rogerluli

I can only assume that Jesse did not bother to read the article or check out the credentials of the quoted expert... Been out in the sun too long I suspect...

This is a major issue that often gets glossed over by those planning on living in China the "easy way", having your wife remain a PRCC. What if the totally unexpected happens??? We plan on starting to live in China in 3 1/2 years when I retire. Before that my wife will become a USC. We already own multiple homes in China that we can rent or sell as needs arise but let me tell you that rents in most of China are so low that it is not profitable to rent. Most are doing it waiting for the appreciation on their house to kick in. Having to travel out of China to renew our visas is not a problem since we plan on traveling in southeast asia anyway and may apply for retirement visas in Thailand or Malaysia...

And what percentage of the populace has a big screen TV, a condo full of new furniture and a car???

Wouldn't be the first time the military decided they really didn't need the politicos to run things...

China insider sees revolution brewing JOHN GARNAUT February 27, 2010 BEIJING: China's top expert on social unrest has warned that hardline security policies are taking the country to the brink of ''revolutionary turmoil''. In contrast with the powerful, assertive and united China that is being projected to the outside world, Yu Jianrong said his prediction of looming internal disaster reflected on-the-ground surveys and also the views of Chinese government ministers. Deepening social fractures were caused by the Communist Party's obsession with preserving its monopoly on power through ''state violence'' and ''ideology'', rather than justice, Professor Yu said. Disaster could be averted only if ''interest groups'' - which he did not identify - were capable of making a rational compromise to subordinate themselves to the constitution, he said. Some lawyers, economists and religious and civil society leaders have expressed similar views but it is unusual for someone with Professor Yu's official standing to make such direct and detailed criticisms of core Communist Party policies. Professor Yu is known as an outspoken insider. As the director of social issues research at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Rural Affairs he advises top leaders and conducts surveys on social unrest. He previously has warned of the rising cost of imposing ''rigid stability'' by force but has not previously been reported as speaking about such immediate dangers. ''Some in the so-called democracy movement regard Yu as an agent for the party, because he advises senior leaders on how to maintain their control,'' said Feng Chongyi, associate professor in China Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. ''I believe Yu is an independent scholar. This speech is very significant because it is the first time Yu has directly confronted the Hu-Wen leadership [President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao] and said their policies have failed and will not work.'' Pointedly, Professor Yu took aim at the policy substance behind two of Mr Hu's trademark phrases, ''bu zheteng'' [''stability'', or ''don't rock the boat''] and ''harmonious society''. His speech was delivered on December 26, the day after the rights activist Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in jail for helping to draft a manifesto for constitutional and democratic government in China, called Charter '08. The sentence, which shocked liberal intellectuals and international observers, followed a tumultuous year during which the party tightened controls over almost all spheres of China's burgeoning civil society, including the internet, media, legal profession, non-government organisations and business. Professor Yu's speech has not been previously reported but has recently emerged on Chinese websites. He cited statistics showing the number of recorded incidents of ''mass unrest'' grew from 8709 in 1993 to more than 90,000 in each of the past three years. ''More and more evidence shows that the situation is getting more and more tense, more and more serious,'' Professor Yu said. He cited a growing range and severity of urban worker disputes and said Mafia groups were increasingly involved in state-sponsored thuggery while disgruntled peasants were directing blame at provincial and even central government. ''For seeking 'bu zheteng' we sacrifice reform and people's rights endowed by law ¡­ Such stability will definitely bring great social disaster,'' he said. Professor Yu's speech reflects deep disillusionment among liberal thinkers in China who had hoped Mr Hu and Mr Wen would implement political reforms. Dr Feng said he still hoped the two would ''do something'' to leave more than a ''dark stain'' on China's political development before stepping down in 2012. ''The conservative forces are currently very strong,'' he said. China's security-tightening and potential for future loosening were linked to a leadership succession struggle between Mr Hu and the Vice-Premier, Li Keqiang, on the one hand, and the former president, Jiang Zemin, and the current Vice-President, Xi Jinping, on the other. ''I haven't given up the hope that the Hu-Li camp may make some positive political changes to mobilise public support.'' . The latest edition of the newspaper Southern Weekend broke a two-decade taboo by publishing a photo of a youthful Mr Hu with his early mentor, former party chief Hu Yaobang, who was purged in 1987 for his liberal and reformist leanings. But Chinese internet search results for the names of both leaders were yesterday blocked for ''non-compliance with relevant laws''. A Beijing political watcher said such crackdowns were being led by officials who had the most to hide, which did not include Mr Hu or his allies. ''Corrupt officials have such a high and urgent interest in controlling the media and especially the internet,'' he said. ''The more they feel that their days are numbered due to the internet and free information, the more ferocious and corrupt they become, in a really vicious circle leading to final collapse.'' http://www.smh.com.au/world/china-insider-...00226-p92d.html

They got snow yesterday in Yunnan...but it's still awhile until the spring rains... B)

If you really need to sit around worrying about the real estate bubble and /or the entire economy bubble in China here's some reading to get you going... B) http://chovanec.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/r...na-real-estate/ http://www.scribd.com/doc/26781802/China-T...liy-Katsenelson http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/11/china-bub...l?feed=rss_home http://www.chinalawblog.com/2010/01/china_...e_bubble_w.html enjoy...

The fact of the matter is that China would really rather not have foreigners hanging around at all who are not needed for jobs... B) Since my wife will be becoming a USC before we retire in 3 years we would be stuck with visa runs out of the country every 90 days if we wanted to stay in China...Right now our best alternative looks to be getting a retirement visa in Thailand which is an annual renewal and very easy to qualify for, and splitting our time between Thailand and China...

Most Chinese people don't get mortgages. They pay cash for the complete price of their home. This includes young and old alike. Somebody forgot to tell the banks that then. While in rural a third-tier cities cash is king, the majority of homes sold in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are with conventional mortgages. Got any evidence of that? Common knowledge if you follow the property market... We have made tremendous gains on our Hainan properties since the central government announced their intent of making Hainan into a world-class vacation spot...China's Hawaii... From what we hear these are all cash buyers from the north desperate for some nice weather... B)

A difficult time in US-China realtions is building... http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo2...+All+Stories%29

We cannot allow China to dictate our foreign policy... And its good for jobs here in America...

No doggie Don...But the wife wants one when we retire...One of those cutesy little lap dogs... gag me with a spoon...

Already you can't breathe the air or drink the water... And now it seems you can no longer even engage in my favorite pastime in China...just walking around... As pet dogs have prolifersted in China it seems that their owners' common sense, that they are responsible for the DOG SHIT left behind, has not... "One recent morning my husband said: "You know what I hate most now?" he asked. "It's the dog shit. I came across it on the street every day, and there is a lot of it." "Well, you may have good luck if you stepped onto it (Goushiyun, which means unexpected luck)," I joked. I couldn't agree with him more about the inconvenience caused by the now-and-then encounter with dog waste on paths and alleys. As a non-commuter, I am lucky enough not to have to put up with the suffocation and crowdedness of the subway or buses, but it is not as lucky as it seems when you run into waste every morning. Beijingers, especially middle-aged or elderly citizens, are very fond of their pet dogs. On my way to the office, the cute dogs in different colors and styles being walked by their owners easily win my heart and even tempt me to own one myself, but the dung they leave everywhere eclipses this fondness. However, an animal is just an animal. You can hate them but you can't blame them. It's the person who holds the leash that should be accountable. It should not be a problem for dog owners to bring some trash paper or plastic bags in case their pets need to answer the call of nature. With the number of pet dogs in the capital hitting 1 million, the fact that only some owners are cleaning up after their pets is not enough to ensure cleanliness of the streets. Before blaming local authorities for not setting up pet toilets, ask yourself first whether this "pet-raising manner" has already been set up on your own side. Otherwise 2 million toilets for 1 million pets would not work this out. To further the intervention, the concern groups for pets or communities could do their bits to curb the pollution in such ways as establishing signs where necessary or launching pet-raising manner related campaigns. Dogs are man's best friend. So why not make them a better friend instead of allowing them to be a burden on the city's beautiful environment?" Source: China Daily http://english.peopl...82/6845506.html

We've seen programs on Chinese teevee on these dogs...They are horrendously expensive and their export is strictly forbidden... What are they good for??? Absolutely nothing except to show you can afford it...

Get out your globe EF... Reno is FARTHER WEST than El Lay...

Born in Chicago, it's own state... Later Wisconsin...California...Wisconsin... Laopo is from Hunan but has lived all over China...GZ when we met... 2013 - 2018...All over China... 2018 - ...Wisconsin/Florida

corrupt officials...

Oh please... strict incarceration is a western penal approach to crime. The US is #1 in terms of numbers despite our population does not support it logically nor rationally. They don't patrol the streets for a very simple reason... THEY DON'T NEED TO. We are so brainwashed by social control in the US that we cannot fathom social order in a country 4x our size. if we think the US is burdened with crime and laws now... wait till we are at 1 billion... I cannot imagine the slave state we will become. How many times have you found yourself walking the streets of China, whether crossing at a crosswalk in a rural area and was narrowly missed by a speeding car? Or walking on the sidewalk and was struck from behind by a fast-moving motorcycle? Or crossing a divided street, and noticed a fast moving car or motorcycle going the wrong way, and just missed being hit? They may not have the violent crime, but the streets are not safe for pedestrians. Way too many car owners and drivers in China have a a "get the hell out of my way" attitude if you in any way are impeding their movement as a pedestrian. It's near total anarchy on the streets, and you take your life into your hands any time your a pedestrian. Do Chinese locals notice it? No, very unlikely. They get away with all manner of law-breaking on the roads, only because they can. A comment from AngryChineseBlogger on pedestrian fatalities... ¡°Road Kill While the introduction of mass transit highways and interstates has seen a small revolution in Chinese road transportation, opening many cities to long distance road traffic for the first time, they have also seen a dramatic leap in road traffic deaths, despite China as a whole seeing only a modest increase in actual traffic. China remains one of the few places in the world where a 6 lane, 100 kilometer, stretch of highway, carrying an average of 2 motor vehicles a day, can rake up 8000 pedestrian fatalities in its first year. The reason for this disparity between traffic and fatalities is not entirely clear, though some suggest that the percentage of these fatalities that occur during construction and maintenance work might have something to do with pedestrians walking down the middle of a lane and waiting for road rollers to honk and drive round them Crosswalks While China is often slow to embrace ideas seen as being foreign, one that it has embraced is the idea of the crosswalk; unfortunately it has embraced them in the same way that it has embraced the FBI copyright warnings that appear at the end of some DVDs. They¡¯re here, they¡¯re there, they¡¯re everywhere, but nobody cares. While most modern countries have crossing light and laws that compel motorists to stop and let pedestrians cross, and even developing countries like Afghanistan have local guerrillas who fire friendly warning shots from their RPGs to remind motorists to stop ¡­.. if they want to live. China has motorists who routinely honk pedestrians off of crosswalks. Pedestrians in China cross at their own risk and if China were to ever to produce its own indigenous version of the Green Cross code, it would probably have two extra items in addition to the normal stop, look, and listen. Run Dodge China is also the only place in the world where I have seen a pedestrian crosswalk on a six lane coastal highway. I quickly noted the lacks of warning signs, stop lights, and pedestrians, and decided that it would be best if I didn¡¯t try to use it too often.¡° http://angrychineseblogger.blog-city.com/d...ads__part_3.htm

1. Renting, much less buying, a home isn't a problem as long as you have the $$. If you end up purchasing a home you'll have to put it in your wife's name since expats cannot legally purchase real estate until they have been in China at least one year on a work or study-related residence permit. 2. Work visas can be tricky. If you can get a company to hire you -- assuming they can hire expats -- then you should be able to get a work permit and work visa which will have to be periodically renewed -- generally every year. 3. Banking is no problem. 4. Easy. 5. Difficult. You will have to go through Chinese formalities and, in certain fields, be restricted or forced to have local investors. Even if you do establish a business, you may find that it doesn't qualify you for a work visa. Ok I live in China 1 year and buy a home there. What kind of problems could arise if we decide to sell it in 3-4 years and we move to say Behai for retirement home there? There are no restrictions on selling a property you own. You could even turn it into an income producing vehicle. Market conditions may differ between cities and, as well, even between districts within the same city. Bill, we've been told that if you are selling within two years of the issue date of your house book you will pay a hefty tax on the capitol gains...sounded like about 25%...

Yeah I read that yesterday...Mutually assured destruction...

I wear a US XL...That comes with like 35-36" sleeves...I have NEVER tried on a jacket, coat, long sleeve shirt, that came close to being long enough in the sleeves for me in China... Now that was made for China clothing...I expect if you can find the stuff made for export it could work... B)

There is no business relationship between the banks required to send international wire transfers...We've sent large ones using Chase bank to BOC for $40 (was $20 in 2006)...

It seems to me to be the other way around in the work place...In China you are RETIRED from your job automatically at a certain age because they need that position for a younger person...In the US you can keep working until they cart you away if you wish...

Those no-good, pesky human rights attorneys serves 'em right... They should'a just executed 'em...

Sides have been chosen up... Which will be the Jets and which the Sharks and where will the RUMBLE take place???