Long road ahead for emissions

2010-03-15 11:09:00

Expatriates who have lived in Beijing for a long time have recently been squinting with disbelief when looking at the sky.

There is no smoke without fire

2010-03-12 10:31:21

Our flat mate is finally in love. On Tuesday he invited us all to meet his girlfriend. At the beginning of the dinner, my boyfriend passed our flat mate a cigarette. He refused it and his girlfriend explained he didn't smoke.

Diversifying the drinking culture

2010-03-12 10:26:59

Chinese drinking culture consistently makes the news, whether it's deep interest from the Western observer or chastisement from a native viewpoint, it's certainly forever appealing to discussion.

Immigration frustration

2010-03-12 09:49:41

Immigration problems have plagued me all my life. Yet, I never gave serious thought to "upgrading" my passport. Last year, a foreign journalist in Beijing interviewed me about my passport for a story she was writing about Chinese citizens swapping their nationality for easier international travel or better education and work opportunities overseas.

Raise the red flag on package tours

2010-03-11 11:51:07

It is a common scene at the capital's attractions: tour guides waving small flags, followed by a gaggle of tourists donning color-coded baseball caps. The tourists cluster around the guide, listen to monotone introductions and posing with the peace sign gesture for photographs with the sites as a backdrop.

Transformation of capital changes lives on two levels

2010-03-11 11:40:46

All major cities are composed of complex ecosystems of human existence. Layers of life and survival, hope and sadness, and intertwined social strata mix and mingle in unexpected ways.

Too many worries to count

2010-03-11 10:57:26

I sat and stared at the screen of my laptop, just killing some time before I had to go out for dinner. As I was browsing through the news, one story caught my attention. "Beijing's population exceeds 22 million," the headline read.

Families with bad health need help

2010-03-10 11:06:55

Shao Shuai, a 12-year-old boy from Jiangsu province, is the most impressive person I've talked to recently.

Bins, education will clean capital

2010-03-10 11:28:22

On Waste a terrible thing to mind

Are you ready to be the slave of raising children?

2010-03-09 11:00:22

Recently, some young parents have started to list the cost of raising a child on the Internet.

Combating corruption online

2010-03-09 10:16:49

Whenever I did something bad as a child, if it was found out I could be sure that I would be admonished and punished.

Seniors dance the night away

2010-03-09 09:33:34

The strains of music fill the night air outside Shuangjing subway station. It's a weekday evening and retirement-age couples are gracefully dancing in what appears to be ballroom style.