China :: Shanghai

Can something be more crystal clear? I don't think so! One thing that amazed me in Sweden was how badly equipped Stockholm city is for foreigners! All signs are in Swedish and thats not always easy to understand. Like, how is a non-Swedish-spoken person going to understand that utgng means exit?! Im so used to China where there are signs for a lot of things in both Chinese/English, and sometimes even pictures. Fortunately Swedes are pretty nice if you ask them for directions if you are a foreigner. If youre a Swede asking the wrong kind of Swede though naaaah, not so much! So, sometimes when Im in Sweden and get lost I ask people for directions in English. Works like a charm! Speaking of getting lost, I have to admit that I feel kind of lost when I am in Sweden. For instance, I never know how to order food in restaurants. Youre supposed to sit there and wait, and then discreetly give the waiter a meaningful look that says yes, Id like to order now! and then the waiter is supposed ...

SIX children abducted by human traffickers and forced to beg on the streets for their captors have been rescued as a result of an online campaign. The microblog initiative launched last month asks the public to photograph child beggars and post their pictures online in a bid to reunite abducted children with their parents. Some child beggars have been snatched from their parents and forced into begging. The blogs at t.sina.com.cn and t.qq.com, created by Yu Jianrong, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, have gathered 154,000 followers and 1,200 photographs have been posted. And by Tuesday, six abducted children had been rescued after someone recognized them. Their pictures were viewed by 570,000 web users, according to China National Radio. But the campaign has also created concerns after child beggars "vanished" from the streets of Shenzhen City in south China once their photographs were published. Their disappearance has raised fears that the children may ...

SHANGHAI was the most popular tourist destination on the Chinese mainland during this year's Spring Festival holiday, according to the China Tourism Academy today. The academy and Ctrip.com, a leading travel service provider in China, said their assessment was based on airline and hotel bookings and travel package bookings. Beijing and Guangzhou ranked second and third on the Top 10 list, which included Sanya, Chengdu and Hangzhou. Meanwhile, Hong Kong was the hottest overseas destination for mainland tourists. Tropical islands, such as Phuket of Thailand and Bali of Indonesia, also were favored destinations due to chilly weather this winter, said the academy. Industry observers said the rising consumer price index had somehow affected the tourism market in this holiday season, but the market remained stable and prosperous.

Sidestep China’s Luxury Tax At These Second-Hand Stores Last summer, Jing Daily looked at the rise of second-hand shops specializing in luxury apparel and accessories in mainland China. While the vast majority of these stores are online, in recent years brick-and-mortar shops have become an increasingly common sight in cities like Shanghai and Beijing. Chalk it down to the fickle nature of China’s fashion-obsessed elite or the natural result of the sustained flood of luxury goods into the country, but to aspirational middle-class buyers, luxury second-hand shops can be something of a godsend. However, as always, buyer beware: a keen eye is critical to keep from dropping your hard-earned cash on a counterfeit. So, for Shanghai shoppers looking for bargains and fed up with fakes, here are some of the city’s best luxury second-hand shops: Milan Station ( 米澜坊 ) Not to be confused with the similarly named Hong Kong chain Milan Station ( milan zhan , 米澜站), Shanghai’s Milan Station ( milan f...

Im back jetlagged, sleep-deprived but excited to finally have stepped into the year of the rabbit (and to have the internet up and running, yay!)! I had a good trip to Sweden and stayed at a beautiful hotel at Skeppsholmen in Stockholm. Not that I got to enjoy it that much though each day was packed with meetings from early morning to late night. But thats what work trips are about so Im not complaining. I travelled together with a Chinese colleague from Shanghai, and I think our biggest culture shock was the fact that the hotel where we were staying didnt have any hot water boilers or mugs in the rooms. When I went to the reception to ask for one, the front desk guy gave me a strange look: -We dont have any? -But. So like how do your guests drink tea then?! At the end he gave me a thermos!! Haha! But better that than nothing. Didnt keep the water very hot though. So note to self: one must always bring their own tea and hot water boilers when travelling and staying at hotels in Sweden....

Shanghai Tang Cafe IF the thought of returning to work after the Spring Festival holiday wasn't bad enough for millions of city residents, it's going to be cold and wet as well. The weather will turn overcast this morning, and drizzle or snow will fall on the city from late today to tomorrow, forecasters said yesterday. However, after that the skies will clear with sunny - though cold - conditions predicted for Saturday. For the next day or so, the maximum temperature will drop to around 10 degrees Celsius from yesterday's 17.2 degrees, and fall further to 5 degrees at the weekend, said the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau. Low temperatures will also fall, down to minus 1 degree on Saturday morning, forecasters said. The bureau advised residents that it's not time for spring clothes yet, as the chilly weather may last a while. Outside Shanghai, the cold wave will also cover most of the country over the next three days. Snowstorms will hit central and east China, including...

Dear blog readers, forgive my absence. Since I got back to China last week I've been without an internet connection. Hopefully we'll get it fixed soon (I'm thinking tomorrow!). Until then. 228 Taiyuan Rd