Moving to Chengdu: Housing Assistance

[elizorbeth]

Hello! I’m so happy to have found this forum. I have been reading over several prior posts and the information has been extremely useful. Thank you!

I am interested in moving to Chengdu this year and would love to find some assistance with finding housing. I lived in China for a year (2012) in Haikou, Hainan province, so am very familiar with the initial challenges of navigating the culture and language, and securing basic things like utilities, phone, drinking water, the usual stuff. However, because I came to China as an English teacher, my housing was already secured for me.

This time around I will be coming to China on my own, and am back to my normal job of software consulting, so will be working remotely for my US clients. My ideal situation would be:

• to find an apartment in the 3000-5000RMB range, in a neighborhood where I can easily commute by train and taxi should I need to venture out and about
• to be able to live for 2-3 months at a time in Chengdu, with trips back to the US in between (for maybe a few weeks to a month each visit), while still paying for my apartment in Chengdu so that I always have the same place to come back to
• would love to live within short walking distance to parks for exercise and as much of an outdoorsy feeling in the city as possible

Do you have any recommendations on neighborhoods? Which neighborhoods have an old-style feel with all the nearby modern conveniences, restaurants, shopping, etc.?

Do I need to go through an agent if I’d like to secure something prior to travel?

What would the Visa situation look like for my situation? i.e. living 2-3 months at a time in Chengdu between US visits?

Are there people I can be in touch with ahead of traveling there who can speak some English (because my Chinese is still medium-beginner level), and who can be available from time to time should I need advanced language skills for translation? For example, I got really sick one time in Haikou and had to go to the hospital, and without my coworker who was fluent in Chinese, it would have been a disaster. I know I will make friends over time who I can ask for help, but initially I’m hoping to find an insta-support-system, however small, just to get up and running in the first month there. Will happily pay for their time!

The gist is that this time around I’d like to secure a comfy home as a launchpad for getting out and exploring the city and culture. My last Chinese apartment was livable but very old, dirty and uncomfortable. I’d happily pay a little extra for comfort and cleanliness. I sincerely appreciate any guidance!

Elizabeth ([email protected])

[Charlie]

Hi Elizabeth,

In that price range you’ll be able to find a really comfortable and clean place that is conveniently located. You could live downtown, but I would advise avoiding all the traffic and hassle of that area and living in the South. Both the Tongzilin and Kehua Beilu areas are good, although Tongzilin has better subway access.

I’m not too sure about your visa. The visa laws change here rapidly. It used to be the case that you could buy an F-visa without any questions asked, but I think that’s no longer the case. I’m sure you can figure it out though, someone else might have helpful information on that.

There are routinely posts on the forum by Chinese locals looking for language exchange partners, I would get in touch with them. But I wouldn’t worry too much about hospitals in particular – you can get by with English at Huaxi hospital in Chengdu and I recently went to Global Doctors for the first time this week, and they have foreign doctors every weekday from 9-6pm. It’s not cheap (I paid around $200 for a consultation plus medication for a sore throat) but the convenience is great. Sometimes the wait at Huaxi can be really long, and the overall conditions can be poor (I went there a few months ago and the bathrooms didn’t have soap, paper towels, or even running water).

[elizorbeth]

Thank you, Charlie! I will try to find out more information on the F Visa so that I can start the process. I will also look into the Tongzilin neighborhood since it has better subway access.

If no luck on the F visa, I wonder if I can get an L visa and keep renewing it. Do you have any insights or experience with this approach? It’s not ideal, but am wondering if it’s even possible.

Thanks again!

Elizabeth

[Charlie]

elizorbeth wrote:

If no luck on the F visa, I wonder if I can get an L visa and keep renewing it. Do you have any insights or experience with this approach? It’s not ideal, but am wondering if it’s even possible.

That might be a great option for you actually, since you don’t plan on staying in Chengdu for more than 2-3 months at a time. Ordinarily the two major limitations of staying on an L visa are cost and duration.

[Rick in China]

Yeah – L visa renewals looks like the way to go. I’ve heard some embassies abroad issue only 1 month tourist visas, but I thought they go up to 3 – maybe you need some sort of evidence of residency for that time or something in order to do that. You can ask at your local application office.

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