Global Village

Starbucks beans 'plain awful'

Finding the right ingredients to pursue a career of passion

Committed foodie Perri Dong has carved his niche from living at the cutting-edge of culinary culture. The classically trained chef left the United States in 2001, and is now a Shanghai-based food, wine and beverage consultant whose opinion is widely sought as the last word on the local gastronomical scene.

It's no laughing matter

Consider the following situation: A Chinese friend convinces you to address his motoring club and spin yarns about your wild adventures driving abroad. You have some great stories, and great pictures to go with them. "Don't worry about the language," your friend says. "I'll translate."

West not necessarily best for overseas degrees, says Mario

If Mario Ignacio Artaza sounds like a motivational speaker, it's probably because he's anxious to promote an attractive commodity: the country of Chile.

Life Pulse

My China debrief in 10 seconds or less

Since my friends and family can't visit China themselves, I try to bring China to them - at least, all of the country I can cram into two suitcases.

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Music

Search for the city's ghosts

One day in May 2005, 25-year-old Hangzhou native Chen Chu walked up to an abandoned building on Chaonei Dajie, Beijing. Built between 1912 and 1949, the three-story house stands like an isolated island in the surrounding mass of high-rise buildings. But what drew Chen to it were rumors that it is haunted - by the ghost of a warlord's concubine who hung herself to death there.

Life Pulse

Hang on, help is on its way

Years ago, a young man in his early 20s crawled along a 300-year-old bridge made of ivy rope that spanned a distance of 400 meters. Fifty meters below, huge foaming waves crashed upon the jagged cliffs of the mighty Yarlung Tsangbo Canyon in eastern Tibet Autonomous Region.

Thrill of being a fugitive - of sorts

They really were on a manhunt.

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