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haha, that’s great! Of course the point of these practices is in the act, not in the ‘reality’ of it. That makes these iPads so brilliant, I think. It is taking the tradition seriously, and at the same time looks at it with a wink and a smile. Perhaps it will get younger people to keep and treasure the tradition…
@Rick, don’t you think it is brilliant? Why would the forefathers only need money up there? 😉 I even heard a joke about it: boy is burning an iPad at his grandfather’s grave. Says his brother: that’s silly, grandfather never learnt how to use it! Says the boy: but Steve Jobs is up there too, he can show him how… (and just to put things clear, I don’t want to use it for myself, I’m not going anywhere just now, hopefully 😉 I just want to have a look at the stuff.
@Ono, yes, you’re absolutely right. So are Easter bonfires, and incense burning. But I’d rather have the pollution of one QingMing than of the factories running all year round.
Apparently, but I’ve not tried yet, you can also deposit money at the post office (like a prepaid card) and then buy on taobao. That way you don’t need a bank card. Can anyone give a more detailed description of how to do this?
Perhaps this pottery workshop is still making them: http://www.douban.com/note/49228685/
When we lived in Cairo we would pack our ‘organic’ waste in a separate bag from the ‘dry’ waste. That tremendously eases the work of people who sort through trash and makes it all much less dirty, and was actually something we did on the request of the ‘zabbalin’, a group of people making a living with sorting and recycling trash. They managed to recycle about 80% of the collected garbage. Perhaps we all could do the same here? If you are interested, look at this website http://www.garbagedreams.com/
When buying, specify whether you want them to contain metro credit or bus credit (both systems work differently). You can charge your metro credit at any metro station in one of the electronic card machines or with the help of the cashier.
we very much like the area of Waitan and Waterfront. There are some other housing complexes in this area as well, all with nice grounds and very close to the city center.
I just received a parcel last week that was sent 20 December 2012. So don’t lose hope too quickly. Strangely, the postman called me on my mobile, complaining he did not have my address… You could perhaps go to the parcel postoffice where you received parcels before and ask whether your stuff is there?
Just a small note: I heard today that EtonHouse will open another branch in south Chengdu (chinese bilingual, like Botanica), in August. May be of interest.
I’d say try to see if you can find an acceptable local primary school with a kindergarten department, I think there are many schools that have affiliated kindergartens; otherwise you will have to start the search all over again when he starts school, sooner than you think!
A friend of ours has their 2-year old in a Chinese kindergarten close to Masters building (Tongzilin, Renmin south road) and they are happy with it, if you pm me I can get you their email.
Also, check out EtonHouse http://chengdu.etonhouse.com.cn/, they have a Chinese division (which follows the same program and teaching style (PYP or IB primary) as the international division) but costs half the price of the international division. Kids are taught in Mandarin and English, giving your boy the chance to keep up with both, and connect to a western school system if you happen to move back. We have looked into bilingual kindergartens and at the three kindergartens mentioned by bwezza for our youngest but found EtonHouse Chinese division much cheaper (and very good). There are campuses at Times Residence, Botanica and two others but I don’t know exactly where, I don’t think in your area. Best contact the school for more info.
I hear (but that is only hearsay) that Waldorf school http://www.chinawaldorf.org/ has a very long waitinglist and is not eager to take foreign kids, but I may be wrong.
And what about Meishi international school http://www.miscd.com/en/index.html , they have a kindergarten department from 4 years I think, are they also as expensive? Worth to check it out.
Although Beijing is known abroad as one of the most polluted cities in the world, Chengdu is much worse. In Beijing, they have the odd peak (over 500 AQI), but the next day things are back to very nice again (with many readings under 50). In Chengdu, we are at a constant average of about 150-200, and the average is rising. Between september 2012 and now there have only been 10 days in Chengdu with a reading below 100, and none below 50. If you are talking health effects, you can avoid a bad day outdoors in Beijing, while you cannot in Chengdu. Beijing is the capital, and the place where all the reporters are, so it gets all the attention. But I’m amazed at how many CD residents still seem to think it is better here than in Beijing.
You can see how PM10 and PM2.5 contribute to the readings very nicely on this site, http://www.aqicn.info/?city=chengdu (the readings are blank today because the thing got stuck yesterday evening at 1008 AQI….)
The difference in the two readings is because US consulate does not take PM10 into account but only PM2.5, while the PM10 was ridiculously high the past two days. Normally, PM2.5 is more of a problem in CD which is why the consulate readings are normally higher. It was very clear that this was not a wrong reading: while the ‘normal’ pollution, even when it reached the 400s in January, never smelled, yesterday and today there was a very distinct and dusty stink in the air. Whoever was burning something or dusting cement somewhere has stopped doing it, apparently, since readings are now back to ‘normal’, as far as normal goes…
But we were in the Sichuan basin area yesterday too, Ian… what makes it so bad today, especially for PM10, while PM2.5 looks about average for this filthy city?
If you look at the levels for the past week, it looks as if factories have turned to working at night and on sundays…
Does anybody have a clue what causes this sudden rise in PM10 today? There is some wind allright… Is there anything about this in the local news?
Is there any chance for the music box to post their schedules online? Which classes / free play at which day/time? I really missed that on the website, and did not receive any answer to my enquiry by mail.
Dear Jean, I really do think that a school environment has so much more to offer than just the tutoring: friends for the kids, getting out of the house, structure in a time when everything is up in the air, new contacts for yourself (all schools welcome parent involvement), extracurricular activities like sports clubs etc. All of those would take so much more time and effort to organize on your own, especially since most other kids will be at school during the daytime. Settling in normally takes about half a year, I think if you have to invent the wheel in all aspects of your life it could take you much longer. That is a very very long time for kids to be without solid relationships outside of the family. Don’t forget that at home, you have a lot of those contacts already in place because they grew over the years. Here you will have to start from scratch and build your whole social circle up again, which is not at all that easy for kids if there are no other kids around during the day. The quickest way for everyone in your family to settle in is to connect – from day 1 – to others who share your interests: school is one obvious place for kids, also sports/music/arts clubs, etc. etc. I do think there is a homeschooling group in Chengdu, but I have no idea how much they do it together and whether it is only aimed at very young kids. However, to me it would seem something for when you plan to be here longterm and already have a social circle to rely on. I would do homeschooling only if I would be travelling for a few months only, or from place to place so that there is not time for building friendships. The kids will not have a language problem since all schools teach in English. Also, although international schools are of course not representative of China, how much will your kids benefit of the international experience if you keep them at home? Isn’t one of the purposes of being out here to discover and experience what the ‘rest of the world’ is all about, even if you’re not immersing yourself completely in the Chinese culture? International schools are very good at teaching kids about the world, different cultures, and everyone’s place in it.
I don’t know how old your kids are, but Etonhouse is primary only, the other schools have secondary too, although for older kids (say over 15) I think CDIS and QSI are the best options due to the number of kids attending.
International schools are expensive, but if your company can pay for tutors (you would want quality teachers I guess) then I think they would cover those fees too.
Demanding? My experience until now is that the programs offered here in the international schools are so much better than anything offered in public schools in the Netherlands. There are small group sizes with many staff on the group (our kids have a teacher for every 6 or 7 kids, which is unheard of in the Netherlands), and are thus able to accomodate a lot of different learning abilities and levels within the group. I think all schools have ambitious learning goals, but I would not call the manner in which they try to maximise a child’s potential demanding. But that is personal, perhaps. My kids are very happy at school and are learning a lot, but in a very playful, creative and relaxed atmosphere.
Whether you may think a school is rigid or not I cannot decide,it depends on your own style, but all are very open for you to come and see the school and classes and taste the atmosphere.
This post is becoming too long, but I would urge you to have a look at schools and come and taste the atmosphere. Take the kids with you and let them have a say too.
