Returning Turtles

sumdud

sumdud

Senior Member
VIP Professional
Well, it sounds like most of us "turtles" (California has stopped issuing licenses for turtle vendors....) are Cantonese/Hokien (Come to think of it, seems like there has been no major diaspora from other regions.), and pre-Mao. I can be very loud sometimes myself. China is big and I am guessing that what you are seeing is more representative of the rest of China than the Chinese communities that you live in. (Wrong wording, but you know what I mean.)
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A comment on ABCs over here: I haven't hear or talk to them about working in China, and it seems that most of them are not interested or simply never had the idea. China is just a hot place 14 hours away on a jet. Maybe once or twice for econ majors, but that's it.

bladerunner said:
Do you think they dont know?, or they just dont give a sh-t. In which case good for them.
Im not quite sure if one could qualify the above phrases as "patois" but as I am led to believe, in Singapore, they'e been trying to get rid of "Singlish" for quite a while, while many opponents think it should be preserved as being culturally unique. So why not preserve Chinglish, i think its unique as well. 10000yrs from now some archaeologist may stumble upon those signs, and they may become priceless anticquities with many Doctrate studiesalso
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The problem is, Chinglish isn't a creole of any sort and terribly incoherent. Those dimwits just just google translate their articles and in one sign you'd read "carefully slide" while in another it'll say "little heart floor slippery". If they don't give a crab, they shouldn't even bother. It's just a waste, if not creating problems rather than helping...

on a related note, Taiwan, HK, and Mainland China translates foreign items independently and thus differently.... The Taiwanese translations seem to be dominating these last couple of years and boy is it vexing to hear the change.... "vermicelli" has almost completely replaced the Chinese word for "fans". (Fan as in an admirer.)

bladerunner said:
What do you mean by bringing? ........Do you mean exporting?
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I don't know, but not exporting. It won't be long before someone learns to grow it in the hills. China has prime weather for growing avocados. China needs avocados; the only fear I have is that they become an import item to the US...


bladerunner said:
While in Beijing my wife ....... It had the option of interacting with it in about 8 other languages, other than English. there was French Italian German Russian Japanese Spanish Portuguse.
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八國聯軍?:D

bladerunner said:
They say they pay big money for translators during business meetings, so theres a job for you :Sumdud", whereever Guangzhou is.
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You do know that's the capital to the Cantonese province, right?
 
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bladerunner

bladerunner

Banned Idiot
sumdud said:
I don't know, but not exporting. It won't be long before someone learns to grow it in the hills. China has prime weather for growing avocados. China needs avocados; the only fear I have is that they become an import item to the US...
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Well you had better start to worry , as there is a NZder, up there showing and the growing of persimmons and I think a native pink pear? which hes improved the strain of.. Havent the Chinese corned the apple juice market in USA?



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You do know that's the capital to the Cantonese province, right?[
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/QUOTE]

I thought it was Canton, but somehow in the radio interview she was going on about the need to learn Mandarin. It sorta threw me off track
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sumdud

sumdud

Senior Member
VIP Professional
Hmm, persimmons..... big market in China for that. I don't know about apple juice, but I know we are getting most of our garlic from there. The recent flip-flopping of garlic prices in China is costing consumers here, but hopefully we'll then take in more from the ones grown in Gilroy.
Missed one: Pomegranate.

I thought it was Canton, but somehow in the radio interview she was going on about the need to learn Mandarin. It sorta threw me off track.
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Different government = different transcriptions/translations.
-The name Canton was used by the Brits, and with the new Chinese economy these days this term is rapidly dying. The name Cantonese is not changing, however.
-The name Kwangchou was used by the ROC when they still controlled Mainland, dead term.
-Guangzhou is now the most commonly used name for the city, partly because PRC coined this name and the city is now prospering and starting to become internationally known while this name is used.

If you want to be successful in China, learn mandarin; if you want to reach out to the local Chinese, learn Cantonese - for most cities out here.
 
bladerunner

bladerunner

Banned Idiot
sumdud said:
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The recent flip-flopping of garlic prices in China is costing consumers here, but hopefully we'll then take in more from the ones grown in Gilroy.
Missed one: Pomegranate.
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Too time consuming to eat. Chinese garlic doest really rate over here although its cheap.

By the way are you from HK or China originally?
I went out to see a friend whose family ran the original Chinese grocery store to see if he new the proper recipe to Kou Yuk. Have you heard of it? I think it was roasted belly pork , dunked in cold water, sliced, put into a bowl that had hair/seeweed in the bottom and the pork had sliced beetroot on one side and and a slice of thingly beaten egg on the other, the whole dish was then steamed. (You gotta keep in mind that many Chinese ingredients were banned in NZ so substitutes were often used


Different government = different transcriptions/translations.
-The name Canton was used by the Brits, and with the new Chinese economy these days this term is rapidly dying. The name Cantonese is not changing, however.
-The name Kwangchou was used by the ROC when they still controlled Mainland, dead term.
-Guangzhou is now the most commonly used name for the city, partly because PRC coined this name and the city is now prospering and starting to become internationally known while this name is used.
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I was gonna ask/ tell you something, about Guandong, perhaps its better done under PM because of OFF TOPIC if thats ok with you.

TE]
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sumdud

sumdud

Senior Member
VIP Professional
By the way are you from HK or China originally?
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My parents are after-Mao and I was born in Vermont.
(Here in the urban USA, most of my Chinese classmates are like that, 1st generation ABCs with after-Mao parents. As for the population of Chinese whose roots came from before the 1980s, like the 1849 Gold Rush, 1906 Earthquake, or World War 2 waves, we outnumber them many folds over so they are there, but hard to spot. Some must went bananas and into the American melting pot. Local Chinese politicians tend to be these ABCs however.)

Anyway, I am both, sort of. I am Cantonese after all. I was schooled in HK for 4 years and my grandparents are all from different regions of the province. (And if it wasn't for the British, Hong Kong would be officially part of Guangdong. We are all ethnically Cantonese anyway.) And usually to travel out of Guangdong you would go through Hong Kong, and a lot of times emigrants have family in Hong Kong.

Check the Favourite Foods Thread and let's PM before new Turtles miss S.Viking's bait.
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For the rest of you bananas :D do you have any interest or plans to work in China?
 
Z

Zhong Fei

New Member
I am Chinese filipino. My Family came here after WW1 and went back and forth From China to Philippines to Fight in WW2 to Korean War. My Grandpa from my Dad's side was the only alive after most of his Brothers and Sister gave their lives on those Wars.

My Grandpa was KMT while his Brother was Communist. He told me. How he felt and thought about that, I can never Imagine. His Last Brother was killed By a Cannon during the Korean War.

Yeah I still have Family there in China and I would sure love to Come back to the Fatherland someday. But I dont really see that happening till a long time has come by.
 
D

Dolcevita

Major
I am a American Chinese in Japan but have sinced moved to NY 3 years ago. When I retire perhaps within 5 years, I sort am debating if I want to retire in Tokyo, Southern California or perhaps Sanya Hainan. Southern California and Tokyo are both comfortable and familiar. Retiring in China is something entirely unknown to me but gets me excited.

I like the modern facilities, great services and conveniences of Tokyo as well as the weather in Southern California. I have some formal training mandarin when I was young and was somewhat fluent but I have not spoken

Have anyone been to Sanya, Hainan?
Do you have a recommendation on good place to retire in China?
 
solarz

solarz

Brigadier
Dolcevita said:
Have anyone been to Sanya, Hainan?
Do you have a recommendation on good place to retire in China?
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I've been there, and the resort areas are really gorgeous. However, the city is kind of dirty and backwards. Apparently, it gets really hot there during the summer months.

As for an ideal place to retire, I have only one place in mind: Hangzhou!

The real estate over there is really pricey though.
 
D

Dolcevita

Major
solarz said:
I've been there, and the resort areas are really gorgeous. However, the city is kind of dirty and backwards. Apparently, it gets really hot there during the summer months.

As for an ideal place to retire, I have only one place in mind: Hangzhou!

The real estate over there is really pricey though.
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Thanks. You have a good point. I will check it out. My mother-in-law has been to Hangzhou and she loves it. I also like it because it is somewhat close to and accessible by train to Shanghai. It also has it's own international airport.

As for Sanya, i have some wishful thought that it would develop into something more modern within the next 5-10 years.
 
Spartan95

Spartan95

Junior Member
Dolcevita said:
Have anyone been to Sanya, Hainan?
Do you have a recommendation on good place to retire in China?
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I went there in Nov 09 for about a week. Spent most of my time in Haikou (the provincial capital in the North of Hainan), with a day trip to Sanya (~260km drive 1 way). I had a local driver who drove me around (sort of like a dedicated cab driver/tour guide who is licensed to do so).

My observations about Hainan in general:

1. The locals are complaining about the real estate prices. Since the labelling of Hainan as China's Hawaii, affluent Chinese have been snapping up properties there for retirement, thus driving up real estate prices. My tour guide was complaining that property prices in Hainan had risen 3 fold since 2003! (may be an exaggeration, but sky rocketing property prices in Hainan itself is not surprising as there is no industrial population on the island).

2. There are serious developmental efforts going on in Hainan at the moment. During my time there, I saw the construction of a rail network that goes round the entire island. Once completed, the rail system will cut travel time between the main population centres in Hainan substantially. IIRC, it should be completed in 2012.

3. Sanya is a really nice place for a vacation. Whilst there are a lot of resorts, it is not really developed yet if compared to Hawaii. Thus, there is still a bit of a country-side feel to it at the moment. The beaches there are really nice too. I went to Ya Long Bay just outside Sanya town. From the beach, PLAN warships in their new naval base can be seen!

4. Unfortunately, the issue with Hainan (and Sanya) is the limited amount of "public beaches" available to the general public. This is because a lot of resorts "buy up" beach fronts where only their guests (and those who pay a fee) can gain access to. Thus, the public beaches tend to be rather crowded.

5. Haikou is the largest population centre in Haina. But it is currently not particularly modern. Its shopping centres are a bit old. But, there are plenty of gleaming, modern residential properties being built in a lot of places. The modernisation of the city centre is likely to take place over the next decade or so.

6. There is talk of a long term plan to build a tunnel (or bridge) linking Haikou to the main land. If actually carried out, it will probably lead to a mini-boom as the current sea link is not very convenient and is subjected to the mercy of typhoons.

7. There are native minorities in Hainan (Miao and Li tribes) who mostly reside in the southern parts of the island. Some of these minorities are actually Muslims. My tour guide was explaining that these minorities are given hugely subsidised housing by the authorities, and they are the only groups of people allowed to do pearl diving (their traditional livelihood). Thus, in a sense, they have a guaranteed source of income (which is quite lucrative). And I get the sense that my guide wasn't too happy with the privileges enjoyed by the minorities.

8. My tour guide was aware of the forcing down of the US EP-3 a few years back. He proudly highlighted the airfield where the EP-3 landed as we drove past on our way to Sanya from Haikou. Apparently, this incident was quite a huge event for Hainan as quite a lot of people were aware of it.

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As an after thought, have you ever considered retiring to Taiwan?

It is not as crowded as the big cities in China, but has a lot of modern amenities and conveniences. It is not as polluted too, the people are friendly and service standards are pretty good. Property outside greater Taipei isn't too expensive either.
 
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