Launched on July 26, “Love on the Third Ring Road” is a bus tour designed to help singles find their love match on the road.

Looking to attract bachelors and bachelorettes, the bus is free to persons still single. Tickets look like a typical Chinese train ticket, with the exception of the slogan: “Number 520 bus goes from my heart to your heart” and seemingly issued by Cupid, the matchmaking icon. Seats can be reserved in advance online at nanbeituan.com. Beginning at the No 944 bus stop near Gongzhufen in Beijing’s Xicheng district, the bus takes off Monday-Friday at 5 pm, traveling the Third Ring Road clockwise. The loop takes around three hours.

On this trip, female passengers are asked to take separate seats, and males rotate seats every seven minutes. While on board, men are allowed a one-minute presentation to show off their charms. Women communicate who they want to sit with by raising signs showing either a circle (accept) or a cross (refuse).

We were in Chongqing this week and came across a great local flavor. From food brand Weinixiang, Fan Zaoyang contains dried turnip, pickle, bamboo roots and sour vegetables and is used to flavor meals. This kind of quick and easy to prepare food seems like a natural fit for the growing pre-packaged food business for targeting busy 2 working parent families.

Fan Zaoyang literally means rice gets bad luck. As in when the food is tasty, people eat more rice, which is bad luck for the rice.

Recently, we have noticed that a lot of young people are talking about something called an “AB system.” It means that a couple shares the bill on a date, though not 50-50: boys pay the majority, girls pay the remainder. This type of system has been popular in Western countries for years but has just started to be accepted in China.

I think an AB system is very reasonable. Men shoulder more responsibility in the society than women, but women are trying to be more financially independent today. AB system is good for both of us. What’s more, men eat and drink more than girls.

- John, 26, male, Shanghai

I like to share bills with my boyfriend when we are going out. Though I only pay the small part, he is appreciative. A penny saved is a penny earned. I think a woman will be respected more by a man if she shares the bill.

AB system is not only applied in a relationship, but also between friends. Joyce (23, female, Jinhua) told us, “I spend more time living at the apartment than my roommate, so I offered to pay more living bills. She was surprised about it and we get along pretty well.”

However, some people are not happy with AB system. “Why do we have to make it (paying) so complicated?” Rita (22, female, Shanghai) felt puzzled. “If a couple is really in love, who cares who pays? I don’t mind paying the bills when my boyfriend is facing financial problems.”

Douban, China’s leading SNS for music, movies and book enthusiasts, launched its radio service in April. It is a music player supported by a database of uploaded songs; it’s like a personal radio without DJ.

If you like the song, you can click the red heart; if you don’t like the song that the radio is playing, you can throw it into the trash. At the same time, Douban is learning preferences and becoming better able to cater to your tastes.

I’m a bit lazy. Sometimes, I can’t be bothered to choose every single song I want to listen to on music sites. Douban.fm made me curious because the music is played randomly and it knows my taste! After I clicked a couple of songs that I like, all the songs it played were totally my type. I think it’s a smart invention. Also, when I’m bored with public radio, I can always go to my personal fm on the site.

– Elaine, 20, female, Guangzhou

Currently, Douban Radio offers 6 unique stations for users (Mandarin, Western, Cantonese, 70s, 80s and 90s). We were interested to note that Douban categorizes music according to decades as most music sites only break down music by language.
Read the rest of this entry »

Trendspotter

Michael, 25

Editor, Suzhou

.

Until August 8th, the Chinese movie Aftershock ranked first in theaters, bringing in 534 million at the box office. The Founding of a Public and If You Are the One ranked second and third at the box office with 420 million and 325 million respectively. About 30 Chinese movies are showing this summer, most of which are low budget but demonstrate a trend toward diversity. Sales for Aftershock reached 33 million RMB on opening day, closely following Avatar, at 36 million.

Aftershock’s success can be attributed to:

1. The material touches the audience’s heart. Based on true historical stories, the movie attracts deep feelings from the audience.
2. The settings of the story are ingenious. Deep rooted and uniquely Chinese family values are the main body and serve as a bridge in this movie.
3. The narrative is reasonable and provides a big picture from small details. By describing more typical figures, the movie reveals a profound theme.

Audience comments after watching Aftershock in cinemas in Suzhou
Read the rest of this entry »

Trendspotter

Sally, 23

Publicity Management, Shanghai

.

Project Runway has been drawing attention in China since it was released on ICS (International Channel Shanghai). Hoping to cash in on the concept, Channel Young in Shanghai presented a similar design talent show, My Style, which attracted a large number of domestic and foreign fashion designers.

In Season 2, 2010 (season 1 aired in 2008), topics were more related to the hottest and most fashionable events in Shanghai including the 2010 World Expo, Fashion Festival and the Shanghai International Film Festival.

In the fifth round of the show, Everybody, Let’s T-shirt, Xue Lijuan and Xu Xiaomin won the competition and got a chance to sell their winning work, a T-shirt with a postmark on it and one with a Chinese door, in Giordano stores at a low price.

Despite this easy recipe to impress Chinese youth (take young designers, add publicity and an easy price point for let’s say – T-shirts), the show does not seem to be hitting the mark with its target audience.

I didn’t watch My Style very often. I don’t see the contestants’ individual style in their designs clearly. And honestly, that winning T-shirt is just not that cute or impressive to me.

-          Zhou Wei, 24, male, Graduate, Nantong

I only watched My Style season 1 back in 2008. I didn’t keep up with season 2 because it was so boring and lame, plus it looked just like a lousy copycat of Project Runway. I really hope they won’t make the audience play the fool any more.

-          Olivia, 23, female, English Teacher, Shanghai

Trendspotter

Sarah, 21

Consulting Assistant, Fuyu (Jilin province)

.

DAN-HOUSE was founded in March 12, 2009 in Beijing. Its founder Wang Xiaokun, champion of 2006’s talent contest My Show, decided to pursue his own music dream since he couldn’t bear to sing songs that he doesn’t like as a contracted singer. Four days later, Wang Xiaokun started his ten cities’ spring concert tour with his band. During the one month tour, they performed in ten famous live houses in Beijing, Dalian, Jinan, Zhengzhou, Xi’an, Wuhan, Changsha, Nanchang, Nanjing and their final destination, Shanghai, getting from place to place by bus.

Right after the tour, Wang’s independent team made a significant music album, Those girls who you love and those you don’t love but I love them all. The thirteen songs were all written by him, proving his talent and ambition to his fans.

Wang Xiaokun’s tour and DAN-HOUSE’s T-shirts cooperated with indie label The Thing
Read the rest of this entry »