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China

Day at the beach in Jinshan

Posted under China on Sunday, 29 August 2010 by admin

We swam in the East Chinese sea today, something I didn't expect to do this summer. Rather spontanious we decided to hit the beach of Jinshan. I'm telling you, nothing like a fake beach with screaming Chinese kids to relax on a Sunday afternoon. Now, nothing bad about the beach. We had a...

Gokohai Shabu Shabu

Posted under China, tips on Wednesday, 21 July 2010 by Joop Dorresteijn

I'd like to tell you about a Japanese hotpot restaurant in Shanghai called Gokohai. While Gokohai seems like just another 'all you can eat' location in Shanghai, it has been a red wire through our life here in Shanghai. First time we visited, about one year ago I was invited by a colleague. We came...

Chongming island offers park/camping outside Shanghai

Posted under China, tips, travel on Saturday, 12 June 2010 by Joop Dorresteijn

today we visited the Dong Ping national park just outside of Shanghai. I'm sure this island will be the next hot spot for Shanghai (and China) travelers and company outings; Why? It's green, featured great (clean) facilities and we received friendly service for a good price. A quiet forest with...

How to go to Hong Kong via Shenzhen

Posted under China, tips, travel on Saturday, 5 June 2010 by Joop Dorresteijn

I spent some time relaxing and buying clothes in Hong Kong yesterday. Previously, when I visit HK whilst being in mainland, I would fly to HK airport but recently I found out it is much cheaper through Shenzhen. I saved half of my travel expenses. If you are not interested in saving money at the...

Spilgames outing 2010, Moganshan and Nanxun

Posted under China, travel on Saturday, 29 May 2010 by admin

I've spend last night at Mount Mogan 莫干山, the destination of the Spilgames spring outing, is about 250km south-west of Shanghai, close to Hangzhou. Build by missionaries in the early 1900s as a retreat from the Shanghai heat. These days Moganshan is experiencing a true revamp in tourism,...

Dutch day at the Shanghai World expo

Posted under China, Netherlands on Wednesday, 19 May 2010 by Joop Dorresteijn

A few weeks ago I was asked by the Dutch ministry of Foreign affairs to help with a special project. During the time it was a big secret that during the Dutch National day at the World Expo in Shanghai (18 May), the crown prince of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander would visit with his wife, Maxima...

Celebration of Dutch Queen’s day in Shanghai 2010

Posted under China, Netherlands on Friday, 30 April 2010 by admin

Whilst Shanghai is upside down due to the opening of the Expo with many world leaders flying in, the dutch in Shanghai held a separate party: 'Queen's Day' a Dutch public holiday celebrating the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands and supposed to be a day of national unity and...

Big bus tours in Shanghai

Posted under China on Thursday, 29 April 2010 by admin

From today, well known London double decker busses from The Big Bus Company will allow tourists a grand city tour of Shanghai. Whilst I was waving back at that bus riding sunburned crowd, seeing them take pictures of everything the bus drives by, I realized Shanghai is about as ready as it can...

Shanghai Secondhand

Posted under China, Entrepreneurship, asides on Wednesday, 31 March 2010 by Joop Dorresteijn

Living in Shanghai can be expensive. Besides skyrocketing house prices, quality furniture and home appliances can be a bothersome expense base, especially when you already own those particular items in your home country. After ranting about these costs, a friend recommended us a second hand...

Spring time in Shanghai

Posted under China on Friday, 26 March 2010 by Joop Dorresteijn

With a forecast of five consecutive days above 10˚C, the spring officially started in Shanghai. After months of boring weather it's great to sit out in the sun again. The weather in Shanghai is crisp and with 12 degrees it's finally comfortable on a terrace. Today we decided to eat lunch at...

Köttbullar in Shanghai

Posted under China, Company visit, asides on Saturday, 13 March 2010 by Joop Dorresteijn

While I was studying in Sweden, I made a Chinese friend in my year. He studied logistics and implicitly wanted to work at Ikea. So he did: now, two years later he is a manager in the Shanghai branch, combining his language and culture experience with his market knowledge at home. I was hoping to...

How to Twitter to a local number with your mobile in China

Posted under China, Internet, tips on Wednesday, 10 March 2010 by Joop Dorresteijn

Setup a zuosa account (Chinese twitter clone) Verify your mobile number Sync zuosa with Twitter. Done! When I started to use Twitter in 2007, there was an option to tweet with text messages (SMS) It makes sense because a SMS is also short and it's more interesting to see tweets on...

Shanghai Concert Hall

Posted under China on Sunday, 28 February 2010 by Joop Dorresteijn

Attended a tribute to Beethoven in the shanghai concert hall with Pawel yesterday. I was there for two reasons: to hear the music and to see the concert hall from the inside. The western style building looks amazing from the outside. The music was good, and I was surprised with the mixed...

[Video] Chinese new year, streets of Shanghai

Posted under China on Sunday, 14 February 2010 by Joop Dorresteijn

Chinese New Year's, something to look forward to, but also something to fear. As Chinese New Year's is the biggest holiday of the year in China, it's hard for a foreigner to get into the same spirit. After all, christmas and New Years are far behind us already. It's kind of fun to spectate the...

Expensive cars rotting away in a Shanghai Police depot

Posted under China on Thursday, 11 February 2010 by Joop Dorresteijn

These cars are obviously being put to good use. Close to Xinzha road Shanghai, there is a police depot filled with (confiscated?) cars. Whilst the particular car in the picture doesn't fit my taste, it should be quite an expensive car, but it has been there for months (obviously) and is covered by...

Illegal Chinese medicine

Posted under China, travel on Wednesday, 10 February 2010 by Joop Dorresteijn

When I was walking to work this morning, I spotted some items being sold on street by a merchant. When I had a look, I noticed they were Chinese medicine. I'm not afraid to take legal Chinese medicine, perhaps to cure a sport injury or fight an upcoming fever, but these items are quite something...

Weekly groceries at a Chinese market place

Posted under China on Sunday, 7 February 2010 by Joop Dorresteijn

We visit a local market weekly, based efficiently underneath a highway. You can buy everything here, from kitchen equipment to fish. We usually buy our vegetables (biological!) and eggs here. This week I decided to take some pictures. You can find these markets everywhere across China. This...

Spilgames New Year party

Posted under China on Saturday, 6 February 2010 by admin

The crew of Spilgames is growing fast, this party, we had eight round tables full with people. The dinner was accompanied with speeches from management and our Sales assistant and Sound architect being masters of ceremony. There were lot's of fun games during the dinner, for instance, I had to...

wk 5: Clear days in Shanghai & Chinese new year

Posted under China on Tuesday, 2 February 2010 by Joop Dorresteijn

Clear days in Shanghai looks like it's going to be a nice clear day today. This view makes me long to the city and always get's me out of bed. Shanghai experienced some smoggy days lately, reason for me to put the data from the last 10 years in a graph. Somehow, the last two days seem clearer then...

Shanghai fog levels going down?

Posted under China, thoughts on Wednesday, 6 January 2010 by admin

My Swedish friends like to do business in China, but often state to me that they would never want to live in such a dirty city like Shanghai. They remind me that Stockholm is so clean, they can fish for salmon in the rivers going through town! This is not possible in Shanghai obviously, the water...

Buying a christmas tree in Shanghai (howto)

Posted under China, tips on Thursday, 17 December 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

To get into the holiday spirit, we've ordered a tree from rosagallica.com. A tip from Marc. Whilst the trees are mentioned to cost about 200 RMB, a lady called Camille followed up on my order and notified me that they exclude the costs made for delivery. I've agreed on a price of 400 RMB, which...

Halloween 2009

Posted under China on Sunday, 1 November 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

Americans celebrate Halloween. I don't understand what it is about, or what one is supposed to do. Being an outsider, I was surprised to learn that the spooky American tradition is known and celebrated throughout the International community in Shanghai as well. It's bit different...

Taobao.com to launch Wireless SMS Price Comparison Service

Posted under China on Wednesday, 28 October 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

Taobao, the internet shopping portal for B2B e-commerce group Alibaba has announced that they will launch a short message-based price comparison service. The new service will allow mobile phone users to inquire about products available on Taobao, when they are shopping in traditional stores. By...

Long Shanghai summers, Ultracapacitors and picnics

Posted under China on Wednesday, 28 October 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

A few things that come to mind regarding pollution, climate and China: I've received an email telling that Chinese smog is threatening economy and health in Hong Kong, which is a terrible thing. After living in clean, clean Sweden, I do notice the effects that smog can have. At the time of writing,...

Boat trip, Leifeng Pagoda and Yakitori in Hangzhou, China

Posted under China, travel on Monday, 26 October 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

This weekend we made a small trip of 180km out of Shanghai to see the West lake in Hangzhou China, with 6.5 million people not a small town, but due to the beautiful scenery of the lake and the hillside, it's a favorite destination for many Shanghainese. For me, it was a trip down memory lane,...

Gathered influential writers to bring you Asian tech news

Posted under China, Entrepreneurship, Japan, Korea, Media / In The News on Wednesday, 14 October 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

I'd like to tell you about a new blog we have launched yesterday. First, let me tell you why we went through all the effort: Personally, I have kept a close eye on developments in countries like South-Korea, Taiwan and Japan over the last years, but have start to observe that India, Bangladesh,...

Here comes China

Posted under China, United States on Monday, 12 October 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

Interesting discussion on the latest NPR planet money episode. "Here comes China"; In line with the 60th anniversary of the people's republic. The hosts, Alex Bloomberg and Adam Davidson ask their guests if China still needs the US more then the US needs China. After all, China needs US dollars to...

Tribute to the potato

Posted under China, travel on Saturday, 10 October 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

When people enquire about typical Dutch cuisine, the first thing that pops to my mind is the "potato eaters" painting by Vincent Van Gogh. To me, this 'cozy setting' visualizes how Dutch peasants have been eating potato's every day for at least 400 years, in a typical Dutch way. Besides the...

How Chinese men searching for “village of hot lesbians” broke the Internet in Sweden

Posted under China on Friday, 9 October 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

It all started when a news agency Xinhua reported (made up) the existence of a city in the northern Swedish woods with 25,000 inhabitants, all hot women living together to satisfy their Scandinavian sexual desires. The city, called Chako Paul was founded in 1820 by a rich widow and is guarded by...

20 cent gym part 2: bench press

Posted under China, sports on Wednesday, 7 October 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

Remember the 20 cent gym I blogged about? It was about the Chinese ‘muscle beach’:, a bunch of people assembling in a Shanghai park to work out every day. Frankly, the Chinese men pulling heavy weights while looking angry can be quite impressive (but why do they take their shirts off?), I...

PRC’s 60th anniversary, funniest remarks of the day

Posted under China on Thursday, 1 October 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

Today, almost all Chinese have a day off to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. Just like most Shanghainese, we stayed indoor to watch the parade on tv. NY Times called the parade "a precision display of military bravado and a confident prediction by President Hu...

Gamers in Qiandaohu – Spilgames outing at 1000 islands

Posted under China on Thursday, 1 October 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

Last week, the entire Spilgames Asia team assembled on a Thursday morning 7 AM in front of our office. The Chinese, Polish, American, Korean and Dutch colleagues got up early for good reason; Spilgames organized a company outing to Qiandaohu - favorite holiday destination for many Shanghainese -...

Some parents really step up role in children’s dating game

Posted under China on Thursday, 17 September 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

While walking around Shanghai last weekend, we came across the most particular scene at the People's Park. Hundreds of elders had gathered and were having a market like situation where a few were adverting something and others were inquiring. We found out that they had eagerly gathered to...

Shanghai Marathon 2009

Posted under China, sports on Wednesday, 16 September 2009 by admin

With the whole Seoul Hangang Marathon experience still fresh in mind, I decided to subscribe for half a marathon in Shanghai. This particular run is quite a bigger event, taking place in the heart of the city. Isn't Shanghai a terrible dirty city to run the marathon? While some might expect...

The 20 cent workout in Shanghai

Posted under China, Entrepreneurship, sports on Tuesday, 15 September 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

A 40 year old Chinese man drives his motor bike with carrier filled with barbells, dumbbells and a radio to the park outside my Shanghai compound every evening. Upon arrival, he marks an area of roughly 40 square meters and unloads the heavy weights. Shortly after, the place is packed with...

Pictures from around Shanghai

Posted under China on Monday, 14 September 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

Old meets new Taken at the Jingan temple "Temple of Peace and Tranquility" this afternoon. Wiki: "The first temple was built in 247 AD, at the time of the Kingdom of Wu, during the Three Kingdoms period. Originally located beside Suzhou Creek, it was relocated to its current site in 1216...

One of the things that make living in Shanghai so great

Posted under China on Thursday, 3 September 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

One of the nice things of living in China is to witness the feel-good energy that (most) people receive from the tremendous growth the country is going through. Development can be turbulent, but I am receiving a lot of smiles on the street as well. I was talking with a 60 year old Chinese woman in...

Good morning China (video: Fireworks in the morning)

Posted under China, travel on Wednesday, 2 September 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

I have experienced some Chinese culture, one of the things that made me interested in the country were the fireworks. In The Netherlands, we can only light fireworks for a number of hours per year, during new years eve. From the age of six, I used to spend every new years eve with my Chinese...

Want some mayonnaise with that King Cobra?

Posted under China, thoughts, travel on Friday, 28 August 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

I have seen some interesting food in Asia over the years. Most interesting dishes were definitely in China. I don't want to bother you with the clichÃ© backpack-like stories that hit the blogosphere daily, because eating culture is indeed different here, nothing new, I know. Instead I want to...

Chinese do not pay attention to red traffic lights anyway

Posted under China, Pictures on Wednesday, 26 August 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

I decided to buy a simple (20 euro) bike at the Carrefour last week, as there are many more bikes and bike roads in Shanghai then in Seoul. Finally I feel free in the city! Is it dangerous to cycle through Shanghai? My first response would be that it's certainly not easy to cycle here. First off...

Empty eight lane roads in Zibo

Posted under China, Entrepreneurship, travel on Sunday, 9 August 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

This week I was in Zibo (map), a 1.5 hours bus drive from the nearest airport of Jinan. There are about 4 million people living here. The city is known for material arts and it's rich resources. Due to the resources, the city is characterized by smog, due to coal mining and farmers. To...

Learning Chinese with help of Iphone/iPod Touch

Posted under China, Review, tips on Wednesday, 15 July 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

A quick post about learning Chinese Mandarin with help of my iPod Touch, because I think it's a remarkable useful device for learning phrases and - in the case of Chinese - also for learning to write characters using the touch screen. All and all, very efficient for those idle moments of the day to...

Finding an Apartment in Shanghai: How to pay what the locals are paying

Posted under China, thoughts, tips, travel on Sunday, 5 July 2009 by Joop Dorresteijn

When I arrived in Shanghai, I asked some of my friends here how I could find a good appartment to rent. Most of them recommended to look for apartments at Craigslist, Smartshanghai or Cityweekend. All these recommendations were a great source to get aquatinted with the housing market in Shanghai...

In Hong Kong for the week #2

Posted under China, tips, travel on Thursday, 26 March 2009 by admin

I like this city so much that I decided to upload some more pictures to give you first hand about what I think is beautiful around here. Hope you like it! You can go up any skyscraper in Hong Kong, (which I almost did) but you can see the city best from the Victory Peak. Simply take the...

Living abroad? Think about your (future) wife!

Posted under China, Entrepreneurship, Korea, Netherlands on Monday, 6 October 2008 by Joop Dorresteijn

Ask yourself this: What things would you consider if you had an opportunity to work abroad? For many top executives and engineers, its not only the job they are thinking about. The main challenge is usually their free time, wife (or husband) and family. Ask yourself the question: if I will work in...

Feedburner hack: how to get 2500 subscribers overnight (video)

Posted under China, Technology on Monday, 4 August 2008 by Joop Dorresteijn

Established blogs like ReadWriteWeb and Techcrunch proudly show a Feedburner chicklet that displays the sites popularity. But beware – since people are more likely to subscribe to a site with a bigger amount of readers, some sites manipulate the counter. Every once and a while co-editor...

China retains Internet censorship during the Olympics

Posted under China, Technology on Wednesday, 30 July 2008 by Joop Dorresteijn

Contrary to earlier promises to foreign journalists, China will offer limited access to the Internet during the Beijing Olympic Games. Chinese authorities block information on the Internet that the Communist party views as improper, unhealthy or as a threat to its rule — essentially, all...

The World Wide Web grows a billion pages per day

Posted under China on Tuesday, 29 July 2008 by Joop Dorresteijn

The growth rate of the Internet is accelerating in such a degree that a rather amazing related milestone was passed; Google's spiders discovered the trillionth URL. That's 1,000,000,000,000 WebPages indexed, Cuil reported to have indexed almost 122 billion pages with the help of the Internet...

Fast growing ad, gaming and education market in China

Posted under China, Entrepreneurship on Saturday, 26 July 2008 by Joop Dorresteijn

A delegation of 40 Dutch entrepreneurs and investors visited China last April, they visited marketing offices, gaming companies, multinationals and telecom companies in Shanghai and Chengdu and got their eyes opened to the dynamics and potentials in China. Some participants wrote down their...

China is paying commenters to say the â€˜rightâ€™ thing

Posted under China on Saturday, 19 July 2008 by Joop Dorresteijn

This article was origionally posted on thenextweb.org The Chinese government has a long tradition of keeping an eye to the media in order to prevent critical messages towards the communist party, a task that has become difficult since the rise of the open and worldwide Internet. The...

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