2010

news.xinhuanet.com — Is the "springless" Year of the Tiger putting young Chinese couples off marrying this year? Not really. The generation born in the 1980s don't pay much attention to folk superstition. An ancient Chinese tradition says it is inappropriate to get married in the 2010 lunar year, as there is no "spring" in it.

www.forbes.com — China's Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo can almost touch the Olympic title that has eluded them in three other games. They used a world best in the short program Sunday night to get as close as the width of a skate blade. If it takes another record to grab the all-elusive gold at the Vancouver Olympics, well, they have the goods to do it.

www.chinatravel.net — The Shanghai Expo organizing committee has just released their plan for providing an anticipated 70 million Expo-goers with bathroom facilities. The verdict? The facilities of choice at the cleanest, greenest, most high-tech Expo ever will be squatter toilets. Suffocating and notoriously icky, they're truly the stuff of Expat nightmares. But, they're China's potty of choice...

www.shanghaidaily.com — China's sixth national population census will begin in November, with foreigners and people from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan included for the first time. Trained census workers will visit residential complexes, hotels and even prisons to collect information on people's ages, nationality, levels of education, profession and population migration.

www.channelnewsasia.com — Ever the capitalist "running dog" of Chinese cities, Shanghai just shrugs its shoulders at the Olypics and looks forward to the Big Nugget: the 2010 World Expo. Read on, Baby...