Learning Chinese in Shanghai - Adult education

I have been living in Shanghai almost 4 months now and during this time I have been attending language courses in different language schools in search of the language school with the most suitable course design and teaching methods.

According to my personal experience I can recommend following schools:

Mandarin House for an intensive private language course. I suggest an intensive, 2- hours-a-day course for 6 weeks. This will permit you to learn the basic vocabulary (about 800 words) and the most relevant grammar topics. 

ChineseTime for an intensive private language course. This language school has good teachers, uses a Learning Management System, eLearning content and teletutoring via Skype. 

Eastern China Normal University (Hua Dong Shi Fan Da Xue) for an intensive course focused on the Chinese writing system. Price: 4months 500 Euros (5000 RMB).

For Business people that are prepared to pay more I recommend New Concept Mandarin, whose teaching methods are similar to "superlearning".

The majority of language schools offer the possibility of attending one hour trial lesson. This is a good chance to evaluate not only the quality of the teaching but also other important aspects such as the school environment (classroom equipment, windows, heating system) and to get an idea of the people that are attending courses in the school. 

A language school can usually organise the accomodation. Depending to the position of the apartment there might be high price differences. For a room in a 2-persons flat the rate is around 130-200 Euro per month. For a room in a family the rate is around 300 Euros (breakfast and dinner are included).

Contrasts

I took these two pictures two days ago, on my way to uni. 

From my apartment to the campus I only need 25 minutes by feet (2 kilometres). On my way to the uni I pass through all possible worlds, from the nicest park in Shanghai (Zhong Shan Park) through a sort of slum. Well, I try to be very fast there, mainly if they are killing the chickens. I am quicker every morning. This morning I took 17 minutes. I am becoming a good runner.

Books for Conversational Chinese

for Italians: Nuovo Parlo Cinese (Vallardi)

for English speakers: Madarin (lonely planet)

6 days Shanghai and sourroundings

1st Day: Visit to the Bund. Jin Mao Tower (highest building in Shanghai). Cruise on the Hangpu river (the river is disgustingly dirty, but the cruise gives you a good idea of the city's architecture).

2nd Day: Fake markets day. Pearls (Hongqiao Pearl Market), Chinese dresses (Soft-Spinning Material Market), ipod and other electronic stuff (Shanghai Science Technology Museum). Remember: The rule is to give the seller a forth of the price they will ask you. After the bargaining stress you could plan to go to a good tea house to taste some good Chinese tea (my favorite is the Long Jin Cha - the Dragon Well Tea from Hangzhou and the High Mountain Tea from Taiwan).

3rd Day: Museums Day. Shanghai Museum, Expo 2010 Exhibition Center, ShangArt Museum (in the North of the City). 

4th Day: Some parks and Temples. There are some nice parks in Shanghai, e.g. Zhongshan Park (just in front of our apartment).

5th Day: Hangzhou. It is about 1 hour by train in the south-west of Shanghai.

6th Day: Suzhou. It is about 1 hour by train in the east of Shanghai.

What to do in Shanghai?

Shanghai is the largest city in China with over 20 milion inhabitants. It is the center of the automotive industry, so you have a lot of German and American expatriates here working for car producers. Shanghai is a modern and international city (Europeans have been living in the French Concession since the 19th century). So, don't worry if you can not speak Chinese as here the majority of young people can speak (or at least understand) English. Even taxi driver can speak some words English. 

The most interesting things to see (but this is of course my point of view) are:

- The fake markets (probably Shanghai's favorite attraction). where you can buy bags, watches, ipod and even computers for a reduced price... of course you won't get any garantee...; there is an unofficial list of prices to use in these markets (e.g. for a t-shirt you shouldn't pay more than 25 yuan - 2,5 Euro, for a pair of jeans no more than 100 yuan - 10 Euro, for a pearl necklace 40 yuan - 4 Euro... I have seen a similar necklace in a bijou shop last time I was in Europe and it costed 80 Euros). 

• Tao Bao Cheng
  
• Shanghai yatai shenghui mianliao shichang
  
• Shanghai qipu lu fuzhuang shichang
  
• Shanghai south bund soft-spinning material market
  

Here you will need some determination to get the right price. But don't worry, after a couple of trials you will also be able to do it!

- The city it self and the numerous open construction sites. During the last 10 years Shanghai has changed a lot. The small popular (and poorly build) houses have been replaced with huge skyscrapers and the government is still investing a lot of money to make Shanghai the nicest and the most important city in the world. As the taxis are very cheap in China, I would suggest you to spend a good time travelling all around to get an idea of the dimensions of the city. Particular interesting is the Expo Construction site which will host the Expo 2010 (it stretches for some square-kilometres on the right side of the river).

- Museums: Of course there are a lot of museums in the city worth visiting. 

• Shanghai Museum (different section, from ceramic to calligraphy to running expositions of traditional art)
  
• Shanghai Art Museum (modern art)
  
• MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art (modern art, very nice bar at the top of the building)
  
• ShanghArt (very nice gallery showing pieces of art of young Chinese artists, I liked this place)
  

- Temples (I will write something about this soon. I must say that I am not really interested in temples also because the majority of them seems to have been built just a couple of years ago... probably I am just ignorant about this topic...).

- Parks: Considering that Shanghai is an ocean of cement, full of smog and people, you will probably feel like to go for a walk in a park during your staying in Shanghai. Parks is one of the most beautiful experience in Shanghai as there you will find a lot of people practicing their favourite sport (e.g. Taichi, Qigong, Chinese ballets and other activities). A visit in the park will fill you with joy and fresh air. The nicest and biggest park in Shanghai is Zhong Shan Gong Yuan (and I live just in front of it). Other parks are Chang Feng Gong Yuan (it is next to my uni campus, the Eastern China Normal University), the Century Gong Yuan (in Pudong, pretty far away from where I live and also in a place that I really do not like a lot). Then there are other small parks in the city but I think that these parks are the most worth for a visit. In the south of the city Shanghai has also a Botanic Garden, which is everything but an interesting place as it is organised as a flower shop and have the same plants you can cultivate at home.

- High quality tailor (well, I found a very good tailor in Shanghai that uses Italian fabrics. One man suits+3 shirts will cost 350 Euro, which is a real bargain considering that more than 80 Euros is the cost of the fabrics). We have made a very nice suit for Francesco. It is simply a dream, something that you will pay surely 800 Euro (only the suit) in an Italian shop.

- Good restaurants:

• Bukhara (Indian Restaurant) - my favourite *****
  
• Coconut (Thai Restaurant) ***
  
• Maccalle (Italian Restaurant) ***
  
• HotPot King (Chinese Restaurant, hot pot)****
• Merrylin (Chinese Restaurant, franchising) ****

The best Chinese 5 Stars Restaurants according to Graham Earnshaw, owner of the entertainment park Fuxing: 

• 1221 The Dining Room
• Ren Jian
• Gong de Lin
• 1931
• Mandarin Sky 

- Tea Houses (I will write something about this in the coming days...)

Shanghai Map.

What to do before going to China

• Check that you have a valid passport.
• Request visa from the consulate or embassy -> this takes usually one week, but it is better to request it one month before, just to be sure you will have it. The visa will expire after three months from the date in which it was issued.
• Save relevant numbers (such as the one of the consulate of your country) in your mobile phone. This may be useful in case you need a translator or for any other problem.

1. Italian consulate Shanghai: +86(21) 54075588
   
2. German consulate Shanghai: +86(21) 63912068
   
3. Austrian consulate Shanghai: +86(21) 64740268
   
4. Australian consulate Shanghai: +86(21) 5292 5500
5. For other consulates check here.

• Renew (if it is the case) vaccination against hepatitis A and B. The quality of the water is very bad in China. In some restaurant not only they cook with tap water but they use it to produce "fresh" juices.
• Buy ticket for China from Europe (it will cost between 500 and 800 Euros).
• Learn some basic phrases in Chinese (you find a collection of the most used in my blog Wohuishuohanyu). This will help you to get the most out of your staying in China. 
• I then suggest you to read the Travels of Marco Polo (even in the simplified or children version). This will give you a lot of information about the China's history, the Kublai Kan dinasty and Chinese life (as many things haven't change since then...).