So, today I was tasked with finding a building in an unfamiliar residential complex. I am walking  around looking for building 6. None of the buildings appear to be labeled on the outside.  This is  distressingly common in  new complexes in my experience.  After all, the people who live there know which building they live in, so what's the big deal?  I also have to pass through a turnstile gate which I have no code or no way to get through. But hey, the people who live there all have an app or a key fob or something so it doesn't even occur to them that someone else might not have one.   after wandering around lost for 15 minutes or so, I finally find a sign on a building that says 6# 单元 After another ten minutes or so wandering around, it turns out this is the building I was looking for.  Evidently the sign meant 6栋 一单元 The 一 was stylized and looked like it was part of the sign, or a hyphen or something.  I thought it meant 6单元. 😵 Which struck me as a rather high number for a 单元 but whatever. Is # some kind of abbreviation for 栋 these days?  In my complex, all the buildings are labeled on the outside with a standard placard with the name of the apartment complex  in characters and pinyin and building number in a clear, easy-to-read sign that is the same all over the city.  Finally in the building, I go up the elevator to the 11th floor, my destination . None of the rooms are numbered.  I guess and give a rap  of shave and a haircut, nothing.  Nobody's home.  Why bother putting a 门牌 up either, I guess, whoever lives in 1103 knows which apartment he lives in.  I go back down to the lobby and ask which elevator goes to 1103. Elevator 3 goes there.  Because, 3 goes to 03, get it? The lady presses the button for elevator 4, which opens and she tells me to get in.  But...you said elevator 3. Well, there is a hallway from elevator 3 to elevator 4 on the 11th floor which allows access.  Good thing that was obvious to people who don't live there.   In the elevator, trying to press the button for 11.  There isn't an 11. 10, 12, 14, nothing.  Must be one of those deals where you have to go to an in between floor and take the stairs or something.  The elevator door opens, the lady comes back in and sees me hunting for the 11 button.  Well, there's my problem, I foolishly went for the first row of buttons  I saw when I got in.  Rookie mistake.  These are the handicap accessible buttons which lack an 11 and a few other floors too.  The tall row near the door has all floors, including  11.  Arriving on 11, naturally none of the doors are numbered.  The lady, who has ridden up with me  and whose curiosity is piqued by now, starts asking me questions about who I'm going to see , what's the purpose of my visit and so on.  Typical nosy Chinese who wants to know every detail of the laowai's life. And I've already talked to her about the elevator issue so the cat is out of the bag and I can't give her the ol' ting budong.   Is this something new, or something I should be aware of from now on?  Did a shift take place where    a trailing # became accepted as a substitute for 栋 and everyone knows but me?  Are there any other punctuation marks are shorthand for characters?

Hello everyone, I am currently applying for a master's degree in Xiamen and I received my JW201.  However, I noticed that the marital status is written "Married"/“已婚” while I am Not Married/"未婚“.  I am currently in China (Xiamen) and I am currently very stressed and worried that it will affect my scholarship.  Does anyone know what I should do and Where I should go? I have tried to call the school but they said that the university is not the one making the JW201.  So then I contacted the "出入境“ hoping that there would be answers. Please guide me, Thank you very much.

This popped up on my WeChat. It reports on (and has photos of) a trial run oral HSK conducted through face-to-face interviews. Quote 2024年5月26日,HSK口语面试首次在国内外10个考点试考，共有500余考生参加。HSK口语面试由汉考国际联合北京大学团队共同研发。 [Google Translate]: On May 26, 2024, the HSK oral interview was first tested at 10 test sites at home and abroad, with more than 500 candidates participating. The HSK oral interview was jointly developed by Hankao International and the Peking University team.   试考结束后，汉考国际将根据各方反馈进一步完善和优化考试流程，为后续正式考试打下坚实的基础。 [Google Translate]: After the trial test, Hankao International will further improve and optimize the test process based on feedback from all parties, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent formal test. I'm not quite sure of the significance of this.

hello guys , i really hope someone answer my question or tell me something    i was renewing my residence permit in september 2023 , i did my medical check and find out i had syphilis  school office told me to immediately take treatment in china , but i cant stay in china  i had my treatment back then in china , suspended my studies and went back to my home country  school told me to get treated and get my RPR test negative then comeback this september 2024   i want to know if i will have any issues , because my RPR is negative , what means its not an active infection , but TPHA will always stay positive as they say   please , any information will help , thank you

Hi everyone, I was wondering if it was worth stayaing in China for the Lunar new year.   I'll be an exchange student in China next year, and due to exam season overlapping with christmas I will only be able to go home at the end of january. If I skip lunar new year, I will have a month to spend home, but if I stay for new year, I will only have two weeks.   Ideally, I'd like to spend more time with my family. However, some people told me that celebrating lunar new year in China is a rare opportunity that I should take. But from searching the net, it seems most people say that nothing really happens during NY and that people just go home with their families ? If that's the case, I don't think it's worth cutting my holidays in half for.    I'm not sure what to do and wanted to ask for advice !

I fell in love with a phone. As ridiculous as it sounds, I'm someone who loves technology, and I saw this gorgeous phone in my neighbor's hands on my last flight and decided to buy it. If you've never seen the Honor Magic VS2, go check it out, very expensive indeed, but also very special. Best phone in it's category to ever hit the market, so of course this has to be the phone for me.   It now looks like we will be staying in China for a few more years, so the phone will probably stay inside China 95% of the time. Also, the phone is so much cheaper here (~30% less, which is just a LOT of money in this price range) so that I will try to buy it in China. And this is of course the point where the questions come up.   Question 1: Where would you buy such a VERY expensive phone in China? In my home country, I've never bought a phone in a flagship store, instead I'd go to Amazon and buy the cheapest. Why? Because customer service is usually provided by the manufacturer, and I've never had a problem with repairs, etc. Now I tried to look at taobao, and I have some trouble finding out if the phones sold there are even new? Whenever I ask a seller directly, they seem to answer that the phone is used, but I can never tell from the description. Is this just me and my bad translator, or is this common? Would you go to a store? What kind of store? Or buy online? Where? I asked in the (expat) WeChat groups in the neighborhood, but expats seem to only use iPhones, I didn't get any recommendations there.   Question 2: How do I get all the apps I need to survive (VPN, Google, you name it...) to work on a Chinese phone? Is this even possible? I read online that Honor even allows you to download some of the Google apps directly if you sign up for it - for traveling purposes. [Sorry, I didn't read the whole thread about VPN etc. in the forum (too scared, it's too big), if all the answers are already in there, let me know and I promise I won't ask again.]   Thanks for you help here 😀      

My girlfriend is Chinese and I’m not. She was on her phone one day and I noticed a text from a guy: “宝宝，我把这葬礼的笔记发给你啦，请查阅😘”   I had no idea what it meant but I saw the kiss so I asked what it’s about. She said he’s a friend that she used to study coding with and he sent her some notes. I translated the message and asked why he called her baby. She said it’s a cultural thing and not romantic, similar to how some Americans call everyone honey, darling, etc. I asked why the kissing face and she didn’t have much of an answer.   I’m not sure how to feel. Can anyone offer insight? Does this seem like a normal non romantic conversation? I was pretty upset and I was surprised by her response. She was annoyed by my distress rather than trying to make me feel better. She scrolled through her previous conversations with him and it was random unrelated stuff but it only went to last month. She said she barely talks to him. I really can’t see her doing anything sinister and I feel bad for asking Reddit but sometimes the cultural differences and language barrier can make our relationship difficult to navigate and her reaction just felt a little odd. Thank you

Hello   I have tried OCR and Chinese Literary makes the most sense but it still has me totally confused. 🥴   Can anyone help translate this for me?

Can anyone help me interpret the inscriptions on this porcelain vase? Thank you!

I am going to study at Keats in Kunming,  but since the flight there stops in Beijing, I'd like to take advantage of this and study 1-2 weeks in Beijing.  What's the best way logistically to accomplish this?  I've never been to China.  Is your round-trip flight to and from China required to enter and leave from the same city?   Would it be better to just fly to Beijing, stay there,  then flight or train to Kunming or vice-versa?