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Deleuzionist posted:US Embassy Beijing Ah, okay. My girlfriend studies in china and I have no idea what the average air quality is like over there, although apparently her city's no worse than Chicago on average.
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Feb 9, 2013 22:07
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karthun posted:151+ is considered to be unhealthy for all groups and 200+ is considered to be an emergency condition. Yeah, but at what point is a relative healthy person laboring to breath without a filtration system? The terms are rather nebulous considering the wide range of cited values (if 200 is emergency, what is 300, 400, 500?). Obviously, they would shut down the factories and close the streets before anything, but if they aren't...it is pretty much up to people to "voluntarily" evacuate? Ardennes fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Feb 9, 2013 |
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Feb 9, 2013 22:35
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Chengdu goes over 300 occasionally but I never have to labor to breathe. It's more just an unpleasant, harsh smell and at worst a raspy sensation in your throat. Psychological symptoms include considering why you live in China and whether the American job market has improved in your absence.
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Feb 9, 2013 23:55
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I breathe shallowly through my nose and let the snot build up to filter out some of the crap. I'm dribbling snot as I come inside from wherever I was going outside. I blow my nose and see streaks of gray crud that's built up.
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Feb 10, 2013 03:32
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PM2.5 particulates aren't visible so the stuff you can see isn't really the stuff that's killing you. I've been using various types of N95 filters. http://s.taobao.com/search?q=n95+%B...suggest&wq=n95+ The ones that also have active charcoal elements and an exhalation valve are the best, I've been to Beijing twice in the last bit and I've not hat anything in my snot and no respiratory complaints, compared to the last time I went there for less than 12 hours on a bad day and was coughing and hacking for days. Hell I wear one into a public bathroom and couldn't smell anything, for that alone they're well worth the price. The ones I have reduce but don't completely eliminate second hand smoke though, for that you need a more expensive P95 grade mask.
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Feb 10, 2013 04:03
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Grand Fromage posted:In Korea a typical day would be rice and kimchi for breakfast, rice, kimchi, some vegetables, maybe meat, and soup for lunch and dinner. In every instance the majority of the food is the bowl of rice and the rest are sides (banchan, and what you might think of for Korean food like bulgogi or gamjatang).
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Feb 10, 2013 06:51
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hitension posted:Why do I suspect the relevant foreign aid agencies have bigger fish to fry than HONG KONG of all places Apparently they tried it here, in New Zealand. They've got the same airport and supermarket restrictions on formula that you lads were talking about. (Apparently you fellas have been chatting about that, whoops!) E: Hurr what is export commodity. Should've warned me this wasn't the first time you'd been talking about it. Had to scroll backwards, ken? WarpedNaba fucked around with this message at 12:04 on Feb 10, 2013 |
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Feb 10, 2013 11:09
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Hey guys let's literally make people pay to live under freeway overpasses in shipping containers. "Underneath Flyover Action" is apparently a pressure group that is unironically saying shipping containers placed under overpasses would be a good housing solution for young Hong Kongers priced out of the regular market. It also dares to call these shipping containers 'flats.' Look, I've played enough Tropico to know things get bad when people have to start building shacks to live in and setting up government rental bunkhouses are only slightly better. This comes after the announcement that subsidized apartments for young people won't be ready for four years, and at that point there will be a whopping  300 available. Oh wait actually it says 'less than 300.' Some Bullshit posted:The Hollywood Road project is expected to yield 200 flats of 15 to 20 square metres, while there will be fewer than 70 flats in Tai Po. Young said more land had been found for similar projects, but he did not elaborate. So 270. The coming generation of Hong Kongers are truly hosed.
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Feb 15, 2013 04:40
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Is it an unsustainable housing bubble, or is it a permanent change in the structure of the market?
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Feb 15, 2013 05:42
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Depends on who you ask. I personally believe this is a bubble caused by mainland money laundering that will crash in the next few years with a slowing Chinese economy, corruption crackdowns, looser capital outflow controls and better investment opportunities for mainlanders. On the other hand, the tight grip that the property developing oligarchs have on land supply here does keep prices pretty high. Even in the low dips caused by SARS and the Asian Financial Crisis, prices were high by international standards. Policy would have to change to stop developers from hoarding land and hoarding empty apartments until prices are favorable, both of which they openly admit to doing. Hong Kong's land value tax should reasonably combat the former, but doesn't because of the huge margins at stake. There is currently nothing preventing the latter, and some pressure groups and leftier lawmakers have proposed a vacancy tax to stop empty flat hoarding. Some people, especially those in the real estate industry but also people who have an agenda toward it (like some writers and columnists at the SCMP), will swear up and down that it's not a bubble and this is the new normal and prices will go up for ever. They say the same hilarious stuff that we Americans heard before 2008, my favorite being "They're not making any new land. Of course prices have to go up forever!" But really, we saw this before. There is no way Hong Kong's 'new normal' is 500 square foot homes that cost 15 years of average wages to pay off (meaning 100% of pretax income paying only for the home). If things don't change soon enough I predict literal riots. But the government isn't stupid. They know Hong Kong's 0.9 birth rate is related to cramped, squalid living conditions and it's totally unsustainable. The current Chief Executive made his fortune as a real estate consultant/manager, which means EITHER he is in bed with developers and will do everything they want because he's one of them, or he knows the game well and knows how to change it. He ran his campaign on the latter idea.
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Feb 15, 2013 05:59
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CH Tung tried to lower the real estate price and he became very unpopular. Too much of the Hong Kongers' wealth is tied into the real estate market, they can not allow the price to go down. It's a cycle of bad juju. Although I doubt there is going to be riot though. Living in the caged apartments has become part of HK culture.
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Feb 15, 2013 06:34
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I guess you're right. The cage homes are for the elderly and the subdivided flats are for mainland immigrants, neither of whom are going to rise up. The common people just react against the real estate prices by not getting married and/or not having kids, which will ultimately have much more destructive effects on Hong Kong than riots ever could. The Tung shenanigans were before my time, but apparently he's somewhat responsible for today's madness. He had so many plans to expand housing supply that ended up getting cancelled after the 97 Financial Crisis and SARS because people couldn't stand their homes losing value. If he had gone ahead with those plans anyway, Hong Kong would be doing a-okay housing wise by now. People want it both ways. They want to live in high value homes while having the opportunity to buy cheaply priced new ones... which will then quickly gain value and become prohibitively expensive, enriching the owners. To simplify this thesis: people want free money. My rebuttal: gently caress them. gently caress real estate speculators. Homes are for living in, not investing in. Buy stocks or bonds or gold or commodities or complex derivatives or pokemon cards or wines or comic books or Sino-Japanese war memorabilia or whatever the gently caress you want to store value in, but not homes. Deep State of Mind fucked around with this message at 06:54 on Feb 15, 2013 |
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Feb 15, 2013 06:48
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Bloodnose posted:I guess you're right. The cage homes are for the elderly and the subdivided flats are for mainland immigrants, neither of whom are going to rise up. The common people just react against the real estate prices by not getting married and/or not having kids, which will ultimately have much more destructive effects on Hong Kong than riots ever could. This is just stupid. So, if I get this right. Developers are squatting on land and not building. What it sounds like needs to be done is a flat out policy of "develop the land within a certain time frame within guidelines or lose it". As in, confiscation, no compensation... it becomes owned by the government and gets auctioned off with the proceeds to pay for public housing.
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Feb 15, 2013 09:54
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poo poo double post
Imperialist Dog fucked around with this message at 12:00 on Feb 15, 2013 |
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Feb 15, 2013 11:57
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Funny enough, Hong Kong has got lots of land available. You just have to be able to live in an abandoned village. http://hongwrong.com/kuk-po-abandoned-village/
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Feb 15, 2013 11:59
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Imperialist Dog posted:Funny enough, Hong Kong has got lots of land available. You just have to be able to live in an abandoned village. http://hongwrong.com/kuk-po-abandoned-village/ HK has plenty of space even on Hong Kong Island itself. There was this goon whom I met in NY, he worked for IBM for a couple years. His family is in HK and eventually he moved back to HK and found a commercial video editing job. I met him again in HK and he showed me around. We took the bus to the south side of HK Island and there was plenty of space. They just need to build the subway over there. The problem is HK government's interest has aligned with the real estate developer for so long I don't even hear about HKers complain about it. People who bother to point out the actual problems are all outsiders. There are two things you can count on from the Hong Kongers: unhealthy obsession to crowd in the few convenience places together; very content to remain single or childless even if they move to a different city. Overall very high royalty to Hong Kong particular way of life.
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Feb 15, 2013 12:30
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Pro-PRC Laowai posted:This is just stupid. So, if I get this right. Developers are squatting on land and not building. Yep that would be ideal. Imperialist Dog posted:Funny enough, Hong Kong has got lots of land available. You just have to be able to live in an abandoned village. http://hongwrong.com/kuk-po-abandoned-village/ edit: whatever7 posted:There are two things you can count on from the Hong Kongers: unhealthy obsession to crowd in the few convenience places together; very content to remain single or childless even if they move to a different city. Overall very high royalty to Hong Kong particular way of life.  Ma On Shan on the right side of that 'Sha Tin Hoi' is a little strip of super dense development that goes along an MTR line and a highway (the left side there is similar, including Fo Tan residential area, Science Park, the Racecourse and Chinese University). Off the develop strip are a few little roads that lead into rural villages, but you can see all the undeveloped green space everywhere. That's by design, not the choice of Hong Kongers to be lazy and not want to go away from the MTR or whatever. The huge-rear end Ma On Shan country park is a protected area where you can't build giant housing blocks. You also can't just go building a 50-story apartment building in a village either, because the villagers have their own powerful lobby in the form of the Heung Yee Kuk. Nobody wants to remain single and childless. Well, some people don't want kids and some people don't want to be married. But the idea that people want to live in crowded apartments with their parents well into adulthood just so they can be near a train line or something is ridiculous. Yes, richer people in richer countries have fewer kids. But you're crazy if you think most Hong Kongers are happy with the typical way of life here. In fact, it seems every other day the SCMP has another poll result about how everybody here is miserable. Deep State of Mind fucked around with this message at 15:50 on Feb 15, 2013 |
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Feb 15, 2013 15:35
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I noticed that a little after 2008 real estate prices around Asia really started to jump with a glut of condo building activity in countries like Thailand. All of asia seems to be be going through a bubble. There's real estate in Laos that has quadrupled in 5 years. It's outrageous. It seems like there's been a shifting of global money into asian real estate as a speculative investment and maybe a "safe haven" for the big money guys. I don't think it's all mainland cash but probably big investment firms from the western world too buying in. I don't know much about the macro side of real estate but maybe the real estate boom in Asia reacts like a seesaw to real estate in the west. When the west is down the east goes up. Etc.. Now that the U.S. real estate market is recovering in some areas we'll see more realistic prices again in Asia. Speaking of which.. I have been in California for the past couple months and i've seen fairly wealthy mainland Chinese buying half million to a million dollar houses with CASH in various suburbs around here. Modus Operandi fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Feb 15, 2013 |
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Feb 15, 2013 17:38
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A lot of the weirdness in the Asian markets has to be related to Chinese capital controls right? They've got all sorts of money sloshing around and there's deep distrust of Chinese institutions within China, which I would guess mean that money really wants to flee.
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Feb 15, 2013 21:45
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If China money is fleeing, it would have fleed to Chinese speaking regions AND the US. It wouldn't have fleed to other Asian countries. Corrupted officials send their childrens to the US, they don't send them to other Asian countries.
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Feb 15, 2013 21:55
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To be fair, everyone who can sends their kids to the U.S. The Chinese higher education system is a joke. There's a pervasive attitude that college is supposed to be a four year vacation, and the kids get to pick which teachers to fire so there's not much chance of that changing. A bachelors' degree from a Chinese university doesn't mean a whole lot. I used to assume that Chinese kids were in the U.S. because of the U.S. education system, but now I realize they're coming over because of the Chinese education system.
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Feb 16, 2013 02:45
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Arglebargle III posted:A lot of the weirdness in the Asian markets has to be related to Chinese capital controls right? They've got all sorts of money sloshing around and there's deep distrust of Chinese institutions within China, which I would guess mean that money really wants to flee. I think in particular Macao and Hong Kong have become or have become even more so, a conduit of wealth from the mainland due to their status. Macao is (still) an impressive front for money laundering, and Hong Kong's strong property market makes a compelling investment. That said, I think maybe people from Hong Kong (looking at the Canada thread) also have invested/moved to Vancouver as the Hong Kong market continues to swell, and that many of them simply would rather live in Canada for a multitude of reasons. However, life has been become for difficult for working people in Hong Kong and Vancouver because there isn't enough room to match the amount of demand. Ultimately, there will be a crash at some point, the crisis are too ridiculous for there not to be one but there are significant (even if it is mostly legally defined) restraints to future growth in both cities. That said, Vancouver is an interesting city since in many ways it feels very different than Seattle or Portland, not only the Canadian/British heritage but a very different attitude towards cultural autonomy. I assume the Chinese government could theoretically clamp down, but I doubt they would since so many members of the party are involved and there is a great demand of getting the money out of the country.
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Feb 16, 2013 03:14
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Arglebargle III posted:To be fair, everyone who can sends their kids to the U.S. The Chinese higher education system is a joke. There's a pervasive attitude that college is supposed to be a four year vacation, and the kids get to pick which teachers to fire so there's not much chance of that changing. A bachelors' degree from a Chinese university doesn't mean a whole lot. But a lot of rich Chinese kids can't muster the test scores to get into one of the few decent schools in China, and when this is the case it's usually off to the US with them! (Or England, or Canada, or Australia..)
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Feb 16, 2013 05:02
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I don't get how the Chinese I met didn't understand the idea of staples outside the borders of the Middle Kingdom. I met dozens of Chinese who had no problem breaking down the "rice/wheat" dichotomy for me when it came to regions, but seemed perplexed when it turned out that I didn't eat hamburgers and pizza at least once a day in the US. And I was working for an Beijing SEO in the shipping industry, it's not like these people were rubes. I mean anecdotal evidence and all, but it was something I got asked on average twice a week by co-workers/friends.
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Feb 16, 2013 05:10
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whatever7 posted:If China money is fleeing, it would have fleed to Chinese speaking regions AND the US. It wouldn't have fleed to other Asian countries.
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Feb 16, 2013 05:23
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Ardennes posted:That said, I think maybe people from Hong Kong (looking at the Canada thread) also have invested/moved to Vancouver as the Hong Kong market continues to swell, and that many of them simply would rather live in Canada for a multitude of reasons. That started in the 80s after the Sino-British Joint Declaration. Wealthier Hong Kongers started fleeing to the west and Canada in particular and Vancouver in super particular when they were worried communists would start jackbooting all over the SAR and taking away free speech and confiscating property and all that. So 'Hongkouver' as it's often called is not a new thing.
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Feb 16, 2013 16:39
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ReindeerF posted:From what I've read, it's fleeing everywhere. China's wealthy, if these articles that keep popping up are to be believed, have moved bajillions of dollars overseas to the US, UK, Singapore, Australia, Canada, you name it (I assume tons to banking outposts as well). There also seem to be some kind of low-rent version of the capital flight which is involved in this economic colonization of countries like Laos and Burma, because a lot of the movement around there is 100% real estate-based and has absolutely nothing to do with factories or production or natural resource development. It's purely "buy some land quasi-illegally, get a visa." They were doing it in droves until the Laos and Burmese governments finally woke up to citizen outcry, noticed and began staunching the flow. From what I gather, they can be found shopping for investment-based permanent residence accommodations all over the world. Reminds me a bit of a much more populous, more aggressive version of the Russians toward the end of the post-Yeltsin energy boom - not entirely sure about the future, looking to hedge bets. It's not like that would be an unusual situation in any country. Rabid nationalism is bread and circuses for the hoi polloi across the globe, regardless of what is said publicly. The wealthy can afford parachutes. I'd say that a very good chunk of it has to do with seeking higher returns on investments and diversifying said investments. The market here basically boomed and housing exploded. It's no longer a great investment to get in on here, as the ROI is only a few percent per year now. Also, with the whole one child thing, finding loopholes in rules is basically like a national sport here. Putting in place the steps to basically ensure you have an insurance policy regardless of what happens ain't a bad idea. Be you super corrupt, slightly corrupt or just successful. Rich people in the west dump their cash offshore in places and ways that can be deniable. Chinese dump it into land and property (cus it comes with side perks as well)
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Feb 16, 2013 16:55
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Gail Wynand posted:Chinese universities are good at the very top end. A degree from Beida, Qinghua, or Fudan will get you as far as any non-Ivy US undergrad degree, and possibly farther depending on what you want to do. I kinda wonder how much of that is because of their reputation alone, though. I spent some time at WuDa, which is supposedly to be pretty far up there, and it looked really similar to the podunk school I was teaching at- huge classrooms where everyone was napping/playing games on iphones/doing their nails while the teacher droned on over a canned powerpoint. Especially motivated students could probably get a lot out of the resources the school has, but is the minimum bar set any higher? I mean, I met seniors at my school who were majoring in English and were unable to respond to basic greetings, while some of the more motivated freshmen could have normal conversations with native speakers without breaking a sweat. I had gotten the impression that the same rules were in play for the better schools, too.
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Feb 16, 2013 22:18
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Electro-Boogie Jack posted:
For what it's worth, I'm an international student at Tsinghua, doing a Master's level program. It's less rigorous than my undergrad in North America. It's one of the newer programs, so they've got a vested interest in everyone doing well, but we've been straight up told as long as we show up and do the work, we will never get less than 80 percent in a course. I can't really speak for other departments, and I'm not in a STEM field. I've heard that Tsinghua is very good for STEM, but in my experience I can't say the same for non-stem departments.
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Feb 17, 2013 05:26
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Yeah, even the highest-ranked Chinese universities aren't really all that. The educational culture is very different. It's not to say that a highly motivated student couldn't succeed or that there aren't notable scholars, but the overall environment is not particularly conducive to a rigorous educational experience.
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Feb 17, 2013 05:37
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Lien posted:For what it's worth, I'm an international student at Tsinghua, doing a Master's level program. It's less rigorous than my undergrad in North America. It's one of the newer programs, so they've got a vested interest in everyone doing well, but we've been straight up told as long as we show up and do the work, we will never get less than 80 percent in a course. I can't really speak for other departments, and I'm not in a STEM field. I've heard that Tsinghua is very good for STEM, but in my experience I can't say the same for non-stem departments. Could I ask what you are studying? I plan on doing my masters in the mainland at some point in the next year or so and I'm always interested in hearing people's experiences. If you don't want to say though no problems. I have always wondered how rankings (especially international rankings) are done. I remember seeing rankings showing a few unis in China skyrocketing in international rankings, but I'm really skeptical of any of those lists. It seems to me it's better to just find a place that you like, that has a good adviser, and has resources you need to do your research. If you are self-motivated you can get a lot done. If not, well, you can half-rear end your way through just fine, I guess. I agree with the above comment about English majors, though. I've met more than a few who after 4 years can barely stammer through a conversation. (To be honest though, I feel the same way about a lot of Chinese language majors in the US). I think the bar is set low because at the moment the powers that be are pushing quantity over quality. They just want numbers.
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Feb 17, 2013 13:27
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Over here, there are pretty much two schools (arguably three) worth a poo poo, Thammasat and Chula (arguably Mahidol). Chula is the old school royal-sponsored school with the money and Thammasat was started in the mid-twentieth century by a more free-thinking politician/public intellectual and has risen to become the alternative. Mahidol is technically the oldest "institution of higher learning" but wasn't called a university for a long time. When there were uprisings against the authoritarian governments and the open slaughter of students and dissidents in the 70s and 80s and 90s, it happened at Thammasat (example). This, of course, isn't taught to anyone who doesn't go to Thammasat. It's an interesting dichotomy, because I mentor at Thammasat and the students that come out of there are about 500% more free-thinking and inquisitive than anywhere else. In that sense, it represents more of a Berkeley (contextually) to Chula's Harvard or Yale. I'm curious, does China's massive and growing university system have these kinds of dichotomies? Thailand's not tiny at 70MM people, but it's nowhere near the scale of even the US, let alone China, with nowhere near the resources. Still, you can see a marked difference on average between students from any other university and Thammasat, which has the closest thing I can see to Western-style, inquisitive curriculum that produces adults who can deal with international-style interactions. I'm just assuming that there must be at least one - if not more - schools in China like this given the size of the country. ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 13:38 on Feb 17, 2013 |
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Feb 17, 2013 13:34
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DaiJiaTeng posted:Could I ask what you are studying? I plan on doing my masters in the mainland at some point in the next year or so and I'm always interested in hearing people's experiences. If you don't want to say though no problems. Political Science. Honestly, my advice would be to go somewhere else unless you just want a piece of paper saying that you have a master's degree. Which is I guess ok for a terminal degree, but if you ever want to continue on to a PhD, I do not think you'll be well served by a Chinese Master's program. I wanted to do a master's because I really enjoy research, and I wanted to develop my research skills, as well as learning good statistical design. I can't say I feel like I've achieved that with the help of my institution. Any learning and progress I've made have been strictly outside of class on my own time. My adviser hasn't been terribly helpful either. For polisci/International Relations specifically, there is a joint program between Beida and LSE (I think), which might have been a better option, but in terms of finances it wasn't doable for me. Basically, unless you are planning on being in China very long term and don't have the ability to pay for a good school wherever you are, I'd suggest getting your Master's somewhere else. Apparently good Chinese unis are excellent for networking, but honestly I am really not sure how helpful it is for foreigners, and it's only useful if you're planning on being around to use that network. I don't want to leave you with the impression that it was total poo poo, there have been some good aspects to it as well, but those came about from student initiative, not the academic program itself.
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Feb 17, 2013 16:55
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Lien posted:Political Science. Honestly, my advice would be to go somewhere else unless you just want a piece of paper saying that you have a master's degree. Which is I guess ok for a terminal degree, but if you ever want to continue on to a PhD, I do not think you'll be well served by a Chinese Master's program. I wanted to do a master's because I really enjoy research, and I wanted to develop my research skills, as well as learning good statistical design. I can't say I feel like I've achieved that with the help of my institution. Any learning and progress I've made have been strictly outside of class on my own time. My adviser hasn't been terribly helpful either. Wouldn't there it look good on a CV if you are applying to a PhD (in something Asia related) in the US to have a Masters at a top three Chinese university? It would probably stand out in academia if you were a US citizen to have spent time at a top Chinese university.
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Feb 18, 2013 01:48
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Honestly, it kills me because I love living in Asia and I have nothing against China, but I really do think the US schools are better. I've met so many lackluster graduate students from these "top" schools that I am really leery of them and I am sure that US adcoms know this even better than a random student does. Examples of depressing conversations I've had with top ~3 universities' students: "Can you tell me about your research?" "Oh, I'm not really the academic type" "Why did you choose this major?" "I knew I could test into at a top university in this major" (it's bad enough when UNDERGRADS do it, but for grad schools in the US this would never pass muster...) "Why get a Master's in History if you don't want a PhD?" "If I get a PhD no men will want to marry me. My boyfriend has a PhD so it's perfect if I have a MA" I can only speak for social sciences, but my partner is in chemistry and he basically says the same thing -- they can't use any research results from China because plagiarism is so high and academic standards are so low that it's basically completely unreliable. It's one thing to go over for research trips or language study; it's quite another to do your entire degree over there. The fact that it's free and in China makes it tempting, but there are better ways to get international experience. Like the above poster says, if you really want the international experience, the joint programs might be a better idea. Johns Hopkins has a joint program with Nanjing University that's gotten a lot of press. I can think of a few limited exceptions... I knew a Polish girl who did a master's at NTU/TaiDa (note: not mainland China) and later went on to a top UK university. She was truly odd though, lived in Taiwan 2 years but couldn't really speak Mandarin and her English wasn't all that hot either. I also don't know if other fields might have some more potential? Chinese literature maybe? hitension fucked around with this message at 05:05 on Feb 18, 2013 |
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Feb 18, 2013 04:13
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http://www.sdaw.info/educational/educational_practices_china.htm A bit of background for folks who have never been involved with China's tertiary sector. VladimirPutin posted:Wouldn't there it look good on a CV if you are applying to a PhD (in something Asia related) in the US to have a Masters at a top three Chinese university? It would probably stand out in academia if you were a US citizen to have spent time at a top Chinese university. If you did it in Chinese then it would. Otherwise, probably not so much. "DiaJiaTeng' posted:I have always wondered how rankings (especially international rankings) are done. I remember seeing rankings showing a few unis in China skyrocketing in international rankings, but I'm really skeptical of any of those lists. There are two rankings which you should pay attention to: "The Times Higher Education Supplement World University Rankings" and the ranking compiled by Shanghai Jiatong Daxue (although these have been accused of being bent). They are compiled with a heavy bias towards research output and consider things like publication records and citation indicies. The rise of Chinese universities is washback from the 211 & 985 projects (which you might also want to look into) - I would hesitate to call it a direct effect because if you give a university in China a bunch of money it won't spend it all on what you want it to spend it on. There is certainly increased pressure for universities in this group to demonstrate progress and report activity. Hence, a chunk of this is probably just better reporting. Universities in China have also begun to poach academics - again, not the intention of the projects (which would surely be to develop native research talent) but there we go. The international lists themselves aren't really appropriate for China's tertiary sector because most universities here are primarily teaching organisations, with very little substantial research activity. As far as I know, most of the cash still comes through prvincial MoE grants attached to bums on seats. An engineering student in Henan, for example, attracts about 9K/year (RMB), they'll pay maybe half of that again in fees. GuestBob fucked around with this message at 04:30 on Feb 18, 2013 |
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Feb 18, 2013 04:26
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GuestBob posted:If you did it in Chinese then it would. Otherwise, probably not so much. Wouldn't it be drastically easier in Chinese, being geared toward locals?
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Feb 18, 2013 06:58
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Bloodnose posted:Wouldn't it be drastically easier in Chinese, being geared toward locals? I don't think the English language prgrams at Chinese universities are famous for their difficulty. If you are Indian and can wear a white coat some university in China will give you an MBChB. Doing a degree in another language though, that's always going to be tricky.
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Feb 18, 2013 08:05
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Yeah I wasn't saying the English programs would be rigorous. More like the bar is low there, and then even lower in Chinese. Stuff like the Hopkins Center should be an exception, where it's a western university program that's challenging you mostly in a foreign language (western students take Chinese classes, Chinese ones take English). But then again my masters program had a graduate of the Hopkins Center who was lazy as gently caress and ended up getting kicked out for plagiarism. I guess there's bad eggs everywhere, though. Sometimes they slip through the cracks.
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Feb 18, 2013 08:39
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I want to share two hard-hitting pieces of journalism from the South China Morning Post. First up, John Chan tackles a pressing issue with this article that asks: How can Hong Kongers avoid being struck by lightning? John Chan posted:What are the odds of being struck by lightning in Hong Kong? Records show that over the past 20 or so years there have been 44 casualties, including six deaths. That puts the odds of being struck by lightning in the city at one in three to four million - much better than in the US, which has about 300 casualties each year, of whom around 37 die. Next, Vivian Chen gives us insight into a world we might not have even known existed: Two people, of different ethnic and religious backgrounds, can get married!???!!! Compromise paves path to future for Rainbow Ng, Mohammed Khan. Vivian Chen posted:Rainbow Ng is a Hongkonger born and bred, while Mohammed Naveed Khan is of Pakistani descent. Although they are from different cultural backgrounds, their willingness to compromise has led to a lasting relationship. Setting aside that the SCMP is generally the headier English language newspaper here and tends to target a wealthy, cosmopolitan demographic, is Hong Kong still that loving racist? That two people of different races getting married is news? Imagine if we took the same situation and transplanted it to America. Chinese-American woman weds Pakistani-American man. Would you ever see such a thing reported? Not in the last 20 years. Hopefully 30. Hopefully more. Vivian Chen posted:"Naveed speaks fluent Cantonese so he can communicate with my family easily. My heart melts every time he and my mum crack a joke." New York Times: "Asian guy marries white girl, can speak English" READ ALL ABOUT IT. Setting aside my displeasure with the article itself, it is a sweet story and I wish the couple well.
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Feb 19, 2013 07:25
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