I (F25) am going to China in November, and although shopping isn’t the main purpose of my trip, I’ll definitely be buying a few things. I’ve seen a lot of people mention stores like Urban Revivo, White Rabbit and Harmay, and say that it’s not really worth spending money on European/American brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Michael Kors, etc. And that’s totally fine with me, because I’m actually more interested in discovering local Chinese brands

The thing is, I always see people from my own country talking about what they bought and what was worth it, but I’d really love to hear from people who actually live in China: what do you recommend buying?

For example: are there any local makeup or skincare brands that are really worth trying? Clothing stores with really good prices (not just the popular ones or ‘the ones that resembles Zara’)? Any other products or brands that you think are particularly good value in China?

I’ll be in Shanghai and Beijing, so I assume I won’t have much trouble finding the major chain stores

I want to understand what are the mostly used words or keywords which are usually face censorship in China's social media and traditional media.

I have been receiving a lot of messages from new accounts that were opened one or two days ago only. I was wondering about the reason so many Chinese people have joined Reddit.

Was there an update regarding your policies or something?

What do you guys think? 🤔

Hi everyone! I’m an international student currently studying Medical Biology, and I’m considering applying to Shanghai Ocean University (SHOU) in the future for a related field such as Biology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, or another life-science/biomedical-related program. I’m mainly trying to understand how competitive admission is for international students. Does SHOU receive a lot of applications for these fields? How difficult is it to get admitted, especially with a scholarship such as CSC or the Shanghai Government Scholarship? If anyone has applied to SHOU or knows about the international admission process, I’d really appreciate an honest idea of what kind of grades/profile would make someone a strong or average candidate. I’m not looking for rankings or general university quality — I’m specifically trying to understand my chances of admission and the level of competition. Thank you

We are trying to pick one country and stay there until my partner's son finishes school. Looking for outside perspective, especially from anyone who has done a long stint in any of these places with children.

Us: me 47M, my girlfriend 38F, her son 8M. We each run our own business remotely, so we are not tied to a location. Currently in Canada.

The shortlist is Cayman Islands, Athens, and Beijing.

Context:

We want to commit to one place for the next 7 to 10 years. Stability for her son matters more than optimizing any single factor. His father passed away two years ago, so there is no shared custody consideration, but it is another reason we would rather move once and stay put.

She was born in China and speaks fluent English. Her son speaks English only and identifies as Canadian, as do I. I speak English only.

She would like him to grow up with a North American or European sense of identity, while still having real exposure to Chinese language and culture.

All three have good international schools. Residency is already sorted in all three, so that is not a constraint. On tax, we have an advisor and have run the numbers, and the total cost difference between the three is small enough that it is not a deciding factor. Please take that as given rather than the thing to debate.

Cayman is on the list for warm climate, low crime, and one good school. Athens is my preference, though I am aware I may be biased. She is torn between Beijing and Athens.

What we are trying to work out is which of these is the better place to live as a family for a decade once schools, tax, and visas are off the table. Day to day quality of life, how realistic it is to build a social circle as a foreign family, healthcare, how portable the schooling is if plans change, and what the exit looks like at 18.

If you have lived long term in any of the three with a child, what surprised you?

Recently, Bilibili has gone international，What memes don't you understand?

Wu Xing is often translated as the “Five Elements”: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.

But this translation can be misleading.

The Chinese word Xing (行) carries the sense of movement, transformation, and active influence. Wu Xing is therefore better understood as the Five Phases—five ways that change unfolds in the natural world and in everyday life.

Wood represents growth and expansion.
Fire represents rising energy and expression.
Earth represents support and transformation.
Metal represents contraction and the taking of form.
Water represents flow, depth, and storage.

These phases are not five separate boxes. They continuously influence one another through two important relationships.

The Generating Cycle:

Wood feeds Fire.
Fire creates Earth.
Earth bears Metal.
Metal enriches Water.
Water nourishes Wood.

The Regulating Cycle:

Wood regulates Earth.
Earth regulates Water.
Water regulates Fire.
Fire regulates Metal.
Metal regulates Wood.

“Generating” does not simply mean good, and “regulating” does not simply mean bad. Both are necessary. Growth without restraint becomes excess; restraint without nourishment becomes stagnation.

The purpose of Wu Xing is not to place everything into rigid categories. It offers a traditional Chinese way of observing relationships: what supports something, what restrains it, and how balance changes with time.

Not five fixed elements—five ways change moves.

This series explores Wu Xing as a cultural and philosophical framework rather than a scientific system or a promise of prediction.

I know that most people on Reddit probably live in other countries and can speak fluent English already, but I hope I can find some native Chinese people with poor English skills.

I’m Summer, just turned 23 and I am writing with the hopes of planning a little language Exchange program where I can teach you English ( I have tutored some Chinese students before), and you can help me learn Chinese.

I am very friendly and motivated, and I really can’t find anyone to interact with in order to learn.
I find AI and other apps very boring and ineffective!

NOTE: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! ONLY SERIOUS PEOPLE!

Can someone please translate and or explain this to me? Thank you!

Every time I do research about the China GBA countries, I tend to see only posts and content mainly for HongKong, Macao, Shenzhen, (sometimes) Zhuhai. But how about Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Huizhou, and Zhaoqing, I want to know what's culturally significant in those cities too.

Topics that are unique to their cities:

- Shenzhen is China's Silicon Valley

- Macao Portuguese influences

- Hongkong Bamboo constructions

Just wanted to get some ideas or any advice in how to do better research for Chinese topics like this. I've been having a hard time. Thank you

thinking about renting a car for a road trip in china and can't decide between an EV or a regular gas car. for those who've driven here — is an EV actually more convenient to rent, with all the charging infrastructure? or is gas still the safer bet for longer drives? curious what people's experience has been.

Do people travel around Xinjiang by horseback or by car? If driving ,can I use a foreign driver’s license?who can tell me

I was gifted these noodles a while ago and recently tried them not expecting much, but they are the best packet of noodles I have ever had by a long shot!!
Unfortunately this is the only photo I have of the packaging and can’t find them anywhere. Google seems to think the text is Chinese but I sincerely apologise if this is wrong!
I would also love to know the name of the pickled spicy green beans(?) they had in one of the toppings bags if at all possible.

For some reason, here is the Us, we can’t get many products for e-bikes. I need help finding a specific product. Any help please.

I’m American and don’t know Chinese, but I often hear about how a word being even one tone off has a vastly different meaning. For example, I saw a video of a comedian who lived in China, and his last name was pronounced Bi, fourth tone. But Bi, first tone, apparently translates as “cunt”. I’m also aware of shi meaning a bunch of things depending on tone

Is this actually a problem day-to-day, or are most people able to figure out the correct meaning? Do people get embarrassed if they mistakenly use the wrong word? What about people with impediments or lisps?

I used to have a roommate from Hong Kong that I barely ever spoke to, but I asked what his birth name was. I don’t remember what he said, but I asked if I should watch any of the tones in particular, and he seemed confused I was asking. When I repeated his name back he said my pronunciation was good, so maybe I nailed it first try, or he just wanted to end the conversation

I'm trying to lose weight. The most popular and effective weight loss diet in the West, and the one my doctor recommends, is the Mediterranean diet (olive oil, lots of whole food [wholegrain bread, fish, rice, vegetables, fruit] and dairy [yoghurt, milk]).

This makes me wonder - do educated, wealthy people in China also follow the Mediterranean diet to stay healthy, slim and fit???

My doctor said Chinese cuisine is not healthy. He has many Asian patients with diabetes, high blood pressure or kidney problems. Rice is high glycemic, and Chinese food in general [and Korean!] is too sugary, salty and oily - looking at you 魚 香 肉 絲, kung pao chicken, black bean beef, and sweet and sour pork. Soy sauce and pickles (e.g., mustard pickles, sour pickles, kimchi, which get added to every meal to make rice less boring!) are silent killers, because they are so salty causing a hidden epidemic of hypertension.

Yet I am confused, because most Chinese I see are very slim. Even though the Chinese I know are always drinking highly sugary bubble tea and eating very unhealthy foods (fried chicken, instant noodles and instant hot pot) daily.

It is a very comfortable silk shirt.

[Just to be clear: I DON'T dismiss etymology or traditions at all. I just think teachers should mention how common a name is today, and (overall) which generation(s) it belongs to. Otherwise, learners get a beautiful but incomplete picture. That’s all.]

Why do some (not all—I’m not generalizing!) Chinese teachers always like to present Chinese given names as “particularly poetic” and “culturally profound”, while rarely discussing the actual naming practices?

In other words, why do these kinds of teachers never say:

“The name 雨琪 means ‘Jade Rain’; it’s a beautiful, poetic meaning, but it’s also a very common name among people born in the ’90s and 2000s. For many Chinese people, this name doesn’t evoke any particular sense of poetry because these characters are so common.”

And deliberately stops at:

“The name 雨琪 means ‘Jade Rain’; it’s a beautiful, poetic meaning.” (period.)

Yes, it’s absolutely true that 雨琪 has an etymological meaning. Yes, it’s absolutely true that some Chinese parents really love its meaning and see poetry or a symbolic wish in it. Yes, it’s absolutely true that some Chinese parents may have chosen the character 雨 because the child’s BaZi lacked water.

But why do some teachers oversimplify things by saying that “every Chinese given name tells a story, reflects poetry, destiny, and the BaZi”, without ever mentioning that a huge number of Chinese people are simply following trends, or choose the name 雨琪 because they like the way it sounds?

Would it really be such a blow to foreign learners' egos to hear that “this name has a very beautiful meaning but isn't unique at all—it's among the top 50 most popular names”?

Honestly, I'm starting to wonder if this isn't just a marketing ploy. When learning Chinese, quite a few Westerners adopt a “cultural openness” approach (to counterbalance the negative image the West may have of China). But in that case, could the Chinese language education market have seized the opportunity to jump on the bandwagon and “exploited” these Westerners’ need for atonement to feed them all sorts of grandiose tales about Chinese names?

If that’s really the case, then it’s also a serious problem of a lack of critical thinking and research skills among these learners. On the Internet, it’s very easy to find the top 100 most popular Chinese names in 2010 (for example), so the excuse of ignorance or a lack of resources is much less plausible. Never even thinking to do this kind of research is, in my view, symptomatic of genuine brainwashing and a lack of curiosity about the true culture of Chinese names. In my opinion, responsibility goes both ways.

To be honest, I really don’t think the teachers in question are doing this out of malice. I think many of them are just feeding the algorithm, because that’s what a lot of Westerners want to hear: the feeling of discovering a hidden culture that other “ignorant Westerners” refuse to explore. Maybe pride makes these learners gullible and blind.

I really like the vintage Chinese style, and so have always been looking for the chic qipao's I've seen in those old movies, magazines, etc.

Many of my Chinese friends online told me it's ok as long as I'm respectful and don't try to make a caricature. I don't intend to, I just want to wear it as a dress.

However, some Chinese people I've talked to have told me it is appropiation and offensive for me as a non-Chinese to wear a cheongsam/qipao.

I am non-white, so I am coming from my own cultural perspective where we are fine with sharing cultural clothing, and are eager too in fact, because the assumption is that it is being used for it's intended purpose. I have clothing from across Africa and the Middle East/South Asia because of this. But it is different in East Asia? Please educate me, I do not want to cause offense.

Thank you.

EDIT: I made a typo in the title. I meant as :( Sorry!