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The Death Penalty and QQ Dominate the Weekly China Roundup
Written by Robert Vance on July 5, 2008 – 9:24 amThe Weekly China Roundup from Sino News on TeachAbroadChina.com
- China’s Death Penalty is a Family Affair – If you are sentenced to death in China, your family is expected to pay for the bullet that will enter your head. This week in Sino News, I write about the death penalty in China, which is strongly supported by most Chinese people. In China, unlike other countries that administer capital punishment, violent offenders are not the only people put to death. You can read more about it here.
- Why Writing ‘88′ on QQ Means Goodbye –Everyday in China, millions of Chinese people sign off the popular web messaging service Tencent QQ by writing the numbers ‘88.’ The significance of this number can be found in its pronunciation which is ‘ba ba.’ This, of course, closely resembles the word ‘bye bye’ which is why ‘88′ is used to say goodbye.
- Packing for your Big Trip to China – If you are coming to China for the first time, you will not want to miss my article entitled Packing for your Trip to China. I discuss what you should bring to China, what you do not necessarily need to drag with you, and what you definitely should not bring to China. You can read all about it here…
- Chinese Drivers Pay Big Price for Hitting Pedestrians – My students who drive tell me that drivers are punished for hitting pedestrians in China no matter whose fault it is. Apparently, if a driver hits a pedestrian due to carelessness, the driver can be sent to prison. If a pedestrian is careless and gets hit, the driver avoids prison but has to pay for all of the medical expenses. It is then little wonder that so many Chinese people seem so carefree as they cross streets in China. They know the driver has to stop or pay up big.
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Great tips. Thanks!
88
Actually, there are lots of number-combinations in Chinese with special meanings.
For example 51 = wu yi = wo yao = “I want”. Example 51job.com ( “I want a job”)
Just like 4 = si sounds like die. And so on 88 is just one example
@Thijs (Shenzhen)
Thanks for your comments. You are exactly right. There are a variety of number combinations that are used in China to represent words.
I took a look at your website http://www.startinchina.com/ and I find it very interesting that you work for Tencent QQ. That must be a great experience! I think there are plenty of foreigners out there who envy you. While I enjoy teaching, I would like to do something else someday. I’m glad you were able to find that job.
@Robert thanks; yes I consider myself quite lucky to be working in Tencent. It’s a very interesting company and it’s great to be able to work in one of the most well-known Chinese companies. I only need to improve my Chinese, because I’m virtually the only foreign developer there
“if a driver hits a pedestrian due to carelessness, the driver can be sent to prison. If a pedestrian is careless and gets hit, the driver avoids prison but has to pay for all of the medical expenses. ”
@Robert,
if a driver hits a pedestrian due to carelessness, he will not be sentenced to prison, instead he will compensate to the pedestrian, most of the cases the insurance company will pay that depending on how much drivers put the insurance fee, there are 200,000, 300,000 and 500,000 correnspondingly. If the drive hit the person and then he ran away, he would be sentenced to jail.
If the pedestrian has the full fault, the insurance will not pay the money, the driver have to pay all of the money. That makes more dispute now. It’s not fair to the driver.
@Jason,
You apparently did not read what I wrote very closely. Drivers CAN (notice the keyword CAN) be sentenced to prison for hitting pedestrians depending on the nature of the accident (reason and severity). But even if it wasn’t his fault, he still has to pay. The point that I was making, as you said yourself, is that no matter who’s fault it is, the driver is ALWAYS responsible.