Hao Hao ReportThe best China news and blog posts

John, of Sinosplice/Chinesepod/ChinaBlogList fame, has hit the big time. Watch out Da Shan, John's more likable and (according to his limited female readership-and mom) much more handsome.

On his own blog John hits on a point about profiles like this and how Chinese English-language media are always gunning to get us laowai "in a corner" and interview us. I applaud John for getting in a good quote or two that don't just "sell up" China and Chinese culture.

Google has released a Pinyin-based character-input method for Windows systems. It offers a number of special features … download the program from this page.

In recent years, the real estate and infrastructure boom in China has stimulated a rapid development in the plastic doors and windows sector. The sector has now become an important pillar in China's plastics industry and significantly lifted its market share. But at the same time, the sector is also facing issues such as varied quality, lack of uniform industry standards and vicious competition.

John over at Sinosplice hasn't found the solution to the YouTube block, but he's got a pretty darn good alternative - Stage6. According to John, though it doesn't have the numbers, Stage6 does have higher quality and faster download times.

Check out the post for a few links to some Stage6 videos about China.

John at Sinosplice makes a very good point about not jumping too quickly in over simplified generalizations in regards to Chinese rudeness. Using a personal experience, he shows that, sometimes, people just are having a crap day and we shouldn't judge too harshly.

An interesting post from Jeremiah at the Granite Studio. While out shopping with his fiancee and her mom, J. holds back and shams "ting bu dong". This assumption of no-understanding leads to a street debate about his ethnicity and then a bold statement that he's not a "real" American.

Blogger Matthew Stinson gets some advice from Sinosplice's John Pasden and fellow Shanghai expat Micah Sittig on some must-see and must-do things when visiting Shanghai for the first time.

QQ, for those that don't know, is China's most popular IM software. Usage is so widespread that among the younger generation you're near as likely to get someone's QQ # as you are their mobile number.

This is only meant to serve as an example of the sort of humor you should never, ever engage in. Tibet is not a country and throwing Chinese people out of windows is ill-advised.