Hao Hao ReportThe best China news and blog posts

China is one of the fastest growing destinations for tourists and businessmen, but many visitors are intimidated by the language barrier. Now there's a possible solution from China One Call (0845 500 2122; www.chinaonecall.com) a translation service at the end of the phone which launches on 16 October. You dial up a call centre and explain what you are trying to say, then hand your mobile to the taxi driver/waiter/receptionist who is given the message in Mandarin. You pre-pay blocks of call time - 60 minutes costs £39.

In Xi’an, like in many other major cities in China, prostitues, sex shops, and adult films have all claimed an important place in its local economy. While the growing public popularity of these adult items and services reflect a change in the way that Chinese people view sex, there is also a large foreign demand that is fueling this market. For this reason, many of the sex shops and...

Founded by Pony Ma in Shenzhen, China, in November 1998, Tencent is now recognized as the leading provider of Internet, mobile & telecommunications value-added services in China. QQ, Tencent's instant messaging service platform, officially launched in Feb 1999 and announced in its 2006 Q3 report that it has 221.4 million active users. What's more, the total registered user accounts has climbed to 572.3 million!

If your understanding of Chinese is limited to takeout menus, you need a friend fluent in Mandarin. With a telephone interpreter and translation service, English-speaking visitors to China can get directions, make reservations and basically avoid embarrassment. We tested two interpreter services in the market: chinaONEcall, a British company started in 2006 that promotes itself as "the interpreter in your pocket," and Language Line Services, which was started by a former California police officer 25 years ago.

Tibet reopened to tourists Wednesday, three months after the Chinese government banned visits by foreigners after violent anti-government riots and protests. Officials from the Tibetan Tourism Bureau say the first group of foreign tourists, from Sweden, arrived at the Lhasa airport on Wednesday morning. China threw a curtain around Tibet and areas in nearby provinces with sizable Tibetan populations after the March violence, citing the safety of foreign tourists and journalists.

For the Chinese businesses looking for attorneys: don’t look for the cheapest rates and then demand discounts. Trust me, you won’t be happy with those services and those attorneys are not going to be happy with you. Like many things in life, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

"Take, for instance, the politicization of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. How incredibly aggravating it is to see the Chinese and the Chinese government demand that the rest of the world not politicize their cherished coming-out party, only to see..."

"Disguising as reporters to threaten and intimidate others to collect money is cheating and very dangerous to society," Liu was quoted as saying.

In China, people sometimes pose as reporters to extort money from corrupt officials or demand payment for false promises of favorable news coverage.

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