dan1984

Should be no problem, as the others have said. I too was on a work visa for a long time, and after getting married, am now on a family based residence permit. Got everything done here right in Beijing, super easy. I believe all I needed was the visa form, passport photos, and our little red marriage books, but I could be wrong. As you said though, after you get back, the people there at your PSB will tell you what you need. Best of luck with it all!

Congrats!!

A discouraging piece for someone involved in this type of thing

Everybody I know has been talking about the lady who died in the escalator, there has been a huge outcry of anger and at the same time sympathy for the lady who died and her child. I saw the video just clicking on it randomly cause I saw it had so many thousands of views before even knowing the story, and just seeing the lady literally get sucked in by the escalator, hmmm................

Congrats!!! And, thanks for the write-up!!

You can find live streams for literally every channel in China online. Like Dan said, connecting through your tablet and TV will allow you to watch everything for free.

:nonono: Don't think I could ever get used to seeing that much armpit hair!!

Really great pics Randy, fascinating to see.

This is awful! Apparently the boat went down after being trapped in a cyclone (according to the article), that sounds.........just, awful. Only 8 rescued so far, hopefully that number will rise.

Good luck!!

Wow! Wouldn't have guessed that. Here in Beijing it is mostly local Yanjing that we drink: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Yanjing_Brewery Beyond that there is still lots and lots of Tsingtao. Snow is still widely drank as well, and over the past couple years, it seems like Harbin has been making lots of strides to become more prevalent.

Unfortunately the professionals are not usually that professional - as you said, only the petitioner and beneficiary have a truly vested interest in doing it correctly and the outcome.

Just bought a Kindle. Per this thread, also just bought the Kindle version of Death of a Red Heroine. Looking forward to it! Assuming I like it, looks like I'll have a bit of decent reading material left in this series: Detective Chen series Death of a Red Heroine (2000)A Loyal Character Dancer (2002)When Red Is Black (2004)A Case of Two Cities (2006)Red Mandarin Dress (2007)The Mao Case (2009)Don't Cry, Tai Lake (2012)Enigma of China (2013)Shanghai Redemption (2013)

Thanks for the write-up, and, more importantly, congratulations!!!!!!

Really strange. I am about the farthest thing from a technical wiz, so I don't know why you are experiencing this - especially after downloading the Chinese version. I too have the Chinese version but toggled the language to English - and the Wallet functions appears and works like normal. I order food online and pay via this WeChat Wallet function, send and receive money to/from friends (transfer back and forth instantly - really really convenient), and if I have a freelance project every now and then am even being paid by this method occasionally. Hmmmm. Really strange, sorry I don't have any tangible advice

The English version of WeChat has this Wallet feature too, and I use it all the time. After you update your WeChat to the newest version, you'll have it as well.

Nice write-up! Congratulations!

Awesome news!!!!! congratulations!!!!!

Yeah!

Hopefully I can shed a bit of light on this topic. At about this time last year I was getting ready to start my own translation company based on all the translating experience I had, and I remember making a few posts about that here on Candle. However, sometimes you have to roll with the punches and take advantage of the opportunities life gives you. As such, over the past 8 months I have started my own international trade company with my lady and also an old classmate of mine who I met and studied Chinese with here in China. She's from Kazakhstan and her whole family is involved in international trade and have factories and lots of business/government relationships in Kazakhstan and are involved with different projects. After learning the ropes of the family business, she wanted to set off on her own and also start her own company, and for that needed partners in China, so, that's how we got started. She takes care of everything on the Kazakhstan/customer side of things, and we take care of dealing with factories in China, negotiations, navigating customs, shipping, etc. In receiving money for orders quite frequently from abroad while in China, we've learned the ins and outs of all these regulations, be it for business bank accounts, personal bank accounts, etc. In answering danb's question, how would one deal with $60,000 USD in personal money (not money for business or work or whatever)? Each year you can transfer an unlimited amount of money to China. However, the person that receives it can only directly exchange $50,000 USD each year. This means that you receive the $50,000 to your China bank account, and can exchange it directly at the best/current interest rate and receive $50,000 in RMB. If you receive $60,000, the first $50,000 is completed as described above. The remaining $10,000 can be withdrawn and accessed by the person receiving the money in China, but you can not directly exchange it, and only withdraw the $10,000 in USD. So in receiving the $60,000, you could leave the bank directly with $60,000 in USD if you wish. If you want this $60,000 in RMB, the bank can directly exchange $50,000 USD into RMB at the current exchange rate and give you this amount in RMB. The remaining $10,000 you withdraw and then use this $10,000 to buy RMB, and this buying rate is lower than the exchange rate, so you're getting less bang for your buck if you know what I mean. So, in receiving money from abroad, you can only EXCHANGE $50,000 directly into RMB each year. After that, you withdraw the money and then BUY RMB, for which you receive less bang for your buck based on the current buying price offered by the bank you're at. Also, a Chinese person can exchange $0.01 - $50,000 in one bank visit. Non-Chinese people can exchange up to $50,000 in a year, BUT, have a limit of only $500 per day. So, if you need to exchange a large amount of money, best to ask a Chinese relative or friend to help out. I'm not good at describing things like this, but hopefully this makes sense and helps a bit! Also, for our business, thus far mainly been dealing only with China-Kazakhstan trade. But if any of you or your friends or company or whoever in the US or elsewhere ever needs to buy anything in bulk from China, let me know! Dan~~~

Good luck in the process! Please keep us updated with how everything goes! Based on following along here on Candle, I think everything looks good. Saved your write-up for future reference. Good luck! Dan~ Good luck in the process! Please keep us updated with how everything goes! Based on following along here on Candle, I think everything looks good. Saved your write-up for future reference. Good luck! Dan~

Hahahaha, thanks Doug!!

Thanks Tsapper, much appreciated!! I'll be sure to keep you updated on our journey. Hope you have been doing well lately! Dan~

Thanks!! And yep, haha, sounds like we're going down the same rode, except I switched out Shanghai/Changsha for Beijing/Chengdu! Never made it to Changsha yet, but hope to some day.

And some RMB Hahaha, thanks!! :victory: