How to survive in China

While shopping for clothes in China used to be a major gripe for many expats due to the lack of variety, quality, and larger sizes, nowadays Beijing has a pretty good range of stores for all styles and preferences, from international chains like   H&M   to homegrown brands like   JNBY . Nevertheless, there does not seem to be a standardized sizing system for clothes in China – you may find clothes labeled with European sizes (for example, at   Zara ), American sizes, or Chinese sizes (in centimeters, as used at   Forever 21 ). The chart below gives conversions for different sizing systems for women's clothes: Chart above taken from the blog The Further Adventures of Bennett (thefurtheradventuresofbennett.com) Basic small to large sizes are usually translated as below: XS -   加小号   jiā xiǎo hào S -   小号   xiǎo hào M -   中号   zhōng hào   L -   大号   dà hào   XL -   加大号   jiā dà hào ...

Don’t overstay your visa. This seems obvious, and yet we hear enough stories of people doing this that it bears repeating that this is not a good idea at all. Here’s why. The basics Although the punishments described below vary in severity, overstaying your visa at all may jeopardize any future visa applications. In most cases, you will get a written warning saying that you cannot overstay your visa again within a given period of time. There is no “grace period” Unfortunately, the rule that allowed for a ten-day grace period is no longer in operation in China. That means that you may be liable to pay a fine from the first day that you overstay your visa. I f you find yourself in this situation while trying to exit China the border officials’ reaction may be anything from giving you a telling off and letting you go, to asking a few questions, to even denying you passage until you pay a fine If you’re not on your way out of the country when you discover ...

If you have been wondering ‘how on earth can I learn mandarin and become fluent?’ Most people will tell you that in order to learn Chinese; you need to make Chinese friends. While having real life friends in order to practice Chinese is essential, it’s not all it takes. This is because your Chinese friends will not always be there at all times when you are in the mood to learn Chinese. So what, then, is an alternative way to learn Chinese? My answer is Chinese movies.   Most expats can testify to this. The advantage movies have over classroom learning is that it works on your listening ability. The good thing is that we don’t really need to understand the language to enjoy the movies. The action in the movie can tell us what the actors are saying. Now this may not happen immediately, but with time it will.  To help you on your quest to improve your Chinese proficiency, here are seven websites to watch Chinese and foreign movies. 1. Iqiyi.com   is my fav...