Hao Hao ReportThe best China news and blog posts

Beer has traditionally been sold at a low price in China, with retailers and wholesalers absorbing much of the profit margin, leaving very little for breweries.

It's like a sitcom pilot: Take the craziest New Yorker laowai in Beijing and put him in a cut-rate hotel in Qingdao. Add beer. Hilarity ensues.

Tai Chi, an ancient form of low-impact mind-body Chinese exercise, has been proved to be effective in reducing tension headaches and improving perceptions of physical and mental health, a UCLA study finds.

Great post and pictures from the Beer Festival in Guangzhou JUly 2007.

I'd like to extend a warm welcome to Lost Laowai's newest addition - JohnB. John's inaugural post cuts to the heart of something all of us expats in China deal with frequently - the China funk.

John offers some good advice on regaining that lovin' feeling for the Middle Kingdom. Whether it be just some hotpot (and copious amounts of warm beer) with friends, a good book or getting the hell out of China for a while...

Small beer? What? "A series of semi-rhyming text messages circulating on mobile phones and the internet recently suggest conflicted feelings among a population that has seen inequality grow even as general living standards rise. "When we get money, we'll drink bean milk and eat greasy bread sticks, dipping them in white sugar or red sugar, whichever we damn want. We'll buy two bowls of bean milk, drink one and throw the other away," runs one of the half-envious, half-mocking text messages."

Chocolate-flavored body spreads sold in British sex shops have been found to be tainted with melamine, the chemical that made thousands of babies ill in China, food safety authorities said

"The customs department recalled the face and body paint sets, called SixColors, saying it contained excessive amounts of lead, chromium and barium. It said the lead content exceeded safety limits by as much as 25 times."

At least they aren't painting their bodies with cell phone batteries...

A Chinese medicine decoction seems to be effective in cutting food intake of obese rats and reducing body weight by as much as 33%. The study also suggests that the decoction might provide long term control of body weight.