Chinese New Year 2009 and Australia Day

Well for me, I have 2 reasons to celebrate on January 26. It is Australia's national holiday "Australia day" AND it is Chinese New Year on the lunar calendar. It hasn't been Chinese New Year on January 26 since 1933.

So Happy New Year and Australia Day to all!




1. 'So what are you doing this Australia Day ?', 2. Australia Day 1, 3. Under the Southern Cross, 4. CB013121, 5. Happy Australia Day!, 6. 200401, 7. dragon_dance, 8. Chinese New Year Parade, 9. Chinese New Year of Rat

More and more readers! & Blog statistics

Happy Belated Christmas, and New Year 2009!

I'm amazed that although I hardly write in this blog anymore I still get more and more readers and hits. Thanks to all my readers (who seem to come from all over the world!) I also love getting emails and to those who I haven't replied to: I'm not ignoring you, I've just been quite busy and will reply to you really soon.


Top posts:

1. Hello Kitty Cafe, Taipei, Taiwan

2. 2007 World cities - cost of living survey

3. Carrefour shopping complex, Gubei

4. National Wear Red Day

5. Chinese New Year of rat 2008


Top keywords:

1. life in shanghai
2. carrefour shanghai
3. shanghai life
4. hello kitty sweets cafe
5. hello kitty cafe taiwan
6. hello kitty restaurant taipei
7. i dreamt i was pregnant
8. paul bakery shanghai
9. metro city shanghai
10. china birth rate


Some weirder keywords searched for through Google:

* 5rmb bag at zara china
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* bound feet 裤子
* customs drug search perth airport 2008 velcro

The Shanghai World Financial Center was named the world's second-tallest building that some say resembles an elegant bottle opener, was named on Thursday by architects as the best skyscraper completed this year... The Shanghai tower was chosen by the group over three newly completed buildings in other regions that received praise: the New York Times Building in New York, 51 Lime Street in London, and the Bahrain World Trade Center in Manama.

The Shanghai tower contains 4 million square feet of floor space (377,000 sq m) to be occupied by some 12,000 office workers on 70 floors, with retail space and a conference center below, a hotel above, and topped by an observation deck.

The tower stands second in height to the 1,667-foot-tall Taipei 101 tower in Taiwan, but both will soon be eclipsed by the Burj Dubai under construction in Dubai. Once its spire is finished, the mostly residential Burj Dubai is expected to soar 2,625 feet into the sky though its ultimate height has been kept a secret.

Developers of another planned residential tower in Dubai say that it will be 1 kilometer, or 3,280 feet, high.

Read more at Yahoo (article by Reuters).

(Picture from China Daily)

China Makes Internet Addiction an Official Disorder

Link here

China could become first nation to make Internet addiction a medical disorder

China is expected to become the first country in the world to officially classify internet addiction as a mental disorder. Chinese government officials would be required to register the term with the World Health Organization, which has seen an increased interest in internet- and game-related addiction.

Around 253 million of China's 1.2 billion population use the internet, with the number expected to grow as remote parts of the country build necessary infrastructure to support the internet.

Dr. Tao Ran studied at least 3,000 patients over a four-year period to help him classify internet addiction, which will be a condition similar to alcoholism or compulsive gambling.

A person who spends at least 6.13 hours online each day can be considered an addict. InterActiveCorp research indicates 42 percent of young internet users feel they are addicted to the internet, while only 18 percent of American youth feel they are addicted.

Around 50 percent of internet users in China are between the ages of 18 and 30.....

Read more at the site.

Engrish and Chinglish blog

Check it out for some laughs