~Pure Relaxation~

What is the first thing you think of when someone suggests getting a massage? For those who haven’t tried a genuine massage, it probably sounds dirty, but don’t let the negative press fool you. Massage is genuinely useful and even plays a substantial role in Traditional Chinese Medicine techniques. After a long week of work on my computer or dealing with university stress, I find that a professional body massage really helps. If you play sports regularly or receive an injury, a mix of acupuncture and light massage can bring your muscles back to their healthy state much faster[*]. People with poor circulation can get blood moving again with regular medicinal massage too. My mother often reminds me of the benefit her legs received in 2008, the last time she was in China.

Choices: While in China, you can pay between $10-15 per hour for a quality, full-body massage. Aroma therapy oil is a nice option and it’s great for your skin. (Don’t shower it off immediately… the oil should stay on your body for the rest of the day or through the night.) An inexpensive leg and foot massage costs about $4 per hour (2011). Fire cupping is a great 20 minute procedure  and only costs $5. And the choices don’t end here, but these are the ones I usually get.

In the US, I’ve seen masseuses advertise services for $30-40 per half hour. It can cost more in bigger cities… Maybe this is one reason we misunderstand it, because most people choose not to spend money on it… or just equate it with prostitution. My first visit to Thailand made that assumption brutally clear for me after seeing the line-ups outside massage parlors in touristy beach towns there. But with all of these reasons to avoid massage, is there a time when it might be appropriate to get a massage in the US?

Sometimes it’s OK: Friends of mine who have had sports injuries were later told by doctors to get physical therapy. Massage seems to be acceptable at this point because it has scientifically-proven benefits; although, paying a physical therapist $75+ per hour seems pretty outrageous to me. Depending on the price you are quoted at the hospital, you may want to consider flying out to an Asian country for 1-2 week resort stay. You could even get your physical therapy treatment next to the pool sipping a Margarita. Now that’s a treatment plan worth the money!

If you have experience cutting the cost of physical therapy by travelling to the Far East, please share your story with us. Thanks!

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Gao Kao: Chinese SAT

Today I asked students in a “Listening and Speaking” course what their future career holds for them. Most of them said they would become translators and interpretors, which matches their degree title. Others said, “I don’t know…,” which many American students would probably say too. But there was a small percentage of translation majors who said, “I’d like to study biology” or “I want to be an economist.” Their preference for a different major, and future, was clear as day for them; but, unfortunately, their Gao Kao score wasn’t high enough to choose that major. Think about it: their score was high enough to enter this university, but not high enough to choose a field of study they preferred.

My first reaction was as knee-jerked as, perhaps, yours just was. How could you be smart enough to enter a university, but not good enough to join certain fields of study? Gao Kao, the Chinese SAT or A-Levels, was the single thing standing in their way. So, I probed a little more about their alternatives, since there must be a loophole somewhere…

What if you drop out this year? Couldn’t you just choose a lower-ranked university next year and begin studying the courses you prefer? They said… “it’s not that simple.” If you want to change universities in China you need a well-connected father or uncle who will get it done. Otherwise, you will have to take the Gao Kao again, and who knows the changes that will have happened to the test… Perhaps the exam will be more difficult the next year…

SAT Prep

Before we get lost, let’s dissect what “changes” in this “standardized” exam they are talking about. Every year in China the content of the national exam for higher education changes. The exam might be “easier” or more” difficult” in any given year, which I’m told leads to an adjustment in the total score possible. ALSO, every province has their own test and grading scales depending on factors such as economic prosperity. (Poorer areas are allowed to boost their students’ total Gao Kao score or make the exam “easier”.) AND according to the ranking of individual universities, their lower-limit acceptance scores change EVERY year. The result: acceptance scores  dramatically swing up or down every year, making comparisons among students from different graduating classes impossible.

Phew… That was a lot for me to digest too- but can you imagine? (No wonder suicide rates among teens increase every year around Gao Kao time.) It’s a standardized test, which changes standards across all provinces, every year.  Messy.

But this is the way things are. From a Chinese standpoint, if the test was the same every year then students would cheat. If our requisite courses contained the same information every time we taught them, the students would cheat. If we prepared the students for all the content that would be expected of them to know, they would cheat. There must be a strong presence of unknown for any exam or course to be “credible” here.

When you make things so unpredictable what are the standards? Is the SAT or A-Levels like this?

Articles leaving AL.ME:

• Visiting China – College Entrance Examination (smearedtype.com)
• Chinese Students Go Extreme for College Entry Test (newser.com)
• Nine million Chinese sit dreaded ‘exam of destiny’ (telegraph.co.uk)

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Are you in China and looking for a way to get over internet censorship which blocks you from not only social media, but also productivity tools such as Google Docs? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Just follow the next few steps and you will ALWAYS have a secure internet connection, for FREE, FOREVER!

Step 1: Go to Ninjacloak.com, which allows you to get over the wall anyway… but sadly, you can’t use all of the functions of websites requiring javascript. Most social sites and productivity tools require this, so you’re out of luck by using Ninjacloak alone.

After downloading the most recent update of FreeGate you’ll see this:

Step 4: Change the file name by hand. “Rename” the file to something like “fg.zip” which will make the file active. The icon should change to zip and then be clickable.

Step 5: Open the “fg.zip” file and drag the FreeGate executable file (ex: fg719.exe) out onto your desktop. That’s it!

You can now use the most recent FreeGate without any worry about updates being blocked down the road since you’ll ALWAYS have access to them.

You’re welcome

Your Zip file

If you found this useful, please share it with your friends!

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Green Tea To-Go

All of my guests who have visited China notice the basics: delicious food, hospital people, beautiful landscapes, questionable hygiene, and ancient customs. One aspect of Chinese culture I often get asked about is tea culture. One specific part of the tea culture has been left untouched on AL.ME for years: Green Tea To-Go! So today I finally weigh in on an ancient custom that has been born through thousands of years of medical practice and remains a cornerstone in modern Chinese culture.

“Green Tea To-Go” is what I call the green tea containers which are ubiquitous among everyday Chinese (usually men). Bus drivers, office workers, teachers, and government officials can be seen carrying this simple hot beverage container with a strainer all day long. With all the benefits of (green) tea, it isn’t hard to grasp why they are so tea-crazy.  It has also become more obvious why they are so excited all the time. (Psst, they are high on green tea!)

For some, it is an addiction. They drink it at every breakfast, with lunch, and in the afternoon; They top off the bottle with steaming hot water every chance they get. It’s not hard to understand why… hot water is available everywhere, 24/7. You can top it off at your office, in the bus station, in the markets, and even in the police station! My recent visit to a PSB in Guangzhou proved that you can keep getting your fix practically anywhere! And when you’re surrounded by it, you’ll have difficulty shaking the habit. (i.e.:Dunkin’ Donuts lovers in much of the USA know what I’m talking about…)

Throughout my years in China I have also chosen to replace most of my coffee drinking with tea. I’m a product of my environment, for better or worse. Green Tea To-Go probably does more good than harm and should be considered as a reasonable way to cut-back on other drinking habits that we might develop over time.

Get some loose tea and a portable bottle, and then try it! Tell me how it goes

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"What the...?"

China is a very exciting country to be in for many reasons. For most foreigners here, you’ve come for business or travel. But with so many possible activities to do, there remains one thing you can’t avoid: communication. Communication in modern China is probably not much different than how it was a hundred years ago, before simplified Chinese came around. Contrary to one assumption, communication hasn’t gotten any simpler. In fact, if you aren’t prepared, it can be very easy to lose your mind. That’s where the group of foreigners in China gets separated… and the ones who can’t handle it end up going home “for good”. Here is what that group should have taken into consideration.

1) Laugh your problems away: This is one of the toughest things to get used to. It’s the awkward giggle/chuckle you hear when a something goes wrong. Perhaps you gave a direct comment that surprised your secretary. Maybe a friend didn’t help you do a task correctly. Anything that takes effort could potentially be done wrong, and a laugh is a way to combat losing face. In order to combat frustration, I usually make a game out of guessing what will go wrong. When a mistake is made, or a misunderstanding occurs, I compare it with my original guess. It is a little pessimistic, but it often helps me laugh the problems away.

2) Guess what the meaning is: Excuses for not being able to attend this meeting or going on that date are easy to spot. People around the world make excuses and this is not isolated to one part of the world in particular; however, giving direct answers to questions in China rarely occurs. “Have you eaten dinner yet?” would be answered with the following: “Well, are you hungry?” The assumption is that you are asking about dinner because YOU are hungry, not because the friend might be.

When I recently tried to pay the bill for a superior’s lunch, the restaurant owner said: “He’s your leader, you don’t have to pay for him.” After I insisted, and paid the money, the owner came back to me and said, “He actually already paid for it while you were in the bathroom.” Of course, this is not true. The owner was looking for a way to make me take the money back, while saving both of our faces. This dishonesty is often considered a “lie” in the West, but it is a very common way to communicate here.

Avoiding embarrassing moments allows people to do a lot of things out here. We might consider these actions spineless, but they are just happy no one has lost face. Harmony is then restored, which is supposedly good for society as a whole.

3) Respect and Expect Respect from others. Remember your age. Know your position. And anticipate when you can get away with things by being a “foreigner.” These are all very important things to consider in somewhat military-bound societies. Countries like Korea and Japan also have hierarchical cultures that give elders the most respected position. If you have a commanding position, you will make decisions when necessary. When you are the subordinate, you should follow directions with little grumbling. Unfortunately, if you are told to do something that ends in failure, you will be blamed for it. Subordinates help cushion a superiors face when things go wrong. You can also do this when little things go wrong under your command.

4) Wait until the last minute. I know this sounds ridiculous, but it is a common behavioral trait out here. Friends and colleagues will always wait until there is only about 1 hour or less to get something done. Since “anything could change at any minute” there is really no long-term planning for things done below the municipal level or across a major corporation. Restocking, making phone calls, arranging meetings, taking flights, etc. These events are all done just before they happen and no more than 1 or 2 days in advance. Expect things to be done last minute and don’t ask WHY when they do it that way. Asking someone to explain why something is done poorly, or last-minute, will only hurt your relationship.

5) Don’t take “Yes” for an answer. One of the most important things to remember is that “Yes” is used as frivolously as a head nod. You know when someone is talking and you just nod your head to show you are listening? That happens around Asia, but verbally. They say “Yes” to show you they are listening or just to say “I hear you.” Also, as their superior, people can’t say “No” to you. They will always agree to do it, but if they really don’t want to, they will find a way to reject or ignore the task later. So, expect flakiness and set your deadlines a little earlier. That way, when someone bails out on you, the task can still get done on time.

The above are just a few ways to keep from losing your mind in China. If you have some experiences yourself, please let us know below!

And, of course, Good luck!

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