General Info

[Phil1980]

More than 276,000 HIV/AIDS cases have been reported in China, with more than 45,000 new cases last year. Experts estimate about 700,000 people are infected with HIV in China, including 85,000 AIDS patients.

Very low percentage compared to the US, which has more people infected absolutely with a much lower population.

[Yellow Fever #2]

Posted yesterday in China Daily newspaper. Very scary statistics. Although the article does not give details on the rate of HIV in prostitutes and certainly it is much less than in the gay community, it is still a very serious risk of our hobby.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2...nt_8305084.htm

Gay men HIV cases quintuple in Shanghai
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-20 10:15

Incidence of HIV/AIDS cases involving men who have sex with men has risen fivefold in Shanghai over recent years, medical experts report.

They made the comments at a science forum in Beijing on Thursday designed to raise public awareness of the disease.

Shanghai, the largest metropolis in eastern China, is now carrying out an intervention and education campaign to combat HIV transmission through unsafe sex, they were quoted as saying by Friday's Shanghai Daily. Health authorities are researching the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among gays, bisexuals and female sex workers.

The Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention began surveying gay males in 2005 to find out more about their sexual behavior and to discover their HIV/AIDS or syphilis infection rate.

The incidence of syphilis from 2005 to 2007 remained around 12 to 13 percent, while HIV/AIDS increased every year. The incidence rate was 1.5 percent in 2005, 4.1 percent in 2006 and 7.5 percent in 2007, according to the survey. Data from 2008 is not yet available. According to the survey, more than 60 percent of the respondents had more than one male sexual partner.

"The increase in HIV/AIDS cases involving male-to-male sex is a challenge for almost all Asian countries," said Kang Laiyi, an AIDS expert at the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention. "Society is becoming more tolerant of gays and bisexuals, and intervention and education for this group should be intensified."

The local CDC has a 1,000-member team working with people such as drug users and sex trade workers who practice high-risk behavior.

More than 276,000 HIV/AIDS cases have been reported in China, with more than 45,000 new cases last year. Experts estimate about 700,000 people are infected with HIV in China, including 85,000 AIDS patients.

Shanghai has reported 3,947 HIV/AIDS cases.

[Yellow Fever #2]

Hello all,

I'm heading over to china shortly for my first time. Am I going to have to use a proxy to be able to access sites like this while i'm there? any sugestions on which to use?

thanks in advance.. just want to be prepared for when i get there

VPN service cannot be blocked in China. If China blocked VPN service, many business could not function, so it is not an option.

I used to use Witopia (www.witopia.net) with the OpenVPN service. Last year it abour $40, this year they have raised the price for the same service to $60 so I did not renew. Instead I found another COMPLETELY FREE VPN service called ALONWEB which I have installed and it works fine. There are occassional advertisements and it is slower than Witopia but for the few times I need it (mostly ISG) it is good enough. It works well enough for reading the web and it is free, easy to use and install.

You've got nothing to lose. In fact you can have many VPN services installed at the same time using OpenVPN, when you connect, you get to choose the service you want to connect.

I also have several proxy servers that I use at other times. I agree that it is not wise to post these publicly.

PM me for more details.

[Eaglestar]

Hello all,

I'm heading over to china shortly for my first time. Am I going to have to use a proxy to be able to access sites like this while i'm there? any sugestions on which to use?

thanks in advance.. just want to be prepared for when i get there

Proxy server or VPN is the only way I know to get around the fire wall. Just do a search for servers or VPNs. It is not good to post them here as LE can then find and block them.

ES

[FernandoAlonso]

Hello all,

I'm heading over to china shortly for my first time. Am I going to have to use a proxy to be able to access sites like this while i'm there? any sugestions on which to use?

thanks in advance.. just want to be prepared for when i get there

Yes, do not post them here, they will be blocked if you do so, there are so many out there yoy will find one, you can even sign on services and they deliver to you fresh in the morning.

Can be shared only via PM

[Interdude]

Hello all,

I'm heading over to china shortly for my first time. Am I going to have to use a proxy to be able to access sites like this while i'm there? any sugestions on which to use?

thanks in advance.. just want to be prepared for when i get there

[Phil1980]

The site has been banned in China for a while. You need to go through a proxy server or VPN. In some high end hotels you are ok. I assume it is because they may have a VPN.

This has prevented me from writing a lot of stuff from Central China on here for the last two years, since I spent quite some time in China and I'm a White Devil and only indulge in the cheap girls (mostly no more than 150-200 RMB/shot, or less if the girl is in a good mood). Might be of interest to other Whiteys in China. Like Massage with HJ for 30 RMB, with lots of youngish girls to choose from, the best value for money in China in my opinion.

I also know where to buy the white stuff ("Tina") in Central China some people like to smoke that is sold in the same establishments, but is not so highly regarded by authorities and parts of the public.

Hope to be back in China in a couple of weeks, but I guess this website will still be inaccessible from Mainland Internet Cafes, so unfortunately it's not really possible to keep in touch from public internet cafes.

[Loveasiangirls]

When I was in China last year this website was banned in Chinese internet cafes, this year the same thing (came back a week ago). What is the experience of others here? Since I've been a member of this website for several years I know that before about 2007 this website was readily accessible from internet cafes in Mainland China.

The site has been banned in China for a while. You need to go through a proxy server or VPN. In some high end hotels you are ok. I assume it is because they may have a VPN.

[Phil1980]

When I was in China last year this website was banned in Chinese internet cafes, this year the same thing (came back a week ago). What is the experience of others here? Since I've been a member of this website for several years I know that before about 2007 this website was readily accessible from internet cafes in Mainland China.

[SE Asia Joe]

There should in general be a frequent traveller document to enter China much like there is in Hong Kong. At least they are progressive there. This would be a national China government document. My travel pass to Hong Kong saves me passport pages and in fact now I can use my fingerprint to enter and exit HK (via airport) without seeing any immigration officer. (I don't have any HK ID, I travel on a Canadian Passport).

I think we should work on the PSB in Shenzhen, if it can be a local thing in Zhuhai, perhaps it can be a local thing here in Shenzhen too. Of all the foreigners in CHina, the ones living in the PRD region and those of HKG and Macau are the most likely to benefit from this.



I would like to support a letter writing campaign to help solve this problem.

This should also be posted in the Shenzhen/Zhuhai/Hong Kong/Macau sections.

We can (possibly) make a change.

Yellow Fever

I of course thoroughly endorse and support this campaign. Can we hold off on actually doing so until I get back from my annuall "Family summer in America?" Please?

And meaqnwhile. maybe build up some kind of support on this forum for such a campaign.

I'd be more than satisfied to be able to just get again those previously available thru Gongbei papers (where they'd stamp the PRC entry/exit chops on - and thus NOT filling up our passport pages with these huge and useless chops). But you've probably got a better idea - some kind of "Travel Pass" or?? to allow us frequent China visitors who do not have these 'Home return permits" to enter/exit without actually using the passport. Perhaps tied in to the issuance of our APEC cards?

Anyway, I should be back in these parts by the middle of July and meanwhile, perhaps you could start off the discussion - and rally support - for our cause here?

Thanks
SEAJ

[SE Asia Joe]

BTW, I am (still but not much longer) married to China woman and we live in Shenzhen but still a little short of the 5yr rule to obtain permanent residence. Yellow Fever

Hey Fever:
I've read about your pending divorce and suggestions that you shud get a Hong Kong Lawyer instead of a Shenzhen one.

I tend to disagree as from what I know, Hong Kong lawyers are notoriously overpaid for the crap job they do. For one, there is NO contingent fee arrangements here - and they've even got a law AGAINST any 3rd party from financing any lawsuits - plus we've got so many lawyers here that its not unheard of that a lawyer will "encourage" somebody to pursue a case EVEN if there is NO MERIT in it at all - just to get the business.

Also, I do believe that in China - money talks - and as I presume that you are the bread winner and I would think also the main asset holder in your marriage, you should "use" such Financial advantage to get a better settlement for yourself.

Also, please note the following headline from today's Hong Kong Standard
- well worth the reading I'd say

To have and to hold ...

Patsy Moy

Thursday, June 18, 2009



ADVERTISEMENT



A rich businessman has saved nearly HK$370 million after successfully persuading the Court of Appeal that his former wife had no right to a further share of his wealth through Hong Kong's legal system after a mainland court had ruled on their assets.
Yang Jun, the former vice chairman of China Motion Telecom, had earlier been ordered by the Family Court to pay his wife Ma Lin HK$378 million.

However, in a majority decision, the Court of Appeal overturned that ruling to uphold an earlier one from a Shenzhen court, which had ordered Yang to pay his wife 8.8 million yuan (HK$9.97 million) in divorce settlements.

Yang had launched the appeal to overturn the judgment of the Family Court, which had dismissed his summons to strike out his former wife's claim for ancillary relief. In allowing the appeal, Judge Peter Cheung Chak-yau said the Matrimonial Causes Ordinance empowered Hong Kong courts to recognize an "overseas divorce."

He said the power to refuse recognition "should be exercised sparingly and the usual situations of refusal are those related to fraud or dishonesty perpetrated by the overseas claimant upon the foreign court, or bias in the foreign court or other gross impropriety."

Cheung said: "In this case, when the husband applied in Hong Kong for the recognition of the Shenzhen judgment, the Shenzhen court had only dealt with part of the assets of the parties and its judgment is not capable of enforcement in Hong Kong.

"However, even if all the assets are dealt with in one jurisdiction, say Hong Kong instead of Shenzhen, the practical consequence is that the judgment will not be enforced in Shenzhen, where the wife claimed that the husband has substantial hidden assets."

Both Yang and Ma were born in the mainland and were married in Shenzhen in April 1992. They moved to Hong Kong in the mid-1990s but kept homes in both Hong Kong and the mainland.

Their first son was born in the mainland in 1992 and the younger one in Hong Kong in 1999.

The marriage broke down in 2006 and Ma filed a petition for divorce in Hong Kong on May 18 the same year.

Two days later, Yang issued a writ in the High Court claiming his wife held certain assets here.

But without Ma's knowledge, Yang also issued a writ in the Shenzhen court on October 23, 2006 claiming divorce, custody of their children and a division of their matrimonial assets valued at around 14.68 million yuan.

Ma first became aware of the Shenzhen proceedings in November 2006. In March 2007 she applied to the Shenzhen court for a stay of proceedings but was unsuccessful.

The Shenzhen hearing began on June 29, 2007, while the Hong Kong trial was set to begin on March 5 last year.

By the time the parties provided their particulars to the Hong Kong court on November 9, 2007, the Shenzhen trial was over and its judgment about to be handed down.

Ma was given four of the properties in the mainland and Yang the remaining four, with the Shenzhen court ordering him to pay his wife 8.8 million yuan within 30 days of the judgment.

In May last year, the Hong Kong Family Court held that the family assets that had not been distributed by the Shenzhen court were worth about HK$840 million, the bulk of which were assets in the mainland.

They also included assets in Hong Kong worth HK$66 million.

The lower court judge then ordered Yang to pay Ma a lump sum of around HK$378 million.

But yesterday's landmark ruling means Yang gets away with paying a fraction of that. In 2005, Yang and Ma each held half of the 54,049,500 shares of Midsino International Limited. Each also had 10.29 percent of the shares of China Motion Telecom.

In 1992, he left a pager service provider under Guangdong wireless council to build his own firm China Motion Telecom. The company had 20 million users by 1999, before the rising popularity of mobile phones began to hurt his business.

The Census and Statistics Department said the general divorce rate in Hong Kong in 2006 was 2.96 percent.

But Chan Yee-fei, a social worker in Shenzhen who deals with cross- boundary marital affairs for International Social Service Hong Kong branch, a nongovernment organization, said the 2005 divorce rate for Hong Kong-mainland couples living in Guangdong was as high as 50 percent.

SEAJ

[Yellow Fever #2]

YUP - my situation and sentiments exactly.

BTW - Someone wrote on the SCMP about the guarantor thing today.

Saw, it thanks for the note.

Actually..... a couple or so years back, I even wrote and spoke to several personnel at the Beijing Foreign Ministry about having these "Entry/exit papers" available at the Hong Kong border entry points i.e. Huangang, Luohu etc instead of just at the Gongbei and GZE borders - and their answer after quite a bit of back and forth was that this paper was being issued strictly by the Public Security Bureau of the LOCAL government and NOT by the Foreign Ministry and thus the reason why there are none available from the Hong Kong entry points. Go figure!!

Howzabout this - how about us all organizing a letter writing effort to the newspapers - and perhaps the PRC liaison office - to request for the availability of these papers - as indeed it WOULD greatly facilitate China's effort to attract the foreign investors AND tourists. Lots of us are based in Hong Kong and Macau and we all fill up our passports too rapidly with these chops! Before I found out about these papers, I used to fill my passport up within 1-1/2, max 2 years!

What do y'all think?

SEAJ

There should in general be a frequent traveller document to enter China much like there is in Hong Kong. At least they are progressive there. This would be a national China government document. My travel pass to Hong Kong saves me passport pages and in fact now I can use my fingerprint to enter and exit HK (via airport) without seeing any immigration officer. (I don't have any HK ID, I travel on a Canadian Passport).

I think we should work on the PSB in Shenzhen, if it can be a local thing in Zhuhai, perhaps it can be a local thing here in Shenzhen too. Of all the foreigners in CHina, the ones living in the PRD region and those of HKG and Macau are the most likely to benefit from this.

BTW, I am (still but not much longer) married to China woman and we live in Shenzhen but still a little short of the 5yr rule to obtain permanent residence. For those foreigners here that have obtained permanent residence, do you get any special travel document to enter/exit China?

I would like to support a letter writing campaign to help solve this problem.

This should also be posted in the Shenzhen/Zhuhai/Hong Kong/Macau sections.

We can (possibly) make a change.

Yellow Fever

[Fast Eddie 48]

It is possible to add virtually unlimited pages to US passports. They add maybe 20 pages at a time but this seems to be able to be done many times.

Unfortunately I have a Canadian passport and they are too stupid to allow additional pages. in fact they used to add pages, it is was very long folded page, roughly the length of 20 pages of additional space. You were able to add this long page ONCE as an emergency measure. You had to tell the consulate you were going to apply for a new passport very soon and you needed these pages for emergency travel. I had this done on a few of my passports.

However in their great wisdom they removed this function as few years ago. Canadians are stuck with a maximum 48 page passport (about 42 pages useable), with a 5 year validity and no chance of additional pages. I fill up a passport every 2 years. We also have rediculous rules on obtaining new passports, required a guarantor in order to apply. They say this is to protect the value of the Canadian passport, but this is really too outdated.

This is one case where being American is much better.

Yellow,

I have added pages to my US passport a few time, once in the US consulate in HK and is free of charge as long as the passport is not expired, they did it in one day now days I have my HKID and China permit and most country don't use stamp anymore.

Fast Eddie 48

[SE Asia Joe]

Unfortunately I have a Canadian passport and they are too stupid to allow additional pages. ..............However in their great wisdom they removed this function as few years ago. Canadians are stuck with a maximum 48 page passport (about 42 pages useable), with a 5 year validity and no chance of additional pages. I fill up a passport every 2 years. We also have rediculous rules on obtaining new passports, required a guarantor in order to apply. They say this is to protect the value of the Canadian passport, but this is really too outdated.

This is one case where being American is much better.

YUP - my situation and sentiments exactly.

BTW - Someone wrote on the SCMP about the guarantor thing today.

Actually..... a couple or so years back, I even wrote and spoke to several personnel at the Beijing Foreign Ministry about having these "Entry/exit papers" available at the Hong Kong border entry points i.e. Huangang, Luohu etc instead of just at the Gongbei and GZE borders - and their answer after quite a bit of back and forth was that this paper was being issued strictly by the Public Security Bureau of the LOCAL government and NOT by the Foreign Ministry and thus the reason why there are none available from the Hong Kong entry points. Go figure!!

Howzabout this - how about us all organizing a letter writing effort to the newspapers - and perhaps the PRC liaison office - to request for the availability of these papers - as indeed it WOULD greatly facilitate China's effort to attract the foreign investors AND tourists. Lots of us are based in Hong Kong and Macau and we all fill up our passports too rapidly with these chops! Before I found out about these papers, I used to fill my passport up within 1-1/2, max 2 years!

What do y'all think?

SEAJ

[Yellow Fever #2]

Do they just add new, blank pages, or do they swap out the expansion pages? The USA Passport books don't look like they're meant to be very thick, especially the new ones with the RFID chips.

It is possible to add virtually unlimited pages to US passports. They add maybe 20 pages at a time but this seems to be able to be done many times.

Unfortunately I have a Canadian passport and they are too stupid to allow additional pages. In fact they used to add pages, it is was very long folded page, roughly the length of 20 pages of additional space. You were able to add this long page ONCE as an emergency measure. You had to tell the consulate you were going to apply for a new passport very soon and you needed these pages for emergency travel. I had this done on a few of my passports.

However in their great wisdom they removed this function as few years ago. Canadians are stuck with a maximum 48 page passport (about 42 pages useable), with a 5 year validity and no chance of additional pages. I fill up a passport every 2 years. We also have rediculous rules on obtaining new passports, required a guarantor in order to apply. They say this is to protect the value of the Canadian passport, but this is really too outdated.

This is one case where being American is much better.