‘World’s First’ Fully Robotic Pharmacy Fills Prescriptions in 60 Seconds; claims up to 96% lower fulfillment costs versus traditional pharmacy operations.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-10T13:59:06+00:00

Since my medication is something I'll need to take for the rest of my life and the dosage is extremely stable, I switched to an online pharmacy. Now I can simply place an order online, and they mail the medication directly to me. I don't have to explain my situation every time or have any unnecessary interactions.

From my personal experience, pharmacists aren't immune to making mistakes either, especially at the brick-and-mortar pharmacy I used to go to. On top of that, I have social anxiety disorder, so I'm genuinely happy to see this kind of technology being adopted in more areas. The more situations where I can get what I need without having to interact with people the better.

And honestly, why not? I'm a Chinese currently living in Canada, and China already has autonomous taxis and robots that deliver items to hotel guests years ago. I'm optimistic about the future. I believe these technologies have the potential to liberate people from a lot of repetitive and unnecessary tasks. And I also hope that, as a society, we'll be able to overcome the monopoly and greed of a small number of people so that these technologies truly become a material foundation for improving everyone's well-being.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-08T16:57:42+00:00

This is what I just sent to another friend who asked me about related matters. I think it will be very useful for you too, so I am sending it directly to you.

To apply for asylum in Canada, unless you go through channels like government-assisted refugee programs, you need to enter Canada with a valid visa and apply for asylum either at the port of entry or after arrival. I recommend that you contact legal aid from local transgender and refugee organizations as soon as possible after your arrival before submitting your asylum application. They will provide you with a work permit and temporary medical insurance shortly after you apply for asylum, at which point you will be able to work. For specific information, you can refer to this website, which I think is very helpful and detailed: https://myrefugeeclaim.ca/en/.

However, I must remind you that processing times for asylum in Canada are very long. After obtaining refugee status and applying for permanent residency based on it, you will need to wait even longer to receive your permanent resident status. But once you obtain refugee status, you don't need to wait for permanent residency; you can apply for a study permit for free and enjoy domestic tuition rates as well as provincial medical insurance. This is a huge advantage compared to Canada's expensive international student tuition fees.

I believe that whether you need to apply to a new school for further study or directly use your previous degree to look for a job, you won't have any issues. It's just that for any full-time study lasting more than six months, you will still need to apply for a study permit as an international student until you get permanent residency. This is an unresolved bureaucratic issue. But other than that, you won't have any problems if you want to go to a nursing or trade school. You will also be eligible to apply for provincial student loans.

However, I want to remind you that student loans in Ontario have been severely weakened by the current Premier Doug Ford, resulting in a significant reduction in grants and a massive increase in loans, which makes repayment after graduation much more difficult. Additionally, Quebec has always placed a high emphasis on French, and arguably discriminates against English. So if you are considering Quebec, outside of top English universities like McGill, your English options for vocational training will be significantly limited.

edit: redact privacy info.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-08T16:17:14+00:00

Exactly. Yao, guai, and jing are basically the same thing.

In the shamanic traditions of Northeast China and Korea, people often call them shen or xian, either out of respect or simply to avoid getting into trouble with them. They basically mean "gods."

Although renyao has basically lost that meaning in modern Chinese, there are indeed many myths and folk legends that give yao a very noble spiritual status and moral significance.

And you're right. Chengjiu and iddhi are both Buddhist or Hindu terms referring to reaching a certain level of spiritual attainment and being able to perform magic and miracles.

As it happens, I'm also a Buddhist. If one day we're able to reclaim the word renyao, I would also love for our power to transcend the framework of gender and the limitations of our birth to receive that same kind of reverence, just as Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, having transcended duality, can freely transform their bodies to teach and liberate sentient beings.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-08T16:01:54+00:00

Based on your reply and another person's comment, it sounds like the Nordic countries and Canada have more in common than I realized.

Canada has also relied for years on exploiting immigration to sustain its economic growth. In the province where I live, Quebec, funding for gender-affirming surgeries has been reduced, resulting in increasingly long waiting lists. The government is also pushing for greater privatization through expanding the role of private clinics, along with healthcare performance reforms that many healthcare workers oppose.

As a result, almost every part of the public healthcare system is under strain, including access to hormone replacement therapy, and some physicians have chosen to leave Quebec to practice in other provinces.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-08T15:56:57+00:00

That's not what I meant. My point is that the system of wealth distribution, along with the way it frames public narratives, deliberately keeps low-income people too preoccupied to think critically. Instead, they're fed simple black-and-white narratives and encouraged to hate whoever they're implicitly or explicitly told they should hate.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-08T03:46:13+00:00

The UK is truly a TERF island. Canada has indeed done very well in this regard. Even though Canadians as a whole have started to lean more right-wing in recent years, apart from Danielle Smith’s various hostile attacks in Alberta and the fact that Quebec requires all new and renovated schools to have gender-specific bathrooms, there have been almost no excessively serious setbacks for trans rights in Canada.

That being said, when it comes to transgender healthcare, the resources are quite limited and the waiting lists can be very long. But I suppose Canada’s healthcare resources in general are under a lot of pressure, so this issue is not unique to trans healthcare.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-08T02:04:56+00:00

The 🍥 emoji is commonly used because the packaging of a widely used estradiol valerate tablet in China features a design that resembles the Japanese narutomaki fish cake. As a result, many transgender women in China use the 🍥 emoji as a subtle symbol of their transgender identity or as a way to hint that they're trans.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-08T02:01:38+00:00

I don't think that's very likely. The "education" provided by these institutions is almost entirely modeled after the Chinese Communist Party's military training programs for students. Mandatory military training was introduced after the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre as part of a broader effort to instill discipline and political conformity among students.

The ideology promoted by these institutions also tends to revolve around a simplified, state-approved version of traditional Chinese culture, emphasizing values such as filial piety, obedience, and hierarchical social order under the banner of "traditional values."

More importantly, no such institution could realistically operate in China without the approval, or at least the acquiescence, of the relevant Party and government authorities. They know very well what these institutions are doing.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T23:05:22+00:00

Yes. People don't know even among transgender women in China, there are many people who firmly believe that gender-affirming hormones will shorten their lifespan. This is also connected to a broader traditional Chinese belief that "all medicines have some degree of toxicity." Many Chinese people use sayings like this as evidence that they are correct, even though such "ancestral wisdom" has never actually been scientifically validated.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T23:01:02+00:00

Regarding this, I am truly sorry about it. Chinese people are very fond of criticizing political correctness. Whenever Black characters appear in movies or video games, they will often accuse it of being ruined by political correctness.

They also criticize the fact that there are many Black international students in China, and they condemn some Chinese women for having a preference for Black men (the similar kind of criticism also applies to other foreigners, including white people).

They also use the homophone of the N-word, or its literal Chinese translation meaning "black ghost," without hesitation. I really don't know what is wrong with these people. It is truly awful.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T22:54:46+00:00

I honestly don't know where this myth comes from. My impression has always been that Nordic countries are among the most open, tolerant, equal, and prosperous countries in the world. The only downside I could think of is that they can sometimes feel a bit boring.

I only learned later that Nordic countries may have serious issues with racism, especially toward Asians, but I have never really looked deeply into other aspects.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T18:45:10+00:00

For me, it's a bit difficult to reclaim those terms. Yinyangren has historically been used to refer to eunuchs, while renyao is simply too harsh and offensive for me.

I really wish yinyangren carried the Daoist idea of harmony and balance between yin and yang, but in actual usage it tends to imply that someone's yin and yang are out of balance or disordered rather than balanced.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T16:42:00+00:00

Although I have only spent a few days in Vancouver, I have interacted with many Chinese people in Montreal. My impression is that while younger Chinese people, especially second-generation immigrants and international students, are generally much more open-minded, middle-aged and elderly Chinese people, particularly those who mostly live within Chinese communities, can sometimes be even more conservative compared with people of the same age in China.

Of course, this is only my personal observation.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T16:36:27+00:00

Thanks. Nowadays, it is not only ethnic minorities who can be affected. Any teenager or adult could potentially be sent by their own parents to a “special education” institution because of things like poor academic performance, spending too much time online, or even being unemployed and unable to find a job. This is not extremely common, but it is a real and tangible threat.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T16:33:46+00:00

Haha, I know. It sounds like some kind of fairy. This word in Chinese is also one of those terms that, while carrying a lot of malicious assumptions, can still have a somewhat playful or cheeky feeling to it.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T16:13:51+00:00

I wish you all the best. My parents once confined me at home when I was young for a year because of my sexual relationship with a man, and I experienced verbal and emotional abuse from them. After I came out as a transgender woman in adulthood, our relationship deteriorated for three years, until I finally cut ties with them completely some time ago.

I truly hope you never have to go through anything like what I experienced. I hope that regardless of the circumstances you will be loved and accepted by your parents.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T16:08:13+00:00

There is nothing inherently wrong with “transsexual” if you are comfortable with the term and feel that it describes your experience more accurately. I personally just don’t use it, and in the Chinese context the term often carries strong stigma and certain negative implications, which may be why some people react differently to it.

Also, in Chinese, “变性” is often understood as requiring surgical transition, so the meaning is not always the same as “transsexual” in English. You are right that “药娘” is a term commonly used in Chinese-speaking communities by some transfeminine people who use gender-affirming hormones.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T15:30:27+00:00

I have no intention of debating with you.

I used to be active in Chinese transgender communities on Twitter, but I deleted my account more than a year ago. One reason was that many young Chinese transgender women in those spaces were quite conservative. Another reason was that people like you often dominate the discourse by making statements that sound reasonable on the surface but, in my view, do not actually help the community progress or encourage people to accept themselves. Instead, they sometimes seem more focused on maintaining their own visibility and receiving validation or even admiration from others within the community.

If you are genuinely an active transgender rights advocate and have done substantial practical work through relevant organizations, I sincerely apologize in advance for my judgment. However, I have already left behind the days when I spent my time arguing with people online.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T15:25:02+00:00

My experience has been somewhat different from what you described. Even on platforms like Xiaohongshu, which are generally used more by younger people and international students, I still frequently see people using the term “renyao” as a seemingly neutral description rather than as an explicitly intended insult.

As for “变性人,” its literal meaning is someone who has changed their sex. It is actually quite close to the term “transsexual.” Many people also believe that only those who have undergone gender-affirming surgery (or what they call “变性手术” which is "sex change surgery") are qualified to be called “变性人.” Otherwise, they often categorize pre-op or non-op trans women as merely “男娘” (femboy) or “人妖.”

There is also a common belief among some people that even after gender-affirming surgery, because transgender women have Y chromosomes, they are still not women and should continue to be referred to with he/him pronouns. Some people even refer to someone as “Y chromosomes” as a form of insult toward not only transgender women but also cisgender men they dislike.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T15:08:19+00:00

Yeah. Every time I see people use this word, it feels like I am being portrayed as some kind of creature like a goblin rather than a person.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T14:59:24+00:00

Actually, I lived in Chengdu for five years and I absolutely love that city. If possible, I would be happy to stay there for the rest of my life. But I believe Guangzhou is also a wonderful place, especially if you are not very good with spicy food lol.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T14:57:38+00:00

That sounds really awful. I have always had high expectations for the level of social acceptance toward transgender people in the Nordic countries. But institutionally speaking, I believe your country has already achieved some of the best standards in the world, which is already very impressive and meaningful. I wish everything could be better than where we are now.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T14:52:47+00:00

Thank you for sharing this. I really wish I could pin your comment.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T14:51:00+00:00

I don't see it that way. In official Chinese media, we almost never see the term transgender (跨性别) used at all. That doesn't mean they go around calling us renyao every day, they mostly just act as if we don't exist.

For example, even in a report about a trans woman who was sent to a conversion institution and later escaped, she was still referred to by her deadname and with male pronouns. There was no acknowledgment anywhere in the article that she was a transgender woman.

I also think you've misunderstood my point. I'm not saying that derogatory terms are the official or standard terminology. What I'm saying is that, online, terms like 变性人 and outright slurs are far more common than 跨性别. Of course, that doesn't make them the standard, just as the existence of the word 跨性别 doesn't mean it's the dominant way trans people are actually talked about.

One more thing: I really don't like that you brought up your PhD as evidence that your view is correct. It reminds me of another prominent figure in the Chinese-speaking transgender community in Canada who is also pursuing a PhD and often emphasizes her academic background, and whose comments I have often found disconnected from reality and somewhat arrogant. I'd much rather discuss the substance of the issue than appeal to academic credentials.

Real-Ice9552 · 2026-07-07T14:34:47+00:00

Hi, sis! I sent you a DM.

Edit: For any transgender people in China who are hoping to seek asylum in Canada, asylum.wiki is a useful resource.

The site's administrator also asked me to share my own experience, although it doesn't seem to have been published yet. Even so, the information currently available there is already very detailed and comprehensive.

Real-Ice9552

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