Results tagged “hellokitty”

Though Shanghai's latitude makes it pretty hard for us to see snowfall, northern China has been blanketed by it for days. As it's pretty rare for the area around Beijing to get snow this early in the cold season, the torrents have brought about some complications and tragedies, but also joy.

Counterfeit money in Asia is not just a fantasy fictionalized by that Jackie Chan atrocity film Rush Hour 2. It is a real situation. Very real.. and usually very problematic. One reason why you won't find denominations over 100RMB here: the government hasn't found a way to make sure it'll infiltrate the population without getting counterfeited up the wazoo.

Not content with sinking its rabid fangs into our children, our metro system and our optometrists, it seems the sinister cabal behind the Hello Kitty brand now wants to ensnare 50 percent of YOU, dear readers.

While browsing Digg for no reason in particular, we discovered something that appeals to two of our great loves, namely the environment and dodgy drawing. Yes, combined they form a cartoon competition aimed to promote environmental issues in China. It is only open to university students, and entries close on the 20th of May 2007. The winners will be announced on June 5th, and will receive cash prizes and the always-prized 'certificates'. You can learn more about the event, aptly-titled the 2007 University Cartoon Contest on Environmental Protection, via the China Daily website.

So what new invention will soon be hitting the streets? Will it be innovative? Intelligent? Thought-provoking?

Shanghaiist received the same email press release about the new book Billions: Selling to the New Chinese Consumer that Danwei and China Herald did. The book is written by Tom Doctoroff, Greater China CEO of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency. And the press release includes a list -- “Twelve Facts About the Confucian Consumer” -- that was "compiled by JWT to coincide with" the release of the book. Are all Chinese consumers Confucian consumers (whatever that means)? Are all Chinese consumers the same? Of course not. But they, obviously, are different than your average Western consumer, and we believe Doctoroff is trying to explain to his (mostly Western) audience just how they are different. We are publishing JWT's list below. As Danwei said, some of the items "ring true." Others can, and should be, contested. We'd love to hear what you have to say about this list, especially our Chinese readers:

Along with new duds from the Hello Kitty and Peanuts fall collections, another item has found its way onto the back-to-school lists of Shanghai high-schoolers: a set of good manners.