Expats leaving China at twice the number of those arriving
– According to a recently released study, expatriates in China are leaving at a rate much higher than they’re being replaced. Read More »
Daily visitor limit, megaphone ban for Beijing Palace Museum
– Beijing’s Palace Museum, better known as the Forbidden City, has proposed a crowd-control plan that will see daily limits for visitors set at 80,000. The plan, announced Tuesday, is awaiting approval from the appropriate authorities. Read More »
How to clear customs ordering from Amazon.com in China
– As mentioned back in November, Amazon.com is now offering expanded speedy shipping from select international Amazon locations to China — including the US. One area that can prove to be a bit complicated is assuring the package clears customs. What follows is a detailed guide to walk you through the process. Read More »
Foreigner catches, beats thief on busy Xi’an bus
– On the afternoon of January 19, a foreign man thwarted a robbery on a busy Xi’an bus — catching and beating his would-be thief before debarking. Read More »
Beijing-Moscow in 48 hours via new high-speed railway
– China has announced it has acquired a Russian contract to build a high-speed Beijing-Moscow railway, which will cut travel time down to just 48 hours. Read More »
Great Firewall upgrade killing some VPN services
– A recent upgrade to China’s Internet censorship apparatus has VPN users in China scrambling to find new ways around the country’s Great Firewall. Read More »
Update: “Uncle Ray” Wigdal speaks to media in interview with CCTV
– The story of Ray Wigdal and his eleven foster children has finally received some clarification directly from Wigdal himself. The American, and long time Beijing expat, gave a phone interview with CCTV-13’s News 1+1 program, offering insight and explanation to much of the story that started when one of the children he cared for ended up in hospital. Read More »
New train ticketing rules, new high-speed routes to start pre-CNY
– It might seem a bit early to start thinking about Spring Festival, as it’s still more than 2 months away, but new train ticket purchasing rules and high speed lines mean that you’ll need to get your tickets bought earlier than ever. Read More »
Update: Abandoned child dies in hospital, foreign foster father still missing
– A tragic update to the post from last week. The Chinese news outlet that first broke the story has reported that Phoebe, the 8-year-old girl in hospital, died last night due to her injuries that doctors say were caused by external trauma. Read More »
One year on, Suzhou expat’s widow still searching for answers
– It was a year ago today that British-born Suzhou expat Neil Mason died under mysterious circumstances while on a business retreat. Murder is not suspected, but a year of frustratingly few answers now has Mason’s widow speaking out about the tragedy. Read More »
New US-China policy announced for extended tourist/business visa validity
– On November 10, during the 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing, President Barack Obama announced that the US and China have agreed to a new, reciprocal 10-year visa policy for tourist and business visas. Read More »
Mark Zuckerberg Delivers Tsinghua Q&A in Chinese
– This past Wednesday Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg delivered his “first ever public Q&A in Chinese” at Beijing’s Tsinghua University. Handled with humour and aplomb, Zuckerberg discussed, “connecting the world, Internet.org, innovation and the early days of Facebook.” According to his Facebook update, earlier in the week he joined the Tsinghua University School of Economics and … Read More »
