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Travel to China: Tips and Resources

May 20, 2013 by 2 Comments

Travel to China

This guide contains pretty much all the info that you’ll need to prepare your trip to China: VISA requirements, travel insurances, vaccinations, guidebooks, planes and trains, hotels, internet and phone cards.

Also, you’ll find tips on where to eat, what to bring to China, when to travel to China, how to avoid the most common scams and how to bargain.

p.s. At the bottom of this post you can download a Travel Phrase Book Chinese/English in PDF format. You’ll find the most common greetings, the most common food and drinks, numbers, how to ask for help or directions, as well as some useful sentences for taking a taxi and shopping. You can print the PDF e-book and use it during your trip to China ; )

[Read more...]

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Interview with John Pasden, the founder of Sinosplice and AllSet Learning

May 13, 2013 by 4 Comments

John Pasden

While I was editing the interview that I did with Julien, the founder of Marco Polo Project, I was fascinated by the problems one needs to solve in order to grow an online project to the point of having enough human and economic resources for investing even more on software and content development and create a great product.

Hence I asked to myself:

“Who else was able to realize something amazing on the field of online Chinese learning?”

And I thought about John Pasden. A couple of days after I contacted him. John was kind enough to accept to answer to a few questions. This is the result of our conversation! [Read more...]

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How to rent a room or an apartment in Shanghai

May 6, 2013 by 8 Comments

rent an apartment in Shanghai

This is a complete guide to rent an apartment, or just a room in a shared flat, in Shanghai. You will learn:

  • The best websites to rent an apartment in Shanghai (both in English and Chinese language).
  • The pros and cons of looking for a room or an apartment on the internet.
  • A nice trick to get a better price if you are looking for a room in a shared flat.
  • The pros and cons of using an agency, how to spot an honest agency.
  • What are the expenses beside the monthly rent (security deposit, agency fee, electricity and so on).
  • Why you must ask for a regular contract.
  • The most common scams while renting an apartment in China.
  • Which is the best zone to live in Shanghai if you want to have a social life without spending hours in a cab.

[Read more...]

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Alibaba VS Aliexpress: How to import from China through the web

April 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

So you dream to set up your online shop or your import business? In both cases the best way is to begin your research on the internet.

But how to get started?

Well I’m not an expert. This is why I asked some advices to my friend Fredrik, who’s been helping Western companies to import from China since 2008. Here’s what he has to say!

Alibaba.com and Aliexpress.com are well known among importing business worldwide. Both websites are owned by Alibaba Group, based in Hangzhou, China. The difference between the two websites can be hard to spot at a first glance, but its two very different business models with equally different strengths and weaknesses. This article will help you to choose which one you should use. [Read more...]

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Chinese VISA application: a complete guide

April 15, 2013 by 9 Comments

Chinese VISA

This article is a complete guide for getting a Chinese VISA. You will discover:

  • The requirements and how long it takes for obtaining any type of Chinese VISA.
  • Where to get a Chinese VISA (either in your country or abroad).
  • The different kind of Chinese VISAs (Tourist, Business, Student and Work VISA).
  • How much it costs to obtain a Chinese VISA.
  • How to convert a Student or Work VISA in a Resident Permit (it’s compulsory).

[Read more...]

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Tips for moving to China to work or study

March 18, 2013 by 2 Comments

moving to China

In this article I’ll explain what kind of VISA you need to work or study in China, how to spot an honest employment agency and which are the most common ways to find a job in the Middle Kingdom.

What kind of VISA do you need to work in China?

The only way to legally work in China is to get a Z VISA (working VISA) that must be transformed in a resident permit within fifteen days from the day you arrived in China.

In order to obtain a Z VISA you need to pass several medical examinations and have a Foreign Expert Certificate released by the local government. You can’t ask the certificate by yourself;the firm that is going to hire you should get it and send it to you. [Read more...]

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The night Sally lost her job, her home and her savings

February 11, 2013 by 8 Comments

The crisis of Wenzhou

Wenzhou, July 2011

Sally is a twenty four year old international broker who used to work for one of the small textile factories of Wenzhou when the financial crisis hit the Zhejiang Province of China.

The night she lost her job, the police arrived at the factory and knocked on the dorm’s doors, where the brokers and the other workers lived. They started at the first floor, where the immigrant weavers from Sichuan Province stayed, and then went to the second, where the “well-off” brokers lived.

“Where is Li?” shouted out a police officer that was looking for the boss of the factory “You have to go, we’re seizing everything here!”

Confusion. Nobody understood what the hell was going on. Sally, who wasn’t [Read more...]

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Why the hell I’m going back to Shanghai?

January 28, 2013 by 9 Comments

In February 2012 I was back to Pudong airport. I was coming from my hometown, in Sardegna, after the holiday of Spring Festival.

In Sardegna as usual there was the sun, the sky was blue and nobody ever heard of 2.5 PM particles.

Instead, the air of Shanghai was highly polluted and, as usual, it was pouring down.

“Why the fuck I’m back to China?” was my first thought.

But it was a rhetoric question. Both my job and my [Read more...]

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How long does it take to learn Mandarin?

September 17, 2012 by 3 Comments

Learn Chinese

Want to know the best way to learn how to write Chinese characters? Click Here!

Good question, isn’t it?

First of all, I believe that we are our habits and that our habits are influenced by our goals and the external environment.

Hence I think you can roughly predict how long it will take you to learn Mandarin by honestly answering to which of the following categories you belong. [Read more...]

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Rats are back!

April 8, 2012 by 5 Comments

china ratsMy Internet cable.

I arrive at office, switch on the computer and… no Internet signal.

“Well, maybe the government decided that today is unsafe to check our emails and wants to protect us…” I think while I identify myself with Aureliano Buendia, who never fought with c.e.n.s.o.r.s.h.i.p but, I’m sure, would have lose again…

Then I see the yellow stain behind the monitor and a suspect arises on my mind:

“Maybe I shouldn’t blame the government for c.e.n.s.u.r.i.n.g our Internet connection this time, maybe…”

And then I notice my almonds have disappeared. Yes, now I’m almost sure of what’s going on.
But I need a proof! [Read more...]

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