what sort of physics lab equipment will you be using for your post-grad thesis?
do you have any preference as to who your adviser will be? do you like a dude or a chick as adviser?
In my current studies, high performance computer clusters; in my future study, a large tube which is very cold, and has a strong electromagnetism field.
I want an advisor who is emerging in the research field. Don't care about gender.
How does studying physics go with having a religion?
Also, isn't it weird for a Chinese person to follow alien religions? I never quite understood why would any Chinese become a Christian, for example.
Nothing, I don't take any religious doctrine which is contradicting with science. So if they teach something "weird", I just ignore them.
Buddhism is from India (or Nepal if you care), still it is very widespread in China, and its characteristics just blends into Chinese culture. There're also millions of Christians and Muslims in China.
I lived in the northeast of China for awhile. I once met an old woman in the street who talked to me some about the Fa Lun Gong but I couldn't understand most of what she was saying. The only reason I knew for sure she was Fa Lun Gong was because she was wearing some necklace with their slogan on a plastic card. They also left pamphlets in my apartment building once. I would sympathize with them but I've heard they sometimes set themsemlves on fire which is pretty scary and they're against interracial marriage.
Falun Gong was started in Northeastern China, no wonder they have a large base of followers there. If you want to know the basics of Falun Gong, just check Wikipedia.
About Chinese visas, they're not difficult to get. You can do it by mail through a visa service or you can go to Hong Kong and get one. Hong Kong is under separate visa regulations and a visa isn't required to enter which ironically makes it more difficult for Chinese to visit Hong Kong than non-Chinese.
You don't need a visa to visit HK as a Mainlander either. You need to apply for a special HK/Macau passport in mainland China where you resides. You can enter HK/Macau using this passport. General passport doesn't work.
I don't really understand China's religious policy. I saw some churches there and met a few people who were Christian. Is it just a matter of getting the right permit to build a church? I don't think it's at all unusual for Chinese to convert to Christianity or Bahai. Plenty of westerners convert to Buddhism.
The government regulates religions. Only selected churches (mosques, temples) are legal. You have to register to the government, and they have to approve your institution. We Baha'is are not.
I always thought traditional Chinese religion was a bit confusing. Maybe I'm getting some facts wrong but from what I've heard - there's the traditional Chinese belief that people go to a spirit world when they die which has officials and everything and people even use money which their living relatives burn for them. But with Buddhism there's the belief in reincarnation and some people go to a Buddhist heaven. And if I'm reincarnated doesn't that mean I'm the parent or grandparent or ancestor of people who are living now? Does their burning money and leaving offerings for me help me? Or when I die do I go to a spirit world for awhile and after that get reincarnated?
Well, the Chinese "burn paper for the dead" is not Buddhist. It is remnant of ancestor worship.
