Google Users Turn Elsewhere to Avoid Headaches

Using Google these past three weeks has been damn right hellish. Even with a VPN (virtual private network) on, Google Chat periodically kicks out. Running undistinguishable searches at my office (where there is no VPN) has ultimately led me to the oh so vexing "can't-open-page" screen. It's not like I'm searching for "corrupting" info about …

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Paranoia Spurs a Run on Salt in Shanghai

At a mom-and-pop dumpling restaurant in Shanghai’s French Concession yesterday evening, all reactions to the destruction wrought across north-eastern Japan could be quickly compressed into a single unified response: “horrifying.” However, this general feeling of dismay was breed of its own motives. “All of the supermarkets close to here have sold out of sea salt,” …

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Is China Looking to Singapore for Lessons in Filial Piety?

Who would have thought that passing assertive laws that forced the majority of a population to bear no more than one child would have harmful effects on a society? Well, it’s starting to happen in China as the coevals of America's “baby boomers” (engendered by Mao’s well thought-out policy of “人多好办事,” or “more people gets …

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Shanghai: ‘Snail Homes’ and ‘Mortgage Slaves’

That's right. Take your pick Shanghai. Life in urban China, especially in Shanghai, depicts two growing phenomena: those who are caught living on top of each other in small "snail homes," or those with a mortgage that promises to keep them shackled for decades to come. My search to paint the perfect picture of these …

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