Extra! Extra! Bongs, booze and financial bubbles

Photo by kindsir

In one of the most hilarious pieces of news to hit the weekend, customs officials in Los Angeles stopped a shipment from China that was listed as Christmas ornaments but turned out to be... $2.6 million worth of bongs and pipes. Somebody hit that, man. [LA Times]
Daniel Gross waxes on about how companies in China have decided to solve their lack of export demand problem by *gasp* selling to the Chinese. [Slate]
Ooooh, the U.S. and China are getting cozier and guess what? India's getting J.E.A.L.O.U.S. [Financial Times]
The New Yorker recently profiled Donald St. Pierre Sr., who founded ASC Fine Wines in Beijing and became, "probably the single best-known businessman working in China." (Subscription only) [The New Yorker]
And Jim Boyce, Beijing blogger and drinks enthusiast, had a couple words to add on the subject of Donald. [Grape Wall of China]
Did the Chinese watch Obama's town hall in Shanghai? Apparently yes: of about 200,000 of the White House's live stream requests, 120,000 were from China. [The Atlantic]
Talk about Domino effect! The massive stimulus spending and easy credit lending to mainland Chinese has caused bubbles in its outlying neighbors. Hong Kong's housing prices have risen 30% this year and Macau gambling officials are trying their best to slow growth. [WSJ]
A Chinese dissident who tried to help parents protesting shoddy building practices in Sichuan has now been jailed for three years over allegations of "illegally possessing state secrets." [Reuters]

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