It's official, Winter is here, temparatures are dropping below 0, some mild snow is expected to fall (have yet to witness), and everyone is having difficulty showing up for 8am class.
Shanghai's type of cold is Wet/Damp, Piercing Wind type of cold due to its proximity to the sea, things get alot wetter or here in comparison to more in-land cities.
I hate the cold, it is a very tough adversary in comparison to heat.
You can easily beat heat by taking a shower, putting on less/no clothes, turning up the air-conditioner or fan. Solutions to beat heat is cheap, easily accessible, convenient.
COLD on the other hand: requires: specialized winter underwear such as Long Johns/Thighs underwear, heating elements, a good PU jacket/leather jacket or trench, gloves and beanies are a MUST. Brr even two layers of socks are starting to fail. The Only PLUS side to cold is that people tend to start dressing fashionably with scarves, coats and headwear.
Tips to stay warm:
In all honesty, i sometimes think it feels warmer outside than inside (assuming there is no heating) because, 1) When you walk, your core temparature rises from physical exertion 2) you'll often be wearing more clothing which you'll often take off when you get home for convenience and mobility 3) Being at home is like being inside a fridge, cold is retained inside your home.
To stay warm outside, its important you have a big coat, a smaller coat eg. a sweater/sports jacket/cotton jackets, whatever you normally wear eg. T shirt, collared shirt,vest and then thermals.
We SE Asians tend to neglect the "coat within the coat" layer since we usually have to deal with heat (and rainrainrainrain during monsoon periods) and not cold.
The Outer Coat is the most important piece of clothing as this coat is responsible for fending off piercing winds, and the occassional shower. The most ideal material would be leather, but since everyone isn't that rich, there always is Plastic otherwise known as PVC or PU at the markets. PVC/PU is often used as an alternative to leather as it gives off the finish of a leather, is cheap and easily mass produced and it is waterproof.
Tip** I read this somewhere but the way to distinguish leather from PVC is by scratching it. The mark on leather will fade away like how it would on your skin but on PU, it'll stay there.
There is the fire thing: light a fire and place it near the leather, leather will not burn but PVC will be ruined as the fire will melt alway its sheen and coat which will leave a mark.
PVC will often look synthetic and shiny and flimsier due to their plastic nature. Though some well done PVCs will look like its leather.
PVC/PU is alot cheaper, when a price tag is too low and the seller is telling you its leather, be suspicious as it cannot possibly be leather isn't very cheap.
A nice/relatively warm leather looking PVC will cost about 300-600yuan
Essential items:
Gloves!! Get 2: one that is thin enough for manual dexterity for keys, taking stuff out wallets, grabbing small items and a big fat one for cycling as the thinner one is sometimes not enough to withstand the chilling winds.
You will also be needing the thin one for indoor use like what I am doing right now. You cannot go gloveless in your home as the chill will get to your fingers (wear socks too and get some slippers). I can't type as i normally can but thats just a small trade to keep my hands warm.
Beanie/Ear Protector
Ears are one of the more vulnerable pieces of your face, keep it warm with a beanie or ear protector which can be found for less than 10yuan at walmart!!
Get a kettle and get some water boiling! Hot drinks are a good way to keep warm as well and to keep hunger at bay when trying to maintain a diet.
Long Johns/Thermal underwear.
These things are very handy as it helps form another layer of "skin" as its tight fit nature doesn't allow for chills to sneak into your body so easily and it contains heat in the process. For Thermal underwear, I recommened HeatTech made by UNIQLO: the material is stretchy so even if its tight, it will not limit your movement too much, it dries really quickly after washing, it can serve as pajamas and its pretty cheap online!! At stores you will normally find that it costs 99yuan but online, you can get it for 25yuan!! Though the cheaper price comes at a cost as often there will be limited selections and colors to choose from.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Shanghai: An evaluation of Things
With the advent of Christmas, the New Year and the end of the semester coming closer and closer, I thought I'll share a few thoughts on what its like over here in Shanghai, China.
Learning Mandarin.
The initial phase of learning mandarin is never easy. Characters are a constant challenge to memorize, pinyin words are difficult enough to make a grown man cry; trying to distinguish the spoken tone then drives the man into bi-polar disorder, even when you think you have got the tones right, you haven't cause the 中国人 is staring blankly at you in the eye with a frown of confusion and a squint of incomprehensibility. If you mind thinks in cartoon, you'll can easily spot a huge WTF thought bubble.
DO NOT BE FOOLED MANDARIN IS NOT EASY!!
You will be angry at how characters when unrecognisable cannot be read. Frustrated at how difficult pinyin can 比如说 que, ci, chi, zi, zhi. Agitated at how slow your mind works when it comes to translating your core language to mandarin; only for the receiver to say "你说什么意思" or "听不懂" due to grammar errors from your side.
Unless you have a very cool head, or the passivity of Dalai Lama, you will get want to scream, throw your books in a tantrum-like manner, scribble huge swathes of red ink over wrongly written characters and finally declare mandarin a stupid language and that it makes "NO SENSE TO USE CHARACTERS SINCE YOU CAN NEVER REALISTICALLY MEMORIZE ALL CHARACTERS AND THAT MEMORIZING CHARACTERS IS A WASTE OF BRAIN SPACE"
Been there done that.
After that you will cool down. Focus on the books you have, read, memorize, write essays, listen to tape recordings. As 1-2 months progresses some characters like 是，要，如果，还，需要，大小，比，学，生,气，一起，不错，对，说，汉语，活，动，请
start appearing very often and new words start getting easier to memorize as a new word can sometimes be a matter of adding the words you have learnt with another,
比如：学生 = Student 大学 = University 需要 = Need 大小 = Size
It gets even better when you look at the dictionary and look for a single character like 生. Just from 生 and combining words about you can easily get 生气，学生，生活，生动
then there are radicals. for example:
请清青情
ALL OF THEM ARE QING!! They are simply prounounced differently but the context of the sentence helps you clarify which one you are using as well as the radical otherwise known as zi pang.
eg. 清 has 3 strokes in front of it, otherwise known as the water stroke. Chances are, this Character has some relation to water, and sure enough, 清白 = pure, clean and 清楚 = clear.
sometimes by understanding the word in isolation, you get to understand things better. For example, say 生出, sheng has many uses eg. ripe, raw, existence which chu is to go to (出去is to GO to a location), so if you combine, ripe/raw/existence with to go to, you'll get BORN!! This connecting the dots helps when trying to learn new words from the book without having to memorize the word as a whole.
I can recall about 50-70% of new vocabulary from my textbook for the next 1-2 hours after the teacher has gone through the text by understanding what the characters in isolation stand for.
Learning Mandarin.
The initial phase of learning mandarin is never easy. Characters are a constant challenge to memorize, pinyin words are difficult enough to make a grown man cry; trying to distinguish the spoken tone then drives the man into bi-polar disorder, even when you think you have got the tones right, you haven't cause the 中国人 is staring blankly at you in the eye with a frown of confusion and a squint of incomprehensibility. If you mind thinks in cartoon, you'll can easily spot a huge WTF thought bubble.
DO NOT BE FOOLED MANDARIN IS NOT EASY!!
You will be angry at how characters when unrecognisable cannot be read. Frustrated at how difficult pinyin can 比如说 que, ci, chi, zi, zhi. Agitated at how slow your mind works when it comes to translating your core language to mandarin; only for the receiver to say "你说什么意思" or "听不懂" due to grammar errors from your side.
Unless you have a very cool head, or the passivity of Dalai Lama, you will get want to scream, throw your books in a tantrum-like manner, scribble huge swathes of red ink over wrongly written characters and finally declare mandarin a stupid language and that it makes "NO SENSE TO USE CHARACTERS SINCE YOU CAN NEVER REALISTICALLY MEMORIZE ALL CHARACTERS AND THAT MEMORIZING CHARACTERS IS A WASTE OF BRAIN SPACE"
Been there done that.
After that you will cool down. Focus on the books you have, read, memorize, write essays, listen to tape recordings. As 1-2 months progresses some characters like 是，要，如果，还，需要，大小，比，学，生,气，一起，不错，对，说，汉语，活，动，请
start appearing very often and new words start getting easier to memorize as a new word can sometimes be a matter of adding the words you have learnt with another,
比如：学生 = Student 大学 = University 需要 = Need 大小 = Size
It gets even better when you look at the dictionary and look for a single character like 生. Just from 生 and combining words about you can easily get 生气，学生，生活，生动
then there are radicals. for example:
请清青情
ALL OF THEM ARE QING!! They are simply prounounced differently but the context of the sentence helps you clarify which one you are using as well as the radical otherwise known as zi pang.
eg. 清 has 3 strokes in front of it, otherwise known as the water stroke. Chances are, this Character has some relation to water, and sure enough, 清白 = pure, clean and 清楚 = clear.
sometimes by understanding the word in isolation, you get to understand things better. For example, say 生出, sheng has many uses eg. ripe, raw, existence which chu is to go to (出去is to GO to a location), so if you combine, ripe/raw/existence with to go to, you'll get BORN!! This connecting the dots helps when trying to learn new words from the book without having to memorize the word as a whole.
I can recall about 50-70% of new vocabulary from my textbook for the next 1-2 hours after the teacher has gone through the text by understanding what the characters in isolation stand for.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
So What UP at Hangzhou?
You can get to Hangzhou by hoping on the Fast rail train. It takes about 1 hour for the train to get there and the ticket costs 90yuan. Just remember that the train leaves from Hongqiao train station and not the Shanghai Railway station!!
If you miss it, don't worry, its not the end of the world, you could always get onto the next one within the next 2-3 hours.
From what I see and understand from television ads I see on CCTV English, Hangzhou is suppose to be an outsourcing/economic/support center due to its proximity from Shanghai. Fun fact, http://www.taobao.com/ is based in Hangzhou!
You can also get to Shanghai cheap from Hangzhou by flying Airasia there. For example, I just bought my ticket home for RMB900!! (Average is usually RMB1,500-2000)
It takes about 30-40mins to get to the train station from the airport, and another 1 hour to get to Shanghai by train. This should all cost at most** RMB250 all together.
As for touring Hangzhou,
The only interesting/highlight of Hangzhou is 西湖West Lake XiHu,
Once you are at the lake, you'll see:
Play chess and have the whole park observe your game
Sit Down and Do Nothing
Have some Cotton Candy with your Bud....
Observe People
Take kids for walks
Ride on a Boat for RMB80/hour
Check out Girls
Blow Bubbles
Observe Crazy 老外s Shooting Water into the lake
Observe 老外s buy stuff in markets
Shoot Photos of the lilies/water pads and "Pagoda"
Ride on "the Boat" (RMB45) to the middle of the Lake (get there before 4)
Rejected!
Explore the Middle of the Lake
Observe marriages
Check out the very touristy street (Qinghefang Old Street‘ 清河坊)
Buy Stuff
Have some Food at the International Food Street (Next to XiHu)
Thats what I did, but you could also check out:
Jade Emperor Hill Entry fee here is 10 rmb
Guo's Villa (郭庄)Entry fee here is 10 rmb
Linyin Temple (灵隐寺) 65 rmb
FLY TO HANGZHOU NOW!!!
www.airasia.com
If you miss it, don't worry, its not the end of the world, you could always get onto the next one within the next 2-3 hours.
From what I see and understand from television ads I see on CCTV English, Hangzhou is suppose to be an outsourcing/economic/support center due to its proximity from Shanghai. Fun fact, http://www.taobao.com/ is based in Hangzhou!
You can also get to Shanghai cheap from Hangzhou by flying Airasia there. For example, I just bought my ticket home for RMB900!! (Average is usually RMB1,500-2000)
It takes about 30-40mins to get to the train station from the airport, and another 1 hour to get to Shanghai by train. This should all cost at most** RMB250 all together.
As for touring Hangzhou,
The only interesting/highlight of Hangzhou is 西湖West Lake XiHu,
Once you are at the lake, you'll see:
Ducks, Lily Pads, Pagoda, BuBBles
Elderly Singing, Dancing, or holding Public performances
Play chess and have the whole park observe your game
Sit Down and Do Nothing
Have some Cotton Candy with your Bud....
Observe People
Take kids for walks
Ride on a Boat for RMB80/hour
Check out Girls
Blow Bubbles
Observe Crazy 老外s Shooting Water into the lake
Observe 老外s buy stuff in markets
Shoot Photos of the lilies/water pads and "Pagoda"
Ride on "the Boat" (RMB45) to the middle of the Lake (get there before 4)
Rejected!
Explore the Middle of the Lake
Observe marriages
Check out the very touristy street (Qinghefang Old Street‘ 清河坊)
Buy Stuff
Have some Food at the International Food Street (Next to XiHu)
Thats what I did, but you could also check out:
Jade Emperor Hill Entry fee here is 10 rmb
Guo's Villa (郭庄)Entry fee here is 10 rmb
Linyin Temple (灵隐寺) 65 rmb
FLY TO HANGZHOU NOW!!!
www.airasia.com
Monday, November 22, 2010
Sporting Activities At Fudan
Sports around Fudan University Campus
Wondering if you should leave your sporting equipment behind? Maybe you shouldn’t, Fudan University has plenty of sporting facilities that come in cheap and free.
One of the few items you should definitely pack in your bag is a good reliable piece of sporting equipment ranging from tennis and badminton rackets, your favorite football shoe and your Tae Kwan Do uniform/gear.
Granted you can get decent fakes for about 20% of the price of an original;
Still, nothing beats the quality of original stuff.
Remember, you often get what you paid for.
Sports related
Basketball
Probably the most popular sport in China, you’ll be wanted to bring your Nike shoes to China. I have yet to play basketball but according to a girl friend of mine, she reckons that the Chinese at University suck pretty badly at their favorite sport.
You can find plenty of basketball courts to the right of the East Gate. You’ll often find many guys playing so don’t be shy and ask if you can join in.
FREE to play!
Alternatively, you can get your own gang and play indoors at the gym close to the foreign student dorms.
Price should be about 10kuai. Gym closes at 9pm!
Ping Pong At Gym
Ping Pong Next to Tennis Court
This is probably one of the more popular sport around Fudan since the dean is a keen supporter of the ping pong team (I think he was once on the national team according to a source).
There are plenty of ping pong tables to be found in the South and North side of the campus so there will always be a spare table, just be sure not to annoy your neighbors by consistently smashing balls to their tables!
Renting a table goes for 3kuai/hour but no one really keeps count so you can actually play for as long as you want for 3kuai!
Football
The next big thing after basketball. Chinese are crazy over the EPL like the rest of Asia and it shows in their sporting channels as you’ll often run into football or basketball or some super obscure sport like bullriding or snooker/billards/snooker.
You can find many futsal courts at the southern campus. FREE
Alternatively you can go to Jiang Wan Stadium to rent your own court.
Volleyball
Lots of volleyball courts to be found next to the basketball court at the east gate, or next to the futsal courts at the south.
Unfortunately but no one plays decent enough, I can win points by serving.
If you want to get serious with volleyball over here, you have got to join a club to find decent partners.
Best to look out for clubs when the semester starts.
Tennis At South Campus
Tennis At Gym
Tennis is pretty popular in Shanghai, no doubt a side effect of being the host city of the Shanghai Rolex Masters as well as Li Na and Zheng Jie doing a decent job at the WTA tour.
Decent Tennis courts can be found at the South Campus next to the swimming pool complex. These courts aren’t exactly the best, as the nets have holes in them but it’s a whole lot better when you compare it to the one on the roof of the gym close to the foreign student dorms. Not only is it dirty, but the court is relatively small. A good server can easily ace by slicing the ball out into the boundary.
Both Courts are 10kuai, but there is a weird rule at the South Campus. Its free to play on weekdays but if you are a language student, you can only play there between the times or 12-1.30pm then there will be "tennis classes" up to 3pm. After that, the court is open only for "Fudan Undergraduate/Exchange/Postgraduate Students". You could get lucky sometimes and walk straight in but sometimes they will request for your student card to verify your student status.
JiangWan Stadium courts
If you are a serious player and is in search of good and proper tennis court, look no further than Jiangwan Stadium courts. The going rate is about 50yuan/hour and 60yuan/hour at night (lights included). However, if you go for the membership which is 200per month, you get to play for free before 5pm Monday to Friday only.
You can also rent a tennis ball machine for 80yuan/hour.
You can also find outdoor futsal and basketball courts there.
Badminton
There are 3 badminton courts in the Gym, they go about 10kuai/hour. The lines could use some love but otherwise a decent court.
Gym
There are several gyms to be found,
There is one at Jiangwang stadium which goes for about 1000yuan for 6 months.
Terra Fitness at Da Xue Lu.
And the one close to the Foreign Student Dorms.
Tae Kwan Do (Somewhere nearby)
Taekwando is held at the South Campus on Tuesday 8.15 and Sunday 8.30 and is FREE except you need to have a uniform. You could get one from them for 100yuan or simply bring your own. Truth be told, I didn’t like the Taekwando class as it gets pretty boring since all you do is get into lines and do repetitive drills like kicks and all though I’d say it’s good exercise as I had muscle aches all over for the next few days.
Wall Climbing
There is a bouldering and wall climbing facility at Hongkou stadium which is a metro ride away. Take line no. 3 at Jiangwan Town and get off at the HongKou Stadium. Walk up the stairs past a store to your left that sells outdoor gear.
Bouldering is 15kuai/hour shoes included. My only gripe with bouldering is that the rocks could use some proper labeling because to a rock climbing idiot, all I see are rocks with some strips of colored tape. There is no difficulty rating or clear indication of which way you should be climbing.
However, guy in charge is pretty pro at climbing. He’ll will teach you tips to climbing better like how you can use your hips to reach for higher rocks and how you should lean against the wall to conserve energy.
So don't leave your stuff behind, if you are serious about it, bring your stuff along!
Wondering if you should leave your sporting equipment behind? Maybe you shouldn’t, Fudan University has plenty of sporting facilities that come in cheap and free.
One of the few items you should definitely pack in your bag is a good reliable piece of sporting equipment ranging from tennis and badminton rackets, your favorite football shoe and your Tae Kwan Do uniform/gear.
Granted you can get decent fakes for about 20% of the price of an original;
Still, nothing beats the quality of original stuff.
Remember, you often get what you paid for.
Sports related
Basketball
Probably the most popular sport in China, you’ll be wanted to bring your Nike shoes to China. I have yet to play basketball but according to a girl friend of mine, she reckons that the Chinese at University suck pretty badly at their favorite sport.
You can find plenty of basketball courts to the right of the East Gate. You’ll often find many guys playing so don’t be shy and ask if you can join in.
FREE to play!
Alternatively, you can get your own gang and play indoors at the gym close to the foreign student dorms.
Price should be about 10kuai. Gym closes at 9pm!
Ping Pong At Gym
Ping Pong Next to Tennis Court
This is probably one of the more popular sport around Fudan since the dean is a keen supporter of the ping pong team (I think he was once on the national team according to a source).
There are plenty of ping pong tables to be found in the South and North side of the campus so there will always be a spare table, just be sure not to annoy your neighbors by consistently smashing balls to their tables!
Renting a table goes for 3kuai/hour but no one really keeps count so you can actually play for as long as you want for 3kuai!
Football
The next big thing after basketball. Chinese are crazy over the EPL like the rest of Asia and it shows in their sporting channels as you’ll often run into football or basketball or some super obscure sport like bullriding or snooker/billards/snooker.
You can find many futsal courts at the southern campus. FREE
Alternatively you can go to Jiang Wan Stadium to rent your own court.
Volleyball
Lots of volleyball courts to be found next to the basketball court at the east gate, or next to the futsal courts at the south.
Unfortunately but no one plays decent enough, I can win points by serving.
If you want to get serious with volleyball over here, you have got to join a club to find decent partners.
Best to look out for clubs when the semester starts.
Tennis At South Campus
Tennis At Gym
Tennis is pretty popular in Shanghai, no doubt a side effect of being the host city of the Shanghai Rolex Masters as well as Li Na and Zheng Jie doing a decent job at the WTA tour.
Decent Tennis courts can be found at the South Campus next to the swimming pool complex. These courts aren’t exactly the best, as the nets have holes in them but it’s a whole lot better when you compare it to the one on the roof of the gym close to the foreign student dorms. Not only is it dirty, but the court is relatively small. A good server can easily ace by slicing the ball out into the boundary.
Both Courts are 10kuai, but there is a weird rule at the South Campus. Its free to play on weekdays but if you are a language student, you can only play there between the times or 12-1.30pm then there will be "tennis classes" up to 3pm. After that, the court is open only for "Fudan Undergraduate/Exchange/Postgraduate Students". You could get lucky sometimes and walk straight in but sometimes they will request for your student card to verify your student status.
JiangWan Stadium courts
If you are a serious player and is in search of good and proper tennis court, look no further than Jiangwan Stadium courts. The going rate is about 50yuan/hour and 60yuan/hour at night (lights included). However, if you go for the membership which is 200per month, you get to play for free before 5pm Monday to Friday only.
You can also rent a tennis ball machine for 80yuan/hour.
You can also find outdoor futsal and basketball courts there.
Badminton
There are 3 badminton courts in the Gym, they go about 10kuai/hour. The lines could use some love but otherwise a decent court.
Gym
There are several gyms to be found,
There is one at Jiangwang stadium which goes for about 1000yuan for 6 months.
Terra Fitness at Da Xue Lu.
And the one close to the Foreign Student Dorms.
Tae Kwan Do (Somewhere nearby)
Taekwando is held at the South Campus on Tuesday 8.15 and Sunday 8.30 and is FREE except you need to have a uniform. You could get one from them for 100yuan or simply bring your own. Truth be told, I didn’t like the Taekwando class as it gets pretty boring since all you do is get into lines and do repetitive drills like kicks and all though I’d say it’s good exercise as I had muscle aches all over for the next few days.
Wall Climbing
There is a bouldering and wall climbing facility at Hongkou stadium which is a metro ride away. Take line no. 3 at Jiangwan Town and get off at the HongKou Stadium. Walk up the stairs past a store to your left that sells outdoor gear.
Bouldering is 15kuai/hour shoes included. My only gripe with bouldering is that the rocks could use some proper labeling because to a rock climbing idiot, all I see are rocks with some strips of colored tape. There is no difficulty rating or clear indication of which way you should be climbing.
However, guy in charge is pretty pro at climbing. He’ll will teach you tips to climbing better like how you can use your hips to reach for higher rocks and how you should lean against the wall to conserve energy.
So don't leave your stuff behind, if you are serious about it, bring your stuff along!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Important Web Resources!
Web resources
The internet is an amazing thing, if I could I would never leave home without it, but it is most unfortunate that my phone does not bear the capabilities of surfing the internet. Hopefully that'll change in due time (I'm looking at you Iphone 4 and whoever is ready to grant me a very Merry Christmas!!).
Here are some of webpages that have:
1) Supplied priceless information
2) Helped me significantly in improving my mandarin
3) Kept me in touch with News
4) Made my stay here unique
Learning materials:
Translating Stuff
http://www.nciku.com/
Nciku is one of my favorite language tool because You can draw the characater out!! Too many websites do not have this feature because I am guessing that it is too expensive or difficult to implement, and even if they do, the suggestions for the mess you have drawn aren't very good or is sometimes completely wrong!
The Bad Stuff
Logging into nciku can be abit of a problem sometimes, and the thing that irks me the most is I don't know if its due to China's firewall or if the site is faulty, its so bad that I couldn't even get a screenshot of the website in the process of making this post.
http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=translate
Very Handy translation tool and learning resource! This site helped me a whole bunch when negotiating with Taobao Sellers while learning during the process!
Too many translation sites like Babelfish focuses on translating text without helping you understand what the words.
On MDBG, not only do the characters get translated but they get explained as well.
Additionally, You can also learn new random characters by going to the stroke dictionary and practise by going through their flash card and quizes.
Very Recommended! 太建议！
Observe how I use mdbg to understand this Taobao Message while learning in the process.
The Bad Stuff
No real outstanding flaws,
as a matter of fact, you can download it for free! The only thing that stops its from being amazing is that it doesn't have a handwriting recognition program like nciku.
http://www.mandarintools.com/
Probably the least effective tool I have but I use it because its the simple and basic interface allows for quick translations for stray 1/2 words.
http://www.youku.com/
The Two are chinese alternatives to YouTube since Youtube is BANNED with a capital B in China for the fear Westerners would constantly publish stuff that would make any Commie party member blush. Because no the internet world would be so empty without viral videos, Tudou and Youku stepped in to fill in the void Youtube left behind.
Prime location to go if you need to watch or listen to some music videos to crank up your karaoke Skillzzz or for some crazy Fun Chinese viral video, Just got to get past the language barrier.
http://www.baidu.com/
What to download music? Head over to baidu and get some! Click on mp3, then search for the song you want. Right click and Save as and ka-boom baby, you have the song in your hard drive
Useful Information from Communities/Blogs
www.smartshanghai.com
If you are a tourist/clubber/shopping/activity person, do not look further than smartshanghai! This website is such a vital source of information to so many stuff its amazing! This beats wasting time in forums as contributors to the site would review and provide vital information to events such as cover charges, phone numbers, time of event.
www.diningsecretary.com
This website is a must have for people who are crazy over food! Not only do you get reviews for food, but they can help book tables for you! No need to call the restaurant and hassle with language difficulty to make a booking when all can be done with a few clicks!
Word of warning though, the bookings sometimes do not go through. And it is sometimes better to just call them. Better yet, go up to the restaurant and make the booking there.
Looking for apartments, 2nd hand stuff, jobs and love even? Check out Craiglists classifieds for anything you are after. You might just find it here.
Shopping
http://www.taobao.com/
Taobao is Awesome. Period.
Relatively Safe, Cheap, Huge Variety, and Fast Delivery makes Taobao a pleasure to buy stuff, from jeans, jacket to quilts and bedsheets and camera equipment.
Branded stuff like Spirit Hoods will cost a bomb, but when it comes to shopping for relatively unknown clothes, you can find alot of bargains, just be sure to read my previous post for tips and insights! You can also get started by clicking on "What's Hot" at the bottom most section of the Taobao main page.
If you need an agent, you can contact me ;)
http://www.taobaofieldguide.com/
This site is for Chinese Dummies who still wanna have a crack at Taobao. Very Useful Information!! I would have not have start using Taobao If it wasn't for this site. Do yourself a favor and go to this site for an indepth guide to using taobao.
http://www.eachnet.com/
Taobao's biggest rival Ebay owned by Eachnet. I have not used it yet, so I can't quite comment on that.
ETC Stuff
Getting Around
http://www.exploreshanghai.com/
Use ExploreShanghai to get around the City!
Free Proxy
Freegate - This Proxy allows access to Facebook, Youtube and all the other good stuff that China wishes its Commie citizens not to access for the fear of political unrest as well as to downplay the efforts of resistance movement. Alot of stuff does get censored on the internet in China, which I wouldn't really mind except when it distrupts my internet speed.
PhotoHosting
http://www.photobucket.com/
Have a blog and you want to post photos up? Use photobucket to store all your pictures! Once you have done that, all necessary HTML tags are prepared next to the photos. This helps cut down on typing up code.
I Do hope these Websites comes in handy for you as it did for me!
Come again for more updates on how to Live a Better Life in Shanghai!
Jian
The internet is an amazing thing, if I could I would never leave home without it, but it is most unfortunate that my phone does not bear the capabilities of surfing the internet. Hopefully that'll change in due time (I'm looking at you Iphone 4 and whoever is ready to grant me a very Merry Christmas!!).
Here are some of webpages that have:
1) Supplied priceless information
2) Helped me significantly in improving my mandarin
3) Kept me in touch with News
4) Made my stay here unique
Learning materials:
Translating Stuff
http://www.nciku.com/
Nciku is one of my favorite language tool because You can draw the characater out!! Too many websites do not have this feature because I am guessing that it is too expensive or difficult to implement, and even if they do, the suggestions for the mess you have drawn aren't very good or is sometimes completely wrong!
The Bad Stuff
Logging into nciku can be abit of a problem sometimes, and the thing that irks me the most is I don't know if its due to China's firewall or if the site is faulty, its so bad that I couldn't even get a screenshot of the website in the process of making this post.
http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=translate
Very Handy translation tool and learning resource! This site helped me a whole bunch when negotiating with Taobao Sellers while learning during the process!
Too many translation sites like Babelfish focuses on translating text without helping you understand what the words.
On MDBG, not only do the characters get translated but they get explained as well.
Additionally, You can also learn new random characters by going to the stroke dictionary and practise by going through their flash card and quizes.
Very Recommended! 太建议！
Observe how I use mdbg to understand this Taobao Message while learning in the process.
The Bad Stuff
No real outstanding flaws,
as a matter of fact, you can download it for free! The only thing that stops its from being amazing is that it doesn't have a handwriting recognition program like nciku.
http://www.mandarintools.com/
Probably the least effective tool I have but I use it because its the simple and basic interface allows for quick translations for stray 1/2 words.
Bad Stuff
Nciku and MDGB is alot better than this, but it can be useful for solitary words without the need for a complicated interface.
Google Translate
This is a must have tool when navigating Chinese websites!
I have explained in my previous post that google translate can easily turn a block of Chinese text into comprehensible English at a stroke of a Hand on your Webpage.
GO GET GOOGLE TRANSLATE NOW!!
http://www.google.com/
Learning
http://www.chinesepod.com/
What good is knowing a word without knowing how to use it?
well if you are stumped and unsure on how how to use a word, go to this site and type in the search function for sample sentences of a word.
In addition to receiving examples, ChinesePod has plenty of good learning material. Lessons are made in PodCasts and often topics revolve around useful situations.
Bad Stuff
Access to some materials requires payment which goes as high as $14 per month. A little bit pricey but the free material is good enough for me, so no need for me to go down that road.
http://www.cctv.com/program/learnchinese/01/index.shtml
CCTV, China's biggest television network has many programmes to learn mandarin from, so hope over to the site, and you'll easily find plenty of videos to learn from! I'm currently following Growing Up With Chinese!
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/
I used to subscribe to Shanghai Daily but I eventually stuck with China Daily because its news tends to be more international related, has a larger readership base, more relevant financial news, and they featured my photos and gave me a lovely mouse as a present. =D
Viral Videos And Music
http://www.tudou.com/
http://www.youku.com/
The Two are chinese alternatives to YouTube since Youtube is BANNED with a capital B in China for the fear Westerners would constantly publish stuff that would make any Commie party member blush. Because no the internet world would be so empty without viral videos, Tudou and Youku stepped in to fill in the void Youtube left behind.
Prime location to go if you need to watch or listen to some music videos to crank up your karaoke Skillzzz or for some crazy Fun Chinese viral video, Just got to get past the language barrier.
http://www.baidu.com/
What to download music? Head over to baidu and get some! Click on mp3, then search for the song you want. Right click and Save as and ka-boom baby, you have the song in your hard drive
Useful Information from Communities/Blogs
www.smartshanghai.com
If you are a tourist/clubber/shopping/activity person, do not look further than smartshanghai! This website is such a vital source of information to so many stuff its amazing! This beats wasting time in forums as contributors to the site would review and provide vital information to events such as cover charges, phone numbers, time of event.
www.diningsecretary.com
This website is a must have for people who are crazy over food! Not only do you get reviews for food, but they can help book tables for you! No need to call the restaurant and hassle with language difficulty to make a booking when all can be done with a few clicks!
Word of warning though, the bookings sometimes do not go through. And it is sometimes better to just call them. Better yet, go up to the restaurant and make the booking there.
The Author is a guy named Mike from America who decided to make a change in his life by moving to Shanghai after deciding that he wanted something different in life.
Mike offers some pretty good information eg. a list of prices at the fake markets, how to get an internship in Shanghai, how to get started living in Shanghai.
Good read, the list of prices of the fake market alone makes it a must go to site for all Shanghai bound travellers!
http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/
The Lord Almighty Google failed you? Thats all right, when that happens, hop over to ShanghaiExpat and simply ask your question. Most users are not trolls with no life and would more often than not politely answer your question. Even if you run into a few trolls, don't take it personal and simply ignore them. Your frustration simply adds to their joy and purpose in life.
This site is also a good way to start a friendship base as events such as pub crawls and etc are often organized!
Looking for apartments, 2nd hand stuff, jobs and love even? Check out Craiglists classifieds for anything you are after. You might just find it here.
Shopping
http://www.taobao.com/
Taobao is Awesome. Period.
Relatively Safe, Cheap, Huge Variety, and Fast Delivery makes Taobao a pleasure to buy stuff, from jeans, jacket to quilts and bedsheets and camera equipment.
Branded stuff like Spirit Hoods will cost a bomb, but when it comes to shopping for relatively unknown clothes, you can find alot of bargains, just be sure to read my previous post for tips and insights! You can also get started by clicking on "What's Hot" at the bottom most section of the Taobao main page.
If you need an agent, you can contact me ;)
http://www.taobaofieldguide.com/
This site is for Chinese Dummies who still wanna have a crack at Taobao. Very Useful Information!! I would have not have start using Taobao If it wasn't for this site. Do yourself a favor and go to this site for an indepth guide to using taobao.
http://www.eachnet.com/
Taobao's biggest rival Ebay owned by Eachnet. I have not used it yet, so I can't quite comment on that.
ETC Stuff
Getting Around
http://www.exploreshanghai.com/
Use ExploreShanghai to get around the City!
Free Proxy
Freegate - This Proxy allows access to Facebook, Youtube and all the other good stuff that China wishes its Commie citizens not to access for the fear of political unrest as well as to downplay the efforts of resistance movement. Alot of stuff does get censored on the internet in China, which I wouldn't really mind except when it distrupts my internet speed.
PhotoHosting
http://www.photobucket.com/
Have a blog and you want to post photos up? Use photobucket to store all your pictures! Once you have done that, all necessary HTML tags are prepared next to the photos. This helps cut down on typing up code.
I Do hope these Websites comes in handy for you as it did for me!
Come again for more updates on how to Live a Better Life in Shanghai!
Jian
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Online Shopping In China: Taobao
Brief Introduction:
Taobao 涛宝; which literally means Big Wave Gem/Treasure is a C2C and B2C auction/retail based web market based in China. Taobao was first founded in 2003 and is under the Alibaba group, a B2B wholesale supplier. Taobao is often refered to as Chinese Ebay (note there is an Ebay based in China) since the two sites act as a portal between buyers and sellers. However, similarities end there as several features that distinguishes the two:
Taobao
Ebay Based in Hong kong
Ebay Based in China
1) Line of Communication
This is probably by far the biggest difference between Taobao and Ebay,
On Ebay, you have to chat through email while on Taobao you can talk to the supplier immediately through an InstantMessaging system called Wang Wang (its a cute little drop, this assuming they are online)
Start Chatting here!
I amzzz Chit Chatzing with Dahh Dealerszz
2) Payment system:
Ebay relies on bank transfers, credit card or PayPal.
Taobao: Taobao uses an escrow based payment meaning a third party (AliPay) withholds the money until the 2 parties have successfully completed the transaction. This is one of the reasons why I feel more secure with Taobao, as Taobao will not release funds to the supplier until you have confirmed the receipt of the goods and that you are happy with the quality of the good. Not too sure about Ebay though.
3) Selling Method Retail vs Marketplace?:
From what I understand: Ebay mostly deals with 2nd hand goods or a bidding system. Taobao does most of its stuff on retail price basis as you are in contact with a B not a C most of the time (Biz and Consumer).
(it should be noted that taobao does have an auction system and ebay has a retail price system. The findings above are based on my initial perception; Ebay quotes time remaining before end of auction while taobao normally doesn't unless you ask the site for auction based products.)
Buying stuff on Taobao
Enough of the boring bits, I'm sure you are curious as to how I manage to buy stuff on a site that is littered with Chinese characters everywhere! Yes I can read a little, but with my reading ability, its going to take more than 1 hour to finish read the first page.
Lucky for me, there is this invention called Google Toolbar!
With this awesome software, I can turn this
into this!! ZomG! its like discovering GOLD!
Anyhow lets get down to business:
First things first, you have got to register before you can go chat with the dealers on the Wang Wang, click on the circle to get yourself registered (this guide got me all started, Very handy) 
Register at the top left
Email or Handphone? Better to use email since there will be less requirements
ZOMG!! A bunch of Chinese words!!
REMEMBER RULE NO 1
Ahhh its so pleasant to see English
Once Registered you have to tie your bank account to your Taobao Account. But first you have got to activate your Bank E-Pay facility!
Go to your Bank Website Click on E-Pay and follow the instructions given by the bank and you'll soon be able to start buying stuff on Taobao (no screenshots cause even a monkey can do it)
Once E-Pay has been activated, Go to your Taobao Account and link up the two! I can't help you here since I forgot to screen shot the process but Remember GOOGLE IS........
Alternatively, if this is too long and complicated, you could do it the Post Office Way! No Need for bank accounts and all that complications! Just march to the post office and pay an amount you would like to have in your account and Your Set to Go! (keep in mind that you have to fill some boring forms and shit, which could be a challenge to Chinese Dummies)
Now that has been settled, Fill in all the boring details like handphone number, Address, Name, Remember Rule no 1 and how even monkies can do it
Once you have done all that, you are ready to start rocking!
Finding Producting and Buying
Taobao 涛宝; which literally means Big Wave Gem/Treasure is a C2C and B2C auction/retail based web market based in China. Taobao was first founded in 2003 and is under the Alibaba group, a B2B wholesale supplier. Taobao is often refered to as Chinese Ebay (note there is an Ebay based in China) since the two sites act as a portal between buyers and sellers. However, similarities end there as several features that distinguishes the two:
Taobao
Ebay Based in Hong kong
Ebay Based in China
1) Line of Communication
This is probably by far the biggest difference between Taobao and Ebay,
On Ebay, you have to chat through email while on Taobao you can talk to the supplier immediately through an InstantMessaging system called Wang Wang (its a cute little drop, this assuming they are online)
Start Chatting here!
I amzzz Chit Chatzing with Dahh Dealerszz
2) Payment system:
Ebay relies on bank transfers, credit card or PayPal.
Taobao: Taobao uses an escrow based payment meaning a third party (AliPay) withholds the money until the 2 parties have successfully completed the transaction. This is one of the reasons why I feel more secure with Taobao, as Taobao will not release funds to the supplier until you have confirmed the receipt of the goods and that you are happy with the quality of the good. Not too sure about Ebay though.
3) Selling Method Retail vs Marketplace?:
From what I understand: Ebay mostly deals with 2nd hand goods or a bidding system. Taobao does most of its stuff on retail price basis as you are in contact with a B not a C most of the time (Biz and Consumer).
(it should be noted that taobao does have an auction system and ebay has a retail price system. The findings above are based on my initial perception; Ebay quotes time remaining before end of auction while taobao normally doesn't unless you ask the site for auction based products.)
Buying stuff on Taobao
Enough of the boring bits, I'm sure you are curious as to how I manage to buy stuff on a site that is littered with Chinese characters everywhere! Yes I can read a little, but with my reading ability, its going to take more than 1 hour to finish read the first page.
Lucky for me, there is this invention called Google Toolbar!
With this awesome software, I can turn this
into this!! ZomG! its like discovering GOLD!
Anyhow lets get down to business:
REMEMBER RULE No 1 GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND
Register at the top left
Email or Handphone? Better to use email since there will be less requirements
ZOMG!! A bunch of Chinese words!!
REMEMBER RULE NO 1
Ahhh its so pleasant to see English
Finding Producting and Buying
- Find Desired Treasure!
- Screen out Treasures by Setting filters such as 7 Day No Reason Return Policy (an icon with 7 on it), Accurate description (hands cusping a Yellow Bag), and set a price range to weed out those originals or extravagantly priced stuff.
- Once you have done that, look at the cities; You want to judge its proximity to your city since the closer it is, the faster you can inspect the stuff, the quicker you can return it if necessary.
For Shanghai guys, You normally want to look for stuff from HangZhou 杭州; because it can easily come the next day, latest 2 days, any later and your seller is playing tricks on you. Another place where stuff comes from is in GuangZhou 广州. I'm Guessing its because Shenzhen is there and alot of shit gets made in ShenZhen. - Stumped and not sure where to start? I normally go to "What's Hot", or I type Korean (韩) and a whole bunch of recommendations from Shoes to Jackets to Jeans all appear
- Screen the Supplier, remmeber look for those with a success rate of 95% and above and high transaction volumes (Recommended 500) and Read Evaluations!! The hierarchy is Hearts-> Jewels-> Crowns the more the better!!Crown
- Remember to talk to the WangWang dealer!
Ask for discounts!! if not on product price ask for shipping discount, if product is available, if your color is available, any damn thing you can think of.
Its important to ask if stock is available cause these guys don't update their stock count and it could be sold out with your money locked in! (though fear not your money will eventually be refunded to you)
COMMUNICATION is vital! TALK TO THE DEALER, It's a good way to practice mandarin!
Do not worry if your mandarin is screwed up cause at worst you can just ignore the person! I cannot count the number of times someone said Huuh? Sorry I No understand...... (你所什么意思???) - Always check for pictures or measurements before buying
- BUY IT NOW or dump it in the cart
- Follow the screenshots steps one by one and you'll be cruising all the way to the SUCCESS SCREEN!
Once you have decided what to Purchase, You have to choose the bank of choice
Login to your bank account
Choose your account
Enter Your E-Token (I was raging so hard the first time because I was typing my password instead and the system kept saying i'm typing it all wrong =,=")
SUCCESS!!成功！！
- Good suppliers will often deliver within the day or latest the next day, You can keep tabs on this by looking at your list of goods interface.
- Sit back Relax and wait for the Goodies to arrive. If you notice that the seller has not shipped by the next day, be sure to click on his wang wang and ask him why he hasn't shipped out yet!! BE DEMANDING BE CHINESE!!
- About 1-3 days later, A random number will contact you and introduce himself as KuaiDi,
- If you aren't at home, try telling him to come back at a specified time, it is his job to get the package into your hands!! Or you could go to the KuaiDi Place itself to pick it up, though why the effort? This will probably be the toughest part of the whole process, as the kuaidi guys could have some difficulty communicating with you. Be sure to have an answer read incase they call you while you are out. It also helps if you take down their number, and text them when you are expecting stuff
- Open up the Package and TRY IT ON!! (On yes don't forget to drop the supplier an evaluation!! Again use Google to get around, its that good)
This was my first purchase on Taobao, its a 100yuan (abt RM50) pair of Jeans from some brand called GTHomme!!
What do you think? Maybe after your first purchase, you'll be inclined to buy an extra thing or two from taobao? like this hoodie for 30yuan (RM15)!
If you are an International buyer, you can pop down to http://www.taobaofocus.com/, a taobao agent who duty is to facilitate transactions from Chinese vendors to overseas customers.
I mean with wedding dresses going for 250yuan, who needs to go to Vera Wang? =D
All Credit goes to The Taobao Field Guide, for if it had not existed I have would never have the confidence to try taobao!!
Thank you Taobao Field Guide!
- Speaking of Agents, I can act as one if you trust me enough ;) drop me an email and we'll talk business ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)