whome?

Kyle was your wife born in Wuhan or in another city in Hubei? I was under the impression that the birth and police certificate had to come from your offical city of residence (since many Chinese do not change their registered residence even if they move somewhere else). I also thought that you only could get the Marriage Certificate (and get married) in the FA office of the province capital. At least this is how it worked for my wife and I - she is from Hubei but not Wuhan.

The "word of mouth" is very strong in China and the Chinese ...

Try ctrip.com, qunar.com, and flychina.com. Elong and Qunar are known to have one price listed but the "seats not available" when you try to book but sometimes you get lucky. BTW - American Airlines and United Airlines have direct flights from Chicago to Shanghai and vice-versa.

But Shandong Province, south of Beijing, is still considered the ultimate birthplace for a fighting cricket. Folklore tells us that during an enemy invasion some 800 years ago, a Song dynasty emperor scattered his cricket collection at the foot of the sacred Mount Tai. The descendants of these crickets are said to be the world¡¯s best fighters. It¡¯s estimated that nearly half a million people travel to the county of Ningyang for crickets each year. Local farmers earn their main income just from plucking crickets from their fields and selling them to buyers from Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong. http://www.jackboulware.com/writing/king-of-the-insects/ I have heard of it but never seen one. But I have eaten fried cicada. They sound alike to me .... not sure about their fighting ability though.

Why not just call the consulate and ask them? Chinese Passport Renewal According to "Chinese Passport Law", effective January 01, 2007, Chinese Passport extension will not be performed any longer. Instead, applicant must apply for passport renewal. According to Chinese Consulate policy, most applicants are required to apply in person at the Chinese Consulate. For details, please contact with Chinese Consulate directly (FYI: Tel: 212 244-9498 or 212 868-2078 ). VisaRite can only help applicants who is over 65 years of age. Consulate may change policy without notice. VisaRite will try it's best to provide accurate and update information as quickly as possible. Here in China you can get on a special email list with the US Embassy and they provide you notifications of special events in other cities outside Beijing and the consulates regarding ACS, passport renewals, etc. Perhaps the Chinese Embassy/Consulates have something similar.

If you really want to go just apply for a tourist or business multi-entry Chinese visa here in the States. Use your Z-visa to enter China the first time and then use your tourist/business visa to travel in and out of China while waiting for the Resident Permit. It can take up 1-2 months before you get the resident permit depending on how things go. The tourist/business visa is less than $200 total. Wouldn't work. You cannot have two valid visas in your passport at the same time. I had a valid F-Visa (I got it before I knew that my return assignment would require me to have a Z-Visa) and Z-Visa in my passport in Jan 2008. I entered China with no problems.

I thought the visa was valid for 6 months ... it seems that took almost a month away?

B) So true... Of course in this case he got fake Canadian not USA documentation. "His parents said the police discovered that he was carrying small amounts of opium and marijuana and he provided fake Canadian identification.' Maybe he will be able to keep his healthcare benefits at least.

This is very true....same experience here with a sport coat ... it was too little even for 6 yr old chinese boy when they finished with it

If you really want to go just apply for a tourist or business multi-entry Chinese visa here in the States. Use your Z-visa to enter China the first time and then use your tourist/business visa to travel in and out of China while waiting for the Resident Permit. It can take up 1-2 months before you get the resident permit depending on how things go. The tourist/business visa is less than $200 total.

http://themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/b...up-on-flu-fears Also low prices last year so less acres planted and speculation.....

I agree with you Carl but yet the US Government treats K1 visas with more favor than K3 or IR/CR-1 if you use timelines as the basis for "more favorable". I have never understood this.

Haha...yes..and to make it even easier..it has to be the same format as her offical birth certificate/translation which you must have submitted with the I-129F. Get the divorce ceritifcate from the same place. Actually, we didn't have to submit birth certificate for I-129F application (at least not to USCIS), only fill out forms, copy of her passport, and some other stuff, although I understand she may need birth certificate later at time of interview. Yes..your right..I forget that with the I-129F you did not need the birth certificate. However you can get the birth and police certificates from the same notary office in her hometown.

An interesting article from MSNBC with reaction from people in China to the visit. http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/200...16/2128867.aspx

This caught my attention: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Friday reiterated the Obama administration's commitment to seeking a legalization program in 2010 for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., which would increase USCIS' workload exponentially.

You are right in your assessment and for my statement, I sincerely apologize. This is one reason I generally steer clear of these kind of discussions. Again, if I offended you, it was not my intention. Sorry. Don, Carl, whoever....if you want to delete that comment, feel free. I am never offended by these types of comments...just trying to figure out when a comment is considered partisan politics by the mods

Haha...yes..and to make it even easier..it has to be the same format as her offical birth certificate/translation which you must have submitted with the I-129F. Get the divorce ceritifcate from the same place.

Still, I think it is an accurate exercise in dot connecting to say that Obama's lack of openness pales when compared to the oblique techniques of his predecessor. George II was a far cry from being a poster boy for transparency, not to mention his puppeteers Cheney and Rumsfeld. This is not partisan politics?

Only a fever or other symptoms? If you have fever and one other flu like symptom you will be put in "lock down" most likely (the flu is now making a "stir" over here) and cause "lock down" for those around you. Hope you feel better and get rid of whatever it is before Friday am!

To be fair, we would also have to ask what the United States has gained from having the world not like us. Making people prove where Obama's foreign policy has done good for the US in the last year assumes that, e.g., Bush's years in the Oval Office would be rife with examples of how military aggression has benefited the US. Many of diplomacy¡¯s benefits are either non-riveting (and not news worthy in the US) or involve avoiding something negative such as war, and are therefore hard to prove. In 2008, for example, how much play was given to the success of the Bush administration for helping resolve ¨C through diplomacy ¨C the armed conflicts in the Congo? Did it help the US? I don¡¯t know. We didn¡¯t get anything tangible from it like oil pipelines, but if the conflict had escalated ultimately it could have spilled over into American¡¯s lives either economically or through terrorism. Well, for one thing: China allowed uncensored broadcasts of Bush's comments in China, but not Obama's. The number of nations that signed on to help in Afghanist and and Iraq are good examples of Bush getting cooperation despite people not like the US, too. NATO did not want to pony up troops in Afghanistan! Russia actually agreed to help with sanctions against Iran when Bush pushed for it, and they actually followed through on those promises. Bush got Syria to back off in Lebanon a little bit. Bush got the EP-3 crew out fairly quickly...we're still waiting on Iran to release the hikers they took from Iraqi territory. Bush got North Korea to agree to, and take several steps to fulfill, the 6-party talks. Bush got Taiwan to tone down some of their more inflammatory rhetoric toward China, and got China to increase their transparency on their military budget. I think it is also clear that the pro-democracy Color Revolutions we saw between 2003-2005 were the direct result of Bush foreign policy giving them courage to stand up to dictators. Now, we are looking at 8 years of Bush successes vs 1 year of Obama, so naturally there is going to be a disparity in numbers. I'm not trying to argue Bush has done 8 times as much as Obama, because that would be dishonest and unfair. It's just that since President Obama has taken over, all sorts of rivals are getting more boisterous. I haven't seen any trade concessions from Germany, France, UK, etc. I see France calling the US too weak and indecisive. I see Russia getting concessions out of us in exchange for promises they blatantly refuse to follow through on. I see Iran doing whatever they want. I see Venezuala threatening Columbia due to its relationship with the US, and the US not doing anything. I see North Korea being more combative than it has been in the last 20 years. It might be that the State Dept is inept, not the Office of the POTUS. I do think that after nearly a year in office, there should be some diplomatic successes. I've seen zero. Seems Nathan's not so far out in left .. urrr.. I mean right field .. at least one other person wonders the same. Time will tell but life/work has taught me that, as bad as it is, the nice guy usually does lose. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics...7-70327287.html I actually had to look up the transcript of the June 2008 acceptance speech because I did not believe some of those things he actually could or would have said ... does not seem like someone who would bow to others ..

Since Carl wanted "back on target" here is some information about his visit. My impression was that, for the most part, the Chinese were indifferent to his visit and less than impressed with him or the US based on current situation and the economic crisis. I was surprised to see my thoughts verified in this article which also supports an earlier comment I made about the Chinese "pride" one sees and hears today. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/obamavi...ent_8999735.htm The difference, however, is that those I spoke with are not in awe of him and fully know that China is once again one of the leading world powers. Many said that they doubt the US will cooperate with China. Some asked if he really wants peace with their nation. Or as Fu put it: "China's power is rising. Obama showed that the US is worried about the rise." Here is another interesting article about China not being interested in a G-2 in contrast to the USA media saying the G-2 is needed for the world (I can see both sides of this issue). This article even includes a picture of Obama shaking Hu's hand http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-11...ent_8998039.htm

Its a new day Kim. I can understand what you are trying to get across, especially from a Chinese perspective. My grandfather served in WW2. I drive a mercedes. 2 of my uncles served in Vietnam. They just recently went on a junket together back to that country and had the time of their lives. Times change. Time heals. So many atrocities happened due to these events. Should progress, gained through a simple display of respect, be another victim? Shall we continue to dwell on the past and avoid attempts to make today and tomorrow better for us and our future generations? Yes, I do think it is worth it, especially considering our recent scorecard on foreign relations the past decade or so. Like it or not, we have a lot of making up to do throughout the international community. And a display like this, imo, can go a long way in sending a positive message that far outweighs any ill feelings that it may cause. And I will be honest, I am sickened by just about everything that has transpired so far in the O administration (sorry Carl ) but I have to commend him on this. Afterall, whats a nobel peace price winner to do? Kim I usually agree with you but in this case I think Brian is correct. Besides no one bows in China anymore. Besides Besides ... as much as I love China some of them are much too thin skinned about perceived slights. Others will look for any reason to say a westerner is bad or a western country is bad ... just like some of our own people who try to blame all of our problems on China. Remmber the show-ending episode of Boston Legal where the law firm of Crane, Poole, & Schmidt was sold to a Chinese law firm? During the eposide there were the expected comments selling off to the Chinese because they have a horrible record on human rights, etc. The version we downloaded was translated into Chinese and at the beginning the translator provided a warning to the effect "watch this show at your own risk because many bad lies about China are said and it may make you feel bad". If that is not thin-skinned I do not know what is.

I agree with you 100% about the fact one should know and respect Japanese culture (as Obama did correctly IMO) or any other culture when you go to visit them. The same is true here in north China regarding toasts when drinking together. The younger person should extend their glass below the older or more senior person during the toast as a sign of respect. However regarding your "this will not turn into an Obama bashing thread" you have to admit you turned it in this direction with your post #5.

I just wanted to point out that there are good people that do good things for the orphans in China besides my mother in law and myself. Perhaps this will bring attention to their plight somewhat and in some way it will improve their lives in some small way. I know what little I do is very very meager but what mother in law does in much more needed but she is only one old lady. More is needed. Larry When it comes to life I look at the "glass as being half full" but when it comes to most people I see it "half empty"... Hopefully the extra money he makes by waiting until his brother's visit to break his silence (and announce his new book) will all go the ophans ... but I somehow doubt it.

I wonder when the study was conducted and the actual questions/details. Cal. in the top 10?