gated, foreigner only residences, I am sure that the
costs would be much higher.



There are a dozen colleges and universities in QingDao, some quite good, some
mediocre. Several of them employ foreigners to teach English. I think it is
quite easy for a foreigner to obtain work in QingDao, simply by showing up.
There are also some private schools, and some secondary schools which employ
foreigners.



In my opinion, probably not shared by many people, ShangHai is a much better
choice, than QingDao, for a foreigner. The weather is better in QingDao, and
the air is cleaner, but the European/Western influence is much stronger in
ShangHai. QingDao offers one advantage, compared with other cities: it has
many, many Japanese and Korean business people, with their families, thus, an
opportunity to provide individual instruction to their children. It is also,
accordingly, a great place to study both Mandarin, and (Japanese or Korean), for
those inclined to study both languages while earning a living. Unlike ShangHai
or XiaMen, the townspeople of QingDao speak Mandarin (with their own accent,)
but, understand and can use standard Mandarin when speaking to foreigners.



Rumor only, no first hand experience, DaLian is the best city to work and live
in China. I thought TianJin was first class, when I visited there; it is the
city that most interests me, if I were ever to return to ZG...



regards, CAI ENG