User Comments - toianw
toianw
Posted on: Bringing Pets into China
February 12, 2011 at 5:18 PMYes, I've heard something along those lines too. I also heard that as a young man he was so attractive the girls couldn't help but fall for him. So he became obese in order to alleviate them from these (un-buddhist) urges.
Nowadays though, he seems to be associated more with wealth and prosperity.
Posted on: Eating Idioms, Part 1
February 12, 2011 at 5:09 PMHi Zhenlijiang,
I was unaware of this stereotype of Japanese men. Are you saying it's unfair? As for China, I guess it's a topic best left for the girls to answer. But I'd be surprised if it is a big problem - I've certainly never seen or heard of any evidence of it. Having said that, there's an idiom to describe it, so I guess it does occur to an extent (as I'm sure it does in any culture).
Posted on: Chinese Baijiu and the Best of the Worst
February 12, 2011 at 8:16 AM我没听说过这个scull的词语。好像是澳洲的说法。在网上我找到这个例句。真厉害！
"In 1954, Bob Hawke was immortalized by the Guinness Book of Records for sculling 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds. Bob later became the Prime Minister of Australia."
Posted on: Bringing Pets into China
February 12, 2011 at 7:14 AMIt's a representation of 布袋, sometimes also known as 笑佛. Though he's not THE Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama), he's often associated with Maitreya (彌勒佛), the Buddha yet to come.
From Wikipedia: Budai
Posted on: Bank Transactions
February 12, 2011 at 7:07 AM"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."
Does this work? I've only transferred money once and I couldn't do it without my 个人所得税完税证明 (personal income tax certificate) which I had to get from the local tax office. But that was some time ago, perhaps things have got easier.
Also, what's the % you are allowed to transfer about? Who decides it? I was under the impression you could transfer/exchange any amount of money up to the amount you've earned.
Posted on: Bank Transactions
February 12, 2011 at 4:15 AMHi bodawei, you can use your ATM to withdraw money in Australia?
Does that mean Australian banks work with Union Pay, or do you have a special account that allows this?
Posted on: Bank Transactions
February 12, 2011 at 4:13 AMIt's a different (and more complicated) issue if you're sending money you've earned in China, but still possible if you're a patient person. The same rules apply for all countrires. Basically, the difficulty is to do with the exchanging the RMB to another currency part of the transaction.
Nowadays, you can change up to 200 USD worth each day with no proof of how you came upon it, so if you plan in advance (and don't mind going to the bank everyday for a while) you can get around it.
The other option is getting all the documents to prove you've earned the money (and paid the tax) here. Here's where it gets a bit more complex as exactly what documents you need depends on who you ask, but a copy of your contract, a tax certificate, and maybe a payslip should be enough. No one seems totally sure of the exact rules. The one time I sent money home, one bank wouldn't accept my contract because it was in English (they told me I needed to get it translated into Chinese). I tried in another branch of the same bank a few miles away and they didn't even ask to see the contract.
Posted on: Annoying Ringtone
February 12, 2011 at 3:57 AMXiao_Liang. Scroll up to David's (davidxuzhou) comment above.
Posted on: Bank Transactions
February 11, 2011 at 3:46 PMHi ruyide,
You can transfer the remaining money back to the UK but you MUST keep the original exchange certificate that proves you changed the money from UK pounds to RMB in the first place. As long as the amount you want to transfer back is no more than the amount on the certificates it's no problem.
Withdrawing money should be no problem throughout the country, though obviously if you go to some remote rural places you may need to take a stash of cash with you. You have to pay a withdrawal fee for taking money out in a different city, but I don't think it's too much.
Posted on: Bank Transactions
February 12, 2011 at 5:27 PMI just checked. It seems Union Pay is now accepted in all UK ATMs (since 2009).- I had no idea about this, but it's good to know.
So the 70% thing (presumably of your total earnings) was set by your employer? Any idea why?
Just to clarify, I agree with you that the process of transferring money itself is not overly complicated. The difficult bit was finding out exactly what the process was. The requirements seamed to vary depending on which bank you went to, or even which branch of that bank (possibly even which person you were dealing with at that branch?) - Probably best to go to a bank that is used to dealing with foreigners.