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I Got my U.S. Visa An unrelated situation: A friend was doing his research in Uzbekistan, and wanted to go to Pakistan. He went to the embassy and asked how much the visa was. The guy said "what passport do you have?" He said "I have a Canadian one, and a New Zealand one." "The Canadian passport needs $90 for a visa, the New Zealand one needs $10." "Why's that?" My friend asks. "Canada doesn't play cricket." I'm serious!! Basically, the agreement with Pakistan and New Zealand was to facilate international cricket games. Actually I think Beijing has a 'we charge you what you charge us policy', although doesn't seem like it with the US. For NZ and Australia its the same price both ways, $60 New Zealand (about 300 yuan). |
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I Got my U.S. Visa Wow! Amazing stats about illegal immigrants. Now I see the problem, they are just too darn popular! Land of hope and dreams eh. Actually, to stop in Australia for a one hour tarmack-sit (that didn't even involve getting off the plane, just loading passengers on) from NZ to Malaysia, my Chinese friend had to get an Australian visa. On the way back, only Asians had their passports double checked by Australian officals after the Malaysian ones. I thought it was the most rascist thing out and was really annoyed, but my Chinese friend took it calmly since she knew many Chinese entered illegally. Do you think its big countries that can't police it? We don't really have that kind of problem here (New Zealand). Because if you want to stay longer you just ask for a visa and they give it to you. Also maybe because we don't have as high status as the US, not as popular!! The problem we do have is of students coming to study but not studying and opening dodgy illegal $2 shops with stuff they imported in their suitcases. |
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I Got my U.S. Visa One of the easier places to get citizenship and immigrate??? That's the first I've ever heard. I thought it was common knowledge that Canada, Australia and New Zealand are the places to go for easy permanent residence and citizenship, especially for refugees. Also easier to get student visas. Did you know America has 65,000 Chinese international students? And New Zealand (with a population of only 4 million) has 55,000! Mostly because its so much easier to get a visa. Sometimes people apply for a US one, and are refused, then go for a NZ one. It's now our 4th biggest export industry ("export education"). Anyway, just trying to make a point here... Its not too hard for us to get US visas, but the security is really tough here too. It's better if you go through an agency. My uncle was a courier and got floored by a US marine with a gun pointed at his head for walking into an office without knocking and gave the guy a fright. And that was pre-9/11! It's tough at the top I guess -- more to fear. |
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Budget Travelers are the Majority There is another site called Chinabackpacker that has some good info for the whole of China (I have some articles on their too ;-) http://www.chinabackpacker.com/ |
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Basic Geographic Knowledge about China I think you should add that Beijing and Guanzhou are north-east and south-east respectively. If you say Bejing is north, people will try to find it on the map somewhere around the middle of inner Mongolia. When Chinese people think of China, they think Chengdu is the furtherest west. But when a foreigner looks at a map of China, we think Sichuan would be central China. Possibly you could add something like: when people talk about the northeast of China they are talking about [such and such] provinces. Southwest is Yunnan, Sichuan etc. Eastern Seaboard is: etc. Because when we look at a map we see things geographically rather than demographically -- Chinese people 'don't count' Qinghai, Gansu and Xinjiang although they take about half the area of China because (comparatively) hardly anyone lives there. |
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Why We Use English Signs? Reading Nick's comment I got a little angry too, I guess, but I think Geno answered well. As a New Zealander, we are constantly amazed when we travel how difficult it is for people to understand us. We can understand British English, US English, Australian, Singaporean -- even Chinese English!! Because we are used to having all our multimedia imported from abroad. What really astounds me however, is that Americans cannot understand us at all!! We actually have to make an effort to change the way we pronounce certain words in order to communicate with them. Sometimes this is quite funny. Anyway, what I really wanted to say was that I have to put my two cents worth in the argument that English is NOT an easy language to learn. Comparing with many Asian languages, possibly with the exception of Tibetan, English grammar is ridiculously complicated, and it takes a very long time before you can actually use your English. Chinese, however, has the added benefit that you can string a few words together in the right order, but don't have to worry about tense, plurals or even subjects half the time! It is so contextual that it is really easy to start using it since you don't need to have a large vocabulary. As for tones, that's just training your ear. You can pick them up with time, and most Chinese are gracious enough to forgive your tonal mistakes since the dialects all use different tones as well. I've never been to Taiwan, so I can't comment on the ease of learning Chinese there, but I found during my time in China the best way to practice Chinese is to go where people cannot speak English. Small children are a favourite for me, as are people with boring jobs and lower education such as doormen, guards, rubbish collectors, people selling stuff on the street and so on. The hairdresser is an excellent place to practice Chinese, since all over the world it is their business to talk to you while you're in the chair, and they are often unlikely to speak more than a few words of English. Get out of the university and on to the streets!! Regarding writing however, I must admit I find this difficult, and I am eternally grateful to the Chinese government for having roadsigns in Pinyin/English for me. Learning writing is basically applying yourself to study, a personality characteristic that is not often present in me. Us Westerners have less patience with this sort of rote-learning, and hence have a real fear of Chinese characters. But even people like me can learn over time. |
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How China Mobile Fee are Charged Thanks Jianshuo! This was an awesome explanation. I might print it out to study even. This means I may even start calling my Chinese friends who don't have landlines! This is fantastic, I had totally misunderstood the way it worked. I don't even have a cellphone in New Zealand, so it's hard enough understanding it here, let alone in a country as big as China!! |
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Posting my Mobile Number So if I call a mobile in China, will the receiver have to pay a charge to recieve my call? I just assumed they would so I've never called my Chinese friends that only have a cellphone. Would really appreciate knowing this, may change my relationships significantly -- and force me to practice my Chinese which of course goes downhill when I am back in New Zealand! By the way, the cellphone system in China is really confusing. Compared to little wee New Zealand anyway. We just have one flat rate for all calls to cell phones, but in China I have to remember where I am, where my phone comes from and where my friend's phone comes from! I always got confused and several times wasted whole 50 yuan phone cards without even realising! Aiyo! |
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Dan Washburn Arrived in Beijing I learnt so much more about China through living in a village. (Panyazhai, Jiuzhaigou -- see my triplog http://www.mytripjournal.com/jiuzhaigoufieldwork) Heaps of the things my Chinese friends did seemed less strange to me. Why do they always have a shower at 4pm instead of first thing in the morning or last thing at night? Because you always wash your hair during a warm time of day since you have to do it outside (which I was totally hopeless at). Why do they spit on the floor and throw seed shells on the floor? Because in the village the floor and the courtyard are treated like outdoors. Many of these actions transfer across to their everyday lives in New Zealand, and don't make sense. But in the village, it's so clear (even though this was a Tibetan not a Chinese village, it's still new to me). Except I still haven't got the hang of brushing my teeth before breakfast! |
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Why I Don't Have an English Name Another point in answer to Chen's question is that Japanese and Korean names are easier to pronounce for English speakers. In order to pronounce Chinese names you must pronounce the tone, which most English speakers can't hear, and which isn't revealed in the Pinyin. Also, in reading a name written in Pinyin, you have to know how to pronounce zh, c, x and q, which are totally unrelated to their English pronunciation. Because I can speak some Chinese, I like to find out people's Chinese names, but because I am a native English speaker, I do tend to remember English names. Also, the distinguisher factor of Chinese names means that names do not fall within a set range like English (as mentioned by someone previously), so except for the major family names, every time you learn someone's name you are learning a new word! This value of distinguishing your name, and your name being able to be any word means that I have heard some hilarious English names in New Zealand: Green, Apple, Lion, River, Ocean, Lance (a girl), Hero, Love and so on. Has anyone else come across some funny names? I love having a Chinese name, even if its not very distinguished. It really makes a difference relating to Chinese people both in and out of China as they feel confident in pronouncing my name correctly (kai Li, 凯丽). |