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I'm surprised their level of English is low, as you suggest, because one of the requirements of Chinese government for exchange-students is to pass an IELTS standards-test. However, it could be their parents found a more....financial alternative, if you get my meaning.

You're doing the right thing with using Google-translate, especially if you are using Windows language bar (they write in Chinese in Google-translate).

May I recommend installing google-translate app on your cell-phone and installing this app- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pleco.chinesesystem&hl=en

Pleco will allow your Chinese friends to write in Chinese Hazi, which pleco can translate.

WARNING: Chinese-made dictionaries are very corrupt- i.e Chinese student writes a hanzi-word he wants translated, it comes out gibberish. Comedy at best, bloody frustrating other times. Insist on using Google.

Good idea to embrace their Mandarin. I recommend downloading this- http://kickass.to/pimsleur-ladyfae-12-languages-t7763469.html (deselected other languages to save GB-space). Learning Chinese takes some devotion but its very rewarding, at the least.

I recommend learning Chinese songs to bridge the gap. Chinese love singing or hearing songs. Teresa Teng's "tian mi mi" is a good start (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwNy03cDcGA). Here are the lyrics- http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/t/teresa_teng/tian_mi_mi.html They're easy to learn. Go to www. chinasmack.com for more songs (ignore the tabloid-news crap, its all reactionary-BS).

China has KTV bars here where people have singing-parties. So take them to a karaoke bars, if any, as they'll be the closest alternative. Or just book an empty classroom for an impromtu KTV-party.

Follow Chinese TV shows, such as Scarlet Heart (步步惊心 )- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cSzi064h-A&list=PL38225A73B22EEF00 This may be a bit out-dated now but get them to show you what TV shows they like.

They will love online gaming. Most popular games in China are LOL, WOW and CS. Get yer laptop out, start gaming, you hero.

Chinese men LOVE billiards. Get yer cue-stick and off you go.

Read books, particularly Theodore H White's "Thunder out of China" and this one- http://www.amazon.com/The-Tragedy-Liberation-Revolution-1945-1957/dp/1620403471 This will give you an unbaised awareness of what China is all about. Seriously, its criminal how we are not taught what's in these books in school!

Teaching them English is a wonderful opportunity for you and looks great on your CV. These kids will most likely be there for only a short-term so don't expect much progress.

One thing you must know: dump that sterotype of Chinese students being highly-educated. That only happens in Shanghaii, which is a separate city-state and gives the most pre-conceived idea of China. Education in China is extremely under-resourced, chaoticly-adminisitered and heavily-nepotistic.

Here some ideas for simple english lessons for you- follow @polarbackup suggestion, "talk smack about their teachers". This can teach them comparitives- "he is the FATTEST", "he is the SMARTEST", "he is bigger than...", so forth. Draw flashcards with carictures of their teachers or people, write out some verbs (big, bigger, biggest/pretty, beautiful, most beautiful, etc.). BOSH! you gotta lesson.

How about this? Take them to a supermarket. Divide them into groups of two or more. Give each group a copy of your shopping list and a basket, instruct them to find all the things on the list within a certain time, give them handouts with dialogue to use ("excuse me, do you know where the __ is?"). First group back within time with the correct basket of goods wins a prize. KABLAM! A lesson. (and quite possibly your shopping done).

This is a great thread you've opened up here and I wish you all the best of luck. Please keep it going.

Post here for more teaching info, lesson ideas or any questions.

Hi, /u/freelifreed I have done exactly this - my fiance and I took our cat from Beijing to Los Angeles last year. Here's the process we went through. Please ask me if you have any questions!

It's good that you're starting this now because even with the paperwork we already had, the whole thing took us several months to organise.

So here's the rundown. My fiance and I did this ourselves without using an agency, we were pleased with how it went although it was expensive (probably 600 dollars overall.) It was totally worth it because as we know, China has an "eh, close enough" culture and I wasn't willing to trust anyone except myself to transport my kitty across international waters. I was also insistent that she travel in the cabin with me instead of being checked into cargo, too many horror stories of pets arriving dead or dying.

Pre departure:

• We adopted kitty from a reputable shelter in Beijing and they were very good w/ documentation. When we adopted her she came with a red book/passport showing her name, age, description and records of her microchip and rabies vaccinations as well as all vet appointment records. It was required for her to leave China. If you don't have your cats red book you need to get on that asap.

• Cat had to be rabies vaccinated at least 30 days prior to departure but not more than 12 months ago, if your cat hasn't been vaxxed recently that's a top priority. Vax date is then printed in the red book mentioned above. Cat must also be microchipped.

• Booking the flight. Only a few airlines allow animals in the cabin and they usually have a limit of 2 animals per flight. We flew Asiana the whole way and they were really excellent. We chose the flight we wanted, called up their customer service line and confirmed that there was space for a live animal. After they confirmed, we booked it online, they have an option to include a live animal. The flight was 2 legs, Beijing - Seoul - LA, each leg cost about 120 USD to include the cat. I think I called them two more times before the flight to triple check that they had confirmed the live animal allocation, probably unnecessary but greatly helped with my peace of mind.

• Bought an airline regulated cat carrier (has to be officially approved) and started to leave it open in our apartment with treats, catnip etc inside it so that kitty would be comfortable being zipped inside. We bought this one and I really recommend it, it has an extendable side so the cat has more room to stand up and stretch. It's also very sturdy. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073T6YHV1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_VwbNAb8JQG3RQ

• Bought several, extremely thick "puppy pads", put one in the bottom of the carrier and carried the rest with me in my hand luggage. She didn't actually end up peeing as I put her in the carrier just after she had used the litter box in Beijing, and she didn't eat or drink much during the flights.

• Chinese exit requirements dictate that the cat has to be checked up by one of the few authorised vets between 7-10 days before departure. We found one in Beijing and took her 10 days before the flight. She's a healthy cat so no problems there, they provided her with a certificate in Chinese and English stating that she's healthy to fly.

• We then took all of those documents to the Quarantine Bureau in Beijing and received an "animal exit permit", this took 5 days to process and is valid for 10 days. This is really important, your cat can't leave the country without it. If you cannot speak Chinese you need to have a Chinese speaker with you imo. The timing on this is crucial, the validity is really short!

Departure Day

• Cat in carrier, puppy pad at the bottom, I also included a tshirt of mine for comforting smells and one of her favourite toys inside the carrier. I also recommend buying a harness and keeping the body part attached to her, and carrying the leash separate. You'll need it for airport security. I feed her wet food usually but I bagged up some handfuls of dry food and put it in my hand luggage. She ate a bit during the flight but not much.

• With red passport/vaxx record/exit permit and vet certificate in hand we checked in. Kitty had never been to an airport before and started meowing a lot, I found it helped to place a scarf over the mesh for privacy and I also kept my hand in the carrier and zipped around it, this helped with her anxiety.

• Check in was easy, they made us write out a few forms with cats information and then provided us with her boarding passes.

• Obviously make sure your flight is either direct or a direct transfer so you're not going through immigration with a live animal in the transfer country.

• One thing about Asiana is the total weight of the cat + carrier is supposed to be 5kg max. My cat is pretty hefty (4.8kg) and the total weight when they weighed her at check in with carrier was just over 6kg. I was a little worried about this, and if they would try to make her fly in the cargo hold, but I'd read online that the rules are lax when it comes to weight and I gambled that they wouldn't care. it was a risk and if they wouldn't have let her on I wouldn't have taken the flight that day and found another route. My gamble paid off and no one cared that she was 1kg overweight. It's up to you if you're willing to risk this. If your cat is smaller than mine it's no problem.

• Security was the worst because obviously they can't X-Ray the cat so I had to take her out of her carrier (she was extremely reluctant) and walk through the scanner with her. The lady at the security had never seen a cat going through customs before and even with all the paperwork she wouldn't let us pass. it took quite a while of arguing and then eventually calling her manager over before they let us through. Kitty was not happy at this stage, so many alien sounds, smells, bright lights and people poking her. She didn't need any encouragement to get back in the carrier after security. We had to go through security again in Seoul when transferring and it was much of the same. Be prepared for this part, keep a good grip on kitty (this is where the harness comes in handy), although my cat had her claws hooked into me and was clinging on for dear life anyway.

• Boarding the flight was easy, no one even looked at the carrier on my shoulder or asked to see her boarding documents. We showed them anyway and they were like "k".

On the flight

• Takeoff was the worst part. It's noisy and the pressure changes and I don't know if her little ears were painful due to the pressure. She meowed a lot at this point. I put her carrier on my lap and stroked her and held her. She was not happy but happier than she would have been in the hold, all alone.

• After takeoff she calmed down a bit. I kept her carrier on my lap. When the lights dimmed I actually took her out of the carrier and attached the leash to her and put her down. She sniffed a bit around the seat and then jumped on my lap, I covered her with my blanket and she fell asleep on my lap/shoulder. Air stewardesses saw me doing this and just thought it was really cute. They were all great about it. She slept for a few hours like that.

• I offered her food and water several times which she had a nibble at but wasn't really that interested.

Arriving at LAX

• Literally the easiest part. No one checked or asked to see her paperwork even though it was obvious we had a cat with us. Immigration didn't care, neither did customs, nothing was checked, we were stamped in and just like that, kitty is American now.

• I heard sometimes if you don't do the paperwork right, there is a quarantine for animals entering the US but this was't required for my kitty. I was obsessive about getting everything right to avoid this, but it didn't matter anyway because no one checked anything.

Settling in

• She spent perhaps a day sulking in a cupboard before coming out and being totally fine. I don't think that this is something I'd want to do regularly, I was super stressed that something would go wrong and I'd walk through fire to stay with my cat, but everything turned out ok in the end. She definitely didn't enjoy the experience but it doesn't seem to have affected her negatively and I'd do it again in a heartbeat if it meant keeping my cat with me.

I hope this helps - I don't think I've missed anything. Any questions let me know!

Chinese language classes are probably your best bet, really.

There's really no good textbooks like some other languages you have. Westerners don't make any decent ones because it's not really in demand, and ones made in China are all absolute crap that think just straight up rote memorization will teach you a language.

Integrated Chinese is OK, but poorly suited for an independent learner. It tries to balance rote memorization with practical exercises, but fails to reinforce older lessons in new ones. You can still probably get some use out of it, though.

So really, I think the best option is then four-fold.

One -- learn some words/characters through rote memorization. I recommend using this book.

This book is in a sensible order that starts with simple components of characters first, then builds up more complicated characters, and so on. It will reinforce your study.

If you don't want to spend the money to get this book, then just get a words by frequency list from somewhere. Our focus here is getting a good set of useful words ASAP.

Be careful to learn actual words and not just individual characters.

Using Anki will really help in this process.

Two -- Meanwhile, start studying some Chinese grammar. I recommend this website. Don't focus too much on it, but Chinese grammar is pretty different from English grammar. Make sure you can make sense of the examples, and get a good sense of how the grammar works and all the parts of grammar so you can reference this site in the future if necessary. There's no need to study it intensively, though.

Three -- Since rote memorization is a horrible way to learn a language, this step is probably the most important. So focus on this one the most. It's simple -- after you know 300-500 or so words, get some graded readers, and start doing your best to understand them. I recommend Mandarin Companion.

At some point, earlier is better than later, go ahead and download the freely available archive of Chinese Pod. Start getting some listening practice. Ignore the criticism of old Chinesepod episodes about how the English host can't speak Chinese right or is a sexpat or whatever. You're here for listening practice, and wiring your brain to understand spoken Chinese is important, and AFAIK, there's no better archive of spoken Chinese suitable for a beginner.

Four -- Native content. Once you can understand Mandarin Companion well enough, start trying to read some actual native Chinese. Blogs, news, anything. Doesn't matter what. And same thing -- once you can make sense, about 80% of the wholly Chinese spoken Chinesepod, start trying to watch some Chinese movies, listen to Chinese radio, whatever. This is going to be hard as fuck.

Start listening to Chinese now, too. Chinese songs, Chinese movies, anything. Even if you don't understand anything, studies have strongly suggested that our brains will start learning to parse the sounds of languages we are frequently exposed to.

Try to copy what you hear even if you don't understand. Spout out gibberish and make it sound the best you can of what you heard. Learn one-liners. EXAGGERATE IT. Chinese is a tonal language with its own rhythm and patterns. Start familiarizing yourself with this the best you can. Copy it. I've been accused of, "you sound like you're making fun of Chinese people when you speak!" What they mean is they don't expect a white guy to actually sound like a Chinese. My Chinese American friends have gotten harassed by their parents because I speak Chinese with a better accent than they do. And my Chinese sucks and is atrocious. But you wouldn't know how limited my Chinese is by how I speak it, and I chalk that up to just mimicking what I hear.

Start talking to Chinese. Make deals, "I teach you English, you help me learn Chinese."

> My friend from Hunnan province told me that he would never support China being a democracy since then 80% of the country would vote for an extremist hawk-party that would send nukes on America first chance they got.

This is exactly why I can understand some of the party's tight control on media.

Anyway,

Been reading this optimistic book:

https://www.amazon.com/Enlightenment-Now-Science-Humanism-Progress/dp/0525427570/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

thought i'd share to a self proclaimed pessimist :D

Also recently read more deeply into China's more recent leaders like jian zemin (disgusting, corrupt as fuck) and hu jintao (pretty amazing). I was very surprised at Hu's contributions, people dont' really seem to talk about him.

In Hu’s words, "A Harmonious Socialist Society should feature democracy." Such a society, he says, will give full scope to people's talent and creativity, enable all the people to share the social wealth brought by reform and development, and forge an ever-closer relationship between the people and government.

Seems he also greatly increased transparency between the party and the public.

Who knows what xi and the future brings. Xi's father has an interesting background, Dali Lama met him and fondly recalled him as "very friendly, comparatively open-minded, very nice.". He was also responsible for the economic liberalisation in Guangdong, so I'm somewhat hopeful that his son, is comparatively (putin/erdogan) more considerate about his own people than profiting from exploitation.

This is going to require some blood, sweat, and tears, but it's honestly the best way.

Alan Hoenig, of "Remember the Kanji" fame, made a book about learning Chinese characters. It starts with the simplest characters (e.g. "one") and components (e.g. "straight vertical line") and build each off of eachother. It's an excellent method, and incredibly comprehensive.

Do this in conjunction with some sort of flashcard system (hoetron recommended anki, which is good) and if you commit yourself for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 2-3 months you should be able to get a command of those 2,200 characters.

I'd recommend Hoenig, but if you want to start with something simpler Tuttle is also great.

https://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Politics-Jinping-Era-Reassessing/dp/0815726929/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481368442&sr=8-1&keywords=cheng+li

Book.

Edit: Pretty good book. Level headed. Here's an excerpt.

>BROAD CHALLENGES CONFRONTING THE XI LEADERSHIP
The tension between Xi’s concentration of individual power and China’s past practice of collective leadership has become especially significant at a time when the country is confronting many daunting challenges. Over the past several decades, China has been beset by growing wealth disparities, repeated industrial and environmental disasters, resource scarcity, public health and food safety crises, frequent instances of social unrest, and a manual labor shortage in some coastal cities, coinciding with high unemployment rates among college graduates. China’s economy faces serious and interrelated problems, including mounting local debt, the proliferation of shadow banking, overcapacity in certain industrial sectors, and a growing property bubble. The old development model, which relied on export-driven and cheap labor-oriented growth, has come to an end. Chinese labor costs have risen rapidly, and the country can no longer tolerate the previous growth model’s severe damage to the environment, including the pollution of air, water, and soil. But the new consumption-driven, innovation-led, and service sector–centric model has yet to fully take flight.

>Of course, Xi and his generation of leaders did not create these problems; they have largely inherited them from their predecessors. In fact, Xi’s bold economic reform agenda has sought to address many of these issues. Some argue that factional deadlock in collective leadership led to the Hu-Wen administration’s ineffectiveness during the so-called lost decade, when seemingly little could be done to counter rampant official corruption and the monopolization of SOEs. This rationale has apparently bolstered the case for Xi’s more forceful personal leadership.61 If a more balanced factional composition in the PSC leads to infighting, political fragmentation, and policy deadlock, why should China not organize leadership so that power is concentrated in the hands of Xi and his team? If collective leadership assigns each PSC member one functional area and thus leads to political fragmentation and poor coordination, why should more power not be given to the general secretary? If local governments have been the main source of resistance to reform initiatives, why should Zhongnanhai not establish the Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms at various levels of government to facilitate policy implementation? This line of thinking seems to explain the basis for the six-to-one split of the current PSC and Xi’s twelve top leadership posts.
But in consolidating power, Xi also runs a major political risk: If he cannot deliver what he has promised as part of his economic reform agenda, he will not have anyone else with whom to share the blame. The recent stock market crisis in China and the very strong government interference in order to “save the market” reflect Xi’s political vulnerability and his sense of urgency. Xi’s popularity among the general public, including the majority of the middle class, is always subject to change if China’s economic conditions deteriorate.

>Furthermore, Xi’s inclination for monopolizing power has alienated a large swath of China’s public intellectuals, especially liberal intellectuals. They were particularly dismayed in the early months of Xi’s tenure by orders instructing them not to speak about seven sensitive issues: universal values, freedom of the press, civil society, civil rights, past mistakes by the CCP, crony capitalism, and judicial independence.62 In public discourse, some of these topics remain very sensitive or even taboo. Media censorship has tightened under Xi’s leadership, as has the state monitoring and management of research institutes, universities, and NGOs.

>It should be noted that Xi’s politically conservative and economically liberal approach to governing mirrors the method preferred by his predecessors, who always seemed to take one step forward economically while taking a step backward politically. During his famous “Southern Tour” (南巡, nanxun) in 1992, Deng called for greater market reform and economic privatization, while continuing to crack down on political dissent. Jiang broadened the CCP’s power base by recruiting entrepreneurs and other new socioeconomic players, a formulation known as the “Three Represents” (三个代表, sange daibiao), while launching a harsh political campaign against the Falun Gong, an emerging religious group. Hu’s populist appeal for a “harmonious society” sought to reduce economic disparities and social tensions, all while tightening police control of society, especially in regions with a high proportion of ethnic minorities.

>And yet, Xi seems to face deeper and rougher political waters than any Chinese leader since Mao, with the very survival of the party-state resting in his hands. With the revolution in telecommunications and social media, the way China’s authorities manage domestic political issues—from human rights and religious freedom to ethnic tensions and media censorship—has increasingly caught the eye of the Chinese public and the international community. Xi’s decision to prioritize economic reforms may be strategically sound, but he may not be able to postpone much-needed political reform for too long. Xi must make bold, timely moves to implement political reforms—including increasing political openness and expanding the role of civil society—and address issues that are currently preventing China from blossoming into a true innovation-driven economy.
Likewise, Xi’s ambitious anticorruption campaign has not come without serious political risks. Though popular among the Chinese public, this ad hoc initiative may ultimately alienate the officialdom—the very group on which the system relies for steady governance. Ultimately, Xi’s limited crackdown on official corruption should not serve as a replacement for reinforcing the rule of law, adopting institutional mechanisms like official income disclosure and conflict of interest regulations, and, most important, taking concrete steps to establish an independent judicial system in China. Otherwise, it will only be a matter of time before a new wave of official corruption leaves the public cynical about Xi’s true intentions and the effectiveness of his signature campaign.
From an even broader standpoint, China’s history under Mao and Deng was one of arbitrary decisionmaking by one individual leader. This method is arguably unsuitable for governing a pluralistic society amid increasingly active interest group politics. Despite its deficiencies, collective leadership generally entails a more dynamic and pluralistic decisionmaking process through which political leaders can represent various socioeconomic and geographic constituencies. Bringing together leaders from contending political camps with different expertise, credentials, and experiences contributes to the development of more-effective governmental institutions. Common interests in domestic social stability and a shared aspiration to further China’s rise on the world stage may make collective leadership both feasible and sustainable. In this sense, Xi can modify and improve the system of collective leadership, which is still largely experimental. But it would be pretentious and detrimental to attempt to replace most of the rules and norms that have governed elite politics over the past two decades. One simply cannot turn the clock back to the old days of the Mao era, when China was far less pluralistic and far more isolated from the outside world.

> If Ensnaring Tigers and Swatting Flies even partially cleans up the beaurocracy, then his five years was worth it. China will not move forward with corrupt institutions.

How many SOEs has the corruption campaign gone after? How many princelings has the recent corruption campaign specifically targeted? The answers to these two questions will tell you all you need to know about the intent of this campaign and its effect on China's economic future. In short, the CCP is the corrupt institution.

The CCP has used the campaign to enforce party discipline throughout its ranks as well as target powerful individuals in the private sector and outside of the party. Granted, these powerful individuals in the private sector also serve party interests and their targeting can also act as a tool for factional struggles within the CCP (as was noted in this apt comment from /u/piscator111 regarding the recent arrest of Xiao Jianhua). Corruption cases also occasionally target people high up in the CCP, as was the case with Bo Xilai and his security chief, Zhou Yongkang. But these high profile cases are never existential threats to the CCP and their purpose is not to root out corruption at the highest levels. They serve either to advance the interests of a particular faction or cow powerful individuals in the private sector (Zhou Chengjian and Guo Guangchang).

The iron triangle of the CCP itself, its control of the state banks, and its controlling interests in the SOEs will continue to stymie meaningful economic reform. This is readily apparent when observing the recent actions targeted at the shadow banking sector (which under normal circumstances would be a good thing), an industry which sprang up precisely because of the state banks' preference to issue credit to SOEs over private entities (third bullet point on first page). Instead of addressing the central problem, the SOEs disproportionate role in the Chinese economy, the CCP will either implement stop-gap measures or address the consequences of this persistent problem with measures that do not meaningfully threaten its economic power base.

The CCP is not primarily interested in China's overall economic health or the well-being of the Chinese people. These are secondary to its overarching interest: maintaining control. If the long-term economic health of the country requires the CCP to loosen its control over the economy (and thus loosen its overall control), it will opt not to do so while implementing other measures to mitigate the potential risks of long-term economic stagnation. This includes but is not limited to information control, ethnic nationalism, and economic interference.

This all leads to one realistic conclusion: China's long-term success cannot be attained while the CCP remains in power. I have no idea how the CCP would be "removed" and I'm not saying that its removal would be all peaches and cream, but I cannot imagine China realizing its full potential (or even a good portion of it) without taking the CCP out of the picture. Of course, Chinese people would look at this statement and accuse me of trying to weaken China, and I really can't blame them. I would do the same if I were in their position. The removal of the CCP would be akin to removing a brain tumor and China would be greatly weakened afterward. No doubt that China's geopolitical competitors (namely the U.S. and Russia) would try to take advantage of this situation. However, letting the CCP maintain its grip on China will continue to handicap China's ultimate potential.

To use a quote from your other comment:

> If you make it to the top of all the government testing, not only are you politically savvy, you are fiercely intelligent.

There is one more crucial aspect to take into consideration, here: individuals who make it to the top of the CCP have also had absolute loyalty to the party ingrained into their consciousness to the extent that it is utterly internalized and pervades their entire decision-making process. They are as much victims of their own control as are the people of China. There is a book on this psychology, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism that explores this thought process, although it is very out-of-date and focuses on a period where the CCP's control mechanisms were far more barbaric and heavy-handed.

This is all obvious when you look at the CCP not as a government institution but rather as a Marxist-Leninist organization with unchallenged control over the China. And no, I'm not talking about "communism"; I'm talking about the driving political philosophy behind the CCP.

To expand on the book mention, I am of the opinion that while the techniques and policies that took place back in mid-20th century China have fallen out of practice, they have been replaced by more advanced, subtle alternatives that still achieve the same effect: loyalty (in the case of party members) or obedience (in the case of non-party members) to the CCP. The Anaconda in the Chandelier is a great essay on modern manifestations of this concept.

Happy reddit Birthday!

I am familiar with Yasheng Huang but have never read his points. If you remember a link, it'd be appreciated, but don't sweat it. Most of what I've learned has come from a mix of sources.

"Mainsteam" news helps you accumulate information here and there.

Blogs have been most important for me. I am a huge fan of Michael Pettis's China Financial Markets at mpettis.com. Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis is on my daily at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com. He has a debate going on right now with Pettis if you look for the word China in the posts from the last few days. Also Acting Man blog, The Daily Bell mises.org, and a few other "Austrian" and libertarian sources. And reddit of course.

I read a lot of books as well, but the only one on China's current economic conditions has been Pettis's "The Great Rebalancing," which I highly recommend.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Rebalancing-Conflict-Perilous/dp/0691158681

It discusses global economics through a number of axiomatic trade and financial relationships which must hold. By familiarizing ourselves with them, including really understanding things like BoT, we can avoid making "dumb" mistakes like treating China's reserves like a proverbial slush fund. And I disagree with him on many points, but his way of looking at things is rock solid.

To be fair there's some truth in what you are saying. Tibet was a tribute nation to various dynasties since something like the 14th century, however I don't think any of them directly controlled Tibet - and they especially did not control the Tibetan Buddhist religious organization (for better or worse). It was more like frequent symbolic gift giving and emperors asking lamas sometimes to give off good impressions to their people other times as a way to show face while receiving gifts. Source

Yes i was surprised that it worked over there. But it was really really slow. You can not tether as its too slow for that. Tmobile promises you LTE speeds but its more like 3g or slower. And they will not refund you the money when you return from china.

Project fi may be faster as they have more local towers to choose from. I am heading there in 1 wk so i will try that option.

Astrill is also a great option.

​

I just picked up a device called amplifi with teleport technically allows you to access your home network. I have not tried it yet but will do so very soon.

https://www.amazon.com/AmpliFi-Teleport-Ubiquiti-Encrypted-Connection/dp/B079187FR1/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1537595249&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=amplifi+and+teleport&psc=1

Atrophy and Adaptation is good, but very academic.

This is pretty much the best book. Informative and readable.

http://www.amazon.com/Party-Secret-Chinas-Communist-Rulers/dp/0061708771/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300422937&sr=8-1

Hello OP, I too am looking for a community that engaged in discussions revolving around Chinese politics. I don't think this one, or Sino are good at that. This one seems to be more complaining about living in China with the occasional politics topic, and Sino seems like it is run by Chinese bots praising everything China does. Anyways PM me if you find a community that discusses politics. In terms of getting a better understanding; I think you should read this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Politics-Jinping-Era-Reassessing/dp/0815726929/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Kind of tough to pick just one, as China is vast and there are so many differect aspects of the society worthy of being explored.

I really enjoyed Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside, which was a pretty solid caricature of just about every type of foreigner you meet in China, and a well written story as well, a bit like a more modern, more dynamic River Town.

I think the two most common answers to this question are River Town, by Peter Hessler, and Factory Girls by his wife Leslie Chang. Both are excellent but tackle very different parts of contemporary Chiense culture.

A touch of sin was already mentioned, and it's a very, very good movie. So I'm mentioning it again. If you haven't seen it, go watch it.

Last Train Home. It follows a young girl who leaves home to find work in a factory, as well as her parents who have already done so. It has some truly heartbreaking scenes, but it's also beautiful, and it paints a picture of migrant workers and their situation that is much more nuanced and personal than any I've seen outside of the book Factory Girls (which everyone should read). Easily one of my favourite documentaries ever.

Jonathan Spence's Search for Modern China is a nice overview of recent-ish stuff. Spence's other works are also pretty fantastic.

I know you're looking for films, but Jonathan Spence is extremely thorough in his writings, and simply tells the story without injecting his opinion.

French sinologist Lucien Bianco's Origins of the Chinese Revolution does a pretty good job too of articulating post-Qing to early Mao times.

/r/askhistorians recommended this fucking fantastic book about the Tang dynasty and all of its badassery. I've been enjoying it quite a bit.

The Penguin History of Modern China
is a great overview and very easy to read.

One of the best books on the subject I've read is
The Search for Modern China by. Jonathan Spence but it is very dry.

You should definitely buy a copy of Tom's book as an introduction to a range of expat authors. You can get a feel for the different styles and genres of expat lit.

Plus, support a fellow /r/china user!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9881616409/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=9881616409&linkCode=as2&tag=chinwhis-20

Not really a hoax. Relics come out in Sri Lanka and Kenya suggest such trips. But the details is not clear. There even some western scholar and people find evidence in other countries and write a book about it.

https://www.amazon.com/Zheng-He-Dynasty-1405-1433-Biography/dp/0321084438

Also, the wiki page with more details.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_He

Also, Chinese coin in Kenya back 600 years

https://www.world-archaeology.com/world/africa/kenya/chinese-coin-in-kenya/

Also, A English men found a relics in Shri Lanka in 1911 , installed by Zheng He back to his trip

Galle Trilingual Inscription

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galle_Trilingual_Inscription

​

The details of Zheng He's trip is content matter and you can still say it is not true. Therefore, I suggest you read some academic journals, written not by Chinese to get different perspective:

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C14&q=zheng+he+voyages&oq=Zheng+He+

Also, your clearly does not work for the government. Xi's article is published not in a random newspaper. It is published in People's daily.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Daily

People's daily is the OFFICIAL newspaper for the CCP. It has the official power and represents the CCP. The boss of people's daily is a also a CCP official. Therefore, it usually has the equivalence of formal diplomatic papers if the CCP leader is doing something.

Your argument could be true if it is published in a random journal.

Again, I am not here to discuss the Zheng He thing. It is a history topic and you can search online for details including journals, evidence by people around the world. I am here to inform you why Xi is not responding to random challenge from some random judge in Philippines.

Also, please give some third party source to support your arguments. Otherwise, it is a waste of time for both of us.

I mean, would not be easier to buy that encyclopedia again for ~6USD including shipping? you spend pretty much same money on reddit gold (4USD) + lot of yours and everyones time which hardly makes those saved 2USD

https://www.amazon.com/Comptons-Interactive-Encyclopedia-1997-Edition/dp/B00NESILWY

and they have it maybe half dollar cheaper in other shop

The best would probably be the China Law Deskbook by James Zimmerman.

For patent law, go with Patent Litigation in China.

For commercial and business law, go with Chinese Commercial Law.

you should read some books! jonathan spence's search for modern china is a good broad introduction.

https://www.amazon.com/Comptons-Interactive-Encyclopedia-1997-Edition/dp/B00NESILWY

I wish YouTube had a demonstration of its use, other than that planetarium sub-program.

[https://www.amazon.com/Search-Modern-China-Third/dp/0393934519/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487811047&sr=8-1&keywords=the+search+for+modern+china](You need this book) and [https://www.amazon.com/China-Henry-Kissinger/dp/0143121316/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487811112&sr=8-1&keywords=On+China](this book)

It is impossible to answer your question without understanding the "Century of Humiliation." A lot of that is still prevalent in modern China, and those two books will be some solid go-tos. Spence focuses on China; Kissinger discusses the United States.

Edit: I have no idea why it is not formatting correctly.

I know Mike. He wrote an essay for our new anthology UNSAVORY ELEMENTS and we spoke together at a panel discussion here in Shanghai a few months ago pics.



I speak from experience when I say that the publishing industry is riddled with sudden and inexplicable delays, so it's no surprise that "In Manchuria" isn't out yet, but last I spoke to Mike it's around the corner, and he is already at work on a new book. The Chinese-language version of "Last Days" was also just released.


I'll try to bring Mike in on an AMA we have planned for Unsavory Elements here on r/China later this month, and feel free to subscribe to http://www.reddit.com/r/chinabookclub/ for updates on China's literary scene.