david_dawei

And a remarkably polarizing time of opinion or regard by the generations who experienced it vs did not. I personally find myself unable to take a strong side other than to say there needs to be more respect for the former but the latter offer a balance which defies the mind at times. BTW: Swans is a worthwhile book to read.

And the step-daughter will [should] follow suit; first calling you uncle and then later dad...

I don't completely agree with this one: Because parents usually downplay any gifts they get as that is customary to not appear to 'need' the gift... and any gift which they would not consume themselves are used by them as gifts to others on appropriate occasions... so expensive cigarettes or jiu are generally well received, IMO. If you want to impress them with jiu, buy Maotai. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maotai

Rote, memorization isn't just affecting their brains in how to behave in the classroom...

That is a classic line ("When a girl goes to bed, she goes to sleep!") but I don't think it is altogether true. The idea is that a woman has 'life' on her mind and is more engaged in her existence on some level; a girl sees the world as pandering to her needs so she doesn't have to be pre-occupied with it all. ​The subtlety is a real woman is more engaged and has life on her mind... while awake. Sleep is the time to let that go and pick it up in the morning.

Excellent post.... I find my step-daughter, first year of schooling is US is in a community college, struggling with all this... but I don't see that china's attempts at learning english is remotely close to preparing them for the US. Every class (history, economics, biology, accounting, english, etc) is an entirely new language to learn on some level... through brute force of long hours they can get through it but they are only prepared for this road for the most part. And they can't seem to realize that talking fast and pronouncing most of the words wrong and strung sloppily together just makes one feel they don't really care about the language. This is one of the most pressing issues I have battled and am winning so far. But for the chinese, the western education also is an escape from the pressure of the elite only issue. If they have the money (or can get it together), then there is a good chance they can go somewhere to school in the US. Their are more and more programs to assist with this, including HS exchange. In the end, whether they can shift from rote, memorization to critical thinking skills is the real hope I have for their education.

1. If I could come up with at least the month, then I would enter the first day of that month. If I had no guess I would just put the year. 2. In the result box you could write: Approved. We ultimately did not marry. She returned home. For the basic filing it is usually recommended that you include an 'Evolution of Relationship' letter to show how you meet your current fiancee, etc. If you wanted to explain that past filing, you could do that in the letter but I would keep it very short and simple.

I tend to think domicile is less important as most maintain some evidence of it (ID, bank accounts, etc) and it's easy to get back early and have an address... showing the financial support is the bigger issue, IMO.

I don't see a debate going on but rather helping the OP look at it from various sides, pros and cons. If he had never filed, then I can see minimizing the filing but as he clearly filed the wrong status, that looms larger, IMO, than which exact married status to do when. It is up to him to figure all that out in the end and do what helps them the most.

Bottom line to many chinese behaviors is fear... It is so deep and takes so many paths it is inconceivable in our minds.

I am not sure I totally follow.. meaning: If he changes later to Joint, he may get money back.. her foreign income will likely be a non-issue anyways. At least he can run the numbers later and then decide...

Ah yes... When I did this, I actually made the change to filing jointly and that is when the exemptions change. So the next time he changes for that, after she is here, he'll fill out the earlier part(s). Does anyone see a limitation to changing status? Meaning whether he cannot do a second change? That would be worth at least knowing.

Part I asks if you are changing the number of exemptions... It seems to me that you are.... which means part I applies. How are you reading it differently?

You want to get this changed to Married, filing separately for those past years. Realize that you'll amend AGAIN once she is here to Married, filing jointly as you should get an even better tax break (or refund).

Mick, What you said about caution is all too true and may actually be part of the reason some true masters don't want to share their way... if they are going to do it they know their physical and spiritual responsibility. That must of been surreal to see it disappear with such suddenness. What you describe sounds like what I have heard others call 'stillness-movement' but it may simply be similar in names alone. But I am glad to see you say 'visualization' as that is often a component that is not well understood. But the self-help it affords is tremendous, as you say.