GZBILL

Actually, that chain isn't bad. I stayed in one once in Shanghai because it happened to be half a block from a meeting venue amd found it clean and comfortable with WiFi. Hotels that don't have security posted at elevators, elevators in view of the reception desk or floor wardens are always a good bet if you are not married.

Thank you all guys. My fianc¨¦ just booked the ticket this morning!! His mother will go next Monday or so. He get more than a month for the visa. So, I think everything will be fine. He's never been to China and he's so excited about the trip !! We will first meet in Shanghai and then travel to Guangzhou. Any recommandations for Shanghai? Hotels, restaurants, sightseeing. I wonder which hotel allow us to stay together; Some hotels refuse a Chinese girl stay with a foreigner. If you don't have a marriage license, some of the biggest hotels will not let you two register together for a room. And if you don't register together, these same hotels will not allow you to spend the night. Not all hotels are like that, but in Guangzhou China Hotel and Garden Hotel usually are. A lot in Beijing are, too. In Shanghai you can try 7 Days Inn. They're pretty lax I heard.

Entirely wrong!!! Hu was professional through the whole parade until your so called "Muffin Top Brigade"... when he clearly smiled and waved to them... in fact I made the comment to my wife at the time about how excited he looked all of sudden... and I've watched it again to confirm I saw it correctly... You must be blind. He got all excited at the first female PLA unit. The Muffin Top Brigade passed and he showed no excitement at all. The same thing happened in the crowd at Tiananmen. The Muffin Top Brigade was like the freak show. The female PLA units inspired heavy drooling amongst the crowd with all the ooohs & aaahs. Reminds me of the grandmother sitting at the parade... when the soldiers came marching by she nudged the person next to her and said "Look, everyone is out of step, except my Johnny!" So, yes Johnny (GZBILL), I guess by those standards... I am blind and out of step. ... And by other standards delusional. but, hey, God gave people the right to be daft. Enjoy.

Once they ease the one-child-policy and selective abortions of females is stopped perhaps it will be better.

Entirely wrong!!! Hu was professional through the whole parade until your so called "Muffin Top Brigade"... when he clearly smiled and waved to them... in fact I made the comment to my wife at the time about how excited he looked all of sudden... and I've watched it again to confirm I saw it correctly... You must be blind. He got all excited at the first female PLA unit. The Muffin Top Brigade passed and he showed no excitement at all. The same thing happened in the crowd at Tiananmen. The Muffin Top Brigade was like the freak show. The female PLA units inspired heavy drooling amongst the crowd with all the ooohs & aaahs.

Surely you jest, Jin! The culture of equal respect for women does not exist in China. If it did, why do so many of you want out??? Women are paid less for the same job, work more hours, are treated like slaves and housekeepers by their husbands, are beaten for being disobedient....yup...sure sounds like equal respect to me!!! Just cause Mao the Murderer said it, doesn't make it true or accepted. Very accurate analysis. Very accurate. Women in China are treated as chattel and have been throughout history but for a brief moment in Chairman Mao's reign.

First of all, people -- male & female -- are often characterized and described by physical appearance in certain situations. Is it politically correct? Perhaps not. But it is nonetheless common and if one doesn't know that by now, I feel sorry for them. Second, attractiveness in the US & China relates in large part to physical attributes. At first glance this may also seem not politically correct, but it has been this way for thousands and thousands of years and in no place more so than in China itself. Third, how have you been able to survive into adulthood with the mind of a 2-year-old? For those who watched the National Day parade on TV, try to obtain a DVD of the original broadcast. You will see the camera focus in on President Hu when the first regular PLA female unit passes in review and you can clearly see how they catch his attention and how animated he becomes. These girls were very attractive. When the Muffin Top Brigade appears, it's like they are day-old bread.

You should be ok. There were some visa anormalities due to the National Day celebrations, but everything should be fine now. Still, things can be unpredictable. Hopefully another forum member has some actual recent experience to share.

This is great advice. Anything that can help refine and strengthen your marketing plan is a plus. One note: I'm assuming you're going to teach people how to make pizzas. One thing about Chinese chefs is that they can be highly inconsistent. I have a good friend who opened up an Italian restaurant. She said that she's always having problems with the help being a bit too creative - adding their own take to the recipe. Apparently, this is fairly common in China. From what she tells me, a chef must create something spectacular, something which will set them apart from other chefs. The only problem with this is that when creating "foreign" food, there is an expectation (from foreigners) for there to be some consistency (one meal to the next) on how, let's say a pizza, is made. My friend, who is a Chinese citizen, finally had to hire a guy from Italy to come in and re - retrain them on how she wants it done. Great, yes. But some would also call it common sense. In fact, iirc, you need some type of feasibility study done for the licensing process for most things like this in China. But maybe a store/restaurant is different than what I was looking at (factory). Maybe Bill can chime in on this. My wife likes pepperoni. And I would imagine you could get oven and most ingredients in China but maybe ingredients from US would make for a better pizza, i dont know. But I like pizza hut pizza in China better than US. And typical US ingredients might not be best in China. Seafood seems to be very popular for pizza in China. Agree totally about Pizza Hut being, for the most part, better in China than back home. Only problem is that 80% of their menu is seafood and they don't like putting tomato sauce on their pizzas. Once you navigate around that, though, it's pretty good. Not sure about pepperoni. Pizza Hut used to have a pepperoni pizza, but has since taken it off the menu. Perhaps it wasn't very popular? Someone has mentioned Chinese people generally being lactose intolerant. This is generally in the south, but even so people eat pizza. Not sure why. I think it will be crucial to see what the market is in your area before opening up a pizza restaurant. If there's a Pizza Hut in the area, be careful. Pizza Hut has been very careful to keep prices low and offer what Chinese refer to as "set meals" that are cheap. Also, especially in Tianjin, there is a huge difference between what people tell you they'd buy and what they actually fork over cash for. Tianjin is not noted for having a lot of rich students and the vast majority of them would probably never even think about spending more than 10 RMB for a meal. No matter what government connections one thinks they have, a non-Chinese passport holder having anything to do with a business that is not 100% legitimate is a serious risk. I've seen it hundreds of times -- it's not a pretty picture. The days when you can hold off immigration and tax authorities with a well-placed phone call have passed into myth in Tianjin. business should be opened by PRC citizen , its easy If it's in the name of the PRC citizen, it's easy to start a business. The problem starts when the non-PRC spouse is a beneficial owner or performs labor of any type. Unless the non-PRC spouse has a work permit tied directly and exclusively to the business and the resulting residence permit, there can be major tax and immigration compliance issues.

Outback Steakhouse Expanding to India Guess Outback is trying to diversify the places in which it is going bankrupt.

This is great advice. Anything that can help refine and strengthen your marketing plan is a plus. One note: I'm assuming you're going to teach people how to make pizzas. One thing about Chinese chefs is that they can be highly inconsistent. I have a good friend who opened up an Italian restaurant. She said that she's always having problems with the help being a bit too creative - adding their own take to the recipe. Apparently, this is fairly common in China. From what she tells me, a chef must create something spectacular, something which will set them apart from other chefs. The only problem with this is that when creating "foreign" food, there is an expectation (from foreigners) for there to be some consistency (one meal to the next) on how, let's say a pizza, is made. My friend, who is a Chinese citizen, finally had to hire a guy from Italy to come in and re - retrain them on how she wants it done. Great, yes. But some would also call it common sense. In fact, iirc, you need some type of feasibility study done for the licensing process for most things like this in China. But maybe a store/restaurant is different than what I was looking at (factory). Maybe Bill can chime in on this. My wife likes pepperoni. And I would imagine you could get oven and most ingredients in China but maybe ingredients from US would make for a better pizza, i dont know. But I like pizza hut pizza in China better than US. And typical US ingredients might not be best in China. Seafood seems to be very popular for pizza in China. Agree totally about Pizza Hut being, for the most part, better in China than back home. Only problem is that 80% of their menu is seafood and they don't like putting tomato sauce on their pizzas. Once you navigate around that, though, it's pretty good. Not sure about pepperoni. Pizza Hut used to have a pepperoni pizza, but has since taken it off the menu. Perhaps it wasn't very popular? Someone has mentioned Chinese people generally being lactose intolerant. This is generally in the south, but even so people eat pizza. Not sure why. I think it will be crucial to see what the market is in your area before opening up a pizza restaurant. If there's a Pizza Hut in the area, be careful. Pizza Hut has been very careful to keep prices low and offer what Chinese refer to as "set meals" that are cheap. Also, especially in Tianjin, there is a huge difference between what people tell you they'd buy and what they actually fork over cash for. Tianjin is not noted for having a lot of rich students and the vast majority of them would probably never even think about spending more than 10 RMB for a meal. No matter what government connections one thinks they have, a non-Chinese passport holder having anything to do with a business that is not 100% legitimate is a serious risk. I've seen it hundreds of times -- it's not a pretty picture. The days when you can hold off immigration and tax authorities with a well-placed phone call have passed into myth in Tianjin.

You are really ... er ... well, naive. You expect that authorities turning a blind eye works when an expat is involved? Sooner or later you'll have immigration and a whole platoon of police there and you will get FITA. If you're really lucky, they'll just fine the hellout of you, confiscate your business and not deport you.

In 14 years there are very, very few places I have not been on an extended basis. I have seen the poorest of the poor -- Guizhou Province -- and everything in between. Yes, people in these marginal areas have seen major improvements, but their life is still a struggle. Try not to believe the happy facade; the reality is that they have a very hard life and they see their personal future as bleak. Yet, they are realistic and know that at best their children may -- with a hell of a lot of luck -- have a better life. Ask any one of these people and, if they are honest with you, they will tell you that they are working almost 24/7 so they can send their child out of these poor areas so they can get an education and then help pull the rest of the family out of poverty and misery. If they can't send their children out and the father has no discernible skills of value in the bigger cities, they send the mother off to work as maids for middle class Chinese families in Guangzhou, Beijing or Shanghai. All this bull$hit about the happy peasant is what special ed first-graders believe when they watch those Chairman Mao era (or Kim Jong Il) propoganda films.

Many of your so called "flower militia" were models in training. Yes, they are volunteer militia, but anyone who thinks they weren't chosen for their looks to be in this parade is fooling themselves. To each his own... but curious that many of us are here because we find Chinese women attractive... and so, of course we'd find Chinese models attractive... I'm not sure why we'd be here otherwise... I agree with you. I think Chinese girls are attractive and, in general, more so than girls I've met back home with some exceptions. However, even by Chinese standards, the flower militia girls are not nearly as pretty as the normal female PLA units that marched before them.

Make sure you follow through with all the legalities and paperwork.