britomart's picture britomart Submitted by Guest on Wed, 03/07/2012 - 11:44

My favorite was in the first class I taught, twelve years ago. All the students wanted to choose English names, and I, in my innocence, told them to go ahead. At the end of the class the list of English names came back to me with "Toilet", "Fairy", "Witch", and "Panasonic", to name a few.

The next day Panasonic came to me and asked if he could change his name. When I agreed and handed him the list, he crossed out "Panasonic" and wrote "Savage Garden".

Doubt wisely; in strange way / To stand inquiring right is not to stray; / To sleep, or run wrong, is. (Donne, Satire III)

Sida's picture Sida Submitted by Guest on Wed, 03/07/2012 - 11:33

Oh, I think you missed some of the better names. I've had students named:
Shrek, Watermelon, Bunny, Nevermore, Lionel Messi, and, unfortunately, Nazi. Among other classes were PeePee and Deceptacon.
What I'm curious to know, is why do many students choose animal or food names?

lauren_mccarthy's picture lauren_mccarthy Submitted by Guest on Wed, 03/07/2012 - 10:19

Hi bernd1,

All this certainly is confusing, and this post only addresses the issue of CDMA for the iPhone 4S, not for any other phones or the carriers in general.

In regards to the iPhone 4S, the issue is phone compatibility. The Unicom version can only run on the following networks (UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA/GSM/EDGE), while the Telecom iPhone is CDMA compatible. The Unicom/Telecom links in the post offer all the technical specifications of each iPhone, just scroll past the plans to the bottom of the page.

This is also the reason that China Mobile users can't get 3G b/c the iPhone isn't compatible with their network.

Deputy Managing Web Editor

Iain S's picture Iain S Submitted by Guest on Wed, 03/07/2012 - 09:29

Beijing Steve,

Here's a fuller comment on Groupon/Restaurant Week from Onno Schreurs - let us know what you think:

"Groupon is a totally different thing. It has nothing to do with what we do. Groupon is a terrible thing, absolutely not suitable for restaurants.

First of all, we don' take any commission from the restaurants. We're not involved in any money transaction. Guests pay directly at the restaurants.

Second of all, Restaurant Week has been the most successful dining event in the world for the past 20 years. In New York, they just celebrated the 20th anniversary of Restaurant Week. This is the first Restaurant Week in Beijing, but it won't be the last. It will be back every six months for the coming 20 years.

The third thing is that restaurants don't give discounts. They offer three-course meals for fixed pricing. People can easily compare restaurants this way."

The Cleaver Quarterly: A new print magazine taking a playful look at Chinese food as a global phenomenon. Issue 1 out May 2014

thecleaverquarterly.com

beijingsteve's picture beijingsteve Submitted by Guest on Tue, 03/06/2012 - 16:42

I'd be interested to know how the Groupon concept is totally different to the restaurant week concept. The only difference I can see is that the prices for set menus in restaurant week are considerably more than deals that can be found on Groupon sites. A set meal for two at one of the restaurants featured in restaurant week was available for less than 300rmb including two cocktails on a groupon site. The set menu for the same restaurant in restaurant week costs 249rmb for one person. The main difference I can see from a customer's point of view, apart from price, is that the groupon sites are in Chinese so not as easy for foreigners to navigate. The restaurant week is basically a high end groupon concept, and you only have a week to use your voucher.

bernd1's picture bernd1 Submitted by Guest on Tue, 03/06/2012 - 14:50

Surely not a helpful post.

GSM usually refers to 2G services that all Chinese networks support.

They use different 3G standards though. You had to use Unicom for W-CDMA, if you wanted to use the same device in China and Europe or US. Has this changed?

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