Hygienic Questions - Study Wushu in China

Living and training at a Chinese martial arts school like Song Jiang is not like going to a boarding school in Europe or the US. But if you really want to learn wushu, I guess you will not care. The school usually doesn't allow foreigners to live in rooms with the Chinese students. So you will have to live in the school's hotel and pay at least 1800 Yuan (about 180 Euro) per month (that's part of the school fee). The schools hotel is not luxurious at all and the living conditions are more like in an average motel. If you really want to save money, you can ask them to live in rooms with Chinese wushu students or outside the school, but they usually don't allow it. After all they will become trouble with your embassy if you get sick. Anyway, there is no way they will allow it if you can't speak fluent Chinese and besides you should be prepared to go on a toilet where 50 students take a dump in a huge toilet room without toilet doors and knee high walls in-between. I mean there is no privacy.

More: Hygienic Questions - Study in China

  • Living in the school's hotel
    • You will have your own room with 2 beds, a normal toilet and a shower with hot water. If there are a lot of foreign students (usually there are not), the school might ask you to share your room with another foreigner. If there are enough free rooms, you can say no. Usually only the parents of the students live in the hotel when they come to visit their kids or when they first bring them to Song Jiang. The hotel has 4 floors and approximately 16 rooms. The best rooms are in the second floor and the worst rooms are in the 4th floor. There used to be a rat problem, but since they removed the restaurant in the first floor, there were no more rats in the building. Click Here for more information about your room.
  • How the Chinese students live
    • The Chinese students live in dorms with 12 students each and don't have their own bathroom or shower. There is a big shower room (like in a prison) for students.
      They can use the shower a few times every week. And the toilets, well, I told you what their toilet looks like. Just imagine the smell.
  • Canteen food & Restaurants
    • Unfortunately there is no restaurant inside the school right now. All the students and most teachers eat in a huge lunchroom. The food there doesn't taste very good, but it is not that unhealthy and the chance that you get diarrhea is not that high. Of course the school fee includes canteen food.
  • Food in Yun Cheng
    • There are quite a lot of restaurants in Yun Cheng. You can find a very nice fast food restaurant called DICO's "De Ke Shi" at Guang Chang. It's just like a Mc Donald's. The only problem is that it's is on the other side of the city. After a few weeks of Song Jiang canteen food, DICO's will be exactly what you need. Besides, there are a few good fish restaurants near the bus station, but the food there is a bit more expensive. Unfortunately the food in most restaurants is quite fat and once you get tired of Chinese food, the only solution is DICO's. No Pizzas, no lasagne. On the street to the school they barbecue goats and dogs every night. Yes, dog is very popular in Yun Cheng. But don't worry, they would never cook dog meat in the school, because most of the students don't come from Yun Cheng and would never eat a dog. AS you see, Yun Cheng is not the right place for pet friends and foodies. So if you are a gourmand, forget about Yun Cheng and go to Beijing or Shanghai.
  • Water
    • Sometimes water and / electricity stop for a few hours or even a day. This doesn't happen very often, but if they are constructing a new building inside he school, they often switch the water off when the students are in their general knowledge classes. BTW, China is not one of the places where you can drink tap water.
  • Toilets
    • If you live in the school's hotel, you will have your own toilet. That's a normal western style toilet. I recommend you buy your own toilet paper, because the hotel doesn't always have enough. If you have to go on a public toilet, be prepared for the worst. Just google: Chinese Toilets
      Never leave the school without toilet paper. Learn the Chinese signs for toilet (ce suo), male (nan) and female (nü).
  • Laundry
    • Most students wash their clothes on their own. You can buy washing powder and a bath tub in the school's shop. Of course you can also find somebody who will do your laundry for money. However, you will still have to wash your underwear and your socks yourself. Click Here to find out more about laundry.
  • Sanitary products
    • You can buy tooth paste, washing powder etc. in the schools shop. During vacations they often close the shop, but they will open at least a few hours per day. Besides they sell bread, milk, fruits, sweets and of course wushu shoes training equipment.

Advice: Hygienic Questions - Study in China

  • Never leave the school without toilet paper in your trouser pockets. Learn the Chinese signs for toilet (ce suo), male (nan) and female (nü).
  • Once you get tired of Chinese food, the only way out is DICO's at Guang Chang. Ask Mr. Lichen for more info.
  • Avoid eating in your room. I think there are no more rats now, but you might attract them with food in your room.
  • Get used to the thought of being in a 3rd world country. If you think you cant live with dirty public food and without pizza, you should think about going to a more expensive school in Beijing or Shanghai instead of Yun Cheng.