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The Super Fan of Chinese Character
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In these days, a super fan of Chinese character is popular online and obtains much attention for his dilemma. He is called "Uncle Hanzi".
Every Hanzi, for example, Chinese character, embodies a beautiful story. "Uncle Hanzi", a 62-year-old American living in China named Richard Sears, has spent all his savings to research the origins of Chinese characters and put more than 96,000 ancient Chinese characters online by setting up the website www.chineseetymology.org, which allow people to search for free.
Richard Sears is just a small potato in the U.S. Divorced, unemployed and living alone, his life in China is not that easy. In order to save money, "Uncle Hanzi" rented an apartment suited in an old building in Tianjin. The apartment is less than 30 square meters and is only equipped with a bed, a desk, a computer and a fridge. The small room is his place for meeting, working and sleeping.
He does not have a stable job, but only making money by doing private teaching. He has to work by himself since he cannot afford an assistant. His fridge is always empty and he often eats street food. In order to collect information, he often travels between the U.S. and China. All his savings have been used to purchase traditional Chinese character dictionaries. He has spent more than 300,000 US dollars on website construction and maintenance.
Living a poor life, "Uncle Hanzi" doesn't regret at all because it is his own choice and he is doing what he likes. Although he does not have a house or a car like many of his friends in the U.S. do, he feels pity that his friends have never come to China and learn the secrets of the Chinese characters. This life time experiences and happiness can never be bought by money.
However, his tourist visa is out of date and he cannot stay in China any longer unless he can get the visiting visa. So he must find a job before August 15, 2012. Without any other ways, he asks for help online. He wishes a job for English teacher or translation is available for him. Fortunately, his seeking kelp blog on facebook was discovered by his American friend who spread it online. After only couple days, the blog has been transmitted over forty thousand times, and finally, "Uncle Hanzi" gets many job offers. Now, he considers carefully for choosing a job. But he also said that if he could not stay in the Chinese mainland, he will go to Taiwan.
Whatever happens, he insists on staying in China. At present, he stays in Tianjin with his Chinese friends. He is still hopeful for his future life
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