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Beijing's best shopping areas

Tom O'Malley — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:57:12 +0000

by Tom O'Malley

From fruit to fashion, hat designer Elisabeth Koch (right) knows the shopping secrets of Beijing.

Since founding a namesake hat brand in 2007, Elisabeth Koch's designs have decorated the heads of A-listers and the pages of international fashion magazines.

The Beijing-based Dutch designer is also an obsessive scourer of far-flung markets and back-street boutiques in China's capital.

After calling on various Beijing shops and markets for four years, Koch, 33, shares six of her favorite shopping areas in the spread-out city.

1. Nali Patio (那里花园)

Cyber supper: Multi-city virtual dining comes to China

CNNGo staff — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:16:39 +0000

by CNNGo staff

Hai Di Lao (海底捞火锅), a Chinese hot pot restaurant chain famous for its kung fu noodles and iPad ordering system, has just launched a virtual dining concept.

The new hi-tech cyber supper service allows diners in Shanghai and Beijing to boil hot pot face-to-face even though they are 1,200 kilometers apart.

Multi-city groups dining

Two dining rooms, both named Zhi Zhen Jian (智真间), are equipped to deliver the service in Hai Di Lao’s Beijing Wangfujing chain and Shanghai Changshou Lu chain.

Both rooms accommodate a half-moon table and can seat a maximum of six diners.

A massive video wall, made up of three 60-inch LED screens, occupies one end of the table, allowing diners to see, talk with and propose a toast to their faraway companions.

Charlie's Angel-wannabes trained on Hainan beaches

CNNGo staff — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:57:03 +0000

by CNNGo staff

Hainan Island’s fair weather, sandy beaches and ample sunshine have long lured Chinese travelers. But now a bunch of trainee bodyguards have fallen under its spell.

A group of 20 swimsuit-clad ladies descended on “China’s Haiwaii” last month with one goal in mind -- to spend more time doing push-ups than sipping coconut juice.

Mostly university graduates, they were being trained by China GSA Safety Consultation (天骄特卫), a Beijing-based bodyguard agency. They were in Hainan’s to kick-start a 10-month boot camp for professional female bodyguards.

The most-promising candidate from the camp will be sent to study in The Institute of National Security Studies in Israel.

According to Chen Yongqing (陈永青), head trainer, founder and chairman of GSA, the course starts with "slow-paced" warming-up exercises on Hainan’s Coconut Island (椰子岛), which are followed by "hell-like" anti-terrorism classes in Beijing.

Andy Warhol exhibition in Asia: 15 minutes clearly isn’t enough

CNNGo staff — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:45:51 +0000

by CNNGo staff

Five cities in Asia are to be hit by pictures of canned soup, a hamburger and a colorful representation of Chairman Mao, apparently wearing lipstick, over the next two years.

The artworks are traveling as part of the “Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal” exhibition, the biggest retrospective on Warhol’s work ever to be shown in Asia.

Warhol, who died in 1987, is famous for declaring: “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”

The show will start at Singapore’s ArtScience Museum at the Marina Bay Sands hotel on March 17, 2012, and will then travel to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo before it ends some time in 2014.

Specific date and venue details for the other cities have not yet been released.

China: $100,000 around-the-world tour sells out in 13 seconds

CNNGo staff — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:57:32 +0000

by CNNGo staff

We wrote more than a dozen posts on China’s growing appetite for luxury last year.

Few things surprise us anymore. Then we saw this: a 66-day around-the-world tour that sold out in China 13 seconds after the reservation hotline opened -- roughly the time it takes Olympic-champion hurdler Liu Xiang (刘翔) to cover 110 meters.

Did we mention the price? The cost of the whole trip is a whopping RMB 660,000 (US$104,654), about eight to 10 times the annual salary of an average Chinese.

The Magnificent 11

The tour -- which takes in more than a dozen countries and both poles -- is organized by Ctrip.com, one of China’s biggest online travel agencies. News of the fast sellout was confirmed to us by Jack You (游金章), general manager of Ctrip’s high-end package tour department.

You said the eye-catching package was sold last June through Ctrip’s hotline. After a half-year visa application process, the group took off from Shanghai on January 29.

Gulangyu: China's loveliest island

Gillian Bolsover — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:57:52 +0000

by Gillian Bolsover

"Two legs good, four wheels bad," might be the unofficial motto of Gulangyu Island, which lies a short way offshore from the city of Xiamen.

With the warm climate, good air quality, abundant beaches and laid-back lifestyle, Xiamen (厦门) is one of the most pleasant places to visit and live in China: but a lot of the credit goes to its tourism magnet, Gulangyu (鼓浪屿).

The island, which is just under two kilometers square, is a five-minute ferry ride from Xiamen’s urbanized city center and is most famous for its beaches, seafood and a refreshing lack of automobiles, which are banned.

Gulangyu is nicknamed "Piano Island." With a population of around 25,000, the subtropical town contains more than 5,000 pianos and a 450-square-meter piano museum, showcasing more than 40 ancient pianos from around the world.

The other main draw of Gulangyu is the large number of colonial houses -- a legacy of having been an international settlement of 14 different countries in the 19th and early 20th century.

Buy the world's 'oldest' cheese ... in China

Andrea Fenn — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

by Andrea Fenn

After "most skyscrapers in the world" and "world's biggest bottle of cooking oil (nearly five meters tall)," China has another superlative to add to her list. And it is the least likely one of all.

What has been claimed to be the world's oldest piece of edible cheese is currently located in China.

Get this: the owners want to sell this extra old cheese to Chinese people.

For the Chinese, cheese itself does not have a meaning, it’s basically an ingredient of other foods like pizza

The phenomenal "relic" is a 20-kilo cut of Italian alpine cheese called Bitto, produced in 1997 and valued at HK$2,500 (about RMB 2,040) per kilo.

Shanghai: Art deco capital of the East

Sophie Friedman — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:57:04 +0000

by Sophie Friedman

Art deco is the leitmotif of Shanghai architecture, distinguishing its most significant buildings.

In the 16 years that he's spent in the city, architecture buff Spencer Dodington has lived almost exclusively in art deco buildings.

A passion for Shanghai’s art deco heritage has established the 43-year-old American entrepreneur as the go-to person on the subject. He runs personal tours (with agency Luxury Concierge China), provides consultancy on renovating pre-1949 Shanghai apartments and even designs art deco-themed fashion accessories.

“These lovely buildings got me hooked on the uniqueness of Shanghai 1930s architecture,” says Dodington. “It’s really different and interesting compared to Texas, where I’m from, but it’s also different from other cities with their own art deco, like Miami and New York.”

Dodington says Miami’s architecture is interesting because it’s so related to the ocean and sea life, including its color palette; the city is known for its pastels. Its art deco buildings are also very unfussy, with most taking the form of affordable, middle class low-rise apartments.

8 China travel tips from a veteran hotel CEO

Tracy You — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:57:56 +0000

by Tracy You

Keith Barr, CEO of InterContinental Hotels Group Greater China.Few people in China are in a better position to give tips on the country’s rapidly developing tourism market than those who run hotels.

An estimated three million new hotel rooms will be opened in China by 2016, putting hoteliers at the forefront of the boom.

As chief executive officer of InterContinental Hotels Group Greater China, Boston-born Keith Barr, 41, is responsible for the operation of 162 hotels.

In addition, he's traveled nearly every inch of the country during his seven years in Asia, researching the attitudes and desires of Chinese travelers and looking for up-and-coming spots to expand the IHG brand.

In an interview with CNNGo, Barr outlined eight tips for international travelers and hotel professionals in China.

Lust caution: Lifting the lid on erotic Shanghai

Andrea Fenn — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:57:24 +0000

by Andrea Fenn

As Cole Porter might well have sung: "Birds do it, bees do it, Chinese -- in their millions -- do it."

A culture preoccupied with "face," a strong sense of privacy and an unfriendly political climate have made Chinese people more apprehensive about eroticism than residents in the libertine capitalist strongholds elsewhere in the world.

At least in Shanghai, however, behind the facade there's a world to discover.

Kara Bierley, the 24-year-old Texas-born owner of adult shop Amy’s Bedroom, has already opened her second branch in the city, and she declares Shanghainese people love carnal products just as much as anybody else.

“I see conspicuous consumption all around me,” she says.

Chedun: Where China's best films are made

Tracy You — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:57:22 +0000

by Tracy You

Every year, thousands of young Chinese migrants flock to Chedun (车墩镇) -- either hoping to get a foothold in Shanghai with a job on an assembly line or pursuing their dream of becoming the next Jackie Chan (成龙).

In addition to housing a 40-square-kilometer industrial zone, Chedun is also home to Shanghai Film Park (上海影视乐园), one of China's biggest movie studios.

Fake Shanghai, ghost town and a great green space

The film park lies only a couple of blocks away from a dusty, noisy and truck-loaded highway and down a side lane filled with noodle restaurants, massage parlours, Internet cafés and short-stay apartments -- an unassuming place to launch some of Asia's best films.

Opened in 1998, the 400,000-square-meter compound witnesses the production of more than 100 films and TV series every year, with headlining titles like "Lust, Caution," "Perhaps Love" and "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor."

A walk through the park is an eerie experience.

Praying for good fortune at Lunar New Year

Tobias KeglerTobias Kegler (photos) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:57:28 +0000

by Tobias Kegler

Lunar New Year's Eve in China might be all about fireworks, family, and the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. But come New Year's day, locals flock to temples to pray.

Take Shanghai for example. Here, the venue of choice for many is Longhua temple.

Longhua Temple (龙华寺)

The largest, oldest and most complete ancient temple complex in the city, the 20,000-square-meter Longhua Temple dates back 1,800 years or more.

Like in most temples in China, don't expect to see original buildings in Longhua. Most of the present-day structures dates from later reconstructions (the final one around 1954), but the temple preserves the architectural design of a Song Dynasty monastery of the Buddhist Chan (Zen) sect.

Ensure good luck

Chinese Buddhists go to temples to pray on the first and 15th day of every lunar month. The Lunar New Year praying rush normally starts from Lunar New Year’s Eve.

China leads global aviation earnings

CNNGo staff — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:43:21 +0000

by CNNGo staff

China has become the world's biggest aviation profit source. The country’s airlines brought in a total of RMB 26 billion net profit (about US$4.1 billion) in 2011, reported Guangzhou Daily.

This number accounts for nearly 60 percent of the worldwide aviation net profit, which was estimated to be US$ 6.9 billion by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

It’s also roughly four times the European output and twice as much as what U.S. airlines were expected to earn for the same period of time, according to the same report.

China's aviation will keep growing

Surprisingly, this was achieved when China was experiencing an aviation downturn due to fuel price hikes and the launch of more high-speed railways in China.

Statistics from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) suggested that the nation’s airlines profited 26 percent less than 2010 and its cargo volume has shrunk two percent, to 5.5 million tons.

Clarissa Wei: An American in disguise in rural China

Clarissa Wei — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:57:09 +0000

by Clarissa Wei

I’m American, not Chinese.

I refuse to even use the hyphenated term Chinese-American.

I was born in the United States and raised in Los Angeles. Though some ABCs (American-born Chinese) want to be recognized as “real Chinese,” I don’t.

In fact, I’d imagine it would be offensive to the Chinese if I were called a “real Chinese.” It would be a total lie.

My parents immigrated from Taiwan in 1990 with pharmaceutical degrees and very limited English.

5 Chinese destinations without Spring Festival crowds

Eddy Chin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:57:07 +0000

by Eddy Chin

Eluding the Lunar New Year crowds within China is like trying to swim without getting wet.

The best you can do is to seek the few pockets on the mainland that will probably have fewer hometown sojourners and/or giddy vacationers.

Head out to these five often-neglected Chinese regions for a fulfilling cultural adventure without fighting the holiday mob. Hopefully.

1. Western Xinjiang

We can’t think of a better way to escape the Spring Festival fever than exploring a unique culture in a far-flung desert region of the country.

Out in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, along the old Southern Silk Road, live the Uyghurs, Turkic-speaking Muslims who make up the majority of the population in this fascinating area.

China’s top new scenic spot crowned

CNNGo staff — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:40:56 +0000

by CNNGo staff

As the alleged home of the legendary Bigfoot-like ape-man known as "yeren," Shennongjia (神农架) has been the go-to place for adventurous Chinese travelers for decades.

But its mystery and solitude might soon fall victim to the colorful flags of tour guides.

The west Hubei attraction is the latest addition to China’s list of 5A-class scenic spots (国家级5A旅游区). Shennongjia was presented the title last week in Beijing by the National Tourism Administration, reported Xinhua News Agency.

The 5A-class is China's top classification for scenic spots. Attractions in this category are said to represent the nation’s best tourist spots for receiving excellent ratings in eight categories, ranging from transportation and tourist services to hygiene conditions.

As of September 2011, there were 119 5A-class scenic spots throughout China, including Hangzhou's West Lake, Huangshan and Badaling Great Wall.

China Spring Festival: A travel survival guide

Meredith Rodriguez — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:57:25 +0000

by Meredith Rodriguez, Andrea Fenn

Here's the best advice about traveling in China during the Spring Festival: don’t. Even for many locals, the fireworks and festivities aren’t worth the higher prices and the headaches of milling crowds.

But for anyone willing to overcome snags in exchange for a grand spectacle, here are nine tips for preparing for the ultimate travel challenge.

(The Spring Festival travel season usually starts two weeks before Lunar New Year and ends on the 15th day of the New Year, aka the Lantern Festival. This year's Lunar New Year falls on January 23.)

1. Travel light but bring essentials

Bring only the most essentials -- you will thank us later.

Weather everywhere, except for south China, is frigid this time of year, so make sure you prioritize wool sweaters, down coats, fur-lined shoes, thermals and warm accessories in the one-checked-bag allowed on domestic flights and trains.

Time-lapse video: China builds 30-story hotel in 360 hours

CNNGo staff — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:37:28 +0000

by CNNGo staff

This video demonstrates the Chinese company Broad Sustainable Building did not exaggerate about its construction speed. Time-lapse segment starts from 1:19. (Courtesy Broad Group)

Chinese construction workers have once again awed the world, this time by erecting a 30-story hotel in 360 hours in Hunan Province.

The building is the latest achievement of Broad Sustainable Building (BSB), a Chinese construction company renowned for its eye-opening efficiency.

A five-star hotel to be

Ground was broken on the hotel on December 2, 2011, in the Lin Gang Industrial Zone in Xiangyin County near the provincial capital Changsha. The building was completed in 15 days.

Named T30, the 17,000-square-meter hotel is due to open on January 18, and is expected to be a five-star establishment.