weiaijiayou

You have a way of twisting people¡¯s positions and hiding little insults in your posts. The way I explain your wife¡¯s experience in obtaining her passport and visa in less than two weeks is that you¡¯re exaggerating. It sounds to me like the kind of story that stands up until someone starts to push on it. Then all of a sudden the details all start changing. Take a look at this story you use to support your perceptions about what you believe goes on in the embassy: The only thing I¡¯ve been able to find that sounds even remotely similar to this is Charles Parish, who faced allegations of granting visas for friends, for cash, and for sex. The scandal took place 11 or 12 years ago, it involved one diplomat and not an office, there¡¯s no way for us to know what their deals were or whether or not it was "hundreds of women," and, his activities, I think you would agree, would be deemed wrong by just about any American diplomat or embassy worker. In your post you present these details with such facility that people think, heck, it must be true, and it must say something about how the embassy operates. But again, when you push on it you find that it¡¯s not nearly what it was made out to be. If my BS detector goes off then I think it¡¯s relevant to anyone who¡¯s reading your comments for advice on what to do. I don¡¯t have any desire to send PMs with you.

Well, sticking to the issue at hand (not trying to define how the entire government, military, post offices, etc., work), I stand by my assertion that 99% of the visas are obtained through normal channels. From everything we hear on CFL, there generally seem to be 2 speeds to the US visa process ¨C slow and stopped. Reading through the years of information on this site, I¡¯ve only ever heard of one visa case where the applicant was helped because her husband knew people at the consulate ¨C she had an easy interview, and her timeline was normal. After going through this process and participating on this site for almost 2 years, I believe this is the first time I¡¯ve ever heard someone suggest that a promising option would be for the OP to try to think of someone he or his wife knows to try and pull some strings at the embassy or consulate. Call me naïve, but I think this is a rarity in the visa issuing process. For example, my wife is pretty close with an extremely wealthy and well-connected family in Zhengzhou/Nanyang. These people would love to travel to the United States for leisure, but the visa process is too difficult and put them off. They¡¯re going to Europe instead. To me, if these people didn¡¯t know anyone at the consulate who would expedite their visas, I don¡¯t know who would. As far as me not understanding how the real world works, I never said friends don¡¯t scratch their friends¡¯ backs in every place in the world. But is this anywhere near the same as the structured, patterned institution of ¡°guanxi¡±? If it is, why have Western sociologists and economists found guanxi interesting enough to write books about, and why have Western businesspeople been left scratching their heads over it? I think there¡¯s a lot more to it than you would expect.

She's in China but the embassy is American. I doubt 99% of "guanxi" relationships would do anything to help, aside from (1) having a good employer who assures you'll come back or (2) having Hu Jintao as your dad. Just my opinion. She got her B2 visa at the embassy in Beijing. You arn't saying that guanxi don't extent itself inside of the embassy are you? I think that would be somewhat of a mistake. There are many Chinese that work inside the embassy and the Americans that work there and that are assigned there do venture outside once in a while. People that are in the position to help people are usually sought out to make friends with them just in case they are needed someday. Guanxi Larry This is getting a little far from the point of the thread, but anyhow... The OP can decide whether or not he knows anyone who knows someone who has authority over issuing American visas and will be willing to smooth the process in light of those relationships. I stand by my original speculation that 99% of people in this situation are not going to be able to muster any of their ¡°guanxi¡± to help. As far as being certain that guanxi extends its influence into the consulate just because the American employees ¡°venture outside once in a while,¡± I don¡¯t think this recognizes the depth of the concept of guanxi and its differences from our western concept of, e.g., ¡°friends knowing friends.¡± The concept and importance of guanxi exists because Chinese are raised to stress their place within a social network, to understand and comply with social expectations, gain face, and obey authority. They grow these complicated relationships mostly for the sheer pleasure of it, and they obey the dictates of guanxi because that¡¯s what they were raised and taught to do. Just because the American embassy workers live in China, need favors, and ¡°venture outside once in a while¡± doesn't mean they will build and maintain this guanxi or that they'll respond like Chinese to a person marshalling their guanxi in hopes of ¡°greasing the machine¡±...

She's in China but the embassy is American. I doubt 99% of "guanxi" relationships would do anything to help, aside from (1) having a good employer who assures you'll come back or (2) having Hu Jintao as your dad. Just my opinion.

Really good information. I think these are the important ones most Chinese women know about. The first time I gave my wife a rose I only got her one, not really aware of the different symbolism of each number. Every Chinese person I talked to while holding the rose said, "ahhh, yi xin yi yi" (as you said, "my only love"). But, I must admit, when I was deciding how many to buy my main motivation was to give myself room to improve in the future without breaking the bank. Why start too high the first time? Assuming you haven't given her roses before, I think one rose would be very nice and would get you the bulk of the points, with more roses having "diminishing marginal utility" for each one. Just doing a little perusing online, though, it seems like just about any number could have some special meaning. e.g., on "baidu zhidao," in response to the question, "how many roses to give on valentine's day?" the person at the bottom proceeded to give meanings for about 40 different numbers of roses. Whether any normal person would know 90% of these, I have no idea but kinda doubt it... http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/85695932.html As far as carrying your wife across the threshold, I think it would be a cute and very romantic thing to do. You're probably familiar with the custom in many places that, on a Chinese bride's wedding day, she is lifted out of the car and carried into the home without her feet touching the ground. Your wife may be impressed/touched if you bring this up and do it with her?...

I'm glad the little guy is finally able to get inside and out of the cold. In the follow-up story there's a picture of the dad where you can see how badly his face is burned up from the cold and wind...

If you're talking about community college, rules about residency probably vary from school to school. At my wife's, I believe they require a year of living in-county to get the lowest tuition rate. When my wife first started, she had only been in the US for about 5 months, but the school was willing to accept my residence history since we're married. But I very much got the feeling that they were letting us slide through. You'll probably just have to check with the school, do some negotiating, and hope you don't 'peng ying dingzi'...

It's on youtube too if you missed it...

Oh yeah, we've all gotten that one.

At the beginning the Zhangs reminded me of about 75% of westerners in China. "Um, can you please talk to my wife/friend/colleague?" "Damn, why can't anyone in this damn place speak English??" The idea is funny since it's (I hope) tongue-in-cheek, but the thing that kinda bothers me about it is the deeper sentiment. For example, other Chinese-Canadians are referred to as "tongbao" while Western-looking Canadians are just "big nose" people and "ghosts," and their languages are "guihua." For me it just raises the question -- why even live in Canada? I know if I wanted everyone at stores and in the government in China to speak to me in English, I would not live there. Geez, instead of mobilizing armies of consumers and job applicants, just learn the language. Wouldn't that be easier???

yeah, I think this is a better explanation (and the gist of what George said too). Yu is surplus (e.g., ¶àÓ࣬ÓàÇ®), not necessarily money. For the pinyin, though, if a u with two dots is written next to a y or q, it isn't written with two dots, because in that context it's always pronounced as a u with two dots (so it just appears as u). Similarly, when you type into most pinyin input systems, a u with two dots is normally typed in as a 'v', but when the u with two dots follows a y or q, it is typed in as a 'u' and not a 'v'. Kind of pointless, but maybe pointing this out could help someone's pronunciation of words with y's and q's. Continuing to think about it, this is also true for j's...

yeah, good point, they call this avoiding "adverse selection." My insurance (through a university) had a 30 day window after my wife's arrival in the US during which she had to be added to my insurance. Otherwise she had to wait until the next open enrollment. My insurance also has the same 30 day policy for babies -- must be added no later than 30 days after birth.

I'd say you should bring this up with your wife and let her decide how important it is for her to 'zuo yuezi.' Let her know that it won't be possible for her to be cared for 24/7 (assuming it won't be) and whether or not she'll be able to stay inside for that entire period. My wife didn't find it important. She originally planned to have the baby and return to school after a week to take her finals for her ESL classes. All you can do is make sure she understands the important parts of what it'll be like to have a baby in the US and then talk about what she wants to do...

I am one hundred miles east of Pittsburg, in Bedford. It looks like we got 15 to 18 inches out of that last storm, and like you're area, their calling for another 6-8 inches tomorrow evening and Wednesday. Mr. Plow My wife asked me on my first trip if I lived in "hot"? I laughed and told her no, each year we have four seasons. Her hometown weather is very much the same temps on the average as we have here, which is lucky for me. Lil' rabbit has laughingly told me that if I lived in "always hot", she wouldn't come to America to live with me. She loves the four seasons and snow. Same with me, but 2 or 3 inches of snow is enough for me. We've been lucky the last 8 or 9 years and just gotten small snowfalls. It's beautiful out in western Pa. I love it in the mountains here, but when she comes over next year, I have thoughts about moving closer to Pittsburg for the food we could buy there at the strip. tsap seui Hmm, I had always thought of you as a southern guy... We live about a 5-10 minute drive from the strip. There are a couple good Chinese grocers down there. We usually stop in every week or two for something or other -- if my wife doesn't need anything I get some cans or cartons of 'wang lao ji' Wow, tsap seui in Pittsburgh... Interesting!

In western PA we got about 21 inches over the weekend and I believe we're supposed to get about 6 or 7 more over the next few days. I've been so happy that my wife has been able to experience this type of weather as its something she's never seen before. She jumped for joy when she found out her classes are canceled for tomorrow! And she's still calling plow-trucks "Mr. Plow," which is pretty darn cute. Hope you guys who got hit harder don't have anywhere you need to go...

and Congratulations.

No, she want's it born here Yeah, but the baby would have dual citizenship to age 18 if it was born in China. As of now, we are going to hope that her visa get's approved within time. I have read that I can make an infoPass appointment at my local USCIS office and request a "service request" to expedite based on a medical. Therefore, the wife will get a letter from her doctor, translate it and then email to me. Additionally once the wife arrives, she will have full medical insurance. With all that said, I am hoping that everything will go well for us. Dan Might as well try for it while you're waiting. You could also try once the case gets to GUZ. I believe GUZ has said that they would not expedite a case based on pregnancy, but I think I remember a case where they did (and I wouldn't be surprised at all if they acted inconsistently on this issue, as a lot of treatment seems to go on a case by case basis). As for "dual citizenship up to age 18," after reading a couple other recent threads on this topic, I don't believe the "dual citizenship" has much value -- as soon as the baby leaves for the first time on his/her American passport, he or she will then be American and not Chinese. At least this is how I've understood the explanations posted by others...

I agree with Jin. I think if she passes her interview on the first try, she can be here in plenty of time. A couple other things to consider: Will she have medical insurance in the US? If not, it's probably going to be very expensive. Will she be able to understand the doctors and nurses, or, if not, will you be able to translate for her? You'll have to be able to communicate well enough to discuss and understand important issues such as whether or not to do various procedures, what potential effects they could have on her and the baby, and their various probabilities of occurring.

I wouldn't be surprised if some baseball stadiums already had tea in the form of ÕäÖéÄ̲è or bubble milk tea, which comes from China. More and more young kids (including those at my old high school) are able to take Chinese, take trips to China, and are coordinating classes with "sister schools" in China (I believe ours is in Jilin). I believe China is more in the news and more on Americans' minds everyday. My favorite thing about this article was what she did at the end, putting a positive spin on complaints about western influence or "contamination" of Chinese culture.

I clicked on the link, but once there I got distracted by the "China diary" and wanted to hear about Chris's four years in China. It was well worth it. There were some good stories and funny examples of OIC ("only in China") behavior. My favorite part is when Chris takes a job as a translator as part of a movie production company. He accompanies a team (the rest of whom are all Chinese) to an exhibition in Los Angeles. Once there, they learn that the stands must be rented from the exhibition for an exorbitant amount of money. Instead, they drive down to a home improvement store and buy some lumber and tools. They hire a Mexican guy standing outside to do the construction. As Chris sums up, "It worked out beautifully, costing a princely sum of $200 in total (including $100 for the Mexican guy). We had saved nearly 3000$, which was deeply satisfying for everyone - and still managed to have an attractive display for the exhibition."

My wife had a related experience today. She came back from her classes saying that she was very ticked off. Apparently, her classmate is Taiwanese, and when she said so, my wife said, "Oh, then you're Chinese." The classmate said, "No, I am not Chinese." After class, as my wife was leaving the room, she heard the classmate say to the professor, "She was trying to tell me I'm Chinese!" From my wife's description of the classmate, it sounded to me like she might be a native Taiwanese person, but my wife doesn't know. Talking about the classmate and other issues related to Taiwan (e.g., the arms sales, one of her favorite tv shows, "kang xi lai le") over dinner, there were many points of confusion because anytime I said 'zhongguo ren' (Chinese) -- intending to contrast them with Taiwanese -- she would take my meaning to include Taiwanese. To me, the only way to get around this problem succinctly would be to call Chinese people 'da lu ren' (mainlanders), which my wife also doesn't like for some reason. Apparently it's built into the way Chinese people think about the world that Taiwanese are Chinese. It's perfectly easy for me to detach myself personally from this question and take either side, so for a while I played devil's advocate and challenged my wife's perspective with some questions -- e.g., why does Taiwan have its own, separate army? if it's already China, why does it have to be "liberated"? Her response: "guomindang ye shi zhongguo de, hao bu hao" ("the nationalist party was also Chinese, cmon!"). With that, we both laughed it off, and I was satisfied that Taiwan is Chinese enough for me. Later on my wife was asking me how she should respond if the classmate brings this up again. I said I really doubt that she would, and that I'm sure it makes the classmate just as frustrated as it makes her.

http://pe.usps.com/text/imm/ce_009.htm#ep1400280 Now that being said, I have sent digital cameras twice without issue, but perhaps the prohibition stated above applies to film not digital cameras. I interpreted the "printed matter, records, films, video tapes, etc." as all fine unless they "could do ... harm to the PRC." I've also sent a digital camera and wrote "digital camera" specifically on the customs form, without any problems. I sent the memory card in a separate package several days earlier to avoid any curiosity about our pictures. Just recently my wife and I had an odd experience sending packages to China. We sent 2 packages of similar sizes, both to Nanyang, on the same day about 2 weeks prior to Christmas. One arrived in a little over a week. The second one arrived about a month and a week later, after both we and the recipients had given up on it. Both packages had kids' books and some toys, but the one that was delayed also contained nicotine patches and "icy-hot" patches. The late package also had the recipients' phone number which was never called.

Even if you don't study the requirements, if you have a normal relationship involving daily communication and occasional visits (assuming you're not living in China), you will be naturally accumulating the stuff that you'll eventually need to petition the USCIS and apply at the consulate. Phone records, emails, pictures, actual physical letters, descriptions of your relationship and memories of your experiences ... those are the types of things you'll use to substantiate your relationship and that you'll already have just from being in the relationship. For instance, if your girlfriend got a letter in the mail from you, she wouldn't throw it away, even if it wasn't needed to apply for a visa, right? Later, when you decide to petition USCIS, this is the kind of stuff you let them know about. The income comes into play once you're approved by USCIS and your case goes to Guangzhou. Good luck when you decide to apply.

Congratulations! Unbelievably fast...

That's what I'm waiting for. Hopefully they're already out celebrating.