[coryg]

Thought I would add some useful info. Just purchased a new Sony phone and the Sony after sales center at Taisheng Road South switched the firmware to the Hong Kong settings which included all of the apps that would be included on a phone if you purchased it in North America. They did this for free. The woman said that a lot of people do this.

Pretty sure the other companies will do this as well if you ask.

[coryg]

Thought I’d post this in here in case there are some people still looking for a gym. Right now Physical, which has 4 locations (IFS, Raffle City, 1 by the NiuwangMiao subway stop and one other which I don’t know where it is) is currently having some promotions which are worth checking out. A friend told me earlier today that you can get a 1 month pass for 28 RMB on 大众点评. I’d purchase it asap if your even remotely interested. My friend was using it when I spoke to him earlier today so it is legit.

The current promotions for memberships are 1200 RMB for 20 months and 2400 for 40 months. They told a friend of mine that the 1200 RMB promotion has some limitations but i don’t know what they are. One person said that you can only go to one location and another said you can only use it during certain hours. Another person said that there are no limitations so it would be advisable to talk to more than one salesperson if anything sounds shady. I paid 2400 RMB for the 40 months and can use all the clubs in Chengdu. Found out about the 1200 RMB promotion from a friend the following day. Other gyms in Chengdu have lowered their prices dramatically in the past year so there might be other great deals available. Hope this info is useful.

[coryg]

Thanks for the replies. May just wait til the summer and buy an unlocked phone in the US.
-Cory

[coryg]

Sorry this is the original post.

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/testing-your-diet-with-pee-purple-cabbage/

[coryg]

Dr. Michael Greger had a post a few years back about measuring your blood’s ph by conducting a test with purple cabbage blended into water and pouring that in the toilet after urinating. The urine will change color and you can get an idea of the ph of your blood. You can read more about it here and follow the directions if you want do experiment without investing in the strips mentioned above.

https://nutritionfacts.org/2014/08/05/test-to-see-if-your-diet-is-alkaline-or-acid-forming/

[coryg]

Your grandfathered into the old visa requirements if you don’t leave the country and continue to renew your Z visa. I believe the residence permit requirements apply to everyone.

[coryg]

Thanks for all the info. I ended up giving in and just buying the items I needed from Metro and jd.com. If anyone has a multi function laser printer for sale, please let me know.

Best wishes,
Cory

[coryg]

Ok I’ve been looking around http://cd.58.com/ and found the section that has what I’m looking for (appliances/furniture).

[coryg]

I constantly worry about food safety although I’ve learned a few things over the years. Most mid-priced restaurants, hotels and any food served at the Buddhist temples are usually clean. The street food where you can get a lunch for 10-15 RMB a la carte usually is cooked with tainted oil. My body is super sensitive to this crap and I feel terrible after eating it. Same thing with the cheap bowza…

The foreign owned restaurants, Tibetan restaurants and a the restaurants owned by Chinese Christians are usually clean. Peter’s Tex Mex is a good example of a well run establishment. I don’t think the food is that great but I do trust that it is clean.

I have subscribed to an organic delivery company for 6 years now and I’ve been to their farm as well. I have to check but I can post their website/phone number if your interested. You can also go to the ground floor of the Far Eastern department store by Tianfu Square and talk to them in person.

Recently I started carrying my own oil for BBQ and none of the vendors objected when I asked them to use my oil.

[coryg]

From my experience, many of the paid VPNs will work most of the time but if you set them up to manually connect, your rate of success will be higher. I pay for a PUREVPN service and their software sucks. At the same time, I can manually connect 98% of the time and it works fine. Right now you can get 5 years worth of service for 69 USD. Ironically you’ll need a VPN to purchase it.

[coryg]

(Please delete the post above and this message)

Sorry I made a mistake when posting the information about the police clearance letter. The letter must be notarized, authenticated by your state (for Americans at least) and then sealed by the Chinese consulate in the US. This whole process is a pain in the ass. Also there are several consulates in the US and they all have zones. You have to make sure you hire an agent in the right zone. Here are some useful links:

http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/zmzlljs/t84229.htm

http://www.visarite.com/no_criminal_record_report_for_China.htm

http://www.mychinavisa.com/authentication

I am guessing this whole process will take at least 5-6 weeks. If your lucky, your family/friends might live in a state where they can do this on your behalf.

Last bit of info that I’ve recently found out is that you are also going to need a reference letter / release letter from your previous employer if they sponsored you for a foreign expert certificate. I thought that this was only if your employment was continuous but I was wrong. I had to contact a university that I worked at 7 years ago and get these papers. Luckily I was still in the computer system.

Good luck if your dealing with this!

[coryg]

Chris or Charlie,

I just added a few more links and my post got removed. Can one of you reinstate it? It was just more useful info but I guess it automatically got flagged cause I edited the link a few times. Also please remove this message after. Thanks

-Cory

PS – Charlie I sent you a PM but when I checked it, it was blank?

[coryg]

The last update on this post:

http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/kS6A8tlSk0gDev9rLKQajw

That site has all the information on getting your work visa. With the information on this page, you should have all the info.

[coryg]

I thought I would add to this post for future reference. Just came back from the ministry of education. You can register for the website at the government office and they have several computers available. One of the clerks spoke English and helped me do the application. You have to pay a 385 RMB registration fee. They only accept Unionpay credit cards and you cannot use cash. I found someone who put it on their card and I gave them cash on the spot. When you go to this office you will need:

Your diploma and a certified translation of it which you can get across the street. They will give you the address.
1 passport photo
1 copy of your passport page and the diploma
cash (385 + 200 for another agency + 100 for the translation)
a transcript from your university. You should be able to print this out online.

According to the department, it takes 2 months for them to certify your degree. Contact your school/university and make sure you get receipts for everything as you will most likely get this all reimbursed. Whole process took me 2 1/2 hours including waiting for the translation of my diploma.

[coryg]

Follow up:

I called the US embassy and you can’t get a criminal check through them. This is the link they sent me:

https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/criminal-vital-records/

Just got off the phone with the Sheriff’s department in the state of Florida and in this state, I can have a family member get a certified copy of a criminal record printed out for $4.00. Other states may have different protocols. The visa office didn’t specify which certified copy they needed.

I was told that you can get your degree notarized at:

http://renzheng.cscse.edu.cn/login.aspx

(Thanks to Nigel who posted this useful info on UK PPl in Sichuan Wechat group)

Good luck if your in the same situation.

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[coryg]

Just went to the visa department by Tianfu Square. There have been some significant changes in 2017. To get a new Z visa, you now need a certified background check from the police of your home country AND you need to get your college degree certified by the Chengdu department of education. It takes 6 weeks to get the certification which you must have in order to apply for a Z visa.

If you already have a Z visa, you do not have to do this. If you renew your current visa, your grandfathered into the old rules.

Also you must apply for the Z visa in your own country or in Hong Kong. The guy didn’t know which embassies can do the Z visas but Hong Kong is guaranteed.

If your like me and are trying to submit the paperwork correctly the first time, it might be best to call yourself: 6188 8214. He speaks English and is the head of the visa department in Chengdu.

This is most likely going to cause a lot of headaches…

[coryg]

They are still open. Apparently the phone with the wechat account became inoperable.

[coryg]

Thx for all the feedback. Just bought the taobao one. I travel a lot so a folding bag makes sense for me. Price is very reasonable.

Best wishes
Cory

[coryg]

Dead Author,

I’m in Malaysia at the moment and I cannot get that link to work, even when I use my vpn to sign in from a Chinese server. Can you provide keywords so that I can manually search Taobao for that product? I’ll be back in Chengdu on Tuesday and only have a few days to prepare for my move back to the US. If I can buy it online, that will save time.

Best wishes,
Cory

[coryg]

Thanks otchengdu, I may buy something on decathlon’s website as they have a ton of duffle bags under 100 RMB that are large enough.

[Author]

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