Why Americans are doomed:Posted in Ivan's Bunker, Ned Kelly's Pub Tagged: Stupid Americans

Here at WoAiZhongGuo we’re constantly striving to improve the service we offer our millions of loyal readers. So, just in case you haven’t noticed it, I’ve added a notification box at the bottom of the page so if you leave a comment and feel you don’t already get enough junk mail, you can choose to tick the box and get an email whenever someone else comments or replies to the same post. Don’t worry, if it all starts getting out of control, you can amend or cancel the notification at any time.

Thanks to James for hooking me up.

Yes, I know, “greening” is not a correct use of the present continuous tense. However, Greening the Beige is a wordsmith’s eccentricity used to encapsulate a project I started back in 2007. The name is no less a play on words than its Chinese translation: 点废成绿  (dian fei cheng lv), derived from a well known chengyu reminiscent of “turning over a new leaf”, and most cleverly transformed into “it’s time to turn the city’s trash into green.”

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I can remember the fall of the Berlin Wall.  It was an astounding, glorious, and wonderful event  -- the most so of my lifetime.  However, my mindset at the time was that we couldn't give Reagan any credit for this.  I, in my then Leftist mindset, hated to see American triumphalism.

Popcorn movie
Originally uploaded by rogerejones

I spent my usual Sunday riding my bike all over Chengdu. I visited two big markets in the northeast part of town - the housewares and dinnerware market, and the used furniture market. I didn't find much of what I was looking for, but I did score an incredibly cheap 5-yuan teapot. I then stopped by Han Baozi for a huge serving of steamed dumplings with a side order of pickled vegetables - my afternoon snack.

I later met two teacher friends at Peter's Tex-Mex Restaurant. The food isn't too good, but we had fun. I'd stopped by Sabrina's Country Store earlier to stock up on coffee and Jolly Time yellow popcorn (the real thing, not that microwave stuff).

When I got home I popped some corn; the Chinese 锅guō (what we would call a wok) is perfect for popping. I use imported olive oil, but I had no sea salt on hand, which would have made it perfect. I then crawled into bed with my laptop computer, and munched popcorn while watching the incredibly lame Ministry of Fear (Fritz Lang, 1942), a formula WWII anti-Nazi propaganda film, on DVD. At least Ray Milland was good.

Sony Ericsson had just released the official specifications and photos of the final product and judging from those, it might be the Android device that’ll give the other device manufacturers a run for their money.

A few weeks back, a friend of mine gave me a puzzled look when I mentioned to her, “…your kids will be like me, a Jook Sing”.She had no clue what I was referring to.Then it dawned on me.This term is not familiar to the most recent wave of Chinese emigrants to Canada… the newest [...]

Cancer is one of the last great scourges of humanity, and modern medicine has designed many tests that can screen for cancers. The most popular are mammograms for women, and prostate checks for men. The whole point of a screening test is to do as little harm as possible, to detect something that can be [...]

A portion of a Silk Road International post got me to thinking of one of my favorite China topics: where should you locate your business.

David Dayton's Silk Road post is of no help at all if you are looking for a one size fits all answer, but if it is common sense you seek, he has got it:

First, if you’re into general manufacturing or sourcing or in need of multiple products than your location will be different than if you’re doing finance or logistics or investment. If you’re setting up an office, you need to know where you want to be in relation to your suppliers or distributors. If you’re planning on marketing within China you must know where your market and DC’s are before you’ll know where you want to be.

Second, if you are doing research into living conditions of Chinese cities I’m convinced that maybe the single worst thing you can do is read about those cities online. Foreigner posts and government sponsored info will typically give you only the highlights and lowlights–not what you’ll have to deal with on a daily basis. You really need to see these places for yourself. I suggest that you stay for a week and “try it on, if you can. Oh yea, and your spouse better be included in that discussion or you’ll be looking at a divorce lawyer faster than you can say “Chongqing, what a dump!” (This was the lead line for the Lonely Planet’s chapter on Chongqing when I first moved there in 1995.)

I got two or three emails a month from people asking me where they should locate and my response is always the same: “Where are your main suppliers/partners/DC’s? That’s where you should locate.” One guy from London was doing significant business with a supplier in Chongqing and wanting to know what I thought about him relocating to Beijing, Shanghai or Chengdu as he didn’t think that Chonqing was a good place for his family.

Not having lived in Chongqing before I agree that Chongqing may indeed not be good for you or for your family. But it’s not like Beijing or Shanghai or Chengdu are any cleaner or safer. And being in a city that is not convenient for your business interests means that you’re going to be on the road a lot—which isn’t good for the family either. My personal experience is that being gone on business all the time is worse for the family than a couple years of pollution and inconvenience.

David's final prescription is to "look before you buy":

My basic recommendation, no matter if you’re coming here for a month or a year or a decade, is to do some research before you get here but actually visit the potential cities to determine where the best place for you should be.

Of course he is right.

Rarely do our clients ask us where they should locate their businesses and that is generally a good thing. It is a good thing because where they locate their business is primarily a business decision. The only time I express my opinion is when a client is talking about locating in some remote region, and then I mention how they should not expect the same kind of legal regime there as in Shanghai or Beijing or even most second tier cities. I then explain how this might impact their contracts, their joint venture, their intellectual property, etc.

Though I hardly ever proffer advise on where to locate, I virtually always ask clients why they chose a particular city. I ask strictly to feed my own curiosity and because the answers also oftentimes tell me more about my client's China business. I would say the most common answers are as follows:

1. Our long-term partner is there.
2. Our suppliers are there.
3. That is where our biggest client is located.
4. That is where most of our customers are located.
5. I studied there and I know a lot of people there.
6. I like it there.
7. That is where we can get the kind of skilled workers we need.
8. Labor costs are low.
9. Utility costs are low.
10. We are getting government incentives.

If I had to estimate where my firm's clients go, I would say the following:

1. Shanghai/Suzhou area 25%
2. Beijing/Tianjin area 15%
3. Qingdao/Jinan/Yantai 15%
4. Guangdong 15%
4. Dalian/Shenyang 10%
5. Chengdu/Chongqing 10%
6. Elsewhere (Xi'an, Xiamen, Hebei Province) 10%

Our client base is probably more skewered towards service companies, food companies (particularly fish products), and tech companies than most law firms, which I think goes a long way towards explaining the above ratios. Most of our tech clients seem to go to Shanghai, Beijing, and Chengdu. Most of our food clients seem to go to Qingdao, Jinan, Yantai and Dalian. Most of our manufacturing clients seem to go to Guangdong, Qingdao, Shanghai (broadly defined), Beijing (broadly defined) and Chongqing. Though many of our existing manufacturing clients are in Guangdong Province, a surprisingly small percentage of our new manufacturing clients choose to locate there. But, if I had to name one area with which we are most often drafting up OEM contracts for the sourcing of products for companies without an on the ground China presence, it would have to be Guangdong.

Why are you where you are and why? Where are you thinking of locating and why?

About two months ago, in Part I of this series, I promised we would go through our blogroll and justify and expound upon each blog, five by five. About a month ago, I did part II of this series. This is the third of this slowly running series where I explain, in alphabetical order, why it is that each blog managed to qualify for our blogroll under our admittedly "slippery, vague, and subjective criteria:"

Our blogroll basically consists of those blogs we like and which we think our readers will like or should be reading. We tend to like blogs that are unique in their content, well written, or consistently helpful. If we really like a blog, it makes it on no matter what. The less we like the blog, the more we have to believe it can be helpful to our readers. If a blog has not posted for a couple of months, we start seriously consider removing it from the rolls. Three months and it is usually removed. We obviously focus on China related blogs and, within that, we generally focus on those blogs related to law or business.

So without further ado, the third five in our alphabetical list:

China Business Blog. This blog is written by Jeremy Gordon, a true China veteran. Jeremy has been in the thick of China business for more than a decade and before that he was in Hong Kong as an officer with Britain's Brigade of Gurkhas. My law firm has worked with Jeremy and his company on a number of China business intelligence and China business investigatory matters. True to its title, Jeremy's blog focuses mostly on matters impacting business in China. Lately, it has about every week posted on the top ten twitter tweets on China business.

The China Beat. Cleverly subtitled, "Blogging How the East is Read, this blog, according to its "about" page, "provides context and criticism on contemporary China from China scholars and journalists. Based around a group of active contributors at the University of California, Irvine, including co-founders Kenneth Pomeranz and Jeffrey Wasserstrom, the blog draws on a global group of China watchers in the U.S., China, the U.K., Australia, Japan, Canada, Taiwan, and many other locations." All true, but despite being written by a bunch of legitimate China scholars, it actually makes for a consistently interesting and down to earth read.

ChinaBizGov. Talk about scholarly....This blog is one of the most intellectual China blogs in the blogosphere, but I still absolutely love it. It is the brainchild of G.E. Anderson, who describes himself as a "China specialist, former CFO, and PhD Candidate in Political Science at UCLA. Research focuses on state-owned enterprises, corporate governance and China's auto industry." I love it for two reasons. First, it provides great coverage on China's auto industry, which in turn provides great insight into Chinese business in general and to the relationship between business and government in China. Second, it provides great coverage of the relationship between business and government in China, which, is, for most industries, absolutely critical information to have.

China Business Blog and Podcast. This blog makes the list for pretty much the same reason as the ones that precede it here today: because I am 100% confident that the person behind it knows whereof he speaks. This blog is written by Kent Kedl of Technomic Asia and I have known and worked with and been impressed by Kent and his company for many years. Kent has been working in China (now based in Shanghai) since forever, though he still (for some unknown reason) prides himself on being a Minnesotan. His blog does a consistently superb job focusing on the big picture of doing business in China. With the allegedb"hiatus" of Will Moss over at ImageThief, Kent has to now be the undisputed funniest/most clever China blogger out there.

-- China Bystander. This is a true sleeper blog. It is been around since July, 2007, quietly and putting out a short sparse post on China just about every day. I do not even know who is behind this blog, as its about page consists only of the following: "A curious glance from an old China hand or two as the country develops before our eyes." But it is a damn good blog, written by someone who clearly understands economics. It typically sparsely (I am intentionally using that same word twice in this paragraph) focuses on one big (yet overtimes under-covered) issue each day. I cannot tell you how many times I have first heard of an important China economic or business issue on this blog. If you do not have this on your RSS feeder, you are making a mistake.

More to come....

What do you think?

UPDATE: Kent Kedl has proven the point regarding humor and brilliance by doing a post, entitled, "Aw, shucks … stop it. You’re embarrassing us!"
extolling this humble blog (which the "cool kids" apparently call CLB).

Our blogroll is very intentionally limited to blogs on China or, at minimum, those with a decided China focus. If we were to open it beyond these confines, I have no idea what the new confines would be, our blogroll would get too big, and we would almost certainly leave out deserving blogs.

Keeping our blogroll limited does have its downsides, including that many great blogs we read regularly are left out. Over time, we will be highlighting some of these blogs because we believe many of our readers will have an interest in those blogs as well. I am starting this "series" by highlighting the International Business Law Advisor blog, written by Santiago Cueto, a Miami (technically, Coral Gables) based international lawyer who focuses on international litigation and arbitration. The blog's byline is "identifying trends in international business law," and that is exactly what it so deftly does. For example:

-- "Hey Brazil: It'sTime to Ratify Those Bilateral Investment Agreements," where he rightly points out how Brazil's rising economic and political status signals it is time for Brazil to start signing bilateral trade agreements:

However, it [Brazil] lags behind all other Latin American countries in one important respect: it has yet to ratify any bilateral investment agreements (BITs). These agreements protect international investors when disputes arise in host countries. In light of Brazil’s recent good fortune, the time has come for Brazil to rethink its approach to BITs and implement measures to protect foreign investors.

-- "Florida Court Refuses to Enforce $97M Foreign Judgment Against Dole," highlighting the refusal of a Florida Federal Court's refusal to enforce a Nicaraguan judgment against Dole Foods because the law on which it was based violated international standards.

-- "Alien Tort Claims Act: A Threat to U.S. Corporations Operating Overseas?" This post posits that corporations are being sued as surrogates for countries that violate human rights.

In addition to being thoughtful and crisply written, its design is first rate as well. I have it on my RSS feeder and if you have an interest in international law generally, so should you.

These two Chinese proverbs are very much like the English pairs of proverbs that contradict each other.

Personally I feel that sometimes when you are really struggling to do something you end up making a mess of it by overthinking it. Yet times where you are relaxed you end up being more productive.

事倍功半
shì bèi gōng bàn
get half the result with twice the effort

An English pair of contradictory proverbs like these above are

Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant (全聚德)
786 Huai Hai Road
Shanghai, China

Since Mum and Dad were in town, a visit to Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant was a total MUST. It's the best place to bring visitors because it's the perfect China experience and serves a mean Peking duck. Some of you may remember Chris and I went a few months ago, so this is largely a repeat.. thus I won't go into lengthy descriptions about the food.

I have to say, yet again, how spectacular they do their roast duck. There is NO squishy yellow fat anywhere, and they slice the duck into 3 different plates types:

1) the 'premium skin' dish - pure thick crunchy skin with the most blissful burst of flavour. Zero squishy fat, zero meat. Just pure, unadulterated ecstacy.

2) the 'meat+skin' dish - a tumble of lean duck meat and thin crispy skin. Similiar to what you'd get at other "regular" Peking duck places, but less fat. Fantastic flavour and I actually loved this one best because it combined both meat and skin.

3) the 'meat only' dish - slices of expertly cut pure duck meat, no fat, no skin. Tender and moist, this lean meat was a total treat on the tastebuds. Perfect for those who are watching their weight/health and want a lean cut with minimal oil.

We loved every dish that they served. They really do serve up flat-out, straight-up, great dishes. Very slow and a little uncoordinated (they dishes each came out about 10-15 mins apart), but it's somewhat excusable since they boast a full house and are jammed with people. The only inedible dish was the weird chestnut jelly, this gellatine and kinda hard layered jelly that tasted like... nothing on earth. Mildly like citrus(?) and not like chestnut at all.. and I had to force mine down since I'd already popped it into my mouth. Never again!

Outside the restaurant, which was so busy we had to queue to use the lift to get upstairs!

Quan Ju De, written backwards in Chinese!

The colourful interior

Perusing the menu, trying to figure out what to order

Shen Jian, beautifully pan fried

Chris tucks in

Juicy meat and lots of soup inside, mmm!

They are freakin' HOT though, especially when the hot soup squirts out

Chris and I got burnt at the exact same time - YEOWCH!!!!

Veggies, these were actually really really good

Tofu and tomatoes, in an odd citrus sauce. Was nice though!

The chef deftly carves up the fat Peking duck

Slicing first the skin, then the duck meat

Food blogging is serious business ;)

The premium slices of pure, crispy duck skin *salivates*

You also get plates of pure duck meat, and mixed meat+skin

Cucumber slivers, sugar, onion and a dark sauce for the Peking duck pancakes

Shreds of potato, wok-fried with vinegar and chillies. I love this dish,
but Mum, Dad and Chris aren't big fans of it.

Some sort of chestnut jelly dessert.. which was horrible

If you are searching the Chinese internet, a new high-frequency keyword is 钩子 – "hook." It was an innocent young man's blood that brought this word to the media's attention.

(image from People's Daily)

In the evening of October 14^th, a tearful 18-year-old man named Sun Zhongjie (孙中界) chopped off his little finger with a kitchen knife, while grieving after being framed by a government "hook."

Sun Zhongjie was a new driver employed by a construction company in Shanghai, and October 14^th was his second day at work. That night, on a work-related trip, his car was stopped by a man standing in the middle of the street. The stranger, shivering in the cold weather, climbed into Sun's car uninvited and told Sun that he had something urgent to deal with but couldn't find a taxi or bus. Sun was sympathetic. Considering that the man's stated destination wasn't too far ahead along, he gave him the requested short ride of 1.5 kilometers. The man threw Sun a 10-yuan bill, which Sun hadn't asked for. But instead of getting off, the man grabbed Sun's car keys and stepped on the brake pedal. Dumbstruck, Sun's first thought was that he was being robbed.

Only it was not a robbery, but a government scheme, and the hitchhiker was a "hook." A hook's task is to entice a non-taxi driver to provide a ride, so that he'll be able to accuse the driver of operating a "black taxi" without a license. In each successful hook case, the hook gets paid several hundred Yuan, while the driver is fined 10,000 or more, by the local government's Traffic Management Bureau.

While Sun was struggling with the "hook," trying to grab back his car keys, the conspiring traffic police arrived. They dragged Sun out of his car and held him in their van for a couple of hours without showing any ID. Sun was released only after being forced to sign three receipts, which he did not even get to read. He learned that he had been accused of "black taxi" operation afterward, from several others who were also being "hooked" and brought to the police van.

The injustice and agony Sun felt was unbearable. Though newly employed and poor, his first concern wasn't the big fine or the seized car, but that he was unjustly wronged. He was innocent. He gave the stranger a ride for kindness, not money. Now his clean name was tainted by the hook. But where could he go to prove his innocence? When he was being held in the unknown van, he had shouted that he wanted to call the police, but his captors laughed and told him "We are."

After returning home, Sun picked up a kitchen knife (the big, heavy kind we Chinese use) and chopped off his left pinkie. The 18-year-old was in so much emotional distress that he did not even feel the pain. He then threw himself in bed and cried, while his severed finger bled unattended. If it were not for his older brother living upstairs, who heard the unusual sound and took him to the hospital immediately, Sun might have bled to death that night.

The next day, on October 15^th, young migrant worker Sun Zhongjie appealed to the media for help getting back his good name, and reporters interviewed him in the hospital where he went through an operation to reconnect the severed finger. (A question remains: had Sun not chopped off his finger, would the reporters pay as much attention to his case as they do now?)

Under public and media pressure, five days later, on October 20^th, the Traffic Management Bureau of Pudong New District issued an official report of their "investigation results," claming that everything the traffic police did in Sun's case was legal and Sun was truly an illegal taxi driver. The Bureau said their witness was not a hook but a "society member with a sense of righteousness."

The public was unsatisfied. Sun told a reporter that what the government bureau did was "having the father investigating the son," as the traffic police team belonged to the Traffic Management Bureau, and of course it wouldn't be truthful. Sun requested a face-to-face confrontation with the "witness," which did not happen. Even CCTV and People's Daily declared their suspicions with the "investigation."

The case caught the Shanghai City government's attention and a new investigation involving independent lawyers was ordered. The investigators discovered that the name of the "society member with a sense of righteousness" had appeared as a witness in other similar cases before. Eventually the man's identity as a paid "hook" was verified.

On October 26^th, twelve days after Sun Zhongjie was "hooked," the government of Pudong New District issued a public apology to Sun, returned his car, and revoked the fine. The government also announced the cessation of the "hooking" practice in crashing-down "black taxis."

This quick reversal brought out tears from Sun Zhongjie's eyes. He has since left Shanghai and returned to his home village in Zhejiang Province. Before his departure, he told the media that he probably would go out again as a migrant worker, but not likely to Shanghai. When asked if he'd pick up a stranger who needs help in the future, he evaded the question.

According to reports, 99% of the so-called "black taxi" drivers have been "hooked" before, and among the hook victims also are many innocent people. On September 8^th, Zhang Hui, a white collar driving his private car on the way to work at a high-paying foreign-invested company, "in a moment of soft heart" picked up a man who complained of a stomach ache and persistently begged for a ride. The man was a hook. Despite the fact that Zhang had refused the man's offer of taxi-price payment, Zhang was arrested and fined 10,000 Yuan on the grounds of illegal-taxi operation. Zhang has been blogging about the case and received broad support on the internet. Meanwhile, media attention was sparse, and the local government that wronged him kept ignoring his request for justice.

Two days before Sun Zhongjie's encounter with a hook, on October 12^th, Zhang Hui brought his case to the court. Probably helped by Sun's case, on the same day Sun's name was cleared, Zhang's fine was also refunded. However, the next day a judge from the court that accepted Zhang's lawsuit came to his office and shouted at him, because Zhang did not accept the judge's request for withdrawal of the lawsuit. This story is still unfolding.

Hundreds more hook victims who received big fines are requesting their money back now.

In light of Chongqing's "crashing-down on organized crime" storm, Chinese netizens are inquiring whether the government scheme of hiring hooks, now termed as an "illegal form of law enforcement" by the media, should be considered organized crime.

Chang Ping, a well-known journalist and social commentator, says in a blog post titled "上海钩子" that not only should the hooks bear legal responsibility but they should also sue their government bosses who brought them into a criminal career.

(Update: I just saw that the quick and thorough ESWN has posted and translated a bunch of earlier Chinese reports on this case, providing good references.)

When you google something, and that leads you to this website, it shows me what exactly you typed on google. And it's just so cute when it reads:"what to wear in shanghai now"or  "what to wear in shanghai in november"so anyway, now that it's getting a bit cooler I check yahoo weather quite often, like maybe before I leave the house. and It's gonna be less than 20 degrees celsius this month.

but yes! i saw the uni-president 7-11 lions (hereafter 7-11) take on the sinon bulls of the chinese professional baseball league in taichung. like in korea, major corporations own the baseball teams, but unlike in korea, they have no home stadiums. instead the four teams travel all over the island playing games. the taichung stadium was pretty decent, much smaller than the one in korea but substantially larger and well-kept than the tianjin stadium. it probably compares to an older AAA stadium in the states.

the crowd was fairly small, probably because it was a tuesday night and there was a light drizzle for the first part of the game. nevertheless they seemed really into it, pumped up by what appeared to be professional cheering teams (you can see the 7-11 side below). it's unclear actually how much of the crowd was actual crowd, and how much was the cheer squad. nevertheless, things felt fairly professional. they even played a series of american classic rock covers throughout the game, with words changed (in chinese) to relate to baseball. for example, the eponymous chorus of highway to hell was replaced with "aishang bangqiu," which basically means "to fall in love with baseball" or kinda "to be crazy about baseball (in a loving way)." the first translation is easier.

Spent my whole day at Xintiandi Starbucks. Great spot for studying. While you look down at your books and get bored, you lift up your face and see something exciting. Fat dude with blue hair, ladyboy, Chinese fashionistas who don’t know what less is more means, 40 years old woman wearing minitop with bows, etc. Very entertaining! I drank Ice Caramel Macchiato with skim milk. And discovered that I might be lactose intolerant... Picture stolen from my friend’s blog What is your favourite Starbucks drink? Mine is probably Mocha Frappucchino or the Vanilla Latte. In December the Gingerbread Latte and Cherry Mocha is out, I’ll make sure to drink both of them!!! Tall size is more than enough!

Guangzhou, the capital of China's southern Guangdong Province is undergoing an unprecedented construction boom.

And during these difficult economic times I had no idea that our neighbours to the north have been quietly and busily rebuilding their Guangzhou city centre. Except it's not really in Guangzhou any more. It's somewhere else. Actually, its closer the manufacturing hub of Panyu than it is to Guangzhou. The exact location of the city's new CBD is in Zhujiang New City, to be precise. But none of that matters at all. What matters is that land is plentiful and abundant at the new site. The open spaces earmarked for development are green and wide. Perfect, in fact, for pouring fresh concrete all over.

China is reinventing itself at break-neck speed, so it needs shiny towers of glass and steel to accommodate it's new corporate elite. It's a cliche to say it, but a mega-city is in the making. And in the wake of China's accession to the WTO in 2005, Guangzhou aspires to making sure it's door is open to every major global corporation who wants to set up shop in the Pearl River Delta. It wants to be up there as a commercial hub with Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. It has designs on the world stage too, hoping one day to be in the same league as, even surpass, New York, Frankfurt, London or Tokyo.

But Guangzhou's new CBD needs good transport links too. And the high speed rail link that will join the city to Hong Kong is scheduled to be completed in 2014. The spangly new rail link is controversial because of it's exorbitantly huge projected costs, (HK$1.50 per micron of railway track according to Hemlock). And its also a political hot potato because the future terminus of the High Speed Rail Link lies in Shibi, (near Zhujiang), a full forty-five minute taxi-ride away from Guangzhou's current CBD in Tianhe. The current commercial heart of Guangzhou in Tianhe is to known to most travelers in Southern China for it's 'Guangzhou East' railway station. Trains from here can take you to Hong Kong in under two hours. And so the argument goes something like, "What's the point of building a multi-billion dollar High Speed Rail Link if once you arrive at you arrive at your destination you still have to catch a forty-five minute cab ride to the city centre? It makes no sense at all, as it the future journey time will match the current journey time, so what's the point of building it?"

But the fact is that most people don't realize the centre of Guangzhou really is shifting to the south. And its getting closer Hong Kong. Maybe this is what 'Pearl River Delta integration' is all about? In reality, when the new CBD at Zhujiang City is fully up and running, business types will no longer need to catch that forty-five minute cab ride up to Tianhe. All the action will be at the new CBD at Zhujiang. The tatty buildings of Tianhe that were built in the 80s and 90s and the businesses located there will be marginalized. London tried to do it with the 'Docklands' and Paris succeeded with 'La Defense'. And I'm sure there are plenty more other examples of cities around the world who have tried relocating their CBD, successfully or not.

But this post was never supposed to be a lesson in urban geography. It was supposed to be about an office building which is still under construction in the new CBD. This building's walls curve gracefully inward, and it's architects make of it the grand claim that when it is fully built it will be "the most energy efficient supertall tower ever built".

The Pearl River Tower is designed by an American archtect firm, Skidmore, Owings & Merril (SOM.com). The curved outer walls will cleverly funnel the prevailing wind inwards. Not only is this for natural air conditioning, but also for power generation, as wind turbines will be incorporated into the tower's structure. The building will also integrate solar panels onto it's exterior. And there's more, but I'm not going to go into it here.

For those who are really nterested in 'green buildings', here's a link to the BBC's Roger Harrabin's blog post about the Pearl River Tower which goes into all the miniutae of the cutting-edge environmental architecture used in the tower's design. SOM.com's own website call it 'Net Zero Energy Design'.

For the record, these photos were taken on Tuesday, 3rd November 2009.

ALEX HOFFORD : HONG KONG CHINA PHOTOGRAPHER

Sometimes I order a small sized pizza in the hotel, but this time my gf was there, so we ordered a big sized pizza. However, roomservice brought a small sized pizza. Assuming that the cook made a mistake, we called roomservice again.The hotel replied : “Big and small sized pizza’s have the same size. The [...]

It’s news of the week for those living in Shanghai, and anyone in the People’s Republic who has a remote interest in anything related to Mickey Mouse. The Walt Disney Co. won government approval to build its Disneyland theme park in Shanghai, making November 4 the day, according to Bloomberg, the world’s largest media company was granted approval to open up shop to the world’s largest market.

Or, you could say November 4 is the day Mickey Mouse became a communist.

After nearly a decade of negotiations with the People’s Republic, Disney Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger undid what the company’s founder, Walt Disney, spent years working against when the studio creator helped form the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals.

So while those quoted in the Bloomberg article make note that Disney will finally get a real chance to tap into the Chinese market — because let’s face it, Hong Kong doesn’t count, since the former British colony has its own Disneyland — Walt must be turning in his grave.

What the Motion Picture Alliance did was help the United States House Un-American Activities Committee conduct witch-hunts in the 1940s to sweep out communist activities that were thought to be infiltrating the motion picture industry.

Though the Motion Picture Alliance did little more than sensationalize a political ideology that had only a cursory relationship with Hollywood, the damage was evident. The blacklist that came out of the October 1947 anti-Communist hearings bore ten names — The Hollywood Ten — who took the Fifth Amendment to avoid incrimination of themselves and colleagues during the hearings. The blacklist would continue to grow. Subsequently, Hollywood began separating itself from anyone who might have had any ties to what was thought of as “politically subversive.”

In the same vain as the China Solved blog’s “Shanghai Builds a Better Maotrap,” is Shanghai going Disney, or is Mickey joining the party? The blog ripped the latest move by both the CCP and Walt Disney Co., claiming the exploitive move will only see “wealthy Chinese families doling out thousands of Renminbi so that the princelings can soak up jingoist, anachronistic western corporate fantasy.”

The China Beat blog eluded to the fact that the new Disneyland theme park will need a large piece of land to begin construction in the Pudong District, noting that in 2010 the World Expo will be in Shanghai, and the city will thus have a large, developed piece of property once the Expo is over. Though, that is more speculative, borderline conspiracy theory, than fact.

According to the Global Times, the planned area for the Magic Kingdom will be in Chuansha Town, northwest of the large skyscrapers one sees on postcards … very northwest. Definitely nowhere near the World Expo site, let alone the city center. The People’s Daily even included quotations from residents of the Chuansha area, bothered by what they say will drive up rent and force many of the lower income families out.

What I can’t wait to see is all the Mickey Mouse kitsch that comes out of the new Walt Disney Company endeavor, especially the idea of Mao and Mickey sharing the same T-shirt. So while the Chinese design images depicting U.S. President Barack Obama in the Mao Zedong military garb, or in line with Mao, Stalin, Lenin, Engels and Marx as part of the “socialists spreading wealth since 1917,” it might be much more appropriate to put Mickey there instead. After all, Mickey is coming to China to stay.

Luxury businesses are feeling the effects of the economic downturn (although to a lesser degree in China) with growing job losses and plummeting consumer confidence. This has translated into cuts in retail spending; so many in the luxury brand category are looking for ways to reach the consumer in a more cost effective way. In a departure from traditional marketing practices, luxury brands are increasingly turning to the web for promoting their wares as well as seeking out new audiences that would rather chat online and read the BBS's than turn to more tradition marketing forms such as newspapers and magazines. The problem is that although luxury brands all have web presences now, many fail to realize the full potential of this medium.

“There is an Arab saying which goes, “Whoever drinks the Nile water is sure to come back again.” Three years ago, right in front of the pyramid by the Nile, I joined people from Egypt and China in celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our two countries. Today, returning to this beautiful land [...]

China's Import has a chane to return to positive terriory in Oct 2009 on a year-on-year basis. Total import in Sept grew a negative level of 3.5%. However it is the least negative growth in the last 11 months. China's import started to go down since Nov 08, following the bankrupcy of Lehman Brothers and world financial crisis. Coincidently, the export of China also started to drop since Nov 08. It seems that export has been hit harder than import and still linger around deep negative area. China's import is an important barometer of world base commodity demand, and its export mainly reflects the demand from US and EU.中国进口同比变化可能在十月份进入正值。自从08年11月份以来，中国的进口同比连续11个月呈负值下滑，主要反映了出口需求下降从而影响对原材料的进口需求。在政府推出一系列刺激政策以后，进口需求恢复很快，有望在10月份返回增长态势。

Remember when you went to school? Your sneakers could be the cause of much upset if you didn’t have the “right” pair. Thing is, things don’t really change. People are still going to notice and comment on your choice of footwear. On the upside, Beijing is not gangland, so there’s no risk that those shoes your mum picked out could get you shot.

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More bits and bobs from gallavanting around town whilst Mum and Dad were here visiting. So much fun!!

Super cute pic of Mum and Dad!

Queuing for our lunch at a place near my work, where I go about twice a week.
They are SO SO SO cheap ($2 for a full meal) and so good!

You pick these 'lil dishes, pop them on your tray, and pay.. then grab a seat and chow down

These dishes? US$5 for the lot! BARGAIN

At Bon Matin, one of my fave patisseries

Getting pampered and doing nails with Mum

After our Duathlon, the 4 of us got 1.5hr foot massages including all-you-can-eat-and-drink. Bliss!

Randomly one night, we saw a Dewars bus, offering free scotch tasting

Cool interior huh?!

3 glasses of scotch, we were taught all about the drinks and asked to deduce which one was Dewars

Happily waiting to start our session

BOTTOMS UP!

All done and with our Dewars freebies :P

We had dinner at Moon's Steakhouse.. great food

Enjoying ourselves at Babydoll. Check out the size of the sushi and my drink!

At a Chinese restaurant... about to eat hairy crabs

Chris gamely tackles his

I only picked a bit at it. Just too much effort, for too little meat....

I love my husband. He keeps me well-fed :D

A hilarious video of popular Chengdu "cop-reality" TV program Tan's Traffic Talk Show with English subtitles by the Veggie Discourse blog. In it, teasing traffic policeman Tan lectures a hairdresser on hair styles and road safety. The blog also explains key cultural terms. Viewing the blog requires a proxy, but you can view the video on Tudou here.

Residents in Kunming protest the death of a tricycle driver at the hands of chengguan, the "city management" law enforcers. Translation and the usual comments railing against chengguan at ChinaSMACK.

After the black-Asian Oriental Angel Lou Jing controversy, China Sports Today clears up misinformation about African-Chinese volleyball player Ding Hui and underscores sport's potential as an avenue to greater tolerance toward mixed-heritage Chinese.

Peking University student Tom shares his and his classmates' thoughts on China's growing role as a "responsible stakeholder" in international affairs over at Six blog.

China Beat looks at how the writings of Lu Xun, hugely influential author, essayist, poet, editor and critic and textbook staple in Chinese schools, have been appropriated and over-simplified by the Communist Party.

Mao statues tend to feature the great helmsman hailing a taxi in a long overcoat, as at Tianfu Square, but it doesn't have to be so. Danwei reports on a new, youthful, long-locked Mao statue in Changsha, capital of his native Hunan province.

And have you ever wondered what a sex festival is like in China? Adam Minter from Shanghai Scrap stumbles upon one in Guangzhou and calls it a "seriously cold shower."

Fran likes surfing the China blogosphere, and every Sunday she shares her picks of the week with GoChengdoo readers.

A hilarious video of popular Chengdu "cop-reality" TV program Tan's Traffic Talk Show with English subtitles by the Veggie Discourse blog. In it, teasing traffic policeman Tan lectures a hairdresser on hair styles and road safety. The blog also explains key cultural terms. Viewing the blog requires a proxy, but you can view the video on Tudou here.

Residents in Kunming protest the death of a tricycle driver at the hands of chengguan, the "city management" law enforcers. Translation and the usual comments railing against chengguan at ChinaSMACK.

After the black-Asian Oriental Angel Lou Jing controversy, China Sports Today clears up misinformation about African-Chinese volleyball player Ding Hui and underscores sport's potential as an avenue to greater tolerance toward mixed-heritage Chinese.

Peking University student Tom shares his and his classmates' thoughts on China's growing role as a "responsible stakeholder" in international affairs over at Six blog.

China Beat looks at how the writings of Lu Xun, hugely influential author, essayist, poet, editor and critic and textbook staple in Chinese schools, have been appropriated and over-simplified by the Communist Party.

Mao statues tend to feature the great helmsman hailing a taxi in a long overcoat, as at Tianfu Square, but it doesn't have to be so. Danwei reports on a new, youthful, long-locked Mao statue in Changsha, capital of his native Hunan province.

And have you ever wondered what a sex festival is like in China? Adam Minter from Shanghai Scrap stumbles upon one in Guangzhou and calls it a "seriously cold shower."

Fran likes surfing the China blogosphere, and every Sunday she shares her picks of the week with GoChengdoo readers.

China's Retail Sales increased by 16.6% y-o-y in Sept, amounting to 1091 Billion RMB, which is the highest in the last 12 months. China's Retail Sales had some sort of hit in Q1 '09, during when it grew mildly compared to that of last year. Thanks to the government's stimulus program, the Retail Sale picked up starting from Q2. The sept Sale is quite encouraging and shows a potential sign of economic recovery. China's GDP grew 8.9% in Q3, which is consistent with the growth in Retail Sale.中国零售销售在九月份达到1万亿人民币，同比增长16%，显示经济复苏态势强劲。中国的零售销售在第一季度受到一定影响，连续三个月增长缓慢。在政府推出一系列刺激措施之后，零售销售明显受到强心剂般的刺激，更在9月份创下佳绩。如果如大家预期第四季度国民生产总值增长超过10%，那么零售销售很有可能保持旺盛的增长劲头。

Satellite picture of smog bank trapped on China coast, taken November 6, 2009. Source: NASA

If you rolled out of bed this today clawing at your throat like a French legionnaire in the Sahara, you might not be crazy: it might be the air. This jaw-dropping photo from NASA (taken November 6) charts the progress of a temperature inversion (i.e. smog bank) that has been trapped on China's coast for the past week.

That noise you hear? Your lungs, sobbing like babies.

Source: NASA Observatory

I didn’t go to university in Russia but the décor of Pyramid fills in some of the blanks. Walls plastered in political cartoons give it a student lodgings feel, which the beanbags and sofas fail to dislodge.

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On Wednesday we told you about how the recent comments of Singapore's elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew made during his latest trip to the US have caused an uproar among Chinese netizens. Aside from his more controversial statements that Asia needs the United States to counterbalance a rising China and that the US needs to be "an important part" of any new East Asian architecture, Lee also gave a wide-ranging interview to the Charlie Rose Show of the PBS network. China featured heavily in the 60 minute interview which kicked off with Lee's proclamation that the United States may have half a century left as the world's dominant power. In the new world order, said Lee, the US would have to make space for China and India at the top table of the world. For the next hour or so, sit back with us and gaze into Lee Kuan Yew's crystal ball as he looks back into the past and divines the future. As always, if you're in China and still not able to watch Youtube videos, now is the time to get your VPN. Meanwhile, a full transcript of this interview is available here.

Part 1: The imbroglio in Iraq and Afghanistan are just "distractions". The real story is the Asian rennaissance.

Parts 2 to 6 follow after the jump:

Part 2: "The US needs to make China feel like it's accepted at the top table."

Part 3: Lee's observations on Russia, Japan and India, and the return of the Chinese diaspora to China

Part 4: "Both China and the US have to change their mindsets"

Part 5: Lee's meeting with Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s, and his message for President Obama today

Part 6: "The Chinese are enormously ambitious to catch up"

For other excellent Shanghaiist Sunday Shows, click here.

Know of any other feature documentaries that you'd like to share with readers on the Shanghaiist Sunday Show? Email us at info AT shanghaiist DOT com!

Shanghai Eye is off to Beijing. In the meantime here are some links:A collector podcastPeoples Daily on Chinese national exhibitionLondon sales of Chinese art-ifactsA new HK art websiteThe whacky world of CRINYC news...

Isn’t it nice not wasting away a day during weekend being too hangover? It means that you can actually do some practical stuff. Such as: - Fabric market (custommade cape and pink blazer) - Business meeting at Starbucks in Raffles City ;-) - Sightseeing (People’s Park) - Xintiandi visit - Some shopping (Barbie makeup) - Planning my Birthday party (it’s going to be the best, for real - 12th December, better write in your calendar, you don’t want to miss it. Think: Pink...) - Dinner at Bull Noodle (not so tasty noodles but great environment) - Passionfruit Margarithas at Cantina Agave

YaleGlobal Online says Chinese workers are creating problems in India:
Across the country, several thousands of Chinese workers are at work on infrastructure projects bagged by Chinese contractors. But the arrangement is not without controversy—the hordes of unskilled/semi-skilled imports from China are taking jobs from the unemployed Indian. One estimate put their total number—skilled and unskilled together—at around 25,000. Things have come to a head of late—at least three instances of xenophobic violence have been reported between Indian and Chinese workers in less than a year. Differences arise notably out of language problems and the “obscene” pay disparities—domestic workers get Rs 87 a day while a Chinese co-worker, according to one account from an Indian worker, gets Rs 1,700 a day. Things get that much more tricky because these workers are here in complete violation of Indian visa guidelines which prohibit entry of such labour.

As an EIL worker put it, “About 25% of the Chinese are manual workers...not much to learn from them.”   

The upcoming steel factory in Chandankiyari for the Calcutta-based Electrosteel Integrated Limited (EIL) clearly illustrates the problem. The Indian firm has contracted the construction to two Chinese firms: China First Metallurgical Construction Company and 23rd Metallurgical Construction Company. With a contract valued at over Rs 11,000 crore, the plant will be spread over 2,500 acres and is expected to be completed in June 2010. Construction began in March this year. Working at breakneck speed to achieve this ambitious deadline, around 500 Chinese engineers and workers are currently at the site along with 3,000 Indian workers. Their presence has come down from about 1,200 earlier this year after Indian authorities cracked down on ‘illegal’ foreign workers.

What has caught the government unawares is that almost all of these ‘illegal’ personnel were here on ‘business visas’—explicitly meant for skilled people here on short-term visits who will not take up employment. This raises two worrying possibilities. The first: the Chinese are regularly passing off semi-skilled labour as skilled to bypass Indian regulations. The second: the Indian visa-issuing authorities in Beijing have been slipshod with their work.

Read more at the link.

Its been great the last couple of days watching the HSBC Champions Tournament from the Shanghai area. The Shenshan International Golf Club reminds me of golf in China. Some of my best time in China was on the links at the Dongguan Hillview Golf Club, with my good golfing buddies Lucas, Leon, and Mitchell.

But I am reminiscing, and I really meant to focus on HSBC. The Golf Channel is showing the tournament on a time delay (not too many viewers probably want to watch in the middle of the night). And they are even repeating several times in the course of the day.

The Shenshan course looks much like Hillview, although not with Hillview's tall berms surrounding the greens for viewing. Amazingly, Shenshan, it is said, edged Hillview for the HSBC Tournament several years ago. Hillview would probably be better for spectators, but probably not long enough to be a challenge to Tiger and others.

Speaking of which, Tiger is challenging. Phil took the lead today, so tomorrow should be very interesting with two of the world's best vying for the win.

Try to catch some of the tournament if you can. And check the homes around the course. In true Chinese spirit, the homes are impressive. A few links to see online:

• HSBC Champions Golf Tournament website
• Shenshan International website - be sure to put in English and go to the photo gallery to see the course and homes!
• Dongguan Hillview Golf Club

The following is a translation of a notice on the Xinmin Website (Shanghai) -Offense Reporting Center exposes a Batch of Websites with Vulgar ContentXinmin / China Network (中国网), November 6 — The Reporting Center for Illegal and Bad Information received and checked  offense reports from the general public, concerning websites which didn’t stick to the [...]

showing off my chopstick skills

I got super excited when I saw a panda at the party because I automatically thought, Hey! TOGETHER WE'RE PANDA EXPRESS!

RICE BOWL, REPRESENT

It's been so long since i've updated this "blog" of mine. I've been overwhelmed with exams etc. It's so discouraging when I put my all into studying and then bomb the exam. Makes me feel like why put in all the effort if it doesn't show. Big fat sigh. My boyfriend spent so long on skype convincing me that I wasn't stupid because by the end of the day I convinced myself I was.

Anyway, here are some pictures from halloween. I will be obnoxious and say that I had the best halloween costume of the year. Cheers!

One of my favorite Taiwanese indie bands 1976 released  their new album “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” today. I haven’t listened to it yet, but considering I’m usually the late one on the block with indie news I thought I would seize the moment, in keeping with their theme of, in this fast-paced world of today, [...]

A subculture is a group of people with a culture (whether distinct or hidden) which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.

As early as 1950, David Riesman distinguished between a majority, "which passively accepted commercially provided styles and meanings, and a 'subculture' which actively sought a minority style ... and interpreted it in accordance with subversive values".

In his 1979 book Subculture the Meaning of Style, Dick Hebdige argued that a subculture is a subversion to normalcy. He wrote that subcultures can be perceived as negative due to their nature of criticism to the dominant societal standard. Hebdige argued that subcultures bring together like-minded individuals who feel neglected by societal standards and allow them to develop a sense of identity.

Xue Zhiqian composes almost all the songs on his albums, including his hits singles. But why not all? Because while he likes dance, his compositional forte are pretty ballads, and  so he leaves the one or two fast-tempo tracks for others to make. But this time he co-composed one track from his upcoming album along [...]

Main Topic: You Are Not In Arkansas Anymore
Hosts: Jane Lu, James Stanworth, Clyde Warden

Walmart has been aiming to join the big expansion of China retailing, not least because it already dominates the US retail scene, and there is very little growth left

Read more...

I had dinner at Luneta Restaurant today with my friends. I'm so happy coz tonight they hadPinapaitanDinuguanPinakbetAdoboChicken InasalKare-KareSisigand San Miguel Beer! Yey!The place could be bigger in the future, i really hope so as I could see there were a lot of customers. I only hope that next time, there'd be more food available although the owner tells us that we could also

Fantastic day today! New business idea, new years resolution, new jackets, new makeups, new birthday plans, new places, new food, new margarithas all planned out and done!!! Very effective day! Love it. Check out tomorrow morning for my juicy gossip blog entry. Revealing two people you should avoid in Shanghai. Watch out!!! A Cantina Margaritha pitcher really makes wonder!

China is among the group of countries that have lower level of leverage and exposure in terms of its debt ratio. China's total government, corporate and individual debt is about 105% of its GDP, which is similar to other BRIC countries, but way lower than that of advanced economy. To deal with the economic slowdown, most governments adopt the keynes approach to lead the country out of the recession by borrowing more and spending more. Such a strategy results in a highly leveraged level of debt to GDP for most Western economies.中国的负债率在全球经济中处于比较低的水平。自从08年金融危机以来，全球主要经济体，特别是西方发达国家，都采取了凯恩斯主义来对付危机，其中一个直接后果就是大举借债花销刺激经济。如此策略导致西方大国的负债率直线上升，其中最高的英国和日本分别都超过了500%以上的负债率。与此相比中国的负债率还很低，运用刺激政策的后续空间还很大。

Because quite a few people asked me - here's the my Marc Jacobs lambskin jacket looks like with various twillys (ie. small thin/long silk scarves). I'm LOVING the jacket because it's so easy to slip on, and the buttery-soft leather has me sniffing myself constantly (hah). It toughens up a little dress, or looks chic thrown over a blouse and jeans. I'm loving it :)

With Tiffany & Co twilly

With Hermes twilly

With Coach twilly

With Louis Vuitton bandeau

This Chinese proverb is about how things in order are perfect and methodical. For me it is a strong signifier of the historical Chinese figure Qin Shi Huangdi unifying the country. The emperor gave the unified empire a single currency, a standardised system of weights and measures and a legal system and introduced a common written language.

Photo Source: Flickr

Many blogs help us to better understand Taiwan’s legal positions and its situation. They also help to question the CCP narrative (subscribed to at various degrees by the KMT, America, Japan, EU and other governments, and organizations, and individuals), according to which Taiwan were “part of China”.The view from Taiwan is such a blog. It [...]

Now that China's Coming-Out-Party in Frankfurt is over, Wolfgang Kubin, Bonn University Professor of Chinese Studies--and an outspoken critic of modern Chinese literature--is back with a vengeance. Here are two excerpts (my translation from the French) from the lively and provocative interview online at Books, L'actualité par des livres:

"The [Chinese] novel, [in contrast with Chinese poetry] enjoys a high profile internationally, but is of rather mediocre quality. This opinion is largely shared among my colleagues. But what my Chinese counterparts say—in private—is even more extreme. In most of their eyes, the contemporary version of the [Chinese] novelist is an utter ignoramus: he has no literary culture, no mastery of his language, doesn’t know a word of English, and hasn’t the slightest knowledge of foreign literature. According to them, on the world stage Chinese novelists are tubaozi (土包子), or hillbillys, as one calls migrants in China who have left the countryside for the big cities."

More…

• We documented our Halloween celebration with pictures, more pictures and even a video!
• We went to Origin on Taikang Lu and found their sandwiches and salads refreshing and delicious.
• Then we headed over to three different places to get some soup for comforting our flu-ridden bodies.
• We laughed at a photo of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson playing chess on The Bund.
• We discussed, and then let other people discuss, Disneyland coming to Shanghai.
• We laughed at, but then agreed with a quote by a Guangdong family planning official that proposed giving sex toys to migrant workers.
• We recorded Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and his incindiary comments about how the U.S. should deal with China, which managed to piss off netizens.

If you look very closely you should be able to spot Tommy somewhere in this photograph despite his best attempts to hide inside a brown paper bag. Hilariously, because he can’t see me, he assumes I can’t see him, so when I call his name, his tail wags as if to say “ha, you’ll NEVER find me”. Then I wack him really hard with a rolled up magazine and he realises he’s not quite as invisible as he thought!

The best thing about this chocolate cake is what it does not have. No eggs or milk, and it's easy to make. ^_^ I found this recipe in the Student's Vegetarian Cookbook, Revised: Quick, Easy, Cheap, and Tasty Vegetarian Recipes

A note on greased vs. ungreased pans: The book says you can mix all the ingredients right in the baking pan, but I always mix them in another bowl and then pour into a foil-lined and greased baking pan. This makes it easier to remove for cooling.

Yields 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup veggie oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp plain red or white vinegar

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 190C (375F).
2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and sugar in a glass, ceramic or stainless-steel baking pan (9-inch round, 8-inch square, or 9 x 6-inch rectangle).
3. In a small bowl, combine the water, oil and vanilla. Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients, and whisk with a fork to combine. Add the vinegar and stir just until the vinegar is distributed around the batter. (There will be color variations in the batter from the reaction between the vinegar and baking soda.)
4. Pour into lined and greased pan and bake for 25 or 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and call your friends.

Tips
For variation, try substituting 1/8 cup to 1/4 cups of the white flour with buckwheat flour. Or add 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts.

Toppings
For a decorative design like the one pictured, you'll need to buy a deco sheet—available at Ito Yokado or Ikea—and place it on the cake, finely sprinkling the powdered sugar over it. A Japanese tea sift, sold at Ito Yokado, or any other fine-mesh strainer, helps with this. Of course, you can also draw your own deco and shape it with a knife, or, if you're really patient, draw and cut your own deco sheet!

I haven't tried other toppings because it's hard to find vegan ones. Silken tofu can be used as a cream substitute, and margarine for butter, but I haven't experimented with any of those.

Sichuanese native and Chengdu resident Annie blogs about her adventures in cooking vegetarian meals, adapting recipes from around the world. Recently she has translated some of her favorite posts into English for GoChengdoo readers to enjoy. The original, Chinese-language version of this post can be viewed here. Photo by Annie Chen.

The best thing about this chocolate cake is what it does not have. No eggs or milk, and it's easy to make. ^_^ I found this recipe in the Student's Vegetarian Cookbook, Revised: Quick, Easy, Cheap, and Tasty Vegetarian Recipes

A note on greased vs. ungreased pans: The book says you can mix all the ingredients right in the baking pan, but I always mix them in another bowl and then pour into a foil-lined and greased baking pan. This makes it easier to remove for cooling.

Yields 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup veggie oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp plain red or white vinegar

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 190C (375F).
2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and sugar in a glass, ceramic or stainless-steel baking pan (9-inch round, 8-inch square, or 9 x 6-inch rectangle).
3. In a small bowl, combine the water, oil and vanilla. Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients, and whisk with a fork to combine. Add the vinegar and stir just until the vinegar is distributed around the batter. (There will be color variations in the batter from the reaction between the vinegar and baking soda.)
4. Pour into lined and greased pan and bake for 25 or 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and call your friends.

Tips
For variation, try substituting 1/8 cup to 1/4 cups of the white flour with buckwheat flour. Or add 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts.

Toppings
For a decorative design like the one pictured, you'll need to buy a deco sheet—available at Ito Yokado or Ikea—and place it on the cake, finely sprinkling the powdered sugar over it. A Japanese tea sift, sold at Ito Yokado, or any other fine-mesh strainer, helps with this. Of course, you can also draw your own deco and shape it with a knife, or, if you're really patient, draw and cut your own deco sheet!

I haven't tried other toppings because it's hard to find vegan ones. Silken tofu can be used as a cream substitute, and margarine for butter, but I haven't experimented with any of those.

Sichuanese native and Chengdu resident Annie blogs about her adventures in cooking vegetarian meals, adapting recipes from around the world. Recently she has translated some of her favorite posts into English for GoChengdoo readers to enjoy. The original, Chinese-language version of this post can be viewed here. Photo by Annie Chen.

My husband John had done everything the Human Subjects Committee asked. He reviewed the study with his departmental ethics representative, completed online training on human subjects, and, most...

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