Ok. Now that I've been home in Newfoundland for a few weeks, I'm kinda reminded of why I left in the first place. It seems as if the practice of Chinese "guanxi" is not only limited to China.

Note: Guanxi is a Chinese word that generally means using relationships to get ahead. It's not what you know, it's who you know.

Here's an example of two people who must have used a significant portion of guanxi to obtain employment, cause god knows they have no big pile of employment skills:

This morning I went to the Department of Motor Vehicles so that I could renew my drivers licence. After an agonizingly long wait, my number was finally flashed on the big screen and I made my way up to the counter. When I got there I saw why it was taking so long. She was using two fingers to type in all my information! How does a person like this get a job like that?

Guanxi. That's how.

Another example: When I went to Air Canada to ask some questions about whether or not there's a bereavement discount on my plane ticket (as I had come home due to a death in the family) my return flight to China. The lady (hereafter referred to as "Air Canada Wench") tells me:

"I don't know if there's a bereavement fare or not. Please wait while I check."

Me: "I'm in a bit of a hurry. Can you leave a message at my home number when you find out?"

Air Canada wench: "Sorry, we don't have so much downtime around here, so I'm afraid I can't do that."
(She says this to me as three or four other tellers are sitting idly in their chairs, staring out into the parking lot).

After about 30 minutes of fiddling with her computer, she says
"Sorry, I'm not really sure about this. You'll have to ask Air Canada in Beijing."

"Is it not the same company?" I ask.

"Yes, but I wouldn't know how to reach them, and there would probably be a language barrier anyway," she replies.

At that point I just gave up, and asked for the phone number of some higher-ups who should be in the know. The best she could do was give me the fax number for their Winnepeg headquarters who are supposedly in change of this kind of process.

How does a lady wench like this keep a job, if she's not familiar with Air Canada's processes and procedures?

Must be guanxi, I suppose.

Now, of course, these two shitty cases represent the shitty end of the guanxi stick. But we can't forget the other non-shitty end of the stick. For example, while I am home, I need to stock up on contact lenses. Anyway, a certain person I know is gonna get me a few free sets of lenses. That's pretty cool, wha? Good service, due to good guanxi.

So I guess it does work both ways. In China, I found myself getting pissed off a lot with poor service. But I guess I need to remember that lousy service is not just a Chinese thing. Maybe it's just a China and Newfoundland thing... Wonder how it is in Japan or Korea?

A lot of people who come to China as ESL teachers often have many private one-one-one tutoring opportunities thrown their way. In some situations taking on these tutoring jobs is in violation of their current ESL contract, and in other situations it's no problem.

A typical ESL salary here in Dalian, in Northeastern China, ranges anywhere from 3500RMB to 8000RMB (about $450 to $1000 in US funds). If you're taking in over 8000 in this city, you're doin' alright. Of course, those of you reading this from outside China are probably thinking that this is peanuts - and of course, you're right. But keep in mind that the cost of living in China is dirt cheap, and you often get free husing and airfare reimbursement from the English School. Not as lucrative as Japan, Korea, or Taiwan - but China is still supposedly third world, right? (I wonder if they have as many black Audis and BMWs in Africa?)

Anyway, let me tell ya a story about my experiences a friend of mine. Anyway, "my friend" was studying Chinese full time, which means he had classes every weekday morning, but he had evenings and weekend free. After some time he found that all this free time should be taken advantage of. He decided to learn some web design during the afternoons, and take on tutoring class in the evening.
(Note: While his web skills have progressed rapidly, but I hear his website can't hold a candle to this fantastic orange mess that I got going now)

The pay was 100 RMB per hour, which is a little higher than the hourly rate that an English School usually pays. Anyway, eventually the family that he tutored for introduced him to a few other families, so that he was soon up to teaching 3 days a week, total 9 hours. At this point he decided to print out some name cards at the local copy store (with nothing more than his name and phone number) and passed a bunch of them on to these families, and other people that he thought might be interested.

Pretty soon he was doing about 3 hours every weekday evening, plus 10 hours on the weekend, for a total of 25 hours a week. That added up to 10000RMB, which was significantly better pay than many English teaching jobs provided.

The downside:
He didn't have free housing, and had to rent an apartment independently: 1000RMB.

Combined with his Chinese language study, this made for a fairly busy schedule, 45 hours a week in total. Typically an English Teaching position in China requires 15 to 25 hours a week. If you go to Japan or Korea, it's a little more demanding I hear.


The upside:
He was making some bling. (I'm a minority in China, so I feel comfortable saying bling)

He was using his Chinese language skills a lot when dealing with the parents of the kids that he taught. Good practice.

He was spending more time with Chinese people (often Koreans and Japanese people as well) and learning more about their cultures. He wasn't just spending his free time with other western people as he had before.

He avoided the possiblity of endless headaches, because he was his own boss and didn't have to deal with any Chinese management at any English School.

The families often cooked him supper. Score!

Anyway in summary, "my friend" grew to be quite happy with his situation, and thoroughly enjoyed teaching these kids. He did fall behind on a lot of his Chinese homework, but his spoken Chinese improved due his Express Chinese Lessons. What are those you ask? That's when he would take a cab to and from his tutoring classes, and have about minutes of Chinese conversation with the taxi driver.

What I'm trying to say by writing all this is that this is one of many opportunites that you can pursue in China. This is a less-obvious one, so I decided that I'd share it in hopes that someone might benefit from it. Feel free to give it a try. But make sure that your host in China (be it an ESL school, a company, or a Chinese Language School) gives you the ok. Or, if they don't give you the ok, buy yourself some camouflage gear or possible some ninja-wear.

Best of luck! Happy moonlighting!

Ok. I'm gonna digress for a second. Usually this blog will be only China-related stuff, but as I'm now in Canada, I figure I can go off on a tangent, wha? Anyway, my trip home has been helped immensely by China's next-door neighbour, Japan. How? Well, I was never very good with folding my clothes until I saw this:



My mother saw my clothes, and she figured my girlfriend must have packed them. Ha. In your face...

This next helpful Japanese hint I haven't actually used yet. But I guess I won't be eating much rice while I'm back home in Canada, so I figure I'll use this one sooner or later. Here's how to peel a potato, ninja-style!



Pretty cool, wha? Now that I've come home to Canada for a short trip, there are a lot of friends of the family who ask questions like "How are you doing over there in...China is it? or is it Japan?" There are a ton of people who just don't know the difference. I'm not really sure how to explain the difference between the two neighbouring countries, to be honest.

But why don't I try anyhow, hey?

Picture two high-school girls living next door to each other. Girl A hates Girl B because of a fight they had in kindergarden. Girl B has an iPod, the latest funkiest fashions, and a hot boyfriend (possibly an American James Dean type) who takes her out every evening. Girl A sits in her bedroom staring out her window, a hateful bitter virgin watching her neighbour's every move, as her 8-track cassette player plays a bootlegged copy of some old Blues album. Girl A's parents get involved as well, encouraging more bitter behaviour and the occasion protest on Girl B's lawn.

Well, maybe that's a bit exaggerated... Think so? I'm sure there are some valuable truths in there somewhere.

Ok. So here I am back in Newfoundland, due to a family emergency of sorts. I'll be back in China again after about 2 weeks or so. It is nice to be back, even if it is under shitty circumstances. A lot of people often talk about "reverse culture shock" when coming home having stayed in China for a lengthy period of time. For example, many people say that you get used to feeling like the center of attention in China, only to come home and feel like a nobody. Did I experience this? Hell no! I've been too busy eating fries and gravy and ketchup chips... And when I do go out, I make a point to wear my really funky ed and black leather shoes - there ain't no way you can't feel special in those bad boys...

Anyway, here are a few random observations I've made since coming back home:

1) We Newfoundlanders have it rough. I spent about 35 hours straight on planes and in airports. From Dalian to Beijing to Vancouver to Toronto to St. John's. If anyone can top that pain-in-the-ass flight, let me know, and I'll send ya a cookie.

2) Air Canada are a bunch of slut-whores. I have to pay for food and blankets on domestic flights?! What the fuck... They were also an hour late leaving Toronto, as we had to wait for the pilot to show up, as he was late getting in from Ottawa.

3) It's really fun to be able to overhear other people's conversations now that I'm back in English-speaking Canada, as opposed to not really understanding what was being said in China. The downside of this of course is that other people can now overhear me when I talk. I have to be careful, because I've developed a habit of making remarks about people while they're standing two feet in front of me...

4) The air is really fucking nice over here. Though the weather is lousy... In Dalian it was about 25 and sunny, now I got 12 degrees and foggy here in Newfoundland. Here's a short clip of me and my brother driving around in my hometown of St. Shott's (population: fuck all). Ignore the crack in my brother's windshield, and ignore the clinking of bottles. It's pepsi, I swear. Pretty non-eventful video, but you can get an idea of where I grew up. It's a big contrast from Dalian to say the least. Jeff says I'm about as good a camera-man as Muhammed Ali:



5) It's been really fun to drive again. I have to be really careful though. I find I don't notice red lights as much as I should, and I'm using the horn much more than usual. I enjoy not seeing black Audis on the streets, and the Chinese businessmen dressed in black that go with them. But man, am I glad I don't own a car. Gas prices are insane!

6) I noticed that there were about 7 couples on the plane from Beijing to Vancouver who were bringing back adopted Chinese babies. It was nuts. It was almost like a tour was set up for them, and their parting gift was a Chinese infant.

7) I'm also noticing there are way more fat people, and way more "tig ol' bitties" connected to 'em. That said, I myself have been eating a lot more, and if I wore a bra it would probably be a size bigger after my two week stay at home.

8) I don't miss TV at all. I thought I'd enjoy coming home to 50-something channels on tv, having only been able to watch CCTV9 in China. But flippin' though the channels in the past few days, I find that there's nothin' but bullshit on TV anyway. I've come to the conclusion that I almost prefer Chinese propaganda to news about Paul McCarney's divorce or that Kentucky derby horse. It's all equally mind-numbing.

Anyway, enough of that. I'm planning to bring a pretty wacky assortment of stuff back to China when I go. Like a ton of ketchup chips, nachos, and cheeze whiz I think. Maybe some kraft dinner too. I'll check in later and let ya know how it goes....

So today is Mother's Day, and while I don't know if my mother reads this regularly - and I kinda hope she doesn't after my last post - I thought I'd best put a Mother's Day greeting in writing. I will likely talk with her using MSN Messenger's voice chat (MSN or Skype is a far better option than those goddamn long distance IP cards). So in any case, Happy Mother's Day, mudder!

To be honest, I nearly forgot all about it. Forgetting about holidays (and other events in the outside world) is a pretty common thing if you're living in China. Before I came here I often thought that living in China would not be entirely dissimilar to Dorothy's adventure in Oz, only instead of short, jibberish-talkin' Munchins I expected I'd be be surrounded by...well...short, jibberish-talkin' Chinamen. In some ways I was completely wrong - for one, Chinese people here in the Northeast (aka Dongbei) are often amazingly tall, and if you teach ESL you can often get by with only English, as your co-workers will typically all speak English.

But in some ways, my "Oz Analysis" has proved to be dead-on. It is, in many ways, like going to a crazy parallel universe, very isolated from the world you knew before. I've never been to Kansas, but I'm pretty sure China it's not. As I said, I often lose track of Western holidays, because they're just less important to the people around me, or not even discussed or thought of at all.

I didn't get home for Christmas last year, and I only got one day off (if I remember correctly) to celebrate with a quiet dinner with my girlfriend. Easter came and went without much fanfare, and I never got my chocolate fix. On April Fools I totally forgot to soap the toothbrushes and saran-wrap the toilet, as per usual. And now, I just barely remember Mother's Day. Western holidays, as one would expect, just don't carry the same weight inside Chinese borders.
Note: It's also a lot trickier to do that saran-wrap gag on a Chinese toilet! Yet another reason why they should make the switch...

How about Chinese holidays you ask? Well, as you probably know, Spring Festival (or Chinese New Year) tops 'em all, with a ton of time off from work/school. I had about a month off last time, believe it or not, as that's the break between the semesters at my university where I study Chinese. Sweet deal, hey? On this occasion (and usually on the shorter week long holidays of May 1 Labour Day and October 1 National Day) many foreigners in China take the opportunity to travel around and see other parts of China. Lately, I've been trying to pick up more work on these holidays, as I wanna save some cash instead. Despite the fact that I'm in China, I wouldn't call myself an avid traveler... :S

There's also Mid-Autumn festival (three guesses as to when this one is...) which is also celebrated in Korea as well as China. Apparently they enjoy eating those shit-arsed cakes too. But the idea behind this one is for family to get together and gaze at the full moon at its brightest. I can't get into those moon cakes though. It's like eating a box of those really cheap, lousy chocolates that your grandmother gave you at Christmas, cause despite her wisdom, she's not familiar with the good chocolates yet. You take a small bit of one, then put it back, bite another, put it back, etc, etc. That's moon cakes in a nut-shell. I despise the muck.

There's also Dragon-Boat Festival, which since once of its traditions is that you wear a rainbow-colored bracelet, could easily be confused with gay-pride day in China. Apparently after the first rain after its commencement, you take off the bracelet and throw it in some water, at which point it is supposed to transform itself into a dragon. Cool, wha? I'm told that if it doesn't rain for a long time, you can even toss it in your sink or toilet. I'm sure a little Dragon could live for weeks more in the bottom of my sink, feeding off the bits of food stuck in my drain. A dragon wouldn't do so well in my toilet though...

Chinese holidays will likely be most fulfilling if you have a truck-load of Chinese friends. So if you really wish to experience these holidays, make sure you don't spend all your time with other ex-pats, otherwise you'll miss out on all the culture you came here to see (if that was indeed one of your goals). I myself, feel slightly hypocritical saying that, spending most of my time lately in the company of Japanese and Koreans. But hey, this way, I can experience two other cultures without having to dish out for the plane ticket!

Other than holidays, big sporting events are cool to experience - and by sporting events, in this case, I mean televised sports. I first got here in 2002 when the Japan/Korea World Cup was on everyones TV. It was great fun to watch the games here in Dalian on a big screen in the square. While hundreds of Chinese were content munching on a few million sunflower seeds, me and my laowai (foreign) friends would usually make a beer-run to Wal~mart. Standard drill was to buy a huge plastic washtub, and then hit the fish department for (un-used) ice to fill it with. Instant beer cooler! Of course, we'd get a few stares from the Chinese, but when is it not like that? It doesn't officially count as a holiday, but who the hell cares! It's just fun to be a silly extravagant foreigner sometimes. Make sure you do it about once a month just to break the monotony. I'm really looking forward to the World Cup this year, especially the possibility of hitting some Korean ex-pat bars for some Korea games. Wish they carried the Stanley Cup Playoffs here...

Anyway, that's my relatively quick take on holidays (and lack of holidays) for a foreigner in China. It's just one of the many aspects of life that will change should you choose to drop over. Nothing drastic or "shocking," but just a tad different. Try to enjoy yourself, wha?

Note: I've decided that rather than post as often as I can, I'm gonna take my time from now on, and try to go for length and quality instead. Let me know what ya think...

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To commit, or not to commit - that's certainly one of the key questions of ESL teaching in China, probably more so than in any other Asian country. "Do I sign a one-year contract or a 6-month contract?" I'm gonna try to explain some of the pros and cons of each type of contract (according to the Gospel of Panda), so that you'll have a better idea of which type of contract is the best fit for you. Indeed, there are still other interesting options that many people aren't aware of, which I'll get to later.

Committing yourself to an English School in China can be compared to committing yourself long-term to some chick you've just met on the internet. Of course she's gonna tell you that she's hot for you and she can't wait to meet you face to face - but boy oh boy, doesn't it almost always work out that this fat bee-atch is a major friggin' let-down, often using a Zhang Ziyi photo to hide a Han Hong body. Am I right? Of course I am...

Anyway, enough with the chick metaphor already. Bottom line, protect yourself! I'm not saying that you wear a condom while you teach, just make sure that if you're jumping into the sack with with a school for a year, make sure that you do your homework. The best thing you can do is talk to someone who bedded this wench before you did (Ok, so maybe I'm not done with the chick metaphor yet). Prior to signing the contract, ask the school if they have other foreign teachers working for them, or if they have the email address of someone who worked for them in the past. Get as many references as you possibly can. If the school is reluctant to put you in contact with anyone, or if they dance around the question in a round-about way without giving a solid answer (you'll see that a lot in China), you should take that as a definite warning sign. If it were me, I'd seriously consider kicking that bitch to the curb.

I once worked for a private school where Chinese management intentionally "sheilded" a new English teacher from me and my co-workers. Why? They didn't want him to know what salary we were making, in the hopes that he would accept something far less, despite the fact that we all had roughly the same qualifications. Luckily we managed to contact this guy on our own. We got his number from the school secretary, on the pretense that we wanted to give him a welcome party. He couldn't believe the offer he'd been given when he compared it with ours. He did stay with the school however, but he did manage to negotiate a better deal for himself. That said, management looked at me and some other co-workers much differently after that. It certainly came at the expense of some Guanxi (i.e. at the expense of our previously good relations).

But my point is, you must be wary of one-year contracts in the same way that you have to be wary of a blind date. It's far better to be too careful than not careful enough, cause you just never know. This is especially true - as I just illustrated in the above case - when it comes to private schools. Private English Schools are typically academies that operate in the evenings and weekends, where kids go to supplement their already busy studies (as opposed to public schools and universities). Be warned! This is where you often find the gold-diggers of the bunch, i.e. they're quite willing to repeatedly screw you in a back room if it means more coin in their pockets (often corresponding to less coin in yours). I don't mean to scare anyone, but horror stories of China's ESL industry are all too common, and it is best to err on the side of caution. Your school will be a small part of your life here; there is far less of a workload when compared to other ESL destinations (often as low as 15 to 20 hours a week). Even if you do find yourself in a terrible situation, just punch in, do your work, get out, and go enjoy the country! Don't let shit get you down, and don't be bitter about it. Try to understand where you are, and that in a country like this - in the stage that it's in - there's bound to be problems. Understanding is key.

All that said, if you find a school that comes highly recommended, either from a friend or someone you trust, by all means don't hesitate to sign your ass up for a year if you think the benefits are there. Oftentimes, the end of the year bonuses are bigger, or you might have a pay raise (typically 500 RMB after the second semester or term). Just be aware of the fact that the teachers in China who dislike their school are far more numerous than those who like their school. That's my experience, and the experience of most teachers I know anyhow... Do you best to do your research and you should have no problem finding a decent situation for yourself.

Now if, after all that, you still sign for a year and for some reason or another they manage to piss you off with silly demands, a broken toilet, or constant power outages (just some examples) - DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT pull an Incredible Hulk and explode in a fit of green rage. DO NOT mention how you may have passed the previous evening with you boss's mother. Just don't! Here's why:

In China, you must change your mindset in order to prosper. You must be bamboo, my friend. Yes, young Skywalker, China is full of the dark forces of corruption and bad management and lots of other intolerable shit. If you cannot bend and flex under such pressure, you got no other option but to snap. Know your rights and stand tall and firm, but assert them in a voice quiet enough that will not rock the proverbial boat. At the same time, be strong enough to let people know you aren't to be cheated or taken advantage of. Keep this image of a tall and strong, yet almost silent bamboo tree swaying peacefully in the breeze, and you'll do just fine in China.

Moving on... The 6-month contract has it's advantages for sure. If you find that China is not for you, you can get out after a relatively short time period, rather than being "morally" obligated to stick around for a year. Some teachers do a "runner" mid-contract, and I'm not gonna comment too much on that. Every situation is different. But I will say this: A lot of those teachers that run off mid-contract, do so as a result of having not thouroughly researched the school. As I said before, do your homework!

Now signing a six month contract may not have as many perks as a longer one-year contract, so that's also something you need to consider. Also keep in mind that some schools are quite willing to allow you to re-sign after those first six months. If this is the case with you, try to make sure that you are receiving the same benefits that you'd have gotten if you'd originally signed for a year, rather than having two 6-month contracts srtung together, with less bling earmarked for you.

There are also other ways to go about teaching English in China. Many schools have summer programs that just might be a good fit for anyone who is especially worried or anxious about what awaits them in the Middle Kingdom. A summer fling with this Asian hottie (ok, maybe "hottie" is a debatable choice of words) might be what the ESL doctor ordered. I once was employed in what's called an "Intensive" summer program, for 6 weeks during the months of July and August. This job required about 30 hours of teaching per week, which wasn't really all that intense, though I was glad to see the end when it came. This kind of program is definitely good for breaking in young ESL virgins, and showing them the ropes so to speak. It's a testing period of sorts, not only for the teacher but also for the school. If the date goes well, and if you manage to "get some," who knows, maybe both parties will continue the fling into the fall?

Another option that many people don't consider is enrolling in at a university here in China for mandarin/chinese language study, often teaching English elsewhere (usually at a private school) to pay your way. The money I made during my six week summer intensive period paid a full year of tuition for my Chinese language study! For anyone who wants to make the most out of their time in China, it's definitely worth the effort. You can speak to about 10 times as many people (even if it is in broken Chinese) as you could before. Isn't that worth it?

My Chinese study is only 20 hours of classes a week, which allows for lots of "other stuff." I'm not entirely sure of the legalities of obtaining work on a student visa, but like most rules in China, if you're sneaky enough...
Actually, some of my Chinese teachers have asked me if I'd do some private tutoring for them. Now, although I didn't take those jobs, my point is that even your teachers will often give you the green light on this issue.

I do know, however, that is is legal to study on a work visa (as opposed to working on a study visa). I have many classmates who do it both ways, to be honest. But studying while on a work visa, if you wanna pull it off properly, requires getting an English Teaching job with minimum workload. An ideal situation would be a fifteen hour contract at a private school, with most or all of those hours on the weekend, allowing you to focus on your study during the weekdays. Of course, you may even have an apartment thrown in as well, in the case that you don't want to pay for on-campus housing. Secure the job first, then enroll in classes. It's easier to enroll in Chinese school in mid-September, than it is to find a decent job at that same time.

Anyway, that's my two cents. Keep in mind that the situation in China is always in flux, and rules and regulations change like the wind. I'm writing this to share what I've seen and experience, not to tell you what to do, but so that you can be prepared to make well informed decisions. Consider me your best friend who gives you the run down on the chick you're about to be set up with. She's a shapely wench, and while her armpits stink from time to time (see Shenyang), you may be more interested in the hotter bits to the South. It's up to you. Plan your moves carefully and you just might get lucky by the end of the night!

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I was just reading this article in Newsweek about the growing population of Expatriates in China, and how the situation for them (us) is changing. It used to be that foreigners had a difficult times staying here, but with visa restrictions becoming slightly more relaxed, it's easier for people to "hang and chill out" with no particularly stable job (i.e. bouncing from one teaching job to the next).

But apparently there's an increasing trend of these "silly laowais" landing real jobs, often with international companies:

"Western companies favor long-term expatriates over local Chinese for jobs that call for bilingual skills skewed toward English, cross-cultural communication ability and problem-solving instincts"

"...local Chinese do not only always know how to talk with Western clients or have a “solution” mentality toward client queries. But Chinese hires are still cheaper. “The reason you’d want a foreigner is because they bring something different,” she said. Expat hires have increased with growth of overseas firms in China’s communication-intensive service sector, especially public relations, travel, moving and consulting"

"Ten percent of New York-based Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide’s 120 Beijing employees are expatriates."

Well, lets all raise a glass of the cheapest Chinese booze we can find, in a toast to the upwardly-mobile Expat riff-raff!

It's an interesting situation for sure. I've been trying to convince a couple of my brothers back home in Newfoundland (they work with computers) to drop over and land an IT job with one of the afore-mentioned IT companies. I think they'd go home with a ton of neat-o experience, and it'd make it that much easier to land a real job back in civilization.

Invitation is still open, guys.

I'm living in Dalian (大连) here in Northeastern China, and one of the cool things about this place is that it has pretty big Japanese and Korean communities (complete with really cool Japanese and Korean restaurants). While Dalian doesn't have too many tourist sites, I think these little pockets of people definitely make the city a little more colorful - even if it takes a while to find them.

Anyway, Japanese and Korean movies and dramas are pretty popular here, as they are in most of China (I would imagine). One of the more interesting Japanese programs that I've found is a cartoon called Detective Conan. It's about a dectective who (through a weird twist of events) gets transformed into a kid, but nevertheless continues to solve mysteries Sherlock-style. Here's one episode to give you a taste:



I was a big fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories when I was in high school, and these cartoons have plots and crimes that are every bit as complex and entertaining as those were. The name "Conan" of course, comes from the author of the Sherlock Holmes series，Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

For anyone studying Chinese in China, I really recommend watching Korean or Japanese programs. Why? Because when these programs are dubbed in Chinese, the result is a very clear sound that is much easier to understand than regular Chinese TV.

I also recommend Doraemon (aka 机器猫） and the Korean drama 看了又看（shows at 9 or 10pm on CCTV8).