2012-01-16"My homebound journey is going to be a pleasant one this year," said Wu Shu, a Beijing office worker who secured a ticket via the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed line to travel home for the upcoming Spring Festival.
2012-01-06Despite its sprawl, Beijing is surprisingly walkable, at least within the 3rd Ring Road. City planners will have to work hard not just to preserve, but further enhance the capital's walkability.
2011-12-31Fed up with traffic jams? Feeling stressed and tired? Maybe it's time to put your foot down, literally.
2011-12-30Edinburgh's engagement with Beijing, spanning educational and economic links, pays off.
2011-12-28By any measure, Beijing’s Subway system is an impressive feat of engineering, with its 14 lines, 172 stations and 336 kms of track in operation.
2011-12-28Spring Festival will arrive as early as Jan 23 in 2012. I'm wondering where I will spend it.
2011-12-28Spring Festival will arrive as early as Jan 23 in 2012. I'm wondering where I will spend it.
2011-12-27Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a fan of visiting hospitals or going to funerals. But going to see 11-year-old Yuanyuan recently at a Beijing hospital was a must for me.
2011-12-27As a kid, I had lots of toys on my wish list for Santa. But like many Chinese parents, they stuck to what they thought would be most beneficial to my development. Once, I received a Mickey Mouse bubblegum machine filled with red, white and blue gumballs. It required a penny to play it, thus teaching me early in life the meaning of the term "user-pay".
2011-12-25His beard is iconic, his red robe and green pants are symbolic, his jovial laugh is titanic, he is the one and only Father Christmas, Santa Claus and he is making his presence felt in Beijing. Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicolas, Kris Kringle, or just simply Santa, touched down in Beijing decked out in his Christmas best at the Finnish Ambassador's residence on Tuesday as part of a tour across China before his big night, Christmas Eve. Presented to a crowd of media by the Finnish ambassador Lars Backstrom at the ambassador's residence, Santa Claus says he is delighted to be in Beijing.
2011-12-25When Loretta Evans arrived at Suzhou's Soochow University in 2005 to teach computer engineering and software, she was the first foreign instructor ever recruited to teach anything but English.
2011-12-25On a cold December night in Beijing, crowds gather at the Hilton Hotel lobby, eager to listen to a choir gathering on stage. There is the smell of ginger and spice and mulled wine mixed with the aroma of warm pine. For an instant, this could be anywhere but China.
2011-12-25On a cold December night in Beijing, crowds gather at the Hilton Hotel lobby, eager to listen to a choir gathering on stage. There is the smell of ginger and spice and mulled wine mixed with the aroma of warm pine. For an instant, this could be anywhere but China.
2011-12-23I remember in the mid-1990s, my Chinese colleagues would leave the office on Dec 24 earlier than normal with a "Merry Xmas, Lisa!", while I used to work till 8 pm to be able to enjoy a day off on Christmas. They used to leave early to celebrate Christmas Eve in a big hotel, with a banquet, dance and all the other trappings.
2011-12-20Exclusive column