Free Chinese Textbooks! No catch!

[elina]

Orders performed

In the afternoon on May 27, sending packages for:

Stephanhodges, Mirgcire, Realmayo, Atitarev, Scoobyqueen, Ipsi(), Mamba9

In the afternoon on May 28, delivery for:

CDN_in_bj, ShadowDH

In the morning on May 28, got entire detailed address of Simonlaing, plus he has confirmed the order on May 26, and we will mail his package tomorrow.

In the morning on May 28, got reply to my 05-26’s PM from Xtenhome, and I have sent out the order confirmation email to him/her, since the PM on this forum cannot maintain the order format generated by our stie, and currently we have not received his/her confirmation email.

Till now, Batmarj has not replied my 05-26’s PM yet.

In the morning on May 28, we contacted the publisher in Xi’an City again, and then the clerk in the sales department asked their 储运/preservation and transportation department, they said at present it’s not convenient for 汽车快运/ automobile express transportation, which we have always been asking for, and they have been always using before, because of the special situation mentioned in my No. 44 post, so they sent the books by ordinary mail of China Post last week. It’s estimated the books will arrive in Beijing at the end of this week or at the beginning of next week.

[ipsi()]

Slow boat from China indeed. You'll get my first impressions in a couple of months. But still, free stuff! .

[elina]

Packages sent for:

Simonlaing, in the afternoon on May 29

Xtenhome, in the afternoon on May 30

Luobot and Newyorkeric, today in the morning on May 31

Offer is good for . . .say one week, until 5pm Beijing time, Friday May 30. If addresses etc haven't been confirmed by then, we'll assume you've lost interest and give your books to someone else. Or just keep them.

Since Batmarj has not contacted us informing his/her address till today, order cancelled.

From receiving Roddy’s orders on May 23 to today on May 31, we have finished performing all the orders, and sent out books according to his books’ list. People in mainland China will get their packages by ordinary mail of China Post, overseas users will receive their packages by SAL of China Post, except two people in Singapore and New Zealand, who will by surface mail of China Post, since China Post does not offer SAL for these two countries.

I have seen Shadowdh talked about his wife and children on the forums from time to time, and we have only one pack of Chinese phonetic cards left at the time, which was free gift given by the publisher before, and we gave it to Shadowdh, as he mentioned in his No. 53 post, maybe he could use it to teach his children Chinese. And I think his children will be very glad, seeing their long-time-no-get-together beloved daddy, and have a happy Children’s Day tomorrow.

[roddy]

Thanks Elina! Would be good if people can check in here and let us know when they get their books.

[Larry Murray]

Hi,

I haven't received a reply to my request for textbooks. So I don't if I will or will not be receiving any. Can you kindly let me know please.

[imron]

Unfortunately, I think the answer can be found back in post number #38 (10 posts before your initial post).

At the moment if your name isn't on the list above, don't expect to be getting any books.

[Larry Murray]

Thank you. It never occurred to me to look for the answer prior to my submission.

Now I know.

[roddy]

Yeah, I think people were reading the first post and then replying, without checking through the thread, thus missing the fact that they were a bit late. I added a note to the original post a few days back to prevent that.

Still interested in hearing what people think about the idea though.

[Luobot]

Packages sent for:

... Luobot ... today in the morning on May 31

Thanks Roddy and Elina. I’m really looking forward to unwrapping those packages. I’ll let you know when they arrive.

[renzhe]

The idea is absolutely wonderful, but the problem is that many learners who have use for good Chinese textbooks and learning resources happen to be abroad. This is the only reason I didn't apply, as I know that the shipping costs are huge in comparison to book costs.

[cdn_in_bj]

Here's some Monday afternoon cheer - the book I'm reviewing, Basic Business Chinese, translates Google as "狗狗公司". Although to be fair it went to press prior to the unveiling of Google's official Chinese name.

Note: this is not meant to be taken as a "first impressions" review - I'll post more details later (in a separate thread), but my first impressions so far on the book are positive.

[Guest mamba9]

Well thank you again, mine happily arrived safe and sound. Didn't get a chance to look at it yet, just came back from watching Kung Fu Panda.

[mirgcire]

From Portland Oregon, I am here to say that the book arrived waaay ahead of schedule. It took less than two weeks to get here, as opposed to the predicted 5. I am not ready to start on it yet but I have noticed one disappointing feature: each line of hanzi has pinyin directly above it. I find it hard to read the hanzi when my eyes prefer pinyin. My solution is to cut a peice of stiff paper with a slot just large enough to view the hanzi and block my eyes from the pinyin. No big deal though, I am sure I will get a lot out of the book.

Thanks, Roddy and Elina, for my summer reading project!

[roddy]

Very good to see that the books are turning up quicker than expected - must be lots of A and not much S or L in the SAL. . .

[elina]

Actually, “2-3 weeks” is normal shipping time for a SAL package to get to USA.

As mentioned in my No. 6 post here:

SAL是中国邮政的海陆空联合运输的一种方式，简称联运。The cost of SAL is between sea mail and airmail, the shipping time period is also between sea mail and airmail, as described by China Post. But from our experience in sending packages for our overseas customers, most of the time (maybe above 80% possibility), it can be nearly the same time with an airmail. Because SAL package can make use of the unoccupied space out of the airmail in a plane. But also be careful, the disadvantage of SAL is not exactly slow, is unstable, that means, if SAL cannot find a vacant space in a plane, it can be really slower than an airmail.

Also, the shipping time is complicated, which can be delayed by Chinese or foreign customs if they want to check the packages. So we quote 2-5 weeks for SAL and 1-4 weeks for airmail to USA on our site, as we don’t want to take the risk to make our customers disappointed at the time.

[Luobot]

I’m happy and shocked to report that I received the shipment of books here in New York today. I really wasn’t expecting them to arrive for at least a month or so. In celebration, I cooked my best dish -- mixed-up vegetable stir-fry -- for dinner. (Does anyone have a good, Chinese cookbook recommendation?). This process was so efficient that I think I’ll ask Elina to mail me back home next time I’m in China. Well, I’m overwhelmed with joy and will start writing a first glance tomorrow, as the glancing begins!

[elina]

This process was so efficient that I think I’ll ask Elina to mail me back home next time I’m in China.

Wow, that’ll be the biggest package we ever mail.

[roddy]

Excellent - if I'm not mistaken that's everyone in the US got their books already.

[atitarev]

I haven't got my book yet (Melbourne, Australia). Will report as soon as I get it.

[Luobot]

Just to let you know, I've posted my first glance review here.