Help - Information required for China - Dalian

[ecomindia]

I thought the best place to ask about anything can only be one place - DNF.
I am looking for information on Dalian city in China.

I may be moving somewhere in the month of June for minimum a year (Z-Visa) and will need to know the information about the city.

Although i tried google and other stuff, but not able to get the best options. The best site i was told till date is numbeo.com that really provides a good estimate on the cost of living.

I will need to know primarily the leading chinese classifieds , chinese rental services website. Information on city, rent (in RMB), transport, people, cost of living, etiquttes, mandarin language and more will be of great help.

I have seen many users from People Republic of China here and will request if i can get help. Thank you in advance. God bless.

 

[haodomains]

leading chinese classifieds:

baixing.com, 58.com, ganji.com

But most of them are in Chinese, can you read Chinese?

 

[ecomindia]

thank you!!!!

yes, i tried ganji.com day before yesterday and it was really useful.
no, i do not understand chinese (mandarin) but I have managed to do translate via google and was really helpful.

now i am looking at an approx figure of groceries and fruits. not able to find it anywhere ... not even in carrefour.com.cn site or anywhere..
please help on this too. thanks in advance.

 

[Bill F.]

I've only been to Dalian once, but I lived in China for a few years. By most standards food prices are quite cheap, not compared to India maybe, but to most Western countries. Living accommodations can be had cheaply as well, but there's a trade off in security and comfort. I would at least make sure your building has 24 hour security. Transport will be either bus or taxis. Both are quite cheap. You will have to make sure the taxi driver turns on the meter to minimize problems.
Dalian is a pretty city, with some grand old Russian buildings downtown, and is famous throughout China for it's beautiful women (rightfully so, I think). The air is relatively clean, and I find the people a bit more sophisticated than the usual brusk Northern Chinese.

As long as you stick to seasonal fruits, they will be very cheap. Apples and especially red globe grapes are grown in that area.

Try to take your time finding living accommodations. The highest end, where many foreigners live, is not all that cheap. Sometimes you can get a high end apartment that's aimed at upper middle class Chinese, and those are very nice and reasonable - quite often nicer than the places where all the expats live sometimes.

Maybe it has changed, but if you are doing business, Dalian can be very good. Shanghai, Beijing, and anything near Hong Kong have a lot of foreigners trying to make money, but other large cities such as Dalian have plenty of opportunities. If it makes any difference, Dalian has more Japanese speakers than most Chinese cities as well.
Aside from being damn cold at times, I think it's one of the better cities in China.

 

[ecomindia]

Hey Bill. Thank you.
This is really one great help for me.

I will be moving as an employee and working there. As I am single, I will definitely be looking at average but comfortable accomodation. You rightfully said - "24 hr security" is one thing i will have to ensure and as I will be provided 1st month accomodation from company, in that time i will be searching for places to live.

That's a nice tip - seasonal fruits and vegetables - will do save me good money! Initially, will prefer taxis (will keep a watch on meter) and simultaneously will start taking bus services too.

Yes, i have to see the rent been charged includes what all utilities and running cost. As i was going through the classifieds, many apartments include in the rent and many not. Also, there was a very nice tip in one of the site where it mentioned "Take pictures of the room and condition of the util goods provided by the landlord to have no problem later"

Thanks a lot for giving your valuabel time for helping me out.Thanks.

 

[ecomindia]

1 more question.
As i understand, there will be restricted # of sites i can access to.

Request help as I need to know if I can access:
1) Godaddy, eNOM, DirectI (resellerclub), dynadot, name, moniker, namecheap
2) yahoo mail, google mail, rediff mail,
3) linkedin, facebook, twitter

Please do help me with this. thanks

 

[ecomindia]

it's nice to be back to DNF after so long long time (although only a month and half) as was busy shifting to new place & culture!
I will sooon be sharing few things about the place specially the domaining industry in china that has really suprised my fundamentals.!

till thn, take care