If you don't speak Shanghainese, you will be at a disadvantage. The locals will pick on you when you buy goods: namely, the goodies will be charged at a much higher rate than say the blok who speaks the dialect.
let's see - I have to first make it clear here - my impression - China is a "smoked" country that's for sure , but recently I've noticed that less and less young generation people choose to smoke, especially in relatively developed areas of China, which I myself think - is a good thing. the reason I started smoking - we actually had this debate when I was in college on whether people should smoke, and why people smoke, I could not remember how this debate ended, but I started smoking in senior year because at that time I started to fell in love with programming and my mentor who was/is a programming genius was at the same time a "smoking ghost" - we used to play with computers together all day and night and smoking and drinking very thick tea were among the methods we adopted to keep us awake. interesting thing happened to me regarding mahjong and smoking - I once played mahjong with friends for a straight 40 hours ! We killed 8 packs of cigarette in these 40 hours, and during the last several hours we were out of supply and it was about 4 o'clock in the morning so no where to buy new - we were so tired but still wanted to keep playing so we ended up hunting for not-completely-finished-cigarette-butts in the trash ! hahaha - crazy things again happen in college now - I quit smoking already. I play casual mahjong with friends for fun.
true! and the taxi driver will take you through a wrong (usually longer) way hehe, once my friend called this "foreigners' tax" haha. that's among one of the things I hate this city. but i have ways to avoid that but you know what once I was in HongKong and I don't speak the language, one taxi driver did the same thing as shanghai taxi driver will do to non-local travellers to me! can't help but - you know what - I guess it's all about money.
thanks pete i quit already guess i have a stronger will than most people - hehe bragging again did you notice that less and less younger generation people in china do - against the 'environment' - choose not to smoke
haha good for them, they obviously have stronger will than you (to not consider smoking in the first place) my two uncles had successfully quited smoking too. so there, two more stronger willed people for you
It's not about competition to quit smoking. Kudos to [size=+1]all[/size] who choose not to smoke, and to those who choose to quit smoking. -dave
it amazes / confuses me smoking can be this resented around the globe. Can I know the reasons you hate smoking? health / look / smell / gesture / environmental protection / world peace? seems China still has a long way to go ...
I think i have allergy to smoke. Therefore, once ppl smoke, either I kick them out of the room, or I leave.
excuse me for being so graphicl so here it goes. cigarette smoke is proven to be carcinogen. most smoker already know smoking is bad but they do it anyway. we resent smokers because 1. i have to breath in deadly air, which will certainly shorten my life span. 2. i dont care if smoker is inconsiderate to their own body but being inconsiderate to other people's health reveal that smoker's personality. 3. it stinks up my clothing and hair 4. even when not smoking, smoker's body odor reeks. 5. only 5% smoker use ashtray. Other 95% discard their butts in public places. 6. I'm force to subsidize their healthcare bills 7. I'm jealous of them for taking extra sick days off work. While at work, they take freeby breaks like 15 minutes each time, at least 4 times a day. That's ~260 hrs/yr of wage for doing no work. 8. They get to pollute the air penalty free while emission control in cars are mandatory costing thousands $/car 2lov2liv, sounds like your smoking is confined to your space but most smokers don't give a care about people around them, including children, seniors, or even the fetus of pregnant women.
2love2live, What I like about China is that because of its growing industrial pollutions, its government has been very progressive in going after alternative renewable energy (or green) technologies... much more than other industrialized countries (namely the US). With the encroachment of the Gobi desert in the north, industrial smogs and other environmental issues the Chinese government has seriously considered and moving towards green power more than traditional energy resources for their growing needs. Kudos to China for setting a good example for other countries to follow. China's still a bad polluter, but it's moving in the right direction. As for smokers, I really don't mind how they choose their poison to kill themselves as long as they're not doing it in the same room as I am in. Anyway, welcome to BadmintonForum and enjoy your stay here!
This subject of Smoking versus Non-smoking has been rather sensitive. Smokers claim that it is their inherent right in a Democracy to smoke as 'freedom' is one of the hallmarks of a democracy. But they have forgotten that right comes with responsibily! When the exercising of that right conflicts with the interest of the general public, then obviously that right will not be allowed to go rampant, without controls. Healthwise, smoking is not for good for the public because the inhaling of cigarette smoke (indirect smoking) is even worse than smoking itself. Therefore, children are the most innocent victims if their parents smoke at home. Many years ago, cigarette manufacturers challenged this as untrue but over the years, as evidence accumulated, it became apparent that smoking (direct and indirect) is really harmful to health, lung cancer being the most common result of heavy and prolonged smoking. Cigarette companies have to pay damages in the millions of dollars, are restricted in advertising their products and conditions are set on their packaging, eg to print clearly on the packets that "smoking is harmful to health". Apart from being a health hazard, which is the most significant point, as annually, many young people die prematurely (other than the older folks) from smoking-related diseases, smoking is also as what you hace described, an anti-social behaviour. A non-smoker can easily detect the presence of a smoker because of the uninviting smell of cigarette odour all over the former's body. Some smokers throw the butts indiscriminately and it has been known that fires (including forest fires) have been caused as a result. In Singapore, we went through a long period of adjustment and it has now resulted in a bill (maybe a law by now) that penalizes smoking in restaurants, bars and where there are many people gathered, such as in a stadium, a bus stop, etc. We used to hear arguments that you can't divorce smoking from drinking (in bars) or in gambling places, etc. But the law takes care of it now. And, being a non-smoker myself, I welcome such a move!
It is interesting to observe that, despite all the health problems, smoking has not gone away. For every smoker long gone, prematurely, I might add, there appears from nowhere a new smoker to take his or her place. I wonder why? But if the smoker is being warned that smoking takes away a male smoker's manhood, and robs a woman of her beauty and complexion, then perhaps they will do something to quit.
those have been done already, including pics and commercial showing diseased lungs and cancer organs. problem is, nicotine is more addictive than hard drugs(cocaine, angel dust, etc.) AND IT'S LEGAL. If that's not enough, it had been shown in court that cigarette makers add in other addictive ingredients to make cigs even more addictive than just nicotine. tobacco makers are moving investment $$$ to china, india and africa where people are less educated about health and well being.
why do we bother working towards a healthy lifestyle: so we won't contract diseases, or more correctly - reduce chances of developing them, and endure unnecessary pain (emotional and physical); and hopefully live to a ripe old age looking good. as it stands, there are so many disorders an individual can go down with, without the cigarrete smoke adding more to the count. 2love2live, it amazes & confuses me that you should need to query our reasons for not putting up with smokers. never said it was. I ask myself that everyday (ever since i started col.). it irritates me more that our current generation despite the education choose to become smoking chimneys.
yes, that's why the government won't remove cigarette sale, it save future payout on pension while able to demand more income tax now in the name of health care. Gov't love the excise tax on cigs too. I think we harp 2lov2liv enough Lets get back to badminton
guys those were some amazing posts and thanks very much! you guys have all been very kind and helpful ! I didn't mean to turn my intro into a smoking chimney haha, but thanks again for those educative posts. I guess when you are young and less educated, you are subject to temptations, smoking being one of them, drinking another one, you start with questions in your mind, yeah i know smoking kills but how come there are so many smoking chimneys out there die in their very old ages and appear to be healthy?, you know what i mean, people are taking chances, the problem is for example, everybody knows AIDS kills but prostitution is still everywhere. How I wish that one day cigarette is as fatal as a bullet, one shot and you are dead, maybe that will be the ultimate solution to this global problem? but again - bullets and guns are destructive but people play with them, and can i say enjoy their company? you see how confused I am :crying:
It appears that 'unprotected' *** is causing much of the damage, especially with aids carriers, whether male or female. The latest report seems to suggest that China will soon be the worst hit country (simply because of her huge population size), unless something is done to educate the masses (esp those illiterate). If *** workers are carriers and no precaution is taken, then they too will contribute to the problem as they are easily accessible to the public. In this case the more workers there are, the multiplier effect is greater.
