Laurence Harris

For a long time, Rotary International has been limited to just two branches in China, but now the government has permitted the organisation to expand. The Shanghai branch, especially some folk who used to be in Nanjing, is hoping...

China as a haven for smokers is showing signs of disappearing. A few years ago, the local government introduced a regulation requiring restaurants to show “No Smoking” signs. That's as far as it went, as there was no form...

Farming goes on in several Xianlin verges. Vegetables have grown and been harvested, although in many cases it is hard to know what the vegetable is. One looked like capsicum (peppers), but after a few small fruit appeared the...

To quote a famous line, “Curiouser and curiouser”. In Guangzhou Lu, the night after the desertion, all the usual suspects returned. Life was back to normal. What did they know last Wednesday, and how did they know it? The...

If you've walked past the Children's Hospital in Guangzhou Lu, you've struggled past the sea of street vendors around the main entrance. Suddenly, last night, it all changed. Gone were the fruit sellers, the aroma of roasting nuts, and...

It turns out that the reason for spraying a thin layer of water onto the roads is to stop the bitumen from cracking. Thanks, Nick, for the answer. On the downside, the water used in Nanjing is highly polluted,...

Exactly how does one test a new line. Line 4 of the Metro is supposedly undergoing testing prior to opening in January. Surely this involved moving trains along the line? At the Terminus in Xian Lin, the lights are...

Ebb and flow. Remember the disappearing street “mall” from some weeks ago. The space that the vendors vacated was cleaned up and levelled. Nothing happened for quite a while. Then it was surrounded with a steel frame. More inactivity....