User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Bank Transactions

Yeah, I don't know about all banks but NAB works with Union Pay cards. You don't need to worry about all that paperwork.* You get the best exchange rate at an atm too in my experience. So, even if you earn the money in China it is not mafan at all. (Unless as baba suggests you want to get out the proceeds of a sale of a house - I am not likely to be in that situation.)

BTW, it is always wise to sign a contract in Chinese I think, even if it takes you an hour or two to go through it to make sure that you understand everything. If you ever need to rely on it, they will refer to the Chinese.

* If you want to do it that way, just get your employer to write the total amount you earned in a 12 month period, and a statement about the % you are allowed to transfer. It is not that complicated.

Posted on: Eating Idioms, Part 1

我想吃软饭，这是我的梦想， 哈哈。

吃牌 chīpái (to pick up/win a tile in a game of 麻将/mahjong) - also 吃子 to win a piece in a game of chess

Posted on: Bank Transactions

As toianw alludes to there are controls - and as you say, the idea no doubt is (or was) to promote the local economy. You are likely to have something spelled out in your contract of employment. I am not sure what the rules are; my wife and I have different limits expressed in our contracts. Assuming you have a written contract.

However, even these contractual controls are completely ineffective. I can draw on my Chinese account at an Australian atm. I am only limited by the daily limit of my Chinese bank so (depending on how much I have saved) I can empty the account in a day or two.

Posted on: Tea Refill

The road to specificity in China is always interesting..

Him: 'Would you like to eat lamb tonight?'

Me: 'Yum, yes please..'

[5 minutes later]

Him: 'The goat restaurant has many specialities.'

Me: 'Oh, sounds interesting, I like goat meat.'

[5 minutes later, sitting at a table in the restaurant.]

Him: 'Would you like the goat liver, the goat intestines or the goat blood?'

Me: '随便。Can we get some potato as well?'

Posted on: Inside the Baozi Business

He also carries a night stick. :)

Posted on: Tea Refill

The Chinese are rather vague about these distinctions - hare/rabbit, sheep/goat etc. They just look at the animal and see 'food'.

Posted on: Inside the Baozi Business

Hi xiao_liang

Does your question mark indicate that you think that a baozi seller is not an entrepreneur? I guess the word has been captured by men wearing white shoes who plan to make a lot of money, but I would consider anyone going into their own business as being entrepreneurial.

I think maybe Jenny Zhu tends to interview foreigners - I cannot recall any interviews with anyone born and raised in China but I might be wrong.

Posted on: Tea Refill

Tea out my way is usually luke warm, but also some places have 红茶 hóngchá (black tea) on tap rather than 绿茶 lǜchá (green tea).

Posted on: Chinese Baijiu and the Best of the Worst

'people from Yunnan' - might be a generalization that is hard to sustain, haha.

I believe that liver function is determined in part by genetics and the 三点又族 are not able to process alcohol (or fats surprisingly) as efficiently as Caucasians. Yunnan has a lot of ethnic groups other than the Han - they have a different genetically-determined capacity to process alcohol. (Just my theory).

Posted on: Inside the Baozi Business

I think ‘保安' deserves a Discussion page of its own. 'Do you bow to a baoan?' Not really, no-one bows to anyone in China, we are all equal. :) There is one baoan in my community who is about 13 years old and looks younger; he wears a brand new uniform (complete with decorative leather sash) that is a couple of sizes too large, as though he is going to grow into it. Another one offered to carry my wife's shopping one day; I don't think he realised that we are at the top of the hill and then on the fifth floor.