johnxiaoying

I never heard of this requirement??? I notify my credit card company and my bank (debit card) about my itinerary before I leave the US. They note in your file when you expect to leave and return. It prevents disapproval of charges. It's also a good idea to make a copy of your passport, credit cards, etc in case you need to call and cancel a card because it has been lost or stolen.

Good point Jeikun on the age gap, it is a wee bit ridiculous . Probably the same thing a VO would be thinking. Considering 45/23 is nearly the same ratio as: 98/50 78/40 59/30 29/15 19/10 What's the record here on Candle?

My two cents.........Talk to him about the travel, seeing China, the excitement of meeting up with an exotic lady in China that he really has not met yet. Work your way into telling him about the internet dating services that correspond with western men trying to find a suitable prospective husband for their clients. This happens all the time and a lot more commonly than a lot of guys want to think. These women want a better life, a decent husband and a more secure future. The outlook for a decent husband can be bleak for a number of reasons, age, children from a previous marriage. A lot of these women have little to no English abilities in the begging. Even if they have fair English skills a lot of them have little time for corresponding due to long labor hours to provide a living. These "services" are responsible for a very large number marriages and many of them are successful. Talk to the guy about red flags, visa scammers, etc. Get him pumped (perhaps there's a better choice of words!) about meeting this beautiful lady. Talk to him about thinking rationally with the head on his shoulders, to make more than one trip to get acquainted, possibly to meet more than one woman, not to hurry things and increase his chances of a successful relationship. Good luck!

With all those cool countries that are visa free makes me wonder why in the heck I spend nearly $200 for a China visa. I forgot, family there!

We paid about 1000 yuan in Guilin several years ago. Large framed picture, a couple of smaller framed photos, a photo book and a CD with about 50 photos.

You can bet there was plenty of cash swapping hands from contractors to the building inspectors. Just the way things are done in China. You'd think that the government would have gotten at least one complaint from one inspector of a construction company offering a bribe and then been on the outlook for corrupt inspectors and companies. I guess everyone is just too busy looking for their own bribe than to be looking out for someone else accepting bribes.

A Paypal debit card also works great. $1.00 transaction fee. You can transfer funds from your bank account to your Paypal account and withdrawals can be made 5 or 6 days later. Daily withdrawals are limited, seems like 2,000 yuan. Beats paying WU $14.00 plus you don't have to leave your house to transfer the funds.

There's not much in the way of conscience in China, anything to make a yuan. My sister in law sent her husband to the market to buy some pork ribs. He was sold spoiled ribs. His wife sent him back to get his money back but the vendor refused. Then the wife went to this vendor who she has done business with for many years as has her mother in law. Scolded her for trying to make a little money while make a whole family sick. The vendor finally refunded the money after the threat of telling everyone about her unethical practices. It's no wonder I have almost no appetite when in China. The restaurant may look clean but the meat, etc comes from a dirty market.

Sam's Club (AKA Walmart) was caught selling fake purses. The settlement in the law suite was not made public...........I'm sure Walmart did not know they were selling fakes..........even though their world purchasing headquarters are in Shenzhen! You can pick up all the fakes you want at the local mall in Shenzhen for $10 a pop, cheaper in quantity. In one example cited in the lawsuit, a black handbag bearing Fendi's trademark logo was offered for sale in a Sam's Club store in Miami for $508.25, 45 percent less than the retail price of $930 for a genuine Fendi bag. Let the buyer beware, at home and abroad!

It's very doubtful they'd find anything important on the Congressional computers. They might stumble upon some official corruption like campaign finance fraud, kickbacks, special deals for special folks, DC Madam contacts, love emails to pages, etc. This is enough to make any Politician worry. It's probably just the Chinese Red "Star" magazine looking for stories that will sell the paper. I doubt the military is behind it, they've got more pressing matters like helping the earthquake victims than looking for anything intelligent out of Congress.

I'm all for weighing passengers and letting them pay for their lard. Once on a Southwest flight I had an 18 year old slob who probably weighed 400 pounds seated next to me. His lard flowed over the armrest into my seating area. We don't see the really large slobs on the long flights to China.......they wouldn't be able to fit into the WC if they had to.

Some of our humor strikes the Chinese wrong, such sayings as: You're killing me. I could just die. For them death is not something to joke about.

We shipped four large boxes by China Post 3 1/2 years ago. The boxes are provided by China Post and two boxes were taped together to make one large box. I believe the weight limit was 80# for $80. They were shipped by land and by ship and took about 12 weeks to be received. If you go this route I would recommend taking some plastic lawn bags to put clothing in and the heavy tape with string running through the middle and wrap them up good. The post office will also strap the boxes. When my wifes packages arrived in the US several of them were pretty battered. Don't ship breakables this way unless they are wrapped in tons of clothing.

Speaking of delicacy.................. Our Husky got out when the electric company worker forgot to close our gate after repairs following a recent ice storm. We got her back about a week later when an elderly lady saw my ad on Craigs list. My wife was telling a friend in China about the dog missing for a week and our good luck in getting her back. Her friend was in disbelief, saying "someone missed a good chance for a big (free) family dinner".

I've been to Hong Kong (a favorite since I visited as a sailor in 1971), Shenzhen, Guangzhou (yuck), and Beijing. Most of the time I am in the Guilin area. Yangshuo is always on my list as are the Dragon Backbone Rice terraces. I'll be going in November for 5 weeks, Xiaoying is already there. I plan on spending at least one night at the terraces in Ping 'An or Dazhai, too bad the color will be gone.....best time to visit is April or September. We'll travel to Nanning, on to Beihai, a day trip to Weizhou Dao and spend a week in Hong Kong or Bangkok. Lijiang and Dali are on my list for a future trip but I'm waiting on Rogie to move in first and setup housekeeping. The train ride to Tibet would be full of great scenery, unfortuately altitude sickness cancels that, unless I could take a weeks worth of oxygen tanks with me.

My wife and I had been married 14 months at the time of her interview. While we were waiting for P3 and P4 Carl and Bing received their blue slip. I think everyone on CFL at that time panicked. When my wife had her interview she went in with the kitchen sink, about 15 pounds of notebooks with every piece of paper we had touched and a large assortment of photos with family and friends, and my passport. I had the attorney Kings contact information if needed. I had information regarding filing an open records request, where to make a video tape of us communicating if requested. The interview can't be approached as a mere formality. You'll have to jump through the consulates hoops now. Good luck on your overcome.

I agree, the freak blond with the rings in the lip and the wacky broad that had to leave the welcoming ceremony because of her religious whatevers.........hopefully they'll get Maos revenge and have to leave before they're kicked out.

For anyone whose wife will be needing a China passport made in the US there are photo requirements that are more stringent than those for a USA passport. I checked the passport photos my wife had made at Walgreens that were rejected by the China Consulate in Houston. The photos made in Oklahoma City would pass the USA passport photo requirements but the ones made at the Houston Walgreens wouldn't due to height from the top of hair to the chin. The China Consulate apparently has a higher standard for their passport photos than the US. The lady at the Consulate told my wife that she could accept her photo but that the packets are sent to New York City where they have the machine to produce the passports and she has seen packets returned because of the photos, so she actually did my wife a favor. The photographer my wife was referred to in the Houston China town pulled my wifes hair to the back of her head and placed something (old chewing gum?) behind her ears so they would stick out and be clearly visible in the photo. China has something about ears.........big ears, big nose, etc.

My wife flew to Houston today to get a new passport. Several problems came up.....don't they usually? Her Walgreens passport photos would not pass muster so she went to a Walgreens in Houston and it wouldn't pass their scrutiny either so they referred her to a shop in China town (likely a relative or friend!) which cost another $25.00 to catch a ride with a lady from Guangzhou (maybe a full time non-registered cab). They also wouldn't accept cash but required a money order. They wouldn't return my visa through the U.S. mail even though we had purchased a $16.25 overnight mailer from the post office. She had to pay an additional $30.00 so she could return at 2:30pm to pick it up. When your wives return to China for a visit be sure and have them get a new passport if they have less than 2 or 3 years remaining on it. It'll save a considerable amount of money and hassel unless you live near a Chinese Consulate.

Another biggie is someone who does not get paid for "introduction services". Some SO's hire someone to place internet ads, communicate with guys on their behalf, and lure them to China for a face to face meeting. Then, once engaged, the SO doesn't want to pay the excessive fee they agreed to.

It's safe to say that it is fast to get married and more often than not very slow, complicated and messy to get divorced.

Thanks for the heads up, Carl. You saved us a last minutes headache. We're going to China in October and the wife's passport expires tomorrow, June 4. We were in DC last November and near the embassy but we figured we'd just mail the sucker in for the renewal. Now we have to go to Houston since the China government has decided to make it difficult on their own people.

I've driven in China but not in the city center traffic. No way in hell would I risk that. The rules of driving are totally contrary to the US. Might is always right. I was in a mini van on a two lane highway outside of town and had a bus make a left turn right in front of us. The driver had to brake as hard as he could to avoid t-boning the bus. The same thing happens in the city, you also have mopeds coming off the side walk in front of you with no warning......you better avoid running them over. Don't risk ruining your trip.....take a taxi or bus.

Congratulations on completing the long journey.

I think it is safe to say that those of us who are happily married did not have these red flags.