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Friday, 27 August 2010 |
I always assumed that if we wanted two children in China, it should be no problem because I am not Chinese, even though my wife is. Till recently this was indeed mostly true, because you could just apply for the nationality of one of the parents for the baby and then renounce the Chinese nationality (from within China). You would then get an Exit permit and with that you could come back to China and apply for a residence permit, based on close relationship with the Chinese parent. This has changed, in such a way that foreigners living in China will have more problems getting a second child as well!
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Saturday, 14 August 2010 |
The whole GroupBuy phenomenon has not passed China unnoticed and a little bit more than one month ago Tencent launched a new product in this market: QQ TuanGou (QQ团购). TuanGou literally means "groupbuy", but I will just refer to it as Tuan. Tuan has seperate discounts for various cities in China: Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and many others. We have already saved a few hundred RMB by using the group buys and it has been a very pleasant experience for us so far.

screenshot tuan.qq.com groupbuy website
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Saturday, 14 August 2010 |
Citic City Plaza is a high-end shopping mall in Futian district. We don't often go to Citic Plaza because most of the shops are luxury international brands. If you want some Gucci, DG, Louis Vuitton, Polo, Tommy Hilfiger, Versace, Calvin Klein, Christian Dior etc, then Citic plaza definitely has all you need. Citic Plaza is comparable to Mixc in this regard. Below ground you'll also find a very big Jusco supermarket.

Citic City Plaza
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Saturday, 14 August 2010 |
Today we went to YuYuan, a Shanghainese restaurant in Citic plaza in Futian district in Shenzhen. It's one of the best Shanghainese restaurants in the city and the price is also quite high, but we had a special offer via the tuan.qq.com website. We liked the restaurant a lot: see the photos and read our impression below:

YuYuan - very good Shanghainese restaurant
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Friday, 13 August 2010 |
Yesterday, Thursday the 12th of August 2010, marked the one-year countdown towards the Universiade of 2011 in Shenzhen , though the games actually will start the 8th of August 2011. The celebrations were attended by about 30.000 people including overseas students, consuls and athletes. I also found out that tickets will probably go on sale early next year. The organizers have also launched a totally renewed English website for the Universiade with new information and a better design. Glad to see some developments here as well!

Universiade logo with fireworks
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Thursday, 12 August 2010 |
Today the weather was very beautiful, so around 1 o'clock in the midday I went to the highest floor of the new Tencent office and took these photos from Shenzhen. There are two panoramic photos, one looking towards Hong Kong and one towards the North and some photos in other directions. It gives quite a good impression of Shenzhen and especially Nanshan district:

Shenzhen Hi-Tech park
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Thursday, 12 August 2010 |
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Subway just opened a new store in Shenzhen (opposite to Coco Park) and they are currently offering special
discounts. Sandwitches vary in price from 16Y (6" Veggie Delight) to 26Y (6" Subway Melt). The staff speaks English, so it should be no problem to order your favorite sandwitch here. I went there today and ate a Roast Beef for 17RMB. Tastes good, but as always Subway restaurants are quite empty. Most Chinese do not seem to like sandwitches so much.

New Subway restaurant near Coco Park in Shenzhen
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Saturday, 07 August 2010 |
This is the first article in a series I will write to document my experiences with pregnancy in China. First of all: I'm glad I'm the father and not the mother! Xiaoxiong has been throwing up for a few weeks now, though things should improve soon as we have now passed the first trimester. During this period, Xiaoxiong has already had several tests in the hospital to monitor the pregnancy, her health and, this being China, we have had to get permission to deliver this baby as well. Then there are all the strange beliefs and customs in China. We'll come to that later.
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