Archive for November, 2008
What do you want for Christmas? Cow tongue cookies, a diamond ring or life insurance?
I have received some bizarre gifts during my time in China. I once bit into what I thought was a butter cookie that a friend gave me only to find it was stuffed with meat instead of chocolate. On another occasion a good friend in Taiwan gave me a package of cow tongue cookies (which [...]
A Must-Read Report on China
Seeking Alpha/November 28, 2008
(Also see China Law Blog’s “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About China’s Economy”)
If you read one thing on China this week/month/quarter/season, let it be the new World Bank China Quarterly. Superbly useful stuff…
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China Rate Cut Highlights Concern Over Slowdown, Unemployment
Bloomberg/November 27, 2008
Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) — China’s biggest interest-rate cut in 11 years highlights government concerns that the country risks spiraling unemployment, social unrest and the deepest economic slowdown in almost two decades.
The central bank yesterday lowered its one-year lending rate by the most since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, less than three weeks after [...]
Paper Or Plastic? How Gen Y Consumers Differ From Their Parents
Beijing winters can be brutal. There is not much in terms of snow, but between the lashing cold winds filled with dust and pollution and the painfully dry air that leads to constant coughing, the last place you want to be in the winter is outside. Yesterday, I stood outside waiting to withdraw money from [...]
New Branding For A Very Old Chinese Character
A few months ago I came across the preceding character while searching through the Chinese blogosphere. At first I thought a Chinese netizen found a way to create his own character, but then the image seemed to start popping up all over the place. The character is pronounced jiong and as you can tell by [...]
China addresses stimulus doubts with proposal list
AP/November 24, 2008
BEIJING (AP) — Trying to dispel doubts about the true size and effectiveness of a giant economic stimulus package, Beijing rolled out an eye-popping figure to show its determination to spend its way out of trouble: a $1.4 trillion shopping list of possible investments.
The figure, reported by state television Sunday, represents an avalanche [...]
Best of the China blogs: November 24
WSJ China Blog/November 24, 2008
File under state-owned enterprise reform: A chemical company gets into the fast-food noodle business as a way of absorbing excess employees. [The China Observer]
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88: It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye
An SMS and online spin on a contemporary form of farewell
Before your first visit to China you ask your Chinese-speaking friend for a quick lesson in Mandarin Chinese. She tells you:
â€œä½ å¥½â€ ni hao.
Hello.
“谢谢†xie xie.
Thank you.
“å†è§â€ zai jian.
Goodbye.
After you arrive in Beijing, you are eager to start practicing the only three phrases you know with [...]
Chemical Noodles: This Chinese State-Owned Enterprise’s Recipe For Success
In China it is commonly thought that northerners tend to eat more noodles while their southern counterparts prefer to eat more rice. I happen to be a 东北人 (from the northeast of the U.S) so one of my favorite dishes in China is beef noodle soup. Picture a steaming bowl of dark red spicy soup [...]
Bud Light loses position as the world’s best-selling beer
Guardian/November 21, 2008
The self-styled king of beers has been toppled by a drink that most Budweiser lovers have never heard of: Snow.
The ascension of Snow, which is expected to outsell world leader Bud Light this year, is due to the growing thirst of Chinese drinkers for beer.
While beer consumption is on the wane in developed [...]
