Ask Imitation about 2years in China

[sushijerk]

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"they think they're with top shelf but Chinese people and myself also just laugh at them cause they're really with some trash. "

ive heard people say similar things, but i never really understood it...lots of asians say that white guys have terrible taste in asian girls...do you mean that white guys choose to pickup on girls they think are hot, but are mediocre? or that white guys end up with hoes that they think are just girls at bars?

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It's because what actual Chinese consider hot and what white ppl consider hot is pretty different. Chinese guys go for girls who are petit, very white skin, trim figure, etc... White guys tend to go for the curvier (considered chubby by our standards), less refined manner, and tanned/darker skin. Chinese guys also want girls with "white" features like large eyes, small nose, etc....while white guys tend to go for girls with really typical "chinese" features.

I guess the best way to put it is that white guys like girls that we normaly consider mediocore or "really f*cking ghetto looking" by our standards.

[MagicNinja]

Just as a sidenote to answer some questions;

1. Imitation's point of view on picking up chicks at bars is pretty irrelevent since he'd pick up anywhere since he's a mad playza. Despite this, I think even a dweeb in China can pickup because of the peacocking factor being so relevent, and because it is so easy to say cute [censored] in another language without feeling awkward (EG it's harder to walk up to a girl in a bar in your country and say 'Hey, how are you! I think you're really cute! *smile*' than it is when you're in a foreign country speaking a foreign language.

2. You seriously will not learn how to speak any useful Chinese in 6 months to a year unless you are both a) doing it at university and b) have a Chinese girlfriend. If you were INCREDIBLY self motivated / unashamed (EG you spoke broken Chinese to everyone you met and just refused to speak English even if it made your life living hell), that would probably replace having a GF. I saw a Chinese girl for about a year and studied Chinese at University for a year and a half, both in Australia, and when I went to Guangzhou, I was a total pleb with 0 communication skills, although I think the deep end approach does help.

3. There's way more drug use and clubbing than you'd expect in China; the partying reminds me a lot of what I'd seen and heard about partying in Japan, but I hadn't expected it at all in China.

4. I'm very omniverous, like hot (spicy) food, enjoy 'chinese' food at home, but hate the food in China. I don't know why. It's all based on spicy meat with rice, and some small amount of steamed green vegetables. Most people will pick out the green vegetables and eat the spiced or flavoured pork or chicken (which are the major meats eaten imo?).

My point of view is a little whack though; I've only seen a couple places and didn't spend that long there.

[Bill King]

what is the ratio of hot asians to ugly/middle of the road type?


.. i might have to take a trip

[imitation]

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- I have heard Xian is now more of a urban sprawl shanty town than it was when i visited nearly 5 years ago. Is it?


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I have not visited Xian but every city is expanding at such an incredible rate I would not be surprised if had not changed enormously.
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- I'd like to learn Mandarin whilst teaching an English course over there next year. Questions:

1) which city, if any, would you commend to someone planning on spending a year there? The city should have plenty to keep me there, but also have decent transport links to other places.


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It depends on your goals, but if you want to learn good Mandarin living in the north is a must, living in the south has really been a drain on my exposure to clean unaccented Mandarin because everyone here speaks Cantonese 90% of the time.

On the other side of things bigger cities and touristy cities in the north have a lot of young English speakers, so for example Shanghai (it's actually south) and Beijing as the two big expat cities are not great for learning Mandarin because everyones going to try and speak to you in English, ofcourse you can fight this off and still learn very good Chinese in Beijing but it would be somewhat of a problem.

My recommendations are Qingdao (home of the famous beer) which is a beautiful coastal city, it is not too far north so the weather is mostly nice, it's not too far to travel by train to Beijing or Shanghai. But it has a fairly reasonable expat community from what I hear but not suffocating.

Next bet is Dalian in the far north in line with Korea, it has a lot of Koreans which is great because Koreans party awesome and the girls are pretty, it snows in winter, but was voted Chineses most liveable city last year. Very scenic and clean air as opposed to big cities.

Dalian and Qingdao they both speak fairly standard Mandarin which is good.
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2) Do people mostly speak Cantonese in Shanghai - i.e., would i be able to learn/would it be useful to learn Mandarin if I was there?


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They speak Shanghainese in Shanghai, but Mandarin is the official language so everyone speaks it, people just speak it with an accent which is difficult for beginners to understand.
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3) what standard of english was your class before you started teaching? what age range/educational background? Do you have any tips, recollections or advice to those, like me, who wish to teach an English class in China? Any hard-earned lessons, or things which aided teaching. Isn't it tough for someone raised in a culture of ideographical language to grasp alphabetical/semantic constructs?


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Ok my teaching experience is limited to one class I taught before I decided I'd rather just play poker and study.

However most of my friends are teachers so I know about some of the pitfalls. Most important don't organise a contract before you leave your country, first choose a city you want to live, have enough money to live there for a month and get set up in a house etc, then when you arrive spend a month getting your bearings and meeting foreigners who are teaching. You will make some connections and get a feel for what is a reasonable pay. Now go out and find work. I can't advise much on pay levels because it varies alot from city to city.

Also one other thing if a foreigner is eager to help you find work in a city it is often because they take a kick back of your wage or get a teachers finders fee. I really hate the sly underhandness of this that goes on in China because they will mostly lie to your face and act like they are just helping you.

[sushijerk]

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what is the ratio of hot asians to ugly/middle of the road type?


.. i might have to take a trip

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Same as it is for white girls in America....although I would say ratio of fit girls to fat chicks will always be awesome because so few people are overweight. However if you are one of those dudes with an Asian fetish the hot chick % might be through the roof.

[imitation]

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what is the ratio of hot asians to ugly/middle of the road type?


.. i might have to take a trip

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I think a high proportion of Chinese girls are good looking, but a smaller percentage are very very good looking. In PUA speak alot of 6-8s, not many 9-10s. But the 6-8s have nicer bodies and skin than white girls so I dunno.

But style makes a huge difference, maybe more so than western girls because lets face it Asian people do all look the same so girls wild sexy clothes can really show themselves off.

[imitation]

Sup MagicNinja,

Yes what he says is right about language study, I actually think it might be worse for people who've learnt in their own country first because they get here and have such terrible accents that it's maybe hard to shake as opposed to learning fresh in China with a high level of exposure.

[tuq]

imitation,

Did any of them Chinese people apologize to you for that whole Pearl Harbor deal? That was pretty effed up if you ask me.

[Big Bend]

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imitation,

Did any of them Chinese people apologize to you for that whole Pearl Harbor deal? That was pretty effed up if you ask me.

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Um, I learned in Animal House that the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.

[RichC.]

i used to live in Japan, so a lot of what you guys are saying is true of there as well.