YorkshireKing wrote:

Sandylein wrote: Even a trip to Chinatown makes her a side-show, with her white parents.

Well just wait for the looks you'll recieve here!

You'd have thought they would have thought about these things [inappropriate comments deleted]

Sandylein- wow. I find all this negativity directed towards you to be shameful. It's your choice to move to Shanghai and you and your husband are the ONLY ones who know what is best for your family. Moving to Shanghai will not be easy, but you seem to realize this. On the other hand, hearing your daughter speak fluent Mandarin will be a great reward.

By the way, if you would like to pose these types of questions to a more open-minded and friendly crowd of expat parents then drop a line to join the Shanghai Mamas Yahoo Group. (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ShanghaiMamas/)

There is also a group for "Families of Children from China" that hold discussions and social events for famlies wth adopted kids living in Shanghai. The contact is [rponek at msn.com]. If you are concerned about issues that the other posters have mentioned, perhaps talking with people who have real experiences would be helpful.

I sincerely wish you the best of luck on whatever you decide.

Thank you so much MahamYe. Now that's a helpful letter!

Its not a letter its a post.. =)

A good thing for you to know is that the Worldlink clinics stock Epipens and Epipen Jr. if you need new prescriptions for your daughter while here. The allergist at the Pudong Children's hospital told me that Chinese local hospitals do not have these available for prescription (although I have not gone around to check).

Most of the expats in China are nice -- so please don't get turned off by a few bad seeds. I know several non-Chinese families in China with children adopted from China and they are happy here and it has been great for the kids. My experience is that Chinese have different ideas about adoption than Westerners and may not understand the unconditional love, no different than the love for a biological child, given to a non-biological child. (For example, I read a newpaper article about an American family in Shanghai with two biological kids and one adopted Chinese kid and the article made a big deal about how even the adopted daughter was sent to the US$20K plus private international school -- as if she should be treated differently for some reason). But they can only admire your love and devotion to your daughter.

Don't worry about that,you konw there are a lot of people from other city of china live in shanghai ,most of people speak mandarin and lots of mandrin teachers come from north of china ,their pronounciation is quite good.

bougie wrote:Why not Beijing to learn Mandarin ?

Although Mandarin will be thought not necessarily by a Shanghainese in Shanghai, everyday discussions will be more in shanghainese I think ..

Not very sure about the peanut issue .. sorry

Peanut allergy....we eat in alot as we haven't been soo pleased with price/food quality here. wow, I can't believe that she's chinese and has a peanut allergy! How many chinese out there have peanut allegeries?

There is a theory out there that because peanuts are most commonly boiled rather than roasted in China, it provides some mysterious protection against immune system response. So far, my Bunny is the only Chinese I know that has this allergy. But that doesn't mean it doesn't occur in China too. Public awareness seems nil, so it could be more common than you think.

I have nieces (7 & 9) who have nut allergies as well. We have done a few things that may be helpful.

1. Find someone you trust to write, in chinese, "I am very allergic to peanuts and peanut oil. Please prepare my food with no peanuts or kitchen tools that have touched peanuts." Laminate this card and have your daughter show it when she eats.
2. Make another card that says, "I think I am having an allergic reaction to peanuts. Please call an ambulance now. I carry an epipen. Please use this on me if I am unable to help myself."
3. Prepare your child to be responsible for their own peanut lookout. Their school and even other childrens' parents, when alerted to the allergy, may still not take it seriously or may forget.
4. We would dine at French, American, Italian and Japanese food most often as peanuts shows up infrequently. We strictly avoided Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian food. Sometimes Chinese stir fry dishes too for the peanut oil.
5. Alert your child that peanuts in different and unrecognizable forms are often served here (boiled, etc).
6. Assume sweets and baked goods often have peanuts.
7. Be careful of markets too. Peanuts may be sold in open areas where lots of peanut dust circulates.

You may want to try to find someone who really knows the types of food from different regions of China and dishes that are traditionally prepared with peanuts or peanut oil. For all I know, every Sichuan dish will have it and Ningbo cuisine never uses it.

Good luck! I am sure you will find many great places.

Hi,

I studied abroad in Beijng in 1996 at the age of 21. I traveled throughout China in 1997 and lived in Beijing and Hong Kong again from 2000-2001. I am moving back to China next year. I am allergic to all nuts and shellfish. I am also a vegetarian. I only had one food allergy problem in China and that was because I asked for a dish that tradtionally has peanut sauce without the peanut sauce. Unfortunately the dish came with peanut sauce-I sent it back and out it came again without peanut sauce. I ate a little and knew instantly that some peanut sauce was still in the dish. I was a little sick for a couple of hours but I took a bendryl and there were no further problems. I ate out almost everyday for lunch and dinner in China. Also, the first time I lived in Beijing I had just begun to learn Mandarin and still had a carefree teenage mindset so I did not always mention my allergy. I traveled quite often to Shanghai and also lived in Hong Kong where one of my favorite restaurants cooked with peanut oil. (I was shocked to find this out after years of going there to eat) But, my allergist told me that if it is refined peanut oil you will not have an allergic reaction to it. I have also traveled all over southeastern China, Xian, Yenan, and Nanjing without incident. Of course your child's allergy may be much more severe than mine. I have ridden on trains with people eating nuts without incident and stayed in a village for a week where peanuts seemed to be the only snack anyone ate, but I do know there are people out there who have such a severe allergy they would not be able to do this.

Just don't feel that you are limited by this allergy. I and the other nut allergic people I know have traveled all over the world without incident. Just remember when you go out to order dishes specifically for your daughter-do not let others dip their chopsticks in one dish with peanuts/nuts and then into the nut free dishes that your child is eating. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Am glad to help. Also be careful in some Korean restaurants-they often will just have bowls of peanuts on all the tables as a free pre dinner snack. Same with some bars.

gshih

Resurrecting an old thread here. I have a friend coming over to Beijing next month. Her son has a very bad nut allergy so I want to translate something useful that she can carry with her. Perhaps a Chinese speaker could comment on the text below?


"My son has a bad allergy to nuts. It is very important that his food contains no nuts or nut based products.

请注意，我儿子有严重的坚果过敏症，包括花生，瓜子，杏仁，核桃，榛子，松子，开心果，板栗，腰果，白果等。所以他的食物内不能有以上坚果类，包括不能使用坚果类食用油，如花生油等。谢谢。"

I understand that even though you can get epipens here, they're ridiculously expensive - bring a couple with you and check their 'use by' dates.

yesterday this issue came up, while i was having lunch with my client. she told me that her elder son has allergy to nuts. having a simple hamburger..involves ordering one cheeseburger and a bigmac. then switching the buns. this goes on for everytjing. the only kind of safe area is the school, where the other kids are mature enough not bring any snacks with nuts.