Author: life-china

 is when we trawl through the That’s archives for a work of dazzling genius written at some point in our past. We then republish it. On a Thursday. “I love short hair. But when I had it, people thought I was a lesbian,” a Chinese acquaintance once told me. She gestured at her straight, shoulder-length locks. “It’s called ‘mama’s hairstyle,’ after daughters who keep their hair long to please their mothers.” Ironic, considering that her mother came of age in an era when short hair was not only normal but sometimes even mandated: during the Cultural Revolution of the ’60s and...

The Chinese government recently released a list of rules that define which songs are classified as illegal, and therefore not permitted for use in KTV bars within the country.  Songs that fall under this category are ones that violate the constitution, endanger national unity, sovereignty, or territorial integrity.  Any songs that incite racial hatred or discrimination, violate religious beliefs, or propagate obscenity or illegal activities also fall under the nine rules of which songs cannot be played.  The law of what songs cannot be played in KTV bars will come in to effect on October 1.  The Ministry of Culture and...

It’s 2096. A plane flies over the international metropolis of Shanghai, and 30,000 feet below is a city covered in blue – the Bund, nowhere to be found; Lujiazui, a financial district up to its knees in watery debt. The Huangpu river overflowed, drowning a city and washing away its historical roots. It’s a grim but increasingly realistic picture that the scientific community is painting for policymakers, politicians, businesspeople and the general public alike. So, how bad is it? Scientists are indicating that up to 630 million people may live on land below projected annual flood levels by 2100...