Homes Stays

'Mostly mandarin speaking, ie relatively accentless mandarin, is important'

Be careful what you ask for. :)

My advice (if you're serious) is to try Hong Kong or Guangzhou and get a teacher no older than say 24 or 25 years old. These kids learn Standard Chinese more or less as a second language so they can have fairly 'accentless' Chinese.

Or .. you could think about Chinese as being made up of a lot of different accents, just like English, and learn anywhere. Learning about different accents can enrichen your experience with the language.

Thanks again. Mostly mandarin speaking, ie relatively accentless mandarin, is important.

If I had the choice.. I would pick Hangzhou. The reason is that the city is big and modern enough to have all the comforts you need but not so big and modern that it loses its traditional charm. It is also only 1 to 1.5 hours (depending on which fast train you get) to Shanghai.. which is the time it takes me to get to work each day anyway. This makes it an ideal location because not only are you living in one of the nicest cities in China but you have quick and convenient access to the largest, most modern and western populated city in China as well.

Having not been to Suzhou, I am unsure if the same can be said of it as it is also very close to Shanghai. Nanjing would be my next choice though it is starting to get too modern/city-like for my tastes. Don't get me wrong though.. I love the fast-paced energy of Shanghai and the big cities.. but it can wear you out if you're not careful.. :)

Let me modify this a bit and say that i'm hearing from local Chinese that Harbin would be better than Changchun and Shenyang.

If freezing and boring are ok, then I think Harbin, Changchun and Shenyang are probably my first choices. Same warning about the Chinese girls ;-)

Thanks for that. I will check out Lanzhou. Also heard Kunming is possible, but not sure about dialects/accents. Freezing temperatures are ok, going to check out the Harbin winter festival this weekend.

And depending on the season you spend your 6 months in China, you don't feel like you're experiencing the next ice age.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the accent there isn't too bad, but there's definitely some Lanzhouhua going on. If you leave Lanzhou and head toward Tian1shui3, the local accents stray from putonghua a bit more.

Lanzhou. Not the most exciting of towns, but the lack of a big foreigner community forces you to use the mandarin you know on a daily/hourly basis, without relying on another English speaker. This is GUARANTEED to bring your mandarin up to snuff relatively quickly, unless you're a guy, and start dating one of the Chinese girls with half decent English, then all bets are off ;-)

Happy to do so.