Beijing

BEIJING—There was nothing on TV about the election when I got up on Nov. 5, just about the time that the polls were closing in Indiana. I had been looking forward to following the results of an election from the other side of the world--as with the NBA's West Coast games, the important part would play out not in the exhausted hours of late night but in the fat middle of the morning. Everyone back home could spend an agitated useless workday refreshing their browsers and chewing on tentative exit-polling rumors. I would wake up for the fourth quarter, when the action started.  read more »

Daniel Boulud expounds upon his new Maison Boulud in Beijing in the August/September issue of Haute Living (a magazine that managed to turn four under our radar--happy birthday!). The site of the eatery, Mr. Boulud's first overseas restaurant, has an interesting pedigree:

Set just minutes from the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, the restaurant’s location is the former American Embassy to the Qing Dynasty [China's last imperial dynasty]. It is where Henry Kissinger conducted secret meetings with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and where the Dalai Lama was in residence from 1951 to 1959. It is an absolute honor to be able to call such an iconic setting my Maison à Pékin.

(To his credit, nowhere in the Haute Living piece does Mr. Boulud turn the phrase "Peking duck.")

Above is a YouTube clip of Mr. Boulud in the kitchen of Maison Boulud.

Watching the wonderful spectacle of the Olympics this year, one finds the world outside the sports arenas constantly intruding. Russia manages to invade Georgia, human rights activists try to communicate their message to the world and oh yeah, breathing in Beijing remains a challenge. All of these issues are important, but as you might expect, I'm going to focus on breathing today.

I have the honor of participating in a program at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs where we provide management training for senior government officials from Guangdong Province in China. Guangdong is an industrial province with about 80 million residents and a large number of guest workers, and is at the heart of China's massive effort to develop economically.  read more »

"Visitors to the Olympics," Charles McGrath writes in today's New York Times, "...can be forgiven for thinking that China is a land of unnatural youthfulness where nobody is older than 30.....Older Chinese, and there are plenty in Beijing, are mostly out of sight."

Are they? As of today, the old people seemed to be exactly where they've been all month: sitting in twos or threes every 50 yards or so along every roadside, all over the city, wearing white Yanjing Beer polo shirts and red armbands. Or manning the sidewalk volunteer information booths in the neighborhoods.

But all McGrath sees is an army of college students, smiling at him in their Olympic-volunteer polo shirts.  read more »

BEIJING—“Of course, nobody wants to be Samantha,” Eva Shen said. It was a warm Saturday night on Houhai, the lakeside bar strip, and Ms. Shen, 40, had stepped outside the club she co-owns. Over the door, in glowing characters, was the Chinese name of the club, Yuwang Chengshi; above that, in larger letters, was its other name: SEX AND DA CITY.

Ms. Shen spoke English and wore yoga pants, a white T-shirt and flip-flops. (“I do yoga a lot,” she said.) Her hair was reddish and pulled back. Around her, the night was full of women in short-shorts, teetering heels, sparkly things; among the women were all the men looking for women.

Sex and da City opened in 2003, Ms. Shen said. She and about a dozen friends had been out at the World of Suzy Wong Club, and everyone agreed they might as well open a bar of their own. When they convened to discuss the idea again in the daytime, the group had dwindled to five. When it came time to talk about investing money, Ms. Shen said, it was down to four women.  read more »

Covering the rush to prepare for the Olympics in Beijing, this reporter inadvertently became a mascot for China's new spirit of cooperation with journalists.  read more »

BEIJING—I had just begun haggling for a silk comforter at the Yuexiu Market on Chaoyangmen Str  read more »

BEIJING -- Oggi, a Japanese fashion magazine with a Chinese edition, held a fifth anniversary celebration the night of Nov. 10, at the Rui Fu nightclub. At first glance, it appeared that Rui Fu had closed and been replaced by another nightclub--a routine thing to happen in Beijing, with or without bulldozers involved--and that the new nightclub was called Oggi. There were lit-up signs that said "Oggi" and an "Oggi" backdrop in front of which arrivals were required to pause, standing on footprint markings, for photographs before entering. In the vestibule was a gigantic bowl that said "Oggi" again. But inside, the club was still Rui Fu, though a narrow tan carpet with the Oggi logo on it snaked the length of the room, making right turns to get around the bar. A spur of the carpet led to the vestibule and the stairs. The main event of the evening was a fashion show by the Beijing label Zemo Elysee, for which the tan carpet would be the runway.  read more »

BEIJING—I’m standing on the third floor of a multi-story shopping center not far from Ti  read more »

BEIJING—I’m standing on the third floor of a multi-story shopping center not far from Tiananmen  read more »

The invasion of Asian mega-restaurants, with their Raiders of the Lost Ark décor and fusion c  read more »

It’s been three years since Nell Freudenberger quieted most of her critics with a sharp collec  read more »

Two days after giving up on five floors it had hoped to lease at 7 World Trade Center, the Beijing-based Vantone real estate firm was on the hunt today for another location for its China Center, a mini-office center and gathering place for Chinese firms looking to break into the U.S. market. "They were looking at several places in Midtown and downtown, for rental or acquisition," said Kathy Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City and a Vantone ally. The Freedom Tower, which is where Larry Silverstein wanted Vantone to go (after canceling its lease at 7 WTC), is not in the picture, Wylde said, because it would not be ready in time. -Matthew Schuerman

Ever since my son was old enough to bang on a glass with a pair of chopsticks, I’ve been going  read more »

Ever since my son was old enough to bang on a glass with a pair of chopsticks, I’ve been going for  read more »

The director of the proposed China Center at 7 World Trade Center says Beijing Vantone never agreed to Larry Silverstein's deadlines. Full statement, put out by the Partnership for New York City, which helped bring the deal together in the first place, after the jump. -Matthew Schuerman  read more »

Beijing Vantone was one of those almost-tenants at 7 World Trade Center that were supposed to make people feel good about the future of downtown. Its executives were publicly feted in January when they signed a letter of intent to lease the five top floors.

Well, what good is a tenant if it cannot pay? Impatient after Vantone, which proposed creating a business center where Chinese companies could set up mini-offices to break into the New York market, kept missing deadlines, Larry Silverstein cancelled its lease today, according to a statement from his office.

"After the China Center's failure to deliver their letter of credit on Monday - the fourth time they missed an agreed deadline to post security - discussions about the China Center taking space at 7 World Trade Center have concluded," Silverstein said in the statement. " While it is unfortunate that an agreement could not be finalized, this is a minor and temporary setback in the building's leasing efforts. As has been reported, the Silverstein organization is in serious discussions with a wide variety of world-class companies interested in space in the building."

-Matthew Schuerman

My father had a very good war—he spent 1942-46 on carriers in the South Pacific, making him pa  read more »

My father had a very good war—he spent 1942-46 on carriers in the South Pacific, making him part o  read more »

The Chicago Sun-times has blogged the transcript of Hillary's conversation with Bloomberg's Al Hunt.

Highlights:

A bit vague on China.

HUNT: Would you - if China refuses to revalue its currency in that context, would you take retaliatory measures against Beijing?

CLINTON: I would much prefer that we work together on this. [snip] They're growing dramatically. I want them to grow. I want them to have a very positive economic future, but I don't want us to be played for a sucker. That's my concern about this.

And a bit vague on taxes, and her husband:

CLINTON: You know, Al, I think we have to look at the whole package. You know, I obviously am an adherent to the Clinton economic policies. I believe in fiscal responsibility and I know there are some who come on your shows and say, that's outdated. We don't need it. I think that's a very dangerous position to take.

We need to figure out what is it we're trying to achieve and then we have to look to see on both the spending side and the taxing side how we get there.

HUNT: But that would involve a higher capital gains tax.

CLINTON: I don't know. I mean, I'm not going to ...

HUNT: If you roll back the Clinton - excuse me, the Bush ...

CLINTON: Well, if we went back to the Clinton policies it would. I'm not sure that that's exactly what we should do, but I think the combination of fiscal responsibility and economic growth proves to be very positive for our country.

“We should have consultation and properly resolve those issues and not politicize or magnify them,” the Chinese Foreign Minister reportedly told Senators Schumer and Graham, in Beijing to talk about currency.

Unless my Mandarin is rusty, that’s a rough Chinese translation of the immortal Corzine banana joke. (Read it and you’ll understand the photo.)

PhilippeOne star

333 East 60th Street

212-644-8885

Dress: Chic  read more »

Philippe One star 333 East 60th Street 212-644-8885 Dress: Chic  read more »

Issuing a press release at noon Tuesday, Larry Silverstein confirmed that Beijing Vantone agreed to basic terms of the 200,000-square foot lease at 7 World Trade Center. Along with a lot of quotes from every public official who had anything to do with financing the building or luring the tenant is an intriguing history. It started in June 2004 when the city's Economic Development Corporation first met with the Chinese real estate firm. Next, the E.D.C., along with the Partnership for New York City, brought a group of 20 American chief executives to Beijing last May. Subsequent visits by Silverstein and Governor Pataki sealed the deal. Crain's is reporting that the rent is a tad more than $50 a square foot. -Matthew Schuerman  read more »

The Daily News reports that Beijing-based Vantone Real Estate is negotiating for the top five floors of Larry Silverstein's 7 World Trade Center. -Matthew Schuerman  read more »

BEIJING—Before I bought the snakehead—the presumed snakehead—I wanted to make sure  read more »

BEIJING—Before I bought the snakehead—the presumed snakehead—I wanted to make sure.  read more »

On my first visit to Yumcha, a new Chinese restaurant in the West Village, I sat at the counter.  read more »

You Win Some, You Dim SumAt Jean-Georges Vongerichten's 66  read more »

Unanimously clairvoyant, 11 brokerage houses and investment banks last year predicted that China's G  read more »

I never bought into the chic spiritualism one heard and saw everywhere in the 60's; I was always mor  read more »

Colin Nutley's Swedish-made Under the Sun , which received an Academy Award  nomination last year a  read more »

Ever since the inauguration of George W.  read more »

Ted Demme's Blow ,from a screenplay by David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes, based on the book by  read more »

Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , from a screenplay by James Schamus, Wang Hui Ling and Tsa  read more »

Zhang Yimou has been called the "peasant director" because most of his films have been set and cente  read more »

The uproar over the 900-page Cox report on Chinese espionage already has started to subside, but Rep  read more »

The whole point of an automat used to be that what you saw was what you got.  read more »

Gere Gladly SuffersThe People's Court The People's Republic of China has obviously been wasting a lo  read more »