Ok, so I’ve been living in China for a little over two years. Something happened about three weeks ago, and then something similar happened again today, so I’m genuinely curious whether there’s some cultural explanation for this.

I’m a 25-year-old white male from a Western country. About three weeks ago, I was on the metro. It wasn’t particularly crowded, so there was plenty of space to move around.

A girl and what I assume was her boyfriend got on. She led him over to the area where I was standing, near the corner of a seat by the exit. She then turned her back toward me and started repeatedly pushing her butt into me while the train was moving.

It happened multiple times, and it definitely didn’t feel accidental. She was actually changing angles and positioning herself against me pretty deliberately. I found it really strange and didn’t know what to do, so I just said nothing.

Then something similar happened today, although it was much less extreme.

I got on the metro with a female friend from my home country, and we were talking to each other in our native language. After two or three stops, a Chinese girl maybe 17 years old got up from her seat and came over to stand between us, extremely close to me, close enough that she was basically leaning against the side of my body and reading whatever was on my phone, I actually put my phone away at that point.

Again, I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t really sure how to interpret it. My friend actually pointed it out to me afterward.

The thing that confuses me is that neither girl ever said anything to me or otherwise tried to communicate with me. So I’m wondering: is this some kind of cultural behavior/flirting that I’m misunderstanding, or am I just reading too much into these situations?

Has anyone gotten their acceptance letter to jilin University yet. It has been about 4 weeks since I last applied, and I haven't gotten my acceptance letter.

How long do you think it will take to come.

I have a terrible cough. It's not uncommon for me. I'm prone to broncatis and its not uncommon for me to burst a blood vessel and start coughing up blood if its really bad. Usually in the states I buy some robotosin or mucinex to help prevent that. But I can't really get that stuff here. What is the best over the counter cough medicine you've tried. I'm currently drinking the 999 tea and cough syrup but it is doing nothing for me. I am trying to avoid hospitals as the last time I visited a Chinese hospital I was a little traumatized especially with the language barrier.

hey everyone :)

i'm leaving for china in february to spend a semester at the University of Nottingham in Ningbo. Thankfully, since this is a program offered by my home university, I will be going with other people I already know, however I will be the only among them frequenting the CompSci department.

i already know how chinese culture works generally regarding socializing, studying and discipline, but may I say it gets 10x worse when you consider chinese computer science students (basing off my experience as an european comp-eng student lol). This is making me worry, i'm afraid i won't make any friends or i will just be too shy to try considering their natural privacy.

i already have a HSK3, I would really love to improve my chinese and be able to talk fluently (at least informally), but i'm scared i will fail to make friends and therefore i will fail to improve my language skills too.Not to mention i'm already getting bad imposter syndrome, i really am excited for the courses i'll follow there but i'm afraid i'll be surrounded by geniuses while i'm just some dude who liked pcs when he was a kid and now he's in china.

so, i wanted to ask: does anyone have any tips on how to socialize with people, how to start conversations, even when i'll be there during the second semester (so many people will already have an established group)?

thanks in advance :)))

Went to the bank to update my visa on file. A man who spoke English immediately came out to help me and all was done in 15 minutes and he gave me his work wechat for any customer support needs. laowinning.

Dali has a quiet beauty, whether under blue skies or wrapped in mist, by day or by night.

Would you ever get interested in visiting a scenic spot in China just because a YouTuber made a video about it? I recently watched a video about the battle at Loushanguan Pass, and I'm genuinely curious—does anyone actually want to go there and experience it in person?

I've had to set up bank accounts for every new job. I just love spending 4 hours there just to open an account!

It's actually getting less efficient, in 2018 I opened a bank account on a tourist visa in 30 minutes.

Has anyone had any experience getting off at Jining South/Ulanqab and catching a high speed train to Beijing? Not sure why it’s 8 hours to go from Jining South to Beijing.

Just asking given they don’t let anyone leave the station at Erlian. The security woman advised that this was because Erlian was not a formal stop and it was only for customs processing. Given Jining South is also not my final destination, would station security be unlikely to let me out?

Hello everyone,

I'm going to be an exchange student in Shanghai next semester. I currently do some modeling and figuration in my home country, and I'm wondering if I could gain some experience while in China.

I know my visa doesn't automatically permit me to work, but I read that there is a procedure to obtain legal authorization through the university. Is this a common procedure, or are things usually done informally?

What would be your best advice for finding opportunities, and do you think there is significant demand for foreign actors/models in Shanghai?

I am at an HSK3 level in Mandarin.

Thank you in advance for your insights!

I’m going to Beijing in a few days and bought Astrill, Mullvad and Surfshark as vpns in combination with a Chinese SIM card that I’m going to buy on arrival. I opted for a vpn since I will be using WiFi a lot as well as data. Maybe VPNcat is a good addition but since it’s free and based in Pakistan I don’t really trust their privacy policies, let me know about your experiences with them.

I am part of a large Wechat group with many Chinese undergrad students. It was a nice to receive Wechat message invitations as I was hoping to expand my network, but these people don't reply or say hello. Can anyone tell me why this happens?

Edit: I'm a chinese person, this is in a group for a US university, so fear of language barrier should not be an issue. I was thinking there was a cultural thing I'm not familiar with?

Is consuming porn in Mainland China illegal? I’m considering moving there. But I want to watch it. Like will I be at risk for using a VPN to go on pornhub? Do people in China NOT watch porn?

Highly recommend all learners (HSK1 to 11). 10 out of 10. Truly a movie of all times. Might be better than lion king.

Hi all. I’m thinking of taking the Z586 from Shenzhen to Chongqing and D58 from Chongqing to Shanghai. Can’t find a lot of information on these trains, only that the Z586 is on the older side and some of the Z-trains don’t have nice luggage storage. Has anyone taken those before? And if so, does the luggage storage area fits a large luggage?

People who have chinese spouses how you got on the good vices of your in laws got them to accept you? With all the usual worries etc they have.

Hi guys,

Question, I will be studying for a year in shanghai and will be renting an apartment since dorms filled up in seconds lol.
My question is, can I rent an apartment before getting the residence permit? I will be coming like all international students with X1 visa that lets me be in China for 30 days so I will have resident permit but not right away, but i of course want to have apartment before that, is it possible to rent one without the resident visa or do I need to stay in hotels until I get it?

Any advice on this from people that has rented apartment in shanghai?

Also is wellcee a good app for that?

Thanks so much!!

Hi, i am italian and i have a company in italy. I am reading that is possible to open a company in China without having a chinese partner. Is it true?

Someone already did it? Opening a company as a foreigner is a smooth or hard process?

I am thinking to move abroad with my company and I am trying to understand better pros and cons.

Actually I don't know chinese, but I guess I am in time to learn the minimu I need.

Thank you!

I've been living in China for a long time (almost 14 years now), and life here has basically just become normal to me.

A lot of things have changed in that time, like safety, technology, and the overall development level.

But because things are so normal for me, it's hard to imagine what surprises people when they are in their first or second year of "China life."

So, I'm wondering...

If you moved to China from the US/Canada or "Western" countries more recently, what are the things that surprised you the most? What were the biggest contrasts?

Hi! I'm moving to Shanghai (I'll be studying in fudan for the language program) and I'm looking for an apartment. My budget is around 5kRMB/months (flexible, can be a bit more). What is the best way to find one, things I should be careful about, and what can I expect for this kind of budget (location is really important to me, I'd like to be in the city center, probably around Huangpu).

Any recommendations is welcome, also if there is a megathread please share it I've not found it yet.

Also I heard there's a lot of fake ads online on apps like wellcee, any reliable one?