The first question you should address is your legal status - will you have a tourist visa or a student visa. If you need a student visa then a university is your best bet. If your visa is not a problem than laguage exchange or private tutor is the best way to go.

Spartans, thanks for the topic of discussion. Beats the senseless morons who just want to talk about food.

I just completed part 2 and it seems this couple will stay together in their symbiotic relationship.

Some lessons I have learned while living in China are are:

1 - Be clear while you are dating that you do NOT plan to return to the west. This will eliminate the Visa hunters who just want a Green Card.

2 - Chinese wife must learn english (University) to establish good communication.

3 - Do Not live in the same province as the in-laws. I told my wife, If I can come to China, then you can come to Yunnan. In laws are the primary source of marital problems.

I think they make a good pair. She is 30 and uneducated with little hope of finding a man in China and he is 60 and with few prospects as well.

If he can get rid of all the pictures of his former friends I think they can get along well.

Lets see what happens in part 2

The reason that threads turn nasty and degenerate into name calling is when one person begins to identify another when writing a post.

If people just wrote whatever they wanted without making reference to others, then others will not be offended and have a need to defend themselves.

A good rule to follow is - Do not direct any posts to another person unless you are saying something positive about them or showing agreement about something they said.