Answers of the Day
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Aug 10,2014
Today is the 15th day of the Hungry Ghost Festival. It's supposed to be the most haunting day of the festival since all manner of ghosts come out to play. Of course, there's no harm in getting a bite from food left lying around. Customs say that whatever food that was touched by them becomes tasteless. Maybe you could taste it to check if that's the case ?
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Aug 07,2014
It depends on you.
Many laowai come and live in poverty as you say and your salary will suck compared to whhat you earn now. This often a choice they have made. They live in smaller cities or work insanely low hours.
Others work 5 days a week and work 8 hours a day and make quite good money.
If you want to come close to your...
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Aug 03,2014
Love is universal, but the expression of it is cultural.
Don't underestimate the cultural differences. Open and honest communication is needed.
And. Listen to yourself, not your family. A relationship with a foreign man will be a lot different, and your family's expectations may be the cause of more problems than your own.
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Jul 30,2014
Hard to say, on the face of it Xi Jinping seems to be trying to do the right thing in clamping down on corruption. I think we will have to wait for a few years yet and see what if anything changes. This is a country that has had corruption at its centre for many generations, long enough that many people do not even recognise corruption when they see it, it is just how things get done. I think...
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Jul 30,2014
When I first came to China, my goals was to just survive a year as an ESL teacher. If I couldn't hack even a year I would feel like a loser for the rest of my life.
But luckily, it turned out that I have been here eight years (not really anchievement in itself) but I am happy how I have used that time to:
- travel
- learn Chinese,...
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Jul 26,2014
Most Chinese don't want to leave as opposed to the perception that they do. Like Ted, Tom et al said, they just want a better life. However, all of them want better lives fast, like yesterday. So we see them as conniving brats who rush to be first in line for anything, even for a sundae at Mackers. There are many who can afford to leave. They spend hundred of thousands sending their kids to...
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Jul 25,2014
Grow old? I'm already old so perhaps I will grow older. Yes, I will probably not go back. I live in a very small nation of 5.4 million people where 2.4 of them are foreigners. Total country land area is 660 sq kms, about 7 times smaller than Hainan Island. While China isn't as developed I find that I have more space here, even with 1.4 billion people. I have more opportunities here...
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Jul 23,2014
I think admin does it. What criteria they use is anybody's guess. I've got some of my posts selected as best answers but the why of it I don't know. I suppose they have their own guidelines, or perhaps use their gut feel?
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Jul 22,2014
1. Have a qualification in demand. It can be a Master or a PhD in science/engineering.
2. Have a skill in demand. Very good Chinese welders have been invited to work in Australia and they are now Australians... -
Jul 17,2014
If we believe the memories of Joseph Stillwell in China, back in the warlord era, most battles happened like that
* Army A and B meet at point C
* A few shots in the air, some artillery shot aimed at nothing very precise
* The largest army with all the cool gears win !
Most battles, it seems, not outright fights. Most armies were made of clueless, hungry, untrained guys... -
Jul 14,2014
Was it during the night ? It can be sky lanterns, which are popular in Asia (yes, it's a fire hazard)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_lanternOur sense of perspective (our capacity to deduce 3d geometry from two 2d images, one per eye) cease to work beyond 100 meters. It's...
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Jul 10,2014
Haha what you're describing is exactly the process I've gone through when learning Chinese...first going from blissful ignorance, to defensiveness, to laughing it off.
I think on the whole it has made me more tolerant ,and allowed me to engage and have better friendships with Chinese people. It's much easier to be understanding of attitudes that drive me mad when...
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Jul 06,2014
Because Baidu and Youku are not serious competitors to Google and Youtube, the only reason why they are popular in China is because most Chinese don't want to bother or don't have the sufficient knowledge to setup a VPN (that's not already blocked by the CCP censors).
Baidu can't be seriously compared with Google, it's not a real search engine, it's more like a huge...
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Jul 03,2014
I think you're looking at this incorrectly. You're asking 1 question (multi-culturalism) while also adding another (being stared at), along with being accepted. Those are three different concepts!
To answer #1 - a multi-cultural China... not in our lifetimes, nor in those of our kids, or grandkids (unless we've sorted out complete body regeneration, and we get to live for...
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Jul 01,2014
My parents came to visit me during the national holiday week last October.
A local friend acted as guide and interpreter and between us we organised visits to tourist sites and more out-of-the way places.
My parents had a fantastic experience what with the local food, local knowledge and insight, less touristy places etc.
There was a degree of staring at the '...
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Jun 30,2014
TBH
I would say the vast majority of men don't give a damn as to the reasons why a woman is a prostitute: it is probably the last thing on his mind when he is using her 'services'. He is hardly going to conduct an interview. Unlike the 'Fair Trade' products, a man is hardly going to be able to distinguish between coerced and voluntary prostitutes. not all coerced prostitute work in...
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Jun 27,2014
Things have definitely changed, THERE IS SEX EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS.
I teach a lot of teenagers that go to a variety of different schools in Beijing and they have all described in great detail the sex education classes they have to attend.
They watch videos, learn all about different STDs and the classes are co ed not separated, the kids are starting to...
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Jun 25,2014
I'm not a huge Japanophile myself either, but I know smart people back home who did in fact learn Japanese to better appreciate japanese cinema and literature.
I respect that Japan produces original art which intelligent people can really get into. Whereas you definitely can't say that about China.
I'm not trying to be biased or judgmental against...
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Jun 24,2014
There's no easy way. Non natives have it tough here. However, you'll stand a better chance if you go for subject teaching positions. Leave English to the natives. They are in a better position to teach English anyway. But if you insist on teaching English, then go to smaller cities. In bigger cities you'll have very little opportunities. Call it whatever you want but that's how it is here.
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Jun 22,2014
Ummm, we had a great debate here on this forum about that Canadian McDonalds story and the Chinese customer who requested a Chinese speaker. The conversation was overwhelmingly against the woman! This was a while ago, but If I recall correctly, some even called her a bitch for complaining. I was one of the few who saw her request as reasonable and defended the idea of a...
