economy - KalanStar in Shanghai!

Tag Archives: economy

China’s Economy: Is it as good as everyone thinks?

3 September, 2012 Leave a comment

Home Sweet Home in Shanghai. Not quite the image of the city's inhabitants/homes you are used to.

Neither I nor anyone really doubts that China has a good economy. Everyone the world over has become familiar with China’s economic growth especially during the past decade. Just type “China” into google news and see how many stories pop up on a daily bases about China’s economy. Whether positive or negative in tone, all resoundingly proclaim the attributes of ... Read More »

Shanghai FoxTown Shopping

1 June, 2012 Leave a comment

Have you been to FoxTown? If you haven’t, then don’t bother. If you have, I feel your pain. What is FoxTown? Some of you may be asking. FoxTown is neither a fox nor a town. What it is, is a big mostly empty box, that’s supposed to be a “Famous Brands” factory direct outlet mall on the outskirts of Shanghai ... Read More »

Moganshan in Springtime

[caption id=\"attachment_1676\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"903\"] My favorite Moganshan pic. Sword Pond April 2013[/caption]\r\n\r\nFor anyone living in Shanghai, especially in its warmer...

Lurking...

\r\n\r\nHi, yo, what up?\r\n\r\nI\'ve not forgotten about KalanStar.com nor my faithful readers... Been busy as hell recently. Not busy writing as I would like (unless you count my recent S...

European Celts descend from Hunan, says expert - Sinolicious

Yes, you read that headline right. The Celts, long thought to be indigenous to the British Isles, are in fact, Chinese. On the heels of the recent revelation that American (but not...

Pearson Education: China’s a bust! - Sinolicious

\r\nAnyone in the education business anywhere on the planet, whether running a business, providing government education programs, teaching, or studying knows who Pearson is, and Chin...

China: I may never leave... - Sinolicious

Fletcher’s post a couple weeks ago, “China and why we stay” got me thinking. I’m not sure about “we”, but I feel I should have some idea of why I am staying. So, I star...

What to do about North Korea… and China?

\r\n\r\nNo discussion about North Korea can take place without mentioning China. Why? Well, it’s quite simple really; China is North Korea’s ONLY ally. And what’s more, North Kor...

Shanghai\'s Formula 1

\r\n\r\nLast Sunday (April 14th 2013) saw the completion of Shanghai’s 10th Grand Prix Formula 1 race and, unfortunately, I missed it. This was not because of some great tragedy or b...

Why China is the epicenter of H7N9

\r\nInfectious disease is by no means a localized issue. In fact, it never really has been. As long as people have had the urge to move around planet Earth, so too has the diseases w...

These days... From F1 to Bird Flu... and everything in between...

\r\n\r\nI just spent the day at Shanghai\'s F1 track in Jiading getting my eardrums busted and having the time of my life. It was a beautiful sunny and semi-smoggy day and I loved eve...

Bad Foreign Companies Hurt China!

Once again the news is abuzz in China with the latest attack on foreign companies and their brands. This time it’s Apple paying the Chinese Commie Piper for being successful. O...

Struggling to Survive the Chinese Office - Sinolicious

\r\nWorking in a Chinese office, sometimes banging your head against a wall may seem like the most productive thing you can accomplish...\r\nThe Situation \r\nThough I have lived in Chi...

The Monkey - Sinolicious

\r\nToday has been the strangest day. I just waited for a light to turn red before dashing out into oncoming traffic not so silently cursing the cars veering wildly attempting to mis...

Media Markt: Following in the footsteps of BestBuy - Sinolicious

Media Markt’s large empty stores not long for this city.\r\nIn 2010 just weeks after BestBuy high-tailed it for home, Media Markt arrived on the Shanghai retail scene claiming they...

The Shanghai Nail House - Sinolicious

One night while taking a Taxi in Shanghai’s Songjiang district, I was shocked when in front of the car loomed a residential home right in the middle of the roadway. Today I went ...

The day The Party met Me! - Sinolicious

\r\nI’ve lived in Shanghai for the past 3.5 years, but this isn’t my first stint in China. The first time I lived here was back in 2001 when the city had half the population, pri...

It\'s Aallliiiiiive! The new KalanStar.com lives!

I hope you enjoy the new layout. Put a bit of work into this one. There\'ll be lots of new content coming soon... So stay tuned!...

Shanghai Story 5: Sammy Feeds the Masses

Sammy Feeds the Masses\r\nSammy moved to Shanghai, like so many others have over the last decade, for a better life. Born after the end of the civil war and becoming a man in Mao’s...

Shanghai Story 4: Mary’s English Lesson

Mary’s English Lesson\r\nMary arrived at work early, the same as any other work day except this was her day off and her boss had asked it to work it again. “Don’t worry”, he ...

Shanghai Story 3: Jerry Takes Control

Jerry Takes Control\r\nAnother normal day greeted Jerry as he left his home in darkness. It was a 5 story walk-up where he slept in the same room he did as a kid, except now he was 2...

Shanghai Story 2: Ruby’s Big Break

Ruby’s Big Break\r\nRuby works for a local massage parlor, not the seedy pink lighted type, a real massage parlor that offers only massages. Coming from a humble countryside backgr...

Shanghai Story 1: Johnny Goes to Work

Johnny Goes to Work\r\nOutside, another grey day has broken through the night sky. The air is a particular shade of grey today tinged with yellow and resembles a mud puddle in the sk...

High Tech China on display at the Shanghai Science Museum: Ha ha ha!

During the just finished CNY holiday I thought I’d venture out into the city mysteriously void of 7 – 8 million people (they went home) to enjoy the peace and quiet that this a...

East meets West: Work Philosophy

And not just any East… The one where nothing seems to work very well for very long. The one with the crumbling decade ancient infrastructure is in sad need of repair. The one in ...

Is Pudong going to sink?

Well... it is actually. In fact all of Shanghai is sinking: About 2 meters in the last 100 years to be exact.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nJust less than one year ago the local news was abuzz with repor...

Welcoming the year of the Snake!

2013, as just about everyone knows, is the year of the snake. Some of you, I am sure, are familiar with the animals in the Chinese zodiac, and if you are not, you can click here. S...

China: Red Colonial Empire

I don’t want the title to mislead you. I’m not writing about China’s past under foreign occupation, although that does have some bearing on Modern day China. What I am talkin...

I\'m still here...

I am sure a few of my faithful following have been wondering what has happened to me? Well, the answer is, not much. I am still here. Unfortunately I have been side tracked by my o...

In search of Mark Kitto - Sinolicious.com

Journey to Moganshan\r\n\r\nThe Decision\r\nMy first encounter with Moganshan and Mark Kitto came about a few years ago when I was looking for places around Shanghai that could provi...

Chinese Characteristics (中国特色) Pt. 1

“Can 21st Century Chinese Survive (with) them?”\r\nAnyone who has ever had the misfortune of reading a Chinese news paper, or god forbid listening to a Chinese politician drone ...

Warning! Chinese Drivers (Sinolicious.com)

\r\n\r\nI am going to miss living here when I move. No, I’m not leaving China, in fact I’m not moving very far at all, about one block down the street. What I will miss is the inte...

Election Time in China… a US one anyway

\r\n\r\nChina’s fearless leaders have been proclaiming the arrival of China on the world stage since 2008. The Beijing Olympics was China’s grand moment; an orgy of self congratula...

Encounters with Chinese Healthcare: IV Purgatory (Sinolicious.com)

Intravenous therapy, for anyone ever to have the misfortune of getting ill in China, is an all too common method of treating even something as simple as a common cold here. Still, ...

LaoShan for the Holidays: Day 2

*Click here for Day 1\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_977\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1152\"] Mount Lao: Our #1 destination on Day 2.[/caption]\r\n\r\nHaving had a terrible night’s sleep, ...

LaoShan for the Holidays: Day 1

Usually on Chinese national holidays, I stay comfortably put in Shanghai and do not travel anywhere. The two major reasons for this are, Shanghai sheds itself of about 8 million pe...

Holidays, Work, and other things...

It\'s a busy time for me in China these days. I just got back from a week long holiday to QingDao. I\'ll be posting a blog about my LaoShan experience in the next day or two. Also wo...

Long Road to China: Part 1 \"Awakening\"

Growing up, I never thought, nor even imagined that I’d someday be living in China and in a metropolis such as Shanghai. China was a far off place that was on the other side of t...

Hacker Attack!

New Update \r\n\r\nMy site has been up and down the pat 30 hours or so. A Google analytics widget was hacked and it proved to be quite an interesting thing to hunt down. I got rid f i...

Idiots in the Streets:

China\'s week of Racist Protest\r\n\r\nThe Protests\r\nYes a lot of Chinese, mostly those in their early 30’s and 20’s who have had a full dose of Patriotic (hate Filled) Education ha...

Pets in China

[caption id=\"attachment_801\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"624\"] Frank Langfitt/NPRA volunteer feeds one of the dogs rescued from slaughter last December in a stand-off between animal...

China’s safe, right?

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAs with most things in life, it depends on how you define the terms, in this case “safe”. Pretty much any Chinese main-lander you talk to, both at home and abro...

China’s Economy: Is it as good as everyone thinks?

[caption id=\"attachment_729\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1152\"] Home Sweet Home in Shanghai. Not quite the image of the city\'s inhabitants/homes/development you are used to seeing....

Chinese: Lazy or Hardworking? It’s hard to tell.

[caption id=\"attachment_664\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"] A typical scene in many Chinese businesses in the afternoon.[/caption]\r\n\r\nA number of years ago during my first stays in...

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Lessons in business from Shanghai\'s past.

Wise words from Shanghai’s past: “Letters of a Shanghai Griffin”\r\nI am amazed and amused to find that although over 100 years has passed since they were first published in 19...

China’s True Face: Fascism

Although the ruling dictators still hold to their “Communist” name, in reality they and China are anything but. Who they really are is Fascists and China is the world’s most ...

China View: From the Land of the Rising Sun (Part 3)

\r\nMount Fuji!\r\nThe day had finally come; I was going to climb Mt Fuji. I was climbing with a friend and we had both had a fitful sleep in a large katami matted room designed to hol...

China View: From the Land of the Rising Sun (Part 2)

After my short stint in the Nagoya region I made my way north to Fuji city. Fuji city is a small city near Mt. Fuji, of course, and it was there that I went to meet an old friend o...

China View: From the Land of the Rising Sun (Part 1)

\r\n\r\nMy yearly pilgrimage to Japan is over for another year. I am sad and glad at the same time to be back in Shanghai. I’m happy that I got to have a brief eleven day dose of civ...

Off to “EVIL”Japan ;o)

Well, no, not really, not really evil that is. Japan is great actually, peaceful, safe, and developed. Basically the opposite of China in many regards. Don’t get me wrong, I do l...

China: One of the Unhappiest Places on Earth... How come?

\r\n\r\nRecently I came across the UN’s “World Happiness Report” and I was surprised to learn that China ranked a measly 112th out of 156 polled countries. My first reaction was,...

Will China Ever Develop?

What is “development” and where does it come from?\r\n\r\nI’m currently reading “Civilization: the West and the Rest” by Niall Ferguson in an attempt to answer the stated que...

My China Signs Collection!

\r\n\r\nChinese translation of signs can be funny :D\r\n\r\nI\'ve created an album here to showcase some I\'ve photographed. Enjoy!...

Is The Great Wall of China real? Not really.

[caption id=\"attachment_530\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"] This is the Great Wall people imagine. It is true this and walls like it were built by the Ming, but most of what you se...

Buying a bike in China? It ain’t as easy as you think…

I’m on the hunt for a new freeride full suspension bike. After watching Red Bull Rampage 2010 a few weeks ago, I got bit by the freeriding bug again, and started wishing I had br...

Zhou Yan: A Victim of China

Zhou Yan: A Victim of China\r\n\r\nI originally published this blog days after the shocking story of Zhou Yan hit the news. At the end of my previous blog on Chinese Parenting I mentio...

Chinese Parenting

Although I’m neither Chinese nor a parent, I have had many opportunities to observe Chinese parenting during my time in China. The one child policy and the adaptation of Western ...

Post Traumatic China Disorder (PTCD)

Post Traumatic China Disorder or PTCD as it is uncommonly known is not a real disorder, I just made it up, but it is real enough nonetheless. Living here for years, I see it all th...

Escape from Shanghai Part 3: Gulangyu Island (Xiamen)

Part 1, Part 2\r\n\r\nAt the end of our second day in Xiamen we went to Gulangyu Island 5 minutes by ferry from the city of Xiamen. Only about 20,000 people live on this picturesque I...

The internet in China revisited. I wrote a blog a few weeks ago about my trials in trying to sign-up for a domain and server service and other problems with blocked sites in China...

Shanghai Lesbians (lala拉拉)

Shanghai seems to have quite a vibrant Lesbian (lala) Scene. I am no expert, but having lived on Canada’s progressive West Coast for many years, I find lesbianism to be quite a b...

The Best Place to work in China is… at Home!

Regardless of where one resides on the planet, probably the best place to work is at home, and nowhere is that more true, or rare, than in China. So I feel extremely lucky to work ...

The South China Sea: China\'s Flaccid Claim

For the past few years, china’s government has become increasingly belligerent in regards to the ocean waters to its South.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_373\" align=\"aligncenter\" wi...

Growing up in Shanghai; I wonder what it’s like?

Like the vast majority of foreigners, I did not grow up in China, but I have met those who have believe it or not. Since I didn’t grow up here, I’ve often wondered what it’d ...

Chinese are Liars

The Chinese are liars, it’s true. Any Chinese person will readily, if not proudly, admit to it. Whether you can trust this is up to you.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nIn Chinese culture, lying isn’t ...

Five Facts about Living in Shanghai

ONE) A lot of people in Shanghai can’t speak Chinese, and by Chinese, I mean Mandarin. Hard to believe since almost everyone here is Chinese, but a fact nonetheless. People who a...

Family Planning in China: It ain\'t what you think...

Family planning in China is, believe it or not, something families don’t do. In fact they are not allowed to do it. China has what is known as the “National Population and Fami...

Escape from Shanghai Part 2: Xiamen

Part 3, Part 1\r\n\r\nFinally we were in Xiamen, although 7 hours behind schedule thanks to China Eastern. We went outside and quickly found a taxi to take us into the city. Driving a...

Chinese Orwellian News: Guns!!!!

Believe it or not, China has a gun problem. It doesn’t have a poverty problem, air pollution problem, or any other type of problem, it just has a gun problem, well according to t...

Escape from Shanghai Part 1: My Flight to Xiamen

Part 2, Part 3\r\n\r\nPeriodically I get the urge to be somewhere other than Shanghai. Often this takes the form of overseas travel to Korea or Japan, but surprisingly, one does not h...

From Behind Enemy Lines: The Internet in China

\r\n\r\nEvery now and then a news story about the repression of freedom of online information access, internet censorship, in China breaks the news in the West. Recently it was Google ...

A Chinese Starbucks Experience

I’ve been in China for three years. Often I think I’ve seen it all, or more accurately, seen, smelled, and heard it all, but where Chinese behviour is concerned, it seems China...

China\'s Rich Poor Divide: It\'s getting ugly out there!

I\'ve read \"Poorly Made in China\" (a book I recommend to business and non-business people alike), and although everything in it was valuable to understanding China and its culture, ...

Chengguan: China\'s Bullies

[caption id=\"attachment_407\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"598\"] A recent photo of Nanjing ‘Chengguan’ Stepping on Street Vendor.[/caption]\r\n\r\nEver heard of the Chengguan 城管 t...

China\'s Abandoned Development

[caption id=\"attachment_50\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"720\"] Just one of many abandoned developments in Shanghai.[/caption]\r\n\r\nFor three days I\'ve traveled to some of Shanghai\'s ab...

Shanghai FoxTown Shopping

Have you been to FoxTown? If you haven’t, then don’t bother. If you have, I feel your pain.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_47\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"490\"] FoxTown on opening d...

Getting to work in the Old Days... Shanghai 2001!

I’ve written this blog to relate my experiences of my daily commute in 2001.\r\n\r\nThen, as I do now, I lived in SongJiang. In the old town of course as the new one and university t...

I was a VIP... at the Hospital!

Deathly sick. I\'ve been deathly sick for days. So yesterday I went to a local hospital, one with a VIP section. What a difference paying 10 times the normal fees makes!\r\n\r\nLiving i...

I Love China! Why...?

Believe it or not, I love China. Always have… Well that’s not true, I’ve only loved it since 2001 when I came here for the first time. I am now here for the 3rd time.\r\n\r\nSom...