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Fu Lai

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Posts posted by Fu Lai

  2. Bomb Blasts at The Boston Marathon

    in Stateside

    Posted

    Chinese national killed in BostonBy MICHAEL ASTOR

    Associated Press

    NEW YORK (AP) - The Chinese Consulate in New York says a Chinese national was among those killed in the marathon bombings in Boston, but did not identify the person. Boston University said the victim was one of its graduate students.

     

    The Consulate also said in a statement Tuesday that another Chinese citizen was wounded and was in stable condition following surgery.

     

    Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings, a Hong Kong-based broadcaster with ties to the Chinese government, said the deceased was a woman from the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang who was a graduate student in statistics at Boston University.

     

    A team led by Deputy Consul General Ruiming Zhong was in Boston to investigate the situation and assist relatives of the victims, the consulate's statement said.

    The official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that relatives have requested that the deceased not be identified.

  6. China requires fingerprints for ID cards

    in The Middle Kingdom - 中国

    Posted · Edited by Fu Lai (see edit history)

     

    By Cao Yin ( chinadaily.com.cn)

    Beijing police said that residents will be required to have their fingerprints taken when they apply for new identity cards.

     

    A pilot fingerprint program has been in operation since January in police stations in Yanshan and Yizhuang economic development zones.

     

    This will be extended across the city this year, according to Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.

     

    The fingerprints will be stored in a resident's personal information database that can only be accessed by police, the bureau said.

     

    Personal data will be recorded in a chip on the new identity cards, the bureau said. The entire process will be under the strictest supervision.

     

    In addition, the police said the information stored in the ID cards is not an actual image of a fingerprint. Instead, it will be converted into digital information to ensure complete privacy.

     

    More catching up with the other big countries like the USA. Kind of old news.

  7. ID cards needed to buy telephone service

    in The Middle Kingdom - 中国

    Posted

    I don't recall ever having to show ID to get internet or any other utility or buy a cell phone, phone card or any thing related. The difference is here in America big business does all the checking with credit bureaus.

     

    Well I have, all the time. Around those parts you do not get any services without proving who you are, where you live is your place, and who is going to pay for it. Nowadays they run credit checks on everybody, which requires ID.

  10. ID cards needed to buy telephone service

    in The Middle Kingdom - 中国

    Posted

    ID cards needed to buy telephone service

    By SHEN JINGTING ( China Daily)

    The government plans to ask people to present their ID cards when they apply for fixed-line telephone services or buy wireless Internet cards.

    The move comes after the country launched its real-name registration system for mobile phone users about three years ago.

    The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published a draft proposal asking telecom operators to collect ID information from customers buying fixed-line phones or Web cards.

    "This measure is to protect the legitimate rights of both telecom service subscribers and providers, and to safeguard the security of network information," the ministry said in the draft proposal.

    The ministry released the document on its website on Thursday and is seeking public opinions until May 15.

    In September 2010, the ministry implemented a rule asking mobile phone users to provide ID information when buying a new phone number.

    The move aimed to "curb the global scourge of spam, pornographic messages and fraud on cellular phones", the ministry's spokesman Wang Lijian said at the time.

    But the mobile phone real-name registration system didn't go as planned. Chinese customers can still buy phone numbers without showing their ID cards in some places such as newspaper stands, cellphone repair stores and consumer electronics stores.

    "We want to fully implement the real-name system, because it's good for us in marketing terms if we have more information about our customers, like their ages and professions," said Li Yun, an employee at China Telecom's Beijing branch.

    "It's quite hard for Chinese telecom carriers to effectively achieve the registration goal," said Yang Haifeng, a Beijing-based telecom industry insider, adding that they are not able to effectively supervise the millions of mobile phone stores across the country.

    Among China's 1.13 billion mobile phone owners, four out of 10 did not register their ID information, according to Chen Jinqiao, deputy chief engineer at the China Academy of Telecommunication Research. The number of China's fixed-line phone subscribers has been steadily declining in recent years as cellphones become increasingly popular.

    "It's necessary for China to implement the real-name registration system because of telecom crimes and fraud," said Hu Yanping, general manager of the Data Center of China Internet.

    "On the other hand, the real-name system will guarantee the interests of both users and telecom operators and lower transaction costs."

     

    This part I do not agree with. Seems like more spam would be created:

    ""We want to fully implement the real-name system, because it's good for us in marketing terms if we have more information about our customers, like their ages and professions," said Li Yun, an employee at China Telecom's Beijing branch."

  13. A reason why some Americans come to work in China

    in Stateside

    Posted

    I think what Fu Lai didn't explain is in China "teaching english" is looked on as foreigners who couldn't find any other work.

    This is not a US perception, but definitely a Chinese perception. (I don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings, it is just what I was told)

     

    Tsap is right some people come to China because the love their "Wimin", others because they love the country.

     

    I am employable fairly easily in US, even now, but I have discussed teaching English in China because I love the country and the people... Still my wife has told me I would be looked at as someone who could not find any other work.

     

    Doesn't mean the Chinese perception is accurate, but it IS a general perception.

     

    Fu Lai was saying that the economic challenges in USA were, at least partially, responsible for the influx of foreign workers in China. ...

     

    Yes, that is what I meant without naming jobs. Teaching English is one of course. Teachers are getting axed in the USA so much that foreign jobs are a refuge. My salary here is 3x what natives get so there is resentment among them. So the article about so many Americans giving up at home seemed a good point to show that there is another reason why we look at jobs in China, not that we are so unemployable elsewhere. To go so far for work is not so easy.

  15. A reason why some Americans come to work in China

    in Stateside

    Posted · Edited by Fu Lai (see edit history)

    This article has nothing to do with China as the title suggests. It doesn't even mention China. Please don't let this turn political.

     

    It is not political Mr. warpedbored, it was posted in "stateside" because it is about America, hence the TITLE "Discouraged Americans leave labor force." The mention in the post title has to do with this entire forum being about Chinese and America. Just letting folks know about the job situation in the USA. It has nothing to do with the politics often expressed on CFL about North Korea, Japan, South Korea, China, and other places. It is not political in the USA as it mentions no political parties. When it comes to people not being able to find a job, it is a concern for anyone here as well as anyone coming here. I hope you understand it is not politically offensive per the posted forum rules. Many Chinese think that Americans come to China for work because they are not qualified in the USA, and this speaks directly to a main reason they go to China is for available work in their field... not because they are not employable at home. They are often employable but there are no jobs.

     

    Sorry it is not rosy for Chinese to come looking for a job.

  16. A reason why some Americans come to work in China

    in Stateside

    Posted

    Don't think Americans are losers when they come to China for work... read on:

     

    WASHINGTON (AP) — After a full year of fruitless job hunting, Natasha Baebler just gave up.

     

    She'd already abandoned hope of getting work in her field, working with the disabled. But she couldn't land anything else, either — not even a job interview at a telephone call center.

     

    Until she feels confident enough to send out resumes again, she'll get by on food stamps and disability checks from Social Security and live with her parents in St. Louis.

     

    "I'm not proud of it," says Baebler, who is in her mid-30s and is blind. "The only way I'm able to sustain any semblance of self-preservation is to rely on government programs that I have no desire to be on."

     

    Baebler's frustrating experience has become all too common nearly four years after the Great Recession ended: Many Americans are still so discouraged that they've given up on the job market.

     

    Older Americans have retired early. Younger ones have enrolled in school. Others have suspended their job hunt until the employment landscape brightens. Some, like Baebler, are collecting disability checks.

     

    It isn't supposed to be this way. After a recession, an improving economy is supposed to bring people back into the job market.

     

    Instead, the number of Americans in the labor force — those who have a job or are looking for one — fell by nearly half a million people from February to March, the government said Friday. And the percentage of working-age adults in the labor force — what's called the participation rate — fell to 63.3 percent last month. It's the lowest such figure since May 1979.

     

    The falling participation rate tarnished the only apparent good news in the jobs report the Labor Department released Friday: The unemployment rate dropped to a four-year low of 7.6 percent in March from 7.7 in February.

     

    People without a job who stop looking for one are no longer counted as unemployed. That's why the U.S. unemployment rate dropped in March despite weak hiring. If the 496,000 who left the labor force last month had still been looking for jobs, the unemployment rate would have risen to 7.9 percent in March.

     

    "Unemployment dropped for all the wrong reasons," says Craig Alexander, chief economist with TD Bank Financial Group. "It dropped because more workers stopped looking for jobs. It signaled less confidence and optimism that there are jobs out there."

     

    The participation rate peaked at 67.3 percent in 2000, reflecting an influx of women into the work force. It's been falling steadily ever since.

     

    Part of the drop reflects the baby boom generation's gradual move into retirement. But such demographics aren't the whole answer.

     

    Even Americans of prime working age — 25 to 54 years old — are dropping out of the workforce. Their participation rate fell to 81.1 percent last month, tied with November for the lowest since December 1984.

     

    "It's the lack of job opportunities — the lack of demand for workers — that is keeping these workers from working or seeking work," says Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute. The Labor Department says there are still more than three unemployed people for every job opening.

     

    Cynthia Marriott gave up her job search after an interview in October for a position as a hotel concierge.

    "They never said no," she says. "They just never called me back."

     

    Her husband hasn't worked full time since 2006. She cashed out her 401(k) after being laid off from a job at a Los Angeles entertainment publicity firm in 2009. The couple owes thousands in taxes for that withdrawal. They have no health insurance.

     

    She got the maximum 99 weeks' of unemployment benefits then allowed in California and then moved to Atlanta.

     

    Now she is looking to receive federal disability benefits for a lung condition that she said leaves her weak and unable to work a full day. The application is pending a medical review.

     

    "I feel like I have no choice," says Marriott, 47. "It's just really sad and frightening"

     

    During the peak of her job search, Marriott was filling out 10 applications a day. She applied for jobs she felt overqualified for, such as those at Home Depot and Petco but never heard back. Eventually, the disappointment and fatigue got to her.

    "I just wanted a job," she says. "I couldn't really go on anymore looking for a job."

     

    Young people are leaving the job market, too. The participation rate for Americans ages 20 to 24 hit a 41-year low 69.6 percent last year before bouncing back a bit. Many young people have enrolled in community colleges and universities.

    That's one reason a record 63 percent of adults ages 25 to 29 have spent at least some time in college, according to the Pew Research Center.

     

    Older Americans are returning to school, too. Doug Damato, who lives in Asheville, N.C., lost his job as an installer at a utility company in February 2012. He stopped looking for work last fall, when he began taking classes in mechanical engineering at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.

     

    Next week, Damato, 40, will accept an academic award for earning top grades. But one obstacle has emerged: Under a recent change in state law, his unemployment benefits will now end July 1, six months earlier than he expected.

     

    He's planning to work nights, if possible, to support himself once the benefits run out. Dropping out of school is "out of the question," he said, given the time he has already put into the program.

     

    "I don't want a handout," he says. "I'm trying to better myself."

     

    Many older Americans who lost their jobs are finding refuge in Social Security's disability program. Nearly 8.9 million Americans are receiving disability checks, up 1.3 million from when the recession ended in June 2009.

     

    Natasha Baebler's journey out of the labor force and onto the disability rolls began when she lost her job serving disabled students and staff members at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., in February 2012.

     

    For six months, she sought jobs in her field, brandishing master's degrees in social education and counseling. No luck.

    Then she just started looking for anything. Still, she had no takers.

     

    "I chose to stop and take a step back for a while ... After you've seen that amount of rejection," she says, "you start thinking, 'What's going to make this time any different?' "

     

  19. No difference between death and a bland life

    in The Middle Kingdom - 中国

    Posted

    Thumbing a ride to adventure across the nation

    By Peng Yining ( China Daily)

    Li Shengbo, 24-year-old undergraduate in Beijing, stopped school for a year to hitchhike around China.

    Starting in February 2011, Li spent 10 months on the road going to almost all the major cities and the most remote corners of the country, including the snow-peaked mountains in the Tibet autonomous region, and Mohe, the northernmost county in China where the aurora borealis glows in the night sky.

    More than 200 people gave him a ride. Their vehicles ranged from a brand new black Hummer to a creaky dray pulled by a horse. In a video he took on the trip, Li was sitting in the back of a pickup truck.

    "Finally I got a ride," he shouted at the camera while a strong wind blew on his unshaved face. "It's a dung-cart! I have cow poop all over me," he laughed. "Not bad!" The road was so bumpy that his joyful face was constantly thrown out of the frame.

    Before sticking out his thumb for a ride, Li thought that if he asked 50 people for help, at least one would give him a ride.

    "I was so naive," he said. "In fact, it was common to be rejected more than 80 times in a row.

    "People laughed at you, doubted you, rejected you, or didn't even stop at all," he said. "After being turned down too many times, you started to doubt the world and feel helpless."

    His first attempt failed. He waited at a highway entrance, hailing a ride from Beijing to Tianjin. Dust and exhaust fumes made him choke. It was embarrassing to stick out his thumb: Every car roaring by was like a slap in the face.

    After two hours, the only driver who stopped said he was not going to Tianjin.

    "Finally, I gave up and took the train," he said.

    "I was so frustrated."

    As he kept trying, Li said he gradually got used to the bitter feeling of being rejected. Robberies and even murders involving hitchhikers have been reported, he said, and there is a good reason for not letting a strange man into your car.

    "Drivers are not supposed to stop for you," he said. "If anyone does, you are having a very lucky day."

    When he was finally picked up by a red truck in Tianjin, the first time ever, the driver simply said: "You look like a good fella."

    Others gave him a ride because he is a student, or because they had the same experience hitchhiking. A middle-aged motorcycle rider picked Li up saying he doesn't have the heart to watch a kid walk alone on the endless highway carrying a huge bag.

    Sitting on the back of the motorcycle, Li said it reminded him of sitting on the back of his father's motorcycle when he was a child. Another driver, who picked him up in the desert in Qinghai province, met him again after several months in Tibet, and again offered Li a ride.

    "This is the beauty of hitchhiking — you don't know what will happen the next second, just let fate lead you. And that was why I chose to do it," he said. "People always say it is too dangerous. Yes, there were some close calls, but most people were nice and generous."

    When there was not a ride, Li slowly walked toward his destination. In 10 months, Li wore out three pairs of sneakers. He once walked more than six hours before a truck stopped for him.

    While walking in the grassland in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Li was caught in a gale. Wind howled and cut his face with the pebbles it blew around, leaving red marks like whip marks. It took him more than an hour to walk two kilometers.

    "But actually it was much easier to get a ride in a fierce environment," he said. "Few people will fold their hands and see others die. They feel responsible because I would be in danger if they didn't help me."

    On his way to Mohe, a storm overwhelmed him and the only road was covered with ice. For every 10 vehicles that passed, there was at least one stopping and offering help, he said. "That was the best hitchhiking experience I ever had in my trip," said Li.

    Although Li finished his odyssey mostly by himself, he walked with other hitchhikers occasionally. Once he followed another traveler walking in the icy wind, on the edge of being overcome by the snowstorm, their fatigue and their backpacks.

    "I looked at his back. He was so thin and vulnerable, like he was about to be blown away by the wind," Li said. "Then he stopped, and slowly extended his arm toward the road and stuck out his thumb. I suddenly felt he wasn't just calling for a ride. He also gave the thumbs-up gesture to me, saying ‘Good job!'"

    "What is the difference between death and living a bland life?" he wrote in his application for school leave. "What is the point of a future if you keep living the same life day after day?"

    Li said most people dream of things they want to do, but always hesitate to take the first step.

    As a college student majoring in communication engineering, Li dreamed of getting out of his boring test-taking life, and aimed for new exciting experiences. But after he came back from his hitchhiking trip, he found the excitement of traveling had faded, as had the cynical feelings about normal life.

    "You could live a normal but meaningful life. The point is don't waste time in waiting. If you want to do something just go ahead and do it," he wrote in his book, which is going to be published in April. "The positive thinking my trip brings me, if not the excitement, will last for a long time."

    pengyining@chinadaily.com.cn

     

    I wonder if his book will be translated to English? I feel compelled to read it.

  25. Our first new house together - HELP!

    in Expats

    Posted

    The offer says they will fix and install the house, the ceilings/floors, the walls, the plumbing and heating, the kitchen and bathroom complete, the electrical and all fixtures, the balconies, the doors, etc. as long as we provide all the materials and put no furniture in it until they are done showing it. Yes, a sales gimmick so they can have a model for three months without the big costs.

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