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Will we all burn in a fire made of mooncake packaging?

Posted Friday, September 05, 2008 5:35 AM by will
Imagethief likes the Mid-Autumn Festival. I like it because even though it actually comes in late summer, it reminds me of autumn, and autumn is famously the nicest time of year in Beijing. In any year devoid of Olympic rigging, late summer in Beijing Read More...
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I apologize to Beijing's air, plus how to get rid of an infestation of brides

Posted Monday, September 01, 2008 1:14 AM by will
Snark goeth before the eating of a generous helping of crow. I owe Beijing an apology. On Thursday and Friday I lamented the return of Beijing's air pollution to what I assumed was status quo ante . But yesterday was one of those days --of which Beijing Read More...
5 Comments

Would sir like lung cancer or deafness with his old age?

Posted Thursday, August 28, 2008 9:53 PM by will
Like a giant kid who's been holding a fart in during a three week elevator ride, Beijing has apparently relaxed its many industrial sphincters and let a big one rip. That's the only way I can explain the lighting-fast deterioration in air quality. In Read More...
10 Comments

Beware the woman carrying a box of Fuwa

Posted Friday, August 22, 2008 7:13 AM by will
Those who live in Beijing and commute on the subway will know that bags are now X-rayed on the way into the station. The security is already fairly porous in several ways. For instance, they only seem to cover one of three entrances at the station by Read More...
8 Comments

Good to see Guangzhou has its priorities straight

Posted Wednesday, August 20, 2008 6:53 AM by will
From the "you couldn't make it up" department here in Imagethief Towers, an old-school China Daily gem: City gets tough on foreign jaywalkers By Zhan Lisheng (China Daily) The southern Chinese city of Guangzhou is taking stern action against foreigners Read More...
12 Comments

E-Z steps to make your own Beijing air at home

Posted Wednesday, July 30, 2008 1:12 AM by will
Imagethief realizes that he and much of the journalistic and blogging community have been doing a grave disservice to our readers who don't live in Beijing. We beg your forgiveness. Living in Beijing is such an all-consuming experience that we sometimes Read More...
10 Comments

The new "That's Beijing" and the art of stench management

Posted Monday, July 14, 2008 12:45 AM by will
Beijing residents may know that a few weeks ago there was something of a rough spell for local English language magazines. The local version of entertainment magazine Time Out was shut down at least temporarily for mysterious reasons. Also, the publishers Read More...
38 Comments

You are liable for any misuse of the contents of the advice

Posted Thursday, May 15, 2008 12:51 AM by will
I've been looking at this message for the past four years: "You are liable for any misuse of the contents of the advice". Some of you may recognize this as the warning that all Chinese ATMs give you if you have the temerity to ask for a printed transaction Read More...
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Armageddon in my neighborhood: Photos and video from Chinese New Year in Beijing

Posted Thursday, February 07, 2008 6:14 AM by will
When Imagethief was a lad he was (as his father will gladly tell you) something of a pyro. I always looked forward to the fourth of July, Independence Day, when fireworks are traditionally set off in the United States. They were banned in San Francisco, Read More...
7 Comments

2007 best-of-Imagethief and statistics

Posted Tuesday, February 05, 2008 11:01 PM by will
There is no such thing as a dull year in China. 2008 is well underway and already looks like another whopper. We're only a month in and we've already had the biggest storms in half a century. The Olympics, the mother of all China events, is now a scant seven months off. God only knows what will happen in between. Read More...
4 Comments

The storm

Posted Saturday, February 02, 2008 6:43 AM by will
I feel I owe the people of China an apology. About a month ago I accused this winter of being a "pansy" winter. As many people have since reminded me, I was tempting fate. Fate has obliged by throwing China it's worst winter storm in more than two decades Read More...
11 Comments

Ich Bin Ein Beijinger: Beijing reloaded

Posted Sunday, January 27, 2008 9:26 PM by will
I pinch-hit for Kaiser on the back page of That's Beijing's January issue. Thanks to my stint in Shanghai it's the first time in nearly a year that I've written something for them. Fittingly, I wrote about moving back to Beijing from Shanghai. The column Read More...
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Blue sky days: If at first you don't succeed, change the metric

Posted Thursday, January 10, 2008 7:27 AM by will
You really didn't believe that things were getting better, did you? And you didn't believe that it fate that led Beijing to squeak past its 2007 blue-sky target by a margin of one whole day, did you? Conspiracy theorists, rejoice. Via Danwei , the Wall Read More...
10 Comments

Is it warmer or is it just me?

Posted Thursday, January 10, 2008 7:10 AM by will
I knew it was getting warmer. This is my fourth winter in Beijing. The first one was a near-death experience. Of course, I had been living in the tropics for nine years, so I had some adjusting to do. But still, it was brutal. The north wind ripped through Read More...
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Bad air

Posted Thursday, December 27, 2007 9:06 PM by will
There is really little new that can be said about Beijing's air pollution, so I am generally reluctant to write about it. Nevertheless, I feel the last couple of days merit special notice. It has been bad. It has been bad in a way that the word "bad" Read More...
12 Comments
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