Why is it that most Chinese people and institutions have so much difficulty with planning ahead? Is it a deep-seated cultural difference or something that comes with modernization/ capitalization/ wealth/ whatever you want to call it?

I believe that no claim, especially one so large as suggesting an entire nation ... Read more »

My friend and his girlfriend pointed this out to me: My picture is all over the Chinese internet.

A couple days ago I went to the Bird's Nest to try to buy a ticket to the handball semi-finals. I don't care about handball, but I had some free ... Read more »

Came across this interesting fimoculous.com post on this Paul Graham (venture capitalist, artist, techie and writer) article.

The premise is that great cities attract a certain type of person and those people combine to exert a certain message. Examples include New York: you should make more money; Cambridge (Mass ... Read more »

Alright, another question for all you out there.

Beijing has a population of 8 million people. That's the same as New York City. (The Beijing municipal population is 17 million, but that includes all the people living in places like Miyun and Shunyi. You can count them if you ... Read more »

Yes, this is a sleazy survey. Yes, I don't expect to learn anything useful. On the other hand, I do expect to stir up some rancor. But sometimes the only thing that keeps me going is the rancor of strangers. Plus, I am stating my premises in a fair ... Read more »

Alright, I know this is low-class, but it deserves more than 254 words in the beginning of the national section of the magazine. This is the biggest sex scandal in the history of digital media. This is four times as big as Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee or Paris Hilton ... Read more »

The first place I ever played beer pong in Beijing was at the Rickshaw. It was May, a good four months before Pyro's tournaments started. I had just gotten back to China and was catching up with old friends, sort of sifting through them trying to remember who I ... Read more »

The Great Expatations column is limited to 400-500 words. That's never as much as I'd like. This is the first of what will be occasional postings of uncut versions of the column. The published version of "Floating" came out on February 14th. Perhaps I'm egotistical, but I ... Read more »

to Carrefour to pick up some bread. As I chained it up outside the attendant at the bike parking lot, a stumpy middle-aged man wearing a grey hat with ear flaps waved in my direction. He walked over. His thick, white surgical mask couldn't hide the smile beaming from ... Read more »

Recently we spoke with Keith and Cheryl Wyse of Bread of Life Bakery in Hebei Province. Click the "play button" to hear the audio version of the interview, or check out the transcript below. Apologies for the poor audio quality, we're still getting the kinks worked out of the ... Read more »