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5/15/2012 9:26:18 PM
The dreaded Canton Fair just ended here in Guangzhou, and good riddance for a few months until the next one rolls around in October. For those of you who haven’t heard of Canton Fair. It’s an import and export convention that brings people from all over the world to Guangzhou looking for Chinese products to import from China or to find buyers in China for their own products. Needless to say it turns Guangzhou into hell on earth twice a year. The Canton fair runs from about April to the beginning of May in the spring and from October to November in the fall.
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5/2/2012 9:36:29 PM
I only had to wait 7 days to get my work visa after the long process of getting the paperwork together. My passport and papers only spent a few hours at the Chinese consulate, which means it spent more time in transit back and forth than it took for the Chinese government to look at it and give me my work visa page. Ironic when you think about how long things take when you deal with the U.S. government. I’d almost go as far as to say the government here is much more efficient than the U.S. but I’m sure I just haven’t run into the horror stories that others have encountered here.
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3/12/2012 3:30:07 PM
It is funny how you can measure progress in something - most people would say that when learning a foreign language, progress should be measured against the number of words you know, or the number of lessons you have mastered or how well you write an exam. But my putonghua (Chinese common language) is mostly self-taught by flailing around in China using language badly, getting help from teachers and friends every now and then for a month or two (but not doing any homework) and listening to others.
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2/24/2012 8:49:59 PM
So I arrived in Chengdu with nothing more than I could pack into carry-on baggage. The reason I was limited in this way was because I had flown over on what is known as a buddy pass, which is something you can get if you know someone who works for an airline. It allows you to fly free (you pay the tax on the ticket) and often to fly first/business class, but you have to essentially go standby, which means you can’t check through any bags.
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2/7/2012 6:59:58 AM
That loud clicking noise just as the wheels of the plane touch the ground reminds me that I am not in Kansas anymore.
* It is the sound of dozens of seatbelts being unhooked almost simultaneously with landing. As in America, the announcement has been made to keep your seat belt strapped until the plane reaches the gate. The only difference here in China is that for the most part people choose to ignore it. On the one hand, I admire the lack of deference to authority. On the other hand, if the plane suddenly stops I don’t want the fat guy sitting next to me to do a face plant into my lap.
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5/31/2010 4:05:17 PM
Were you born with a price tag on your head? Neither is anything else in this world. Not hotel rooms, not meals, not rentals of any sort. Not elephant rides, not scuba courses. Not even the price of fixing an election has a natural, fixed price tag on it! Welcome to tropical Asia, where everyone knows that but you.
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1/22/2012 4:29:45 PM
Spring Festival is here and the chaos has reached full blast, having started almost 2 weeks ago and been building up speed since then. Of course if you’re a stay-at-home type, as most Expats in China are at this time of year, the chaos going on may have gone unnoticed. But if you’re one of the gazillion Chinese or few Expats who are caught up travelling during the annual greatest human migration in human history then you’ve no doubt been caught up in the chaos at some point.
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1/11/2012 4:30:09 PM
One of my greatest joys when I first came to China was finding Chinglish - that curious mixture of words derived from mechanical translation of Chinese into English. It can be such a treasure - and a great source of entertainment as you try to decipher exactly what is being said such as “Please refrain yourself strictly, keep the flowers on the trees to prove you are a gentleman” (Please don't pick the flowers) and “enjoy the verdure essence from mountaintop scenic vantage not pleasant valley stroll” (Keep off the grass) and the others which are pure oxymoron “slippery when wet ... and dry” and my all-time favourite safety sign “warning, beware of unsafely danger strictlyness”. All of these featured in the Gardens of Suzhou a few years ago - but alas, have faded into obscurity.
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1/2/2012 12:30:06 PM
Most everyone is familiar with the common jobs for foreigners in China such as teaching English in a private English training center or university, managerial or technical positions in a multinational company, owning export companies, etc. However, there are lesser known, somewhat clandestine jobs occasionally available for foreigners not often talked about… until now.
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12/31/2011 11:35:03 AM
After meeting Vivinia and JoJo, I made the requisite phone call telling Vivinia how nice it was to meet them the previous night. Vivinia would be returning to Australia in a few weeks, so I had my sights set more on JoJo with her near zero English. There was little expectation on my part I would see either of them again, until two days later when my phone rang.
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12/20/2011 12:57:20 PM
I am sitting in a very cramped airplane seat on my way back to the Middle Kingdom wondering what i was really going back to - i had spent a few days in Singapore with a group of friends who are of “Chinese Origin” but not Chinese in nature - to be fair, they are younger and have many opportunities to travel, they have educational experiences that most people would kill for (living and studying in international universities) and I found myself constantly upholding the case for China and Chinese People in our discussions. One even accused me of being “wu mao” (this is a popular idea on the Chinese internet that there are netizens who try to sway public opinion toward the government by posting “good reports” on blogs and discussion boards - each “good posting” is said to attract a 5 cent (Wu mao) “public harmony” reward - so people can become rich posting nice things about government, officials and policies).
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11/19/2011 2:59:33 PM
I have to admit, my Chinese is pretty poor!!! And if you have lived in a place for 9 years like I have and not really picked it up, it is extremely poor!
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6/10/2011 8:35:38 AM
For me personally, one of the 'best' times to be around Chinese people is during a meal - not because I am a big fat guy who loves food - but this is the time you actually see the true generosity of Chinese people and the true nature of their business and social links.
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5/13/2011 1:44:21 PM
Macheng is located in HuBei Province. It is not a famous little town. There is about 100,000 acres of wild-azalea (Rhododendron) on Gui Feng Mountain. The azaleas blossom for only 10 days from April end to early May. Saturday (the 7th, May) had been set down as the time to view the flowers.
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3/26/2011 2:07:02 AM
One of the groups most likely to be 'working blind' in China is the 'English Teacher', for unlike other foreign workers in China they do not have ready access to trustworthy advice, tenacious secretaries or unlimited company resources to resolve 'life's little inconsistencies' in China.
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10/23/2010 7:14:47 PM
Although I live near by East Lake in Wuhan, I seldom go there. After the tourist rush and autumn weather and wilting of osmantus trees following the October 1 "Golden Week" , I recently wondered how East Lake would look.
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7/3/2010 2:54:06 PM
There were three days in Dragon Boat Festival, and I have one day of over-working, so I was free on 13, 14, 15, 16, June. Why not went to BeiJing to visit those traditional courtyard houses, Bird Nest, and listen Verdi’s opera in National Centre for the Performing Arts, and visit an American friend? I booked airline tickets immediately, and flew to BeiJing at 12th evening from WuHan.
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5/17/2010 3:17:17 PM
Ok, so let’s quit with the anthropology heading – I am actually just a casual observer rather than some learned professional so I all my comments are coming from my own personal experience rather than some multi-tome study on China – I am sure people will disagree with some of my views, and I welcome that! And that is a little bit about what my next topic is about, how Chinese women might ‘function’ in a ‘community’ sense.
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5/16/2010 8:08:08 PM
I remember the early days when I first came to ZhuHai. There were no more surprises for me, and even some disappointments. No city I had been before was like ZhuHai with its large buildings, shopping malls, constant stream of people, street side breakfast shops and crowded, jammed buses… I lived in an area called NanXiangLi, where it even felt strangely tedious. The feeling confused me and I wondered if it was because I was a newcomer or were there problems in this city. Or is it just because ZhuHai is one of the original four Special Economic Zones?
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