Dan R

The writings get more and more interesting David. I was hoping someone would diagnose something different than the obvious from one of the doctor visits. The meridian reading, is it like pulse reading most clinics do? I'd be interested in studying that too. If you stay in SoCal again maybe she could teach me. Personally I am not fond of dog soup. But BBQ dog is fantastic. The pieces are dipped in dry spices. MMMmmmmmm I've had experience with getting prescriptions filled in the US from China. It took two months, phone calls and three attempts before we could get the Doctor to put on it enough information to qualify as a prescription here in the USA. "America Bu Hao" to quote someone you know. "Everything needs too much paper. Why not just do." So are you coming back or are you enjoying the male sports bonding and exploration too much? I'm still here with multiple jobs. The Massage clinic is gaining business slowly. It isn't easy changing the image from an Asian parlor for men to a Holistic Alternative Therapy Clinic for the Family. But we shall see. Take care Brother.

I have heard this week that many Missionaries using F visa to work in China are being refused renewal and being asked to show a two way plane ticket. Perhaps with all the Tibet brooha they are trying to reduce the support for free Tibet and Falun Gong that many illegal foreigners support. Anyway things were bound to tighten up before the Olympics. Even during the L.A. Olympics special security, visa scrutiny etc was implemented in the USA. Remember the Munich Olympics already before 9/11 established the lympics as a terrorist publicity forum.

David Ping says Hi to both of you. But she is trying to figure out how you can do these things and have time left to post it all. Your schedule of the day did not include computer time either.

He isn't kidding. David I'm surprised you don't get smacked for using dialect. Where is the throat treetment in your story??? What did she come up with? Did you try the black pepper tea? Are you sucking on salted dried plums?

During the past few years I have found ski's stories inspirational. He has always displayed an attitude that went beyond the norm. He shows us how to live and even how to die. He will be remembered and as Don expressed that is his immortality. Nice crossing paths with you Ski.

So, Is that the local pronounciation or does everyone say it with an r??? Doesn't Boston put an R after final a inwords? In Cincinatti people say Cincinata or Zinzinata. Marylanders live in Merrilin I would love to learn to pronounce place names in China. So far te best I do is 1 out of five correctly. Usually when I get it right and I repeat it the exact same way (so I think) I get a roll of the eyes and a waving hand (is talk to the hand an Chinese expression?) with "just forget it"? David relax and enjoy every moment.

Have a great trip. I'll be looking forward to the continuing reports. By the way, couldn't this be called Blogging Baoding Bloggity Blog? After all Bloggity was coined by our great leader Don the Admin.

Carl that's happened about 10 times already. It doesn't seem to phase her. Although I know when I'm right she tells her friends with pride. lol

Have you ever been asked if you want to use the elevator or the stairs and made the wrong choice???? It happens regularly OUCHHHH!!!!

Lao Po will trust and uninformed Chinese woman rather than her informed American husband about the whole process from Visa to GC to citizenship. Don't be frustrated guys, just accept it. OMG, do I have a lot to learn..... Don't worry your training will come.

Do we dare guess what the next thing will be?

I couldn't have said it better! B)

When international customers make worker safety an issue with third party audits to varify or Chinese workers start winning large lawsuits for endangerment by the employer things will change as they have here. Business is about the bottom line and sales. Everything else must be factored in for profitability and competitiveness. The capitalist way, it feeds everyone in the chain. That's why they go along.

As long as you are using IE as your browser just go to view on the top. Select encoding and be sure you have it set for Chinese simplified. This will get the ÖÐÎÄ rather than gibberish. You can also install your MS language Chinese keyboard from the control panel to type using pinyin.

Well this has been a very interesting and thoughtful thread. Jim sounds like you have the best solution. I hope you find that burger.

Thanks Jim this is great information. I look forward to more on water. I see nothing wrong with using FDA standards as a benchmark for international travelers. They expect Americans to be a good market. Also currently The U.S. while definitely over regulated is about in the middle for standards for foods. Japan and Europe have lower limits on many items than we do. This is because limits must be based on expected exposure to the average diet in each country. As to the US being an industrial nation for one hundred years. THis didn't happen until after WWII with the big relocation from farm to city. 30 years is the time frame for restored relations with the U.S.. China was never isolated. That is why the Europeans have such a hold on many markets there. We are the new guys. However, China had a hard road to follow in forging a modern nation as well as moving into the modern world from a very impoverished agricultural nation. Now let's see if they can do better than us on the environmental issues. They claim to want to try but getting people to follow regulations in China is not easy.

http://www.sacredland.org/legal_pages/Sequoyah_v._TVA.html Just one of the law suits over the Tennessee Valley Authorities land comdemnations to to stop flooding and generate power very similar to the issues in China. Change is inevitable but it is the thing humans resist most. Even when "resistance is futile" people will resist. One reason that emotions over forced land redistribution and reeducation is so hotly debated in relation to communism. It is not unknown here in the U.S. A couple years ago one of the Indian tribes was trying to get help because families along a river wanted by a large mining concern were being found dead in the river. The Bureau of Indian Affairs had given permission for mining but they still needed to get the property from the dwellers there. In New York a tribal council 15 years ago refused to give up land for redevelopment. The Chief and the council were put under house arrest awaiting "investigation" while a council accepted by BIA gave up the land rights. In the end the winners claim it is progress and the losers cry bloody murder. Sounds like it may relate to the recent Cuba comments in other threads.

Like many cases here with the remaking of America in the 60s & 70s, I think it is more a matter of the powers that be believing it is for the better good. Just in China everything is on a larger scale. THe idea is to use the dams to stop the annual flooding that kills many and forces emergency relocation as well as effecting crops raised to feed everyone. Man once again prefers to control nature rather than life with her. It is what has happened over and over as long as the city dweller has tried to hold still tather than permit the nomadic life style more in keeping with nature.

There are also altitude issues to deal with. This changes a lot of things for people. Going up the Changjiang we passed areas where people that lived along the river were moved up to the crests of mountains that would eventually be the river bank. As I looked at the people milling around the new homes it brought many thoughts to mind. One was that these river people now live among the clouds. Humidity and barometic pressure will vary greatly. The psychological impact has to be tremendous.

Very strange but interesting. I will say it kept my interest enough to have read every subtitle on the screen for nearly 2.5 hours.

I ain't tellin'. First thing you know it will be filled with tour bus loads of Laowai and property values will skyrocket! Then I'll have to find another favorite place B)

A song I like expresses this thread well. Anyone remember "You have to be taught" from South Pacific? You can listen to it on my webpage http://www.urban4est.com/growing_up.htm "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" is a popular song from the musical South Pacific written by Richard Rodgers (music), and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics). The song was published in 1949. South Pacific received scrutiny for its commentary regarding relationships between different races and ethnic groups. In particular, "You¡¯ve Got to Be Carefully Taught" was subject to widespread criticism, judged by some to be too controversial or downright inappropriate for the musical stage.[1] Sung by the character Lieutenant Cable, the song is preceded by a lyric saying racism is "not born in you! It happens after you¡¯re born..." The song begins: You¡¯ve got to be taught to hate and fear, You¡¯ve got to be taught from year to year, It¡¯s got to be drummed in your dear little ear¡ª You¡¯ve got to be carefully taught You've got to be taught to be afraid Of people whose eyes are oddly made, And people whose skin is a different shade¡ª You've got to be carefully taught. You¡¯ve got to be taught before it¡¯s too late¡ª Before you are six or seven or eight, To hate all the people your relatives hate¡ª You¡¯ve got to be carefully taught! You¡¯ve got to be carefully taught! Rodgers and Hammerstein risked the entire South Pacific venture in light of legislative challenges to its decency or supposed Communist agenda. While on a tour of the Southern United States, lawmakers in Georgia introduced a bill outlawing entertainment containing "an underlying philosophy inspired by Moscow." Interracial marriage was illegal in many states at the time and regarded as a threat by many to "The American Way of Life".

I think virtualtourist.com is the best resource you can use. You can ask questions of both residents and travelers regarding anywhere you think of going. I have several friends I made on line there as well.

No lessons needed. They are survivalists protecting self interest and cautious of people they don't know. Of course there are always the opposites to any generalization. I was told to ignore an old man who hurt himself running into the car door as I got out. I was in China so I restrained myself and followed my Chinese host. Later they were curious of what I intended to do when I appeared to want to rush towards him. It was an interesting comparison for both of us. Had I gone to his aid they assured me it could have gotten bad for us. By turning away he yelled then turned away also. Done - no problems. As China changes and people can afford the luxury of being nice to each other it will probably change. As an example funds collected by charities are rising rapidly in China. But an article I saw last year indicated it is easier to collect for foreign aid than Chinese aid in China. A factor may be that Chinese believe in fate. If a person is unlucky or poor it is fate why interfere.

Because of the mixing of cultures in America it may be more a personal or family concept here rather than the deep cultural implication it is in China. We also tend to move around a lot so we can shed shame easier by ending ties and starting new. New starts are what many in the past came to America for. Families often sent a black sheep to America. The actor Boris Karloff was sent off to Canada as one. Later his fame made him welcome back home. It has long been a custom in America to only give people you meet your first name. Most people in other countries think this shows how friendly Americans are. Actually the custom developed as people from the Eastern cities moved west. They didn't want to give a family name that could be traced back. At the time it was customary to give family name and home city as a way to be identified. We know shame but our society provides ways of shedding it or getting new starts. Traditional cultures of Asia and Europe make this difficult. In some ways we are still frontiersmen.