Every few months the media seems to dig up a new quality control issue with Chinese products. Many of these are largely just typical media fear factoring, but the recent “melamine in milk” debacle is very real and very wide-spanning. If you’re like me, you probably gasped in horror when it was reported that all …Read More
I’ve just received the following press release release from the British Embassy in Beijing. It appears to me that the office has taken some heat from home about tracking down their nationals in natural disasters, and is now very concerned you may get crushed in a shoddily-built school or swept away in a flood – …Read More
What follows is the fifth part of a series of posts we’re running by fellow Laowai – Turner Sparks. Turner and his friend Jake decided just sitting around Suzhou and watching quake relief efforts on TV was not good enough, and so hopped into Turner’s car and pointed it towards Chengdu. Read Part I, Part …Read More
The following has in no way been confirmed to be legitimate, however I wanted to post it here to see if anyone had heard anything about this. From the Hangzhou Expat forum: This information has not and most likely will not appear in the press or the media. But a co-worker’s wife who works in …Read More
In some brief news unrelated to the earthquake, the Mother Jones blog has reported that Pringles and Fanta are now banned in China because of toxins. You need to watch out for the berry-flavored version of Fanta, the rest are apparently ok. Also, Chinese officials found an infestation of beetles in Nestle’s coffee flavor. Mmm, …Read More
In what can only be assumed to be fear over increased problems related to the Olympic games, China has cut off multiple entry travel visas, and limited them to 30 days. As Journey to Nowhere reports from the SCMP (which stoically continues to charge for online content): Beijing has stopped issuing multiple-entry visas, risking major …Read More
I’ve been hesitant to write much about the violent [*pro*] underway in [*tib*], as I figured it was a sure way to get the site blocked(a la YouTube). However, I’m really impressed with the folks over at Peking Duck and their ongoing updates about the [*tib*] situation. Additionally, there’s some fantastic activity in the comments …Read More
With Spring Festival just a couple weeks away, time to remind any first-time Laowai to be careful as they venture out in what must be the world’s largest annual mass-migration. Despite being one of the larger stories on Chinese-language news channels, little has been mentioned externally about an accident in Wuhu, Anhui, on January 13, …Read More
Several times recently I’ve been out at restaurants that I’ve been to frequently, only to discover they’ve been ripping me off for ages. The trick is a smooth one and I can only blame my unfailing trust in humanity for allowing it to happen. The scam? The Laowai Menu. Living in a tourism-supported city like …Read More
What can I really say to this, other than: if necessity is the mother of invention, poverty is her sick and twisted evil half-sister. BEIJING (AFP) – Used condoms are being recycled into hair bands in southern China, threatening to spread sexually-transmittable diseases they were originally meant to prevent, state media reported Tuesday. In the …Read More
Recently I wrote a post about Racism in China, just before finding out about the Beijing Police Rounding Up and Beating of Black People at Josh’s blog. Rick also wrote a post dealing with this called Sino Xenophobia? It’s a really sad and unfortunate reality that racism exists in China, especially against black people and …Read More
Does it merit mention anymore? Wikipedia is dead. The craptastic part is that even using the until-now infallible hack, it doesn’t work. Bullocks. Danwei reports that Chinese IT bloggers are getting pretty pissed at the extreme measures the [*chingov*] is taking to assure a harmonious 17th Party Congress this coming October 15th. The Danwei article …Read More
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