When in Rome, do as the GOOD Romans do.
Driving like a bad local driver will NOT make you less of a hazard.
Driving like a good local driver will require you to adapt a different mindset to driving. Actually the driving here is very predictable, once you learn how to predict driving gets easier. Predicting will help you stay out of harms way. Even defensive driving has a different set of rules here.
I agree Mandarin essential.
English is the business lingua franca.
Japanese, especially in China. As business links with Japan are growing and most (not all) Japanese only speak Japanese.
From a career point of view, Spanish may be the best additional language to learn. Why do I say this. Spanish is the world's third language. Most of S. America use it, and China's trade links with Latin America are growing strongly.
Also German, French, Italian, Spanish (EU) and other European business people usually already speak very good English.
But be aware, not all your kids may be linguists. One of them might be a dancer, or a computer geek with no social skills (OMG!!!!). LOL
There seem to be a lot more serious accidents in the UK, by sheer weight of numbers. Driving here IS much slower, generally, and accidents are mostly very minor with no real damage done.
The comment about don't hit the guy in front is the unwritten rule, but seems to apply. Confession time: driving here I use the mirrors a lot less, because there is so much crazy stuff going on in front of me I don't have much time to use them. Fact.
There is also a wealth of stuff in the Chinese driving test about 'the courteous driver' (chortle).
Ultimately drivers here are more inconsiderate, but that is not about the driving culture specifically. Is it?
If you are not going to be here long term, it is possible that rote learning habits will be beneficial.
Here's mu 2 cents.
The eastern model is the acquisition of knowledge, the western model is the application of knowledge.
However, unless you acquire knowledge you can't apply it. Some of this knowledge must be memorised, for example the Periodic Table in chemistry.
Why are Chinese kids so good at maths (especially calculus) and chemistry? Because of rote learning.
Why are there so much growth in liberal arts degrees, and reduction in science degrees in the west. Because many schools have dropped rote learning practices and the 'hard' subjects that require more disciplined learning, and less reasoning.
I think that if they kids who acquire good learning habits and good reasoning skills (critical thinking/critical expression), they will develop strong academic capability all round. Kids can get the former in school, and the latter at home. As a parent who takes an active interest in your kids development, I think you will hit this balance. Gawd know my parents couldn't.
I am actually amazed that I don't see more accidents. The few I have seen are only scrapes or mild fender benders.
I agree that there is no concept of the vulnerable road user here.
But, and it is a big but here, the general rule is 'don't hit the guy in front'.
I used to be a motorcycle instructor, and we used to tell trainees "If you go out with the attitude that everyone else on the road is trying to kill you, you are in a better position to be safe".
I have noticed a lot more 'black' cabs where I live. One advantage of the little guy now owning a car. They will negotiate, some are greedy just find the next one. They actually line up like a taxi rank where I live.
I agree that the problem is related to the moving away from the Paleao diet. The big shift seems to be more meat (they love high fat cuts), more oil, more noodles, and perhaps more than anything more rice.
Western fast foods, do not exist in my wife's hometown, diabetes, is a major problem there too. The people are also more active than I see in Kuming. The key change in their life has been more affluence.
The population is eating a lot more food generally than they did before. Blaming obesity on western fast food is easy, but I am not sure there is solid causality. Western fast-foods arrived arrived at the same time as more affluence.
The affluence coincided with more processed foods (a western style diet, but not fast foods, or western corporations). Perhaps it would be fairer to call this a developed countries bad diet.
In the supermarket we can see how much store space is dedicated to high fat,high sugar, snacks. These are mostly home market products. Some of the local drinks are much more prevalent than Coke, and have more sugar in them. For the supermarket it is a no brainer what to give shelf space to, as these foods all have high profit margins.
Buying oil and meat used to be a luxury. Now everyone can afford much larger portions, and more frequent consumption of both. My mother in law will admit to consuming more meat in some meals now than she used to get in a month. In the past her main source of oil was rendered animal fats, vegetable oil was store bought and rare.
I see my kids in school. Half of them have parents who understand nutrition, and the kids are consuming a Paleo diet. The other half consume a lot of high carb snacks between meals and eat huge portions of rice and oily foods at the canteen. WangLaoJi is seen as a semi-medicinal stimulant.
Or could draw a correlation between student diet and performance, but that would be unreliable as the kids on a healthy diet have parents who seem to make better choices generally. The educational attitude may also reflect the family values.
Yes, when I first came to China 10 years ago I would maybe see one morbidly obese person, usually a pre-teen, about once per month. Now I see many more daily, and I also see more morbidly obese adults. You can't blame this all on western fast food.
I will use about 5 ltr of oil per year, mostly for baking bread, and less than 1 ltr for frying food. I see a neighbor coming home from the supermarket with that much every week.
People also think Asians are skinny because they eat rice. But rice is a simple carb. Lots of rice leads to fat. Add to that all the oil and sugar.
As for sedentary life, it is a problem, but 11% of the popn. do not live a sedentary life.
A reasonable choice of lumber that has improved over time. Fancy hardwoods like walnut, and mahogany are in abundance. There are some plywood and rubber-wood boards available. There are also some kiln dried imported softwoods and merbao available. Some of the lumber is very green, so look for the kiln dried if you need stable timbers.
Echo everything said by others.
Breakfast great and the serve from 8am. Most other places say 9am and they still are not ready.
Sandwiches are cheap 22-32, and really packed full of filling. We got some sandwiches for a day out, the only mistake I made was ordering two, as this was too much. These are seriously good sangars, and they are wrapped in alu foil.
In fairness to Metro, they are a wholesalers, and not really a supermarket. Hence the need for a card, which can be got around.
They have improved in the year I have been away. They now carry a more consistent range of imported foodstuffs and they also seem to have sorted out the mported milk supply.
They have a wider range of electrical appliances now, there is a coice of more than one toast. There is also a better range of seasonal non foods, like clothes, shoes, garden furniture and camping gear.
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New taxi placards target 'civility'
Posted byI have noticed a lot more 'black' cabs where I live. One advantage of the little guy now owning a car. They will negotiate, some are greedy just find the next one. They actually line up like a taxi rank where I live.
Kunming reservoir levels rising, officials remain cautious
Posted byEnough water for 9 months.
China's diabetes rate passes 11 percent
Posted byI agree that the problem is related to the moving away from the Paleao diet. The big shift seems to be more meat (they love high fat cuts), more oil, more noodles, and perhaps more than anything more rice.
Western fast foods, do not exist in my wife's hometown, diabetes, is a major problem there too. The people are also more active than I see in Kuming. The key change in their life has been more affluence.
The population is eating a lot more food generally than they did before. Blaming obesity on western fast food is easy, but I am not sure there is solid causality. Western fast-foods arrived arrived at the same time as more affluence.
The affluence coincided with more processed foods (a western style diet, but not fast foods, or western corporations). Perhaps it would be fairer to call this a developed countries bad diet.
In the supermarket we can see how much store space is dedicated to high fat,high sugar, snacks. These are mostly home market products. Some of the local drinks are much more prevalent than Coke, and have more sugar in them. For the supermarket it is a no brainer what to give shelf space to, as these foods all have high profit margins.
Buying oil and meat used to be a luxury. Now everyone can afford much larger portions, and more frequent consumption of both. My mother in law will admit to consuming more meat in some meals now than she used to get in a month. In the past her main source of oil was rendered animal fats, vegetable oil was store bought and rare.
I see my kids in school. Half of them have parents who understand nutrition, and the kids are consuming a Paleo diet. The other half consume a lot of high carb snacks between meals and eat huge portions of rice and oily foods at the canteen. WangLaoJi is seen as a semi-medicinal stimulant.
Or could draw a correlation between student diet and performance, but that would be unreliable as the kids on a healthy diet have parents who seem to make better choices generally. The educational attitude may also reflect the family values.
China's diabetes rate passes 11 percent
Posted byYes, when I first came to China 10 years ago I would maybe see one morbidly obese person, usually a pre-teen, about once per month. Now I see many more daily, and I also see more morbidly obese adults. You can't blame this all on western fast food.
I will use about 5 ltr of oil per year, mostly for baking bread, and less than 1 ltr for frying food. I see a neighbor coming home from the supermarket with that much every week.
People also think Asians are skinny because they eat rice. But rice is a simple carb. Lots of rice leads to fat. Add to that all the oil and sugar.
As for sedentary life, it is a problem, but 11% of the popn. do not live a sedentary life.
Metro Line 1 begins passenger trial period
Posted byYankee
They were waiting until you moved to open the bit up BJ Lu.
;-)