Robert S.

All right, great. Now they need to undo some of the damage that has been done by local party leaders taking the farmers' land away. China is severely short of arable land. It is unconscionable that the tinest bit more farmland be converted to industry. Any new industry can be placed where old, inefficient industries were.

A good man who owns a daycare center decided to let the little boy come to his place for free. Followup story

It's frustrating. But my wife explained beforehand it would be complicated. When my wife and her ex divorced in 2003, living accomodations got complicated. So she sent the child to live with my mother and father inlaw. So now, changing the child's address registry would be complicated; my wife lived on her own for at least a year without the child (necessary). Then she's been here since Feb 2005. At some time, some other change was made to the child'n status (I don't have a handle on) which further complicated the registry issuse. From the standpoint of US rules, the 2 year rule may have been difficult to certify. Though the child has been with my wife or her family since birth, my wife had to live separately for the last few years. But the reason given by the last official (which I don't accept) was that there's no guarantee the US would allow the child in, so they didn't want to go through the hassle. They said for me to apply for the child here, get the ball rolling, then come back to China to work on their side. So though it will cost more money and time, I'll have to do what I can from here. We're trying to get this process going again. It's hard to believe it's been so long since I last posted about this. One big problem had been getting family members to get paperwork done. But now my wife tells me the birth certificate and residency certificate are in hand. We visited with her last January. My new avatar is a photo we took together. We talk to her regularly by phone; I just exchanged Chinese New Year and Valentine's day wishes with her. So given the earlier consensus that it's easier for my wife to adopt her, I want to go down that route again. But I feel I want to have someone there to drive the process for us. Depending on family (busy with jobs and their own kids) has been a hair-pulling exercise. I'm looking to find a lawyer in Nanning or Binyang to help us work out an adoption on my wife's behalf. Any recommendations, suggestions? Attorney or other competent agent we can contact? Thanks in advance. (Some photos and video from our January 2009 China trip.) Lee, my wife was a lawyer in Nanning before coming here. She says you don't need a lawyer for this. Your wife or I presume someone representing her (mother?) only needs to go to the same office where they issue the little red marriage books and they can tell her what needs to be done there. Hope this helps, if not PM me your phone number and I'll try to talk my wife into talking to yours. Carl I am so hopeful and excited about this. What a great heart your wife must have. She has got such an inspiring look on her face in your avatar photo, she looks like she is very focused on the future and very committed to her duty in the present.

My wife can say the V but she calls it Valentime's Day. I got up early this morning and called little Johnny. It was 8:30 PM their time and they still had not eaten supper. The boy was so tired.

It's funny the way Mexico will not give a visa for Chinese people - it's like they're afraid of illegal immigrants.

It would be so cool if the guy were from the northeast US and they sailed into New York harbor past the Statue of Liberty.

I keep waiting for one of our members and his new wife to come to the US via cruise ship when she gets her visa.

That is great!

I just checked the weather report on Yahoo which said Beijing just has clouds right now, did not mention snow. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunshine.

They could get married anywhere, Las Vegas, or whatever. Sam, you could call the city attorney and tell him about this if you wanted to. That white booklet with its official translations are required to be accepted by any governmental entity, under the same mutual agreement the US has with other countries to accept each other's paperwork. Just do the easiest thing. Hopefully the other nearby town will not be under the same delusion.

Good thing you had plenty of instant noodles. You had never told the part about the high Party official before. Holy crap that is awesome, something Seymour Hersch should write a book about. You know, we never did figure out what was the reason for stopping visa processing for Chinese and Russian ladies after 9-11, leaving us in the Black Hole.

I gave our marriage ceremony lady a big fat kiss on the cheek. Congratulations to you Michael, and to your new wife. It is enjoyable to me to imagine you two having so much fun.

Heck, that is not near as cool as I thought it was going to be. I thought the kid would have a usable dual citizenship and get to be a citizen of the world in a way until 18, then having to make a choice.

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'm not an expert. Will someone please clarify this?

No, she want's it born here Yeah, but the baby would have dual citizenship to age 18 if it was born in China.

There is no need to disagree about government abuse of power in China, so I won't. But when you say Taiwan lost the war and the PRC was unable to invade and subdue Taiwan you could be a little bit off there. The civil war was not between the mainland and the island, it was between the communists and the nationalists. When the nationalists lost they retreated to Taiwan, invaded and took over there. China would have been able to invade and finally defeat Chiang and his people if it were not for the advent of the Korean War which made it seem advantagous to Truman to deny China control of the island of Formosa. So he sent the US Navy to prevent hostilities. Ever since then Taiwan has been essentially a pawn in the US government's campaign against China.

Carl in my experience and from conversations over here I would say this is still very much true. However I agree with you 100% on your second (it will change as imbalance worsens) and third points (Chinese women's stock will rise). Hell at some point their stock will be so high they will no longer even look our way .. Really. Before long an American man will have to be a millionaire before he could qualify to be of interest to a fine Chinese lady.

Hemp seed oil will burn in a diesel engine. All engines should be diesel. End of problem. Also would put millions to work growing the plant. But, talk about "no way" !!! No way. Even considering that the strain for the best fiber and seed oil has no high if you smoke it. The oil, chemical, and paper industries lobby stranglehold is too strong.

You ain't gonna die anytime soon, ain't that lucky! You only got a hernia right now. Lots more "training" for you yet to come.

When I was a kid and we were going on vacation, me and mom and dad and my 3 brothers and 3 sisters in our new 1974 Ford LTD station wagon and this groundhog walked out in front of us and stood up and did not listen to the car horn and we ran over him. All of us kids were kind of upset about it, but it did not seem to alter the summertime weather.

The US just sold Taiwan a bunch of weapons which are completely useless. There is no way they could use them unless they did not care what kind of response they provoked. It is not like their whole arsenal is enough to do any significant damage to China. Basically we scammed them into thinking they are tough guys. China could invade and take over Taiwan by giving 10 million people a paddle and an inner tube and telling them to go invade. They could build 10,000 pontoon bridges and just say, hey, anybody want to go to Taiwan? Taiwan is a part of China and they will be together again at some point.

The Taiwanese people that I know don't have any Japanese-like hint in their behavior. They are Chinese to the bone. They even have that old time weariness with life and its infinite corruptions kind of an attitude reminiscent of the era of the 1930s.

I believe, with no facts to back it up, that all these events that are done out in the open are just for show, and that really the US and China are operating within an agreement between the two countries.

Your application passed the main part. You did not get a white because there was no question about the relationship! Right now unfortunately none of the serious professors of GUZ-mology are here. Why don't you find some distraction until you can go back and talk to somebody, and in the meantime the experts will have a chance to come here.

You can overcome this blue. Those who know the mechanics will advise you. I'm just sorry it did not come pink for you right at first, but at least it was not white. Hang in there.