PRChina

what pay should I ask for work?

Tue, 15 Mar 2005 23:13:44 GMT

Ok, my first post here.

I've been in China for over a year now, and my school just asked me to grade some papers for an essay writing class. What amount of money should I ask for this? Right now I'm charging 100-110 rmb per hour for spoken English teaching.

What should I ask for grading essays? Should I try to get a lump sum or some sort of hourly pay?

Some background if it helps: I've been in Tianjin China for a year with this school, and I have a bachelor's degree in Math/CS. I've done lots of extra work for this school in the past (but it is all spoken English). I'll be sharing this responsibility with two Chinese teachers, and we will split a poll of about 160 students evenly.

Thanks in advance!
Ken

Chinese

Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:08:02 GMT

Hey all,

I went to Beijing, China this summer and whenever I went out or shopping, people would ask me whether I was Chinese or not. And thus, store owners would try to take advantage of me and give me outrageous prices. When I was on Xiu Shui Jie, this lady even called out to me in English and told me to come into her store. I am 100% Chinese, but I was born and raised in the US. I don’t know what it is… I can speak fluently in Chinese and I look Chinese (I think), but they are like “你的旗帜不像中国姑娘” and stuff. Not this coming semester, but next semester I am going to go to Beijing or Shanghai to study abroad. So how can you tell foreigners apart from Chinese people and how can I act to blend in more so I don’t get cheated? Thanks…

Tue, 30 Nov 2004 06:17:18 GMT

I've created a community, chineseclassics, for discussion of, you know, Chinese classics. Please join if you're interested.

(crossposted to zhongwen)

Tue, 23 Nov 2004 08:41:32 GMT

Hello All,

I just posted a little bit information about myself in community
beijing_lj

I am a new comer to Beijing from Shanghai and would love to meet cool friends in town if you are interested please check out!

Lu
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中国诗社

Thu, 21 Oct 2004 19:48:35 GMT

I find this Chinese poets website, which is pretty good. Check it out.

xposted from yangjiejie

中国诗社

由旅美诗人蒋品超发起成立.

中國詩社啟示

中國詩社(http://www.chinesepoets.org/)﹐由幾位網絡熱心詩人于海外成立﹐並將與海內外有志之士攜手推動中國文化在詩歌領域的發展﹐激濁揚清﹐擯棄當今中國詩壇偏安靡亂的腐敗之風。中國詩社主張“反思歷史﹐關注政治﹐悲憫民生” 。
中國詩社現已多位漢詩翻譯人員﹐及如在美國大學教授漢語詩歌的奚密教授與漢學家梅丹尼博士加入﹐並已與美國詩人協會(http://www.poets.org) 取得聯係。中國詩社願為將中國詩歌向國際推展作出自己的努力。
中國詩社剛剛成立﹐力量幼小﹐真誠期望您的幫助與參與﹐殷切渴望各大媒體的推介與扶持﹐我們將無限感激﹗﹗

中國詩社

Help to Find a Person

Tue, 07 Sep 2004 08:05:06 GMT

hello :) i want to find a person in shanghai, china.
she is a nice girl. her name is Lee. she was born in about 1975-78.
she speaks perfect english, and last time when we've communicated she was in HP Marketing.

:)

I know its a wild intention to find her here. But if anyone has an idea of how to help me, I'd be more than happy.

she looked like this 5-6 years ago

Chinese valentines day?

Sat, 21 Aug 2004 09:12:12 GMT

Apparently tomorrow is Chinese Valentine's Day or something? To celebrate the lovers who meet across the milky way?
Do people in China really celebrate this? I'm asking around, but I'd like to hear what you guys know about it too.
"Chinese Valentine’s Day is derived from the legend of the herd boy and the spinning girl. The herd boy ( a star formation in the constellation Aquila, west of the Milky Way) and the spinning girl ( the star Vega in the constellation Lyra, east of the Milky Way) appear closest together in the sky on this night and all the magpies on earth are said to ascend to the sky to form a bridge across the Milky way so that the lovers may cross over for their brief once-a-year tryst. This is a festival for young unmarried girls and for young lovers who observe the romantic occasion by exchanging gifts, strolling in moonlit parks, and praying in temples for future matrimonial bliss.It is on th 7th day of the 7th month on the chinese calendar."

Newbie need some help!!

Sun, 08 Aug 2004 07:43:21 GMT

Hi all,

I'm a newbie and my Chinese name is 'Xiao Fen'! :D I'm 100% Chinese living in Thailand. I understand Mandarin Chinese alright but I have difficulties speaking it. I have no problem shopping alone in Chinese-speaking countries though!! ;p

I travel to Guang Zhou many times a year and now my brother is looking for a Chinese language school there. I think there must be planty of lang. schools in GZ but which would you recommend?!? My brother can speak a little Chinese, but he plans to continue a University in China once his Chinese communication is good enough. A Chinese overseas needs help over here, so please help her out!! Any help or information would be greatly appreciated. Many, many thanks! (Duo Xie!)

anyone at Remin Daxue?

Wed, 04 Aug 2004 14:06:45 GMT

Hi,

I'm going to be staying at Remin Daxue for a study abroad trip but I'm looking for ideas on things to do in the area. Does anyone have suggestions on good bars or places like clubs? If anyone's in the area, please drop a line. It seems the area around this university is prettty empty. Does anyone also have suggestions on good restaurants? The group has been eating out at some okay chinese restaurants. suggestions would be great.

thanks

a few questions for China trip

Mon, 26 Jul 2004 13:31:44 GMT

I'm going to be in Beijing studying abroad with a small group of students for a program from July 29th to August 19th. We're staying at Remin University I think or a hotel on site or something. Just had a few questions, hopefully they're not too lame. i'm just getting nervous.

I already have some chinese money to start off with so i won't need to change currency right away. would you reccomend bringing travelers checks to convert to chinese currency later during the trip or american dollars?

some people in the program mentioned pickpocketers. is it really bad? should i get a money belt or something like that?

since it's summer and it's going to be hot. what types of clothes would you reccomend bringing? we'll be meeting with companies there so i'll have more formal clothes. but for sightseeing and walking around, would jeans be too hot?

i'm bringing my digital camera but my memory can only hold so much and i'm not sure if my other classmates are bringing laptops. would i be able to d/l photos to a computer at an internet cafe? would bringing a camera make me stick out like a tourist? i'm an american born chinese, do they treat americans better than abc's?

what kinds of things are good as souvenirs? and are clothes cheap or expensive there? same with cosmetics. what are some good places to shop in beijing?

aside from the big touristy stuff, what other sights would you reccomend seeing in beijing only? the duration of the trip is beijing only.

what would everyone reccomend for phone cards or calling home to the US? i was thinking of buying one that uses VOIP but i'm not sure how well it works.

last last question: are there places in beijing near Remin University to get a good haircut? my mom's friend went to China and said a haircut is nice.

thanks for all the help

forms of money to take to China

Sun, 18 Jul 2004 07:45:33 GMT

Hello,

In September I'm going to Beijing for about five months for exchange from my uni. I'm trying to figure out at the moment what my best options for taking money over there.

As past of my exchange agreement, my accommodation is provided, so I won't have to pay for that. The main things I'll have to pay for are meals, clothing, gifts, transport and any travel I do.

I know they say to take a mixture of forms e.g. cash, travellers cheques, credit card. But how much should I take in travellers cheques? Considering I have to pay these before I go... I don't want to get US$1000 worth and then find I only really use $400.

I also found out the other day about a thing called a Travelex Passport. You can buy one for single use or rechargeable, it allows you to get cash out of an ATM but you can't use it to pay for anything else e.g. can't use it in restaurants.

is it worth opening up a local bank account? The uni is also giving me a monthly allowance of (I think) US$50-70.

thanks for any advice!

中国

Thu, 15 Jul 2004 22:23:19 GMT

你好你好：）

I'll be in China from August 9th to August 27th, in Shanghai from the 9th to about the 14th or 15th, then in Xi'an, and then in Beijing for my last 4 or 5 days, not sure yet. I wanted to know if anyone could recommend cheap but decent hotels, or any alternative accomodations (I'm not too keen on youth hostels though). Generally, any advice? Also, if anyone wants to volunteer as a tour guide / shopping partner / translator, I'D LOVE TO MEET YOU!! Hehe :) I speak a tiny bit of Mandarin as opposed to my decent amount of Japanese (I was in Tokyo for 8 months).

谢谢你！

-Cassandra

Wed, 07 Jul 2004 20:05:53 GMT

hey everyone. my name is jenny and i live in san jose, ca. i'm leaving for shanghai on friday, the 9th. my family and i are going to be there for an entire month and a half. don't get me wrong, i love shanghai, but i have a feeling that i'll get bored real fast. i was about 7 the last time i visited. my mom reassured me that theres a lot more to do now, but still, a month and a half in a forgien country is gonna be hard for a restless 15 year old girl.

any ideas on what to do to keep busy?
fun places to eat?
local 'hot spots'?

any help would be appreciated, and thanks in advance!

Ni hao!

Wed, 19 May 2004 18:40:09 GMT

I just stumbled across this and thought I'd join so i can throw in my 2 cents (2 fen?) every now and then. I'm an Asian Studies Major at carleton college, last year I studied at Nankai University in Tianjin. I love China! I wish I had the money to go back sooner. I plan to travel for a while in China after I graduate with my, then to be husband, Ethan. He doesn't really sleak Chinese, but he knows the importaint things: hello, map, good, bad, genious and boyfriend. ^_~ I miss China a lot, especially the food and music. I NEED the new Jay CD! I taught Chinese this summer at Concordia Language Villanges, Sen Lin Hu. It was fun stuff. I look forward to hearing from those of you having nifty adventures in Zhongguo! Zai jian!

Haircut

Wed, 05 May 2004 06:53:21 GMT

Any advice for a foreigner that needs a haircut in the PRC? Anybody know a barber in Tianjin that speaks English that I could go to? Do I have to go to Beijing?

Sun, 25 Apr 2004 18:28:47 GMT

Hi everyone, I am a first-year Japanese major and Chinese minor at the University of Massachusetts.

I am probably going to be spending the summer, assuming all works out, studying in Beijing. However, although I have been doing research on the web and in books, I have been unable to find a very helpful description of what everyday (I am going to be living with a host family) life would be like in Beijing.

Could any of you who have studied/are studying abroad in China tell me what the experience is like? What were your first impressions? What is everyday life like living with an average Beijing family? Is the standard of living much lower in Beijing than it is here? How hard was the adjustment? Have you gotten sick at all? I have had that pollution is a major problem and that the tap water is terribly polluted... to what extend is that true?

I know these may sound like very ignorant questions, but I really have no idea what I am in for and would really like to know what some of your experiences living or studying in Beijing have been like. Thank you so much for your help!

costs estimates

Fri, 28 Nov 2003 00:17:21 GMT

hello,

I would LOVE if someone here could give me some rough estimages on these figures.

(assuming I'm staying at BeiDa or Qinghua. for one semester)

-travel & medical insurance
-accommodation (cheapest dorms available)
-transport
-living costs (food, bills, etc... well really only food I guess)
-spending money
-anything else? (I've got visa & airfare covered)

thank you so much!!

(also please tell me what currency your estimates are in!)

cheers...

hello!

Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:21:10 GMT

Nihao PRChina...

I am new. I'm a uni student in Melbourne, Australia. I've been learning Mandarin at uni for two years now. I plan to go to China next year in second semester (Sep04-Feb05) for exchange.

They won't let me go to USTC in Hefei, poo. :-( It looks like I will probably end up going to Qinghua (QingDa?) or BeiDa.

I would've typed this out in characters but it's so annoying - I haven't found an easy way to do it yet besides search, cut and paste. [also, this message would then have been much simpler. *grins*]

I really wanted to go to USTC (Uni of Science & Tech of China), and they have an exchange agreement with my uni (Melbourne Uni). But my exchanges co-ordinator told me their Chinese language program will be "temporarily suspended" during the period I'm there. What bullshit is that?! I can't understand it. Why would a Chinese uni suspend their Chinese language program?!

oh well... Beijing is still very cool, so... you know. I'll live. :-)

cheers!

(also... my main journal is at deadjournal, but since LJ is so much bigger the communities are a lot better.)

Fri, 21 Nov 2003 17:41:16 GMT

http://www.chinatefl.com/hubei/teach/wuhangh.htm
Here's a link for the job I had for 4 months in Wuhan. It says they're looking for 15 teachers for April.

Get a flu shot?

Wed, 24 Sep 2003 04:02:41 GMT

Just put this up, for those of you in Beijing/China - flu notice.

I'd recommend that you go and get a shot wherever you happen to be travelling outside of China during the upcoming holiday. You never know.

Fri, 05 Sep 2003 15:26:42 GMT

This one is for those whom have studied Mandarin in Beijing:

I am planning to study in Beijing next year and I've scanned the websites of PKU and BLCU. They both seem pretty prestiges and offer high levels of Mandarin instruction, so I am having a hard time deciding.

ANY advice or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

Long time

Sun, 10 Aug 2003 17:56:41 GMT

For those interested, I've added an update to this May 11th post by our moderator with a new -- though now very old -- link.

anyone looking for a job?

Fri, 04 Jul 2003 04:47:34 GMT

Hey - I'm done with teaching, so there's an opening at my school (in Harbin) for the next year. If anyone's interested in a job, let me know and I can tell you about the place in more detail.

Oh, also, if anyone knows somewhere on LJ I can post job ads like this, please let me know.

Beijing Blues (From Spiked-Online)

Mon, 02 Jun 2003 05:35:22 GMT

29 May 2003
Beijing blues

by Donna Maria Loh

'What's the difference between the words health and illness?'

The children looked at me blankly. It was Easter Monday 2003 and we were beginning a new chapter in our textbooks entitled, 'Seasonal Affective Disorder - The Winter Blues'. I had started the lesson with fresh vocabulary to set the scene. Then one of my boys started to cough.

'You have the SARS, you have the SARS!' the children bleated. 'Michael, how do you feel?' I asked, hoping he could differentiate between a subjective state and a medical condition. 'I have the SARS', he giggled.

'How do you all feel?' I asked the class. 'We are very worry', they answered. 'Give me synonyms for worry', I said. 'Scare! Heart-quicken! Frightened!', they replied. I could understand why the kids were worried. SARS wasn't exactly a picnic in the park.

The SARS panic was a fascinating, yet frustrating, time to be in China. Despite the government's attempt to be seen to clamp down on SARS at every opportunity, everyday life was dominated by a basic lack of awareness of how SARS transmits and infects humans.

At school, two of my university-educated colleagues believed SARS could be 'caught in the breeze' from vast distances. We were bombarded with often contradictory advice: 'You must wash your hands every five minutes...You must go outside and exercise...You must stay inside and keep warm...You must close the doors to stop it flying in... You must open the windows to let it fly out...'

During times like this, prudence is the key. But equally as important is perspective. The probability of death for the Bubonic plague was 100 percent, for young and old alike. The probability of death for infected SARS individuals was about 10 percent (1).

SARS distracted the world media, while malaria, one of the deadliest diseases, still kills 1.5 to 2.7million people a year (2). How many more lives could be saved if we focused on mosquito nets for poor African children instead of fretting over relatively ineffective paper masks?

Yet perspective seems to have been one of the first casualties of the SARS outbreak. At the height of the panic, my school was like a ghost town. The sanitised corridors seemed longer and wider. The classrooms that normally held 60 lively kids each were dark and soulless.

Walking through Beijing's muted streets, people were all muffled up. The People's Liberation Army looked ridiculous in their masks. 'Has he got the bug? Has she got the bug? I don't want to stand near him. He looks well dodgy...' There was a sense of distrust everywhere. It was enough to make me feel depressed-- and I didn't even have Seasonal Affective Disorder.

I enjoyed a night out with some British schoolteacher friends, before they headed back to Old Blighty. Some had disobeyed SARS-curfews imposed by their schools in order to attend. Others had been prohibited from frequenting 'SARS hotspots' around town. It's a shame that our Chinese adventure had to end like this.

On a trip to Guilin in April, 24 hours away from Beijing by train, the scale of the SARS panic hit me. Guilin is one of the most beautiful places in rural China, if not the world, where you can spend forever gazing at the age-old limestone pinnacles. But leaving Beijing train station was chilling. Officials were dressed head to toe in protective plastic gear, like they had just walked out of a scene from ET.

Pro-government, anti-SARS propaganda was out in full force: huge billboards showing giant Communist fists smashing down on tables and bright red banners were on display throughout the capital. State TV churned out scenes of fresh-faced youngsters mesmerised by the Chinese flag. 'I believe only the government and the people can fight this terrible evil together', said one young student.

The train journey to Guilin was harrowing. I shared a 'sleeper' cabin with four other people. Every time someone coughed, everyone else seemed to hold their breath for twice as long-- including me. Previously, I had spent an hour on the phone trying to calm my distressed mother. 'Come back home', she said. 'I've just seen a documentary, it looks horrible! It's all spiky and has all these sharp long things coming out of it.' 'Mum, that's what all viruses look like', I replied.

Guilin was like a fresh breath of air, literally and figuratively. Death City was a world away. It was like SARS never existed here. No masks, no paranoia. Just carefree travellers sauntering around wearing their 'I survived SARS 2003' t-shirts... Then the next morning, I awoke to the hysterical shouting of my hostel manager.

'You must get out of here by 12pm! The PSB [Public Security Bureau] say you must go! You have come from Beijing, they don't want you here!' 'Ni kai wan xiao! Wo bu bing le!' ('You've got to be having a laugh! I'm not sick!'), I protested.

Heartbroken and stunned, I packed up my things. I felt like I was the harbinger of doom-- I had brought SARS fever to Guilin. But the manager relented after a few hours. My temperature was normal and it was evident she needed my custom. Tourism throughout the rest of China had already come to a standstill. She seemed as pissed-off about the PSB's orders as I was.

Later I rented a bicycle to visit the surrounding villages-- until I was held in a police cordon. Fearing that SARS may be spread to the villages, the police were on orders to stop any foreigners from cycling anywhere. Ten other foreigners were also being detained. It seemed the police didn't know what to do with us disease-carrying aliens. They just detained us, to be on the safe side.

I hope it isn't long before China gets back to normal. A bit of perspective goes much further than blind panic. While we take precautions in life, we shouldn't forget to live.

* * * * * * * * * *

(1) SARS is lethal for the elderly, Yahoo News, 7 May 2003

(2) Malaria: A Reemerging Disease in Africa, Emerging Infectious Diseases, July-September 1998

Thu, 29 May 2003 18:55:06 GMT

I've been missing my students I taught in Wuhan, a lot. http://dragonkids.chinadaily.com.cn/index.html on this link..
This sounds exactly like the students, I love this little voice (even thought its just one sentence) I haven't heard it in the US yet. There are a lot of chinese college students at my university, but they don't really talk like that. Only the kids in china.