Randy W

It's only beginning to be covered in the Western media - Ground news shows 258 articles in the Western media, and only one in China (the one above from the Global Times)

Yes, I think you are correct. But, because of China's lack of transparency, you can't be sure. Incoming foreign visitors won't be aware of the situation, or might hear about it through the foreign media and decide not to come at all.

I think it is MUCH more widespread in China than I was aware, but not anywhere near us W.H.O. Says China Has Shared Data Indicating No Novel Pathogen The W.H.O. had requested detailed information about a reported surge in respiratory illnesses in children in China. Chinese data suggested the surge was caused by known bacteria and viruses. from the NY Times Children receiving intravenous drips at a hospital in Beijing on Thursday.Credit...Jade Gao/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

the 24 traditional Chinese solar terms——slight snow from Cai Fuwei on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0yzisSyD7q891rivxuyYPHcHEVyWPT7seHJrFCfM4YuutSCyFGBjkfGAxpt7woPepl&id=61550932797624

. . . and from the SCMP WHO presses China for details amid outbreak of respiratory illness among children The World Health Organization (WHO) has asked China to provide details after an outbreak of a respiratory illness among children in the country. Read more: https://sc.mp/bij2 https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/1095380208489952/ China gets WHO note seeking details after surge in respiratory illness among children WHO request follows reports about overcrowded fever clinics, hospital emergency rooms and children’s wards as multiple winter pathogens circulate Chinese officials and experts have so far attributed the surge in northern China to the lifting of Covid-19 measures

I just noticed this in your post - "I wanted to notify them that I was traveling to China and would be using my debit and credits cards over there." Good luck with that. Foreign credit cards have NEVER worked in China (I use mine only online), but there ARE new "agreements" in place that might allow some use. What you CAN do, though, is activate your credit card for use in the WeChat app. THAT would be accepted anywhere that WeChat is.

The fairly recent "decoupling" and "derisking" policies (China WANTS to do business with the US, but they are making it more and more difficult to do so) make any arrangements between banks subject to what ever way the wind is blowing (usually OUT), but international wires and WeChat accounts still function as always, along with most of the international money transfer apps. Your BofA ATM card may or may not still work in China - I don't know. As far as BofA is concerned, that agreement is still in effect, but that doesn't mean that that agreement will be honored at a specific location in China where you might need the money.

A couple of CFL threads you may want to check out Sending US dollars to China electronically - best way? and this U.S. ATM cards blocked from withdrawing in China now?

I don't use any American cards in China, so I'm not sure how that would work. If you're wanting to withdraw money at an ATM, you may need to activate roaming on your American phone just for that one transaction. Perhaps you'd need to do that (activate roaming) before you leave, and then do a transaction as soon as you arrive, at which time you can turn off the roaming and just use your Chinese phone (if I'm understanding your phone situation correctly). I access my Bank of America account in China without any issues, although the 2 Factor Authentication did cause some issues at first. I have an American VOIP cell phone number through Anveo which works for that purpose - that may or may not work for your ATM card (I don't know). It may be a better idea to determine an alternative way to send yourself money to your WeChat account - check some of the threads about for how to do that (yes, that would be able to send from your BofA account to your WeChat account). Sorry I don't have better advice there - everyone has to determine what works best for themselves as far as sending money to China. Good luck. You may want to decide on a different way to send yourself money. If you want to try sending money to your WeChat account, I can find those threads for you. Instead of your own WeChat account, you could just as easily send money to a relative's Chinese bank account. These are transactions you can initate yourself while in China - you will need to make sure you have a plan about how to receive the money.

This doesn't appear to be any kind of a new outbreak, but rather an attempt by the WHO to stay AHEAD of any potential outbreak. WHO asks China for detail on respiratory illness outbreaks Reuters November 23, 20236:42 PM GMT+8Updated 22 min ago

China’s Buzziest Haircut Is the… Beehive? The ever-popular updo hairstyle has become a fashion trend again in China. Check out more Daily Tones: https://ow.ly/mhgq50Qaast from the Sixth Tone on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/videos/7298903243454230/

贵州肇兴侗寨 Zhaoxing Guizhou from 王智贤 on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02yaare1xMsYWXaTHWsrg4ftEwunTMgUaLoumR2FLs2JXW9XmaBjcwf14VDWwcEkGAl&id=100092680417693 Zhaoxing Travel Guide - How to Plan a Trip to Zhaoxing from China Highlights Situated in southeastern Guizhou, Zhaoxing is one of the largest Dong minority villages in China. It lies in a basin surrounded by mountains with a small river passing through it. Zhaoxing enjoys a critical geographical position, as Guilin can be reached in the southeast through Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County, with Guiyang and Chongqing in the northwest being accessible through the county-level city of Kaili. The village is a real masterpiece of the Dong nationality, with theater stages, singing platforms, and grain barns. There are five drum towers, which are the village's special symbols, and they appear as five lotus flowers scattered in five naturally formed villages.

Because of a recent "confession" by Michael Spavor about their activities while in China, this back in the news again. Spavor and Kovrig were released by Chinese authorities immediately after the release of Meng Wanzhou. Canada owes an apology to China and others deceived: Global Times editorial This is from Channel News Asia (Singapore) Canadian claims he was used by Ottawa for intelligence gathering in China

Putin Ally Lashes Out at China Russian President Vladimir Putin poses with TV anchor Vladimir Solovyov during an awards ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow on December 25, 2013. China has become the latest target of derisive attacks in a Russian state media broadcast featuring Solovyov following a meeting between Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, and U.S. President Joe Biden.© MIKHAIL METZEL/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images from Newsweek via MSN

YouTube, Netflix, and Criterion streaming services all work fine now from where I am - most others (like HBO, Peacock, Amazon Prime, etc.) see your physical location ( rather than your VPN server's location) and block you from even signing up if you are physically in China.

Sure - I gave up on ExpressVPN within a year or two after that post - it had stopped working completely for me. But there are other people who still use it and claim it's the "best". That may depend on where you are in China as to whether it even works or not. NordVPN seemed to work for awhile, but they tell you to "wait five minutes" for it to connect - that's just to find out if a server would work. I found it impossible to find a good one. But Astrill seems to be far and away the favorite these days. You'll know within a minute if it can connect to a server or not. When using the "OpenWeb" mode, it connects within a second and reconnects easily if the connection breaks. It also stays active when the others are shut down.

A South China Sea Code of Conduct Cannot Be Built on a Foundation of Bad Faith There’s an obvious reason CoC talks haven’t progressed: China isn’t interested. from The Diplomat Chinese Coast Guard members approach Filipino fishermen as they confront each other off Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Sept. 23, 2015. Credit: AP Photo/Renato Etac,

Why Taiwan is a ‘life-or-death question” for China | Talking Post with Yonden Lhatoo Yonden Lhatoo is an India-born "Chinese citizen with Hong Kong residency". He asks the "frank" questions, but Cui Tianki responds with standard CCP answers for the most part. Is there a real chance of a war with Taiwan or does China have the patience and wisdom that's almost infinite because you're constantly prodding the panda here and testing the limits of how far tolerance will go. Is China's tolerance unlimited or is there going to be a problem here? What kind of provocation would be too much for China? Can you explain to our audience how much of a threat China really is? "The victims are people like me." - of China's visa policies He does claim that both the Vietnam War and the Korean war were between the US and China, but otherwise pretty well sticks to the CCP's lines. He's as old as me! A frank discussion with Cui Tiankai, China’s longest-serving ambassador to the US, on geopolitical tensions, war and peace, and diplomacy. Exclusive‘Life-or-death question’: US must grasp Taiwan’s importance to China, former envoy Cui Tiankai says The retired ambassador to Washington tells Talking Post with Yonden Lhatoo that the island is a matter of national sovereignty for Beijing Cui voices confidence in Hong Kong’s ability to attract investment and its future as part of the Greater China market

APEC over, Taiwan reports renewed Chinese military activity from Japan Today

A behind-the-scenes assessment from Lei's Real Talk - "What would the Chinese leader say in San Francisco if he could speak his mind?" is an AI generated simulation of Xi making a speech in English. The "speech" was originally written and posted in Chinese as a fantasy by a Chinese blogger of what "Xi would really want to say". She calls it "Lei's Saturday Night Live parody" of a Xi Jinping speech. What did Xi really want to say in San Francisco? The APEC 2023 is over. The Biden-Xi meeting didn’t produce any newsworthy headlines, but Xi’s visit was eventful. The CCP went out of its way to hire Xi’s welcomers. Xi was met with large protests. What did Elon Musk say at Xi’s dinner party? What’s Blackstone’s plan in China? Most of all, was Xi Jinping upset with Biden calling him a dictator? What would the Chinese leader say in San Francisco if he could speak his mind? Watch Lei's Saturday Night Lives parody.

Australia says divers injured by sonar pulses from Chinese navy Sonar is used by military ships to get a picture of what is happening underwater and works by using sound pulses. When operated at high levels these can cause dizziness, and in some cases, organ damage. from Sky News UK Divers were repairing the propeller on the HMAS Toowoomba Pic: AP

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IN A MINUTE: Xi and Biden compare presidential cars #shorts

The residence permits would most likely be issued for "family reunion" purposes to all 3 of you. The "family" would have to be Chinese citizens - so, your wife's family. You would have to ask at the PSB if you are eligible - it's best to have the Q2 to fall back on if you are not.

Yes - but living in China, you have the option of minimizing or eliminating entirely your US footprint. There would be no advantage whatsoever to have my wife naturalize. I have no US assets except for financial assets. What I'm saying is that living in the US, YOU face these issues. We don't. "I remember seeing a post where someone got a massive tax bill from the IRS for adding his wife to the deed of a house he had already paid off pre-marriage" - my guess is that it was treated as a sale and re-purchase for tax purposes. I knew that adding my wife's name to my own deed would do exactly that - I never considered doing that. I put her on my bank account, and got her on a credit card or two, plus one of her own (Macy's made it VERY easy for someone with no credit to get a card). No tax ramifications. It's important to be aware of tax issues - that's why I've ALWAYS filed my own taxes. I've only had two issues with the IRS. Both were settled in my favor, even though I was in the wrong on one of them (it WAS my mistake, but they simply forgot why they had sent me a bill without providing a reason). Until recently, that is. I now use TurboTax, which for me takes ALL the stress out of filing. "Even inheritances among US citizens can be tricky - adding another of layer of non-residents/non-GC holders/non-citizens further muddies things up." - this is not true. The Estate doesn't care about the immigrations status of the beneficiaries. That burden is ENTIRELY on the beneficiaries. A "non-US person" as a beneficiary, though, yes has complications IF they have transactions that need to be made in the US. Like I've said, though, that is not a real problem in part because it's covered simply by mandatory withholding. Be careful about following advice online. Visa Journey is especially prone to giving VERY non-professional and unknowledgeable advice, which tends to go "viral" among people who frequent sites like that. Just be aware and check out what they say for yourself (including everything here). Expats in China are the same way - they will frequently tell you "<____fill in the blank_____> is illegal in China - they just don't enforce it". When I was told I was working illegally in China because I didn't have a Z-visa, I simply quit that group (no useful information there).