China’s Adopted Children Return Home

The Economic Downturn around the world has made many Adopted Chinese return to their place of birth. Partly to renew their birth culture and secondly to find work.

 
After the Adoption rules were relaxed up to 120,000 young Chinese were adopted by overseas parents. Now with many of those in their late twenties and educated the wish to return draws them back home.

Many thinking that their upbringing in overseas nations would be an asset to finding work are realizing that looks may count for more than they think.

Many of China`s companies are looking for relations with overseas partners. They feel that it would be a benefit to hire non-Chinese-looking liaisons would be more beneficial. This brings the returning Adopted Children at a disadvantage, after all they look Chinese and this seems to outweigh their education and upbringing.


Whether this maybe true or not, the returning children are finding it as had as any native Chinese person to find work. The may eventually get their ideal job but they are reuniting with their cultural heritage and for many that is not enough.

Throwing out with the Lunar New Year

A custom for the Chinese Lunar New Year is to throw out the old and bring in the new. Old furnishings and clothes are tossed out, or sold on with fresh new hear to replace them.
The fledgling and often hilarious democratic movement in Hong Kong probably have and idea of what they would like to throw out. But it seems the Hong Kong people are not so active in this area as the people in Tunisia or Egypt.
There is not enough time left after clearing their houses to take to the streets to protest. The roads here are filled with people to busy stocking up with brand new replacement of what they have just thrown away.

Travelling for the Chinese New Year

 
The Chinese Lunar New Year and this is the time that families get together no matter where they are. In China, many families split across the country as husbands or wives move from the farm lands to the cities in the look for work or children attend schools.

During the days of the New Year the extended families congregate together which often means traveling great distances with mostly everybody going back to visit their grandparent. This creates huge problems for transport logistics and I never realized just how many people are on the move.
This year there will be an estimated 2.8 Billion passengers on trips across the whole country. A million is a big number but 2.8 Billion people all wanting to get on the right bus and with many of them not really knowing how to get there.
The lunar Festival is usually a week long holiday that allows families to get together every year. With economic migration for work this might be the only chance for many families to get together.
February 3 2011 will make the end of the Year of the Tiger and the Start of the Year of the Rabbit.

Cantonese or Mandarin Choices Choices

The start of a new Hong Kong blog and writing of things that only a non-resident would find amusing. I have been living in the Special Administrative Region for a number of years now and still only managed to learn only a few world of the language here, Cantonese.

Fortunately English is widely spoken and it's not too hard to get the message across - most of the time. Across the border in Guangdong province, on the China mainland, the locals have been marching, protesting and generally making a lot of noise about the Chinese Governments plans for the language.

Beijing feels that Mandarin should be spoken more and has propose that media broadcasts should now be in Mandarin rather then Cantonese. Fulled by rumors of stamping out the local language the peoples have taken to the streets both across the border and here in Hong Kong to vent their opinion on the matter and will fight to keep their culture intact.

Whatever the outcome of the battle, both languages are still alien to me and I would still need to learn one. Cantonese is the obvious choice but then again, more often than not, I have been given advice from my protesting Cantonese speaking friends.

Learn Mandarin they say - Understanding the Chinese people is another thing.