91–100 of 160 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ok. how about your own very private VPN to a machine abroad somehwere ? I'm willing to host it for free for you if you play nice just to get you out of the bind you're in. Mail me if you're game.
Got it, thanks, working great.
I really don't have the time to list out every item from jhancock that I disagree with, but pretty much all of them made me grimace. And I find it poignant that he no longer lives here. I too live in Shanghai and have for the past 5 years. I came here looking for another view on life and to see what all the media fuss was about.
Don't get me wrong, I love the food, the excitement of living in a foreign country, have a wonderful chinese wife and in-laws and now take the good with the bad. But I now see why the US is #1 in many areas and continues to bring positivity to the world, for the most part.
I fully understand why millions of people attempt to immigrate to the US every year. Clean water, clean air, freedom to buy property, move where you like and a legal system that can be counted on. Nothing is perfect and there are exceptions, but China is a land with no law and it really never was. What the emperor wanted, he got. Contracts mean nothing, police cannot be counted on for much, other than brokering bribes between parties on the street and judges feel if you are in front of them, you did something wrong, regardless of the situation.
I have run my own business as well, legally, and have seen actions on part of my partners and customers that have blown my mind. The scams and lies now make me smile and I take them as lessons on what a person can do. It is the wild west over here.
As for the internet service, forget about it. Without SLAs, your provider is obligated to give you nothing. Either pay or they turn off your service. My home service is 150RMB/ month, my office, 2500RMB/ month because I am in an office building and they think we can afford more. My home service works above and beyond my best day in the office.
IP also means nothing, so the West continues to get raped over anything that might bring a profit from SW to design to web 2.0 opportunities. It's about block and copy and we are letting them step all over the WTO guidelines. Cisco? MS? Those sell-outs? They built the great firewall! I can tell you, they have not made more money than they have invested, but they will never admit it. Everyones' hope to finally make a buck someday in the future over here. The dream of any foreign company.....that never comes. Ask Grumman. Ask Pepsi. Ask GM with their 49/50 joint venture.
The air smells, the water putrid and cars drive on the sidewalk. Oh, and what is a red light? A color. And this is in their greatest international city. The rest of the country dives into the 18th century. I have been from top to bottom.
US creativity and ingenuity in technologies, film, music , popular trends, fashion, social improvements were all built on a legal system that has lasted over 200 years and continues to roll with the punches. China? The CCP just hit 60 and they still don't know what to call themselves. Communist? Socialist? Quasi-capitalist? A little copy of all of them. That's confusion, not progress.
Mark my words, we will be dealing with the worst kind of monster, an enabled one. I am talking about the CCP, not the Chinese people themselves. Know the difference. Blocking the internet is nothing, remember Tienanmen? They killed their own students and that says it all. Those leaders are still in power and are about to "elect" their children in 2012.
Well, I guess I did cover most of his comments. ha! And by the way, this summer, I will be finally coming home for good and will kiss the ground of a National Park when I do.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's snarky and ignorant. I've lived in Shanghai for 10 years. The Internet blocking never effected my ability to deliver quality IT solutions to my customers.
It is, in fact, both snarky and ignorant, but to tell the truth, I'd love to spend some time in China, but I worry about connectivity. Since the only news I ever hear about the Internet in China is bad, what am I supposed to think? That maybe it would just be OK? I suppose having functional health care might make up for spotty connectivity. Actually - could you email me? I'd like to get an idea of cost-of-living in d…
Tough choice. Somewhere in the 'hackers hobbies' threads someone details that he had to pay $100K out of pocket for medical expenses.
As for the connectivity, simply set up a VPN on a box that you alone own and use and I'm sure you'll be fine.
How long will China tolerate VPNs? While they are an essential tool for international business, they also completely defeat the firewall.
The chinese government don't care about VPN that target people with credit cards that can pay in US dollars because most local chinese won't have access to that and those that do are also likely to travel abroad and be exposed to all that information anyway...
Once I came home to find they blocked the port to SSH & VPN. After 1 month of fighting with the IT management in the local building they opened it again.
dublinclontarf, I live in and run a business in China. I solve my problems with a VPN. I find the GFW an annoyance, but not a huge one. It mostly just means my connection is slower when I access certain sites. Do you live in Beijing? I'd be happy to meet up with you if you're in the area.
Well, since you've been in China less than a year and you're finding out that it hampers your ability to run a business, why not state loud & clear to the government they'll be losing your business and move out? It's not like you don't have options, as opposed to the majority of the Chinese population, for who moving out is not an option.
Actually I came here because my wife missed home, and the business isn't official(that is, isn't registered which because I'm not Chinese takes a lot of time and money and could very well be flat out rejected, have a read of some posts at China Law Blog http://www.chinalawblog.com/ , they cover the details). Basically this is something I've just gone ahead and started, will work my ass off to make work, and if it doe…
Good luck with your business. I do recommend getting a company in order as soon as you can afford it. For the most part, so long as you are not cheating the tax man, you can get away with operating without proper company structure for a while. Also, when you do setup a company...shop around different districts for tax deals. Some districts in Shanghai, for example, may give you a lower tax rate to encourage your type of business. IT is usually a preferred business type.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's snarky and ignorant. I've lived in Shanghai for 10 years. The Internet blocking never effected my ability to deliver quality IT solutions to my customers.
There you go again, injecting reason in to an otherwise entertaining argument not hindered by facts and figures. The 'red scare' seems to be alive and well.
Quite frankly I think you are nuts for voluntarily living in China. And trying to run a business off the books? The punishment for that is severe enough here in the US, I cannot imagine what it is there. The only real solution to your problem is to move to a free country. Take it while you till have that option. As far as technical solutions, how good are they at tracking down individual, private VPN sessions? Setup…
I voluntarily live in China and in many ways prefer living here to living in my homeland (the US). Otherwise, why would I be here? The food's great, the economy's great, people are friendly if you try to understand the culture, cost of living is low, and there's plenty of interesting historical stuff all around. Not to mention it's a very fascinating time to be here as you can see the most populous nation on Earth ra…
By not caring about the politics, you enable the problem. The CCP is making a mint off the US and becoming unstoppable. Society is crumbling and the rights and freedoms of the average citizens are falling as quickly. Culture? Where does the CCP fit into that? Communism, when did that become China's culture?
Stepping on 1 billion people to raise up 300 million is not progress.
china is a f *ing country