There's something macabre about this online character, China Bounder. While I appreciate his blog as a kind of "Kinsey report" of the sexualized environment of today's Shanghai, something is eerily disturbing about his particular line of thinking. Certainly I'm not a trained psychoanalyst, but in mulling over his case last night while tossing and turning in the wee hours, I came up with the following observations.
Read MoreHe's back. The man who inspired a witchhunt last August for his controversial blogsite about shagging in Shanghai. We know him as China Bounder. If you believe his story, he is a British Caucasian in his 30s and a former (if not current) English teacher in Shanghai. If you're somewhat more susceptible to rumors and innuendo, he is in fact a team of clever, mischievous blogsters making it up as they go along (or maybe even a team of monkeys relentlessly pounding on the keyboard?). I for one don't believe that tripe for a minute. In my humble, unenlightened opinion, this guy is real, and so are his stories.
Read MoreRecording his city's rich architectural heritage has been a demoralizing task for Shanghainese photographer Deke Erh. While Art Deco buildings in Miami, New Zealand's Napier and even the Eritrean town of Asmara are lovingly tended, Shanghai has demolished scores of equally historic structures in its headlong rush for modernity. "I've been taking photographs of old Shanghai for 20 years, and I've continually seen these things torn down," says Erh. "But I still have hope. Even today, Shanghai has more Art Deco buildings than any other city in the world. If I didn't have hope, I'd have to give up."
Read More BEIJING, Feb. 10 -- By the time the World Expo opens in 2010, travelers will no longer have to visit Shanghai in person to enjoy a three-dimensional tour of its downtown core. They will only have to boot up their computers.
Read MoreNot everyone involved in Shanghai's old homes sees them as money-making opportunities. In fact there are people who are ardently against too much gentrification of the European-style homes, worrying that they will become merely facades for modern-day interiors -- early 20th century on the outside, early 21st century within.
Read MoreSHANGHAI-It's June 7, 2007, a day you've prepared for your entire life. Over the next three days, 12 hours of exams will determine your future, forever. Sound melodramatic? For the 1.5 million university hopefuls in Shanghai, it is the reality they've always lived with. Unlike at U of T, where 63 per cent of undergraduate applicants were offered admission last year, the limited number of places in prestigious Chinese universities has enormous numbers of students jostling for a spot. In China, entrance into the nation's top universities is a stepping stone to a successful career.
Read MoreA government survey, covering 800 immigrants, found that most of those with a high level of education and a stable job were leading a happy life in the city, and that the hostility between local residents and immigrants was subsiding
Read MoreAmid official silence over the graft case against Shanghai's disgraced
Communist Party chief, unlicensed tomes are stepping into the void with what
they claim is the inside scoop on his downfall.
Read MoreStanding on the top floor of Shanghai's Peace Hotel, an art deco palace once known as the Cathay Hotel, you can look out over the turrets and spires of the elegant Bund promenade and dream of a China long gone.
Read More The Shanghaiese, whether rich or poor, have always believed themselves to be more rational and efficient than people from the rest of China. They’ve always reproached the Beijingnese for wasting time talking about politics, while they themselves get things done. They are especially proud of their trademark way of doing things the grand haipai style.
Read MoreA question that people often ask me is: which is the better city, Beijing or Shanghai? This is such a loaded question I don't know where to begin. Of course, the answer depends on one's perspective, background, and interests. I always reply with the hazy but useful phrase 各有千秋 (ge you qian qiu) which literally means "each has a thousand autumns" but translates more accurately as "each has its advantages..."
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