much less to China.... I don't have the energy to dig that far....

Not going to travel to see a subjugated people groveling to their dear leader.

The economy is contracting, they're trying to recover from the mistaken "zero Covid" policy, the real estate scam is being exposed as a real estate scam, and xenophobia, never far under the surface, is on the rise as full employment for Chinese menas less employment for foreigners.

They're also starting to realize there was a down side to rapid industrialization.

Short term, maybe tourism at the usual spots with a guide/foreigner minder is probably the most people can expect to do. Otherwise the door's going to snap shut for a while as they retrench.

place. I only hope I can get my wife out.

They have parents and siblings there with little hope of getting any of them out. They miss their families but these days they don't even want to go for a visit.

I hope the red tape that is fouling the works dries up soon and you get your wife out. The next few years are foing to be bad there as Winnie the Xi, a jumped up bureaucrat if I ever saw one, continues to flail around trying to solve all the problems he inherited all by himself.

But can't since I'm going to Egypt in little over a week. The US State Dept. has Egypt as "Reconsider"....but its been that way for the past 11 years. I've also been to Mexico a number of times and the paranoia I hear from some to not go, is off the charts. I'm more likely to get shot and killed if I took a teaching job here in the USA.

I even have former co-workers who didn't win the "lottery" to stay here now in China.

There's problems all over the world, including here. But sensationalism, paranoia, etc. tends to amplify things beyond what is reality. One youtube video isn't going to convince me. And lets get real, there are places here in the USA that are just down right dangerous.

My wife would love to see her fathers home country, but visiting Iran obviously isn't going to be on the table soon. Sure there are some nations like North Korea you should just plain out avoid. But, if I live in fear my entire life, I'd never see anything. And I want to see the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Terra Cotta warriors, Shanghai and Hong Kong Disneyland, etc.

And I want to visit Russia as well, in fact we were in the early stages of deciding our itinerary, which hotels, etc. then the war broke out. Simply telling me not to go to a nation to visit because of one youtube video isn't going to sway me. I pour into a lot of research on my vacation destinations.

if you don't understand Chinese. The things they said about my in tourist places when they assumed I was too dumb to understand Chinese were so cringe that they made my wife regret she was born in China.

Go to places where you are welcomed and wanted: Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and Taiwan.

Screw mainland China.

As for the places you want to see:

Forbidden City - the locals have trashed it under Winnie the Flu so much that it should be condemned.
the Great Wall - Not worth it, especially at Badaling. Avoid the taxis and take the 877 buss from Deshengmen Station.
Terra Cotta warriors - all you do is walk in a circle and take pictures.
Shanghai Disneyland - my wife said is sucks.
Hong Kong Disneyland - overrated. Been there.

but no culture is a monolith, and no country is made up solely of supporters of the worst of it.

There are wonderful things in China, historically significant and awe inspiring.

It's worth a visit, if you can stomach increased tensions with the USA right now. I may reconsider if I were planning a family trip right now. (I wouldn't step foot in Russia right now, and I was there in 2019.). But I've got a child and I'm cautious.

China has had years of contracting economy, and some of that nationalism is a result of that. (we see it here with the "BUILD THE WALL" brigade.). There are many things in our country that seem unsafe for people, as well, and I don't know that traveling in China is inherently worse than traveling in the USA, safety wise.

They have one educational system, not 50. The dissidents are the exceptions, not the rude.

There is one thought and 1.4 billion slight nuances. The CCP has made it a monolith.

Until you live there, it's hard to wrap heads around it because we, as westerners, are taught that nothing is a monolith.

I know I can't convince you.

I personally wouldn't want to live under that government, but not everyone has a negative experience like you've had. I believe we have some other DUers other than Bill who also live and work there.

but I've had this conversation with you before; you just don't remember.

I lived in Hong Kong for years. I understand the complexity of China; I have friends born and raised and relocated from the mainland to Hong Kong, then North America or Australia. I know the complications and corruptions that exist in the government and in the business world. I am aware of the bad and the instability and the increasing xenophobia. I am also aware of the historical significance of the place, that it isn't a monolith, that there is an amazing culture there, and that there are site to celebrate and worth seeing. You speak in absolutes, maybe understandable as someone who feels screwed by the system. But you also are married to a Chinese woman and are a part of a Chinese family, and you MUST KNOW that things are more complex than the negative drum you beat.

but it is being strangled little by little. And I'm very familiar with Chinese politics and Chinese overreach.

Our plan was to hit Russia in 2020, well, that didn't work out. So we decided to wait until Covid died down and once it looked like that would be the case in late 2021 we started thinking early June for 2022. Well so much for that.

I changed jobs so I had to wait another year to hit our next bucket list item, Egypt. We will be going in just over a week, assuming the entire Mid-East doesn't explode. An uncle joked to me and said "Please don't plan a vacation near me!".

I'm wishing you a safe trip! Hope you see all you want to see and you and your companions are safe and have a fun time. (And let me know your travel plans next summer so I can choose something else! Lol).

There are still known sundown towns and as a black American? Ain't no way I would live down south, or a place like Idaho right now. Atlanta - yep. That's about it. Maybe Birmingham. On that note - I live a few miles from the PA border. I do Philly often - but if I had to be in Pittsburgh I would fly.

Better chance of my black ass meeting god in the next five minutes than me driving through Pennsyltucky!

I guess from being black in America I'm just like . . .

Yeah. I've dealt with this shit since 1978 and we stepped off the plane from Germany when my dad left the military. It just is.

There are bigots in this world. I dealt with it as a five year old in America -you have to learn to brush it off.

I have lived in the South, although in blue areas, but there is a reason why my wife and I now live in a CA metro area. I have turned down requests from recruiters to interview at places in Idaho, Arkansas, etc.

Right after Thanksgiving. I'm not really comfortable with China right now. Too much aggressive posturing going on in the South China Sea.

We didn't encounter any problems other than payment issues and a couple of flight delays. If you don't have a WeChat wallet, it will be tough sledding. We had a great time; it is absolutely worth visiting if you're doing it on the company dime.

Anyone interested in just how close those ties still are, I'd recommend having a watch of some of the content on America Uncovered - CU's sister channel.

Especially the content from the 7th, which has quite the spicy take on Kamala Harris's qualifications to be our VP.

understand their hatred of the CCP.

My beef is with the CCP. CU reports on those scumbags. I don't post his bullshit about our country.

Also I do agree with him that Gavin Newsome needs to stop playing footsie with the CCP and tell the CCP to go sit on a muddy carrot. All western businesses should.

And posts nasty, crazy stuff about America. It is a garbage source.

but I am with The Epoch Times and their ties to Falun Gong (AND SHEN YUN, the dance company!). Both The Epoch Times and Shen Yun are propaganda arms of Falun Gong, and they've decided to ally themselves with some nefarious and anti-democratic agents in the US. So... if the video above is in any way related to them... it's not trustworthy.

Still though, they keep up with the usual RW bullshit through their sister channel AU. I'd suspect that their content put out during the Trump years would be quite eye opening on what side of the political spectrum they throw their lot in with, if their prior links to the Epoch Times don't already make that quite apparent.

CU is officially under America Uncovered LLC today. By naming choice, CU would be the side project but well... Given Trumps loss in 2020, I suppose the side project has more mass market appeal.

Edit - Though they might still be receiving some funding from the New Tang Dynasty Television, another Falun Gong project. Their shows are still offered on some streaming services under their name anyway. Residual licensing agreements perhaps? I suppose the original funding would have been done through them as well.

the Rants used to be about the USA and how horrible we were. Then he went to china. Wonder what will be said of Thailand next.

From the Consulate of the People's Republic of China.
On my DoD work cell.
According to the voicemails, they aren't giving out tickets yet.
Not going to visit anytime soon. Which is sad, my parents visited back in the 1990's on a teacher's exchange tour, and it looked like a lovely country, despite the authoritarian oversight of everything.

Haele

I'm kind of obsessed with wanting to see the Cotai MGM Grand, and the other Cotai casinos, but otherwise no way would I give money to Xi Jianping.

Made in America Chinese food!

Anyone who can scrape up the airfare will find affordable shelter and food, amazing transportation services, stunning tours and friendly people happy to practice English phrases

Do you have any videos not associated with the insane Falun Gong cult?

Last edited Wed Nov 1, 2023, 02:07 AM - Edit history (1)

But what do I know?"

Friendly people? You obviously don't speak or understand Chinese. They say the nastiest things about foreigners all the time and use "but this is China and it's our way" as a shield for their xenophobia.

But again, I only lived there and speak the language. What do I know about a place I lived for 25% of my life.

You want warmongering, go there and see how they are indoctrinating students to hate the US and Japan during mandatory school age "military training."

We like our consumer electronics nice and cheap in this country so I happily do it for y’all. I don’t mind I love traveling and working in foreign countries. Plus have my very own luxury apartment that my company pays for.

while listening to them rip your country to pieces, you understand quickly you're "foreign trash," a "black devil," or "a white skinned pig."

洋垃圾，黑鬼，白皮猪

And that's all you'll ever be there now because that's all the CCP wants people to see us as.

I'll just stay here and hand out candy

for marrying me, me being called trash because I'm a foreigner, getting spit on for being a foreigner, being beaten up in a gym locker room by three guys because they saw my star of david and hate Jews for what they do to the world, and being constantly told that everyone in China hates me and I need to leave because China is just for the Chinese.

But again, what do I know? I just lived there for 12 years and speak the language fluently.

The CCP has weaponized xenophobia and bigotry. Avoid going.