6 « Week In China

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WiC 6 (Mar 13, 2009)

Sick of bad food

China Consumer, Talking Point The Chinese government tries to get to grips with food safety…

Reheating food, as many WiC readers will be aware, is not always an advisable culinary tactic; it can lead to the occasional bout of ...

Banking & Finance China’s punters are buying shares again

China’s stock market performance so far this year seems to be reliving past glories, if current conditions are anything to go by. In the fortnight ...

Hedging their bets

Property Dispute points to trouble in the property sector

Few things smell worse than a Chinese public toilet, but the mainland’s property market is currently making some investors feel equally ...

China’s other reserves

Energy & Resources The nation’s forex reserves are famous. Its oil reserves could be…

Oil is to modern day China what cigarettes are to French cinema: which is to say, essential. And with oil at below $50 a barrel, the Chinese now see ...

China Consumer Local governments’ latest weapon to stimulate consumer demand

Citizens using coupons to buy products? Hang on, wasn’t that what happened when Mao was in charge and the economy was planned? But this time ...

History Lessons For whom the bell tolls...

Chen Shu Gu was posted to Pucheng County as its governor in the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), during an outbreak of thievery. It was almost ...

Shakespeare for carrots

Entertainment And China’s longest running play is…

In the wider world of theatrical triumph, Rhinoceros in Love is not the heavy hitter that its title might seem to suggest. Compared to Broadway smashes ...

Society Did anyone say ‘double standards’?

The most conspicuous evidence of China’s sexist culture is the ratio of boys born versus girls. Thanks to the one-child policy and a traditional ...

Serving the people

Society Mao photo provokes online debate

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of communist China. To commemorate the nation’s founding, the government has planned a ...

Society A stunningly good book about migrant labourers

You should never judge a book by its cover. That goes doubly so for Factory Girls, whose cover is so unappealing it might pass for an academic tome. ...

Liaoning’s lord of laughter

Entertainment Why Zhao Benshan’s tour comfortably beats the ballet in ticket sales

Humour, as it turns out, can be a lifesaver. A recent study published by the University of Maryland Medical Centre suggests that people less inclined ...

Red Star Mark Rowswell, aka Dashan

You might think that Mike Myers, Keanu Reeves or Pamela Anderson are the world’s best-known Canadians. But how many of you have heard of Mark ...

Economy The National People’s Congress meets annually. So what actually happens?

Appalling old waxworks”, was how Prince Charles referred to them in his diaries. England’s future king was referring to the Chinese dignitaries ...

Planet China All around the world, people do some pretty silly things when…

All around the world, people do some pretty silly things when they get drunk. The consequences can be damaging, but normally only to those doing the ...

Will panda trump sumo in 2009?

Cartoons Will panda trump sumo in 2009?

Since the Imjin War of 1592, when China and Japan had their first major conflict, the rivalry between the two nations has been intense. But there is ...

The gunnysack line

And Finally China and Vietnam finally agree on exactly where their border is…

Ask the Americans (or the French) how difficult it is to win a war in the jungles of Vietnam. The Chinese share that view. In fact, centuries before ...