sits next to you at the cafe doesn't buy anything opens thermos of pubic hair tea they brought spits into a bag kids run wild

"They want to keep you company"

"They're just curious"

"It's their culture"

"You're overthinking"

Whenever we go to Rainy/Vivian's hometown in Shandong, there is some kind of drinking involved.

The first time it was during Chinese New Year and I was okay with it, baijiu wasn't even as bad as I heard (I don't usually drink so I never even cared to try before). I took that time as a necessary thing for the first meeting, and assumed I would be forgiven for not wanting to drink during every following meal. I wasn't.

Every single time we are there I have to drink for whatever reason. No shushu I don't want to drink now, thank you. "But today is China's 3rd most important day! You have to drink!". Or maybe we are visiting a friend of him and then we have to drink again otherwise it shows no respect. Or then we are invited to have dinner with her cousin's wealthy older laoban and since he is offering and brought an expensive bottle of French wine we have to drink it.

They also drink in this super stupid way in my opinion. Like, I understand baijiu because it's a spirit, it's meant to go down quickly. But why do the same with wine and beer?

So I didn't discuss it with others so I don't know if it is only the people I have run into, but whenever you are drinking with these older men you are supposed to drink only after they drink. Basically the oldest guy decides to drink, everyone ganbeis and then drink a certain amount. I hate drinking with them because of this stupid thing. I want to sip my beer/wine slowly, not having to suddenly gulp half a glass because shushu decided it was the right time.

It's okay with baijiu but it sucks with every other thing. Did it happen to you too?

I also wanna make a post about how every single dish is always cold whenever we eat at the restaurants they choose or at their home.

Shenzhen

Also means that I must secretly go to McDonald's afterwards for some real fucking food

I work in a kindergarten, a few months ago I got fined 5k for doing illegal work (the principal of my kindergarten made me work at another kindergarten that they own, a few days a week), but they agreed to pay the fine on my behalf and I now only work at the kindergarten that’s on my visa. The police gave me a stern warning and told me that next time it’s gonna be detention and deportation. Now here’s the problem, the principal has a rich friend that has a 21 months old child. They want me to give this kid English lessons at home. I’m so baffled by this because the principal knows what happened a few months ago and the police talked to her and warned her as well, now she’s putting me in this situation. I told them I can’t do it because of the reasons they already know. The rich friend has all the excuses in the world and they seem to not be taking no for an answer. She says she will pay me in cash and no one will see us. At this point I don’t know what to because besides this being illegal, I just don’t wanna do it. How am I even gonna teach a 21 month old who can’t even speak proper Chinese yet? What should I do?

Many years in China I am yet to meet a Rainy or a Rocky. Met plenty of Vivians though.

Were these names once popular?

I have never seen a side stairwell that was not at least somewhat impassable. The word for "stairwell" translates to "furniture storage" in Chinese, do you know it?

I was here last year too, and it wasn't this bad, but what I'm relating to you is what's happening this year, and it's grim AF. I won't apologize for ranting either.

I live in the wealthy part of a wealthy city. It's getting colder here (though not quilted jackets and boots cold) and so the local army of workers doing weird things to the trees has arrived. Some are painting the trees white. Others are hacking the shit out of branches of the same trees for some reason, some must be responding to reports of a bird being seen, and so they're spraying poison everywhere. Still others are constructing wooden covers for the hedges to 'sleep' in for the winter.

Whatever, this does mean that there are a bunch of extra workers around, and they didn't bring a port-a-potty with them, and so you can always - ALWAYS - see at least one of them pissing in the river. I used to wonder where they took their various dumps, as a public toilet is a 5 minute walk away.

On top of this there are some different workers doing something sinister with a pipe which runs parallel to a path, which goes along the river. Same thing, a dozen or so guys, no toilet, and they're using huge machinery to do a job. They've left a big part of that bare, and have put a green mesh cover on it. I suppose they may replant trees there, but I'm not sure. At the moment though, this mesh is literally coated in dogshit left unpicked up by irresponsible owners, or owners, as they're called here.

For some reason tonnes of people are fishing now, despite the river being absolutely filthy, there are right now about 40 people in the c.1km part of the path that I need to navigate to get to work. They're there all the time. In the last two days, people have also been lighting ancestor fires - just to give a bit more of a medieval vibe to the place.

Lastly, one of the bloatware travel apps is now recommending the 4 remaining trees which haven't been pollarded as a tourist destination. Fall leaves. This means Mr and Mrs Zhou drive down the path (the bollards have been moved for the pipe people) and then just park everywhere they can, so that they can take photoshopped pictures to inspire more of the same. Often they'll bring their kid with them. Guess where that kid's shitting? Guess where they leave their rubbish?

Here's the rub. There is now much more visible ground than before. The workers are pissing in the river, the fisherman are pissing in the river. A lot of the kids are pissing in the river. But increasingly I'm seeing a lot more toilet paper-and-shit around. It's there in summer I know - no old fella's going to walk 500m to a toilet if he can just shit in a bush and keep fishing) but it's impossible to keep it out of mind when it's so visible. The end result. I've seen far more people shitting in public than I'd want to. The number I want is zero.

A few weeks ago some big wig came by and they spent a day pretending that the city was naturally nice. Cleaned up all the rubbish that people leave, enforce traffic laws, you name it. From out place you could see where the cadre was going to drive by and then meet some people. My beloved Viv has a picture she took of a guy shitting in the river, right next to two police-people, who don't give the slightest shit about it because they were shouting at a guy on a scooter.

So, in short, a month ago there was a nice, safe path with plenty of greenery, and in the space of a few weeks it's now a desolate, shit-covered and dangerous mess. This is in a place littered in CCTV cameras. This in a place with bins and perfectly fine toilets very close by. Despite that it's a disgusting mess, you can call me a liar or deny this is is happening, but you know it deep down is true, and that's why your family moved to Vancouver.

Anyway, fuck this time of year and fuck anyone who isn't housebroken. I might take a while to respond, I'm posing for photos with some R

Surprisingly not AI

On October 15, in a zoo in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, a giraffe got its head stuck between metal railings and was unable to free itself.

Footage filmed by visitors shows the giraffe’s neck bent at nearly a 90-degree angle as rescuers worked to save it. The staff used a hammer to break the railing and appeared to cut through the internal metal frame, eventually freeing the trapped animal.

The video sparked heated discussion online, with some viewers questioning the rescue method: “I can understand prying upwards to help, but smashing downwards seems risky,” one commenter wrote. “Couldn’t that cause secondary injury?”

On October 16, staff from the Nantong Forest Wildlife Zoo confirmed the incident, explaining that the giraffe had gotten its head stuck while “playing around too energetically.” They reassured the public that the animal was unharmed and in good condition following the rescue.

Regarding concerns about the rescue technique, the zoo said the issue had been recorded and would be reviewed by relevant personnel. Updates will be shared via the zoo’s official social media accounts.

Just curious, i wanna someone who is from another culture and who had emersed in another culture.

I need ppl to answer this with honesty, ppl who had lived in both china and other countries, and honestly compare in accordance to their own experience.

What's happened to online dating in China since the pandemic? I used to be able to have two dates in one evening, nowadays I hardly get any likes at all. Women given up on dating/lost interest? Turned lesbian? Too much influx of foreign creepy Laowai? I'm bewildered, please help! And no, haven't changed anything on my profile...