Beyond Bounds Blog

Nanjing! Nanjing! – City of life and death – was not an emotional roller coaster as most films like this tend to be.  There was no happiness.  There was no point that I felt like jumping for joy.  If you know anything about the Japanese “rape of Nanking,” then you know that it was one of the most horrific massacres in recorded history.

Yet, the film didn’t seem to dig deep enough in our emotions – perhaps due to the lack of happiness or hope or even character development (the characters are sort of just there, there is very little change in their character).  There seems to be a slight amount of hope in the opening scene, but that quickly fades and the movie continues on a very gray path as the Japanese quickly come in and demolish everything.

The implications of Nanjing! Nanjing! are extremely important.  Previous Japan-China war films were very one sided – showing only the Japanese brutality and Chinese determination and nationalism.  This film’s main character is actually a Japanese soldier with a conscious.  He is appalled by the horrors that his fellow soldiers are inflicting upon the Chinese and even upon their own (the comfort women included Japanese).

A Japanese main character with a conscious to me seems like a director trying to make a change.  There has been very little reconciliation between Japan and China since the war, and Nanjing! Nanjing! is the largest step that I have seen so far.  To me this film says “Hey Japan, we understand that not all Japanese are evil.  There were a lot of bad things that were done, sure, but it’s not impossible to reconcile as long as you show remorse.”

Wouldn’t it be amazing if a Japanese director then made a film in response to this gesture?

One thing that bothered me a little bit about the film is how watered down it feels.  I imagine that what really happened in Nanjing is a lot more horrific than anything that is shown in this film.  The rapes, the grotesque and perverted murders are all semi-covered up and watered down.  There are scenes with bodies and deaths, but none of it makes you turn your head.

My only guess as to why the director chose to take this path was that the underlying point of the film is not to show what everyone already knows – that the rape of Nanking would make any fan of “Saw” cringe – but rather to send that other message: we will not forget, but we can move on.

2 Thumbs up from me.  Go see it!

Has anyone else out there seen the movie?  What do you think?  Did you like it?

If you’ve followed the earlier parts to this series, one, two and three, you are ready to move on to actual learning!  Ideally, the early game should last no more than 3 months, meaning that you are ready to start sounding like an idiot in front of groups of strangers native to the language within this time frame.  Hopefully you should have the following:

Cheat Sheet
List of the 300 most common words
A Native speaker at your fingertips
Subject picked out that you enjoy and materials on it
Dictionary
Flash Cards
Audio Lessons / MP3 player
Plane ticket

This is the ideal situation.  This is the what I ask of myself when I am learning a new language; however, you COULD supplement the plane ticket for some radical shifts in your life while at home – check out this post. Just don’t expect the same results.

I realize that some people simply can’t drop everything and go to another country, however if you want to learn a language effectively you have to be willing to sacrifice.  Fluency in another language is not like learning web design or how to build a house – it takes completely different methodology.  It must become your whole life, and yet none of your life at the same time.  You can’t just set out a block of time to learn everyday like you can with other things.  Language needs to be embedded in everything.

The Breakdown:

Intensity + Effectiveness + Fun

Intensity:

Language must become a part of everything in your life; this way your brain will make the correct connections.  If you learn language for one hour a day at a certain time, your brain will connect the language with that time of day and will be more receptive to the language at that time, and less so at other times.

Language cannot be compartmentalized into a time block, nor can it be confined to any single method (audio, CD, book, etc).  The goal is for you to be able to use the language at all times, even while thinking and dreaming.  When learning we have to have this goal in mind.

This IS possible while still at home.

Your mind must be continuously brought back to the language.   When you are sleeping, walking, running, watching TV, showering, playing video games, blogging, hanging out with friends, or even working out at the gym, the language must be present.   You can recite words and phrases you learned; simple thought processes can be replaced by the language, such as “what am I going to eat” or “what will I do today” as soon as you have the ability to say these.  You should count in the language while working out. This is intensity.

Decrease the use of your mother tongue while increasing the use of your target language everyday at all times.

When I was learning Chinese and still State-side, I would count or sing random things in Chinese while showering.  When running I would use Chinese when thinking the directions in my head: “turn left.  turn right.  A little longer.”  I would respond to friends’ questions in Chinese even if they didn’t understand (jokingly of course, and not all the time: you get the point).  I immersed myself in the language and it paid off quickly.

While the above is true, it is important to put in small blocks of time for certain language learning activities, but I do not see them as solely language learning, but also as enjoyable activities that you would otherwise do in English.   These are mentioned in the below section.  Try to take at least hour a day – obviously the more the better – to do the following.

Effectiveness:

This is where I messed up with Chinese before.  You will shine here.  This is what you need to do in the early stages:

1) Abuse your list of the most frequently used words:  You should have these down on flashcards and be flipping through them constantly throughout the day.  Take 10-15 words with you a day and put them in your pocket.  After work or other classes, test yourself and do it often.

2) Pound out the grammar: Re-write your cheat sheet 50x:  Your cheat sheet contains the keys to the grammar of the language.  By the end of 2 months you should be able to re-write your cheat sheet perfectly from memory.  Use different nouns / verbs / objects / indirect objects every 10 times.

3) Start reading after your 10th re-write (10-20 days in): Go directly to materials on the subject that you found interesting.  If it was video games, start reading articles on games RIGHT NOW.  There is no rule stating that you have to learn vocabulary linearly.  After you’re pretty much gotten your cheat sheet memorized, reading is only a matter of looking through the dictionary.  If you are reading online, use online dictionaries for quick referencing.  For Chinese-English check out www.nciku.com

4) Start a vocabulary list:  All new words and definitions need to be written down by hand.  When you test yourself, you should also write by hand.  By using more senses in the process your brain makes more connections and you are more likely to remember the words.
Every time you run into that same word, go back and make a note.  You can leave a space on your vocabulary list to re-write the word again when you find it, or you can simply make a check mark.  This will help you when deciding which words make it into your second flashcard pile and which words don’t make the cut.

Simplify your vocabulary list every few days.  You don’t want a list of 500 words.  Keep erasing words that haven’t come up often, but keep the ones that have until you are sure that you know them by heart.  The top 10 words on your list at the end of each cleansing period should be put on flashcards to be carried with your 10-15 frequent words.

5) Start Listening: Audio is actually the most important part of the early game.  You need to train your ears to distinguish between words in the target language.  Audio will get you from hearing a jumbled mess to hearing distinct words and phrases, even if you can’t understand the meaning.  The meaning will come from your reading and vocabulary lists, but if your ears can’t pick out the sounds you are doomed.

Audio also helps train your accent.  You should try to repeat, whenever possible, what you hear.  It doesn’t matter if it’s music or podcasts or audio lessons from language CDs.  You need to be exposed to the spoken (sung) language as often as possible.   Passive listening IS FINE.  Obviously doing anything consciously will be more effective than passively, but that can be tiring so just make sure that when you’re on the bus, subway, train, in the car, or walking somewhere that you put your headphones on and train those ears!

6) Start Using the language:  About 1-2 weeks in, you should be ready to start using the language on a very basic level.  The grammar should be pretty clear – although of course you will be making many mistakes here as you get used to using it – and you could have up to a 100 word vocabulary.  Your pronunciation is going to suck, but that’s where using the language really helps.  Start meeting with your language partner and participating in some online activity / forum / group.

Fun:

Enjoy what you are doing.  Obviously there is difficulty that comes with language learning, but if you set yourself up right and have the proper motivation, learning language from start to finish will be an enjoyable experience.  Here are some helpful tips for making it more enjoyable.

1) Do it with friends: If you have a friend who also wants to learn, you can do it together.  You can test each other, joke with each other, and help each other during the process.  The more the merrier – doing things alone can be pretty, well, lonely.

2) Don’t worry about anything. Are you not making the progress you thought you would?  It doesn’t matter.  Focus on the process.  Make goals, but don’t worry if you don’t reach them as everyone learns language at a different pace, but most importantly language itself is not the goal: communication is.  As long as you are enjoying yourself, you are being successful and are most likely improving quickly.

3) Your needs are the standard for fluency, not some language test.  If you can use only 100 words in Chinese to do everything that you do already in English, then I would consider you fluent.  Most people need more (a lot more), but hey it’s possible.  For me, I need to know how to say “Zerg, Protoss, Terran, Archmage, Mountain King” in order for any language to mean much to me (I’m a video gamer).  I bet most linguists don’t know these words – are they any less fluent than I am?  When you measure your success and make goals based on your own needs, fun is easier to be had.

4) Pick subjects that you really enjoy.  As mentioned in a previous post, the materials that you choose should be enjoyable for you in order to keep you interested, but also matter to your life.  Reading German books on rocks doesn’t sound like a way to keep my attention, but hey maybe that floats your boat.  I’ll be reading about blogging, video games, or music.

The most important tip

4) Make mistakes, and lots of them.  Double your rate of failure to double your rate of success – a popular motivational phrase that’s going around these days.  It’s true.  If in the first 3 months you can fail as much as most people fail in 3 years, then your successes will match.  Making mistakes, contrary to popular belief, is a good thing (well… at least in language, not with hand grenades).  Making a mistake means that you attempted something that you haven’t mastered already, which means that you are challenging yourself, which means growth.  You can see where you were wrong and correct it.

The biggest problem that most people have in learning language is that they want to do it in the classroom, and even then they prefer to never raise their hand and attempt to answer questions because they might be wrong.  People might laugh.  The teacher might scold you.  Oh no, call in the national guard! Get over it.  Get comfortable with making mistakes and you will find your language skills jump through the roof.

Good luck and I’ll see you abroad in 3 months!

I’ve lived in 7 different apartments in Beijing.  I think I’ve come across almost every possible bad situation that one can come across when trying to rent an apartment here, so I feel the need to help those of you out there who are soon to be renters.

When renting an apartment, the clearer you are with what you want, the easier it will be to find it.  Here are some helpful steps to save you time, money, and hassle:

1)  Understand the City Layout and Pick a Location:

a) Beijing is broken into rings, or roads that circle Beijing at different distances from the center.  Living next to one of these rings means getting to you or going away from you by car will be easier – aka taxi will be cheaper and faster + friends with cars will love you.  Live next to a ring. I live just off the 4th ring road, but also there is a freeway that connects directly to the 3rd next to me.

b) Without a car, Beijing is most easily traversed by subway, so you are going to want to live walking distance from a subway stop. Enough said.  Don’t buy that “you can take a bus, it’s just 2 stops away” bull.  It’s too much of a hassle.   If you have a car… ignore this.

c) If you are going to school, pick someplace within 10-15 minute walking distance from both your school AND a subway stop, but always preferably closer to the subway station than school.  If you are feeling lazy, you still have to go to class (well, unless of course you read this blog entry (LINK)), but you will choose not to go have fun.  I made this mistake before and my social life suffered.  Don’t become a hermit and put class ahead of your fun.

d) If you are not in school:  Unless you are a hermit, anything outside of the 4th ring road you will want to ELIMINATE now.  Apartments may be cheaper and larger, but the travel time is going to kill you when you want to do anything, not to mention the taxi costs when you come home past 11 from the few large gathering spots in Beijing.  Live within the 4th.

e) Live next to multiple lines: This is your first choice, as you double the places you can go to.  “Oh, but I can transfer can’t I?”  Yeah sure, add an extra 20-30 minutes to walk between stations and wait for another train.  I live in between 3 different subway lines right now, the 10 (which goes from College town in the West all the way to the Central Business District in the East), line 13 (gets me to line 2, or north out to nowhere), and line 5 (takes me to line 1 and shopping districts).  Of course, if you are in school this might not be a choice for you.  If you can’t live near multiple lines, try to live 1-2 stops from the next line.

f) Live next to food, shopping, and coffee. If you don’t have these near you, then every time you go outside you will have to travel – you might as well live where you go to get your coffee / shopping / food.  It’s nice to have friends come to you sometimes and to have shopping conveniently at your doorstep, so make sure there is plenty of this nearby.  I don’t drink coffee, but the cafe environment is good for a change from writing in my apartment, and I don’t want to have to go to the subway station or take a taxi every time I want this.  I love Chinese food and can eat it every meal everyday, but I have 7-11, pizza, coffee, burgers, Korean food, Japanese food etc all within a 10 minute walk JUST IN CASE (not to mention KTV).

Visit the locations that you picked out in step 1 and take a look at the different buildings in the area.  By picking the buildings that you want to live in ahead of time, you save yourself a LOT, I mean a TON of time with agencies trying to pinpoint exactly what you want.

a) Avoid buildings built before 2000, and preferably even 2004.  It is not true that apartments are cheaper in the older buildings: all you are getting is a headache from having to deal with bugs, the smell, broken down elevators, and very old furniture.  I’ve had to replace and fix all sorts of things in old apartments because the landlord wouldn’t do it, and in other cases just had to live with some things – this won’t happen as often in newer apartments.  Did I mention avoiding the bugs and the smell?

b) Check if the elevator runs 24/7 or only until midnight (of course assuming there is an elevator..).  Don’t make the mistake of renting an apartment on the 15th floor in a building that has an elevator that only runs until midnight.  Good luck walking up the stairs after a night of tequila and dancing.

c) Look for apartment complexes that are well-kept.  Some buildings, even new ones, are not kept clean, which is a good signal that the building will have BUGS.  I’ve made this mistake twice already in my years in Beijing.  This is important!   Go into each building and check the stairs for trash buildup and the main elevator area for cleanliness.  It’s best if there is a worker stationed at the front.  It’s OK if the place isn’t spotlessly clean, but some level of cleanliness will be an indicator of the shape of the rooms, besides, who wants to stand next to trash while waiting for the elevator everyday?

Obviously you need to know how many bedrooms you want and how many square meters (1 sq foot = .0929 sq meters), but other than that here are some things to add to your list.

a) Mention the buildings that you picked out from step 2.  This is going to save you a lot of time.  If you don’t live in Beijing and couldn’t visit the locations first, then just list out “building built after 2000, preferably after 2004, 24/7 elevator, well-kept”

b) CLEAN.  Agents know which apartments have been well-kept and which ones haven’t.  Hopefully by picking out the right buildings you should be avoiding most dirty apartments, but if you don’t stress this, you will still be taken to some garbage dumps-turned-apartments.  Sometimes there are clean rooms in the buildings that you didn’t check, so it’s good to put this on your list and mention it multiple times to the agent.  Seriously, clean means something different in first world and third world countries, so stress it (unless you like dirty apartments of course).  Go as far as to describe what clean means to you – “No bugs, no smell, white walls.” 没有虫子，无臭味儿，白墙 (mei2you3 chong2zi, wu2 chou4 wei4er, bai2qiang2).

c) Do you want wooden floorboards or tile?  To me this is a no-brainer – floorboards look and feel 10x better than the ugly looking tile that many architects in China love to use.  Sometimes tile looks nice I guess, but sometimes it’s just a disaster; my last apartment had this really ugly dirty red tile (it’s a long story about how I ended up there).

d) Size of Living Room:  Chinese tend to spend most of their time in their bedrooms, so many apartments are built with very small living rooms and larger bedrooms.  Westerners are more used to larger living rooms and smaller bedrooms.  Determine what you would be more comfortable with.  I always prefer a larger living room, so I make sure to stress this to the agent.  If you don’t mind and are living alone, some apartments don’t have a living room but are still very nice.  I don’t like this, but it is an option.

e) Windows:  Don’t let them take you to a dungeon, and if they do remember to have this on your check list – if you’re looking for apartments at night you may not notice; ask for apartments that have larger/ more windows and you’ll save money on electricity and will probably wake up in a better mood ever day.  I’m writing this from my bedroom, which has a 1.8m x 2.2m window (about half of the wall) facing south – I don’t turn the lights on until late afternoon.

f) An air conditioner in every room, including the living room: Beijing gets as hot as hell during the summer.  Just make sure you don’t get screwed over.

g) Water heater quality:  Oh boy.  I made this mistake with the apartment I’m renting right now.  Hot water only lasts for 4 minutes, so now I’m left in a disadvantaged position to bargain with the landlord on getting a replacement (or fixing it).  This might not matter to you much, but it’s something to take into consideration.

   h) Furniture:  You CAN find apartments that are nicely furnished for cheap, so don’t settle – this is a place that you’ll be everyday.  Any little annoyance gets multiplied by X hours a day and Y days that you are renting for.  Furniture for me is a make-or-break requirement.
i) Does the furniture look like it came from the WWII period?
ii) Do the colors make you want to puke? (Dirty red tile with WWII-style brown furniture and green cabinets?)
iii) Is the furniture soft?
iv) Is the bed soft?
v) Is the wardrobe large enough?
vi) Is there anything missing: Sofa, TV, Computer desk, Chair, Wardrobe, Bed (or 2), Mattress (or 2), Fridge, Washer, Clothes Line for hanging washed clothing, mirror + rack for toiletries in the bathroom.

I) Internet + Cable TV:  Make sure these are either set up, or that they can be easily set up without you having to pay set-up fees.

4) Go to see the Agencies:

If you read Chinese and have a lot of extra time on your hands, you can try to find apartments that are not rented through agencies.  I tried and failed – everyone I called turned out to be an agent.  Agents have gotten smarter and pretend to be the landlord online, then when you call them they surprise you with “I’m an agent!”

a) Don’t go to just one agency, but go to all of them in the area.  All of the agencies have the same list of apartments, but what’s important is that when you are dealing with different agents you will be told different things.  One Agent might quote 3000 for an apartment, while the next agent quotes 2800.  Some agents are more resourceful, understanding, generally nicer than others.  I personally have had best luck with 链家 (lian4jia1), and worst luck with 我爱我家 (wo3ai4wo3jia1 – I love my home)

b) Call and tell them your requirements up front.  Make sure that they write it all down, and emphasize that you won’t see apartments that don’t match your checklist.  If you don’t do this, you are guaranteed to be taken to apartments that don’t match your needs.  Agencies have this trick of taking you to 2 apartments that you won’t like and then finally taking you to one that is close to what you want to make it seem better.  Don’t put up with this.

c) Make sure to tell them to find more than one apartment at a time to show you – don’t get trapped running across town just to see one apartment.

d) Keep in mind that landlords usually have to work, so they won’t be around until after 5pm.  Schedule meetings with all agencies in one go starting from 5 all the way to 8 or 9pm.  If you schedule ahead of time they will be able to get the landlords to stay later.

e) You don’t need to worry about agencies ripping you off too much on price – they won’t tell you that a 2000 RMB apartment goes for 3000, they’ll say 2400 or so.  Most agents are pretty honest and it comes down to convincing the landlord to lower prices, not the agent.

f)  Ask to meet the landlord.  我爱我家 (wo3ai4wo3jia1) is pretty bad with this.  It gets really ugly if you don’t have any connection with the landlord at all, as agencies do a really poor job of offering service after the purchase.  If something breaks, you need to register with the police, or have some emergency the landlord is the person you need and agencies are known to get in the way and avoid helping you.

5) Renting: Price and Bargaining

1) Don’t take the price first quoted to you – always bargain for something 100 – 400 RMB cheaper.  Even if the landlord won’t accept anything lower, this at least gives you stronger bargaining power for other things, although in most cases you will be able to get a cheaper price.  In my current apartment I wasn’t able to bargain any lower than the current price, but because I was strong in my conviction that I wasn’t getting a deal, the landlord budged on other things

Step by step:

i) “What’s the cheapest price you can give me”
ii) “What? That’s it?  Can’t you go lower?”
iii) “That’s too high.  What about (Insert something 100-400 RMB lower than what they just said)?”
iv) Go to step 2 (Yes, don’t accept any price yet)

2) Get more or better furniture:  This is the most common place for landlords to give ground, so push hard here.  You can often get them to buy you a new couch, a new TV, or even a new bed and mattress.  Previously I have gotten a brand new HUGE computer desk, new chairs, a new sofa, a new bed, and most recently new air conditioners and a newly remodeled kitchen.

Step by step:

i) “The (couch, bed, blah) is really old, there’s no way I can use it.  Can you replace this?”
ii) “There’s no (insert furniture) here, I’m going to need one”
iii) “These lights are really old, can you replace them with new ones”

3) Make an on the spot offer at a lower price than they said, while also throwing in the furniture they promised they could provide.  Say that you will take the apartment and will pay the deposit right now if he takes the price.  The landlord will be very tempted to rent it right away in fear of missing a month’s rent period looking for a renter.  Make sure to constantly wear a look of worry and dissatisfaction on your face.  Once you have found your ideal apartment, this is a good way to get a slightly cheaper price.

4) You can get the rent cheaper if you sign a year long contract, and even cheaper if you pay for a year up front.

5) AVOID any contract that requires 2 months deposit.  This is a scam to steal your money.  As many people end up leaving before their contracted time is up, the agency can legally keep your money.  Also when you decide to move, they can rack up costs such as “cleaning” or “maintenance” and take away a chunk of your deposit.  Keep your risk to a minimum and go for the standard 1 month deposit pay 3 months rent at a time.

6) For apartments over 3000 RMB, the agency fee is usually paid by the landlord.  This is actually a really stupid policy when you do the math.  Say you are renting an apartment for 2800 RMB + agency fee.  First break the agency fee into 12 months gives us 233 per month.  So you are really paying 3033 RMB for the 2800 RMB apartment, but only 3000 RMB for the other one.  Rent only below 2700 or above 3000 to avoid being an idiot and giving away free money.

Other Notes:

1) Foreigners must register with the police when they move and must bring along tax receipts from rent.  Landlords throughout Beijing seem to have unanimously agreed that foreigners will pay this tax.  Convince your landlord to say you are a friend, as friends don’t pay rent and thus there is nothing to be taxed, so you get to save 5% on your rent.  If you can’t, then have the agency write up a dummy contract that sets the rent price much lower than what you are actually paying in order to avoid some tax.

2) Consider apartments that are NOT furnished.  I am renting a non-furnished apartment.  The furnished equivalent goes for 700 RMB more per month.  After purchasing furniture myself (thus I own it and I picked out what I like), and dividing the price by 13 months (12 months + 1 month agency fee), I end up saving 300 RMB / month on rent in addition to whatever money I can get for my used furniture when I move out and sell it.

Missing anything?  Share your tips!

If I’m missing anything feel free to leave a comment.  Share your tips with the rest of us and make renting an apartment that much easier.

I’ve recently discovered a blogger at http://thelinguist.blogs.com/.  I added Steve’s blog recently and was drawn to his newest post called “the real secret to language learning success – intensity.”

The main difference that I’ve found from his language learning and mine is that he focuses on INPUT while to I focus on OUTPUT.  I recommend getting up to conversations and learning practical phrases as soon as possible, while he recommends starting off by getting a feel for the language and not studying grammar at all in the beginning.

Steve and I believe in different methodology, but that only proves one thing: there are different ways of learning language for different people with different goals and interests.  Steve is a master of language learning (a true polyglot) and I recommend that language learners check out his blog.  I agree with almost everything he says, and his methodology is much more fine tuned than mine is.  His methodology obviously works, maybe it will for you too.

An outline of his methodology can be found here.

Here are the first of his seven principles:

The Seven Principles of the Linguist Method.

1)    Enjoy yourself: Enjoy the experience of learning. Enjoy the language you are learning. Choose a language to study that you enjoy or find ways to enjoy the language you are studying. Choose content that you like. Do learning activities that you like.
2)    Focus on input first: Listen and read. Get used to the language. Do not feel you have to produce the language. Just get the language into you. Listen often while doing other tasks, wherever you can. You can also listen while reading, or you can just read.
….

He also offers resources for language learners, called “LingQ“.  There are podcasts and other resources.   The one for Chinese can be learned here.

A new perspective on things and new resources can never hurt.  I’ll be reading through his blog a lot more and perhaps do a review of his methods and book later.

I wrote about “The China Study” in a previous post and how that and my experience in China pushed me to make the decision to go Vegan.  This does not mean that eating vegan in China is easier.  Chinese people DO eat LESS meat, but I would argue that there are fewer choices of NO meat than in the USA.  Coming to China CAN result in healthier eating, but eating at the healthiest level is not as easy as in other places in the world.

Many people out there think that living in China makes going vegan super easy and almost “natural.”  Here are some things that people should know about China:

1. Meat is considered a blessing.  Fish is considered lucky.

2. All holiday meals include almost exclusively meat: I barely ate at my company’s New Year’s dinner because they only ordered one plate with vegetables and 15 plates of meat.

3. Nearly every dish contains meat in some form, whether it is ground, sliced, or simply used as a base.  There are very few fully vegetarian dishes.

4. Eating vegetarian is known only as a moral thing of monks and for women on a diet.  It is considered as not necessary for health, and not eating meat means that you are purposefully not satisfying your body’s needs.

5. Do to #4, there is heavy social pressure against being vegetarian.  Once mentioned, there will be many questions and suspicions.  Read more about this in my article about majority thinking.

6. I have only met 1 Chinese vegetarian before, and she was highly influenced by her Tai Chi master (moral + diet).

7. There are very few vegetarian / vegan restaurants, and they are not conveniently located.

8. Eating out is so cheap that the only benefit to cooking is to control what goes in your food.  Those who eat meat are at an advantage.

9. Eating in China is communal (everyone eats from the same dishes rather than individual plates) and a single dish will not have a variety of tastes.  The vegetarian will have fewer choices of dishes to eat from and thus not have the same variety in his meals – unless all parties are vegetarian (not likely, see #6).   Consider:  a meat eater and a vegetarian go to a restaurant.  They order one dish of pork and one dish of broccoli.  Who wins?

10. There is no vegetarian / vegan section at the supermarket.  You can’t find the big cartons of yummy chocolate/vanilla soy milk.  There is no vegan cheese or vegetarian burger.  You can’t buy vegetarian meat.