The China Thread

[Michael]

They're just remembering the good ole days when shiny baubles could buy Manhattan.

[Michael]

What's it like living in China and raising a baby? This woman, married to an American, says she does not trust anyone else to take care of her baby, so she quit her job for at least a year in order to do it.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTswwR2Gr5Y

[Michael]

It was recently discovered that for years and years and year, a huge scam was going on where hospitals and doctors bought and sold expired vaccines and gave them to patients, and for that reason, she doesn't know whether or not to get her baby girl vaccinated. In America, people are afraid of adverse affects and nanobot mind control adjutants. In China, they just want real vaccines that haven't been sitting in a shed at 100 deg. F for a few years.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW2yt7qZk_o

[Michael]

They have chosen USA citizenship for their child so that there are better education options later on. It's not mentioned in the video, but that includes international schools inside China where you must have a foreign passport in order to enroll. For some reason, this video got a lot of downvotes.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3p_TBMgaKg

In my opinion, going to school in mainland China is worse than not going to school at all, which is from my outside perspective. However, more and more any Chinese who can afford international schools inside China, or sending their kids abroad do so, as well as there being a big increase in home schooling. Sure, most parents would that if they thought it was better for their children, but here it's kind of extreme.

[Michael]

As mentioned above, kidnapping in China is a big problem. In this vid, a 63 y.o. woman grabs boy, claims he's her grandson. Apparently she was mistaken or possibly a kidnapping scam.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgqUHIDtV-M

In most cities in China, as opposed to some backwater, and you fight with the person who is grabbing your child, you could get into a lot of problems, which is probably why the man did not kick or hit the woman, except slapping her hands away at the end. Self-defense is really weird in China.

If a foreigner gets into any physical altercation with a local, and there's not overwhelming evidence to support the foreigner (security video gets lost a lot), the local can make any complaint of injury without proof, demand almost any amount of money, $2000-$10,000 USD is common for a single punch with no injury evident, and the cops will just take your passport until you pay it. Refuse to pay? Go to jail for months, then deported, bah-bye.

[Bao]

In my opinion, going to school in mainland China is worse than not going to school at all, which is from my outside perspective.

I have no Idea what you're geting at. In China to get Jobs you need to have an education...

[Michael]

In my opinion, going to school in mainland China is worse than not going to school at all, which is from my outside perspective.

I have no Idea what you're geting at. In China to get Jobs you need to have an education...

Yes, you are correct. The social system in China requires you to get a degree in order to have the most job opportunities later and be less likely to be located so far down on the economic ladder that you need a winch to see above ground. However, more and more families with barely enough money to do so are desperate to get their children out of the Chinese education system because it causes so much damage to their children. All wealthy, powerful and/or political families send their children abroad for education. From my outside perspective, similar to that of the family in the video, who have a choice to give their baby girl a USA passport, the decision to avoid the Chinese education system is pretty easy.

The reasons to avoid include the extreme demands and pressure to be in school or doing homework that occupy the student Mon-Sat from 6/7 AM - 11 or 12 at night from the age of 6-8 y.o. until usually 18 when they enter college. Recently, students and teachers have Wechat groups and receive additional homework assignments in the evenings. The stress on the teachers to assign and grade huge amounts of homework and frequently contact their students and parents is also extreme. Industrious teachers have "optional" paid tutoring in order to ensure that students academic progress is measured at the highest possible level.

During the years prior to college, children have little or no time for recreation and play, or to learn things from their parents, such as cooking or other cultural knowledge. Their schedule also prevents adequate sleep during their developing years and many (most who expect to go to college) are put into boarding schools from age 12 upwards, where nutrition is very poor, again causing a deficiency during their developing years. These 10 or so years of crushing, mind-numbing rote memorization destroy ambition, initiative, creativity and physical vigor, as well short-term memory, obvious just a few years later if my college students and also high school students are typical examples.

After entering college, they do little for the next four years, although there is some percentage of college students doing some learning, but it is a very, very, very small percentage. College is usually four years of a greatly reduced intensity schedule from the same education system and essentially worthless for preparing one to be able to solve problems or develop skills. In fact, it seems designed to reduce both of these abilities.

A day in the high school of hell
http://www.chinahush.com/2011/02/21/a-day-in-the-high-school-of-hell/

[Bao]

All wealthy, powerful and/or political families send their children abroad for education. From my outside perspective, similar to that of the family in the video, who have a choice to give their baby girl a USA passport, the decision to avoid the Chinese education system is pretty easy.

Wealthy, powerful families do this because they want to hide their money abroad, a wealth mostly made through corruption. The decision mostly have nothing to do with thinking about their children's health.

The reasons to avoid include the extreme demands and pressure to be in school or doing homework that occupy the student Mon-Sat from 6/7 AM - 11 or 12 at night from the age of 6-8 y.o. until usually 18 when they enter college. Recently, students and teachers have Wechat groups and receive additional homework assignments in the evenings. The stress on the teachers to assign and grade huge amounts of homework and frequently contact their students and parents is also extreme. Industrious teachers have "optional" paid tutoring in order to ensure that students academic progress is measured at the highest possible level.

I don't believe that the schools or the system is always all that bad. The pressure can be tough and they don't really learn how to think by themselves. But I don't believe that it will automatically destroy all of them.

After entering college, they do little for the next four years, although there is some percentage of college students doing some learning, but it is a very, very, very small percentage. College is usually four years of a greatly reduced intensity schedule from the same education system and essentially worthless for preparing one to be able to solve problems or develop skills. In fact, it seems designed to reduce both of these abilities.

The education completely depends on what you study. There are very good schools and good education in a lot of universities and colleges.

[Michael]

I don't believe that the schools or the system is always all that bad. The pressure can be tough and they don't really learn how to think by themselves. But I don't believe that it will automatically destroy all of them.

That's right, it doesn't automatically destroy all of them. Somehow, a few do manage to slip through without massive mental blocks, but I meet a lot more quick-minded people who quit preparing for the gaokao out of a much smaller pool than those who stayed in school and were not destroyed.

[Michael]

If you wanna be an ESL teacher for Chinese students, all you need is skype and enthusiasm.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it5fb0KlUjU

[vadaga]

Ｉ'd forgotten to mention this earlier, but the term 'ang moh' 红毛 is still my favourite considering I do have a red beard...

[grzegorz]

It was recently discovered that for years and years and year, a huge scam was going on where hospitals and doctors bought and sold expired vaccines and gave them to patients, and for that reason, she doesn't know whether or not to get her baby girl vaccinated. In America, people are afraid of adverse affects and nanobot mind control adjutants. In China, they just want real vaccines that haven't been sitting in a shed at 100 deg. F for a few years.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW2yt7qZk_o

My neighbors actually moved to Oregon because of California's new vacination law. When it was being passed a lot of anti-vaccers said they'd move to Oregon. It turns out Oregon must have heard about because they have tougher laws too but my neighbor never bothered to check.

[Michael]

...but my neighbor never bothered to check.

D'oh!!

[grzegorz]

I think things worked out. In Oregon one has to take a class or watch a video before they allow an exemption based on personal beliefs. My neighbor freaked out when the new school requested the immunization records.

[grzegorz]

If a foreigner gets into any physical altercation with a local, and there's not overwhelming evidence to support the foreigner (security video gets lost a lot), the local can make any complaint of injury without proof, demand almost any amount of money, $2000-$10,000 USD is common for a single punch with no injury evident, and the cops will just take your passport until you pay it. Refuse to pay? Go to jail for months, then deported, bah-bye.

I met an English man who went to jail for getting into a car accident with a local. It was local's fault, as the story goes, but the police wanted the English man to pay for the damages and a fine. His friends told him to fight it so he did and he was arrested and spent ten days in jail. Yet the money the Shanghai police were demanding was nothing in comparison. Yes, foreigners seem to be always guilty. Best to avoid confrontations.