Dean, of Jiaozuo, China, has the ability to become a fluent English speaker. He can learn English like a sponge and will put any adult learner to shame.
Very often I am asked to help a Chinese person improve their English. They have the goal to talk just like a native English speaker. It is a noble goal but very difficult to attain. Even more frustrating is to be able to listen to a 4 year old who can yammer on in both English and Chinese in perfect fluency. The kid can’t even tie his shoes, but can speak much better than his supposedly much wiser and better educated parents. Here’s an excerpt of his blog:
Chinese farmer with a traditional hoe. Notice he is not fat.
There are some government social systems that affect society so profoundly that without it we would be much worse off. In Canada, I would recommend our universal healthcare system. China’s hukou system is the mirror opposite, a tool to suppress and control the movements of China’s rural population.
Yangrou chuanr, mutton kebobs, Chinese street meat
It takes very little for me to have flashbacks of eating street meat in places I’ve lived or visited, namely China, HK and Japan. The mere whiff of an exotic spice can easily send me off to places past, transforming me from here to where I’ve been. I literally lose track of what I am doing and will walk off to chase a scent down. Now that I live in Toronto, Canada, where multiculturalism has evolved to mind expanding lengths, I become easily impatient with our city politicians as they dither about what is acceptable street food offerings to Torontonians. Here’s a novel idea: Let anyone offer food on the street and let the general public decide what they want to eat. Make it easy to get a licenses, enforce strict health rules, and punish those that are unclean. That, however, would be too easy.
This is not Chung Hing, but has the same feel. Photo by Don Qua
While it might seem unfair to compare a local Chinese grocer to the large big box chains, our shopping experience spans both, so I feel I should review both. Chung Hing, or in Mandarin, Zhong Xing, is our local Chinese grocer. While it is an average sized Chinese grocer, it seems to serve our needs well. Trip Review: Chung Hing: A.
I really love Drupal 6’s feed aggregator. It has the ability to aggregate numerous RSS (Really Simple Sybndication) news or blog feeds, categorize them, and keep them current, all in the effort to save you the trouble of going to each news source and hunting for relevant news. All you have to do is chose a category, read the summary and click the link for the article you what you want.
My brothers in China have purchased 2 Philips brand compact flourescent bulbs from Walmart China, one which burned out after only a month and another which burned out in less than a week. These bulbs should last for 10,000 hours, or over 6 years. His case is well documented.
___He paid 30.80RMB each, for a total of 61.60RMB, for which he received 1 month and 1 week’s worth of light, all in an effort to be more environmentally friendly. Due to terrible quality control in Philip’s China factory these bulbs were shipped to Walmart stores in China, where my brother purchased them and was cheated. That is a lot of money to lose.
A recently announced Chinese subsidy program targeting farmers has expanded it’s range of eligible items from the traditional home appliances to computers. This is an effort to spur domestic consumption. While on first reflection this seems like a good plan, note that farmers have a very low income. They have not benefited from China’s once booming economy as much as China’s urban middle class. Family members who have ventured to China’s big cities to become migrant workers are now facing grave difficulties finding employment. Many are forced to return home, causing great concern from the Chinese government. Further, conditions at the village level will not allow computer technology and knowledge to flourish. In these conditions I do not think many will be splurging on a new computer purchase.
Ryan has a great blog called Lost Laowai and writes from China. One of his readers contacted him about a dire situation he faced. The thread is documented here: What to do when your Chinese ex-wife runs away with your child?. Situations such as these seem common enough that they surface from time to time from different countries but always remain under the radar of the international news services. They apply not only to children but to adults as well. If you are living abroad, you start a family and have kids, be aware of these supposedly well known international laws or you might be in for a huge shock when this go badly wrong.
It is with no great fanfare that one marks the passing of an ox or water buffalo. No, there is no sentimentality for a beast of burden. Straining under a lifetime of heavy lifting, cut up and scarred by a heavy wooden collar, common scrapes of life as well as the constant bites by mosquitoes. Who takes a second look at a beast of burden?
___However old and ugly, the beast still pulls, pulling until it drops out of sheer exhaustion. One final look of serenity overcomes him as he rests after a full life of labour, never to pull again. If you ask him he would not complain, for he pulls for us, forever devoted to a higher cause that I cannot understand. Stupid ox, he cares not for himself.
I have always wanted to tell people about the benefits of a type of ecologically friendly living accomodation: the cave. China has lots of them in the Shanxi and Shaanxi area. It seems like Missouri does as well.
Chinese cave from Shaanxi Province, Tim Johnson/MCT
___Chinese caves, called yaodong, are ancient but became quite famous during the Long March, when Mao hid in them to escape bombing raids from American planes. After spending a significant amount of time living in a Chinese cave I would like to tell you that they are a totally awesome accommodation, but alas that would be a baldfaced lie. You may judge for yourself.
