So many of the posts you translate refer to "sitting the month". I had never heard of that concept before but understand it has to do with a woman taking it easy after birth, eating special foods, not doing strenuous activity, etc. with lots of variations. How long has this been a cultural practice? Does it go back to ancient China or is it newer? Is it something that everyone does no matter what region they are from? Trying to get a more general understanding of the history and context for sitting the month.
Yesterday’s post made me wonder, does Weibo have “does x per year count as middle class” or just Wage Discourse more generally regularly like us twitter does -- or perhaps a more interesting question: how is being ‘middle class’ viewed in china? Is it similar to the us where nearly everyone likes to think of themselves as middle class and it takes on an almost moral quality? The post the headline quoted said ‘normal family’ like it was not normal to be middle class, is that indicative of a general thought pattern or just a weird poster?
As an American how will I know (outside of mainstream manipulative media) if China is truly getting ready to forcibly take back Taiwan? What steps would be obvious to an outsider ( who’s obsessed with military and all history) looking in at the country that they are preparing for some sort of “action”
Can you explain more about China's opinions of its neighbors, both nationally and as nationalities? (i.e. what is the general sense China has of Vietnam, and what is the messaging about their relationship as countries? Are there common opinions or stereotypes about Vietnamese people?)
Random question, how good are digital language courses and apps that are targeted at Chinese people? If you'd want to learn say English, Spanish, or German, as a person from China, would you have excellent resources available for that?
Way back when, you wrote: "How can you tell if a nation is China? If a population is Chinese? By the fact that they wear their clothing right lapel over left."
Two questions: First, I don't understand why this is so important - what's the cultural significance?
Second, most of the pictures I've seen are what I'd describe as "left lapel over right". But I've seen other places describe it the same way you did. Is this being described from the viewer's perspective? Is it about which side of the body the lapel ends up being tucked into the belt on? Before reading your blog, I was mostly familiar with this from Japanese and Korean martial arts, and they do the same thing, what I'd describe as left-over-right, and both got it from China, and it's really quite convenient if you have swords at your right hip, or you're holding paper (or something thin) in your right hand and want to tuck it into your chest like a big pocket. I'm very confused by this!
How well does Chinese medical insurance do for an average middle class city person? Average villager? What happens if the person with insurance breaks a leg, for example? What about if they need some exotic drug or procedure?
How much can Chinese food labeling be trusted? Is it common to dilute a product with something cheaper and never label it? I was warned against Chinese honey, because supposedly much of it is diluted with high fructose corn syrup. If done right, it's really hard to tell real honey from diluted honey. Is there any truth to this?
What's the attitude in China towards single mothers? Or out-of-wedlock children? What about non-traditional families, like a lesbian couple and their children? Does it happen often? Does the attitude vary much with region or socioeconomics?
How do westerners fit in the Chinese society? There's an occasional mention of European companies in China, with European bosses. I would assume those people live (or at least get temporarily stationed) in China. Do they typically learn enough Chinese to get by? Or do Chinese people accommodate by speaking European languages with them? Or, are those Europeans already pre-selected for their knowledge of Chinese? Do they mostly settle in cities?
What happens to old people who don't have a support network? No kids, or kids out of the country? If they are wealthy or have good pensions, are there any decent assisted living facilities? What about poor people who can't take care of themselves?
In many of the historical fiction works you've recommended, the government always seems to have issues feeding refugees. Was this a major issue historically?
In several of your posts, you've mentioned women getting fired for marrying/getting pregnant. Is this officially allowed, or are laws against it just unenforced?
Would it be possible for you to get some information about what your friend's timelines look like, so we can better understand the extent of the algorithmic impact on what you're posting?
To give a specific example of why I think this might be useful: I noticed that epidurals have been mentioned fairly frequently in your blog. I (college-aged male) had never heard of them before-hand, and at first interpreted their prevalence as suggesting different attitudes towards medical care for women giving birth. But then I talked to some similarly-aged women IRL, and they all knew about epidurals.
The result of this is that I'm not sure whether to label the mentions of this procedure as being due to the gender effect of this feed being optimized for a woman, or a culture effect, and I'd be curious to better understand how representative your feed is.
So many of the posts you translate refer to "sitting the month". I had never heard of that concept before but understand it has to do with a woman taking it easy after birth, eating special foods, not doing strenuous activity, etc. with lots of variations. How long has this been a cultural practice? Does it go back to ancient China or is it newer? Is it something that everyone does no matter what region they are from? Trying to get a more general understanding of the history and context for sitting the month.
What do people say about the Evergrande situation?
Yesterday’s post made me wonder, does Weibo have “does x per year count as middle class” or just Wage Discourse more generally regularly like us twitter does -- or perhaps a more interesting question: how is being ‘middle class’ viewed in china? Is it similar to the us where nearly everyone likes to think of themselves as middle class and it takes on an almost moral quality? The post the headline quoted said ‘normal family’ like it was not normal to be middle class, is that indicative of a general thought pattern or just a weird poster?
As an American how will I know (outside of mainstream manipulative media) if China is truly getting ready to forcibly take back Taiwan? What steps would be obvious to an outsider ( who’s obsessed with military and all history) looking in at the country that they are preparing for some sort of “action”
Can you explain more about China's opinions of its neighbors, both nationally and as nationalities? (i.e. what is the general sense China has of Vietnam, and what is the messaging about their relationship as countries? Are there common opinions or stereotypes about Vietnamese people?)
Random question, how good are digital language courses and apps that are targeted at Chinese people? If you'd want to learn say English, Spanish, or German, as a person from China, would you have excellent resources available for that?
Way back when, you wrote: "How can you tell if a nation is China? If a population is Chinese? By the fact that they wear their clothing right lapel over left."
Two questions: First, I don't understand why this is so important - what's the cultural significance?
Second, most of the pictures I've seen are what I'd describe as "left lapel over right". But I've seen other places describe it the same way you did. Is this being described from the viewer's perspective? Is it about which side of the body the lapel ends up being tucked into the belt on? Before reading your blog, I was mostly familiar with this from Japanese and Korean martial arts, and they do the same thing, what I'd describe as left-over-right, and both got it from China, and it's really quite convenient if you have swords at your right hip, or you're holding paper (or something thin) in your right hand and want to tuck it into your chest like a big pocket. I'm very confused by this!
How well does Chinese medical insurance do for an average middle class city person? Average villager? What happens if the person with insurance breaks a leg, for example? What about if they need some exotic drug or procedure?
How much can Chinese food labeling be trusted? Is it common to dilute a product with something cheaper and never label it? I was warned against Chinese honey, because supposedly much of it is diluted with high fructose corn syrup. If done right, it's really hard to tell real honey from diluted honey. Is there any truth to this?
What's the attitude in China towards single mothers? Or out-of-wedlock children? What about non-traditional families, like a lesbian couple and their children? Does it happen often? Does the attitude vary much with region or socioeconomics?
How do westerners fit in the Chinese society? There's an occasional mention of European companies in China, with European bosses. I would assume those people live (or at least get temporarily stationed) in China. Do they typically learn enough Chinese to get by? Or do Chinese people accommodate by speaking European languages with them? Or, are those Europeans already pre-selected for their knowledge of Chinese? Do they mostly settle in cities?
What happens to old people who don't have a support network? No kids, or kids out of the country? If they are wealthy or have good pensions, are there any decent assisted living facilities? What about poor people who can't take care of themselves?
Are Japanese people discriminated against?
Is ancient Chinese comprehensible to modern Chinese speakers?
In many of the historical fiction works you've recommended, the government always seems to have issues feeding refugees. Was this a major issue historically?
In several of your posts, you've mentioned women getting fired for marrying/getting pregnant. Is this officially allowed, or are laws against it just unenforced?
Would it be possible for you to get some information about what your friend's timelines look like, so we can better understand the extent of the algorithmic impact on what you're posting?
To give a specific example of why I think this might be useful: I noticed that epidurals have been mentioned fairly frequently in your blog. I (college-aged male) had never heard of them before-hand, and at first interpreted their prevalence as suggesting different attitudes towards medical care for women giving birth. But then I talked to some similarly-aged women IRL, and they all knew about epidurals.
The result of this is that I'm not sure whether to label the mentions of this procedure as being due to the gender effect of this feed being optimized for a woman, or a culture effect, and I'd be curious to better understand how representative your feed is.