LETTERS

Waiting to See China Today in Full ColorI am a faithful subscriber to your magazine.In fact, I have been subscribing to it since 1984.Overall, I enjoy your publication. However, I amwondering when you are going to change to fullcolor, like most other magazines.Frankly, I was excited by your announcement in December 1999 China Today that youwere changing to full color in 2000. However, itis now August 2000 and I am still waiting forthe change. What is causing the delay?If a picture is w…     

The Spirit of Making Do

Ireally wanted to go home for Christmas in December. Even though I’ve lived abroad before, I’ve always managed to make it back to the United States in time for the holidays. This year, when my parents generously booked me a ticket just in time for New Year’s, I was grateful to be able to go back to the States at all.     

California and Love

IT was in the year 2000,whenspring was in the air,and thetrees were beginning to budthat I met Angel Zhang.One weekend,on a suddenimpulse I decided to go on anouting.I left a message on aBBS,inviting companions along,and soon received a lot of e—mails in response.One wasAngel’s.which said.“I don’tknow how to barbecue,but I     

Looking for a Job as a Foreign-Trained Student

BEFORE I went to the UK to pursue a master's degree in finance, I suffered from an illusion that is common among young Chinese and their parents. I believed it was a sure fire ticket to a job in Beijing or other big cities in China. My experience over the following years, however, taught me otherwise. Armed with two decent degrees, I was certain of a bright future in China. Then I learned to my astonishment that there would be 3,000,000 domestic graduates that year, and a further 20,000     

A New Zealand Family in Nanjing

My family and I were invited to Nanjing inorder that I be resident at the printing facility.MY wife Jane and I, and our four children Michelle, Melinda, Niki and Shane, have been living in Nanjing for close to 15 years. I made my first visit to Nanjing in 1992, when I assisted the Amity Printing Company. I felt immediately that I liked Nanjing and its people. My family and I were invited back to Nanjing in order that I be resident at the printing facility. We have been living in Nanjing since May 1993, at which time we had two children. Within two years, however, we doubled our offspring when twins Niki and Shane arrived!     

ANINDISPENSABLE PART OF LIFE

<正>A Chinese woman's experience of using WeChat overseas By Lu AnqiWhile many of my friends in China revel in the convenience that the social networking platform WeChat has brought them,Chinese living outside China like me are also grateful forthe positive changes this homegrown application has brought to our personal and professional lives.It helps families,relatives and friends stay closer,making keeping in touch simple and trouble-free.I didn't use WeChat until I came to live and work in South Africa in 2013.Before then,I didn't yet have a smartphone,though I did have Internet access.With my computers at home and work having MSN,Skype and QQ messengers,I was well linked with relatives and friends no matter where they-or I-were.When I arrived in South Africa,I bought a smart phone and WeChat was one of the first apps I downloaded.I was happy to find I could add all my QQ and phone contacts to my new WeChat account.I contacted other friends who were not yet using the app to join me.After that,every morning when I launched WeChat,I     

A foreigner in rural south China

In southern Guangdong Province, close to the South China Sea, there is a small city, Taishan, which is very close to my heart when I talk about my early days in this country. In 1992 I was sent out by my government to work in a college in Guangzhou,capital of Guangdong Province. Although I had been to China five years previously I knew very little about the country. So much was strange to me, so much was new. Also, due to infrastructure restrictions at that time, travel, a foreigner wanting to visit anywhere beyond the major     

Couplets in Chinese Culture

Culture and tradition are the soul of a country.When a country loses its culture and tradition,it is difficult for it to make progress.Chinese people protect their culture and traditions.I have learned about Chinese culture and tradition at school.It is visible everywhere in China but I did not really understand it in the beginning.Then I realized sometimes I have to experience something in order to understand it.     

Xinjiang People： A Local Photographer＇s Portfolio

I was born and brought up in Xinjiang, and my Iongtime friends often warn me, a photographer, not to take pictures in dangerous places. As a matter of fact I have received many such phone calls in recent years. Each time I finish the call, I become lost in thought. Scenes of experiences in past decades, together with those photos, materialize before my eyes. I decide I will, with my camera and my utmost good faith, continue to record the land and its people that I dearly love.     

LETTERS

First of all, I'd like to extend my thanksto you for your good magazine. I am a se-nior engineer and interpreter at a factory inBaotou. I got my degree in forging in 1988.As the factory lacked English interpreterswith technical expertise I took an Englishcourse at the Beijing Foreign Studies Uni-versity from 1997 to 1998. Since returningto work at the factory, I have acted as in-terpreter on many major projects, and havehad the opportunity to visit factories in citiesoverseas. Up to now, …     

Adhering to the Values of an Intellectual

Iwas among the first law students China given the opportunity to travel to the Soviet Union for an education. But upon returning to China,I found that I was unable to put what I had learned into practice. China＇s legal system was still barely in existence, or at least, in function prior to the openingup and reform that started in 1978. After the chaos that decades of ＂class struggle＂ caused in China ended, together with a determined group of teachers,     

LETTERS

I am an avid reader of China Today maga- zine. I read with great interest your special report on Obesity in China. As an American, obesity is nothing new to me, but I have to say I was shocked to learn of the swelling health problem in China. The perception in the West is that Chinese people, thanks to a healthy diet and penchant for exercise, are slim and f it. Obviously, as lifestyles change, waistlines do too. Still, Chinese people would do well to consider the long-term consequences o…     

Looking for a Job as a Foreign-Trained Studen

BEFORE I went to the UK to pursue a master‘s degree in finance, I suffered from an illusion that is common among young Chinese and their parents. I believed it was a sure fire ticket to a job in Beijing or other big cities in China. My experience over the following years,however, taught me otherwise.     

My Return to China

There is no doubt in my mind that I will return to China to live. This may evolve to being a 50/50 arrangement with my other home in Australia, but I will return! I am not a big believer in lists, as they seem to be the hackneyed territory of gurus and spotlight seekers, but here I am going to make an exception! These are the top 10 reasons that I will come     

A Mongolian Adventure

正Travel,as the old saying goes,broadens the mind.It’s one of the reasons I decided to come to China in the first place,some five years ago.So whenever I have the chance,I grab every opportunity I can to discover more of this amazing country.I had often thought about going up to Inner Mongolia to see what the area was like.Not for anything specific—it has just always intrigued me in an odd kind of way.Maybe the     

Pleasant Pedaling

<正>I like to ride a bicycle in Beijing. But in the last 10 years automobile traffic has increased noticeably. When I go to Hohhot to stay with friends, I’ve noticed more cars on the streets. Bicycles are no longer the prima-     

MY GATEWAYTO THE WORLD

<正>A foreigner WeChats her way into life in China By Kylee MclntyreLast August,when all my paperwork was in place and it finally became clear to me that I was going to be working in China,I spent some time sitting alone in my kitchen,staring off into space because my life seemed too surreal.That period lasted for about 10 minutes,over which I slowly devolved into a state of panic.I didn't know the first thing about living in China.I immediately sent out a mass text to everyone I knew who'd spent even a little time in China.The responses came back almost instantaneously,telling me the same thing—get WeChat.I didn't know how a social media app was supposedly going to save my life,but then again,what did I know?It felt a little redundant downloading yet another messaging app in my kitchen in the     

My Two Homes

Irecently hadto fly back to Australia to have some urgently needed surgery. I have had the surgery, and my doctor has given me the all-clear to travel internationally, and to go back to teaching again. I will return to China very soon. Now, I am writing from my study in my modest but comfortable home in Robertson, Queensland. This is a very wealthy suburb of     

LETTERS

正Now in my 60s,I am starting to think seriously about where I’m going to spend my later years.I do not personally oppose living in a nursing home when I’m too old to take care of myself.My children treat me very well and I enjoy the time we spend together.But they have lives of their own,while I have a life of my own.I don’t have the heart to expect them to look after me,as they are already occupied with     

A Non-Native Professor Teaching Native Students in the U.S.

WHEN I came to theUnited States to studyEnglish literaturetwenty years ago, itnever occurred to me that I wouldsecure a position at an Americanuniversity teaching American stu-dents advanced composition.After getting my MA in English, Itaught ESL to a group of immi-grant students at a Los Angeleshigh school. However, in thecourse of my Ph.D. I began toconsider teaching at an Americanuniversity. As a Ph.D. candidate,I was granted a teaching assist-antship, which I began by teach-ing …