Moving to Xiamen

[Gimboid]

My husband has an opportunity based in Xiamen, China and the family would be going with him (myself and 2 dc's, 7 and 9). I've heard a lot about the pollution in China, which would be a deal breaker for me if it was too bad, but the trouble is I can't find any data I can really relate to. Does anyone live in Xiamen and how bad is the pollution there? I've heard it's not as bad as other Chinese cities but worse than the UK for example.

Bump, does anyone in China have any views?

I do live in China, but not in Xiamen.

aqicn.org/city/xiamen/ - this is the type of data you need to look at. To give you a comparison at my children's school there would be no outdoor play for children if the aqi is above 250. Anything above 100 is unhealthy for sensitive groups - young children, asthmatics etc.
Beijing was over 800 last week. At 400 the air smells like burning rubber and you should stay inside.

Thanks Shanghaidiva **

Hi. I have a new client based in Xiamen, and I visited last spring for a week. I stayed in a really nice hotel on the water, near the beautiful university. We went out on a Friday downtown to a stylish restaurant and a really modern mall/movie theater. Overall, though I didn't see that much, I liked the city. BUT the pollution was significant. When I tell people about my trip, I say Xiamen would be nice but the pollution just ruins it. Every day was gray and foggy... but it's pollution, not fog. I should have had a sea view from my hotel, but all I could see was gray haze. I have an eight year old and I would have a tough time bringing him there to live, due to the air quality although I was only there one week, so maybe it varies. I will say I asked a colleague from Xiamen and she said the pollution has been that way her whole life.

I used to live in Beijing, been to Fujian a few times but not Xiamen. That being said, the air quality is better there than it is in Beijing. It really helps that Xiamen is on the coast.

Just to expand on what other pps have said and to give you an idea of what you might be up against, in Central London the AQI can be as high as 50 on a bad day it's received a lot of press attention recently. The government is saying that it's responsible for thousands of deaths and respiratory issues.

Your DCs are young, I think if you are only staying there for a couple of years, you will be fine.

I did meet a really friendly British man at the airport who is there in Xiamen with his family. He owns two successful pubs there called the Londoner and the Dubliner, if I remember correctly. He has his wife and kids with him living there. You might try to contact him if you don't get many replies here on Mumsnet.

Thanks for your replies, SteelMagnolia that is useful to know about the pollution. We think we would stay for more than a couple of years to get the kids through school as I'd imagine it would be too disruptive to get them back into British school by that stage and I'm starting to think it's just too late for the children and responsibilities for ageing grandparents for such big disruption to the family.