Why are Asian women attractive? We have to speak in generalisations, so here are my generalisations (I can't speak for everyone else):

1. Slimmer frames, more petite
2. More down to earth, more concerned with practicalities rather than higher values
3. Very family oriented
4. They understand that women and men are different and like being a woman and expect a man to be a man. As such they are fine with leading when it comes being intuitive and following when it comes to principals. They expect a man to do the opposite.
5. Not obsessed with any ideals of feminism, China has always been fairly equal but with acceptance of different sexes in different roles
6. Exotic features, beautiful eyes/hair/skin
7. I find them to be a lot more witty and entertaining on a basic level. Their wit often cuts like a knife... very attractive!
8. Accepting of new things, if you introduce something and they like it once, suddenly its part of their life/routine whatever.
9. I find them to be wise yet often stupid, which is a good mix for me as I am often intelligent but often very unwise!

Of course they aren't without their issues, more generalisations to follow:
1. Not well rounded, usually don't have many interests outside family and friends (don't play instruments/have hobbies etc)
2. Don't care about issues outside of their immediate environment and/or aren't aware of them
3. Not well travelled and generally judgemental (yet somehow in a cute way) of unknown things (black people/western culture etc).
4. Not really concerned about inner health and as such are against all forms of exercise unless it is a heap of fun. They struggle to see the point of exercise yet wonder why they keep getting chronic niggles/sicknesses

I think this is a symptom of many foreigners that come to China. They don't come in order to experience the culture, live in a different place, live outside their comfort zone etc. They come because they have so many problems back home that they want to run away from them. For some reason they think coming to China will make their life better but after staying here a while they realise they still have all the same problems.

Likely if you couldn't get a partner in the West, you will struggle in China still. Really they should look at themselves and wonder why, not look at everybody else and wonder why. I have met a suitable number of these drop kicks that I unfortunately know this to be true. You can see the same in Thailand as well.

Well, they might be right.

But if you go back through the links to the actually article, you will notice that it has been pumped up by the media. The 1st article goes on to say "DON'T be alarmed, but you have alien DNA in your genetic code. Science says so." which is unequivocal. They then say in their next paragraph "... scientists believe..." which is less than equivocal. Going back to discovery they say "... scientists hypothesize..." then going back to the article it says "As the actual scenario for the origin of terrestrial life is far from being settled, the proposal that it might have been seeded intentionally cannot be ruled out." where they are saying "a possible explanation is..." which they then present.

A good example why it is important to trace everything that the media writes with a grain of salt. Believing any science article in the media without actually checking the original source material is folly. They not only get it completely wrong sometimes but misquote, make their own conclusions (more often than not wrong ones) and selectively pull out data which either contradicts or disagrees with the authors conclusions or general theme.

Yes - agree with Magnifico, spending extra money going to HK (especially if you have to stay there a few nights) is pointless, things will only be up to a few hundred $ cheaper but you will likely spend $500 on accommodation alone...

Agree with what others have said. I bought a big expensive laptop before coming. It was around $200 cheaper in NZ than the same Dell site in China and better spec'd. Laptops are cheaper in the west, haven't tried HK yet though.

Tip for buying a laptop: Splash out on the 3 year international warranties. Laptop components are designed to be at the end of their life after 3 years, but often fail before that. With my last laptop by 2.5 years things were breaking down and I essentially got an entirely new laptop as they replaced virtually every part in mine as it failed - all for free! Replacement components were either the same or better (new better screen/mobo/hard drive upgrade, DVD drive replacement and others).