The percentage of younger women in the U.S. who express a desire to migrate permanently has surged in the past decade.

But why?! The USA is a paradise for women! Isn’t that what Margaret Atwood taught us!?

  • ZDL@lazysoci.alOPEnglish
    2·
    12 days ago

    The closest I got to Guanzhou proper was Hong Kong, and that only to deal with visa issues before that avenue was closed. I’ve never lived anywhere with Yue as the dominant language. I lived briefly in a city (Xiamen) where Minnan was a huge influence, and lived for two years in a city (Jiujiang) where Gan was a major dialect, but most of my actual living here was done in Wuhan where a form of Mandarin (albeit a very loose form of it!) is the dominant dialect.

    • bitofarambler@crazypeople.onlineEnglish
      1·
      12 days ago

      I was in foshan, which I liked a lot, still very chill compared to Beijing which has gotten a lot more strict in recent years.

      Interesting, how is Mandarin loose in wuhan? The dialects have a strong influence?

      • ZDL@lazysoci.alOPEnglish
        2·
        12 days ago

        武汉话 is a 普通话 dialect, but at its most extreme is incomprehensible (right down to having a fifth tone!) to 普通话 speakers. It is, naturally, also one of those dialects for whom “四十四是四十四十四是十四” comes out as “sisi si si sisi si sisi si sisi”.

        I knew quite a few people who spent time in Foshan. They seemed to like it as a laid-back place like Shangrao in Jiangxi province for those I knew from there.

        • bitofarambler@crazypeople.onlineEnglish
          1·
          12 days ago

          Oh right, I had trouble with shi becoming si occasionally while traveling. That story of the stoneworker was one of the first things I read that helped me understand tones.

          Maybe it’s down to effort, but Thai is the tonal language that has me stumped despite how much time I spend there. I learned the alphabet and could even read some, but every time I try to learn the tones in Thai, or rather to employ the tones in practical conversation, I am baffled. on the occasion of rare success, they’ll reply and my brain will melt, plus their states are like those of china and every different city and town has their own dialects to contend with.

          Yea, foshan was chill. Still tons of great bare-bones outdoor dining and tummy-rubbing inebriated stumblers in the alleys. I went crazy for zhachuan, the fried skewers, when i was there. and all the beer shops had some marketing game going on, so if you pulled your beer tab there was a chance you could win a free beer if the bottom had the right stamp, and i won a weird amount of the time!