Hi, this is Tai from the TsundereStorm blog and I will be writing in Mincius for the next few months. When the owner of this blog, Nual, moved to Canada he somehow managed to meet my parents and they helped facilitated some of the issues that he had as a foreigner in Toronto. Now is my turn, I will be living in Yantai for the next few months as part of a volunteer teaching program. I’m still in Toronto and won’t arrive in Yantai until next week, but I thought I’d like to give an introduction of myself before the pre-flight madness starts.

I’m a 20-year old Canadian-born Chinese, and I have been living here all my life. You can’t really say there isn’t any exposure to Chinese culture here since Toronto is one of the most multi-cultural cities of the world, but it obviously is not as abundant as a native-Chinese city. My parents are from Hong Kong, so I know a good amount of Cantonese, but my Mandarin department is still underdeveloped so there are definitely going to be a lot of language barriers when I arrive in mainland China. It won’t be my first time in Yantai, I actually in the same program two summers ago well before Mincius was created.

My first placement is going to be in a “Practical English” holiday camp, where I will be helping tutor high school students with oral and aural English (speaking and listening) skills. Most schools in China don’t have the resources and staffing to be able to develop good practical English skills; the focus is on literacy since it’s a lot less subjective and resource-intensive in terms of teaching and grading.

Despite my Chinese background, I still consider myself a foreigner due to the language and culture differences. So now will be my turn to experience what life is like for a foreigner in Yantai. If anyone would like to get in touch with me, leave me a comment or message me on the forums. I would love to share with you additional details about my current and previous visit to Yantai. Lots to come in the upcoming months!

The Forbidden City in the central part of Beijing is right next to Tiananmen Square. The emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties lived there. The Great Hall of the People and Mao’s mausoleum are on the square as well. You can wind your way through some impressive imperial buildings and the grounds.

Start on the south side at the main entrance to get the best experience when entering the main gates and then snaking your way through the many courtyards. You can easily catch a taxi (except when it’s raining) when you exit from the north side of the Forbidden City.

Avoid the Forbidden City ( and other Chinese tourist attractions ) on Sundays. This centrally located tourist destination can be overrun with locals, out-of-town Chinese, visiting overseas Chinese tour groups, and foreign tourists from all corners of the world.

From “Doing Business in China for Dummies”

At nearly 4,000 miles long, the Great Wall is the longest humanmade structure in the world. It has a long history, too — the Chinese began building walls on their borders more than 2,000 years ago. In some sections, you can take a gondola, ride a “toboggan”, or even zip-line down from the Great Wall.

The wall is about 45 miles due north of Beijing. For busy business-people like you, hiring a private car or mini-van and heading out to the Great Wall on your own may make a good sense. Ask your local Chinese contacts or your travel agent back home to help you make the necessary arrangements.

The vendors who hang out at the Great wall can be very annoying, and they don’t have a very good reputation. They’ve been known for keeping the change, even when you ask them for it! Just try to avoid them if you can.

Some sections of the Great Wall can be dangerous, so be careful when you’re scrambling about the steep inclines. Bring a good pair of shoes the wear (and an extra layer of clothing from fall through spring). The last thing you need is a visit to a hospital before finding yourself in a first-class seat going home, with your propped-up broken leg as your souvenir! You wouldn’t be the first person – or the last – to go home that way.

From “Doing Business in China for Dummies”

Shandong province is the source of Chinese culture and it’s also the source of Chinese alcohol. Every city has its own alcohol brand. Yantai’s ahcohol brand is called Yantai Guniang. Yantai has its own beer brand too. Although the most famous alcohol brand of Yantai is Changyu. Anyway, Chinese like to do business in the restaurant. Knowing the manners on the table would lead you to the success of your business. So what are those manners?

1. Position

The people whose seat faces the door ( 门 on the pic) usually is the one who pays the bill. In another word, the host( 主陪 on the pic). The people who faces the host is the 2nd host ( 副陪 ). Usually 副陪 is the host’s friend whose major purpose is to help host, accompany guests. The people on host’s right ( 1 on the pic ) is the most important guest on the table.  And the people on host’s left (2 on the pic) is less important. 3 on the pic is less important than 2 and 4 is the least important people. The rest of the people sit between 1 and 4 , or 2 and 3.

2. making toasts

The host will make the first toast when the first dish is served.  The host might make more toasts when more dishes are served.  After that, the second host will make his/her toasts. Then  1–>2–>3–>4. The people between 1 and 4, 2 and 3 will make their toasts after all 4 important guests are done with their toasting. The final word belongs to the host. There are no specific rules on how many toasts you can make. Just don’t mass up with sequence.

If you didn’t ink the deal during the meal, then you might want to do a Karaoke after…

To be honest, It’s easy to hook up with Chinese girls for those foreigners, especially for those people who have big nose and blue eyes. Why? Because Chinese just don’t see enough foreigners. They might easy to hook up with but they are hard to maintain(or maybe you don’t want to last long). Anyway, here are some basic rules you should be followed when you are dating Chinese girl. By the way, these rules only work for Chinese born and raised girls.

1. Pay for the dinners  you had with her in the restaurant. It might be hard for you to accept that but that’s  the way how it works. It’s not about how high her education is, it’s just simple a tradition.

2. Most of the Chinese girls are shy. So take it slowly, try to be friend first.

3. Use text message constantly.

4. They might have different purpose once they know your identity. Get use to it. Don’t worry about it. Love will solve the problem.

5. You will see a lot of virgins but don’t panic. You have the advantages. I won’t talk through it since it’s a culture issue. Just remember one thing –responsibility.

6. If you want to marry her, talk to her parents first. If her parents like you, agree on you then most likely you’ve got the marriage.

As you are in China, the most common used computer programs that you need probably are dictionary and Chinese input.  Now introducing two free programs “google Chinese input” and “ICIBA”(dictionary).

1. google Chinese input (click the blue button)

It’s simple the best Chinese input program imo. It’s easy to use, update frequently, also up-to-date vocabulary and its completely free. What can you expect more from it?

Alernative: sohu Chinese input (click the yellow button on the left)

2. Jinshan Ci Ba  – aka ICIBA (click the white button)

The famous Chinese-English English-Chinese Dictionary. Everybody knows what “Jinshan Ci Ba” is. Now it provides a free version (including all features)  Ps: it’s a web based program.

If you need an offline version, just go to a software store or ask a Chinese friend of yours.

It aslo has a cell-phone version , iphone version too but it only supports 1.0 firmware.

Alternative: ICIBA online dictionary page

google online dictionary page

Since the National Day is a 7-days holiday, it’s time to plan a long distance trip. Beijing would be the best choice.

There are a lot of famous tourism places in Beijing. No need to mention the names, right? Pictures tell you everything.

I suggest you go to a travel agency directly for details. Here is a list of some travel agencies. I wish they have English service. If not, just ask a Chinese friend of you to do the booking for you.

Name                            Tel

Xinya Travel              6680797, 6677852

Jinqiao Travel            6683089, 6289019

Zhonggang Travel     6392299

Zhonglv Travel          6217521, 7080959

Qinglv  Travel           6278999, 6268697

And i wish they pay me for advertising.

Don’t have any plans for the 7 days holiday?  Here are a few tourism places i would recommend you.  Most of them are within 2 hours drive, maybe shorter.

Liugong Island (click the name to check the website):  It’s located in Weihai, other city east of Yantai. It would take you 1 hour and a half to get there by driving. If you have a car, just get on the Yan-Wei highway, it will take you all the way there.  The ticket is 110 yuan each ( everything, included round trip to the island). Also there are tons of Korean shops around the port.

Mu Manor: It’s the largest landlord manor of northern China back to the old days.  How to get there? Just follow the Tong-san highway. It will take you about 1 hour to get there. The ticket is 30 yuan each. If you go there, don’t forget to pay a visit to Qixia Hotspring SPA as well.

Qixia Mountain Ai Hotspring SPA:   It’s the best ourdoor SPA you can ever find within Yantai. The ticket is 88 yuan each.

Weihai Animal Safari: It’s near Weihai city. The ticket is 50 yuan each.

Golden Beach:  It’s not too late to swim :) The best beach of Yantai. It’s located in ETDZ ( Economic &Technical Development Zone ) #21,22,26,27,28 buses would you take there.

Mountain South Park: A mini wonderland and zoo are included. The buses stop there are  #3,7,21,22,23,42,45,53. By the way, the zoo ticket is 30 yuan each.

Mountain Tower Wonderland: I wouldn’t recommend you do those “wonderland” things because they are like 30 years old. The mountain is great though. You can see the whole Yantai city up there. The ticket is 30 yuan each (cablecar is not included)

By the way, Penglaige is also a great tourism in Yantai. Check early post for details.

This Sunday is Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon Festival. It’s the 2nd biggest festival of China. (first is Spring Festival aslo known as Lunar Festival) What do Chinese do during the Mid-Autumn Festival?

The Mid-Autumn Festival is on the 15th day of the 8th month of Chinese Lunar Calendar. ( usually its on late-September of Gregorian Calendar) It’s a very traditional festival for the whole asia culture. Korean named it “Thanksgiving Day” on their English Calendar. You can see how important it is. So what do people do during the Mid-Autumn Festival? Firstly, it’s a perfect time to watch the moon since it is at its fullest and brightest position.  Secondly, eat mooncakes. And there are other traditions, such as carrying lit lanterns, Fire Dragon dance etc. Just remember whatever you do during that day, do it with your family. It’s a festival for families.

What did you do in your first day of yantai? I am sure you remember it :) For the newcomers, i would recommend:

First of all, banking. Yeah, first thing i would recommend you do is open a Chinese bank account. There are 4 major Chinese banks.

Bank of China: It has the largest reserve for foreign exchange .If you would do a lot of international transactions. This would be your best choice.

China Construction Bank: It has the best online banking system of this 4 banks. ( PS. It doesn’t support Firefox t.t)

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China: It has the biggest number of branches.

Agricultural Bank of China: If you live in a small town. Most likely you will see this bank first.

And there is another bank i have to mention. It’s China Merchants Bank. Because it has the best and the most used online banking system in China. If you like online shopping, China Merchants Bank is the one.

Secondly, I would recommend you getting a cellphone number. You might have your own cellphone before you came to China but make sure it’s GSM 900/1800. There are 2 (ya, only 2) mobile phone carriers in China, China Mobile and China Unicom

There are no big difference between two carriers except some tiny price differences in my opinion. Well most of the people choose China Mobile. Here i just want to point out:

Where: take a taxi then tell the driver ” wo yao qu zhong guo yi dong” (means i want to go to China mobile) and ” wo yao qu zhong guo lian tong ( means i want to go to China Unicom) LOL yeah that’s how you get there.

What to do: choose one of those monthly plan and pay for the sim card. Remember you pay it ahead of time not after you get the bill ( China doesnt have this “pay after” system) A SMS package plan would help you most since chinese love sending SMS.

So basically these are 2 things you should do as earlier as possible when you are in China ( Yantai too).