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About me

Long term expat in China. Not planning to leave. Not home sick. Not complaining. China is good. It has problems but most countries do. 

 This page is a small attempt at providing information and guidance where either none exists or it's not very good. 

 I know I'm about 10 years too late to start on blogger but it just still seems the easiest way. I guess I'm retro. 

Popular posts from this blog

Roach Palace

I had moved into my new apartment and all was well. China has roaches. New York has roaches. Most places on earth with lots of people and buildings have roaches. When I saw a roach or two, I wasn't overly concerned. I just used some roach spray to kill them and disposed of their bodies. I really wanted to have a good clean before we unpacked. Our stuff was just in boxes so we decided to get to work while the apartment was clutter free. After I had killed those two roaches, I found another. Then another, then another. Then I kept finding them in the living room. What was going on? The apartment had been empty for months so I assumed that had something to do with it. We were cleaning and decided to sweep and mop underneath things like the coffee table, bed, TV stand etc. I still kept seeing roaches. The sofa was next. I pulled it away from the wall and was repelled. A party of roaches; living and dead, on the floor, on the wall, on the back of the sofa. As well as a selectio
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How to get a housing FaPiao in Beijing

How to get a housing fapiao in Beijing. After receiving a notice out of the blue that we’d all need to provide ‘housing fapiao’ to our HR department, I’ve been through all of the palaver of actually getting one. Beyong telling us that we needed one, our own HR didn’t know anything useful until after I’d already completed the process. Even with no information and a very reluctant letting agent I still managed to get it done. The major problem with this is that almost everyone rents their apartment themselves, as an individual. However, employers (and whichever government department) increasingly need a fapiao in the company name, not in your name. You cannot get a fapiao in your employers name using your individual housing contract because it has your name on it! As far as anyone is concered, your employer has nothing to do with the rental.  I’ve met people and spoken to friends in a similar situation. If this is to become the norm in Beijing then it would a lot easier if companies j
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