Mick

You said a mouffull cuzin' tsapper; it would be the same way down cheer in tennerbama. These Bubbas and Wandas shoot first and ast questions later. Hell, most of the counties around cheer would most likely make money by makin' folks buy a license to hunt them, like they do other flyin' and swimmin' critters. It would be a new source of governmental revenue, plus a new way to give little Johnny and little Janie something big to shoot at fer practice.

That is just fantastic news, Terry. One month shy of five years is far, far too long to go through the kind of unique hell the state department creates. I am so glad things finally took a turn for the good and that Yan is going to be here for the New Year. Congrats and very best wishes for a wonderful future together. Lord knows you two deserve it!

Well, that was enough to get my engine up and running….

So sad to hear of this. Like most folks on this board, I have a great love for China and its people. They served as my host for over five years and treated me with much love and respect. I hate to see the air continue to deteriorate to such an alarming level. I wonder if this will impact Harbin's famous Ice Festival, known for its beautiful ice sculptures - I hope not. Not sure when that is slated to begin, but imagine construction starts well before opening.

I don't think war with China is likely, given the ways our economies are so intimately tied together. Further, as the above linked article points out, China does not want to do anything that might thwart its ongoing development. However, with that said, I think that in any international conflict where China has a stake, like this insane dispute over these big rocks in the China Sea, care must be taken to always give China an avenue out of the situation without loss of face. As crazy as it may seem, I think loss of face is so important to these folks that it is the one thing that could trump reason, fear of potential defeat, and even economic considerations. That's the one aspect of all this that concerns me most - that somehow China gets backed into a corner and there is no face-saving avenue of escape. Yes, I understand this makes no sense from a western perspective, but to the Chinese, it might indeed make perfect sense.

Or disturbed....personally I spend most of my time gruntled, which must mean content or happy. And I guess I am also turbed just as often...

Li is the same way, always loosing large amounts of hair, especially when she washes it. But like Credzba said, she still has a thick mop of hair. She has let her hair grow for the last two years and it is now down to her waist. Now when she loses strands of hair, they are super long.

Chinese lady totin' a 9mm and an AR15. Now that is a potent combination for sure.

It is a sad state of affairs when you can no longer safely wait at your daughter's bus stop. And in far too many cases, the system seems more concerned with the rights of the criminal than with those of the victim. What makes these attacks all the more sinister is the fact that they are so senseless. These punks are just doing this for "fun." I know we have had a rash of this sort of thing in Nashville, Birmingham, and Memphis. In a place just outside Nashville about a year ago, two kids killed a homeless man over a piece of pizza. The old guy, in his 70s, spent all the change he had on two slices of pizza and went to his "box" under the overpass to eat. These two kids drove up on a crotch rocket, jumped off and told him to give them a piece of pizza. He refused and they shot him twice in the head, then stabbed him over 20 times. Another homeless guy happened to be taking a leak in the bushes when this all went down and got the license number of the crotch rocket. The two killers, both minors, disappeared into the juvenile justice system as a judge ruled they could not be tried as adults, even though they were both sixteen. I don't know if it is violent video games, movies and TV, lack of parental supervision, or a combination of factors that have conspired to create this monster, but it is getting way out of hand. Heck, I lived in Miami for 15 years and saw plenty of violence, but the random and senseless violence that is commonplace nowadays is beyond the scope of anything I saw in Dade County. And for those on this board who are bringing your loved one to this country soon, or for those who already have, I suggest you educate yourself about what is going on with this sort of thing, because your wife, fiance, husband, or whatever has not likely seen anything like this in China. To be sure, they have their share of violent crime, but not to the extent it goes on here and certainly not to the extent it is shown in the press. You need to keep them safe and the best way to do that is arm yourself with knowledge about what is going on. My genuine fear is that this is going to get worse before it gets better. I apologize for getting on a soap box here, but this sort of random, senseless violence, stemming from a total lack of respect, empathy, or human decency, is a hot button issue with me.

Try this link and see if it works: http://youtu.be/qF9lV319yg4

I saw the video yesterday and now I read the article at the link Randy posted above. This is a shameful and disturbing trend, which graphically illustrates the loss of civility, empathy, compassion, and common human decency that has permeated our society. And it is going to get worse, much worse. I openly fear for the world my daughter is going to have to live in unless major changes take place. I am not talking about anything political here. But something has to be done to send a message that this sort of random, senseless violence will not be tolerated. What is sitting sideways in my mouth after reading the article is discovering that a 13-year-old and sixteen-year-old plead guilty to killing a man playing "knockout" and RECEIVED SENTENCES OF 18 MONTHS CONFINEMENT. Ya think that is gonna deter these hoodlums from future mayhem?

Tom, I saw this thing over on Facebook and put it on my wall this morning. It is just disgusting what those kids are doing and it is indicative of the degeneration of morals and civility in our culture. If we don't stand up to it, the future is grim indeed. Anyone caught doing this needs serious jail time, whether or not they are a minor. I'll stop here because I don't want to go on a rant....

Li has no aversion to using any kind of soap. When living in Shantou, I sometimes noticed people washing tea cups with tea and maybe even spoons. I don't recall ever seeing anyone wash their hands with tea.

We drive on parkways and park on driveways....

Where are you located, Dan? Chances are if you are inland, you will probably only get a little wind and rain. Typhoons, hurricanes, etc. usually unleash their full fury on coastal areas. I went through Hurricane Andrew in Miami in August, 1992 and that is not something I enjoyed even a little bit. I also went through a typhoon while living in China. It was about a Category 2 on the western scale of wind speed, so not too bad, but enough to blow out windows in our building. We were in Shantou, which is located on the northeast coast of Guangdong.

Earlier in the thread, Credzba mentioned The Great Leap Forward and the melting down of all the iron and steel and the impact that had on agriculture. Also, at this same time, Mao, enamored with Joseph Stalin, ordered the farmers to plant seeds deeper, just as Stalin did back in the late 1920s. In Russia, this resulted in the famine of 1928 in which hundreds of thousands died of hunger and associated illness. In China the crops failed resulting in the Great Famine of the early 60s. Millions died all over China, but areas like Anhui were hit the hardest. There are photos in a museum in Hefei, where Li and I met and lived during my first year in China, that show stacks and stacks of skulls in the center of the city. Li's parents lived through this horror and still speak of people eating the bark off trees. Had it not been for the big river (Chang Jiang) and its local tributaries, even more would have died. In the south, there were reports of cannibalism. Stalin and Mao were great revolutionaries, but agricultural experts they were not. It will be interesting to see what direction "rural land reform" takes as the central government seeks ways to keep folks down on the farm, rather than migrating to the cities.

Absolutely fantastic news. So glad to hear your application was approved and that the visa is forthcoming. Hope your house hunting expedition is a smashing success and that the two of you have a wonderful future together. Congrats and best wishes.

Although I am far from an expert on the popular music scene, on a scale of one to ten, I would give the music a rating of around three. As eye candy, however, I would say they are off the charts. Still, I am partial to the 12-Girl Band from China:

I agree completely. I was living in China when 9/11 happened and, as the article mentions, I did hear a few casual comments about the nobility of Bin Laden. However, the media certainly did not make any statements to that effect.

Hi Greg, welcome to Candle. Yes, China has certainly come a long way in terms of the availability of western goods and brands. When I lived over there (1997-2003), you could hardly find any genuine western goods, especially clothing. You could find plenty of knock-offs (I had a nice pair of Adibas sports shoes - that's Adibas with a "b.") Also, had some great Poom house shoes (Puma). My first year in China, spent in Hefei, the capital of Anhui, they were just getting in their first jars of Skippy peanut butter. By the time we left China the second city where we lived (Shantou in Guangdong) had a fully stocked Wal Mart. In the larger cities and the developed coastal areas you can find many western outlets these days. In the hinterland and out west, things can still be a bit hit and miss. In Randy's post, the article spoke of the Jeep dealerships in China and how expensive the vehicles were. Sales were lower than hoped for but Jeep, along with the associated clothing, has a very positive image it seems. I was joking with Randy about the t-shirts. Maybe he could put a photo of a mud-dripping Jeep on the back, with a slogan: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." Again, welcome aboard and we hope to hear from you often.

Just incredible!!!

I often heard the girl/women divide describe basically in terms of marriage: If the female is married or ever has been married, she is a woman. If she has not, she is a girl. If a 50 year old has never been married, she is an "old girl."

During my years in China, one of the most fascinating things to watch was how fast the culture was changing, especially in terms of consumerism. As I mentioned in one of Randy's threads, when I first arrived in China a decent cup of coffee was a rare find. One had to settle for pre-mixed Nescafe packs, which was truly hard on a dyed-in-the-wool coffee snob like myself. If I wanted decent coffee, I had to fly to Hong Kong and bring in a supply. That rapidly changed as the years passed. I remember distinctly the day the Wal Mart opened in Shantou (where we lived for four years). It was quite an affair, with six stages out front, complete with non-stop rock bands, fashion shows, and even a bikini show (my ribs were sore for days from Li's elbow slamming into my drool-dampened side). Taking in this scene of wanton capitalistic decadence, I couldn't help wondering what Chairman Mao would think. It is nice to hear that more and more variety is available for the Chinese to experience. It was a monotone culture for so long, especially under the Chairman.

I was thinking about this as I was driving back from Publix, where I went to buy a few supplies for this nasty weather we got rolling in today. Given the Chinese tendency to see autos as connected with face, as exemplified by their affection for BMW and Lexus, you would think rather than Jeep, they would go for Land Rover. Whaddaya think? Maybe in Hong Kong?

Didn't know that Jeep was getting so popular over there. I own a Jeep and I love it. Maybe I ought to take some photos of it, especially when it is caked in mud, and mail them to you Randy. You could put them on t-shirts with a clever slogan and make a fortune.