Communication

I want to tell you about a conversation Tom had in December.
We were curious about drinking laws in China. We have friends who have high school aged children so we were wondering what it might be like to be a teenager here.

So, Tom asked Xiao Shang, our driver, if there is a drinking age in China. Xiao Shang said "small children shouldn't drink." Seems obvious, but Tom decided to try again and got the answer that there is no law regarding drinking age here and it depends on the family as to what they allow their children to do.

Tom followed up the question with one about the driving age in China, whether or not there is one and if so, what it is. Xiao Shang proceedeed to tell him that you should not drink and drive. :-)

The Chinese language is unique. There are so many words that sound alike and it often takes several repetitions of a statement to get one's point across. I enjoy listening to conversations around me, trying to desipher what is trying to be said. It really is an interesting language.