CNPIEC Book store book listing

Privileged
By Zoey Dean, 304pp, Grand Central Publishing, 100 yuan
Recent Yale graduate Megan Smith comes to Manhattan with big plans for a career in journalism and even bigger debts: $75,000 in student loans. When she fails at a trashy tabloid job, she lands one last chance: tutoring the 72-year-old identical twins Rose and Sage Baker…

Sunday, January 31

Peppermoon
Where: Yugongyishan, 3-2 Zhangzizhong Lu, Dongcheng District
When: January 29, 9 pm
Admission: 100 yuan advance purchase, 150 yuan at the door
Tel: 6404 2711

Under the same sky

Hanan is a 12 years old girl living in Spain although her family comes from Morocco. His father decides to return to his country of origin, but Hanan feels she is Spanish.

China buying experience: shopping mall or contractor?

David Dayton just published another insightful blog post about China sourcing: Foreign Mental Blocks. It lists a few issues that many importers have a hard time to understand. I like the analogy to a contractor vs. a retail shop. These few paragraphs should be required reading for new buyers coming to China.

My old office is haunted by ghosts!

The villa is still there 4 years later, but the surrounding shikumen (old lane houses) have all been demolished. The place is one big construction area. The CNN article talks about several workers being bitten by animal ghosts, and staff at the Four Seasons Hotel across the street are afraid to do night shifts because they are spooked by ghostly animals.

Chinese Women Start Tennis Season With a Bang

For the first time in Grand Slam history, China has had two players reach the singles’ quarterfinals at the Australian Open, and at least one of them will advance to the semifinals.

iPad Blurs Line Between Devices

After months of feverish speculation, Steven P. Jobs introduced Wednesday what Apple hopes will be the coolest device on the planet: a slender tablet computer called the iPad.

One Object of Desire, Delivered

An audition can be a serious psychodrama, as any actor will tell you — probably at length, over a six pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon or a couple of dirty martinis. But the teeter-tottering test of wills that takes place in “Venus in Fur,” a tasty new comedy-drama by David Ives at the Classic Stage Company, makes even the most fraught encounter between a domineering director and a sensitive performer seem like a play date in the sandbox. Actors may be pleased to hear that in this 90 minutes of good, kinky fun, the upper hand does not necessarily belong to the usual suspect.

Tempted by History

THE night before his haute couture show this week, Karl Lagerfeld could be found in his studio at Chanel putting the final accessories on the models, which considering their size and gauzy air was a little like clipping earrings on a giraffe while it munches calmly on a tree.

New terms and old things

Inviting friends over to my house for a chat over beer is one of my little joys. My most frequent visitors are Johnson and Paul, my former high school classmates and best friends.