Taobao Opens its First Online Supermarket in Shanghai

Taobao opens its first online supermarket in Shanghai

Taobao, China’s largest online shopping website, has just launched its own online supermarket at chaoshi.taobao.com. Currently on trial in Shanghai, the service is expected to go live in Beijing, Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Guangzhou in the upcoming weeks.

Working with more than 200 merchants in the fast moving consumer goods industry such as Unilever, P&G, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nestle and Guangming, Taobao’s online supermarket will offer everything from coffee and biscuits and toiletries to utensils, home electronics and home textiles.

As with most products that you’ll find on Taobao, the pricing is extremely competitive. Delivery is free for purchases above RMB100 and there is a 24 hour delivery guarantee. Seriously, why make your way down to Carrefour when you can now log on and have stuff shipped to you the next day! Think of all the time, cab fares and frustration you’ll save yourself!

The online supermarket concept is not new. The web is littered with failed attempts to combine the convenience of Internet shopping with an old-fashioned grocery store deliver service. The fate of Taobao’s venture may hinge on how successfully the company can warehouse, manage and quickly distribute a diverse inventory of low-margin, high-volume products to thousands of customers. It remains to be seen if consumers will accept Taobao’s estimated 24-hour delivery time, especially for perishable food items. Taobao is “aiming to reduce delivery time to within 12 hours of order placement,” said Ma Xiaojun, the supermarket’s general manager. The company also plans to “increase capacity for evening deliveries in order to meet the lifestyle needs of Chinese consumers,” he said.

A wider selection of grocery items is also planned. “We are aiming to offer fresh (goods) such as seafood, fruits and vegetables after Chinese New Year,” he said. Taobao is currently in talks with additional partners to secure specialized warehouse and delivery capabilities needed to handle fresh produce.

China’s First Capsule Hotel To Open In Shanghai

Xitai Capsule Hotel - China's First Capsule Hotel To Open In Shanghai

China’s first capsule hotel will be opened in Shanghai to attract many budget travelers with low prices, perhaps in response to soaring local real estate prices. Indeed it’s a surprise someone didn’t think of this space- and price-maximizing option before.

The 300-square-metre Xitai Capsule Hotel, located on the north side of the Shanghai Railway Station, consists of 68 “capsules”, each 1.1-metres high, 1.1-metres wide and 2.2-metres long.

Shower facilities are communal

All of the capsules are imported from Japan where capsule hotels originated, and each is equipped with independent sockets, clocks, lights, flat-screen TV and wireless Internet service. The hotel also has a public lavatory, shower room, smoking room and shared guest room.

The basic rate is 28 yuan (US$4.22) per person, plus an additional 4 yuan an hour. The hotel also offers a package of 68 yuan for 10 hours and 88 yuan for 24 hours.

Like most of capsule hotels in Japan, the one in Shanghai is for men only.

Ta Zan, the 33-year-old owner of the hotel, said he used to stay at capsule hotels in Tokyo and worked at a capsule hotel in Japan in 2005, so he knows how they work and how to make guests feel comfortable. When he settled in Shanghai two years ago, he decided to establish his own capsule hotel in the city.

He has also separated the capsules into three snoring zones. “Guests who often snore can stay in the same zones so they will feel better knowing that others are not disturbed,” he was quoted as saying.

Although not cheap — some hostels in Shanghai available for RMB 60 per night — the convenient location for travelers and the novelty factor alone might keep people knocking.

Xitai Capsule Hotel 希泰胶囊旅馆

Address: 1036 Zhongshan Bei Lu, Shanghai  上海市闸北区中山北路1036号 

China plans marriage database to check cheats

China plans online marriage database to catch cheaters

China’s exploding wealth has created a culture of secret mistresses and second wives. Anyone who has ever wondered if their new beau was actually already married will certainly appreciate this. Thanks to a new marriage record database in China, suspicious lovers can now go online and investigate for themselves.

Beijing, Shanghai and Shaanxi are among the first places to put marriage records online this year, but state officials hope to have records for the entire country online by 2015.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs a few years ago said such a project would be operational by last year. Officials have not explained the delay, but not all areas have their databases ready yet. Ministry numbers show 23 of the country’s 22 provinces, four regions and four municipalities do.  Bigamy is illegal in China, but the lack of a national database has made bigamy possible.

One study of extramarital affairs in China, published in the U.S. in 2005, said 20 percent of 1,240 married men surveyed in urban China and 3.9 percent of 1,275 married women said they had had an affair in the past 12 months.

婚姻状况五年内全国联网 京沪陕试点电脑自动查重婚

防止婚姻骗局 中国将建跨省联网婚姻登记数据库

中国迅速增加的财富催生了秘密包养情妇和二奶的文化。如今, 政府准备将婚姻登记数据联网,以便情侣和配偶核实对方是不是骗子。

国家媒体今天说,北京，上海和陕西将成为首批联网婚姻登记数据库的地区。中国计划在2015年之前实现全国的婚姻登记数据全部联网。

民政部曾在几年前说过,会在2010年底之前开通运行这样的数据库,但官员没有解释推迟的原因,且并非所有地区都已经建立起婚姻登记数据库。民政部的数字显示,23个省份拥有省级联网婚姻登记数据库。

2005年在美国发表的一份有关中国婚外情状况的研究报告称,在被调查的1240名城镇已婚男性和1275名已婚女性中,分别有20%和3.9%的人说自己在过去12个月中有过婚外情。

Top Ten Buzzwords of 2010 in China

Gei li, Tuan gou, Miao sha, Wei bo, Shen ma dou shi fu yun ….do you know what these Chinese words mean?  These days, if you want to surf the internet unimpeded, then you have to first understand what these “internet buzzwords” mean. We list the top 10 hot Chinese words in 2010 and give a back look to this year’s events. The following catchwords and internet buzzwords of  2010 are not to be missed.

• 1. 神马都是浮云 [shénmǎ dōushì fúyún]

Shen Ma Dou Shi Fu Yun (not worth mentioning) - 神马都是浮云

Definition: Everything is meaningless, unimportant, illusory, fleeting, or not worth mentioning

“神马” [shen ma, literally "god horse", or a pegasus] is not actually a horse, but a pun of “什么” [shen ma, what]. “神马” is just like the “虾米” [xia mi, small dried shrimp] that was once popular on the internet, and has become the hottest buzzword at the moment. The meaning of “浮云” [fu yun, passing clouds] is similar to being an illusion, fleeting, “not worth mentioning”.

It became popular due to the “Xiao Yue Yue” incident that became popular all over the internet during the 2010 National Day Holiday period. In a post titled “I thank this obnoxious friend for bringing me such a dismal National Day Holiday”, “Xiao Yue Yue” was born, her strange words and deeds stupefying all living things, leading to netizens connecting “shen ma” and “fu yun” together, giving birth to phrases such as: “No words can describe her, they are all too dull/boring, shen ma [what] internet uninhibited woman, fu yun [not worth mentioning]! All fu yun [not worth mentioning]!” What makes “shen ma” and “fu yun” magical is that when when these two words are combined together, they can uis that when these two words are combined, it becomes multi-purpose, applicable to all situations.

As a result, “神马都是浮云” [shen me dou shi fu yun] also became one of 2010′s most popular internet catchphrases. According to a 2010 December 8th “Southern Metropolis Daily” report, in a vote between “神马都是浮云”, “最给力”, and others, “神马都是浮云” was the most popular,  its “rate of usage” reaching 66.7%. “给力”, which originated from comedy manga, had a 63.2% “rate of usage” and had to settle for second place.

• 2. 给力 [gěi lì]

Gei Li (giving power) - 给力

Definition: “cool,” “awesome” or “exciting.” Literally, “giving power.”

A Chinese neologism, “给力” is pronounced “gěi lì”.  “geili,” which means, “cool,” “awesome” or “exciting,” had been granted the “official seal of approval” by appearing in The People’s Daily. “Geili” is created from two Chinese characters “gei” and “li.” Literally, it means “giving power,” but is now widely accepted as an adjective describing something that’s “cool.”

A test of a Chinese jargon word’s trendiness is if users translate it into a foreign language, according to its pronunciation. “Geili” has been transformed into the English-sounding “gelivable,” and “ungelivable,” and the French “très guélile.”

But it was the word’s antonym “bugeili” – meaning dull or boring – that first grabbed wider public attention after it appeared online in May in an episode of a Chinese-dubbed Japanese comic animation “Journey to the West: The End of the Journey” [Saiyuki?]: “This is India? It does not gei li, teacher.”

• 3. 团购 [tuángòu]

Tuan Gou (Group Buy) - 团购

Definition: Group buy or group purchasing

On 2010 November 2nd, the country’s National Development and Reform Commission publicly released the results of their October urban food retail price monitoring. Amongst the 31 products it monitored, nearly 80% of the product prices had increased. At the same time as people cut costs, they also discover new ways to do things.

If you search the keyword “Group Buy” in Chinese, you’ll find more than 100 million results. Industry observers say there are nearly one thousand websites organizing group purchases in China. The annual turnover is estimated at a minimum of one billion Yuan.

It all started when American website Groupon went online in November 2008 and soon became a commercial success. Groupon can achieve a gross profit ration of 10 percent. That’s quite high. The business model is no doubt very lucrative. That’s why many Chinese companies followed. The Chinese clones of the site, called 团购网 (tuangou wang), are quickly becoming some of the most popular online shopping platforms in China.

FYI: If you are curious, and because it is not actually one of the top 10 buzzwords in the list, 秒杀 [miao sha/seckill/instant kill] is like “instant buy” or “flash buy”, something that is for sale at a cheap price but only for a very limited time or only a certain number are available. The KFC coupon controversy earlier this year was an example. On the internet, Taobao (similar to eBay) is a place where you can see a lot of miao sha. “Seckill” is the most popular online shopping method at present.

• 4. 微博 （围脖）[wēi bó] – microblog

Sina Weibo (Microblogging) - 新浪微博

“微博” [wei bo], short for 微博客 [wei bo ke] (microblog), is a platform for sharing, disseminating, and accessing user information. Users can go through the WEB, WAP, as well as various client software, updating information of up to around 140 characters, and immediately share it. The earliest and most well-known microblog is the American Twitter which, according to relevant publicized data, as of 2010 January, already has 75 million registered users around the world. In 2009 August, with China’s largest portal website Sina releasing “Sina Weibo”  in private beta, it became the first portal website to provide microblogging service, and microblogging officially entered the mainstream Chinese-language internet population’s consciousness.

• 5. 我爸是李刚 [wǒ bà shì lǐ gāng]

Wo ba shi li gang - My father is Li Gang - 我爸是李刚

On the night of 2010 October 16th, while drunk driving, Li Qiming caused one death and one injury within the Hebei University campus. After being stopped by other people, he shouted, “My dad is Li Gang” (Li Gang is the deputy chief of a public security bureau in Baoding City).

The Li Gang Case is the sort of gripping socio-drama — a commoner grievously wronged; a privileged transgressor pulling strings to escape punishment. Increasingly, that grievance focuses on what Chinese mockingly call the 富二代[Fu er dai] — the “second generation,” children of the super-rich. The first Rich generation are the group who became rich after Chinese Reform and Opening Up policy through running private business. Most of their children were born in the 80s of 20th century with excellent living conditions, good education and has extensive community resources.

A month after the accident, much of China knows the story, and “My father is Li Gang” has become a bitter inside joke, a catchphrase for shirking any responsibility — washing the dishes, being faithful to a girlfriend — with impunity.

On Oct. 20, a female blogger in northern China nicknamed Piggy Feet Beta announced a contest to incorporate the phrase “Li Gang is my father” into classical Chinese poetry. Six thousand applicants replied, including  “No need to panic after any crime, because my father is Li Gang,” and “I never pay my telephone bills because my father is Li Gang.”

• 6. 金庸 “被辞世” [Jīn Yōng "bèi císhì"]

Bei Ci Shi (declared to be passed away by someone) - 被辞世

Definition: “to be passed away”, literally by someone else.

One way to understand 被辞世 [Bei Ci Shi] is that someone declared you to have passed away when you have not actually passed away.

Louis Cha (simplified Chinese: 查良镛; traditional Chinese: 查良鏞), better known by his pen name Jin Yong (Chinese: 金庸), is a modern Chinese-language novelist. Cha’s fiction, which is of the Wuxia (武侠， martial arts and chivalry) genre, has a widespread following in Chinese-speaking areas.

On the night of December 6th, a “Jin Yong has passed away” rumor spread wildly on microblogs. “Jin Yong, born 1924 March 22, passed away at 19:07 on 2010 December 6th at Hong Kong Tsim Sha Tsui Saint Maria Hospital as a result of encephalitis and callus edema.” Around 8pm on the evening of December 6th, this piece of information exploded on the microblogs, some swearing it was true, some questioning if it was fake news, some demanding evidence. All of a sudden, whether Master Jin was alive or dead became uncertain. Within a short half hour, this microblog message had been reposted by thousands of netizens. While everyone was seeking the authenticity of the information, there were also netizens who had begun to eulogize and grieve over Master Jin Yong and his contributions to the wuxia [martial arts] genre for a generation.

• 7. 非常艰难的决定 [fēicháng jiānnán de juédìng]

Feichang Jiannan de jueding - extremely difficult decision - 非常艰难的决定

Definition: extremely difficult decision.

A fierce battle over alleged unfair business practices in November exploded between Tencent, operator of the popular instant-messaging software QQ, and Qihoo 360, China’s biggest antivirus service provider. What was originally just two companies fighting for their own self-interests, as a result of both sides having huge amounts of users, in the end it evolved into an internet “farce”.

非常艰难的决定 [fēicháng jiānnán de juédìng] means “extremely difficult decision”. It originated from a public letter that Tencent QQ sent its users telling them that they will not be able to use their QQ instant messenger service as long as they have 360 software installed on their computer. Tencent said “Dear QQ users, this email is to inform you that we’ve just made a very difficult decision. Until Qihoo 360 removes the tag-on service and malicious slander against QQ software, we have decided to stop running QQ software on computers that have installed the 360 software. We are fully aware of the inconvenience this may cause you, and we sincerely apologize for it.”  At that point, no one believed QQ’s sincerity and it became a joke.

• 8. 羡慕嫉妒恨 [xiànmù jídù hèn]

Xianmu jidu hen - envious jealous hateful - 羡慕嫉妒恨

Definition: envious jealous hateful

“羡慕嫉妒恨” [xian mu ji du hen, literally "envious jealous hateful"], one phrase five characters, rich with connotations.

The first time the media widely quoted “xian my ji du hen” was in 2009: In less than 3 days, Zhang Yimou‘s Chinese New Year’s comedy “三枪拍案惊奇” ["A Simple Noodle Story"] had mad nearly 70 million [RMB] in box office receipts with scenes of people waiting in line to buy tickets appearing in many places. However, at the same time, this movie had been viciously criticized, saying it was low class, like an er ren zhuan, like a short sketch, not like a movie, that the art style was out-of-date, that it completely relied upon slapstick humor to get laughs, saying “the two Zhangs” [director Zhang Yimou and producer Zhang Weiping] used the simplest scenes and the cheapest actors to “steal money”…and this wasn’t the first time. On 2009 December 13th, Zhang Weiping responded by saying that many people in the movie industry are only 5 characters: “xian mu ji du hen” [they are critical only because they are envious, jealous, and hateful].

• 9. 羊羔体 [yánggāo tǐ]

Yanggao ti - lamb style - 羊羔体

Definition: lamb style

Lamb Style refers to a controversial poem “Xu Fan” which won the Lu Xun Prize for Poetry 2010. The verse, which according to online critics lacks both rhyme and meter, was coincidentally written by a senior party official called Che Yangao. The buzzword itself is a pun/play on Che Yanggao’s name. It originated from a short message posted on Sina Weibo that asked “‘梨花体’后’羊羔体’?” which roughly means “first ‘lihua ti‘ then ‘yanggao ti‘? 梨花体 refers to a Zhao Lihua, a woman whose poetry is also widely criticized. The name of the poet “Yangao” sounds rather like the word “Yanggao” for lamb in Chinese.

• 10. 闹太套 [nào tài tào]

Nao tai tao - not at all - 闹太套

Definition: not at all

Huang Xiaoming (simplified Chinese: 黄晓明) is a Chinese actor, model, and singer. He is most well-known for playing the lead character “Yang Guo” in the successful 2006 TV series The Return of the Condor Heroes.

It is said that “闹太套” [nao tai tao, "not at all"] is actually old. In 2008, when Huang Xiaoming performed the Olympic song “One Word One Dream”, the pronunciation of one of the lyrics “not at all” was just like the Chinese words “nao tai tao” and spread widely.

FYI:

China’s top 10 Internet catchphrases and buzzwords of 2009

1. Money’s not a big deal. (or Money’s not a problem. Money’s nothing.)(不差钱)
2. What I’m eating is not noodles, but solitude.(哥吃的不是面，是寂寞)
3. Don’t be infatuated with me. I’m only a legend. (不要迷恋哥，哥只是一个传说)
4. Jia Junpeng, mom wants you back home for dinner.(贾君鹏,你妈妈喊你回家吃饭)
5. Tableware is to the table what tragedy is to life.(人生就像茶几，上面摆满了杯具)
6. I’ll pay the debt of gratitude by selling myself. (人情债,我肉偿了)
7. Lazy the Sheep is what we want to be. Big Big Wolf is the perfect husband.(做人要做懒羊羊，嫁人就嫁灰太狼)
8. Believe in Bro Chun, you’ll live a long life; believe in Big Zeng, you’ll pass every exam.(信春哥，得永生；信曾哥，不挂科)
9. When a verb acts passive aggressive (被就业，被加薪，被自杀…)
10. This cannot be told in details.(这事儿不能说太细)

7 Technologies where China leads the world

China sets another speed record as CRH380 train breaks 300 mph

China’s been breaking records lately.

A Chinese high-speed train set a new world record for fastest unmodified commercial train during a trial run, hitting 302 miles an hour (486.1 kilometers per hour), on the Beijing-Shanghai line on Dec 3, 2010. The record – established by a 16-car bullet train CRH380A designed by China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Corp – surpassed the previous record, set three months ago, by a train on the Shanghai-Hangzhou line, which reached a speed of 259 miles an hour.

Last month China’s Tianhe-1A, developed by Chinese defense researchers, became the world’s fastest supercomputer, with a performance level of 2.57 petaflop/s (quadrillions of calculations per second), substantially eclipsing the U.S. DOE’s Cray XT5 “Jaguar” system at Oak Ridge national labs in Tennessee, which runs at 1.75 petaflop/s. Third place is also held by a Chinese computer.

The following seven technologies — mostly in the areas of power generation and  transportation — where China is leading the world:

• High-Speed Rail. In the span of six years, China has gone from importing this technology to exporting it, with the world’s fastest train and the world’s largest high-speed rail network, which will become larger than the rest of the world combined by the end of the decade. China is reportedly in the process of developing a super high-speed train that can run at 373 mph (600 kph). With nearly 5,000 high-speed rail miles in operation, China already has the world’s longest high-speed rail network.  It’s aiming to have 10,000 miles by 2020.  Some short distance plane routes have already been canceled, and train travel from Beijing to Shanghai (roughly equivalent to New York to Chicago) has been cut from 11 hours to 4 hours.

Compare that to Western Europe.  In the lead is Spain, but it has just over 1,250 miles of rail track dedicated for trains running at speeds of up to 186 mph. Spain started service on its first high-speed train in April 1992. Today, it has a network of efficient trains crossing the nation. The Alta Velocidad Espanola or AVE has its own dedicated track system and is capable of traveling 186 mph. Delays are almost unheard of on the train line. For instance, on the Madrid to Seville line, arrival is guaranteed within five minutes of the scheduled time or passengers get a full refund.

The French TGV (Train Grande Vitesse) is the world’s fastest conventional train. In April 2007, the TGV broke its own 1990 record with a speed of 357 mph during a test. It also holds the record for the fastest scheduled service, averaging 173 mph during the entire station-to-station journey.

Germany prides itself on having a fast, efficient rail system that goes as far as Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands. The Inter City Express (ICE) trains of Deutsche Bahn travel at 205 mph and can reach speeds of 226 mph. At many stations, cross-platform connections are available, so there are no stairs or long walks to make your trip.

The opening of the Channel Tunnel, or Chunnel, in 1994 finally connected Great Britain with mainland Europe. High-speed Eurostar trains made the journey from London to Paris or Brussels fast and competitive with air travel.

Japan led the world with bullet trains or the “shinkansen“, introducing the first in 1964 connecting Tokyo and Osaka in four hours. The future of high-speed rails may rest with Maglev trains. Central Japan Railway Co.’s Maglev, which is levitated and propelled by magnetic force, currently holds the world speed record for a train at 361 mph. Central Japan Railway is pushing for a commercial line between Tokyo and the western city of Osaka, a distance that is about the same as Washington, D.C., to New York City. However, there are no current plans for building a Maglev line, despite nearly four decades of research, 15 years of testing and more than $2 billion invested, including government subsidies.

South Korea’s express train, known at the KTX, started service in 2004. Its technology is largely based on France’s TGV. To reduce air resistance, the front and back of the train has the streamlined shape of a shark.

Taiwan’s high-speed train started service in January 2007. Taiwan uses Japan’s Shinkansen trains, the first time that Japan had exported its rail technology. The 700T travels at 187 mph and connects the northern and southern regions of Taiwan that are separated by the island’s rugged central mountainous terrain.

And then there’s the U.S., which has virtually no high-speed rail expertise despite being a world leader in freight railway technology. American trains don’t come close to the speed of those in Asia or Europe. Amtrak introduced high-speed service in 2000 with the Acela Express, which runs between Washington, D.C., and Boston. The train can reach 150 mph but only during a short part of its trip. The rest of the journey occurs at slower speeds. Acela is America’s only high-speed rail service.

• High Voltage Transmission. The State Grid Corp. of China (SGCC) has deployed the world’s first Ultra High Voltage direct current (UHVDC) lines — including one capable of delivering 6.4 gigawatts to Shanghai from the Xiangjiaba hydroelectric plant nearly 1300 miles away in southwestern China. An HVDC line can without any loss of efficiency be buried in the ground, or even run under water, rather than having to be slung in mid air. That would greatly reduce construction costs and make an HVDC line practical from maintenance and environmental perspectives in remote areas. The 800 kV Xiangjiaba-Shanghai UHVDC link is the world’s longest and most powerful transmission link, surpassing the 600 kV Itaipu transmission line in Brazil. ABB was the main technology supplier to State Grid Corp. of China. These lines are more efficient and carry much more power over longer distances than those in the United States.

• Advanced Clean Coal Technologies. China is rapidly deploying supercritical and ultra-supercritical coal combustion plants, which have fewer emissions and are more efficient than conventional coal plants because they burn coal at much higher temperatures and pressures.

In 2009, five 1,000-MW ultrasupercritical plants were commissioned in the first three quarters, and in 2010 supercritical and ultrasupercritical units are expected to account for over 40% of the total newly built thermal power generating units. From 2010 to 2020, new power plants with unit capacities of 600 MW and greater will all be required to be supercritical, and about half of the newly built power generating units are expected to be ultrasupercritical.

Examples of plants that have pioneered ultrasupercritical technologies include the ¥9.6 billion Yuhuan plant, which came online in 2007 on the coast of East China’s Zhejiang Province. The 4,000-MW plant’s units—China’s first 1,000-MW ultrasupercritical boilers—run at an efficiency of 45%. A more recent example, the Siemens Energy–built Waigaoqiao III Power Plant in Shanghai, is said to have saved some 900,000 metric tons of raw coal and reduced CO2 output by 1.9 million tons since start-up in 2008. The plant reaches an efficiency of up to 48%, making it “the most efficient coal plant in the world,” Siemens claims. The most efficient U.S. plants are about 40 percent efficient.

China is also moving quickly to design and deploy technologies for Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plants as well as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).

China’s largest coal producer, the Shenhua Group, has a joint U.S.-China project that aims to collect high-purity CO2 from a direct coal liquefaction facility in the Ordos Basin of Inner Mongolia that is slated to reach operational status in 2010/11, with a goal of eventually sequestering 2.9 metric tons of pure CO2 per year, most likely in a nearby saline aquifer.

Meanwhile, led by China’s largest power producer, the Huaneng Group, the 250-MW GreenGen project—China’s first commercial-scale integrated gasification combined-cycle facility that includes carbon capture technology—is under construction in the Bohai Basin in Tianjin. That project will seek to capture and sequester 25,000 to 30,000 metric tons of CO2 per year (about 2% of its CO2 emissions—much smaller than the pilot tests under way elsewhere) starting in 2012–2013, with a higher target set for 2017.

• Nuclear Power. The demand for emission-free nuclear electricity in China is growing as quickly as its megacities and middle-class.China has more than 30 nuclear power plants under construction, more than any other country in the world, and is actively researching fourth generation nuclear power technologies.

The world’s fastest-growing major economy is developing nuclear energy to cut reliance on more polluting coal and oil and meet domestic consumption. China’s self-sufficiency in reactor design and construction and its emergence as an exporter of nuclear technology would increase competition for General Electric Co., Areva SA and Electricite de France SA, Europe’s biggest power producers.

China’s existing 11 nuclear power generating units all use second generation of nuclear power generation technology. The country started the construction of its first third-generation pressurized water reactors in Sanmen in Zhejiang province using AP1000 technologies developed by U.S.-based Westinghouse in 2009. It has a designed power capacity of 1,250 megawatts. China, which gets less than 2% of its power-generating capacity from its 11 nuclear reactors, plans to build dozens more reactors by 2020, bringing the sector’s share to 5% of its generating capacity, or about 70,000 megawatts.

The successful start up of the China Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) in July 2010 marked a breakthrough in China’s home-developed fourth generation nuclear technology. Fast reactors that run on the fourth-generation technology differ from others in that they are able to utilize the fuel in a more optimal way so as to reduce the overall energy costs significantly. The technology will also lift the uranium usage ratio to as high as 70 percent from existing one percent. State-owned China National Nuclear may start building two 800-megawatt experimental fast reactors around 2013 and operations may start before 2020.The nation aims to be able to build fast reactors with a capacity between 1,000 megawatts and 1,500 megawatts each and promote the technology by 2030.

• Alternative Energy Vehicles. China, determined to become a world leader in green technology in what is already the world’s biggest and fastest growing auto market., has developed a draft plan to invest $17 billion in central government funds in fuel economy, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, electric and fuel cell vehicles , with the goal of producing 5 million new energy vehicles and 15 million fuel-efficient conventional vehicles by 2020.

Chinese automaker BYD's F3DM hybrid vehicle. BYD has only sold 290 F3DM hybrids between January and October of this year despite incentives

Changan Motors has not sold a single hybrid electric vehicle, despite having had its hybrid Jiexun on sale for most of 2010. BYD, a Chinese battery and car maker with hopes to sell EV’s in the U.S., has sold just 54 E6 electric vehicles in ten months, and just 290 F3DM (The “DM” stands for dual-mode, meaning the sedan is a plug-in hybrid, similar to the Chevy Volt) plug-in hybrids between January and October of this year despite backing by Warren Buffet.

Chinese auto maker BYD plans to supply as many as 50 e6 electric cars to fleet customers in Southern California by the end of 2011.

• Renewable Energy. China is installing wind power at a faster rate than any nation in the world, and manufactures 40 percent of the world’s solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. It is home to three of the world’s top ten wind turbine manufacturers ( Sinovel Wind Co Ltd; Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co. and Dongfang Turbine Co.) and four of the top ten silicon-based PV manufacturers in the world (Suntech Power Holdings Co.; Yingli Green Energy; JA Solar Holdings and Trina Solar Limited).

The country became the world’s largest wind turbine market in 2009 in terms of new installations totaling 12 GW, up 92 percent year-on-year. The Chinese turbine market has grown in terms of global market share from only 1 percent in 2001 to 36 percent in 2009.

• Supercomputing. Last month, the Tianhe-1A, developed by China’s National University of Defense Technology, became the world’s fastest supercomputer. Tianhe-1A has a peak speed of 2.57 petaflops, far higher than the US XT5 Jaguar that can manage 1.76 petaflops.  Located at China’s National Supercomputer Centre in Tianjin, much of the machine’s processing power comes from chips more typically found in graphics cards. It is expected to be doing simulations to help Chinese weather forecasts and to help with work to locate undersea oil fields. Supercomputers are now largely built around graphics processors. By contrast the US Jaguar supercomputer that Tianhe-1A has pushed into second place is built around more traditional CPUs typically used in desktop computers.

World's fastest supercomputer - China's Tianhe-1A is about 50% faster than its closest rival

Top ten supercomputers

Tianhe-1A – 2.57 petaflops
XT5 Jaguar – 1.76 petaflops
Nebulae – 1.27 petaflops
Tsubame 2.0 – 1.19 petaflops
XE6 Hopper – 1.05 petaflops
Tera 100 – 1.05 petaflops
Roadrunner – 1.04 petaflops
Kraken XT5 – 0.83 petaflops
Jugene – 0.82 petaflops
Cielo – 0.81 petaflops

Shanghai Tower proves China is the new home of the skyscraper

Shanghai Tower Proves China is the New Home of the Skyscraper

The supertall 632-meter (2,073 foot) Shanghai Tower, more than China’s next record-setting building, will define Shanghai just as the Empire State Building did for New York in its time.  It’s also an economic lifeline for the elite club of skyscraper builders.

Financial gloom has derailed plans for new towers in Chicago (Chicago Spire), Moscow (Russia Tower (Башня Россия); Federation Tower (Башня Федерация)), Dubai (Burj Al Alam (World Tower); Dubai Towers)) and other cities,  but not in China.

While construction of other skyscrapers, such as Norman Foster's Russian Tower and Santiago Calatrava’s Chicago Spire, has been halted due to the economic crisis, the Shanghai Tower project is moving full speed ahead. The main structure of Shanghai Tower is seen here beside Shanghai World Financial Center and Jinmao Tower in Shanghai on Dec. 8, 2010

Work on the world’s second tallest building, the 121-story 632 m (2,074 ft) Shanghai Tower (上海中心大厦), is due to be completed in 2014. Construction on what will be the world’s third tallest building, the 606-meter (1,989-foot) Wuhan Greenland Centre （武汉绿地中心）,  started Wednesday in central China’s Wuhan City, capital of Hubei Province.  Dwarfed only by the world’s tallest 828 meter (2,717 foot) Burj Khalifa, both buildings will be higher than the 494-meter (1,622 foot) World Financial Center in Shanghai (上海环球金融中心), currently the tallest building in China.

The U.S. high-rise market is “pretty much dead,” said Dan Winey, a managing director for Gensler, the Shanghai Tower’s San Francisco-based architects. “For us, China in the next 10 to 15 years is going to be a huge market.”

China has six of the world’s 15 tallest buildings — compared with three for the United States, the skyscraper’s birthplace — and is constructing more at a furious pace, defying worries about a possible real estate boom and bust. It is on track to pass the U.S. as the country with the most buildings among the 100 tallest by a wide margin.

China is leading a wave of skyscraper building in developing countries that is shifting the field’s center of gravity away from the United States and Europe.

India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia have ultra-tall towers under construction or on the drawing board. In the Gulf, Doha in Qatar and Dubai, site of the current record holder, the 163-story Burj Khalifa, each has three buildings among the 20 tallest under construction, though work on all (Burj Al Alam and Dubai Towers) but one of those (Pentominium) has been suspended.

The 516 m Pentominium Tower in Dubai Marina, designed by Andrew Bromberg at Aedas, will be the tallest all-residential building in the world upon completion in 2013

The shift is so drastic that North America’s share of the 100 tallest buildings will fall from 80 percent in 1990 to just 18 percent by 2012, according to Antony Wood, executive director of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He said by then, 45 of the tallest will be in Asia, with 34 of those in China alone.

“So 34 percent of the 100 tallest buildings will be in a single country. That has only happened once before, and that was with the USA,” he said.

In China, skyscrapers are going up in obscure locales such as Wenzhou, Wuhan and Jiangyin, a boomtown north of Shanghai. Touted itself as the richest village in China, Jiangyin Huaxi village in Jiangsu Province is building a 72-story, 328-meter (1,076-foot) hotel-and-apartment tower, Hanging Village of Huaxi (aka Farmer’s Apartments, 空中华西村) that will be taller than Manhattan’s Chrysler Building.

Hanging Village of Huaxi, designed by China's A+E Design, topped out at 328 meters (1076 ft) on September 5, 2010

China’s edifice complex is driven by a mix of demand for space in a crowded country with economic growth forecast at 10 percent this year and local leaders who want architectural eye candy to promote their cities as commercial centers.

Dozens of midsize Chinese cities are building new business districts to replace cramped downtowns. They look to the model of Shanghai’s skyscraper-packed Pudong district — China’s Wall Street — created in the 1990s on reclaimed industrial land.

Chicago Spire, designed by world famous architect Santiago Calatrava and was to be the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere, fell victim to the economic downturn.

China has four of the 10 tallest buildings under construction, versus two for the United States (One World Trade Center (Freedom Tower) and Chicago Spire)— and work on one of those, the 610-meter (2,000-foot) Chicago Spire, a twisting tower designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, has stopped. It would have been the tallest building in North America, but it fell victim to the economic downturn as Irish developer Garrett Kelleher’s company lost control of the site.

A Trio of Tallest buildings in China, Past, Present and Future: Jinmao Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center and Shanghai Tower

The Shanghai Tower will be China’s tallest office tower, surpassing the neighboring  Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC) in Pudong. The 2-year-old WFC passed the Jinmao Tower (金茂大厦), also in Pudong, for the title. The finished tower will complete a government master plan that goes back 20 years to have a set of three super-buildings in the city’s Lujiazui finance and trade zone.  The Jin Mao is China of the past, the famous steel pagoda, it references history. The SWFC is the building of the present, that is, the China that accepts foreign investment. Shanghai Tower is a building of the future, a very dynamic form.

Shanghai World Financial Center was designed by William Pedersen of New York-based Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) and Jin Mao Tower was designed by Adrian Smith during his tenure at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)

The double-skinned Shanghai Tower will have an optimum capacity to accommodate around 16,000 people on a daily basis – about the same as the two former World Trade Center towers in New York combined. It will in essence be a small vertical city complete with offices, a hotel, retail space, entertainment venues, conference centers, banks, sky gardens, cafes and an observation deck. Shanghai Tower has already been awarded a Gold pre-registration certificate by the US Green Building Council, whose environmental standards are applied worldwide. Mixed-used buildings such as Shanghai Tower, the John Hancock Center and Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower), which are both in Chicago, offer the greatest scope for energy saving.

Nanjing Greenland Square Zifeng Tower, a 450-metre (1,480 ft) supertall skyscraper completed in April 2010, was designed by Adrian Smith, Marshall Strabala and Gordon Gill during their tenure at SOM.

Marshall Strabala, master architect behind Shanghai Tower, was brought into the project in 2006 by Gensler, who appointed him Director of Design after poaching him from SOM before the Shanghai Tower bidding process began. The bid was one of the most coveted in world architecture – all of the 10 or so major international firms were invited to compete as were the top local firms, with the final selection coming down to a choice between SOM, Foster and Gensler, a firm with an excellent reputation for interior design, but not well known for its architecture. Gensler capitalized on Strabala’s portfolio with the Burj Dubai and the Nanjing Zifeng Tower (Nanjing Greenland Financial Center, 南京绿地广场紫峰大厦) to win the bid and lead the project. Tongji University was selected as Gensler’s local partner and architect of record. The structural engineering firm for the project is Thornton Tomasetti. Marshall Strabala is now developing the craft in his new Shanghai-based firm, 2 Define Architecture. He established the boutique agency after he was let go by Gensler earlier this year after completing the bulk of the design work on Shanghai Tower.

Beijing's tallest building - China World Trade Center Tower III was designed by Chicago-based Skidmore Owings & Merrill

Shenzhen’s 115-story Ping An International Finance Center (平安国际金融中心) was designed by New York-based firm Kohn Pedersen Fox; the New York firm’s other projects include the 116-story East Tower of the Chow Tai Fook Centre in Guangzhou, also near Hong Kong. Chicago-based Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM) designed Beijing’s tallest building, the 75-story China World Trade Center Tower III (北京国贸大厦), and the 76-story Tianjin World Financial Center (Tianjin Tower, Jin Tower, 津塔) in Tianjin east of Beijing, due to be completed next year. Jiangyin’s Hanging Village of Huaxi (aka Farmer’s Apartments, 空中华西村) was designed by China’s A+E Design.

Ping An international financial center in Shenzhen was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF)

Tianjin, a port and oil-refining center with ambitions to be a finance and tech hub, is building four towers of at least 75 stories. One of them, the Goldin Finance 117 (aka China 117 Tower, 中国117大厦) will be 117 stories and nearly 2,000 feet (600 meters) tall.

Instead of Western-style single-use office or apartment towers, many developers diversify their revenue sources by making buildings a mix of hotel and office space, with a shopping mall in the base and luxury apartments at the top.

The new space is hitting the market just as Beijing tries to cool a boom in construction of luxury housing and shopping malls. Regulators warn that a supply glut could leave lenders with unpaid loans if developers default.

But demand for high-end office space is so strong that the skyscraper market should face no such problems, said Danny Ma, director of China research for real estate consulting firm CB Richard Ellis. He said the new buildings should fill up quickly because many are the first in their cities to offer high-quality facilities required by foreign and major Chinese companies that are expanding there.

“More and more tenants are keen to move to such buildings,” Ma said. He said developers are signing up tenants in advance for 50 to 60 percent of the space in new projects, enough in many cases to make them profitable.

China is helping to propel development of skyscraper design and urban planning as developers face government pressure to make buildings environmentally friendly and integrate them into busy cities.

The Shanghai Tower will have a double-layer glass exterior to insulate it and cut heating and cooling costs, an advanced feature that might be rejected as too costly to install in the U.S. or other Western markets, Winey said.

“You can do a lot more experimentation here,” he said. “It’s an amazing place to be, because you can do things here that you can’t do anywhere else in the world.”

中国摩天大楼支撑全球建筑业

上海中心大厦不仅创造中国建筑高度记录,这栋在建的121层高楼也是全球摩天大楼家族建筑商的经济生命线。

经济衰退已经打乱了芝加哥、莫斯科、迪拜和其它城市的摩天大楼建设计划。但在中国,十几栋新摩天大楼的建设都在紧张进行,其中632米(2074英尺)高的上海中心大厦将按期在2014年完成。以强大经济实力为后盾的这些项目正在为建筑师和工程师提供源源不断的工作。

总部位于旧金山的建筑师行、上海中心大厦的设计师根斯勒总经理丹-维尼说,美国高层建筑市场“实际上已死亡”。他说,“对于我们来说,今后10年到15年中国是个巨大的市场。”

中国已有全球15栋最高大厦中的6栋,摩天大楼诞生地美国有3栋;尽管对于房地产繁荣与泡沫的争议存在,中国正在以更快的步伐建设。中国将在全球100栋最高建筑中以较大幅度超过美国。

印度、巴西、沙特阿拉伯和印度尼西亚都有超高层建筑正在建设或者正在规划。在海湾地区,卡塔尔首都多哈和摩天大楼现有最高记录保持者迪拜都各有3栋属于全球最高的20栋建筑在建设,但目前只有1栋高楼继续建设,其余全都暂停。

在全球最高的10栋建筑中,中国有4栋正在建设,而美国只有2栋,并且设计高度为610米的芝加哥大厦已经停工。

Canton Tower – A Supermodel MegaStructure in Guangzhou, China

Guangzhou TV and Sightseeing Tower - World's New Architectural Wonder

Spectacularly tall, slender and twisted lattice structure with a super slim waist – nicknamed ‘supermodel’ or ‘little twisted waist’ – the new Guangzhou TV and Sightseeing Tower (officially dubbed as Canton Tower, formerly known as Haixin Tower, Chinese:广州塔, 广州新电视塔) on the banks of the Pearl River of China’s third largest city is a woman above all.

Soaring 600 meters (1969 feet) in height, Canton Tower overtook Toronto’s CN tower (553m/1815 ft) as the world’s tallest TV tower. Guangzhou TV Tower  is the third tallest freestanding structure in the world after Burj Khalifa (828m/ 2717 ft) in Dubai and KVLY-TV mast (629m/ 2063 ft) in Blanchard of North Dakota in U.S.

Canton TV Tower is Guangzhou's answer to Beijing's CCTV Building as it prepares to host the 2010 Asian Games in mid-November. Both towers are designed by Dutch architects.

The mega structure, officially open to the public on October 1, 2010,  is part of a city-wide makeover as Guangzhou prepares to host the 2010 Asian Games on November 12, 2010 and is considered the Southern answer to Beijing’s iconic “big pants” CCTV Tower designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.

"Most skyscrapers bear male features—they're introverted, rectangular, and repetitive," Information Based Architects' Mark Hemel has said. "We wanted a female tower that is complex, transparent, curvy, and gracious."

Designed by Dutch husband-and wife team Mark Hemel and Barbara Kuit of Information Based Architecture in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, The Canton Tower has a discernibly feminine form, growing from a broad elliptical base at ground level to a tapering waist of less than 27m. and then widening slightly up to a second, smaller ellipse at the main roof, 450m above. The 162m-long mast takes the final height of the tower to 600m.

Its shape is so unique; it isn’t covered by any conventional building code. The superstructure is made up of five small buildings hung together with gardens and an open-air skywalk to allow visitors to climb through the narrow waist of the building. The skywalk is an outdoor spiral staircase that goes from 168 meters to 334 meters.

The interior of the tower is subdivided into programmatic zones with various functions, including TV and radio transmission facilities, observatory decks, revolving restaurants, computer gaming, restaurants, exhibition spaces, conference rooms, shops, and 4D cinemas.

Enjoy a panoramic view of Guangzhou with a ride in the world's highest Ferris wheel on the roof of the canton tower

World’s highest Ferris Wheel
An elliptical track is constructed around the periphery of the canton tower’s roof, and 16 transparent “crystal” passenger cars, each with a diameter of 3.2 metres (10 ft) and able to carry four to six people, will circumnavigate the track. A ride in the world’s highest Ferris wheel will take approximately half an hour， where one can enjoy full panoramic views over the metropolis of Guangzhou.

Gravity machine – the Shoot
At the 450 meter high top deck level there will be a gravity machine that lifts visitors another 35 meter up along the mast, from which they will be dropped back to the top deck.

Bungee Jump
AJ Hackett, the famous adventuring entrepreneur that made Bungee jumping a world class sport, is planning to install a mayor event in the Canton Tower which will break all records. It is planned to be the world’s tallest skyjump jumping from a 450meter level all the way to the ground. Just like spider-man. One will be harnessesed safely and supported by three cables in total. The first cable is attached between your harness and the top of the tower, operated through a pully-system, this will and two cables sideways, to prevent “fluttering”, that will slide along you while you are jumping down. You will land safely on the ground approximately 450 meters below. A jump of 10 to 15 seconds. No parachute or bungeecord attached. Just you base-jumping from the world’s tallest TV tower.

Visitors' feet are seen on a piece of glass on the new Guangzhou TV Tower in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province

Tickets to the tower were priced at 50 yuan, 100 yuan and 150 yuan based on different heights. A top-level ticket will offer an access to the 84th floor (433m) by the high-speed elevator that only takes one minute and a half to finish the ascent. Visitors can get a bird’s-eye view there over the whole city.

An aerial view of Haixinsha Citizen Square where the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games will be held

An aerial view of Liede bridge from the Canton Tower

Guangzhou TV & Sightseeing Tower – Video (English with Chinese subtitles)
The engineering processes that enabled the 600-metre mega structure will be revealed

Canton Tower:  Facts & Figures
Location; Yuejiang Road West / Yiyuan Road, Haizhu District, Guangzhou, China
Antenna or spire: 600 m (1,968.5 ft)
Roof: 454 m (1,489.5 ft)
Structure: Open lattice-structure
Architects: Mark Hemel and Barbara Kuit, Information Based Architecture (IBA), Amsterdam, Netherlands
Structural engineer: Arup
Collaborators; Guangzhou Design Institute
Start of Project: November 2005
Date of Completion: December 2009
Floors (Above Ground): 37
Floors (Below Ground): 2
Cost: 3 billion Yuan ($ 441 million)

Coolest Job Opening – 12 global finalists vie for chance to be Panda Ambassador

Global competition for panda keepers enters final round!!!

Twelve semi-finalists have begun training for one of the world’s most coveted jobs – “pambassador” (panda ambassador) – at a research base in Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

Chriszelda Pieterse, a finalist hoping to become a "pambassador", looks for Zhenzhen, a star panda, during the training program in Chengdu, China

Hailing from Sweden, South Africa, Japan, the United States and other countries, the finalists are the lucky few remaining from a pool of more than 60,000 hopefuls who had applied for the rare chance to work as a panda keeper for one month.

They will be trained on how to feed the pandas, interact with cubs, and monitor their growth.

Candidate Annie-Danielle Grenier, who hails from Canada, said that she likes the new task and feels completely homely. “I love to cook for my family and friends, and it’s not much different cooking for pandas. The ingredients are different but it’s exactly the same, and I cook with love when I cook for my family and it’s the same for the pandas”.

“It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to actually come here to work with pandas. This is like the most amazing experience I ever had” said Ashley Robertson from Alabama of the United States.

The six winners of the competition, organized by the base and conservation group WWF, will be chosen on September 29 based on how well they look after the pandas, understand conservation, and how good their communication skills are.

'Pambassadors' to Work for Caring Pandas

They will then spend a month working as panda keepers in Chengdu, witnessing the births of several baby pandas, blogging about their experiences (www.pandahome.com) to help raise awareness of the endangered animal’s plight.

As part of their ambassadorial role, Pambassadors will keep an Internet blog about their experiences.

‘Net bargaining’ service booms in China

What most people hate while shopping is the bargaining part, but now even that will be a thing of the past as more and more “net bargainers” are coming up in China.

The middlemen or “net bargainers” will only take a cut of the discount they get you as they bargain on your behalf for lower prices with e-retailers, Xinhua reported.

Their service is booming amid China’s fast-growing online-shopping industry, and a search for “net bargainer” on taobao.com, which is the country’s largest online shopping website, gives 2,186 search results.

‘I thought 120 yuan ($17.7) would be a fair price for a pair of shoes priced 150 yuan at an online store. But a net bargainer took half an hour to get me the shoes for 100 yuan,’ said Wang Huan, a 25-year-old worker in Hefei City in east China’s Anhui province.

After the deal, she paid the bargaining fee — 20 percent of the 50-yuan price gap — which she thought was ‘absolutely worth it’.

Wu Chen, a university student in east China’s Nanjing city, said she was a ‘net bargainer’ during her summer vacation, earning her 3,000 yuan ($443) per month.

Wu said most of her peers born after 1985 began having online shopping experiences while still in school.
Wang Yu, a white-collar in Beijing, said it takes time and energy to compare prices on internet. That is why people are willing to pay for the bargaining service.

Zhang Zhongjie, an owner of a net bargaining business, said he was self-employed with the business after he graduated from college in 2008.

‘There are many ways to collect price information and bargain with online shops. Net bargainers are a third-party. We help shoppers get the fairest price, and we also bring customers to good shops,’ said the bargainer, who has business contacts with more than 400 online shops that sell goods from garments, shoes and skin care products to fashion accessories.

However, concerns are raised about the legality of net bargainers.

Wang Jun, a lawyer from Anhui province asked what happens when the buyer ends up with a fake product and what responsibilities bargainers have to buyers? And what if bargainers fail to cut the price?

Wang said the government should start drafting regulations for the new occupation, in order to protect the rights of online customers.

Shop Till You Drop – Beijing Shopping Guide

As China becomes the world’s second-largest economy and shifts from an export-driven to a consumer-driven growth model, the Chinese capital is flexing its muscles when it comes to offering both locals and visitors a world class shopping experience. Contending with other Asian shopping Meccas such as Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong, Beijing is rolling out the red carpet for all shopaholics with designated shopping districts and mega malls selling everything from Chinese antiques to designer brands.

• An Interactive Beijing Shopping Map

Use the above interactive map to locate Beijing’s top shopping areas, markets and shopping centers including some of locations that are not covered in this shopping guide.

• Top Shopping Areas in Beijing

There are several notable Chinese shopping districts offering abundant goods and reasonable prices, including Wangfujing Dajie, Dongdan Beidajie, Xidan Beidjie, and Qianmen (including Dashilar). More luxurious shopping areas can be found around the embassy areas of Jianguomenwai and Sanlitun; also check out five-star hotel shopping malls.

Wangfujing Dajie – Beijing’s best-known shopping street (王府井大街)

The pedestrian-only Wangfujing Street, Beijing's main commercial thoroughfare, overflows with spending opportunities from electronics and fashion to sports and jewelry to souvenirs.

Situated two blocks east of the Forbidden City, Beijing’s premier shopping street is a pedestrian-only haven that enjoys an unparalleled reputation for its 1km stretch of historic shop fronts. Often compared to France’s Champs Elysees this bustling shopper’s market attracts nearly 500,000 visitors daily. Home to Wangfujing’s grand dame, the Wangfujing Department Store (No.255), and two posh malls, Beijing APM (No. 138, formerly known as Sun Dong An Plaza) and the Malls at Oriental Plaza (at the foot of Wangfujing street), its centralized location makes it simple to combine sightseeing with shopping trips. Along the busy street are a few ancient shops, including China Star Silk Store (No.133), Beijing Medical Department Store (No. 153), famed hat shop Shengxifu (No. 196), the Wuyutai Teahouse (No. 186). Beijing Foreign language Bookstore (No.235) houses Beijing’s largest selection of English-language materials. Beijing Gongmei Dasha (Artistic Mansion, No.200), the biggest art store in Beijing, stock all varieties of jade, from green Khotanese nephrite to Burmese jadeite on the third floor.

Getting Here: Subway Line 1 at Wangfujing

Xidan (西单)

It's new, it's modern, it's hip. The 13-story Joy city Xidan comes equipped with the world’s longest escalator, the largest digital cinema in China and the largest cosmetic shop in Beijing.

About a mile west of Tiananmen Square is a commercial quarter of Xidan which is very popular with Beijing’s youth and is basically a forest of massive shopping malls packed with cheap fashions, urban clothing and ‘liftstyle’ designs, as well as upmarket shopping centres selling fashion togs and perfume. If you’re up for the potentially overwhelming jaunt into the crush of young people, you can elbow your way through the labyrinth of malls, markets, and chain stores to find some cheap chic clustered along Xidan Beidajie, just north of the Xidan subway stop. Xidan is where you’ll find China’s crowning Beijing Book Building (17 Changanjie, 010-6607-8498), a multi-level fortress stocked with hundreds of thousands of books, magazines, maps, and learning materials. The English-language selection is slim.  The newest and biggest mall in Xidan, Joy City (131 Xidan Beidajie), is home to international chains like Zara, H&M, Uniqlo, and Next. Joy City has a second branch in Chaoyang district (101 Chaoyang Beilu, at the intersection of Qingnian Lu, 010-8557 9888)

Getting here: Subway Line 1 to the Xidan stop (exit A)

Qianmen Dajie and Dazhalan (前门大街和大栅栏)

The renovated commercial street of Qianmen Dajie is tourist-oriented and a bit Disneyland-esque with a Chinese kitsch bent

Just south of Qianmen (front gate) is the revamped Qianmen dajie. Beijing’s oldest shopping street recently had a massive facelift for the 2008 Olympics, emblazoned in green, gold, red and blue in the style of old Peking and decorated with birdcages and drums. Now you’ll find foreign boutiques such as H&M and Zara, upscale bars and restaurants. It’s pedestrian only and has a trolley running down the middle of it. Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant (32 Qianmen Dajie, 010-6511-2418), Beijing’s most famous restaurant, was established in 1864 and remains a time-honored Beijing staple thanks to its beautiful, traditional setting and its unwavering dedication to serving the ultimate Peking duck.

Those in search of an authentic Chinese shopping experience should head down to Dazhalan (Dashilar in Beijing Dialect) two blocks southwest of Qianmen. Among the highlights of the narrow hutong (alley) are two old silk shops. Beijing Silk Store (No. 50) has been supplying the city with quality silks and fabrics since 1830. The silk costs from around Y40 a metre, or you can visit the 2nd floor and pick up ready-to-wear pyjamas and shirts. You’ll find piles of gorgeous silk brocade at Ruifuxiang (No. 5), in the trade for 110 years. They specialize in qipao, a body-hugging one-piece dress for ¥500 and up. Ruifuxiang also has an outlet at Wangfujing Dajie (190 Wangfujing Dajie; 010-6525 0764).

On the same street is China’s most famous traditional Chinese medicine shop, Tongrentang (No. 24), dating from the mid-17^th century. Browse the glassed displays of deer antlers and pickled snakes, dried seahorses and frogs, and delicate tangles of roots with precious price tags of Y48,000. A few paces down from Tongrentang is the oldest existing cloth shoe shop in China (it opened in 1853). Neiliansheng (34 Dashilan) sells traditional Chinese slippers and handmade cotton shoes in all sizes—even for Western feet. Photographs display Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping happily wearing the very shoes sold here. And you too can pick up ornately embroidered shoes, or simply styled cloth slippers.

If you take a right turn off Dazhalan, you can continue west to Liulichang, famous for its antiques and art-and-craft items. The most famous shop, Rongbaozhai (19 Liulichang), is on the western stretch and is known for its scroll paintings, calligraphy and brilliant wood-block prints.

Getting here: Subway Line 2 at Qianmen

Sanlitun (三里屯)

Sanlitun has always been famous for its bars, but Village at Sanlitun - with its colorful and fashionable buildings - provides a complete new shopping and entertainment experience.

Known among locals as “bar street”, this is a shopping hotspot. Situated between the worker’s stadium and the Embassy District, Sanlitun offers a wide range of the experiences – from the busy Yaxiu market to the posh mall Village at Sanlitun to the stylish Nali Market. The 3.3 fashion mall (33 Sanlitun Beijie) has trendy local boutiques and household designs. Nali mall across the road has funky silverware and jewelry stores.

Nanluoguxiang (南锣鼓巷)

One must-see hutong in Beijing is Nanluoguxiang - an alley of courtyard houses in the Gulou district - jammed with bars, cafés, restaurants and shops that range from the chic to the kitschy.

While large swaths of Beijing’s historic hutong districts were razed and replaced with sky malls, nanluoguxiang near the Bell and Drum Towers on the east of Back Lake (Houhai) has somehow survived the destruction. What started as a quiet row of houses renovated into shops and cafés has rapidly gentrified into a hip area of boutiques selling handicrafts and clothes of  both modern and ethic designs, small hotels, and restaurants. Perusing the artsy stores is a pleasure day or night. Start at Grifted (No. 32 Nanluoguxinag) for tongue-in-cheek modern reworkings of Cultural Revolution slogans painted onto furniture, accessories, and clothing. Then head to Plastered for a hit T-shirt with retro design. Finally, look for the small wall plate for La Mu, which sells beautiful leather-bound stationery and leather jewelry. For a break from the shopping, Xiaoxin’s Cafe at No. 103 serves fresh-brewed coffee and home-baked muffins. Wenyu Nailao at No. 49 is one of Beijing’s best yogurt shops.

• Markets

Whether indoors or out, markets in Beijing are inexpensive, chaotic and, for the visitors, tremendously interesting.

Although malls and shopping centers are becoming more popular, the majority of Beijing residents still shop markets. Whether indoors or out, these markets are inexpensive, chaotic and, for the visitors, tremendously interesting. Payment is in cash, bargaining is universal.

Panjiayuan Antique Market (Panjiayuan Jiuhuo Shichang, 潘家园旧货市场)

Panjiayuan is absolutely brimming with everything you could ever want in the way of antiques, crafts, jewelry, old books and souvenirs from China’s capital city.

Hands down the best place to shop for yishu (arts), gongyi (crafts) and guwan (antiques) in Beijing is Panjiayuan (aka the Dirt Market). If you only go shopping once in Beijing, take a trip to this colorful outdoor bazaar: row upon crowded row of calligraphy, jewelry, ceramics, teapots, ethnic clothing, Buddha statues, paper lanterns, Cultural Revolution memorabilia (Little Red Books, propaganda posters, and pastel-colored statues of Mao), PLA belts, little wooden boxes, Ming- and Qing-style furniture, old pipes, opium scales, and heavily embroidered “minority textiles”. There are some real antiques scattered among the junk, but you’d have to be an expert to pick them out. Panjiayuan market is located on the south side of Panjiayuan Lu, just inside the southeast corner of the Third Ring Road. It’s open Mon-Fri 8:30am-6pm; Sat-Sun 4:30am-6pm.

Hongqiao Pearl Market (Hong Qiao Shichang,北京红桥市场)

Few shoppers visit Beijing without a trip to the Hongqiao Market (aka Pearl Market, Hong Qiao Lu 16, northeast of Temple of Heaven, 010-6713-3354, 8:30am to 7 pm daily), where mid-quality pearls are cheap and plentiful.

Yashow Clothing Market (Yaxiu Fuzhang Shichang, 雅秀服装市场)

Along with Hongqiao and Xiushui (Silk Street), Yashow is one of the most tourist-heavy markets in the city, but it’s also one of the best if you want knockoff clothing, bags, shoes, a good tailor or a gift to take home to your friends. Prices are slightly cheaper than Silk Street Market (a tourist trap), but the haggling no less cruel. Basement: shoes, handbags and suitcases. Big Shoes is useful for anyone struggling to house big feet. First floor: coats and jackets. Second floor: hiking gear, suits, ladies wear. Third floor: silk, clothes, carpets, fabrics and tailors to fashion your material into something wearable. Fourth floor: jewelry, souvenirs, toys and a beauty salon. The market is just west of Sanlitun Jiuba Jie, at Gongti Bei Lu 58 (tel.010-6415-1726)  and is open daily from 9:30am to 9pm. Metro: Gongti Bei Lu. Note: Be especially aware of pickpockets in this market.

Beijing Zoo Clothing Wholesale Market
(Dongwuyuan Fuzhuang Pifa Shichang, 动物园服装批发市场)

If you ever wondered where the stallholders at the Silk, Yashow and Nurenjie (ladies street) get their stock, then ponder no more. The Beijing Zoo Clothing Wholesale Market (this place is where the locals shop for their clothes) is a boxy, heaving little place, crammed to the rafters with dirt-cheap clothes, bags, shoes and coats. The most popular ones of the seven zoo markets are Julong, Dongding and Shiji Tianle. Buy them here for half-price but be prepared to bargain hard or buy in volume. Claustrophobics are best advised to steer clear of the Zoo Clothing Market, especially on weekends when stampedes are part of the experience

Getting there: Subway line 4 to Beijing Zoo Station; Buses: No. 107, 103,102

• Shopping Malls and Department Stores

If you're a mall rat, you're spoiled for choice in Beijing. Sustained pre-Olympic development created brand-friendly megamalls, where everything costs as much as it does in the West.

A city in the midst of reinventing itself and continuing to build on the success of the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing is a place of frenzied construction. Shopping malls, luxury brand outlets and car dealerships are mushrooming across the city. The vast Oriental Plaza mall, on Wangfujing Dajie, has many brand stores, as does Solana. The China World Shopping Mall, Shin Kong Plaza, The Place, Jinbao Place and Park Life at Beijing Yintai Centre cater to those with upscale-brand obsessions and large wallets.

China World Shopping Mall (Guomao, 国贸商城)

Adjacent to the ritzy China World Hotel and Beijing's tallest skyscraper - China World Trade Center Tower 3, China World Shopping Mall has the full wardrobe of luxury clothing.

Rising up alongside Beijing’s tallest building, China World Trade Center Tower 3, Beijing’s ritziest mall is attached to the equally luxurious China World Hotel. Also known as Guomao, China World Shopping Mall (1 Jianguomenwai Dajie, Chaoyang District; 010-6505-2288) is home to elite international brands such as Moschino, Prada, Cartier, Hermès, Dior and Louis Vuitton. Prices are at least as expensive as back home.

Peninsula Beijing Shopping Arcade (北京王府半岛酒店)

The big boys of fashion: Chanel, Dior, Gaultier, Gucci, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Prada and Versace, can be found in this exclusive and very hushed basement-level shopping haunt beneath the Peninsula Beijing hotel. There are also Cartier and Tiffany outlets, so you can pick up the diamonds you’ll need to go with your new outfit.

Address: 8 Jinyu Hutong, Dongcheng District

The Village at Sanlitun (三里屯Village)

The fashionable shopping complex of the Village at Sanlitun houses international flagship boutiques and contemporary designed concept stores such as Adidas, Apple and Uniqlo.

Located in the diplomatic area famous for its bars and cafes, the village at Sanlitun (19 Sanlitun Jie, Chaoyang district; 010-6417-3333; Metro: Tuanjiehu) – a community of 19 dramatic buildings – was designed by a team of international architects spearheaded by Japanese wonder Kengo Kuma. Anchor stores include the first Apple Experience Store and the world’s largest Adidas flagship.

Shin Kong Place (Xin Guang Tian Di, 新光天地)

Shin Kong Place (87 Jianguo Lu, Chaoyang District; 010-6530-5888; Metro: Dawang Lu) sets the gold standard in Beijing luxury shopping. This indoor mall has all the labels that break the bank: Coach, Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, and Marc Jacobs, as well as high-end but more affordable retailers like Juicy Couture, Diesel, and Club Monaco.

The Place (Shi Mao Tian Jie, 世贸天阶)

The Place is noteworthy for its massive LED sky screen. Inside are mid-range brands such as Spain's Zara and Britain's French Connection.

This new behemoth, marked by a huge outdoor screen playing clips of random fashion shows, sees plenty of fashionista traffic. Spanish retailer Zara chose to set up shop here. Makeup gurus MAC also chose The Place for their flagship store. Other retailers like French Connection, Mango, and adidas ensure this place is virtually bargain-hunter free.

Seasons Place Mall (金融街购物中心)

Seasons Place (2 Jinchengfang Jie, Financial Street, Xicheng District; 010-6622 0808), a stunning luxe mall designed by Yabu Pushelberg in western Beijing on Financial street, opened in fall 2007 with a long list of top brands, including Hong Kong’s high-end department store chain Lane Crawford that carries some of the most desired labels from the best designers around the world (Stella McCartney, Emilio Pucci, Maison Martin Margiela, Alexander McQueen, Marni, Miu Miu, Givenchy and others). It may not be any cheaper than elsewhere, but it’s interesting to see how luxury is arriving in China.

Beijing Scitech Premium Outlet Mall (北京赛特奥特莱斯)

Though a bit suburban, Scitech outlet mall (28 Xiangjiang Bei Lu, Chaoyang district; 010-8435 7880) houses charming boutique stores in an immense new outdoor village. The outlet’s pricing policy of a 40 per cent minimum discount is a recessionista’s dream.  With over 5,000 parking spots, a free shuttle bus from Scitech Plaza, and a subway station due to open on Line 10 next year, making a saving just got a whole lot easier.

• Shopping Tips

Generally, shops in Beijing open earlier than in the West and close later; they usually open between 8am and 8:30am and close between 9pm and 10pm. Always remember that foreigners are likely to be quoted an inflated price for goods and services in Beijing. In markets such as Panjiayuan, Hongqiao and Sanlitun Yashow, haggling is essential. It’s always best to bargain with a smile on your face.

Major credit cards are accepted in pricier venues catering to Westerners. Cash is the driving force here, and ATMs abound.

Shops frequented by foreigners sometimes have an employee with some fluency in English. But money remains the international language. In many cases, whether or not there is a common language—the shop assistant will still whip out a calculator, look at you thoughtfully, then type in a starting price. You’re expected to counter with your offer. Punch in your dream price. The clerk will come down Y10 or Y20 and so on and so on. Remember that the terms “yuan,” “kuai,” and “RMB” are often used interchangeably.