User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Cold Cucumbers in Sauce

I also agree that recipe lessons are welcome.

But I have grave doubts about English language recipes for Chinese food - they sound so ... English. :) This extract from the link is a case in point: 'It’s an easy accompaniment and it’s great at cutting through rich flavours. The dressing keeps for a week in the fridge; try making a double amount and keeping half for a really quick salad later in the week.' Sorry, I find the language quite off-putting; it sounds like they have no real idea of the culture. There are much better ways to learn to cook Chinese food - ask a Chinese person for help or just watch Chinese cooks at work.

Posted on: Handsome Foreign Student

Just to clarify, 帅哥 and 美女 are used with strangers; we don't usually say this to friends, 对吧？

And generally 帅哥 between two men; 美女 between two women?

Actually, and I am sure this has been discussed elsewhere in various contexts, but what you call another person is much more complicated than in Australia and the US.

Posted on: Handsome Foreign Student

'If you pay yourself to go to the University, it must be different.'

You note that you need to get good scores to be an exchange student etc.

I can clarify what happens as I was an 'exchange' student. The description 'exchange' is a little mis-leading in most cases. A university in UK, US, Germany, Aust etc. has an arrangement with a Chinese university and you get some of your credit towards a degree which is awarded in your home country.

You do actually 'pay yourself' for tuition in China, one way or another. In my case the Chinese fees were paid by my home university and it becomes my liability in Australia. (Actually we have a scheme whereby it becomes a debt and you are charged zero real interest until it is paid off, or until you earn over a certain level of income at which time you are obliged to repay the debt.)

Posted on: Handsome Foreign Student

That's a good question.

Similar structure:

你在哪儿工作？ (Where do you work?)

厕所在哪儿? (Where is the toilet?) Sorry, can't bring myself to use the Americanism. :)

你在哪儿? (You where?)

厕所在哪儿? (Toilet where?)

While you are doing something 'there', the toilet is just being.

Posted on: Handsome Foreign Student

This is interesting. I watched a woman calling a waitress 美女 so I tried it myself and I was ignored. :( What's going on there?

I wonder if it more acceptable as a woman - woman form of address? Was I getting a little too personal?

Ok, my age might have something to do with it. :) I think I can call older women this but maybe not teenage girls.

Posted on: Noodles and Child Labor

'not necessarily exorbitant'

There are other factors at play apart from the fees. If these children can't get into school because of the 户口 (or because they are the bottom of the pile even if they have the rights - see my comment below), they may be forced to the educational 'fringe'. Often these are private schools, charging more than the government schools charge, but more importantly offering a lesser service. The social profile of the students is often poor, transient. behavioural problems - these schools have a bad reputation. And they can close on the whim of the entrepreneurial owner of the school. Or because the local government decides that they do not meet standards (our local government has a campaign of closing such schools.) I visited one of these schools a couple of times to participate in English lessons - eye opener.

The government has taken steps in the last year to make it easier for migrants to gain similar rights to residents - I don't know much about this - maybe someone knows something about this legislation. The problem however, is not so much legislation, it is deep-seated antagonism to people from another part of the country. So even if they have the right to go to a government school, the school may say 'sorry, there are no vacancies'. The manoeuvring to get your child into a good school reminds me of my old home town of Sydney. Just like Sydney people will move house to be in the catchment - not that always works in China because social class and privilege plays a role here too. These migrant kids and their families can suffer discrimination.

My university last year had a 'raise awareness of the plight of migrant families and children' week. :)

Posted on: Business Interview: e-Commerce Guru

'didn't find ways to gain trust from Chinese users'

I don't know the e-Bay story here, but the Taobao process engenders trust because you see correspondence between vendors and other buyers. Not only are products rated, but both vendors and buyers are rated, so you can make a judgement based on the rating of all three. 

Also, the payment mechanism is an effective means of giving comfort - your money doesn't go until you have the item you purchased in your hands. 

It's a very cool system. 

Posted on: Noodles and Child Labor

Incidentally - I was just commenting the other day how children are children in China - for instance there are distinctive 'kid' haircuts (often very cute). When I was a child I had a haircut with my father and it was exactly the same cut (short back and sides.)

Posted on: Noodles and Child Labor

I would say the concept of children having the right to enjoy their childhood is considerably newer than you suggest. It was probably not until about the 1960s or 1970s that people in general interrogated these concerns.

I'm not saying that I did not enjoy my childhood, just that the vast majority of parents did not give it much thought. There was not the focus on children there is today - children were just people waiting to become adults. It is interesting to look at kid's clothing - this is a new invention for the bulk of the population. In my day it was just short pants into long pants, and adult designs made small enough for you to wear.

Posted on: Handsome Foreign Student

Hi hazelreid

Thanks for looking that up for us. Interesting about the HSK; we we given an HSK entrance test come to think of it but I never got the results. They used it to allocate people to classes. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a number of ways to get in - Zheda had at least one or two special arrangements with US universities that involved classes separate to the rest of us. And you could also attend as a 'casual', a month at a time. I'm not sure if there were pre-requisites for that; I met a Japanese couple doing this, but they were not newbies.