Bessie

This article describes a social phenomenon regarding talents demand in modern China. The phrase "hai gui" was coined at the end of 1990s. The literal translation of "hai gui" is "returning talents from overseas", At the end of last century and the beginning of the new era, China's economy was burgeoning after a decade of "reforming and opening up". Particularly after joining WTO, China had a high demand of talents with western education. Some people, nicknamed as "hai gui", captured this opportunity, returned to China, and became successful entrepreneurs. Among them are the CEOs of some top IT and ecmmerce companies. Back then, only a very tiny percentage of young students, the best among their peers, were able to go overseas for an advanced degree and they were true talents. However, China has had a big changeover after another decade. Its economy has become the second largest in the world. Some home-grown companies have become strong competitors on global market. Domestic education institutes have grown to be able to supply China employment market with highly qualified talents, thus diminishing the demand for West-educated talents. Also, a lot of young students, most of them are just average or even lower among their peers, are no longer competitive in China after a Western education because they are not true "hai gui".

Hi, Catherine! I am so glad to see you, a Chinese female, is posting here while browsing the site today. I learned from your posts that you work for a public school as an ESL and math teacher. That's incredible. You should be so proud of yourself and not so critical of your "accent". However, I can really relate to your frustration. My worst headache is the "r" sound, followed by the "l" sound and the "w" sound.

Gentlemen, appreciate your still remembering me. I've been doing just fine, with some ups and downs, and some quite stormy and trying times -- the stories of my life. Indeed the work here has been impressive. Kudos to the admin team for a job well done. It seems to me that the transfer of domain or ownership could be very easy or near impossible, depending on whether Carl had a will which clearly designated a beneficiary to this site and the monetary value the beneficiary could demand. I think the ideas and spirit of this site have the potential to venture into a far bigger social platform like FaceBook, etc. Have the team considered out-of-box solutions? For example, you could get a new domain, establish a new site, and place a link to this site. On the new site, you could include more sections, such as old forums for discussions, blogs to tell stories of pre-and-post marriages, translation/ interpretation services, periodic offsite gatherings, etc., just to name a few.

Greetings to old friends who are still active on this site. Surely you all still remember me? Received an email about domain change of the site and came back to check it out seven years after my last visit. Saddened by Carl's passing. May the good man RIP in a good place. Glad to see the site had been thriving till this critical point. It seemed the good man Carl passed all admin work to the current team but forgot to transfer the domain or the ownership. It also seemed Carl did not include the site in his estate planning. With his passing away, the current admin team has been placed in an unexpected predicament. Given the legal intricacy, I wonder if the current admin team is open to think out of the box?

How can I do that? Help!!!

Hi, Tonny, I have similar opinion of Unions. Anytime I do not want to join any Organizations nor Unions. But currently, I have no choice. It's my first job in USA. It's very difficult for me to get a start of a new career in USA in the first place.

Personally I do not want to join any "Union" or "Organization". The total amount $468.83 includes monthly memeber dues, initiation fee and administrative fee. I am required to be finished with the payment in three months. And, I need to pay monthy due every month. I called the Union yesterday. I was advised that joining the Union is a condition of employment. I will get some information from my managers or co-workers tomorrow as I am working tomorrow. I hope I could get enough money to do the payment. Or, I maybe lose the job.

Oops!! Just today, I received a letter again. I am told to make $468.83 payment. My Goodness!!!

I just received a letter with forms from this Union asking me to fill out these forms as soon as possible and send the forms back to the Union office. My question is I do not know what this organization is for. Is there anybody can help me?

A noble man This morning, I took a walk to the shopping center of our neighbor. On the lawn in front of a McDonald's, I saw a scene which did move me. An old man, very short and thin and weak, was standing beside the lawn, with a hand holding an empty McDonald's cup. A begger. A man, was just walking to him from his car which was parking on the other side of the lawn. I heard the man spoke to the old man, "............ Wait a moment, I am buying breakfast for you." Then the man walked back to his car, taking out of his jacket and wallet, turning off the engine, and walking into the McDonald's. I belive he bought the breakfast for the old man. Seeing this, I was really moved. Noble man. Yes, he is. Action. Action is more persuasive and forceful than any beautiful words. Yes, Action.

Hi David, I am getting very confused. Do we need to bring "Birth Certificate of any child"? they are not children of this marriage, and we do not have the custody.

Hi Joanne, you gotta be carefurl of washing clothes by hand. I used to do same but stopped a couple of weeks ago, as my left thumb developed a big sore and felt like disabled after I finished some hand-washing. This thumb still hurts now.

On my ICE Speaking/Listening class yesterday, we watched an episode. A 60-years-old man, Nicolae, just comes to NY from Romania to partner in a restaurant with his brother Victor. But soon after he gets home sick badly. He feels he was a fish out of water without Romanian cutural surroundings. He can not adjust himself to the way of an America. Finally, he decides to go back home. Upon this, the teacher was supposed to have us to discuss the topic of adjusting to a New Culture. But we all turned to the other related topic, the reason you coming to USA. One said, for freedom. One said, no reason. One said, for joining parents. Two said, for loving $$$! ...... The teacher said, "As I was in love with my ex-husband. I had to come here. Yelp! No reason! But after I came here, I realized I was so stupid coming to USA!" ...... Then it's my turn. Then I realized I got quite stuck and confused. Just like there were handreds of thousands of words piled up in my throat racing and arguing one another. For a moment I felt like I had so much to say with a stuffed throat and nothing to say with a blanked mind. I heard a voice speaking, "As I was dying and suffering over there. Everyday life was just a stagnant repeat. It would not change or just inflow some nagtive stuff, till I died. I wished to refresh my life."

Personally I started learning English in High School for three years, then continued two years in college and came to a halt after passing a nation-wide college English level test. After quite a long time interruption, without consistently practice and futher study, I felt like I forgot plenty of it. But shortly I picked it up quickly. It's true that Chinese college graduates can read or write English much better than they can understand or speak English, due to limited opportunities to practice spoken English. My husband told me that he used to be warmly welcomed by some Chinese and people always wanted to talk to him, face to face, or on the telephone. I told him one big reason was they caught you as a free spoken English teacher. My husband laughted, "Of course I knew it!" He told me sometimes he even got dialogued on the street or at shopping centers by strangers speaking broken english.

Hi mercator, I finally called my mother and other family members this afternoon, my time 2:00 p.m., their time 8:00 a.m. It¡¯s a big joy! I believe your wife has been looking forward to your call. It¡¯s very very important for Chinese to convey and receive greetings to and from their dearest persons. It's a trdition. Enjoy it. Happy New Year!