After months of waiting in line at diesel stations because of a national shortage, the government raises domestic fuel prices in an effort to close the gap between global oil prices and the domestic rate.
“Everything for the peasant!,” proclaims village head Ding Jingang, as trailed by his entourage, he strides down the main road of Tihucun, a rural community located in Shaanxi province in central China.
Within walking distance of our guesthouse in central Beijing, I was surprised to come across three shops specializing in adult products and noticed even more interspersed throughout the city. Nothing like that had ever crossed my sights when I spent a year living here as a student a mere decade ago. Today's shops sell massage devices, oils, lingerie and other treasures once striclty forbidden in the People's Republic.
I was disoriented when I arrived at the shining new Beijing Capital International Airport. The digital signs of the sleek facility are more modern than most of the world’s largest airports and the floors gleam. But after my luggage failed to arrive and I was forced to use my rusty Chinese skills to investigate the matter with airport officials, I began to suspect China has not changed as much as the American media would have one believe.
