the latest from China by reporter ron gluckman

Here's my latest work from China. Plenty more here: China listings.
Be sure to also look at new stuff from around the world, and check back as this site is updated regularly...

M ON EVERYTHING - With her culinary skills and no-nonsense approach, Michelle Garnaut became a local legend in Hong Kong, but achieved international acclaim with Shanghai's M on the Bund, which revived the historic Bund district. The diva behind the Shanghai Literary Festival is planning mega expansion on the Mainland of the M-pire.

HIGH FLYER - Handel Lee has been behind some of the coolest clubs, hottest restaurants, and top architectural restoration projects in China. Legation Quarter, adds more of the same plus underground theater at the site of the old Boxer Rebellion siege in Beijing. Yet the site could also be a last stand for this amazing lawyer turned entrepreneur.

AFTER THE OLYMPICS - Whether Beijing's Olympics will be considered the best, or greenest ever remains to be decided. But it will be remembered as the least wasteful, ending the legacy of all the forgotten facilities. It also paid more than lip service to energy efficiency. Give this Olympics a gold medal for civic planning. 

BOUTIQUE COMES TO BEIJING - Style never seemed important to Beijing. Shanghai was sleek and with-it; Beijing stodgy and always out of date. But, in the run-up to the Olympics, a slew of hip hotels hit the scene, helping to transform Beijing into a surprisingly trendy destination. 

UH-OH OLYMPICS - The stadiums and facilities are first-class, and Beijing has rolled out a remarkable lot of flashy architecture and new  infrastructure that have reshaped the Chinese capital. But the Party cannot help its heavy-handed management that threatens to ruin the party.

VIVA MACAU!! - Forgotten for over a century, Europe's first outpost in the Far East languished in the shadow of Hong Kong, the more robust, vastly richer British colony across the Pearl River Delta. But now Macau is being reborn as China's Las Vegas, only much bigger.  
For an updated look at Macau, see the Town and Country story on Asia's Vegas.

TIBET AT A CROSSROADS - The new railway not only brings increased tourism to the Rooftop of the World, but an opportunity to change direction and grow. As more and more Chinese move to Tibet, many worry that their influence is pushing progress too fast, and that the magic that attracted them to Tibet will be trampled by tourism.

TRACKING TIBET'S TRANSFORMATION - The world's highest-altitude train has brought an influx of tourists to Shangri-la, along with renewed controversy over the influx of Chinese workers and enormous impact on Tibetan culture. But the tracks run two ways. Not only Tibetans, but Chinese, too, are grappling with new ways of tracking Tibet.

TRAIN TO TIBET - Nobody believed it possible, but Beijing spent billions to create the world's highest altitude railway, which began breathtaking runs to the Rooftop of the World in July. Chinese cheered, but Tibetans worry it's just a Golden Spike in the coffin for their Shangri-la.

BEIJING PROPERTY - A BUY! - Measures to curtail rampant Chinese real estate speculation have failed to slow a mainland market that continues to chalk up record gains. While Shanghai and some inland areas have cooled off recently, Beijing remains a buy.

SETTING THE STYLE FOR CHINA - American Handel Lee moved to his ancestral homeland to practice law, and runs the mainland's biggest legal firm. But he's had bigger impact outside the courtroom, creating some of China's finest restaurants, clubs, art galleries and plazas. In the process, he's expanded expectations and redefined the artistic sense of style on the mainland.

HONG KONG'S NEW BUZZ - With scores of new clubs, flash hotels and world-class attractions beyond Disneyland, rumors of the demise of this former British colony are greatly, gladly exaggerated. Present-day Hong Kong is vibrant, exciting, back to its pre-1997 peak.

HONG KONG YOGA BOOM - Forget inner peace and anonymity. In Hong Kong, yoga is taught in five-star salons, the biggest and most expensive in the world. Two takes: Hong Kong's Caviar of Yoga and the fitness barons behind Hong Kong's yoga boom.

  CHASING CHINA'S BOOM - GO WEST! - Beijing, Shanghai and the coastal cities have had their booms, but the future growth in China, like in another former frontier, can still be found if you Go West.

  MICKEY MOUSE MEETS MAO - What happens when the world's largest entertainment company woos the world's largest market? The answer has already reinvigorated Hong Kong, where the opening of Disneyland is only the first splash in a tidal wave of new attractions.

  BARBARIANS IN THE COCKPIT?  - Absolutely not, according to Chinese aviation officials, but this exclusive report reveals that foreign pilots are flying on the sly for Chinese airlines, which face a serious shortage of pilots due to an archaic system of training. China's secret in the sky.

BANJOS OVER BEIJING - When America's oldest music form played the world's oldest kingdom, there was a new twist to the bluegrass. It was sung in Chinese. Rising talent Abigail Washburn puts a new swing to old Beijing.

CASHING IN ON OLD CHINA - Cities across China are racing pell-mell to modernize, tearing down tiled-roof houses and replacing historic lanes with highrises. But half a dozen towns on the Yangtze River are going against the current, restoring cobbled lanes and banking on the past.

PARADISE FOUND?  - China has re-branded the tiny mountain town of Zhongdian as Shangri-la, and many are keen to cash in on the connection. After the obvious rebirthing pains, this picturesque Tibetan community can make a fair claim to its new role as Himalayan paradise.

ISLAND IDYLL - Hong Kong has long been known as Asia's city of thrills, but a City of Chills? Discover a new Hong Kong: beaches, bike riding and bargain lodging, just a dash from the world's most exciting city, on these enchanted isles.

TIBET IN VOGUE - Decades of debates and the best efforts of the Dalai Lama haven't budged Beijing, but to young Chinese, Tibet is the utmost of cool. They hunger for Tibetan food, trinkets, tunes and tours of the Rooftop of the World.

BATTLE OF THE BULGE - Forget Atkins or other low-carb diets; waste the Weight Watchers. In China, where bellies are expanding as fast as salaries and expectations, China fights the latest foreign invasion, fast food, with Fat Farms that mix acupuncture with herbs, exercise and lean cuisine. And the weight miraculously melts away.

SHANGHAI SCENE  - Georgio Armani and Jean Georges are only the latest in a huge wave of food and fashion superstars flocking to Shanghai, remaking the world's new glamour capital. With so much flash, it's frightening to recall that barely a decade back, this was a wasteland; Shanghai's dining scene has quickly come of age.

CHICAGO OF CHINA - Beijing is spending over $1 billion a month to turn this former Furnace City into an inland metropolis, with new bridges, airports, roads and rail. It's all part of the Go West campaign, a plan to bring development to the last frontier in China's own New Deal.

CHINA'S HIP NEW CITY - Once famed for its hills, heat, haze and biting smog, the much-decried Furnace City on the Yangtze River is a gaining a new measure of renown as the world's biggest city, and a most welcoming one. Home of the hotpot and enthusiastic hospitality, spruced-up Chongqing is even becoming hip.

SHIFTING INTO HIGH GEAR - From a nation of bikes and donkey carts, China has gone mobile in a flash. Auto sales are doubling almost every year, with all the global car makers racing to China to cash in on what has become, almost overnight, the world's most revved-up automobile market.

ARCHITECTURAL LEAP FORWARD - Beijing, once the stodgiest city in Asia, is quite suddenly the most exciting in the world, at least in terms of architecture. But some wonder if all the modern designs are too much flash, too fast.

HAPPENING HOU HAI - How high can one trendy district soar? In the case of Beijing's Hou Hai, a growing area of restaurants, bars and boutiques set around one of the capital's picturesque Imperial Lakes, there seems no limit for this not-so-new district.

IN SICKNESS AND IN WEALTH - Marriage on the mainland is a boom industry, with hundreds of love boutiques blossoming across the land as more and more couples splash out for extravagant weddings.

  BUND REBOUND - Once the richest, most decadent district in China, and all of the Far East, Shanghai's riverside row of old banks, trading houses and hotels has largely remained dark for decades. But recently, revelers returned for an opening and anniversary, once again partying like its 1939.

CHINA'S FUTURE SHOCK - Change is a constant in China, where jobs, housing, even policies seem to be revolutionized on an almost daily basis. All this means more opportunities and openness, but with the choice comes new pressures and a kind of Future Shock.

DIRT (CHEAP) MARKET - From trinkets to treasures, Mao caps to Ming pottery, Tibetan rugs, Yinxing teapots, relics and junk, whatever you hanker for can usually be found at Panjiayuan, Beijing's infamous dirt market.

TO GET HITCHED IS GLORIOUS - Marriage on the mainland is a boom industry, with hundreds of love boutiques blossoming across the land as more and more couples splash out for extravagant weddings.

HOT POT QUEEN - He Yongzhi has built an eating empire on one dish, the scorching hotpot. With over 100 restaurants in China, this Chongqing restaurateur wants to make hotpot the mainland's answer to MacDonald's.

A LACKLUSTER LEAP FORWARD - China put its first man into space in October, but you would hardly know it here in China, at least until the mission was successfully completed. Despite all the pre-launch boasts and sky-high expenses, Beijing decided to play it safe on its space launch.

FLASH CITY  - Shanghai's building boom is attracting some of the world's leading architects, who are designing the tallest skyscrapers, highest hotels, entire theme towns. In the process, they are turning Shanghai into one of the world's grandest cities; again.

XIN TIAN DI - Unique restoration project not only saves a historic part of old Shanghai, but gives China its hottest district of clubs, boutiques and eateries. And you can thank Mao for this new Cultural Revolution.

DAM IT! - Love it or hate it, the controversial Three Gorges Dam reopened to boat traffic in June, 2003, and already the Great Wall of Concrete across the Yangtze River is proving to be an odd tourist attraction in its own right.
 
BIG BUDDHA - Biggest anywhere, in fact, even before the Taliban blew the tops off its own religious relics. For centuries, serene Dafo has been sitting on a throne carved into a mountain, watching over the sleepy Chinese town of Leshan.

WHEN CHINA COUGHS, the world takes cover. As a fatal new bug (SARS) sweeps across Asia, and threatens the world, much attention focuses on China, likely source of the scourge, but Beijing is stuck between disclosure and complete denial.

FIGHTING IN THE STREETS? The Stones cancelled, but students in the capital were gearing up for rare public  protests. Until they got censored - for agreeing with their own government. Ah, only in Beijing Spring.

SHANGHAI'S HIGH-SPEEEEEEED TRAIN: I've seen the future of transport, and you can have a look, too, at the futuristic Maglev (magnetic levitation) train soon to start service in Shanghai. All aboard for a test run to Tomorrowland.

BRILLIANT BAZAAR: Miles from nowhere, mid-way between Rome and Beijing, Kashgar was the last outfitting post on the old Silk Road. Even today, trade continues in a timeless fashion at this colorful oasis every Sunday, when the entire area pours into the Last Market on Earth.

TOPPING OUT: They say you haven't lived a full life until you've scaled the four sacred mountains of China. On a trek to the top of Mt. Emei, highest of them all, one quickly finds that reaching the summit isn't the point of life's great climb.

HIGH-WAY ROBBERY - Tibet's holy artifacts have drawn pilgrims to temples on the Rooftop of the World for centuries, but lately the treasures have attracted interest from the less-enlightened: thieves, art dealers and Chinese thugs. An exclusive inside look at the theft of Tibet's artistic heritage.

THREE GORGES - As the world's biggest dam continues to raise the waters of the Yangtze River, record crowds pack cruise boats for farewell tours. But is this really the swan song for the Three Gorges, or only more Chinese hype? Two views on the trip-of-a-lifetime for Destinasian and the Wall Street Journal.

HOT AND SPICY - China's Sichuan Province has always been famed for fiery cuisine (think Szechwan and tasty Kung Pao chicken), but the mist-shrouded mountains, teahouses and panda-populated bamboo forests make it more of an all-round attraction than simply China's spiciest place.

RACE FOR SPACE - China plans to launch its first man into orbit within months, but it won't stop there. The vision of the People's Republic includes space shuttles, moon colonies, even missions to Mars. Already a dozen astronauts are training in a top-secret Space City, but we provide the world's first peak at the Chinese space programme. And also see...

FORGOTTEN FRONTIER - Space was once the Final Frontier, the ultimate challenge. Then, the madness of Moon Landings faded and space was forgotten. But no more. Perhaps a few decades behind the rest of the pack, China is reviving the Space Race.

ADVENTURE CAPITALISTS - Five years after its historic return to China, Hong Kong has changed in many ways, but not like any of the Beijing bashers predicted.

TROUBLE OUT WEST - China stands accused of using the war on terrorism to ratchet up repression of its own Muslim minority, branded by Beijing as part of the "Bin Laden clique." So,  how are things in China's Wild West? Bad, but no worse than usual, say Uighurs. Two dispatches from the distant Silk Road: Another Cultural Revolution and Strangers in their Own Land.

MODERN LOVE - Across the mainland, it's out with the old and in with the new, as in newlyweds. In new China, to get hitched is glorious.

CULTURAL REVOLUTION CRUISIN' - Not nearly Beijing Graffiti, still a tour of the capital in a Red Flag stretch limo is surely the biggest kick in years. Who knows, we may be driving Mrs. Mao's car!

RAISING A RED LANTERN - China's oldest ballet troupe was crippled by the Cultural Revolution, then overwhelmed by the new reforms. Yet a courageous ballerina is leading the way with a Commercial Great Leap Forward.


WIRING THE ROOFTOP OF THE WORLD!
Politics and religion may still be no-nos but fast-spreading internet cafes are bringing new information - and hope - to the remote rooftop of the world.

CHINA'S WOODSTOCK - Eighty bands and four days of Peace Love and Propaganda! was the billing for the coastal resort of Beidaihe. But it was just another could-have-been stock. How China almost had its Summer of Love.

      And coming soon:

    Carbon trading. China controls the market for emissions.
    Holiday heaven or hell? Among the Chinese on the tropical island of Hainan.
    Junk Ahoy - Aboard a historic sailing ship in Hong Kong.
    Eclipsed - total solar phenomena in remote part of China
    24 hours in Macau - an inside guide.
    Snow dreams - a scheme to send the world's most populous nation skiing.
    Where Underpants Come From: a new book with an inside view on China.
    China's Great Train: new book tracks the Tibetan train and Go West campaign.
    Finance Street: Beijing banks on its own version of Wall Street.
    Tibet in luxury. New trains launch on world's highest railway.
    Lijiang, hanging with the hipsters in China's coolest town.
    A real bomb: China's newest tourist attraction is birthplace of nuclear bomb!
    Going green -huge scheme seeks to seed China desert with trees.

Picture credits: ballet, space capsule and Woodstock from the web; Hong Kong yoga by Gerhard Joren
  all the rest by Ron Gluckman

   All contents (unless noted) are the property of Ron Gluckman, protected by international copyright laws and cannot be reproduced except with the permission of Ron Gluckman