There are many places I like to avoid and on top of the list are shopping malls. I don’t enjoy spending an afternoon in a cramped overcrowded environment. Makes you wonder why I live in Shanghai but that’s another story.
It is inevitable to go their sometimes. W. likes them more than me so I […]

Shanghai officially launched its “A Million Families Learning Etiquette” project over the weekend.
A scheme to teach locals better manners before the 2010 World Expo.
Nothing better than starting off with some catwalk etiquette.
As part of the program

1 million city families will receive etiquette training over the next five years.
4.5 million local families will receive […]

Sources in the city’s Waigaoqiao Exit and Entry Quarantine Station say … the Queen Elizabeth II, the world’s oldest ocean liner still in service, is expected to visit Shanghai in March.
Stop the sources and the suspense here. The ship will dock March, 10 and passengers will be setting foot on Shanghai soil around 09:00. […]

Chocolate will get more expensive. Why, because the Chinese seem to like it more and more.
Some chocolate makers predict that in 10 years the demand for cacao will be bigger than the supply.
Some chocolate consumption statistics
Europe - yearly 7 kg/person
Holland - yearly 4.5 kg/person
China - yearly 150 grams/person
In Shanghai the number of chocolate […]

Two days ago I finished another episode of Nip & Tuck and zapping a bit I hit bingo as the 10 ‘o clock news of China’s only English channel (CCTV) had just started. My eyes probably doubled their viewer ratings.
That day was the day of the New Socialist Countryside. Field reports from, yep […]

The Washington Post has a nice series of articles on China and the Digital Revolution.
The writer, Philip P. Pan, who is based in Beijing, will be online Today, Feb. 21, at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the digital revolution’s presence in China, the government’s efforts to censor Internet content, see Wikipedia and the rise […]

Do you have a kid that is under performing at school, or he/she always gets into fights in the schoolyard?
Here is a Chinese solution. Just change his/her name.
A new semester has just started for elementary and middle school students in Shanghai, and as always a number of parents are registering to change […]