The ancient admonition seems the only way to hedge the reflection that as bad as Citi’s problems are, how much worse might they have been had Walter Wriston still been running the bank. It was the late Citibank CEO Read More
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 Read More
Set just minutes from the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, the restaurant’s location Read More
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, 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 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 Read More
Resolving that issue in China requires wrestling with questions of being and reality—including, in my case, an argument with a uniformed officer of the Beijing Read More
BEIJING—I had just begun haggling for a silk comforter at the Yuexiu Market on Chaoyangmen Street when I got a phone call saying that New York Times Op-Ed columnist Thomas L. Friedman was on his way to a bookstore nearby. I wrapped up the deal, disadvantageously, and grabbed a cab. You can learn a lot 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 At first glance, it appeared that Rui Fu had closed and been replaced by another nightclub--a routine thing to happen in Beijing, with or without bulldozers involved--and that the Read More
BEIJING—I’m standing on the third floor of a multi-story shopping center not far from Tiananmen Square known as the Silk Market. It’s sort of like a horizontal version of Canal Street, although this hardly does it justice: There are literally hundreds of stalls spread out over six stories, selling everything from real Chinese silks to Read More
BEIJING—I’m standing on the third floor of a multi-story shopping center not far from Tiananmen Square known as the Silk Market. It’s sort of like a horizontal version of Canal Street, although this hardly does it justice: There are literally hundreds of stalls spread out over six stories, selling everything from real Chinese silks to Read More
The invasion of Asian mega-restaurants, with their Raiders of the Lost Ark décor and fusion cuisine, has not abated. Hot on the heels of Buddakan, Megu, Morimoto and Matsuri (to name a few) comes Japonais, a Chicago import that has opened in a former bank just north of Union Square. The restaurant, which opened in Read More
It’s been three years since Nell Freudenberger quieted most of her critics with a sharp collection of short stories, Lucky Girls. And yes, it speaks to the unique pettiness of the literary world that she already had critics, despite the fact that her publishing history consisted of one short story in The New Yorker’s 2001 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 Read More
Ever since my son was old enough to bang on a glass with a pair of chopsticks, I’ve been going for dim sum in Chinatown, a few blocks away from where I live. Now, still close to home 17 years later, eating oysters deep-fried in fortune-cookie-shaped wontons and fabulous green dumplings stuffed with mushrooms and Read More
