On-Campus Accommodations

[Hypiereon]

Several people have queried me about on-campus accommodations. My insight here is very limited to what I have seen, (not much), and what I've heard from others, (a little vague). So all you who have worked in China, lived on campus, or had some form of first hand experience. . . . . .let's hear from you!!

What I've seen from Mount Royal International Business Institute (SiChuan Province, ChengDu city) is a very smallish economy style apartment. The front door opens into a small sitting area, which has one small sofa (very uncomfortable and cheap) and one coffee table - this room joins to a bedroom area (no door) where a bed sits with a mattress (HAHAHAHA - check the definition of mattress and this is NOT it!) The mattress was solid enough to park a car on and pave roads with. (In other words - pretty normal).

Off the sitting room there was a restroom with a shower and western toilet (there was a door). In the sitting room there was a T.V. (all Chinese stations) a closet (worthy) and a 5 gallon water machine. Off from the sitting room again there was a smallish kitchen with a sink and a two-eye gas burner.

Available was a community washing area with several washers and dryers, and it was clean and convenient enough. The room itself always felt very small and cramped. The accommodations failry screamed, "Single people or a couple who really like the idea of getting to know things about each other they never knew!" There was one small heating / air conditioning unit for the whole apartment. Doubful it would ever do an adequate job even in this small of a space.

I choose to live off campus because I know how, and I can. My advice to others has usually been - "Come prepared to go camping in your apartment." Maybe after hearing this you'll know why. I also advise to keep your expectations as low as possible, so maybe you'll be thrilled if you get something better. Problem is, I never heard of anything better - thus this thread.

So, come on already. What's it like where you are? Please include name of school, Province, and city.

[Dillbean]

I just moved to Chengdu and am teaching english and business communications at Southwest Jiaotong University. When I arrived I asked my mentor to set me up with cheap on-campus accomodations. He set me up with an apartment (actually it's a dorm room) on the north side of campus where foreign students live. It's one room and a bathroom both of which were absolutely filthy when I got there. The landlord said he would clean the apartment so he took a hose and sprayed the floors...and that it. So it took some time to clean it, but now its in good shape. It's got a bed with the same type of mattress described by Hypiereon, hard and uncomfortable, a desk with a small stool for comfortable sitting and a dresser for clothes. The bathroom has a western style toilet, a shower (which took me almost two hours to clean. Don't expect the bathroom to be cleaned before you arrive) and a sink. No kitchen or no communal kitchen so if you would like to cook for yourself on-campus dorm living is not right for you. The heater was and still is broken (even though the landlord promised it would be fixed within a day) That was almost two weeks ago. So I had to buy my own heater. It's China though...these types of things are not very expensive. Anyway thats about it. It's a place to live which is all I was looking for. I pay 800 yuan a month (100 US Dollars). I might make some other small purchases to spruce up the place (like a chair). Hope this helps.

[worldtour]

My experience has mostly been off campus but I have seen quite a few places and I would say that there is a wide variety of conditions and much depends on what kind of a school it is. At Harbin Institute of Science and Technology since it is a fairly new campus, teachers have a really decent apartment. A living room with a decent couch, the same as all the couches in staff offices, a desk, a computer, with high speed adsl, a water machine, a cooker as described above, a bed with the similar hard as a rock features. I think I have developed permanent shoulder damage from Chinese beds. The kitchens are tiled, there is a washing machine, some will have basic cooking utinsels.

At Beijing University all teachers in our spoken English program lived on a nearby campus they were like the dorms except they were converted to a room very much like a hotel room. There were two beds, singles, and the same type of funiture you would find in a hotel, two chairs and a round table a bathroom with a tub and shower and western toilets. Communal cooking area with a fridge, tables and chairs a sanitizer for the dishes and a cook for breakfast. You could cook in the evening if you wanted and there was also a small fridges in the rooms.

Typical housing in Harbin is much cheaper than in Beijing, a 40 meter square apartment with two rooms, one can be a living room the other a bedroom, but they are usually referred to as a two bedroom as that is the way they are used in China. A small entry room with the other rooms leading off the small room, pretty useless except for a place to put your shoes and slippers. A small bathroom, it may have a bath or it may not. It might not have a shower and you will probably have to buy a hot water machine for a shower. It may or may not have a western toilet, if it doesn't the water may drain right down the squat toilet, not very attractive. Kitchens are small usually narrow and usually connect to a small window enclosed balcony. This type of apartment will cost you about 600 rmb per month plus utilities, for 1000 you can find a pretty nice one. There are also some really decent places that are quite expensive relative to your salary which may be only 5000 rmb. I currently rent a "model" apartment which is on par with any western apartment, but it is 2500 per month.

My first apartment off campus, I spent two weeks cleaning the kitchen floor to be able to see the tile pattern and it probably had never been really cleaned for a year. Pretty disgusting. Now I live the way I want and run my own classes, but may also teach at a university if I so desire.

I have some pictures of the high end place I live at, at my blog if you want to check out the expensive type of housing.

worldtour

[Raoul]

I would never take on-campus housing in China!

The apartments can indeed range from great to abysmal, but there are other issues as well.

Unis and public schools like you on campus because it's cheaper for them, but it also gives them a higher degree of control over you. Campus housing typically comes with strict rules; you can often forget about living with your girlfriend or even having an overnight guest of the other gender. Nearly all unis are behind gates that are firmly locked at a certain hour- in some places the guards are cool and will wave you on in, but in others you may find yourself climbing a wall if you want to stay out past 10pm.

There's also a privacy issue. In campus housing, EVERYONE knows where you live. You can get a pounding on the door at 7am demanding that you come substitute an 8am class. Students who receive failing grades have been known to camp at teachers' doors demanding a grade change...and others will simply drop in all the time just to hang out, speak English, and ingratiate themselves to you. And, of course, the entire Uni community will always know your every coming, going, and visitor.

Unis often turn off or restrict operating hours for utilities during the long summer and winter breaks. Teachers remaining on-campus have been known to find themselves spending hot summer nights with no electricity or hot water after 11pm, or enduring the interminable Spring Festival break (usually in February!) with no heat. Even teaching a Foundation program and living off-campus, I had to endure offices and classrooms with no heat or A/C during these periods.

To me all this seems a high price to pay for convenience to the classrooms. Get an allowance for off-campus housing...or work somewhere else.