bnolsen

So far I've spent only 2 weeks in Shanghai, 1 week a year ago and last week I was there. Big plusses I saw there: - The culture is more modest. In the US it seems sex is constantly thrown in your face, you can't get away from it. Billboards advertisements, young girls wearing overly provacative clothing. And I live in middle America even. - Ability to walk everywhere. It's good to be able to easily get exercise without having to actually plan for it like I have to here in the US. The automobile culture is nice but probably taken too far. Big minuses: - Both of us being christian, well there's always that feeling of knowing that the religious freedom that should be there isn't. - Can't seem to get away from people. That could partially be because I've been there during holiday. - Too many dense, tall buildings. Coming back the first thing I notice is how the tallest things here are trees, not buildings. Of course I live in Denver which is very spread out. Almost everywhere the trees are the tallest feature in the landscape and it's very easy to drive 30 mins and be able to hike without running into other people at all. In fact my friends and I tend to be even somewhat offended if we do see other people on the trails.

I'll be there 1-9october (Saturday through Sunday). South side.

here's what she is going to fax the US embassy:

I'll expand this question...what's other good "American" stuff to bring? I think US candy is terrible (to sweet) most foods are bad (too much sugar) and other stuff is just plain nasty or bland. Americans know how to barbecue well...and that's about it... What I like to eat I usually pick up at the Southeast Asian or Korean markets around here. Also the Ukrainian grocery down the street or the German deli by work. On another note about getting things "stashed", my grandmother used to sneak packed hams and cheese and wine bottles and coffee and such into our luggage when we would come back from Germany. The US customs agents don't really have much of a sense of humour about these sorts of things. The biggest complaint I had about my last trip to China was the harassment I got from US customs (Minneapolis). Hopefully San Fran will be nicer about that.

I was wondering if cans or jars of items are allowed by customs into china. My fiance's mother is from szechuan and I'm very tempted to bring some After Death sauce over there.

The US has very good record keeping policies... But don't overestimate back country china of the 1970's. I think their beauracracy just didn't care much about records or anything administrative at that time, and people probably didn't want to deal much with the government either. Think of 1800's type record keeping in the US frontier. The adoption was within the family. Basically she has 3 sisters, she's the youngest. When her father died it was very hard on her mother so her aunt and uncle took her in. But after about a month or so (I think) of living with her aunt and uncle she went back to live with her mother. Since then her aunt and uncle have been treated as her "official" parents. At this point it seems the only birth certificate she can get is one that states her aunt and uncle as her biological parents. She's contacted the notary office a few times now.

All right this is strange: Her history: Born in Xinjiang early 70's Father when she was 8 years old. Adopted by aunt and uncle. So first off, no birth certificate, no birth records, etc. Second off, no adoption documentation. Third, all records after that are as though uncle is biological father. And of course her ID has the wrong birtdate on it. Anyways... The government will only give out a birth certificate claiming her adoptive parents as the biological parents. Currently she's used the government birth date (wrong one) and her aunt & uncle as parents. The solution I asked her to pursue, which they can get a notary to sign off on is: - Government issued document stating that it cannot issue a birth certificate - Mother notarize a document stating birth date & place, parents & maiden name - Uncle notarize a document stating adoption time & place, and names. Thankfully all three parties (mother, aunt and uncle) are all still alive. So the question is, would the embassy accept the above notarized documents with true dates and such on them? Or is this asking for trouble?

Well she lives and works in Shanghai but her residency is still in Xinjiang. She says that Xinjiang is a "frontier province" and has more restrictions on passports.

Actually we should have taken care of this a while back. She says she needs me to write an invitation letter so she can get a passport. I was wondering if anyone here knows what information needs to be on this letter, or even better, a sample.