As mentioned previously, my family is relocating to Canada. I know, not a good time, but better late than never. Part of our family is handsome little Maodan, and he's going too. We were supposed to be there already, but ran into a snag at the airport in Guangzhou and had to stay in GZ for a few days. My wife has run off to unsnag the snaggle, leaving me with the cat to await her return. And while I'm waiting, the cat's health examination has expired, so it needs another examination before we can take it on a plane. She was first told she couldn't do it in GZ because we are from up north (Dalian), we should take our animal back there for a new exam. She made a few phone calls, then a few more, and then some friends started making calls... and now she can get it done here in GZ. <phew> Just when you thought Murphy was an optimist.
BTW, Maodan usually snubs me in favour of my wife or youngest, but the last two days he's decided he likes me. He's even sleeping next to me (a first).
Anyone have any ideas for something fun for a family to do in GZ for a day before we head out? Anyone in the area interested in dinner?

Other than microwaves, the one he they blew the logic on was:

Fusion powered ships with such high accelleration that crews require some . . .  let's avoid spoilers . . . extra special protection along with the ability to hybernate for centuries, BUT, they would need to add a near perfect recycling system to put them to use for sublight interstellar travel.

Contemplate this - few, if any crew are needed for the boring part of coasting for a few years (decades, centuries) because of hybernation.  1 G accelleration for 1 month will get you to 10% of light speed.  A little over another month to hit 20% (and relativity makes each 10% take longer and longer and looooonger).  But you can grab that first 20% in a little over 6 days at 10 Gs, then drop to a comfortable 1 G while jamming all but 2 people into the sleep pods as the ship continues to push its way up to 50% of light speed before coasting.  In coast phase, it would be reasonable for everyone to be asleep with a couple of people waking up to do a couple of days of system checks every few months.  At 50% of light speed, a star 10 light years aways is a 20 year trip.  You don't need a 99.99999% efficient air/water/food recycling system for this.

I've had quite a few adventures with cats since Stripy Emperor took over.  This one was more exhausting than usual.

At a smaller vegetable shop near our house there was a stray pregnant cat.  Since we'd just gotten another stray adopted out, my lovely wife thought grabbing this one would be a good idea.

It was all going so well.  The correct cat got caught in the live catch trap.  My wife brought her back in the cage.  The next step was to convince her to move to the cat purse and take her for a luxury stay at the vet office until she was ready for sterilization and release once the kittens were old enough for adoption.

As I was about to get dressed (all I had on was a bathrobe), she somehow forced her way out of the cage and headed down the stairwell.  We had to find a way to corner her.  My wife and I kept using the elevator for one of us to get ahead of her as she led us up and down the stairwell.  Thankfully, no one else in the building came out to see why I was dashing about in a bathrobe, but one food deliver guy was a bit startled.

After much chasing up and down, she found an emergency exit via climbing out out an unsecured stairwell window, moving down the security bars a short distance, then twisting and leaping out into space, followed by a fairly graceful landing on the roof next door (the house I used to live in).  From there, she got to the next roof.  Thankfully, she seemed uninjured.  My wife and I nearly had heart attacks when she dropped.

At that point, I decided more clothing was probably a good idea.  My wife got the cage re-baited and we placed on the roof next door.  It was easy for the cat to go over to the other roof, but was a bit too precarious for my taste.  Now we're waiting for the person who rents the top level apartment there to get home and give us access.

My own cats were quite amused by all the shouting during the great stairway hunt.  I think I need a nap.

A lot of this is far more COMPANY specific than COUNTRY specific.

For example, rewarding those who go above and beyond is far more related to the workplace culture imposed by company management than by any generic "this is how country X does it."  For example, I've been rewarded, ignored, or even actively mistreated for going above and beyond at various jobs inside the USA.  I hear tales of all 3 happening to people at various jobs inside of China.

It is true that China does have a stronger leaning towards reciprocating favors, but I'd love to see how someone can "make sure" a boss returns a favor.

Lately, news from the government about work has been mostly good news, at least for workers.  The government has become more and more active at both improving labor regulations as well as enforcing them.

The housing "crisis" of falling prices primarily affects development companies, construction workers, and those who were counting on rising prices for income.  People who make their incomes by flipping houses have a bad habit of buying too many properties.  For an individual who bought 1 house for the purposes of living in it long-term, the current resale value has no bearing on the monthly mortgage payment (and interest rates have fallen, so most housing loan payments have actually gone down), so steak can remain on the menu.  Unlike 2008 in the USA, the Chinese banks didn't repackage loans into bonds to raise money to make more loans (that got repackaged into bonds that raised money for more loans over and over again).  So, unlike the USA, there has been zero risk of any major bank failures or a system-wide financial collapse because real estate prices dropped.

You are correct that China values stability more than the west.  China saw what happened in 2008 and said "That's not going to happen here." which is why banks didn't have the option of recycling the same money over and over again to make a bigger, faster, and massively more dangerous price bubble.

Thank you for all the points.

You mix theoretical economics and practical insight ("common sense"?). Unfortunately, most economic experts fail at the latter.

It sounds like I will be okay in China. It is just a question of whether my best effort saves me $2K USD a month (bad economy) or $4K+ USD a month (boom economy).

Just keep working hard, learning in the classroom and on the job, saving more, investing in international retirement accounts.