The Suzhou Bookworm, which always seems quick to respond with an altruistic heart, is hosting the event. The details from the event page on Facebook:

Dear friends and patrons,

On Sunday July 6th, The Bookworm will be hosting a BBQ dinner to raise funds for our dear friend Xiao Hua.

Xiao Hua was the victim of a hit and run on Moye Lu on Sunday. She sustained severe head injuries that left her in a coma. Friends and family have managed to cover the initial costs of surgery and treatment, but at this critical stage of her recovery we must turn to the community for additional support. The proceeds of the barbecue will go towards the estimated 100,000 RMB in medical expenses.

Your 200 RMB donation will entitle you to a fantastic barbecue platter, a selection of fresh salads and sides, 2 draft pints (or soft drinks) and our sincere gratitude for the part you’ll be playing in saving Xiao Hua’s life.

Thank you for you support

Time & Place

Date: Sunday, July 6, 2008
Time: 5:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: The Suzhou Bookworm (off Shi Quan Jie) - map
Street: Gun Xiu Fang # 77, Shi Quan Street
City/Town: Suzhou, China

A tragic reminder that as much as we can joke about the crazy drivers in China - they do represent a real danger that we should all be mindful of.

This year’s Canada Day marked the fourth I’ve been in China for, but the first I’ve celebrated - and what’s better, we did it properly with a BBQ and beer!

I had tossed around the idea of doing a Canada Day BBQ a few weeks back, but some other Canadians here in town mentioned they may put something together and I didn’t want to conflict. Besides, with a recent move and an impending 31st birthday just a couple weeks away, I’ve plenty of excuses to celebrate.

However, the alt.Canada plans fell through, and so on somewhat of a whim Maggie and I decided to put our new apartment and adjoining backyard to use and host a little party.

Initially I was just going to use the crappy little BBQ I’ve had for a couple years now, but realizing I have a whole summer of outdoor cookery ahead of me, we headed over to B&Q (like Home Depot for the N. American readers) and found a decently sized grill for about 150RMB (about $20).

Alright, I admit, I wanted the big 550 RMB one, and was set to settle on the 350 RMB one - but my wife used her Jedi mind tricks economic common sense in illustrating that the 150 RMB one was the same size as the 350 RMB one, and only lacked a little bun warmer rack.

All that to say - we got to eat charred flesh for Canada Day. I did marinated chicken breasts, seafood pasta salad, and burgers. The burgers were the most amusing to make. Not really certain how many people would be coming, I bought a massive wad of ground beef, and after mixing in some seasoning, I had what looked like the world’s largest meat ball.

After fantasizing what it might be like to actually cook a meatball that large, I tore it apart and smacked the bits into patties. Good times.

In my rush to get everything bought and prepared, I forgot a few things - fortunately my neighbour, the handy and well-informed guy that he is - swung by the import shop and grabbed cheese slices, relish, mayo, lettuce and tomatoes to assure the guests would have all the fixings.

The grill took a bit of effort to get going, and once lit required my company pretty much the entire night, which meant I didn’t get as much a chance to hang out and chat with everyone as I would have liked, but all in all the day was a success.

As I had no real desire to trek into town searching for fireworks, I figured we’d have to go without, but my Canadian friends Mark and Sarah showed up with a big box of them (bought at a rather well-fought discount I hear).

It was nearly 10 pm by the time we got out and started lighting them off in our community’s courtyard, and after a couple window-shaking bangs we realized we weren’t making any friends (despite that we were operating under the guise of it being a celebration for the founding of the Communist Party of China) and so moved it to an unpopulated area a block or so away.

Being a work-night, things slowly wound down after the fireworks, and thus my first Canada Day celebration in China came to a close. It was great to be able to hang out with a bunch of Canucks and celebrate the way we do best - with beer and beef! Hell, we even sang the national anthem!

Earlier that day my neighbour Glenn came by with his golden retriever Huáng Huang and I took the opportunity to grab a few new photos with Addie.

“Older” sounds a little better than “old,” doesn’t it? Sounds like it might even last a little longer … I’m getting old. And it’s OK. Because thanks to our fear of death in this country I won’t have to die — I’ll ‘pass away.’ Or I’ll ‘expire,’ like a magazine subscription. If it happens in the hospital they’ll call it a ‘terminal episode.’ The insurance company will refer to it as ‘negative patient care outcome.’ And if it’s the result of malpractice they’ll say it was a ‘therapeutic misadventure.’

You were a comedic genius and legend. Whatever it’s called, You will be missed.

Some of the greats

Usage of the Word Fuck

Filthy Words (Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television)

this isn’t the original bit, but I don’t know if it was captured on video - YouTube doesn’t seem to think so.

Religion is Bullshit

Most of these are e-mails from folks moving to Suzhou, or China in general, and are looking for a man-on-the-ground to answer some of the peace of mind questions the guide books don’t give you. I always try to answer these as honestly and as detailed as I can, as I also did this when coming to China and I remember the help it was (thanks again Dezza).

However, back at the start of February I got an e-mail of a different kind. A woman, lets call her Mary, contacted me looking for her ex-lover/partner, lets call him Ted. Ted had moved to Suzhou in recent months and Mary hadn’t been able to contact him. Her first couple e-mails made it appear that he might be in trouble, and I dutifully wanted to help in any way I could.

But as our e-mail exchanges went on it played out that Ted had “betrayed” Mary both romantically and financially, and she was trying to track him down for some finality to the situation - even looking seriously at the option of coming to Suzhou to find him herself. What at first appeared to be a concerned letter for a friend quickly deteriorated into a more and more desperate plea for me to help her covertly find this man.

It was then that I politely exited the situation. I explained I would happily offer advice on Suzhou or China, even going as far as saying I would organize a car to pick her up from the airport so that she could avoid having to navigate the all-Chinese shuttle bus situation, but couldn’t play a part in the rest of it.

An e-mail or two followed in the months after that 20+ e-mail exchange in February, but essentially it went quiet - until yesterday.

Yesterday I received an e-mail from Mary’s long-term friend “Beth“. Apparently in the intervening months Mary has become quite ill due to this situation and is off work indefinitely as a direct result. Beth, being the dutiful friend, has picked up Mary’s cause and is continuing with it.

Here is the e-mail I received:

Dear Ryan,

You don’t know me, but you know my best friend, Mary. I am going through her few contacts in China, desperately trying to help her.

I have been with Mary in London for almost eight weeks. I came down from Cambridge at the end of April, because she had a fall and my plan was to take her home with me for a few days until she was better. I did not realise how ill she was and took her to hospital, where she spent almost six weeks, and where a lot of disturbing medical news have come come to light. She is really desperately ill, and although she is home now (for how long I cannot say), she is in a terrible state. In total, she has now been really sick for over five months. She has been diagnosed with a number of serious problems. I have known her for over 13 years, and I can hardly recognise her, neither physically nor emotionally.

I understand Mary contacted you earlier in the year about Ted. She told me you were kind to her, although you didn’t seem to hold out much hope for her ever finding him and making him see sense. It is Ted I am writing to you about, hoping you will be able to share your local knowledge with me. Please forgive me, but I will need to go into some detail.

You know from Mary that she loves the man (I have never met him) and cannot understand why one moment he wanted her to move to China with him, wanted to finish with the gold digger he had just shacked up with, and then walked out on Mary less than an hour later (I think she told you this).

My priority is to help my friend. Mary is a wonderful woman. She is generous and kind, lacks selfishness and is the most supportive person you could ever hope to meet. What she has done for Ted is amazing, and it makes me cry when I think how he ‘repaid’ her love and kindness.

The guy was in the gutter when they met. He had nothing, no money, no hope, no prospects. Mary got him out of the gutter and helped him become a human being again. She took him into her home, into her life, she paid his debts, she looked after him and supported him in all the ways someone who is down in the dumps needs. They were really happy together. She made is possible for him to go to China and get settled. She supported him throughout the first five months in China. Throughout all this, Ted promised he would come back to Mary and support her the way she had supported him. He never did - instead he shacked up with a girl half his age and, since then, has done nothing but destroy the foundations of Mary’s life. He has not made contact, justified his appalling behaviour or tried to make amends. There was no way she was expecting any of this - the last time they spoke, he assured her he couldn’t wait to be with her!

You might easily say that a grown man has a right to move on and give his affections to somebody else, but I don’t think anybody has the right to destroy the person who helped them back on their feet and gave them a new lease of life.

As a direct consequence of Ted’s betrayal (there is no other word for it), Mary has become seriously ill. Both psychologically and physically. She has been signed off sick since January and is now on a much-reduced salary. If she ever returns to work, her career will not be the same again, as her responsibilities have been taken away from her. She has to give up all her extra freelance work, and the cost of her treatment is astronomical (counselling, therapy, medical bills etc.). She is now having with about 40% of her original salary.

While Ted was living in London with Mary, she clothed and fed him. She bought things he needed, she lent him substantial amounts of money. Mary has little interest in material matters, but she is not made of money and was only in a position to do all these things for Ted because he had promised to support her in return (as you do in relationships - help each other through lean times). There was no way she was prepared to support him long-term. What she did for him, Ted called “an investment”, and he promised he would take care of her.

Now that Ted has disappeared without ‘honouring’ his side of the bargain, Mary’s financial security has been destroyed. She has no money left and has had to put her flat on the market because she can no longer afford the mortgage payments. I am not sure how familiar you are with the UK property market, but now is not a good time to sell, and there has been no interest in her flat, although it has been on the narket for some six weeks.

Apologies for the detailed background of this human tragedy (that’s what it is!), but it is not right that somebody should get away with something like this, purely because they cannot stay faithful and are selfish.

A few days ago, we worked out that, in total, Ted has ‘cost’ Mary somewhere in the region of £25,000 (that is 350,000 CNY, I believe; an amount it would take someone on a monthly salary of 10,000 CNY three years to earn! I have used the figure of 10,000 CNY, because that is apparently what Ted was earning teaching for some college in the first semester.. Apparently, that’s an excellent salary - would you be able to confirm that?

So why am I giving you all this background? I have a few questions.

1. I have found out (by contacting the company Ted started working for in February) that he was fired from his job in May. He was fired for two reasons. One of them was incompetence, the other was lying about his qualifications. His former employer told me that they found out he did not have a degree from the London university he said he had completed his studies at. I have checked with the university, and they confirm this is fraud. From YOUR knowledge of business practise in China, would you say this a serious offence? Apparently, Ted marketed himself as a graduate and made himself sound ‘famous’. What can happen to a foreign national if they are found to lie about their qualifcations? In the UK, this would be regarded as a seriouss crime. What is the legal position in China?

My other question is: how important is a reference in China? I expect sacking an employee for incompetence and lying means that no referencce is isssued? Would it be hard to find a good job without one? I understand Ted is a computer programmer, but from what his former employer told me, there is very litte demand for Western IT support, as China has plenty of homegrown talent (cheaper, too, I suppose).

That leaves teaching English (certainly not what Ted had in mind!). Ted’s former employer tells me that he thinks Ted has moved on to one of the many English Language schools in Suzhou. What qualifcations would a British national have to have to find a job in one of them? I assume some language schools are more reputable and professional than others (I read something on the net about one language school forging their tutors’ certificates - not a great recommendation …).

Do you know if it is easy to find work as an English tutor? And what would also interest me is whether the renewal of a foreigner’s visa is dependent on a minimum salary and/or minimum length of contract. In other words, if Ted find it difficult to lie his way into another job, will he be thrown out of the country?

How much, in your view, would someone have to earn to live comfortably (including Western-style accommodation, such as a well-appointed two-bedroom flat)?

Also, do foreigners have to renew their visa in their home country, or can they do it at the consulate? After what time, if at all, is a visa issued ‘open-ended’? Do foreigners have the right to move around China freely and find work anywhere, or are there restrictions?

2. I have been to see both the Citizens Adivice Bureau and a lawyer about Mary’s financial losses. They were very supportive. The problem is that in order for any papers to be sent to Ted, they need a postal address. Mary has an address for Ted, but we don’t know if he still lives there. The phone has been of order for three weeks, although, according to Ted, he never moved from that address in January (although he told Mary he would). He sent her a brief email over eight weeks ago, saying they should talk. He asked her to call him ‘at home’. I called him for weeks, as Mary was in hospital, but most of he time the phone just rang and rang. Very occasionally, someone Chinese picked up, but as soon as I said “Ted, please?”, the phone was put down - someone clearly does not wish him to be contacted.

Ted claims that land lines in Suzhou are terribly unreliable. Is that your view as well? He says he ‘genuinely’ (his words) wants to talk, but has not made the slightest attempt. Between us, Mary and I must have called his landd line thousands of times.

Now it is out of order, and I cannot establish whether there is a fault on the line or whether nobody lives there. How long does it take to repair a faulty phone line in China?

Is there any way I can find out if this liar still lives there, or, if he has moved, where he has moved to? And his new phone number?

Let me assure you that I am not asking you these questions because I want cheap revenge. Mary doesn’t even know I am trying to make enuiries. The reason why I am trying to fnd out as much as I can is because this lying cheat has destroyed my friend’s health and happiness and he has ruined her financially. I don’t think he should get away with this - and I would feel the same if it wasn’t my friend who has been sobbing her heart out for months and is too ill to go to the toilet unaided. Although this is, of course, a very personal matter for Mary, it is also a moral and ethical one

Mary worked so hard to get where she was at the end of 2007 (buying property in London, a good job, staff and students respecting and admiring her, savings etc.). I know relationships break down, but what has happened here is cruel and nasty. The man is a cheat and a coward, he has no spine and no morals. Mary and Ted were in a loving, long-term relationhip and had made plans for their future. Ted was a nothing who had just gone bankrupt. He had the clothes he was standing up in. And then he meets someone who helps him turn his life around, helps him re-build his self-esteem and get a second chance (not easy in your early 40s). And he repays her by walking out on her without ever giving any indication. I don’t think this should go unpunished. I would just like to find out whether there is something I can do, and your local etc. knowledge would be much appreciated.

I would be grateful if you could give me any information you can think of. I will probably think of something else to ask as soon as I send this.

Thank you taking the time to read this.

Best wishes,
Beth

Pretty dramatic stuff eh? As with Mary, I’ve provided Beth with general information about Suzhou, cost of living, etc. But have once again stated my position that I wont get involved in the actual situation.

What I’d give to sit down with “Ted” and hear what he has to say. “Ted“, if by some strange reason you’re out there and read this, please feel free to comment.

Before I can get my visa renewed next month, I need first to renew my passport. No big deal really, a couple of photos, an application form signed by a person of substance that has known me for 2 years and a fee - voila, presto chango I’ve 5 more years of stamp collecting.

But wait - A/Bing the process with that which befalls my brothers and sisters not fortunate enough to live abroad, and I’ve noticed one major difference - I’m being screwed. Royally (Canada being part of the Commonwealth and all).

1. The fee for a 48-page passport renewal in Canada is $105 (710 RMB) - the fee for us folks here in China is 810 RMB ($120).
2. Due to simplified passport processes (because the US is going to be demanding we produce ‘em while border-crossing after 2009) - Canadians at home are no longer required to get the signature of a guarantor (a doctor, lawyer, judget, etc. that has known you for 2+ years) to certify you are indeed you. But us chumps abroad, despite being in a situation where we may or may not have known anyone in this country for more than two years, let alone know “professional” folks, are required to get this signature.
3. Additionally, one of the stipulations is that the guarantor must sign without a monetary reward (can’t pay some opportunistic SOB to do it). However, should you not be able to get the signature of a guarantor, the Canadian embassy or consulate here in China is happy enough to assume you are you, and sign it for you - for a 385 RMB ($55) “legal” fee. Yeah… that’s stretching the term “legal” just about as far as it can go.

So, simply because I am not in my home country, and am in the process of actually using the damn passport, I am forced to pay 75% more than were I to be back in Canada.

I did a bit of an interview with Siok Siok a few weeks back over at Lost Laowai, and it’s a good read to get a sense of the film and what went into making it. Being that played a bit of matchmaker with Siok Siok and the Suzhou Bookworm, I’ve known this was coming for a while and meant to write about it sooner - but the day completely snuck up on me.

Anyway, if you’re in town - don’t miss this excellent opportunity to catch an interesting independent film that captures a unique and untold side of the Olympic frenzy that has engulfed China.

7:30pm - Number 77 Gunxiu lane, corner of Shiquan Street and Ping Qiao Zhijie. 30 RMB gets you in and a glass of wine/soft drink.

NOTE: Proceeds from the showing go to benefit the Library Project Earthquake Relief Program - a charity run by another friend of mine (man do I feel well connected - China has a way about that).

Real brief:

The Film: Boomtown Beijing is a film about the city of Beijing, its people and their dreams the summer before the Olympics. The 2008 Olympics Games is China’s debutante ball on the world stage. “ Faster. Higher. Stronger” — the preparation for the Games has turned Beijing into a hot spot of frenzied growth. A 11 year old boy wants to beat the odds to become an Olympics torch-bearer. A road sweeper dreams of staging his own mass Olympics countdown performance. An aging blind athlete makes one last stab at a Paralympics medal before he retires from sports. Together, their stories and scenes of everyday life in the city give a snapshot of Beijing the summer before the Olympics.

The Director: Boomtown Beijing is directed by Tan Siok Siok, an award-winning executive producer of international documentaries, focusing on the Greater China region. Her executive producer credits include award winning shows for Discovery Channel and Discovery Travel and Living. “Boomtown Beijing” is her first independent film. She directed the film with the assistance of her students while she was a visiting lecturer at the Beijing Film Academy.

First: you’ll notice that I’ve changed the comment submit layout. When I initially designed the look of this site, I was eager to try some new things, and so had the comment submission form stuck at the top of the comments.

This was stupid - I realize this now. It just never fit with the flow of how people read I don’t think. Rare is the occasion that I read a blog and wish to comment without first checking out what others have said. Additionally, I never liked how small the box was.

So, it’s back at the end of the comments - and has some nice new graphics to accompany it.

Next: I’ve FINALLY updated the site’s front page. Bet you didn’t even know the site HAD a front page! When I initially set up this site back in late 2004, I did so with the idea of blogging about my impending trip to China, as well as moving all my old LiveJournal travel blogging onto its own home, and doing some other stuff - though I was never clear about what that other stuff was… maybe a photo gallery, or a home for some of my music…

Blogging, and specifically blogging platforms, has come a long way in the past four years and I can do most if not all that I wish internally in WordPress. And as it turns out, I never really had time or clarity for that “other stuff” anyway. So - homepage updated - basically just works as navigation for the blog and shows off (a) my other sites, and (b) my FriendFeed - a cool service that keeps track of what you’re doing on various social sites (flickr, youtube, del.icio.us, twitter, blogs, etc.).

Next Next: The top menu text has been replaced by their equivalent iconic representations. I think we can all figure out what they mean, and the mouseover text should help the stragglers. The text was always overlapping the image’s shadow, and it has been pissing me off for months. Having the hood popped on things finally gave me the opportunity to correct it.

Last: I’m not sure when it happened, but I killed my vBlog. It would appear that when I transferred my site to a new server a few months back I neglected to copy the database that powered the second install of WordPress I had running to manage my vBlog entries. Meh, there’s not been a new vBlog since 2006, so it wasn’t as if anyone was missing anything really.

However, and this isn’t an announcement (and I’ll deny it if asked directly), I’ve been considering starting to vlog again. It might give me an excuse to get my ass out of the house a bit more.

Regardless if I do or don’t find the time to, I did want to bring the old vlog entries into the fold. Doing so gave me a chance to mess around with some design ideas and WordPress trickery that I’ve had for a while now. You can see the results (and the old vlog entries) here:

• vLog.01: Chuar!
• vLog.02: A Chinese Wedding
• vLog.03: Field Trip!
• vLog.04: Morning Exercises
• vLog.05: Dalian Tour
• vLog.06: The Road To Suzhou
• vLog.07: Happy Birthday Sis

So, that’s it - largely just some cleaning up on things I’ve been meaning to sort out for some time, but haven’t had the time. I still don’t have the time, but I’m realizing more and more, I never will. Meh, it’s over-rated anyway.

In the years since I’ve watched a handful of his numerous interviews and I have to say that few people ask better questions than Bill Moyers. Not just of his interviewees, but of society at large.

At the recent NCMR, Moyers delivered a rather passionate and enlightening speech about the reforms so desperately needed in the modern media.

The entire speech (40 min) is available on YouTube, and though lengthy, well-worth the watch. I took the time to transcribe what I felt was a particularly good bit of Moyers speaking about the dangers of large media conglomerates and the needed role of an effective PBS:

“The myths of the marketplace have prospered as our opponents agree that the private system really can provide all that is necessary or that the public interest is what the public is interested in. So as the commercial voice of the mega media companies has been loud, strident, threatening and clear - the voice of public broadcasting has become a relatively small whisper.

Neither congress nor the FCC have seen fit to provide public media the requisite policy support. But, as you know so well, by comparison the private, commercial, cable television industries have been able to use their vast resources to shape the public agenda. And as a result, their operations have been almost totally deregulated. They’ve been given substantial public assets at no cost and with few obligations to their licenses, and they’ve been allowed to integrate vertically and to consolidate ownership across radio, television and newspapers.

Against that mighty armada of power and influence, public broadcasting has had little to work with.

But you can make a difference. I’m not asking for uncritical support. The strength of free press as an organization is its independence from its funders, and from, even, its friends. Those of us inside the public broadcasting system must put our own house in order, show courage, reveal to America the real faces of a pluralistic society of many colours, origins and interests; and hold steady to high standards of excellence, providing a real alternative to dominant and dumbed-down media. You should keep our feet to the fire. Insist from us accountability of the highest order, demand that we live up to our potential as public broadcasting.

What we need is your strong support - not as a lapdog, but as a watchdog.”

Back a few months ago I posted about the various TV programs I watch or have watched since moving to China. I made an open call for suggestions on what I should watch next and overwhelmingly people suggested The Wire.

Well, I’ve chewed through the first four seasons and am just working on the final season now and I’ve got to say, what a fantastic show. I am particularly liking this fifth season in how it illustrates the struggles and continual decline of the modern American newsroom.

So, it was with a bit of surprise that I listened to Bill Moyers mention David Simon, The Wire’s producer/writer/creator, in his speech.

In particular Moyers quotes an opt-in piece Simon wrote for the Washington Post entitled “Does the News Matter to Anyone Anymore?”

Simon knows what he’s talking about. A long-time reporter in the very newsroom that gets examined in The Wire, he has witnessed first hand what these massive media mergers, byouts and layoffs have done to the quality of news reporting in America.

Everything points to the fact that so long as a corporate board of directors controls and influences the content and/or quality of our media, we will lose the battle for free speech and free press.

The great part is, we’ve already shown we’ve the tools to win the war. We, the people, still control the Internet and the content generated on it. What will be essential in the skirmishes to come is whether or not this new medium is able to attract the defecting and derelict generals and commanders from the print world needed to lead this legion of keyboard soldiers.

I leave you with this, also from Moyers speech:

I am no romantic about journalism - some of my best friends are journalists :-). We are all fallen creatures like everyone else. But I believe more fervently than ever, that as journalism goes, so goes democracy.

As it is fully furnished (I’ve yet to rent an apartment here that isn’t - though some call into question the definition of “fully”), yesterday we had to head over to the new place and meet with the landlady and realtor to make an itemized list of all the goodies the apartment comes with.

We had been somewhat nonchalant about getting it done, but the realtor impressed upon us the importance, as they’ve had landlords walk out with major appliances before the tenant moves in, and then deny they were ever in the agreement.

Things didn’t start off great, as on our arrival the first order of business was the issue of the extended cable (or satellite, I’m still not clear which it is) TV the owner of the apartment had already pre-paid for.

Maggie watches the odd show on Chinese TV, but mostly we get our fill from TV-on-DVD and so don’t have much need for even the basic cable package. As such, when the landlady informed us we were going to be required to pay an additional 210 RMB/mo., we were a bit annoyed.

She explained that we get HK MTV, CINEMAX, and some other all-caps names I recognized (CNN, BBC, etc.) and it was well worth the money. We explained we didn’t care, and if it was a payment we must make, it should have been outlined in the contract or at least discussed before we agreed to take the apartment.

That seemed to give her enough to go back to the owner with and say “hey, I tried”, as she quickly conceded and said it was no big deal.

Looks like we’ve got free cable.

Other than that, it was mostly just a lot of walking around and turning things on. I’ve noticed there’s a bit of an obsession with kicking the tires in this country. Not to say it’s not a completely practical thing to do, but it just seems to be taken to the extreme. Supermarkets have official testing stations where you can make sure your tea kettle or DVD player turns on. It’s always just left me wondering how useless a shop’s return policy is.

And in the case of our apartment, instead of putting my mind at ease by showing me everything works, it just made me wonder if this was going to be the grounds by which my landlord would eventually put on us that we should be the ones buying the new A/C unit: “Hey, it worked when you moved in.”

Getting a bit bored of following Maggie around and watching her turn on taps - and listing to the landlady explain to us the fantastic quality of the fixtures, I made a little video tour of our place.

We’ve not started packing yet, but have to admit, we’re both pretty geared to move. Though I’m sure the feeling of the place will change after we’ve lived in the neighbourhood a while, walking around the place now feels like we’re on vacation at some Floridian condo resort.

We’re shooting to have a house-warming BBQ shortly after moving in, so any readers in Suzhou (or better yet, in the neighbourhood), you’re welcome to swing by.

By “live”, I don’t mean in the common temporary sense, as a short-term contract teacher or business person might, but rather as someone who has no firm plans on the if and when of their eventual departure.

Moreover, it got me thinking not just about living in China, but the quality of that living.

The big sales pitch that is always thrown around to lure folks here on a lower-than-home salary is that the “standard of living in China is much lower”.

Countless English teaching jobs, even at universities, pay their foreign teachers in around 4,000 RMB/mo. (about $575 USD) based mostly on being able to convincingly tout that line.

And it’s not to say there isn’t truth to it. Stuff in China’s cheaper, right? Food, housing, beer, etc. I mean, it’s China?!.

But when you put that “standard of living” line into context, and you contrast it with the quality of life that standard of living entails, there are some rather large holes in it.

There is no mystery to the fact that if you live more like a local, it will cost you less money. Average wages in the city still barely push $300 per month.

And though living like a local may bring with it a certain “zhong guo tong” prestige, in the long-term, it also brings with it cold nights, crap food and very possibly health concerns.

I made the conscientious decision a while back to begin demanding a bit more from my living environment here. However, I have a Chinese wife, and one from a family that’s not all that well-off, so it’s been a bit of a process explaining to Maggie that spending an extra few dollars here or there and not pinching every jiao does have its advantages.

First to go was the need to wear a jacket of any sort in my apartment during the winter months. I appreciate that heating costs electricity, and I could be reasonably cozy in two pairs of long-underwear and a winter parka - but looking like I’m ready for a snowball fight while watching DVDs just didn’t cut it.

Then came the purchasing of better quality foods - both from supermarkets and restaurants. There was a time when I would gladly slop down a greasy bowl of 5RMB lamian or a few 0.5RMB sticks of [insert random meat] chuar, all washed down with a 2 kuai bottle of China’s finest suds. Hell, it was short-term and I was eating my way to a better understanding of the “real” China.

What they don’t tell you at the stalls though is that the meat’s been sitting unrefrigerated for a day or two; the oil isn’t just full of trans fats, but it’s recycled (yup, recycled); and most of the cheap beer is fake and contains more formaldehyde than my high school science class.

Nothing that’s going to kill you in a week or a couple months, but when you start considering eating this stuff over the course of a few years - it’s time to make a change.

Last on my list of changes was where I live. Most the time I’ve lived in China I’ve lived in some form of school-supplied housing. Generally this is a budget apartment with the barest of necessities. Admittedly, the quality of apartment was much better than I had imagined before arriving in China, but again - over the long-term, it tends to lose its luster.

Unfinished and dirty stairways with no lighting, windows that let mosquitoes in and heat out, the absence of hot water outside of the shower, beds with box springs disguised as mattresses and foul odors escaping from all open drains for the country’s complete denial that U-bends were ever created.

Now the problem with these changes is, quite frankly, they cost a fuckload more money. When all’s tallied, living what would be considered a modest lifestyle back home could very easily cost you more money here in China.

High-quality items and better living standards have traditionally been for that smaller but much, much richer upper class that sits on the opposing side of China’s wide economic gap. As such, it has created a faux pricing system not all that in tune with the slowly-growing middle class or their moderate incomes.

I think the solution is not to go to extremes one way or the other. Find a hybrid between zhong guo tong and decadent expat that allows you to live comfortably and gives you the permission to spurge on what in any other country would be considered essentials, but at the same time allows room to accept that you are in a country that is still just getting a grasp on all this, and also doesn’t isolate you too much from the country you live in.

Will it work? Not real sure. Thoughts?