I am going to China for a year to teach English at a college. I need fashion advice?

Question

What is fashionable in Beijing right now? What items of clothing should I be sure to bring with me? I read that the Chinese are not too appreciative of outfits that are too revealing or show a lot of skin. Is this true?

My current style here in the United States is very Manhattan. I like wearing black and grey and I dress in a modern-classic way like I work in an art gallery.

Answer 1

china teacher fashion are totally different from teacher in united states. teacher in beijing are have to dress formal. no jeans , t-shirt, sandal, too revealing, not too fashionable, no jewlry etc. they don't want the teacher to appeal to be unprofessional. a teacher should always wear those suit thingys like what our lawyer would wear. wear high heel. don't get too close to the student like talk about your family , relatioinships like US teacher does.

Answer 2

I wouldn't bring too many clothes, but don't bring an empty suitcase either.
It might be shopping heaven. . .if you wear size six or below, but if you are tall and wear size 9 shoes like me. . .well.
No one has mentioned this, but I will--at certain times of the year in Beijing it is very windy and the air is full of dust and dirt. So at such a time a black suit is about the worst thing you can wear. Also the air can be extremely polluted--walk outside and your shoes get covered with dust, sit on a bus or train and you probably will have some dirt rubbing off on you, even if you can't see it. What I am saying is--if you have a bunch of spiffy designer suits, just bring one or two for special occasions and leave the rest at home.
It is true about showing skin. People in North China are very conservative.

I have been teaching in a university in south China for the past year--and I walk for what feels like miles every day. Any shoes that hurt my feet at all have had to stay in the closet. It makes me feel like an old lady! Plus the sidewalks here are for the most part not even or smooth, and definitely not clean (filthy). The sidewalks are tiled and tiles are always pushing up or falling out. . .so do not wear your gorgeous stilettos or they will be scratched and destroyed after one day.

Here's my description of fashion around here--people are trying, with varying degrees of success. I honestly see women going in to work at a bank wearing dresses that are cocktail dresses--I mean short chiffon w spaghetti straps and sequins. In a bank. (People do show a lot of skin where I live.) Some of girls in our school office look like they're going to a square dance--they wear these very colorful dresses w netting underneath the skirt and high heels (which don't get caught in the sidewalk because they walk very very slowly.)
V odd!!

On the plus side, being a fashion-lover you may want to buy some beautiful Chinese style clothing. You can have it tailored just for you, choose the fabric, etc. . .all for a quite reasonable price.

Oh man, I just read what the last poster said--let me tell you, my pay is lousy, but my students are so sweet. They are just the nicest kids in the world. Yes, someone may try to upcharge you, but we are rich Americans--is it going to kill us to give some poor guy 25 cents more for a can of coke, or 2 dollars more for a pair of shoes? And the reason so many kids do not go to college in China is because there are way more kids than there are colleges. Most kids are lucky just to graduate from high school.

Answer 3

Your style sounds appropriate for Beijing. Beijing is a very dirty city, so black is good to hide the dirt. The Chinese have a slightly different style from the US, but pretty much any style is accepted. And about being too revealing, things have changed. I see hot pants all over the place, and I'm in a very provincial city.

Regardless, if you are average size, you will be able to find clothes here, no problem. I can even find clothes for myself and I'm quite large. I have to shop at certain markets, but if I can find clothes, an average-sized person will be able to find clothes. Finding shoes is a little more difficult if you are larger than an 8, but even that is possible.

Answer 4

Even in Beijing and Shanghai, most Chinese don't appear to be very fashion conscious. It isn't too unusual to see somebody wear the same outfit every day for a week. It isn't too unusual to see people wearing what looks like pyjamas outdoors. You can get away with pretty much anything that isn't revealing. In fact, if you come to Chinese dressed too fashionably, you might feel a little over-dressed (and you could very well suffer in the heat!). Even at formal banquets in some of China's top restaurants, you'll see people dressed in a simple unwashed shirt and unironed pants.

Just think casual and comfortable.

Answer 5

I do agree with Ms. tiger lou. It seems difficult to buy plus size clothing in China, especially in South China. The climate in Beijing is terrible, it's hot in summer and very cold in winter, what's worse is the sandstorm, you may need gauze mask and sunglasses :-(

Revealing outfits are not acceptable in Chinese schools, and Chinese students will seldom tell you even if they dislike the way you dress. Some schools may require you to wear more formal clothes. But you can wear whatever you like when you are out of school :-)

Answer 6

It's true that Chinese are not too appreciative of outfits that are too revealing or show a lot of skin even in Beijing and Shanghai.You can find some Chinese pictures to decide what to bring with you.Or you can buy some clothes after arriving China.
There are some pictures here:
http://www.china-cruise.com/dhtourpic/dhtour1.htm

Answer 7

I'm an ex pat living and working in China and when it comes to westerners, it seems everything goes.

I've seen young westerners dress grungy to sophisticated and everything in between.

If you are worried, dress average, take 3 blouses, a few changes of pants and go shopping. The people at the school will be more then willing to help you and if you do it smart, you'll have a whole new wardrobe, of the type of clothes you like, for less then $500.

Peace

Jim

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Answer 8

This is a question someone else posted I think you will find instructive. You'd better listen to him.
Why do people come to China to teach when people in China are more rude then anywhere else?
Please don't come to teach in China, especially in Hangzhou. First of all, mainly people in Shanghai or Beijing speak English but if you live in other cities then education is mostly wasted & it is okay to really just vacation but not to work & live. Before I left to China they said they would hire both me & my wife, I am part white & my wife is a Chinese-American. Before we came to China English First said they would hire both me & my wife but when we got here it was a different story. My advice is don't come to China if you have a Chinese-American wife because they will treat her like a second-class citizen. Most people will talk bad behind her back & treat her like she is nothing & most women will try to steal you away because so many women want to get out of China and sometimes they don't care if you are married or not. Schools were the same, China stinks (smells), everything is dirty, people here are very rude, & most kids don't even get to go to universties so education is lost.

Answer 9

Dont take any clothing with you, seriously, the shopping is amazing in China ! People are very well dressed, very fashionable in Northern China, it is very cosmopolitian.

Though foreign teachers seem to dress very casually, sometimes to the point of where you are embarassed by some of them.

Most schools have dress codes for their teachers, but there is always a teacher or two that seem to have nothing but sweat pants and ragged jeans, or want to look like Grizzly Adams on a bad day.

People in Southern China dress much less fashionably, a large percentage of "peasants" (that word is acceptable and used in China ) but Beijing and Dalian are fashionable cities.

You will love the clothing stores! There are new designers just starting out and just making a name for themselves and some of their clothing lines are fabulous and quite cheap.

I bought gorgeous business suits that would have cost upwards of $700 in NA for about $100. The hand bags are amazing ! I wear mostly all black as well and I found tons of great clothing.

Its silly to bring a bunch of clothes, just buy new suitcases in China that you can fill up when you leave. You might want to bring some of your favourite spices with you though, they can be hard to find, and if you dye your hair anything other than black you might want to bring that with you as well.

I would like to add that WHITE is the colour of mourning in China, at least the areas I have been in. Because white is the absence of all colour I assume -

China can be very dirty, this is true, but the people in the North are known for their hospitality and friendliness.

Pollution is bad and dont open your mouth while showering or brush your teeth in tap water. Every couple of weeks I washed my hair in bottled water to get the layer of God only knows what from the tap water off my scalp - :-(

The people in Nanjing, outside Shanghai were horrible to foreigners, it wasnt unusual to see young foreign males in tears over how they were treated - imagine what it was like for foreign women there?

I was spit on, shoved off sidewalks, sales girls aka knows as "you are foreign man I love you so much" refused to wait on me, I was deliberately run into my an *** on a bicycle, the ***** at the train station refused to sell me a ticket to Shanghai and taxi drivers cant speak english, most are illiterate and cant read an address in Chinese or a map.

The city is the filthiest place I saw in all of China - there are no western medical facilities other than a clinic that charges $1200 US to see a doctor.

Taxi drivers would ask married foreigners in front of their wives if they would to buy a girl for the night.

Chinese women would say to married men "why you with that - I give you many children, I young, sexy, I love you".

Nanjing is the pit of China, dont EVER go there.

The hospital gown for xrays was covered with blood and pus - and xray machines and equipment were cleaned with the rags used to clean floors and toilets. Sewage was running across the floor in the hospital. Imagine how they handle needles (re-use them).

Answer 10

I am In Beijing now and Beijing is very hot
you had better bring some summer clothes
I think anything you clothes in US you can cloth in
China
Beijing is a open city
My english is poor and what I said is "welcome to China "