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Hello,
I’m going to be a new student in Chengdu and would be going to Chengdu University for the next 4 or 5 years or so. Anyone know where I can rent an apartment BEFORE I arrive so I have a place to stay when I get there? or I don’t get to rent an apartment until get there?
Can I get a phone number before I arrive to Chengdu too? I have iphone 5 so, which carrier should I go with?
Sorry if these questions have been repeated. Please refer pages if they are repeated questions.
Thank you all in advance!
I would wait until you get here to get an apartment. It’s easy to get ripped off arranging an apartment in advance. In the meantime, stay in a hostel or hotel for a few days while you find a place.
For your phone, I would get China Unicom 3G. I have this service on my iPhone 5 and pay about 200 rmb a month for 1gb of monthly 3G data.
Should I purchase the plan before I go? Or I should do that when I’m there also?
Purchase the plan when you’re here. It’s easy to set up at any China Unicom office.
FYI There are also a lot cheaper options available. I pay 64RMB/month for 300mb of data and with YouTube being blocked in China it’s more than enough for chatting and looking at pictures.
The only time I reach that limit is when I go travelling and use my 3G for all my internet traffic pretty much 24/7.
I don’t know where Chengdu University is located but Unicom’s shops are pretty much all over town and pretty obvious because they’re painted orange outside. There’s a big one at the south end of Kehua Bei Lu. Bring your passport and don’t forget to mention you need a nano (iPhone 5) sim card.
Agree with Charlie about the apartment. Just find a hostel nearby your school and use your internet skills to find a Century21 office in the area. They usually have someone who can speak a little bit of English. You can probably even just walk around the area and find one. If you tell them you need to be close to Chengdu Uni and have a budget of xxxx RMB, you’ll most likely find something within a few days.
FYI There are also a lot cheaper options available. I pay 64RMB/month for 300mb of data …
Vincent, which carrier did you use for this kind of plan?
China Unicom. The two biggest carriers are China Unicom and China Mobile, but China Mobile’s 3G signal works on a different frequency than most foreign iPhones so it doesn’t work. At least that’s what was going on a few years ago.
Thank you Charlie and Vincent for answering my questions! I will remember your advices!
I will post more questions if I have anymore.
I tried to get a Chinese Sim card from 2 different China Mobile places, but they did not let me. I needed a Chinese ID card, a passport was not enough. Has something changed or should I try China Unicom?
A Chinese ID card? Huh? Passport works for both China Telecom and China Unicom for sure, I don’t use any China Mobile services any more. I agree with Vincent on the plan – I think I have exactly the same plan 300mb/month data or something and it’s really cheap, I never find myself going over unless I use a lot when I’m on the road and using it a lot. Both the Telecom and Unicom offices I go to have “English” speaking lines, as well. I’d be shocked if a larger China Mobile centre didn’t have 1) an English speaking line and 2) the ability for a foreigner to buy/charge a SIM with a passport available.
I’ve been able to get a China Mobile and Unicom sim card with my passport with no problems earlier this year.
They probably just didn’t want to deal with a foreigner.
I’m hearing a lot of relatives say that there are many people in China who can trick your money and a lot of other kinds of bad people there. Is this mis-perception or is that true? How are the people in Chengdu?
I’m hearing a lot of relatives say that there are many people in China who can trick your money and a lot of other kinds of bad people there. Is this mis-perception or is that true? How are the people in Chengdu?
There aren’t as many scammers in Chengdu as other Chinese cities, but they still exist. It’s a good idea to have savvy local friends that can show you how things are run around here before you go off on your own.
I’m hearing a lot of relatives say that there are many people in China who can trick your money and a lot of other kinds of bad people there. Is this mis-perception or is that true? How are the people in Chengdu?
There are a lot of scammers in China. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to describe this as a worldwide scammer hotspot. However, there are far fewer of these types in Chengdu than in other major cities in China, especially Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, etc. Foreigners are far more likely to be ripped off or taken advantage of in those cities.
Totally agree with Charlie about China – Chengdu is OK, Guangzhou you’ll get f’d – with the addition that there are _lots_ of scammer hot spots around the world, if you’re for example, from Egypt, you wont get taken in China — because shit gets real in countries where you arrive at the airport and the scamming begins literally before you pass through customs (by people who don’t actually work in the airport).
Anything feeling a bit weird, just make sure you have a phone number of someone that you can call and verify whether it’s legit.
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