I Lived in Chongqing for 5 Years-Here's What I Know

[@reuben5757]

I lived in Jiulongpo , the Kid's mall use to have massive Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant billboards....at 6'2" in height the first chinese I heard was 太高了. Spent 2019 there with family (wife and 3 kids), the second thing I heard was 三个孩子们。 we stopped the animals from getting attention at the zoo 😂. I returned in 2023 to continue training. Looking back at it, in 2019 I think we saw you in Jiafangbei or atleast someone that looks like you. No joke, I think I saw like 9 black people for the entire time, not including the 5 of my family. And they were almost always Africans at the university (CQMU). Wifey and the kids want to stay for way longer, everything in this video is true, I have lived it, I am living it again.

[@Thejesstination]

🤣🤣🤣 So many hilarious things here! It was probably me. I am in tears picturing everyone looking at you guys instead of the animals.😂 I did see Kyrie, KD, D. Wade and Steph Curry often, I should have mentioned them. 😂😂😂 Congratulations on returning!

[@reuben5757]

@@Thejesstination Found out I was on CCTV 13 last week with the report on belt and road and the doctors at CQMU so the "goldfish/aquarium effect" might get worse. I never saw the report until people sent me on weixin. Re: Mandarin, In the first weeks here I paid 40 yuan for something on the street to eat for the 5 of us "san ge haizimen" included, then got 26 yuan in change. Oh! 14 not 40. But I would take the anxiety over language (chongqing dialect is next level frustration, how do you manage?) than the anxiety I feel in USA, by mother was driving in Jersey and a cop followed her (no sirens) for one too many turns and she started to freak out but he was just going to the same mall she was. Think I will take my chances in China over that. Don't get me wrong there are things I love about USA, but China is a magnitude better for my mental health. The point some expats make about different freedoms is 100% facts. Finally, help out a brotha here, WTF is Obama color? and how did they manage to find 30 shades of white/cream/yellow etc in their skin colors....not to ramble but a woman here can look like a 13 year old boy (re secondary sexual features) but as long as white face , big eyes = attractive. 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@CamelClutchComics]

Hi, I'm a 28yr old American guy and I just wanted to say thanks for all these videos about Chongqing. All the other ones are about visiting, none of them except yours are about living there. I'm finishing my degree to hopefully move to Chongqing early 2024. Is there a decent sized market for English teachers? I really do have my heart set on Chongqing. Thanks again for all the information

[@Thejesstination]

Thanks! I’m glad you’re interested in CQ! Currently the available teaching jobs are limited. Kindergartens and Universities are probably your easiest way in the door. Once you get there more opportunities are available because it’s a lot easier to transfer a visa than it is to sponsor a brand new one. If you’re set on Chongqing stay focused on it and apply to everything! A year goes by quickly and you can change jobs or renegotiate your salary after that.

[@magnetospin]

There are actually quite a few American/Canadian/British/Australian youtubers permanently living in China.

[@CamelClutchComics]

@@magnetospin Yeah but none of them talk about living in Chongqing specifically.

[@magnetospin]

@@CamelClutchComicsYea, there aren't many. I only know of one: www.youtube.com/@Reporterfy He's a Canadian living Chongqing. He doesn't only talking about Chongqing but has made quite a few videos about it.

[@kenyup7936]

Salary in China is not great literally

[@BoookofPeace]

very informative! i've never thought about living in china, but am looking forward to traveling there in the near future.

[@jaidenR23]

Great video! The reason why people (like myself) say that some youtubers appear to be paid to make their videos of China, is that they mention no negative (cons) about living/visiting China. They go around showing how nice China is and then post a small video clip of drug addicts in the US or a small clip of an area where there are homeless people living in tents. Videos like this is what I do like to see. I would like to visit China sometime in the future and honest videos like this will at least give me an idea of what to expect.

[@Thejesstination]

Thank you for noticing the difference!

[@opaljohnson4762]

Thanks for sharing Jess. Very interesting points. Keep them coming

[@Thejesstination]

Thank you!

[@derief-pauljohnson8580]

Visited China on business on occasions (Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, Beijing, Hong Kong) and yes the starring is a thing. I was once followed by a bunch of curious children around a shopping mall in Nanjing which I found totally amusing as they were so cute. Was also approached (through my translator) if I knew Michael Jordan, and also approached several times by young ladies with wide eyed fascination. Apart from that China is probably the most fascinating and advanced country on the planet.

[@BigfishSonar]

I was in Chongqing for 3 days for a concert, and it's my first time visiting. The food is Amazing , I gained some weight during the short stay.I went to the Eye of CQ, the night view was incredibly beautiful, the long queue was a torture though

[@Thejesstination]

Hahaha! Glad you enjoyed! That place is the only one that almost always has a massive queue no matter the time of day lol

[@ciwane1428]

Good video! Thank you for sharing. I watch your video's from Canada. 🇨🇦. I hope one day I will go to visit China 🇨🇳 😁👍🏽.

[@Thejesstination]

I hope so too!

[@nickb1178]

Amazing eye-opening video!! Thank you

[@Thejesstination]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@JetPackDino]

Thank you for another very lovely video! And yes, the staring. I lived in Taipei in 1987-88, and I kinda liked the staring for a while and then after a month I hated it, kept my eyes down. I felt like a weird specimen in a zoo sometimes.

[@Thejesstination]

Wow I can imagine how challenging that was in the 80’s! I have a few friends that live in Taipei now and it seems much more welcoming especially given the political climate.

[@the18Ting]

YEAH~~ Another CQ/China video!😍 Don't worry about having CQ accent, Jessica; it's cute and makes you unique! You'll impress Chinese people! I remember there used to be a Lao Wai who spoke fluently the local dialect and he was on TV. Another Lao Wai got married in Dalian and he speaks fluent Dalian accent, who is also an internet celebrity. The "扶不扶” and "lying on the ground" phenomenon is super interesting and controversial indeed; glad that you'll dig into this topic and share your views on it~

[@Thejesstination]

Thanks for watching!

[@sosukeaizen2116]

This was a very informative video thank you.

[@Thejesstination]

Thanks! Glad it was helpful!

[@SamanthaKimDean]

Oh this video made me miss CQ so much.. the birds in the background while you're talking! The birds were my favourite.

[@Thejesstination]

Memoriiiieeeeees! ❤️❤️❤️

[@sarahdaniels6078]

Thank You so much for this video! Listening to you makes me want to try living or at least visiting for a while. I’m so sorry you’re no longer there I would’ve love to meet you. Are you going back to the US, or just continuing to travel? I wish you well in all your destinations. Stay safe, stay well, stay blessed!

[@Thejesstination]

You should definitely visit at least once if you can!

[@max_dsouth9]

Informative and true

[@Thejesstination]

Thanks for watching!

[@liilianalopez1155]

Hey! I'm colombian with a BA in english education. Chongqing and Chengdu have been on my radar for a while and these videos cleared so many things up for me. Question:Do you think it's hard to get a salary closer to 20K cny if you don't have a native passport? What did you see among the coworkers? Thank you for your insight 🙏

[@mpc5584]

Hello @duality is a Thing. Could I ask for your help? Am planning to travel to Chongqing with the elderly. We do speak some mandarin. If we want to take a car (driver) to drive us around, which are good car hires that includes driver companies to use?

[@wadahole7379]

Are there any English Training Centers left, beside EF? The 2021 regulations gutted so many T_T

[@jerwangz]

I had been there for 4 years. I was a chongqing Zaier (崽儿）。

[@DIYDiaz]

$1300 for Raffles!? I’m about to pack my bags!

[@Thejesstination]

Ha! I know right!

[@debo750]

I will be in chongqing in july and maybe we can do lunch.

[@meikos7091]

5:18 what is up with water color?

[@Thejesstination]

One river is brown and the other is green/blue. They meet at that point shown at 5:18. It’s pretty cool in person. Good question!

[@JonnyMetropolis]

How did you manage to get a long term Visa.? And you had mentioned you know some tattoo artist out there .. were they foreigners & how did they get a visa ?

[@Thejesstination]

I was teaching so I had a z-visa aka work visa. In your case look into the requirements for a business visa so you can stay long term. The artists I know are Chinese citizens.

[@JonnyMetropolis]

@@Thejesstination thanks so much! Do you have an IG .. I’m going to send you the artist that’s going to give me an apprenticeship.. maybe you know her

[@Thejesstination]

You’re welcome! My IG is @thejesstination

[@plantspay8904]

that is super cool..

[@Thejesstination]

Thanks for watching

[@commie5211]

As a mandarin speaker, Chongqing/sichuan dialect is petty easy to understand, it is difficult to suddenly speak it for non sichuan speaker, but i am pretty sure they can easily understand 95% of it. You know sichuan dialect almost became the official dialect or China instead of mandarin, that means it not hard for the majority. by the way Deng xiao ping speaks sichuan dialect....

[@Thejesstination]

My Chinese colleagues from Beijing always had a difficult time at my school understanding the grandparents and some TA’s 😂. That’s great you are able to easily understand.

[@commie5211]

@@Thejesstination Yeah, grandmas has their own language, regardless what dialects they speaks. 🙃🙃🙃🙃

[@morgan6119]

hi im going to chongqin in a week…dont know anyone there itll in be interesting… my first time in china lol

[@Thejesstination]

Update, please!!! How did it go?

[@morgan6119]

@ absolutly amazing made great friends there party every night… the city in unreal! i did chengdu after and i did prefer the vibe in chengdu tough more classy…

[@Thejesstination]

@@morgan6119 fantastic! Yes, Chengdu is a much more livable city compared to Chongqing. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@iChongqing]

Nice video

[@Thejesstination]

Thanks!

[@eugenewu2202]

你去过杨州吗？，应该体验一下的。

[@Thejesstination]

I haven’t been, it looks beautiful there 😊

[@JonnyMetropolis]

For the TEFL certification do you need a college degree?

[@Thejesstination]

You don’t need a college degree to obtain a TEFL certification however most countries require a degree to obtain a work visa. China requires a bachelor’s degree at minimum.

[@JonnyMetropolis]

@@Thejesstination dammmmmmm I don’t have one .. could I get a visa as a tattoo artist?

[@JonnyMetropolis]

@@Thejesstination and thank you For responding 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@Thejesstination]

You’re welcome!

[@369dimensionreadings]

👍

[@nmn3457]

I don’t think it’s needed to speak Chinese, you can use google translate.

[@Thejesstination]

Sure, that's effective if you only want to get by. But not google because it doesn't work in China lol. If you want to truly experience the culture and the people, if you want to LIVE in China to the fullest extent, learning the language is necessary.

[@ciwane1428]

😂😂😂😂❤😂😂👍🏽

[@deepinsource]

serpentza's report is not neutral or objective, his fame is very bad in China.

[@Thejesstination]

I agree…but a broken clock is right two times per day. The way he presented the “Bad Samaritan” law was crazy, but accurate. 😂

[@deepinsource]

@@Thejesstination "2 vs 22" is way from accurate😂

[@Thejesstination]

Ok ok…exaggerated accuracy 😂

[@0o_KASHIII_o0]

@@deepinsource Yep, seen his channel. Very exaggerated and anti China

[@peterbee162]

yea you pretty....😍😍😍

[@Thejesstination]

☺️ thank you

[@gratefuldeadly7899]

city of Congqing should pay you for boosting tourism

[@Thejesstination]

I agree 😂

[@georgeherzog5929]

30 years living as an expat in Southern Taiwan without a kitchen. I almost never eat western food. 你好

[@archorblx1130]

i think the staring is a cultural thing, which didnt fade away from the cultural revolution, same with spitting

[@Thejesstination]

Which culture? Lol I get what you mean but not all Chinese people do these things.

[@the18Ting]

come on, what does it have to do with the cultural revolution? When I visited a small rural place in Europe and was the fifth Asian person that most locals had ever seen in-person in their lives, even the dog stared at me...

[@archorblx1130]

i mean like a social norm sorry if i worded it wrong@@Thejesstination

[@meikos7091]

Now talk about tofu dreg in Chongqing.

[@Thejesstination]

I have no idea what that is. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[@meikos7091]

@@Thejesstination It is the poor construction. Same reason you did not have insolation in your home in China. In your American home do you have insolation? It is why the flood recently happen in the Expo center due to the bit of rain.

[@Thejesstination]

Oh. Not all homes in Chongqing have this problem. There are gorgeous single family western style mini mansions and beautiful penthouse style homes with tons of square footage and insolation. Can’t really compare US construction to Chinese.

[@meikos7091]

@@Thejesstination Look it up it is all across the country.

[@andrewzhu5890]

Poor quality engineering construction is found everywhere in the world, and given the huge number of various engineering projects in China, the proportion of projects with poor quality is very small, lower than most other countries. Once there are engineering quality issues in China, the claim that the whole country is a tofu dreg project spreads very quickly, mainly due to haters like you. Of course, people can also think of you as this type of person by using a Japanese name.

[@yongdeng1813]

Oh u said at the end that u dont live in china anymore, as in u wont return to CQ, china??

[@Thejesstination]

I don’t know what the future holds. I’d move back for the right opportunity.

[@yongdeng1813]

Damn girl, u feel safe everywhere?? U gangsta girl, u gangsta!!😂😂

[@Thejesstination]

Racism works in my favor sometimes. People tend to be afraid of big Black people. 🤷🏽‍♀️😂