EASC Study Tour 2006
Topic of the Week

Welcome to the "Topic of the Week" series! Each week we will discuss areas of interest or things that need your attention in preparing for the Study Tour to China.

Week 5: Communication and Media

Phone Calls to China from the United States

To make international direct-dial calls to China you need to dial: International Access Code (usually 011) + Country Code (86 for China ) + Area Code + Local Number. (If there's an initial 0 (zero) in a phone number it should be dropped when calling from overseas.) Please be aware of the time difference between your region and China: 12 hours ahead of EDT, 13 hours ahead of CDT. If it's noon in Chicago and 1:00 p.m. in NYC, it's 1:00 a.m. the next day in China.

Still confused? Go to http://www.worldtimeserver.com/.

The level of English comprehension at our hotels should be quite good, so your calls should go through with minimal trouble.

Note: Your roommate may not appreciate being woken up in the middle of the night by a call from your family or friends. Please make sure they understand the time difference.

Phone Calls to the United States from China

You may think that one or two short calls to your loved ones back home can't be that expensive. If you don't have an international calling plan or international calling card, think again! Calls on your ordinary calling card (without an international plan), calls billed to your room, or collect calls could run close to $10 a minute! So it pays to check this out in advance.

You can buy international calling cards in China which will allow you to call the United States at a very good rate. Although these are fairly readily available, you may not be able to find anyone who speaks English well enough to help you purchase one or explain how to use it. Don't rely on buying one as soon as you arrive in China to let your family know you've arrived. That may be possible—but then again, it may not be a reasonable choice when you're tired, need to change money to buy the card (and everyone else also needs to change money, and there's only one clerk handling the currency exchange), and don't know how to work the telephones. This is a better option for the adventurous after you've been in the country a day or two.

You may be able to buy a calling card here (either from a US company or at an Asian market) which you can use to call from China to the US. If you choose this option, make sure that the card can be used for calls FROM China TO the US, and ask what those rates are. Some of these cards only have cheap rates for calls FROM the US TO China. The rates for calls FROM China TO the US may be substantially higher.

Every major US telephone company (AT&T, Sprint, MCI, etc.) has numerous international calling plans, international pre-paid cards, and other options. With these plans, each phone company has a local access number which you dial first to be connected to an English recording with directions on how to complete the call. For example, for MCI the number s in China are 108-12 108712 (two different companies handle international calls) and in Hong Kong it's 800-96-1121. Make sure you obtain those numbers before you leave the US.

As an example, I have the MCI International Weekends calling plan. I pay a service charge of $ 4 .00 each month, and my rate for China and Hong Kong is $.10 per minute! This rate applies to calls made to/from my home phone as well as calls made with my MCI calling card from overseas to any phone in the US, or from any phone in the US to an overseas number.

If you want to make a domestic call in China, the hotel rates should be quite reasonable. For example, if you call someone in Beijing from your hotel room in Beijing, the call won't cost more than a few cents, which you will then pay for when you check out.

In Hong Kong there are many more options for purchasing international calling cards, but it might take you your entire stay to figure out which ones give you the best deal.

In 2004, one person figured out how to use her cell phone in China . If you want to do that, you're on your own! The cell phone system in China is different that the US, and I have no idea what kind of hoops you'd have to jump through to accomplish this. If you choose this option, please ensure that you do not receive calls during our group or other inappropriate times.

Internet

Most of the hotels we stay in will probably have a small business center with one or two computers with Internet access which you can use, and Internet cafes are popping up all over China . Rates vary widely, from $2 an hour to over $10 an hour at nice hotels and airports. The rates will usually be clearly explained to you before you begin. Be aware that access to some common US websites (CNN and Time magazine are usually among them) are blocked in China . The CNN website suddenly became available two days before the APEC meeting in Shanghai in 2001, but access was later blocked again. E-mail account access should be available. On my three trips to China I have been able to access e-mail accounts from 3 different sources (hotmail and 2 colleges) without any problem.

In Hong Kong many coffee shops have free Internet access for patrons. Use is usually restricted to 15 minutes, and you have to purchase something. But it's so hot in Hong Kong that you'll probably be glad for an excuse to buy a cold drink!

Mail

You will be able to mail postcards, letters, and possibly small packages from the front desk of our hotels in China. Don't be surprised, however, if you are charged different rates at different hotels. I have found that it varie s depending on the stamps they ha ve available!

International packages can only be sent from designated post offices in China. These post offices may not be convenient to our hotels, and the personnel there most likely will not speak English. Post offices in Hong Kong, however, are abundant, they sell packaging supplies, the customs forms are in English, and the people who work there speak English. The post office in Xi'an is very close to our hotel, so I would advise a post office run there.

Television

Although ordinary Chinese citizens are not allowed access to CNN, BBC or other international news services, our hotels will have English news broadcasts (usually CNN). One of my Chinese friends, who is an English professor at a university in China, is able to receive CNN at her home because it's on campus and she is a professor. However, when I visited her I noticed that the commercials were censored and replaced with music or public-service type announcements.

All types of foreign broadcast media are readily available in Hong Kong . Because of Hong Kong 's former ties to the UK , BBC World is more common that CNN in many hotels.

Print Media

Foreign newspapers, magazines and books are not readily available in China . Some are banned for ordinary Chinese citizens, and may or may not be available to foreign residents and tourists. There is an official government-controlled daily English language paper. All types of foreign print media are readily available in Hong Kong.

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EASC Study Tour 2006 Topic of the Week

EASC Study Tour 2006
Topic of the Week