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Living Conditions

Although the contract says simple housing is provided by the school, the foreign teachers' quarter in PCCC is almost the best available in China. In the past, when the number of foreign teacher is small, all the foreign teachers lived in the foreign teachers' compound. Since 1999, PCCC took in some married couples as teachers and the number of foreign teachers has increased, some teachers had to live off campus either in town or in the Red & Blue Village which was designed and modeled after college towns in North America. The Red & Blue Village is connected to the main campus by a pedestrian foot bridge over an highway.

Usually, two to three teachers share a two bedroom house in the foreign teachers' compound. Some teachers have single rooms and others have double rooms. Each bedroom has its own bath. The houses are fully equipped with hot water, gas stove, refrigerator, electricity and tap water.

There is a club house in the foreign teachers' compound where the teachers can entertain their friends or students.

The teachers' compound is built on a lake side. The view is fantastic although one will not look at the lake any more after the first week except when friends come for a visit.

The compound was designed by a prize winning American (Cornell U.) educated architect now teaching in Berkeley.

There are plenty of mosquitos around because of the lake. That is the bonus one gets with the fantastic lake view. Fortunately, the mosquitos are not the type that carries malaria. In China malaria is found in the Vietnamese border about two thousand km away from PCCC. Mosquitos nets are needed over the bed because any mosquito will bite regardless whether it carries disease or not. Window screens are good enough to keep the inside of the house almost mosquito free but there are always one or two that can pass the screen. An electronic fly swat (costing about two US dollars in China) can easily take care of the smart ones that can go through the screen.

The teachers' compound is on campus but it is about a ten minutes walk from the main campus. The Red & Blue Village is off campus but it is 200 meters away from the main building. Red & Blue Village has shops and restaurants close by but it does not have the lakeside and beautiful garden the teachers' compound has.

The school reserves her right in assigning housing. Allocation of housing is done upon the teachers' arrival. The date PCCC receives a signed contract is one of the most important factors in determining the priority of housing allocation. Teachers' compound is preferred by most teachers who are single because they will have much more community life in the compound.