The big news in China the past couple weeks has been about Western fast food chains (McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut) underpaying their staff in China – particularly the part-timers. The issue was sparked by accusations from China’s top trade union that McDonald’s was underpaying their employees (Reuters/China Daily), in some places by almost half, [...]
Chinese Politics & News Posts
Bullet To The Head
I’m not a timid man. Generally speaking I don’t get overtly nervous in most situations. However, any time I see the financial protection services folk, clad in their somewhat comical blue combats, and armed with a tube of a gun, I get shaky. These guys, whose job it is to protect transfers of money between [...]
On Thrifty China: The Yale Professor versus Me
I was just reading Yale Professor Robert Schiller’s article Thrifty China, Spendthrift America, which explains the apparent discrepancy of the saving rate in America versus what’s occuring in China. While I cannot provide as indepth an economic analysis as the learned professor has made, I would like to touch upon some of the points he [...]
What if the Chinese ruled the world?
I think it is a fairly common phenomenon in China for foreigners to get angry and make snide remarks when we hear the government make comments about how they will have a peaceful rise to world power or how they will be number one by 2050. I must admit something in me shutters when I [...]
Shanghai stocks stumble, US markets quiver
China’s economy got off to a shaky lunar new year with Tuesday’s stock market plunge in Shanghai, which saw a fall of 9%, which then triggered the worst trading day in the US since 9/11. Although yesterday’s (Wednesday) activity saw ‘Shanghai A shares’ gain some of their previously lost value (as well as the important [...]
After the Quake…
Reflections on a month spent wandering the Chinese Internet: China was hit hard about a month ago by the big Boxing Day earthquake in Taiwan, which knocked out or hindered access to most foreign websites from behind the great wall. As one Chinese acquaintance of mine put it “This is really a big inconvenience for [...]
Coffee Talk: Rui Chenggang
A couple days ago Danwei and Imagethief both had good posts that gave a couple varying opinions on the recent increase in attention to the Starbucks in the Forbidden City. The issue has been recently stirred up by CCTV anchorman Rui Chenggang and his call for Starbucks to get out and stay out of one [...]
The Grey Matter of Snake Heads
I recently caught this article in my CBC news feed and it got me thinking about what the Chinese call “snake heads“. They are so named for ‘leading/heading’ groups of “rénshé” into other countries. Rénshé is the slang for those Chinese that slither across borders into other countries illegally. Poetic language, Chinese is. Snake heads [...]
The Beating Of A Chinese Bus Driver
Now, I’ve said my share of curses towards the lead footed (both gas and break) drivers of the over-stuffed death-traps that are China’s transit system, but man … some days it just doesn’t pay to ask for correct change… Basically, the story goes… two dudes and their tight-panted tag-along get on a bus in Wuhan [...]
