Tell me about your experience living in Shenzhen

[Freakin' Amazing]

Well I was only jesting w/ the driver bit, I doubt it will be on the table as I'm not that high up, but we'll see. How much does a car/driver run one nowadays in SZ?

Anyone know of any forums/sights on Shenzhen? The place seems to be one of the few places left in the world with a large black void of English online presence. So much for that "marrying of international metropolises" Donald was talking about...

From what little there is Shekou seems to be the place most similar to northern Taipei, but transit is an issue. Futian supposedly is No 2, anyone lived there?

[Huang Guang Chen]

There is a site called Shenzhen Party, mostly upcoming happy hours and so on, but there are often good links.

HG

[Freakin' Amazing]

Yup, checked it out. Thanks for the info HGC.

Apparently only you and Elegua have been to this magical place.

[Huang Guang Chen]

From what little there is Shekou seems to be the place most similar to northern Taipei, but transit is an issue.

Half an hour by car from Shekou to mid downtown tops. Can't remember the taxi fare, but under Rmb100. There's a new MTR line going out to Shekou that will open, I think, in 2010.

Futian supposedly is No 2, anyone lived there?

Futian is better than Luo Wo (that's not saying a lot), but feels like an urban wasteland. It is relatively up market (we're talking Shenzhen here). Most freigners are in, or socialise in Shekou, especially those with families.

Cheers.
HG

[SerpentChina]

After posting on this forum for a few days, I've noticed (understandably) that people have a really odd idea of what the mainland is like... and also last time I was in Taiwan people couldn't believe that I lived on the "terrible mainland".

So I'd like to set a few things straight (No politics please), this isn't about politics, this is about the living conditions in Shenzhen, I'd like you to all see that it's not as bad as you may think.

A year or two ago me and a couple of friends put together a few videos as a fun project of our exploring some parts of Shenzhen, please follow this link and post your legitimate comments on what you think it's like (as bad as you thought? Better?). And please.. no Taiwan/China politics.

http://www.youtube.com/user/PSPTRAVELLE ... 7B78459233

[Elegua]

I think that says more about the high quality of life in Taiwan is. For me, it almost equals Singapore. YMMV.

As for living in China, I enjoyed it from a work persepctive, but everything else was pretty poor. You end up having to ignore the reality behind all of the shiny infrastructure.

[SerpentChina]

Think of it as the modern day Babylon, Sodom and Gomorra all wrapped into one.

Listen, I have to speak up here, I've been through Taipei on a scooter (a few times) and as far as environment is concerned it's far worse than Shenzhen, it's older, dirtier, the air quality is rubbish and the traffic is bad (I love Taipei BTW, but I have to be honest).

Shenzhen really isn't a bad place, it doesn't have the Japanese influence that Taipei does (as in the cool food and stores etc), but it's still a great place. I've been living in Shenzhen for four years, and I enjoy exploring dodgey little shit urban villages at night and sitting at the side of the road BBQ's drinking a beer with the locals, I ran out of money when I first got here and spent 2 months living in 沙嘴 (which was at the time the red-light slum of Shenzhen, actually I guess it still is along with 下沙), I can tell you that there is nothing to worry about from a crime point of view if you're a foreigner, as long as you don't involve yourself in drugs or prostitution or that sort of thing you should be 100% okay.

I've now been living in Futian for 3 years near to 华强北 (Hua qiang bei) the electronics district, and it's convenient, clean, quiet, modern and safe.

I'm just astounded at how biased people are against the mainland, politics aside Shenzhen is a great place to live with Bar streets, German micro-breweries, live music, trendy night-clubs (don't forget this is Hong Kong's Playground) and just about anything you could ever need (except cheese)!

[Northcoast Surfer]

A year or two ago me and a couple of friends put together a few videos as a fun project of our exploring some parts of Shenzhen, please follow this link and post your legitimate comments on what you think it's like (as bad as you thought? Better?)

I watched your Dong Men part 1 video and it was very interesting. Dong Men looks very new and modern. Most of what I've seen and heard about China has been regarding Guangdong and how dirty and polluted it is, so it was nice to see something different. I have a few questions if you don't mind.

1. What is the main business in Dong Men? Where does the money come from? Telecommunications? Computers? Technologic manufacturing? Pharmaceuticals? I didn't see any huge factories or black smoky skies in your video. What do most Chinese do? Service industries?

2. Which company do you work for? What is your job position? Is Chinese language required for your job? How long have you been there? Did you volunteer to move there or were you volunteered? From other posts you've made it looks like you'rer coming to Taiwan. Permanently, short term, why the move? Happy about it or not?

3. You showed the Japanese area which had various pubs, restaurants, etc. Are there really any Japanese there? Are all these restaurants and pubs owned and run by Japanese people? What I mean is... I'm from America. If I walk into a Thai restaurant in America, it's owned by an immigrant Thai family and Thai people are running it, a Korean restaurant has Koreans, etc. Seems almost foolish to say it. But Taiwan....not really. I walk into a Japanese restaurant, not one Japanese, no Japanese speakers. Thai restaurant, maybe they have a foreign Thai worker who is supposed to be taking care of grandmother, but instead she's cooking in the Taiwanese owned restaurant, no menu in Thai and no Thai language speakers to be found. When I go to a foreign restaurant whether it be Indian, Thai, German, Japanese, Korean, I would like to eat and experience authentic food prepared by the actual ethic people themselves. Is this how it is in Dong Men or are they just Chinese owned businesses catering to Japanese people living in Dong Men?

4. This next question is a little political and it has to be because it's related to living in China. How is the Internet and access to information and the Chinese government desire to censor anything they feel is objectionable. Do you have 100% free access to the Internet without government interference? Over here in Taiwan I am constantly on the Internet reading news stories on CNN, Drudge, Lucciane, watching my Slingboxes and Havaboxes so I can have US television in my home, etc. I couldn't live anywhere that I wasn't able to access this information without censorship 24/7.

5. How is the rasicm toward foreigners? Does your health card have a "foreigner" stamp on it? Can you get permanent residency? Can you become a naturalized citizen? Can you do the following without a co-signer?....get a bank loan to purchase your own condo, get a local credit card, hook up Internet, hook up phone service, get mobile phone service, get a loan to buy a car or motorcycle. In Taiwan foreigners are faced with a lot of discrimination and the usual standard response to questioning these racist policies is, "Because you are a foreigner"!

Thanks for your videos. I'll get to parts 2 and 3 later.

[Mucha Man]

Think of it as the modern day Babylon, Sodom and Gomorra all wrapped into one.

Listen, I have to speak up here, I've been through Taipei on a scooter (a few times) and as far as environment is concerned it's far worse than Shenzhen, it's older, dirtier, the air quality is rubbish and the traffic is bad (I love Taipei BTW, but I have to be honest).

Shenzhen really isn't a bad place, it doesn't have the Japanese influence that Taipei does (as in the cool food and stores etc), but it's still a great place. I've been living in Shenzhen for four years, and I enjoy exploring dodgey little shit urban villages at night and sitting at the side of the road BBQ's drinking a beer with the locals, I ran out of money when I first got here and spent 2 months living in 沙嘴 (which was at the time the red-light slum of Shenzhen, actually I guess it still is along with 下沙), I can tell you that there is nothing to worry about from a crime point of view if you're a foreigner, as long as you don't involve yourself in drugs or prostitution or that sort of thing you should be 100% okay.

I've now been living in Futian for 3 years near to 华强北 (Hua qiang bei) the electronics district, and it's convenient, clean, quiet, modern and safe.

I'm just astounded at how biased people are against the mainland, politics aside Shenzhen is a great place to live with Bar streets, German micro-breweries, live music, trendy night-clubs (don't forget this is Hong Kong's Playground) and just about anything you could ever need (except cheese)!

First off, if you want to avoid politics stop calling China the mainland. It grates on the ears for many of us given its strong political overtones.

Secondly, it's not astonishing at all how many people are biased against China. Most urban areas of China are god awful both environmentally and socially. The air is filthy, the streets are filthy (though much better in recent years and many smaller cities can have less trash about than comparable Taiwanese towsn), general infrastucture is terrible, homeless migrant workers hang out everywhere, children beg from you at tourist areas, the gap between rich and poor is disgracefully high and in your face everywhere, petty attempts to rip you off happen daily, and there is too often a general feeling of disorder and unease. Coming from a place like Taiwan it is shocking.

Yes, it is possible to isolate and insulate youself from the worst of it in nice expat areas but then you aren't really living in China are you? Your main point seems to be, hey Shenzhen is great because we've got shiny western districts where you can get great stuff like German beer just like back home.

And Vegas is great if you want to see the canals of Venice.

[headhonchoII]

Hmmm... I was atleast hoping to only have to lower my standards to Taizhong.... Maybe I will have to put "black A6 + driver included" into the contract.

How's it compare to outskirts Beijing? Like 3rd, 4th ring road type area?

Just like the video suggested, it's brushing up quite nicely. Don't know what it's like to live there but when I visited it looked quite nice, quite a few trees, modern infrastructure. Don't knock Kaoshiung (Gaoxiong) BTW, it has a lot going for it and is eminently more liveable than many cities I know (great bike paths now around most of the city, more parks than any other city in Taiwan, very cheap rent, new spacious and cheap subway, good traffic and mostly uncrowded, good weather, close to Kending).