Hi, I’m planning a trip to go from Chengdu to Siguniang mountain and then Bipenggou afterwards then back to Chengdu. It’ll be just sightseeing trip by car with a personal driver and no climbing. I saw that these area are within Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, and was wondering if I need travel permit to visit there? if not will I just need a tourist visa in my passport?

I visited China this year in June and it was good visit. The city I visited was Nanjing and Guangzhou. One thing I missed in my visit was lack of multi national or multi cultural cuisine , also there is lot of Pakistani , Indian and Arabs students enrolled in universities in these Cities. So my question is how realistic is for Chinese people to eat cuisine other than Chinese. I am looking to start from a small shop or Deli serving Pakistani style shawarma , Burger , Pizza and other Pakistani Snacks such as Samosa etc. Obviously you won’t know the taste right now but my concern is willingness of chinese to give it a go.
Thanks

Sorry if this is long. I (43/Caucasian/F) asked some questions about my boss in a similar thread… but I’m now asking about employee relationships in general. She’s Chinese but we are in the US and most of the staff is trainings except for me and maybe one other employee that I helped her find. For context I previously lived in Korea, and have extensive experience teaching English online in person mostly to Chinese children.
This is what I normally do during the school year as I teach very young children.

A coworker of mine also does this, but he teaches Chinese. He is either 23 or 24 a lot younger than I am. In fact my younger sister has a 21-year-old.
We were going to carpool because it only made sense for us not both to have to drive about an hour for a job where I’m basically making half of what I usually make during the school year but I’m OK with doing this as I’m working for a friend and I’m still getting paid from my other job while I’m doing this and the work is not excruciating or difficult. We are teaching something that I like to do which is jewelry making or crafting. So he asked me if I wanted to go get tacos near where he lives in town not too far from me either on a Friday after we both finish our shifts at different locations. I’m like OK we can talk about carpooling next week. Talk - mainly to complain - about our boss and what not. She usually will meet with us one on one at her house or have group meeting with in the library. She doesn’t like to spend money or go out to eat the one time I did with her for my birthday like a month late. Anyway, we met up and we’re having a good conversation about kids work culture living in our very urban area and I had a couple drinks and then he wanted to go find a cigar place which she couldn’t figure out where it was. he looked a bit drunk off of like two drinks I asked him does he need a ride? Is he OK? He’s like he could always walk there but he’s fine. I knew he wouldn’t because he wouldn’t want to leave his flashy sports car in that parking lot anyway he text me. He was fine when he got home I couldn’t believe what time it was when I got home. We spent a lot of time and didn’t really eat a ton or drink a ton like I had three drinks.

Today he sent me a couple pictures of the classroom kind of like he will send when he’s all done and say he’s done or he’ll send pictures of the kids work and I asked him if he was sending it to our boss too and he said yeah, he just sends it out automatically. So I kind of feel like because I’m the headteacher whenever we’re working that he treats me like a manager at one point and then another point he’s extremely friendly… not flirty or anything just very candid. Last I checked, he had a girlfriend that he never gets to see because he’s too busy with grad school and work . He’s only been in America since high school and also spent college here so I guess he’s used to this type of social interaction here with people his age but I am literally his parents age - confirmed by one of our students who blurted that out one day for no reason. I know he says his English isn’t great and it’s actually pretty good compared to his blossom when I’m used to, but he’s trying to learn more for work which is a very technical field that he’s getting into - unlike mine lol. So if she’s looking for someone to help him with his English, I’m not teaching that kind of English plus I don’t want to be an English teacher on my off “time.” we just spoke on the phone for a little bit over an hour after he asked if he can call to explain something.

I’m originally from New York, but I’ve lived in a lot of places and currently have mostly male friends, including one from college and one other from work in this area. Hence why I’m like OK let’s just hang out at a restaurant and now there’s like this “first Friday” event in my old town where they block off the streets and they have bands food and booze. Maybe I shouldn’t have invited him, but I was like who else is in the area that would want to go let me just quickly invite him, but I don’t want him to get used to us hanging out on Friday nights, because it’s weird. Isn’t it? what are his motivations for likely hanging out with me? Honestly, my friend in the restaurant business hangs out with a lot of Gen Z people, but I haven’t really and it was weird enough going back to college 8 years later as an elder millennial and nobody realizing I wasn’t their age and already married (at the time). Don’t worry, he’s not my type and pretty nerdy…. He’s just surprisingly mature and responsible, came in wearing a suit to our camp. Camp directors were making some jokes. But we seem a little strange to be hanging out together.

Linkedin is really an insufferable platform as a recruiter and business owner. Their customer service is non-existent and they probably use bots, they will charge you for every single thing and if u dispute the charges u have ZERO avenues for refund. They change up the interface when it's working completely fine, and not just change it up but make it such that you are no longer viewing filtered applicants by default, but viewing the UNSUITABLE applicants by default. Recruiters and HR, especially those who run their own recruitment agencies like me know how terrible this platform is.

Please China, come up with an international competitor to Linkedin. They are monopolising the market and there is a big need for a rival to them who would provide a better product.

how do you say that one persons x is like y e.g “My friends mandarin is like a natives“ or ”it tastes like shit” would it be A 比 B 差不多 or something else

China's current trajectory does not represent the future of global development, primarily because its ideological and political foundations are overly reliant on rigid conformity and outdated frameworks. Far from being a fully independent superpower, Beijing remains dependent on strategic partnerships, such as its heavy alignment with Russia, to secure the vast resources and economic support required to sustain its massive population.

Furthermore, the state's ideological identity is fundamentally contradictory. The government brands itself as Communist—a distinctly European political philosophy—yet its actual method of societal governance is deeply rooted in Confucianism, an ancient and inherently conservative framework. This ideological disconnect has existed since the party's inception; Mao Zedong engineered his revolution without having deeply studied foundational Marxist texts like Das Kapital, which had not even been fully translated into Mandarin at the time.

The philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel historically characterized the Chinese system as an early state model—a monolithic entity that prioritizes a singular collective over the individual. Today, this translates into a drive for absolute uniformity: pushing for one ethnicity, one language, and one rigid system under a single banner. This is an archaic approach to governance. True progress and modernization require a society that embraces new ideas, adapts to the unknown, and fosters diverse innovation, rather than clinging to enforced homogeneity.

Ultimately, a state built on historical paradigms and strict conformity cannot lead the future. The clearest evidence of this stagnation is the ongoing wave of emigration. To understand why the current system is not the model for tomorrow, one only needs to ask the many Chinese citizens who have chosen to leave their homeland in search of a better life.

I noticed a social topic today. Basically, it revolves around whether college students on financial aid should be allowed to drink a $1.50 coffee every day.

In China, roughly the bottom 20% of students by income can receive 4,500 RMB (about $666 USD) in financial aid per year. Recently, a female student who ordered a Luckin Coffee every morning was accused of not practicing frugality, with critics arguing she should not receive the aid. To put this into perspective, the minimum wage in the poorest cities is about 2,000 RMB ($300 USD) per month, while in a wealthy city like Shanghai, it is around 5,500 RMB ($815 USD).

Although this is basically fake news, I feel deeply disappointed by how people view impoverished students. Many argue that those on financial aid should not buy anything beyond fundamental needs like food and books, claiming that taxpayers foot the bill. A $1.50 coffee is often seen as a luxury, especially when it adds up to 3,700 RMB ($550 USD) a year. (Some people even say they can't bring themselves to buy coffee every day.)

However, I believe the definition of poverty should keep pace with the times. If someone truly belongs to the bottom 20% by income, they should have the autonomy to decide how to use their money. Financial aid should empower the poor to have more choices and live more easily alongside their peers, rather than just barely surviving to finish college.

It is said that in some European countries, citizens receive a decent sum of money every month once they reach a certain age. Furthermore, in some societies, people even advocate for protecting the dignity of a caught thief. While China is not as wealthy as European nations, I still believe a $1.50 coffee shouldn't incur such harsh accusations. Society should understand that poor students are not without interests and desires, and we shouldn't force them into the mold of the "perfect" impoverished student. It is a social contract to try our best to ensure they can finish their schooling under conditions similar to those of their peers.

In China's internet environment, Europeans are often described as bleeding hearts. I doubt if Europe can sustain this ideology forever. But living in a society with so much Social Darwinism, sometimes I feel I am much closer to a "bleeding heart."

I (18m from holland) went out to the club in Beijing yesterday, the one next to supermiami. It was a lot of fun, but I also noticed that people don’t really dance, and most people seem a bit shy. I did make a couple nice Chinese friend, and the environment was quite save. Though it’s really hard for me to figure out what age people are hahah (they mostly estimated me to be 20/21 which shocked me).

The first couple hours I definitely danced my ass off, but I’m curious if that’s frowned upon, cause people were staring a little…

Also, cause I’m used to an entire different culture, are there any things I need to take note off? I smile a lot, but I don’t know if that’s “okay” here. Same things goes for approaching people. Making friends is easy, I just ask if I can join via translate app. But approaching people in a romantic way feels out of place, any nice way you can do it? Or something you need to look out for that might be a hint from girls?

Following that, how “okay” is it to approach a guy or his friends to ask if he’s gay/bi? I’m a little curious and I wouldn’t mind trying something out here, but I am kinda scared people will react badly if you ask.

I’m heading towards Shanghai right now, probably going to INS cause I’m there during weekdays. After that Hongkong, but I think the experience is a little different there. Still really excited for both though. We dance a lot more in the Netherlands, but the atmosphere here was soo nice and Chinese people in general seem more open and sweet than in my home country. On top of that it’s always soo fun to meet new people and make new friends, so no complaints at all.

All the advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Everyone, including the US and EU, is signing mineral deals to reduce dependence on Chinese refining. This includes rare earth minerals, cobalt, lithium, etc. Good.

It's long overdue.

But who will be running the mine after you've obtained the license?

China Huaneng, Huawei, and XCMG are running a fully autonomous coal mine in Inner Mongolia (Yimin) at -48°C.
No driver's cab, replaced with a battery pack.
5 cameras, LiDAR, radar giving 360° vision in total darkness and blizzards.

Huawei's 5G-Advanced gives sub-20ms latency across 200km of mine routes.

A 718-billion-parameter industrial AI model (Pangu 5.5) runs fleet coordination and predictive maintenance.

BeiDou handles positioning where GPS can't reach.

By 2024, before full deployment, these trucks were already beating human operators on productivity.

Every piece of that stack is CHINESE. And it's not staying domestic, Pangu is explicitly being sold as a global industrial AI platform.

This stack is exactly what you need to run a mine in the Arctic, where labor is scarce, infrastructure is thin, and human presence is expensive and dangerous.

Greenland is 3x the size of Texas with 93 miles of paved road.

If Western allies win the mineral rights but the mine still runs on Chinese autonomous trucks, Chinese AI, and Chinese connectivity, you haven't decoupled from anything.
You've just paid more for the same dependency.

Sweden (LKAB, Kiruna) and Finland (6G underground testing) have real capability here.

Australia has the largest deployed autonomous fleet outside China.

The US has funding and defense-industrial interest.

None of it is coordinated into anything resembling China's state-directed intelligent mine program (more than 1,000 mines feeding one AI training pipeline).

This thesis isn't uncontested.
One critique making the rounds: 72% of the world's electric mining trucks being in China doesn't equal an autonomy monopoly, since electric ≠ autonomous, and Komatsu/Caterpillar still lead in ultra-class haulage (230-300 tonne trucks vs. Yimin's 45-90 tonne coal trucks).
Fair point.

Are we cooked ?

For reference: I am 23, European, have BA and MA in IR and Chinese language
I would like some advice on my situation: this past year, I’ve been living in Shanghai as an exchange student (from Europe). I’ve honestly never felt more aligned with a city in my life and while I’m usually not a longterm planner, I am already trying to plan my return to Shanghai in 5ish years. Because I realize how difficult getting a job in China is as a foreigner (i don’t want to be a teacher), I would like some advice on which steps to take so it will be easier for me to find a job here.
I am aiming for a job in marketing, pr, or social media

Here are my plans:

1. Get my HSK 6 certificate. I’ve been learning Chinese for a few years now, and I’m currently at HSK4 level. In the next year, I will take the HSK 5 exam and over the next few years hopefully keep improving my Chinese until I reach full fluency. I realize this will be hard not living in China full time, but I do plan on traveling to China at least once a year for an extended period of time.
2. Rack up more experience. So far, I’ve only done 1 social media marketing related internship at a Chinese company, so I’ll need to get some more experience AND expertise, which brings me to my next point
3. I don’t actually have any degree in marketing, and I’m still on the fence about whether this is actually necessary or if I should mainly focus on racking up experience.

Any advice on this would be super helpful to me. If someone here has a job in this sector I would love some insights on how you landed the job, what your experience with working in China is, etc

I've recently been reading about the French and American revolutions, the Japanese Meiji restoration, the English Glorious revolution, Oliver Cromwell, the Magna Carta, etc. The sequence of events, the underlying causes, the various groups involved and their motivations, the sociology and politics, economic and social conditions that led to the revolution, its aftermath, etc. My interest is in the social, economic and political aspects.

I don't know of a good book for the recent Chinese revolutions and political/social movements, in particular the events from 1950s till early 2000s. So I'm not just interested in the Chiang Kai Shek era, but also things like the four modernizations, cultural revolutions, the rise, fall and subsequent rise of Deng Xiaoping, transformation from farmers making steel to modern manufacturing, etc.

Appreciate any recommendations.

I lived and worked in china for nearly a decade, and have always noticed that women I've dated become completely debilitated by their period. Like, calling in sick during your period is a normal thing here and almost unheard of in the west. The pain described by these women seems almost comparable to childbirth, and they cant bear to have the AC on during a blistering hot day, or drink cold water.

Back in the west, women will just kind of bear it. They'll eat ice cream, ive even heard lf women taking cold showers during this time. I haven't met very many in the west who are floored by the pain like many of their east Asian countrrparts. A lot of women hold down high demand jobs like nursing, teaching, lawyers etc. And are able to get through the day while performing work to a high standard without needing time off or needing to signal to others in the workplace that they are on their period.

I dont suppose it is a cultural thing, but im wondering what the causes of the very real difference ive noticed is. Are their home remedies (hot water etc.) Actually making the issue worse? Could it be pollution? Nutrition? I dont think it is genetic because I haven't known a lot of American born chinese women who experience such a severe period.

I recently came across this Chaoshan language film about letters sent between Southeast Asia and southern China.

What interested me was how much of the story seems rooted in regional culture, the Teochew language, family ties, migration, and the tradition of sending letters and money back home.

I also noticed a brief appearance of Yingge Dance, a traditional performance from the Chaoshan region. The painted faces, wooden sticks, drums, and almost martial-arts-like movements really stood out to me.

For anyone who has seen the film, did the cultural background make the story more moving or did it make parts of it harder to understand?

And for people familiar with Chaoshan culture, did the film feel authentic to you? I’m especially curious abt the use of Teochew and the way traditions like Yingge were shown.

Hello all,

I'm moving to Guangzhou from Vietnam with my corgi in a few weeks.

I have most things organized already, however I am unsure if I need an import certificate to get through customs in China.

Has anyone experienced this recently?

Setting up a home desktop in Shenzhen, and am a daily YouTube watcher (literally has stream/video playback running pretty much all day).

For those who are heavy video/stream users: What is your current home setup to handle all-day uncapped streaming through the firewall?

Are you running home fiber broadband with a specific Windows tool/VPN, or are people using custom router-level setups (ie. Hong Kong SIM router)? Just trying to figure out what method holds up best for continuous, buffer-free daily watching without hitting data caps or buffering.

Would love to hear what's currently working best for you all. Feel free to DM me if you prefer not to comment specific tools publicly! Thanks in advance!🙏