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Basic information on Jinzhou City |
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Jinzhou is a city in Liaoning Province, which is one of the 3 provinces that makes up `Dongbei` or the north-east region of China. There are 3,000,000 people living in Jinzhou prefecture. 770,000 of them live in urban areas, but there are several smaller towns around Jinzhou city proper. Jinzhou is about five hours east of Beijing by train. It is another 5 hours or so to Dalian, a fast-developing city, also called the `Hong Kong of the north`. Shenyang, the provincial capital, is a little more than 2 hours away. Shanhaiguan, where the Great Wall of China meets the sea, is about an hour and a half to the west. Jinzhou City lies half an hour away from the seaside and Bijiashan (an island dotted with temples in the Bohai Gulf that can be reached on foot, once the tide pulls away). Apart from Bijiashan, Jiznhou doesn`t have that many tourist attractions, which makes it a place where real Chinese culture still exists and it is often referred to by many expats living here as `the real China`.
Make no mistake; this is a modern city. Everything is paved. While some of the buildings are starting to show their age, there are new ones going up all the time. There is plenty of green space, too. The reservoir that forms one of the borders of town is planted with weeping willows and has a beautiful promenade and park. There are a number of well-groomed public parks where the city's residents gather until late evening. There are mountains for hiking nearby.
Downtown is busy. The sidewalks are full of window-shoppers. Stores blare advertisements and techno to draw shoppers in. There are vendors hawking their wares. Buses, cars, motorcycles, scooters, pedicabs, bicycles and pedestrians perform a chaotic ballet at every intersection. |
| Getting around in Jinzhou |
Local Bus
There is a bus stop in front of the main gate of the school. The bus that stops there costs 1 RMB per ride. It takes about half an hour to get downtown. The bus runs on a loop in both directions. Buses come every 5 or 10 minutes and run from 6am until 8 am.
Taxi
Taxis are usually parked in front of the school. The base fare is 5 RMB. It costs 10 to 11 RMB to get downtown.
Rickshaws
These 3-wheeled motorcycles are a little cheaper than taxis. Make sure to negotiate a price before you get in. It should only cost 3 or 4 RMB to get to the railroad tracks. Because they produce more visible exhaust, they aren't allowed into the heart of downtown.In downtown itself you can hop onto a non-motorised rikshaw, which of course are also cheaper than taxis and provide a nice experience.
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| The cost of living in Jinzhou |
At the current conversion rate (The PRC basically pegs their unit of currency, the Renminbi (RMB) to the dollar), one dollar is worth about 8 RMB. Jinzhou is pretty cheap,so you can live here pretty luxuriously. Budgeting a little more than 80 RMB per day, you can eat Peking duck for dinner every night. Peking duck for two is about 30 RMB. If you're feeling more frugal, try a plate of delicious fried dumplings from a vendor across the street from the school's main gate. A healthy serving will set you back 1.5 RMB. That's a little less than $ 0.20. A c ab from campus to the center of town costs about 10 kuai. Or you can take the bus for one kuai. Some foreign brand cell phones cost more than 2,000 RMB. Some domestic brands cost a few hundred. A new DVD player costs about 300 RMB. Newly released DVDs at the electronics market cost 5 kuai. A half-liter of local beer at a sidewalk cafe can cost as little as 2 kuai. A 12 oz . Coors Light at a ˇ°westernˇ± nightclub can cost 20 RMB. One freshly-brewed cup of coffee at an upscale cafe can cost more than 25 RMB. It all depends on what you want. The more foreign your tastes are, the more expensive things are. Two pounds of lychees cost a little less than one US dollar. |
The weather in Jinzhou |
The weather in Jinzhou is pleasant, especially in Autumn and Spring. During winter the occasional snow may fall and during summer it`s definitely a good idea to go to the beach.
There are four seasons:
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Spring (March to May),warm,temperature from 5ˇăC to 20ˇăC |
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Summer (June-August),hot and rainy,average temperature 20 -30ˇăC |
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Autumn (September to November),dry and cool,temperature from 5ˇăC to 20ˇăC |
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Winter(December to Febrary),cold,temperature from -10ˇăC to 15ˇăC |
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The campus of Liaoning Medical University |
The campus of Liaoning Medical University lies in the north of the city, about ten minutes away from downtown. The campus is pretty big. It takes about twenty minutes to walk from one end to the other. It is very clean and well-maintained. There always seem to be groundskeepers actively watering, pruning and mowing the many lawns and ornamental trees. There are many amenities here, which will be described below |
Restaurants |
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In addition to the university canteens and the public kitchen where you can cook yourself, the university also has two restaurants. Both of them are based in the same building. One of them is an upscale Chinese restaurant, but inexpensive. The other one is a fast-food restaurant that offers Chinese, Western food and Indian food. It depends on what you want to eat, but on average 20 RMB a day should be enough for you to have two decent meals. |
Of course, students can also leave the campus to have meals. Just across from the main gate there are endless food stalls where you can buy very inexpensive Chinese and Jinzhou specialities. One of Jinzhou`s specialities is barbecue and barbecue restaurants can be found all over the city. In addition there are many other restaurants that offer specialities from all across China, such as Beijing Duck, Sichuan spicy food and so on. Meals in restaurants are not expensive, a meal for two should cost you about 60 RMB, drinks included. Some western restaurants have also found their way into Jinzhou, including KFC and some real restaurants, most of which offer pizzas, pastas, western-style steaks and so on. |
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Dormitories |
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At the moment we have two dormitory buildings with a total of 141 rooms for foreign students. In each room t here is a small entry corridor with two closets and the door to the bathroom. The room itself is about 150 square feet. Each room is equipped with beds, a wardrobe, a desk and chair, a sidetable, a television (with reception of all Chinese channels and satellite). Each room has at least one large window. |
In addition, central heat is provided by a radiator in the winter, and the rooms have individually controlled air-conditioners for the summer heat. Moreover every room has internet connection. The bathroom is comfortable. It is about 25 square feet. The toilet is western style. There is a water heater mounted on the wall that connects by hose to a shower head. There is a sink and mirror. Every bathroom is also equipped with a washing machine. Apart from the rooms in the dormitory there is also a public kitchen with cooking utilities and refrigerators and a place where the students can have their meals.
Normally international students share a room with another international student. The cost price is 5500 RMB a year. In case you don`t want to share a room, you can get a single room, the price of which is 11.000 RMB a year. |
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Sport facilities |
The campus offers a range of sport facilities. All over campus you can find basketball courts, volleyball courts, table tennis tables and there is also one football field. One of the buildings on campus houses a gym, which has a large selection of weight machines, dumbells, plates, benches and a smith rack. There are no cardio machines, but aerobics classes are held twice daily. A membership card costs 25 RMB a month. Once a year the university holds a huge sports meeting in which Chinese as well as international students can compete against eachother.
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Useful links |
The daily weather forecast for Jinzhou:
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=jinzhou
The site of the foreign students at Liaoning Medical University http://mbbsinjmu.blogsome.com/category/main-page/ |
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