Monthly Archives: September 2009
National Day photo exhibition
To mark 60 years of the People’s Republic of China the Shanghai Exhibition Center is showing off some of the nation’s triumphs in photo form. We accidentally came across the show while taking a shortcut though the exhibition centre grounds – many locals were lining up to get in which is usually a tell-tale sign [...]
Where to buy musical instruments in Shanghai
One of the great joys of being a consumer in Shanghai are the areas dedicated to certain goods. There are tech malls, bathroom fittings malls, camera malls, fabric malls, fake stuff malls, and so on. For the musically minded Shanghai doesn’t disappoint either. There are a few music streets and areas but one of the [...]
Posted in How-to, Music 5 Comments
Chinglish vs lazy English
Chinglish, the butt of many expat bloggers in China. It’s all good and well to have a good old ‘tee hee he’ about Chinese words transmogrified into English but have you looked in your own country’s backyard lately? Well I did recently and came across this doozy. Seriously, whoever wrote, approved, painted, and then hung [...]
Australian musical finds on YouKu
Today’s post doesn’t really have much to do about living in Shanghai but rather some music available on Chinese video site, YouKu.com, which I’m surprised to see. I’m not much for flag-waving about where a band is from but if you are looking for something a bit different here are some Australian bands which are [...]
The Expat-only show
While out and about on Saturday we dropped into the Expat Show which was on all last weekend in Shanghai. What we didn’t know was that it was an expat-only affair – only some Chinese allowed. The very idea of an expat show seems to suggest someone wants to sell their wares at a premium [...]
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Shanghai tip: Don’t show fear to the monkey
Ahh Friday’s. What would they be without a good monkey story? About a month ago I was sipping, as elegantly as one can at 10pm, on a margarita at Cantina Agave on Fumin Lu (which is the best Mexican in town by the way) when a monkey came up on the bench and started begging. [...]
Posted in Drink, Food, Odd, Travel 4 Comments
Before complaining about your frothy latte
One of the things that I always get embarrassed by in Shanghai is the snotty, whingey, annoying expats who act like pretentious tossers because “things aren’t that way back home”. Just the other week I was in a restaurant where a chino-clad, high-panted, middle-aged guy was yelling so much at the staff that his face [...]
Posted in People 2 Comments
Should Windows 7 be free in China?
Should Microsoft wait for software piracy to be policed or should the company look for new avenues of revenue during the lifecycle of Windows 7 in China? Last week I penned an editorial piece for ZDNet Australia with the argument on why Microsoft should give their next operating system, Windows 7, away for free in [...]
Happy National Day, China