Comments on: Beijing’s Olympic Building Boom

By: Rocket

Rocket — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:44:24 +0000

OK, having lived in China for six years I suggest that you take goggles and snorkel for the toilets. Keep all valuables under your shirt in front, including cell phones and cameras, get a map to guide you from where you stay to the venues you’ll be going to as you’ll be driven the long way. Write down the name and number of the taxi as soon as you get in making sure the driver sees you write it.
Carry tissues with you at all times, get all the bottled water you need from a supermarket. Don’t buy any electrical products off the street. Don’t use any of the mini bar things in your room, get them from a supermarket or 7 11.
Look behind all the big buildings in Beijing, or any city, for the real China.
Don’t give money to beggars as they are all working for a large corporation. Don’t tip any one.
Hand out your personal/business card, you can get heaps made in shops in the dirty parts of town for about 30RMB a hundred same day service,or go down 10RMB for each extra hundred, just look for shop with a copy machine and a sign “Ep”.
Bargain on everything not sold in a department store or a supermarket, start off at half price and go down as they go up, use your fingers for numbers, even in restaurants. If in doubt say,”wo boo dong” means, “I don’t don’t understand,” and smile.
Everything you bargain for say,”tie gweela,” and smile, it means “too expensive” and pretend to walk away, they’ll pull you back.
When you get angry and frustrated shout obscenities while smiling and laughing. Say, “woh busha low way, woh sher dee chew ren, nee sher dee chew ren mar?” Means I’m not a foreigner I’m a person of Earth, are you a person of Earth?” Watch for the smile and shake their hand vigorously!
To say,”Hello,” say,”Hello.” To say, “good bye” say,”Zeye jen.” To say, “thank you,” say, “Share share.” To say, “Yes,” say,”OKle,”. To say,”No thanks,” say,”boo yong,” and smile.
If you like some one buy them something or a meal, don’t give them money, ever. Say to them,”Wo she hwarn nee,” means I like you.
Tell pretty girls or women, to impress them,”Nee hen pee-ow lee ung, nee hen nee-an ching,” means you are very pretty and look very young.” Any males with them look at the male and say,”nee hen shway,” means very handsome.
When leaving some one you’ve met and want to be thankful say,”wo ren sher nee hen go shing,”means,”I’m very happy to meet you.”
Never take a single girl back to your room, go to a cheap hourly hotel and keep all you valuables in eyesight at all times, even when showering.
Only ever drink what you yourself have made or bought. If you go to a bar don’t drink your drink after you left it to go to the toilet, get a new one.
Don’t show anything valuable on your person including wedding rings, engagement rings, earings, necklaces, bangles and watches, etc. They’ll cut your hand off to get the watch/bangle, cut off your fingers to get the rings, rip off your ears to get the necklace etc. Leave all your valuables in the Front Desk Safe, not in your room, carry a photocopy of your passport with the hotel stamp on it, not the real thing.
Otherwise you’ll have good time, Beijing and Chinese people are very friendly and exttremely hospitable. One other very important thing; if any one gives you something, accept with a big smile no matter how bad it may seem to you, you can always give it to a beggar later or throw it in a bin/the trash. If you get taken to a meal, never ever ever offer to pay. If you get asked to drink and don’t want to just do a Catholic Cross on your chest, or say,”shway yee,” meaning drink as much as you care.” Or you can ask for “Soowahn nigh” which is sweet yoghurt drink. Don’t do any bottoms up as they’ll want to drink under the table and get you sick which means they like you very much; true. Projectile vomits are highly revered, and you’d get a standing ovation. Just say,”shway yee, shway yee,” and smile.
I’m sure you’ll love China. working class people are usually the best and most honest.

By: simin

simin — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 05:00:13 +0000

Thanks for your post, Miss Cellania! It’s a great consolidation of all the beautiful structures!

And greenstrawberries, I agree with you :) It’s really hard to manage such a big country and expect things to work all at once!

By: Megan

Megan — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 02:52:33 +0000

@ greenstrawberries

I live and teach at a college in rural Guangxi.
Thanks for your post.
So true!

By: Deliggit.com | The social sites' most interesting urls

Deliggit.com | The social sites' most interesting urls — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:58:52 +0000

Beijingâ��s Olympic Building Boom | Deliggit.com

\r\nWeve been reading about Chinas construction plans for years, and wondered whether

By: Sid Morrison

Sid Morrison — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:23:48 +0000

@Miss Cellania-

Yes, these structures are each huge & imposing, but so was Albert Speer’s vision for the (ahem) “Thousand Year” Reich. Among other collossal structures, his “Volkshalle” was to have a dome height of ~300 meters and would have fit 150,000 people therein. My point is that big does not necessarily = good.

Any word of Red China has adopted Speer’s Theory of Ruin Value?

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:10:38 +0000

nice

By: greenstrawberries

greenstrawberries — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:14:59 +0000

Speaking as an ex-pat in China…(I really hope they don’t start blocking this site, that would be a shame.) China has been “gearing up” to the Olympics for years now. As we’re getting closer things are more noticeable. More and more websites are being blocked (and really some with NO obvious reason whatsoever), new laws and regulations are being handed down, Skype calls to regular phones only work from 8pm- 8am (really, that one’s just annoying), plane flight costs are going up- especially for this summer, and inflation is just skyrocketing. A lot of it isn’t directly related to the Olympics, but it’s more of a cause and effect thing. Sometimes we’ll hear of something new happening and someone will go, “Oh yeah, it’s because of the Olympics.” And I live REALLY far away from Beijing. (like the other side of the country) I’m sure it’s worse the closer you get to Beijing.
Now, China has its “interesting” quirks (they do monitor the internet, and I do like my job…) but it’s not all bad. So, I do have some problems with previous posts.
Julia- while I admit that China has not always treated the minorities (non Han peoples) well (and as for T*bet, well, I won’t even go there- again, I like my job), they are starting to move in the right direction. I live in the province where they shoved all the minorities during the Cultural Revolution (part of the bad), so I see a LOT of minorities- like every day. There are struggles, but China’s not getting rid of them, in fact, they are allowed to have more than one child. (2, usually, sometimes 3) There are a lot of programs out there that help specific minorities, and while most of them are western based, the great majority of them slowly turn over the control to the local people. Most of them are from poor villages, they can’t read or write, and heaven forbid they have some kind of disability! But, change is coming, slowly but surely, education is being brought into the villages, they are learning marketable skills, etc.
It’s not perfect, China’s not perfect (what country is??) and while there’s a long way to go, they are slowly taking steps forward. (sometimes they go 2 steps back, but at least they’re trying) Lest we forget, China is 3rd world country. This is not the US, or Canada, or some European country hosting the Olympics; don’t expect the same things done in the same way. You may not agree with everything that China does, but let’s not berate the whole country because of it.
Sorry this was so long, but I thought that someone ought to stand up for China at least a little bit.

By: Television Spy

Television Spy — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 05:53:34 +0000

Beautiful but this should not distract from their horrible abuse of their citizens. China really doesn’t deserve to have the olympics, not until they ammend their policies.

By: Julia

Julia — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:24:52 +0000

I doubt they’v spruced up the dissident prisons, it isn’t like they’re taking CNN there.

And Miss Cellania, this was a great post. Also everyone should take note that China is building an ENORMOUS new embassy in Washington, right across from the Israeli embassy in Van Ness, should be something to see when it’s finished.

And come on, the Israel 1972 comment was a bit harsh.

Now for the rant: That being said, I think it’s perfectly legitimate to point out that China is trying to put a good face on its atrocious government policy for the Olympics. Just think about the environmental disasters being perpetrated by their dam projects, or their repression of free expression (including the internet, people!), their quiet destruction of non-Han Chinese cultures like the Uighur Turks of Xinjiang (western china out near the Kazakh border) who are seeing their whole way of life dissappear because they happen to sit on China’s youngest oil field and right in the way of China’s newest oil pipeline (and let’s not even go into Tibet).

This isn’t about being holier than thou. I criticize the United States for all that it has done and I don’t refer to China as “the yellow peril”. But they are an oppressive, authoritarian regime that is doing great damage to their own people, and to the environment of Asia, and while I know the Olympics are a time for brotherhood and global understanding, it would be disrespectful to the Olympic spirit to gloss over China’s repression during this time of heightened global scrutiny.

By: David

David — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:24:12 +0000

Sorry to continue this thread, but I really must respond.

Kate: Meh…ok. In the scheme of things, the last seven years under Bush don’t compare to, say, the extermination of the native American population. I stand by my comment, though. Despite the crimes of our country’s past, we’d somehow managed to build a reputation for taking the moral high ground, and had built up some currency of respect with our allies around the world. Bush has done more to reverse that trend than any president I can think of. We’ve gone from being a country that is seen in the world community as valuing freedom and morality to one that locks people up for years without charging them with a crime, that tortures our prisoners, and that preemptively attacks other countries while lying to its own people about the reasons.

In the last few thousand years of human history these acts may be insignificant. My point was that we cannot legitimately continue to criticize other countries for doing the same things that we ourselves are doing. We’ve lost the moral high ground.

This is the keystone of Bush’s legacy.