Know all about China

Discussion in 'Indians in China' started by abalakri, Nov 8, 2006.

  1. Jithiks

    Jithiks Gold IL'ite

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    Dear Padma,

    Thanks for explaining what is KTV. So have you tried singing there?

    :eek:mg:so, you store grocery in bedroom too? So, do you need to take extra care to preserve them so that they are fresh till you get to use them?

    As for jewellery, good idea to buy reasonably priced ones and wear them with your dresses..enjoy girl!

    From what you explained, the Chinese have a tradition similar to Indians..but are not able to keep it up due to modern influences. But, even in India, the situtation is more or less similar.

    Since in some colleges, they have brought in some dress codes, it prevents the students from dressing in revealing clothes. But other wise, when we go out for shopping & travelling, we do come across young girls in skimpy outfits.

    During my last trip to chennai, I was really baffled to see a big change in the dressing.
    I had decided to wear salwars atleast during my trip there..since that is only chance we get..and to be frank, i felt out of place. Most of the girls wear only in jeans,capris etc. This had become very common everywhere in India .

    As for the case about a mom filing suit against her own kids, that is really surprising !
    Why should she force the kids to live with her when they are not willing? Really a sad state of affairs. I feel sorry for the old woman.

    Interesting information provided Padma..thank you ! :wave

    Cheers
    Krithika
     
  2. Jithiks

    Jithiks Gold IL'ite

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    Dear Padma and Vidhya,

    I cannot thank you both enough for your sincere efforts to answer all my questions !
    It was an eye opener for me and makes us realise that life is not a bed of roses whenever we move to a new place.

    We need to make the necessary adjustments and learn to go with the flow.

    A few more questions..

    (a) I've heard that in China, snakes are tied and made to hang in the restaurants. Then the customers get to choose what type of snake they would like to eat, and it is cooked & fried right in front of them...Is this true?

    (b) Also, did you hear about the toy recall in USA? They have recalled many toys "Made in China" because of the high lead content ! Was there any impact or change in your cities due to these events?

    (c) What is the approximate percentage of Indians living in China? Do they live here for many years or just for short term due to job placements?
    Are foreigners allowed to make investments here, like buy properties, houses etc?

    (d) What about the medical care in your cities? Do you need medical insurance like here in US or you just pay for your medical needs whenever you make visits to the hospitals? Are they expensive or reasonable?

    (e) What will be the legal status for Indians living in China..meaning, do you still stay as Indian citizens, or are you allowed to apply for permanent residency in China?

    Looking forward to your replies...take your time girls...thanks in advance !

    Cheers
    Krithika
     
  3. Padmash

    Padmash Platinum IL'ite

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    hi Krithika...

    oh yes we store in bedroom too but it is totally safe and not spoiled for 4months at least...we have to do something.......

    As you said in india too westernised but compare to china we are far better still we remember our tradition and culture but chinese younger generation don't know anything about their tradition they are totally westernised.......

    You asked about the snakes i have heard but never seen but i have seen in malls under meat section they keep live fishes and frogs we can chose they will cut in front of you and one sea food called sea cucumber is popular and damn costly almost two thousand usd per kg........


    I am well aware of that toys issue, i think this is not correct as USA totally depends on other countries for factory produced items to avoid pollution in their country....when we heard about toys few days before china rejected few batches of meat imported from USA for its bad quality and immediately USA claimed for ban on chinese toys for the lead contents....so i think its all political issues revenge type....it was really a hot discussion and china banned importing meat from USA that time..

    There is more indian population in south china compare to north china. South china means area near Sanghai to Hong Kong...beijing is in north china....people come for short time assignments and long time too but generally people avoid coming to china for long time due to communication and food problem.. But still there are many living here for more that four five years. But i think if one is getting permanent residence status they will live here definitely but it is not very easy as the employers are not interested to do all heavy paper work and for non chinese it is not possible to do paper work on their own as everything is written in chinese not english.
    I don't have any idea of approximate indian population but in my area i hardly see any indian in months...i don't have any indian friend here.
    Regarding investment in properties and house i don't have any idea.

    Medical facilities are not so good at least in our area. We have overseas mediclaim policy from india and we used it in beijing it was good...hospital in beijing which takes care for foreigners is really good but medical bill is enough to give heart attack just for 12 days bill was twenty two thousand USD for typhoid treatment. But if you go to chnese government hospitals they avoid treating foreigners if condition is little serious , they are bold enough to say patient needs to be hospitalized but we are sorry no bed in our hospital all occupied. So, if someone is coming to china they must have contact number of international hospitals in china and the address as well.

    Legal status of indians is i think indian citizen only china government don't give citizenship to other countries...moreover there are only fourteen countries which provide their citizenship to indians and china is not one of them....i think few are able to get permanent residency certificate which is valid in that particular city where you work..moving to othewr city or country means doing all the paper work again. Generally foreigners stay here on business visa.
    I am not ware of all these well.......if i come to know i will update
     
  4. vidhya parani

    vidhya parani Senior IL'ite

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    dear padma,
    i was always under the impression that here the old people stay alone on their own accord...it is really sad to hear about that documentary incident...i guess traditions are being diluted everywhere...like you say, atleast in india we are lucky to hold on to some part of traditions still...from what you have written, looks like living in mainland is entirely different from hongkong....especially when it comes to groceries and restaurants...
     
  5. Padmash

    Padmash Platinum IL'ite

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    hi Vidhya..

    nice to see you i was thinking of you five minutes back...
    mainland china and hong kong people are different and life too is different....as far as i know...hong kong people have their own culture...
    we indians have preserved our culture and tradition well compare to other countries...india was never close for the world except for few restrictions we adapted westernization but we have our values in us ...what i think people change for sometime in this western life but finally most of them realize and try to follow their culture very soon after realization....but we really have few restrictions which are coined as tradition..
     
  6. vidhya parani

    vidhya parani Senior IL'ite

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    dear krithika,

    yes, being vegetarians ourselves, sometimes we hardly have options in eating out..in some areas where there is no indian restaurant, it is very frustrating to always eat the same only variety of pizza and garlic bread...we never eat in mcdonalds anyways after watching that movie "supersize me" have you seen it? though i love coffee from mccafe...it is much better than the starbucks here...
    i've never seen snakes being hung here...but they hang various birds stripped of skin in the front window of restaurants...and like padma says, they keep huge tanks for all sorts of live seafood...you choose one, they catch it and cut/cook in front of you...here the japanese, korean and thai cuisines are also very popular...

    that high lead content accusation is looked upon as a false one imposed on china by U.S for various political reasons...maybe the meat import ban is a reason...but any criticism on china by U.S and other developed countries is frowned upon as a cheap means of trying to pull down china's growing super power status...here the communist govt anyways doesnt give a damn to what even their own citizens think about various issues...leave alone U.S. or any foreign countries..when france and other european countries are charged for using india and bangladesh to dump their toxic scrap, there was not much outcry...so we know the dynamics of these things dont we..

    in Hk, indians make less than 5% of the total population...like i mentioned earlier, some sindhi and punjabis have permanent residence here..one has to stay here for 7 continous yrs to be eligible for application of permanent residence...eventhough my baby was born here, she has indian passport only, most of us stay here on visas...hk has a high percentage of floating population...now there is a big problem about the citizenship...people who were born in Hk when it was british colony (with indian and other non british origins) were denied british citizenship once they handed over hk back to china...so these people are fighting for resumption of their british citizenship and demand all rights in britain...they dont want to go back to countries of parents' origin, nor want to stay here in HK with a diabolic status...anyone staying here with a valid HK identity card can buy properties...a lot of indians here have bought apartments here...

    for us, DH's company provides medical insurance..the private healthcare clinics are little expensive but they accept medical cards from bupa etc..apart from that the public hospitals and health centres are really good, infact i delivered my baby in a govt hospital...believe it or not we paid money equiv. to indian rs. one thousand five hundred only for my entire delivery and 2 days stay at hospital..the way they took care of me and baby was on par with india's best private hospitals...hospital facilities are very hygienic and lovely interiors...these chinese nurses are really dedicated and sweet..no expectaions for tips or anything..they are very proud of their work.. these subsidised medical facilities are available to anyone with a HK ID card...infact the hospitals are so good, a lot of mainland ladies prefer to come here and have delivery..other than this, i registered my baby with the health centres the day after she was born..and she has a development surveilance system of regular free health checks and immunization till she is 5 years old...they monitor her physical, emotional, cognitive and learning development in every stage...even all my prenatal and post natal checkups were all for free of cost...in the public hospitals, one can get consultation from any kind of specialists at a very reasonable fee...

    legal status is indian citizens on visa...only after 7 yrs of stay we can become
     
    Last edited: May 16, 2008
  7. Jithiks

    Jithiks Gold IL'ite

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    Dear Padma and Vidhya Parani,

    From your posts about China, I believe there is a vast difference between China and Hong Kong (even though this is also under China)

    Especially the medical facilities seems to be more expensive in the place where padma resides than in Hong kong. According to Vidhya, you incurred very low payments for your delivery. This is much lower than the cost we pay in India too !!

    So Vidhya, the immunizations for your daughter is also going to be free til she turns 5? That is great..because in chennai & US, these injections are quite expensive.

    Again the legal status of Indians seem to differ in both the places. Since Padma says that the Indians are not given any legal residence status, but in Hong Kong, after 7 yrs they can apply for the residence status?

    Vidhya, so even though your baby was born there, she does not automatically become a citizen? So, that is different from US.

    Of course, Padma, we do rememeber our traditions & culture and try to inculcate that to our children too at every point..more so..when we reside abroad. But it is so unfortunate for the parents in China that they are losing their culture to modern changes.

    I am really surprised to hear that this lead content in toys is a false accusation !! This is really news to me !

    As for food, non vegetarians will not have much problem compared to vegetarians like us, especially when we don't even eat eggs ! Point duly noted !
    :wowPadma and Vidhya, both of you have answered so sincerely and elaborately..thanks and :hatsoff to both of you !

    Keep posting more info if you can think of things I've not asked here !

    Cheers
    Krithika
     
  8. skumapathy

    skumapathy Senior IL'ite

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    Hi bala.

    Interesting, i want to know more about china

    thanks
    Sasi:wave
     
  9. Padmash

    Padmash Platinum IL'ite

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    hi Krithika........

    nice to see your comments...but i would like to tell you one thing about lead content we can't be very sure...generally for shining lead is mixed but negligible amount but US accused just after china rejecting some meat imported from US otherwise toys were ok for them....china is the major producer ...due to cheaper availability of raw material, port and cheap labor it is advantage for the developed countries to establish industries here....
    Regarding vaccination in china you must know chinese name otherwise it will be difficult to get vaccination doctors hardly know any english terms....
    Vegetarians suffer most specially like us who don't eat egg.. for non-vegetarian it is a paradise but indian non vegetarians can hardly manage due to the way of cooking.....
    Hong kong is far better than mainland china...
     
    Last edited: May 17, 2008
  10. vidhya parani

    vidhya parani Senior IL'ite

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    hi krithika,
    here one of the best advantages is the public medical facilities...like you have mentioned, the delivery expenses are peanuts even compared to india...but the care is really very good..the basic immunisation schedule (hep.B, BCG, DTaP, MMR) and their booster doses are all given at the public health centres for free..apart from that, we consult private pediatricians and get more advanced vaccines like the ones for pneumococcal virus, chicken pox etc
    these are not included in the free vaccines because they are expensive...
    about vegetarian food, i forgot to mention something...there is a buddhist monastery and temple up in the hills of an island here in hongkong ...once we went there and had a vegetarian meal prepared by the monks...it was fantastic...very delicately flavoured food pure vegetarian served piping hot with some amazing chinese tea...
    when you make a trip to china, dont forget to visit one of the tea houses where the hostesses give you a demo on various kinds of traditional chinese tea...their tea is entirely different from the sweet milky chai that we normally have...they just pour some hot water in a tiny cup with a few tea leaves and have it...it is worth trying..."pu er" and "oo long" are some of the tea varieties favoured internationally...
     
    Last edited: May 18, 2008

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