What is life like for a single woman in Suzhou

Hi TK, hopefully a single woman will drop in and post an answer (as I'm a married guy, so terribly under-qualified in both departments).

I did want to chime in with my two-cents and say that (as an ex-Suzhou resident, for about half a decade), there are certainly no shortage of things to get out and do for singles in the city. Plenty of bars, coffee shops, etc.

I've known quite a few Suzhou international school teachers, but oddly, most of the ones that arrived single didn't stay so for very long. That said, there is a huge expat population, so surely a variety of marital (or non-marital) statuses -- even if the international school community isn't full of singles.

One issue you may have is the location of the school. Most (all?) of the international schools are a bit of a ways from downtown, and so if you're looking to have a social life outside of the school, you'll want to make sure your accommodation isn't physically isolating. If you're not downtown (which you likely wont be, and that's not a bad thing), then you'll probably want to be as close to Jinji Lake as you can get, as there is loads of stuff to do/eat/shop around the area.

Feel free to contact me directly (just use the contact link at the top of the page -- I run the site), I can try to get you in touch with some other international school teachers in Suzhou, who while coupled, might be able to get you connected to other singles and you can speak to them directly.

-R