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Mark - Enjoyed your comments.... Look back at our gov in 20's, 30's, 50's, 60's (LBJ was a real dictator in Congress who happened to also do some great things with civil rights ), 80's and you'll see more of the same. Part of the pull and push that makes our system so flawed but so brilliant (thanks Jefferson, Hamilton, Washington , etc.). It is the swing of the pendulum. recent article you refer to about 9yrs education is from a speech given at the Party meetings this past week. Speech and real action are quite different. Lets see and hope. I would clearly agree with you about rapid change occuring in China (been going there for 20 years) . My experience however in talking to rural farmers (90% of population) is that there are serious problems and they lose out. Local officials impose onerous taxes even if none are required - for example one very old couple I know of is given 600rmb worth of rice a year(a form of pension) of which the local Communist party guy takes 450 as a special tax!!!! . Farmer revolts occur rather frequently resulting in the military being brought in and media kept out. This is the single largest issue facing China and the most threat to the government. . Have and have nots. All countries have this but in China it is an extreme. I've own an office in Guangdong Province and as long as it helps the economy most businesses are left alone. Periodically Taiwanese companies are given "special penalties" so they pressure Taipai. However when the people have no econmic standing things are different. Estimates of 150 million people floating around Guangdong looking for work and without money. No safety net provided by gov. . Unfortunately I've heard too many times in China from people that their government views people as expendable (one could argue that about our war in Iraq but not in the same way - politics not attitude) and they admire the US above all for not being that way. Rights - check out freedom of speech, press, assembly, habeus corpus, one child, etc, etc , etc . Don't want to sound down on China because I'm very supportive (investing there and providing education and aid to some very impoverished rural villages)) of the strides they are starting to take and feel a real "simpatico" for the population. It takes a long time and needs careful control to go from the repression of Mao to what can be .From my experience I just think the reality is different than the speedy trains in Shanghai and the cleaned up pre olympic Beijing and the fastest growing military budget in the history of the world. . Though we have are share of problems, until the US ceases to be the destination of choice ,by far, of the worlds populations then we must be doing something right . The desperation I've heard of many people in China to come here is why GUZ is so backed up!!!

With the costs , regulations, lawyers, community groups protesting we get all excited when a new building of significance is built (usually 12-20 years after plans start)in Manhattan. In Shanghai (espewcially Pudong)or Shenzhen or any number of Chinese cities there are dozens of new building going up every few years with the hottest architects brought in. When they can figure out how to keep them all lit it will be amazing.

Clearly the "article" is an editorial or the writer should be fired for writing news articles with opinions. In any case while there are some real questionable moves by Republicans and Democrats trying to seek leverage on each other around the Constitution. It has been going on since our founding. Despite this the methods and practice are still light years ahead of China. Despite recent positive signs on the surface from Hu Jintao the current system in China allows for little discourse in government, repression of farmers and little rights in court rooms for poor litigants. Hoping it improves and that Hu Jintao follows thru.

Best of luck in your life together.

Great! and congratulations.

Wanted to know if anyone is aware during the AOS waiting period if it is possible to travel to US protectorates - USVirgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam???

Holy moly.... the next step in the process has finally happened. Just got off the phone with DOS - P4 has been sent today with interview 4/12!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope this means gates are open for more interviews. Good luck to everyone waiting. Now need to call my love.... (imagine writing CFL before the call but I thought I'd give hope to everyone else)

Sorry not to share the enthusiasm about $1 for DVDs and CDs and computer programs. The pirating of intellectual property is probably the largest hurdle in Sino-US relationship and for US economic health. See Business Week cover story a few weeks ago on fakes. It is not a victimless crime either. Note that terrorists such as Hamas in the Middle East were found to be raising funds by selling fake DVDs in Central America. Wouldn't want to support those guys. In the Business Week article they mentioned one Chinese company making fake medicine that was using road paint to paint pills the exact shade of yellow needed. These fakes are now seeping into the US system as well - when you are at hospital hopefully they give you the legit heart medication.

GZ is my least favorite city in China though last week I saw the first time the new airport and that was pretty impressive. Shenzhen, Shanghai, Zhuhai, HK, Macau, Chongching, Guilin,etc all have more to offer. GZ to me is always to disorganized, dirty, bad air, bad architecture, bad traffic... I like some of the things in nearby Foshan and elsewhere on the Pearl. Once you get the balance thing down I sort of like the in -ground toilets. The weird part is going to a public park and squatting with 10 other guys without stall dividers. If youneed to borrow paper it is convenient I guess. I think the no toilet paper - always carry the tissues - thing is strange. Use tissues for the toilet and then use toilet paper on the table for napkins at any little food stand. Shouldn't they be switched? Or are we wrong in how we do things?????????

Congratulations! Loved the detailed story going thru Macau - hope to be doing the same in 2 months or less. By the way - the 500rmb from GZ to Zhongshan is a little steep - usually GZ to Zhuhai is 500rmb or 400rmb if you have a good private driver.

Great , what perseverance - best of luck!!!!

We bought dongdong's parents a new full size refrigerator which had to be hauled by hand 3 hours directly up a steep mountain by two men to get to their house (paid double($4.00) the usual rate for the moving as I felt bad ). After a few days my laopo noticed the fridge was unplugged. It has now become the most expensive, insect proof storage cabinet in the whole region. Meat still hangs from the rafters in the kitchen.....

We went with the copy of the little green book with translation and notarized but NVC rejected this so we got notarized certificates from a government office in China to certifying that the green book was accurate and that dongdong had single status. I'm not sure when they expire but since that was July 2004 we are going to update just so there is no possibility of rejection from a 10 month old notarized document.

wow - October P3 with an interview - congratulations!!!!! Wonder if K-3 has priority versus K-1 regarding interviews????

excellent

My thing - Thai and Burmese traditional architecture including the various finials, spirit houses, etc.. It is quite interesting how belief effects the design of objects and art . I took a feng shui course just trying to understand the why and how design decisions were being made in my business. It was amazing to see that as Westerners we came to the same conclusions as Easterners but with completely different explanations as to why. (ex: Putting a door directly at the foot of a bed was really bad feng shui because it was to direct to take someone out when they died. For a Western designer it is also rare but has to do with balance and proportion and traffic flow and space planning).

The boxed milk is packed in packaging invented in Europe and licensed throughout world - called TetraPaks (trade name) . Has extremely long shelf life - heavily sold in US by Parmalat and others. Not as good as fresh milk but when you are out of milk at 11:00PM and your 6 year old wants chocolate milk it is great to have a few boxes in the cupboard. Juice packs are sold the same way (very few cans today). Parmalat also sells Tomato sauce this way which is pretty good. Huge amounts of food are lost to spoilage around the world every day in an earth with too few food resources. Any ways spoilage is prevented can be good.

We've always heard about females being kinder and gentler and not up to all that macho (i'm tougher than you!) BS guys usually get caught up in (which is not great when you are our chief diplomat) . Give her a chance - I think she's gonna be great!

Congratulations - change a bad situation to a great one!!!!!

Expired notarial single certificate - how long till they expire? - Dongdong has one from 7/04 and i expect interview 4/05. Best of luck Lee and Julia

Congrats - thats how they are suppose to go!

Great - it's amazing after a divorce to find someone who makes you realize "this is how it should be" - best wishes

Nie Dong has that "sweetie" effect on people too but in the US that can bring a harassment suit (I guess thats the last thing Jun wanted to do!!!lol) in our lawyer crazy world. I'm forced to carry insurance just in case one of my 24 year old employees says that to a fellow employee and she gets bent out of shape! Sorry for the rant - great news. Do pets need visa's?

Forgot to copy visa pages...... I have a new passport (9 months old) which shows 5 trips to China - seven by the time of interview. Was wandering if anyone knows if it is possible to get copies of previous passport pages to show prior visits to see SO? I assume my frequent visits on current passport will help but with this process (ordeal) you never know. Snowing so much it looks like a warm day in Beijing.

Congratulations - enjoy