housing prices
November 14, 20129 Comments
It is widely understood that the 18th National Party Congress of the Communist Party, except for the closing ceremony where the new lineup of Chinese leadership will take the stage, is nothing but carefully staged show with no substance. But some outright lies, shameless tributes and histrionic playacting may make you laugh and give you [...]
Continue readingSeptember 25, 2012No Comments
Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang, the nation’s sports darling after snatching a gold medal in the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, has become the target of ridicule and a protagonist of a cautionary tale in an advertisement for premature ejaculation treatment. The photo of this advertisement in print has been viral on Chinese social media, including Sina [...]
Continue readingMarch 28, 201212 Comments
From NetEase Skyrocketing housing prices and rents in Chinese cities have always been a vexing issue for urban dwellers in the past decade. Luckily, necessity is the mother of invention. Migrant workers who really have to tighten their purse strings have come up with a variety of ideas, ranging from ‘Egg House’ to ‘Capsule Inn’, [...]
Continue readingMarch 16, 20122 Comments
From NetEase and iFeng On March 15, China’s Consumer Rights Protection Day, about 100 homeowners took to the street in Qingdao, Shandong province, and decried the planned construction of an adjacent 220 kilovolts substation, with an element of performance art. “Vanke Doesn’t Have Moral Conscience,” the combination of individual characters on the protesters’ shirts says. [...]
Continue readingFebruary 29, 20124 Comments
From NetEase The annual “two sessions” – one for the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislative body, and the other for Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, convene in Beijing on March 5 this year. Reporters with Xinhua News Agency visited a college campus, a bus station, a hospital, a construction site among other places and [...]
Continue readingOctober 25, 20118 Comments
From Afinance, Sohu One man’s meat is another man’s poison. After years of skyrocketing housing prices, which spells financial straits for potential home buyers, China’s real estate market finally shows some signs of a soft landing. In Shanghai, home prices fell as much as 30 percent in the suburban. While most potential home buyers are [...]
Continue readingApril 26, 2011One Comment
From Beijing Times 22-year-old Shi is a salesperson in a department store near Muxiyuan. Her fiancé Guo is a trucker at a logistics company. They live in a makeshift room in a tunnel, one of thousands built in 1960s and 70s as air raid shelters. At 6 p.m. Shi bought some leafy vegetables for food [...]
Continue readingApril 7, 2011No Comments
China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has announced oil price increase, effective at 12:00 a.m. on April 7. Gas price is up by 500 yuan per ton; diesel price up by 400 yuan per ton. On average, #90 gas and #0 diesel are up respectively by 0.37 and 0.34 yuan per liter. (US$0.212 and [...]
Continue readingApril 4, 2011One Comment
Some Chinese have been informed by cemeteries that the usage right of graves where their families were buried is due to expire, and if they want to keep the deceased in place, they must pay management fees. If not, they will dig up the ashes, put it aside, and reuse the graves.
Continue readingMarch 20, 20115 Comments
The following essay and the tweet at the bottom of the page, have stricken a chord in Chinese people and circulated on the Internet, not only for its unmistakable sarcasm, but for its unexaggerated wrap-up of newsy issues that have been heard from news over the past few years. The essay has been updated or revised [...]
Continue readingMarch 15, 20114 Comments
Three 180s: He must be as tall as 180 cm (nearly 6 feet), own a home as large as 180 square meters (roughly 1,940 square feet), and…um…180mm (7.08 inches), you know. Size matters.
Continue readingMarch 14, 2011One Comment
The rapper(s) discusses Chinese inflation and rising Consumer Price Index (CPI), and tells how it affects people’s everyday life. The song is a parody of Taiwanese girl band S.H.E.’s Chinese Language (song title). The video features montage of several Stephen Chow’s movie excerpts. Stephen Chow is a very popular comedy actor/director in Greater China as [...]
Continue readingFebruary 18, 20112 Comments
Beijing’s prohibitively high real estate prices have plagued the city’s dwellers for years. Wealthy speculators who buy several pieces of real estate for investment purpose are a major reason why the prices can’t cease soaring, which takes heavy toll on less well-off purchasers. Earlier this week, Beijing announced a new set of rules to thwart [...]
Continue readingJanuary 9, 20115 Comments
From QQ A staff member tries the bed at a “capsule inn” in Shanghai, east China, Jan. 6, 2010. A “capsule inn” covering an area of more than 300 square meters with 68 “capsules” where guests could rest overnight will open near Shanghai Railway Station soon. Each capsule, in fact cuboid, charges 88 yuan, or [...]
Continue readingJanuary 4, 20112 Comments
Nowadays, if you go to any real estate trade show in China, you will never fail to notice pretty women seductively attired, some of them Caucasians, posing in front of booths. They are called fangmo in Chinese, or models for real property. Amidst China’s housing boom, they are used as a good vehicle for marketing. Models [...]
Continue readingJanuary 2, 201113 Comments
From Dapenti China Central Television’s news said that on January 1, 2011, Chinese President Hu Jintao brought his new year wishes to a neighborhood in Beijing. There he visited a low-income family who lives in a low-rent department – 77 yuan (US$12) a month – because of the Party’s policy to ensure the people’s welfare. [...]
Continue readingDecember 1, 20103 Comments
Beijing vagabond, a literal translation for the Chinese word beipiao, refers to the group of people who do not have a Beijing hukou (permanent residence), who migrated to Beijing from other places of China seeking opportunities and better life. Beipiao is also a life style of being a drifter in Beijing. Dai Haifei, 24, has [...]
Continue readingNovember 10, 20104 Comments
Original posts in Chinese: 1 2 3 4 China’s National Development and Reform Committee released the result of October’s consumer price monitoring in 36 cities nationwide. 80% of commodities are more expensive than in September. Talks about making ends meet come at a time when Chinese suddenly find their meals cost more, while their salaries remain [...]
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Soul-searching former Red Guard won praises on Weibo Jun 11, 2013 -
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Pic of the day: Best iPhone product placement Jun 7, 2013 -
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