Post: #426

So I'm still in Thailand now, but I'm heading back soon to China.

I'm considering Shenzhen or Guangzhou as living place. Shanghai is too expensive, I can't afford it.

So My questions about Shenzhen:

- How international is the city? ( Do I have to stick to Chinese girls or is there a large international community and do you have a lot of foreign students ? like Shanghai or HK for example)
- How much rent should I calculate if I want my own studio in the nightlife area?
- Do you have a lot of cool things to do during the daytime? ( Good beaches,..)
- Concerning game, Is there any hook up culture in the city?

Post: #427

Shenzhen pretty much has the same cost of living as shanghai.

Post: #428

Shenzhen has lower rent than Shanghai, and going out is slightly cheaper too. CoCo park is quite expensive, but not as much as Mint or Bar Rouge in Shanghai.

It also has a nicer weather, and is more friendly. However, Shanghai does have the advantage of having more multinational businesses and have more of an expat scene, although SZ is also good in that aspect. What is your purpose of stay there? I would personally choose Shenzhen as its closer to Hong Kong.

Post: #429

Shenzhen is the best choice if you're going to be there on a tourist visa and have to do frequent border runs.

I'm flying to KL in the next 24 hours, going shopping for 4 hours and then hustling back the airport for my return flight to Beijing.

At times like these, I'd give an arm to be living in Shenzhen within a stone's throw of the HK border.

Post: #430

Hi all,
First time poster here. I've been living in Shenzhen for the last two years, I'm not an expert on the city by any means but I'll be happy to answer questions or meet up for a beer.

Post: #431

I wanted to share my experiences in Shenzhen with you all.

About me:
I've been living in Shenzhen since August 2016, I moved here from Russia where I lived and worked for three years. I come from southern Europe and soon I'll be forty years old.

The city:
Much has been said about Shenzhen and there's little I can add. One thing it surprises me everyday is how the city keeps changing and how it keeps growing. There's definitely a lot of money in this city and there's a lot of money being invested.

The girls:
Before I moved over here I was a little skeptical about Asian girls in general and Chinese girls in particular. Funny thing is before I made the move to China I heavily pipelined, mostly EE chicks and some Africans. Once I arrived in China I realized how I liked Chinese girls very much and after banging some white chicks I decided I wanted to stick with Chinese chicks or Asians during my travels in the region. I'm done with white girls, even with Russian or Ukrainians, I used to like them a lot but I definitely feel many of them have an attitude in China and in Asia, as well.
I've been using Tantan a lot, Tinder just occasionally, and have had great results. I'm getting tired of swiping and going to start doing more day game and night game, I still like the fact that Tantan has an endless supply of girls but nothing beats the thrill of the real approach, IMO.

Other thoughts:
I'm really enjoying the food, I know Chinese food can be very oily and at times the quality or lack of it can send one straight to the shitter but in these two years I have mainly been eating Chinese food and I actually enjoy it a lot.
The possibilities of traveling within China and to other Asian countries is one of the reasons why I want to live here for years to come. I've travelled to Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, the Phils, Malaysia, Taiwan etc and generally flights are very affordable and not long.I have quite a bit of free time and I just love the fact that I can travel to a lot cool places that I haven't been to before.
Cost of living: I find this city quite affordable, however, western bars and restaurants are not. Accommodation can be very expensive and all I hear is that prices keep going up.

Anyway, this is just some thought I have on Shenzhen.

Cheers!

Post: #432

I lived in Shenzhen for 3 years and just made my exit last month. The major reason was that my employer pissed me off so I found another job in Shandong with a 20%+ raise. The second reason is that I am Canadian and don't do well in the humid heat.

SZ is just south of the Tropic of Cancer and has only two seasons: hot and damn hot. Not too long ago I looked at the weather report and Toronto, my home town, was actually hotter than SZ: 90 degress compared to 88 degrees. However, the humidity in SZ was 85% compared to 40% in TO.

In terms of accomodation, I only dealt with hotels as my employer provided me with an apartment. For short term, there are hostels for as little as 4 bucks a night and they have "pod" hotels like you might have seen in Japan. Realistically you can get a budget hotel for about $15, something nicer and more comfortable for under $30, and 3-stars for about $45 (US dollars at today's exchange rate). The Sheraton Shenzhen is $220 a night (in Jinan where I live now, it is only 2/3rds the price).

An interesting option is the Angle Lovers Theme Hotel (google "lover's hotel Shenzhen" and it should be near the top of your hits). It is on Dongmen Road near the Cui Zhi station 7 stops from Luo Hu (south-east corner of the city and the border crossing to Hong Kong). It's pure cheese all the way with room themes including pirates, windmills, Hello Kitty and submarine adventures. Round beds and jacuzzis for two (perhaps 3) are par for the course. One room looks like a party room that at least four people could sleep in comfortably and have maybe 5 or 10 more guests. Rooms start at about $80 so it is just a one or two-night thing to have a bit of fun.

Talking to the locals, rental apartments are expensive (as much or even moreso than Shanghai) and real estate prices are insane, especially considering that you don't actually own your condo but get a weird 70 year lease from the government.

In terms of food, it depends on whether you "go native" or stick to western food, and if the former whether you can deal with a hi-carb/low-protein diet (with varying levels of fat - authentic Chinese food is much more oily and fatty than Can-Am Chinese food).

At a hole-in-the-wall noodle place you can get a big bowl of beef noodle soup (牛肉拉面 - niú ròu lā miàn) for less than $2. Dumplings (饺子 - jiǎo zi) are under $3. Same with fried rice (炒饭 - chǎo fàn) and various stir-fry combinations on steamed rice. An order of relatively lean beef or lamb will run you about $6. I would recommend the muslim places that you can identify by the arabic-looking script on the store-front sign, and the notable lack of pork on the menu. My other favourite is steamed buns (bao zi) which go for as little as a buck for half a dozen (which is more than enough for a meal).

McDonald's is just over $4 for a Big Mac meal. Low-quality steak dinners run from $7 to $10 but a good steak is at least $15 but really more like $40. A spread of curry for 2 in Futian is roughly $30 but there will likely be left-overs. Pizza is common but most Chinese pizza sucks. The worst thing about Pizza Hut in China is the pizza. It tends to be relatively expensive, say $15 for a large. Champion's Pizza probably has the best (other than the much more expensive, high-end places actually run by ex-pat Italians) and you can get a medium to-go for $6-$7.

A half litre of Coke is 45 cents, a litre of fresh milk (if you can find it) about $2.50. Preserved milk that can stay on the shelf for a long time (and tastes funny if it is not really, really cold) is more common and a bit less expensive. Bottled water (a must) is anywhere from 1 to 3 RMB (15 cents to 45 cents) for a half litre, as little as 45 cents for a litre and a half, and less than 15 cents a litre if you are buying the big, 18.9 litre jugs.

Western booze (say a 26-er of Bacardi) can be found for under $20

Post: #433

Would you guys say that in westerners are generally in demand professionally in Shenzhen?

The inspiring old VP in China threads used to get me thinking about China.

Post: #434

(08-28-2018 07:40 AM)66Scorpio Wrote:  I lived in Shenzhen for 3 years and just made my exit last month. The major reason was that my employer pissed me off so I found another job in Shandong with a 20%+ raise. The second reason is that I am Canadian and don't do well in the humid heat.

SZ is just south of the Tropic of Cancer and has only two seasons: hot and damn hot. Not too long ago I looked at the weather report and Toronto, my home town, was actually hotter than SZ: 90 degress compared to 88 degrees. However, the humidity in SZ was 85% compared to 40% in TO.

In terms of accomodation, I only dealt with hotels as my employer provided me with an apartment. For short term, there are hostels for as little as 4 bucks a night and they have "pod" hotels like you might have seen in Japan. Realistically you can get a budget hotel for about $15, something nicer and more comfortable for under $30, and 3-stars for about $45 (US dollars at today's exchange rate). The Sheraton Shenzhen is $220 a night (in Jinan where I live now, it is only 2/3rds the price).

An interesting option is the Angle Lovers Theme Hotel (google "lover's hotel Shenzhen" and it should be near the top of your hits). It is on Dongmen Road near the Cui Zhi station 7 stops from Luo Hu (south-east corner of the city and the border crossing to Hong Kong). It's pure cheese all the way with room themes including pirates, windmills, Hello Kitty and submarine adventures. Round beds and jacuzzis for two (perhaps 3) are par for the course. One room looks like a party room that at least four people could sleep in comfortably and have maybe 5 or 10 more guests. Rooms start at about $80 so it is just a one or two-night thing to have a bit of fun.

Talking to the locals, rental apartments are expensive (as much or even moreso than Shanghai) and real estate prices are insane, especially considering that you don't actually own your condo but get a weird 70 year lease from the government.

In terms of food, it depends on whether you "go native" or stick to western food, and if the former whether you can deal with a hi-carb/low-protein diet (with varying levels of fat - authentic Chinese food is much more oily and fatty than Can-Am Chinese food).

At a hole-in-the-wall noodle place you can get a big bowl of beef noodle soup (牛肉拉面 - niú ròu lā miàn) for less than $2. Dumplings (饺子 - jiǎo zi) are under $3. Same with fried rice (炒饭 - chǎo fàn) and various stir-fry combinations on steamed rice. An order of relatively lean beef or lamb will run you about $6. I would recommend the muslim places that you can identify by the arabic-looking script on the store-front sign, and the notable lack of pork on the menu. My other favourite is steamed buns (bao zi) which go for as little as a buck for half a dozen (which is more than enough for a meal).

McDonald's is just over $4 for a Big Mac meal. Low-quality steak dinners run from $7 to $10 but a good steak is at least $15 but really more like $40. A spread of curry for 2 in Futian is roughly $30 but there will likely be left-overs. Pizza is common but most Chinese pizza sucks. The worst thing about Pizza Hut in China is the pizza. It tends to be relatively expensive, say $15 for a large. Champion's Pizza probably has the best (other than the much more expensive, high-end places actually run by ex-pat Italians) and you can get a medium to-go for $6-$7.

A half litre of Coke is 45 cents, a litre of fresh milk (if you can find it) about $2.50. Preserved milk that can stay on the shelf for a long time (and tastes funny if it is not really, really cold) is more common and a bit less expensive. Bottled water (a must) is anywhere from 1 to 3 RMB (15 cents to 45 cents) for a half litre, as little as 45 cents for a litre and a half, and less than 15 cents a litre if you are buying the big, 18.9 litre jugs.

Western booze (say a 26-er of Bacardi) can be found for under $20

Agree with pretty much everything you wrote there. Best of luck in Shandong.

Post: #435

(08-28-2018 08:19 AM)Polero Wrote:  Agree with pretty much everything you wrote there. Best of luck in Shandong.

Thanks mate. It got cut off (I think I was too verbose). I will have to do a follow up post with the rest of it.

Post: #436

(08-28-2018 08:16 AM)vatuvei Wrote:  Would you guys say that in westerners are generally in demand professionally in Shenzhen?

The inspiring old VP in China threads used to get me thinking about China.

I suppose it depends on the profession and whether or not you speak the language. Lots of teaching positions, of course. Otherwise, you can check eChinaCities to get a feel for what is out there.

https://jobs.echinacities.com/

Post: #437

I read Shenzhen and other border cities near Hong Kong are overran by sex tourists from Hong Kong. There's also all the techies and engineers in Shenzhen too. So these 3 things put together leads me to believe the gender imbalance in Shenzhen is probably awful and creates a lot of incels?

Post: #438

(08-28-2018 03:48 AM)Polero Wrote:  Once I arrived in China I realized how I liked Chinese girls very much and after banging some white chicks I decided I wanted to stick with Chinese chicks or Asians during my travels in the region.

Yeah after living in Korea for awhile and now Eastern Europe for awhile. Asian women are a million times better in personality and just the ease of bedding them. That's compared to Eastern European women (Russian / Ukrainian / Georgian) who always have a bad attitude towards me on Tinder and are really pushy about wanting to get married (the FSU countries have high divorce rates. Think about all the divorced bitches in Australia and Canada and then you have countries like Ukraine with higher divorce rates than those two western countries. Or Russia that is #1 for divorce in the whole world).

Post: #439

The great thing about SZ is that girls from all over China move there and "If I don't go home my parents will get angry" is not a phrase you'll hear often. The bad thing is that many are career focused and super busy but overall the number of hot girls is absurd.

As a city it is also making great strides and I always enjoy my time there. It's easily the most forward thinking city in China right now and has surpassed HK for quality of life unless you're mega rich.

Post: #440

I would be interested in living in mainland China if I could stay longer than 90 days in a "desirable city".

Almost took an English teacher job (2017) to some shit hole. Glad I didn't because I just checked the place on Tinder (the area where my employer would had been) and only 2 profiles show up (1 is a white English teacher and the other some Chinese woman).

I think in those areas of China it's probably 100% TanTan but I heard a lot of infamous things about that app (full of pros and spammers mainly)

Post: #441

Tantan used to be a goldmine, now it's full of spammers and time wasters. I noticed since the app has the VIP feature and the option of changing one's location that many girls change their location to Shenzhen but are actually hundreds if not thousands of kilometers away. Total waste of time.

Post: #442

I'm in SZ 10/5 - 10/16 anyone down to meet up? PM me.

Post: #443

Aren't Tencent and other major tech companies in Shenzhen now? There must be chinese dudes working in the IT sector there making 50k rmb (roughly $7300 USD) a month salaries now.

how would the average English teacher compete with that? lol

Post: #444

(09-26-2018 04:04 AM)asiaslayer Wrote:  Aren't Tencent and other major tech companies in Shenzhen now? There must be chinese dudes working in the IT sector there making 50k rmb (roughly $7300 USD) a month salaries now.

how would the average English teacher compete with that? lol

what i understand is that SZ is becoming or has already become the silicon valley of china.

Post: #445

(09-26-2018 04:04 AM)asiaslayer Wrote:  Aren't Tencent and other major tech companies in Shenzhen now? There must be chinese dudes working in the IT sector there making 50k rmb (roughly $7300 USD) a month salaries now.

how would the average English teacher compete with that? lol

China is very stratified in this regard anyway. People choose their dates based on their overall backgrounds more than looks. The girls who are open to dating foreigners are usually not the same ones who date highly paid Chinese IT guys. The ones open to foreigners usually have something holding them back in the local dating market, even if that "something" is not readily apparent to us.

Speaking mostly of actual dating and LTR here, though ... who's to say what someone may or may not be down for in terms of ONS.

Post: #446

Who is in Shenzhen?

Thinking of taking a trip there this weekend. I'm currently based in Shanghai. I'm 100% Chinese.

Post: #447

Just came back from Shenzhen from a week of business meetings there. Shenzhen is brilliant! No other way to describe it!

For me, the best thing about Shenzhen is its fantastic and vibrant entrepreneurial scene, a thing that other cities in China may severely lack. Tons of awesome events, networking events, conferences, summits, etc all the freaking time. If you're an entrepreneur, then Shenzhen is THE place to be at in China. Loads of cool guys doing amazing stuffs! Many high 6 and 7 figures and beyond in that city, a few of them that I personally know.

Yeah you can make decent money teaching, but a much better approach is to learn an actual skill (marketing, design, copywriting etc...) and networking like crazy and hustle your way to a gig/partnership with an entrepreneur, local or expat.

The imbalance of sex ratio in Shenzhen is not as bad as one might think since a lot of girls come from other cities, specially the ones that are good looking and ambitious. Yes there will always be local guys who cannot get girls, but that's true everywhere.

Each time I land in Shenzhen, I'm taken aback by the sheer number of cute and sexy girls almost everywhere. Plus they are mostly a lot more open minded than in Hangzhou since Hangzhou has more of a provincial and traditional mentality. People in Hangzhou are better behaved, more polite than say SZ in general but even in SZ, now people are getting more and more civilised.

Downside to SZ:

Higher cost of living, specially for rent. Taxis can add up specially at night as it's a big spread out city.
Going out and drinking can add up as well. Specially in the nightlife areas and western bars.

WAY too many distractions! If you're trying to buckle down and get work done, you'd need to have the focus and self control of a Buddha. Cool events, meet ups, conferences, not to mention all those parties happening all the time.

I'd recommend to REALLY make the most of SZ, to have a disposable income of about 15KRMBs/month, add another 4-5K for rent for a total of 20K to have a quite fun and enjoyable lifestyle in SZ.

While bootstrapping can be done, SZ is NOT the place for it since you'd be missing on SO many cool stuff/activities/events/partie and most importantly, OPPORTUNITIES that it'd defeat the purpose of being in SZ.

I LOVE Shenzhen, so much that after 3 years in Hangzhou, I'm about done with it and planning to move to Shenzhen in the very near future.

Post: #448

Long time no see. What did you do in hangzhou?

Post: #449

I'll be in SZ this weekend. DM if you want to meet up for a drink.

Post: #450

My Shenzhen journal

Bio:
Mid 30s, Asian, 5'8, average-looks-and-built, (sometimes girls say I am cute, mostly in Asia), knows game since 2008 but very on and off practice.

My journal is not meant to show I am a pro or a failure it’s just a real and candid writing of my journey.

Length:
2 nights in Shenzhen

First night
It was uneventful, opened a few individual sets at the cover charge area. I talked to at least five sets while queueing but it was LAME conversation like “how much are the cover bla bla bla” things any chatty guy could have pulled off. I ended up getting into a local electronic music bar, the music was loud and I opened a single set and another three set, I ejected at 1am cos of loud music and most young 20s in their own group. Opened another set at the elevator at the hotel but again went no where. Sleep.

Observation:
Could open sets solo without alcohol.
Partially conquered the fear of opening in Cantonese where it’s also spoken here (childhood inferiority complex - more on that later)
Started opening from the get go via lame small talks
Also mustered the courage to walk to a table to open a three set (I def have done such openings before but I think now I can consistently do it, cos i did it again the next night)

Total openings: three not counting those with lame questions, and even that three wasn’t well.

Second day
Day game in shopping mall ended up pretty much as a window-shopping trip. Did open two single sets but again went no where, the whole process was lame too “hey girl, I wanna know you bla bla bla” and a weird looks form.

Total openings : two, went no where

Observations
I used to focus mainly gaming white girls in Asia - part white fever fantasy and part excuse. The excuse is that gaming white girls in Asia felt like targeting helpless babes in foreign land, they are more vulnerable and I am more advantageous. The fantasy part is I had a less than ideal dating life when most people around me were white. Just want to lay it down all and open for criticism.

Second night
Picked a random club, the place felt good. I decided to immediately open a local single set and a double set - both wasn't warm. i then open a two set European girls in the bar, they were friendly - probably in a foreign land and didn't have speaker around, but they ejected the bar after ten minutes of chat. Nothing glorious but this was the longest opening I could muster for the past two days. Finally i found my target, a girl sitting alone by the bar - didn't look like an escort but was really alone - we got close and hit the dance floor by and an hour later we were kissing at the dance floor (not a make out). Over the course of hour long dance almost half a dozen of guys ranging from Indians, whites and locals tried to take her away from me. In the end no SNL even if I push through hard (for my standard) by sending her home.

Observations:
girls get jealous when u get other girls attention, but don’t drift away from ur target says Roosh cos always focus on her but you can let her “discover” that ladies in the club are my options but I really want her.

I am not sure if it’s the name of the game now to girl grab in dance floor. I got that feeling in Eastern Europe but maybe it’s also the norm today in Asian cities ? Like I said other guys tried to grab my target too, and partly. I get guys trying to high five her , or toast her and all those shit just try to get her attention. Not until we started kissing that the hisses went away. And of course holding her on the dance floor I realised girls around me actually open up with IOIs and were more willing to check me out. I actually number closed a pretty decent one while my target went to the ladies.

I got yell at by her LMR when we arrived at her apartment - she was pushing my hands away in the cab so it was not really a wrap though she allowed me to “send her back”, I might have said something that triggered it but who cares but at least I did plough all the way till the end until I couldn’t got in anymore. So a FIRST for me.

I realized I have a problem getting local Shenzhen girls excited, and the topics are a little dumb, maybe because they are not used to random day game or maybe it’s my issue, I need to figure that out.

Total openings:
So for the second night i opened one three set, another two set, and several single set. Make out with one.

I like the vibe of this city and plan to visit again in May, feel free to PM