Cup of Cha
This is China

Let me be clear. For those of us in Beijing, the Olympics will be a lot of fun. I suspect the best way to enjoy them will be getting one set of plastic pre-school sized table and chairs that restaurants in this blessed country love, get some friends together, grab some beer and maodou , [...]

Continue reading “How to Botch the Beijing Olympics” »

Isn’t it amazing the after a decade of knock-off DVDs, which the Chinese government always maintained that it was doing its best to tamp down on with no effect, it has managed to strip them off all the shelves in about a week? Same thing goes for all of those “Guci” and “Ormani” bags. Ya-Show [...]

Continue reading “Oh DVD, Where Art Thou?” »

There is a scene in the less-than-beloved movie The Phantom where the hero, none other than Billy Zane of Titanic and Zoolander fame, begins to light up a cigar in the villain’s cave home. Out of nowhere a little person comes up and announces loudly “No smoking in the Skull Cave,” and prompts him to [...]

Continue reading “No Hooking or Drug Dealing in the Restaurant” »

Beijing has been a flurry of change recently with a whole mess of things being brought in - ‘for the Olympics’.  Conspicuous examples of this with little use or merit are things like cladding most shopfronts in stick on metal sheeting, spraying insecticide on the trees in the main thoroughfares to rid them of caterpillars [...]

Continue reading “The Dog Ate My Report Card…” »

There’s not much I can add to this story from the BBC:
A committee official said the simple chants and gestures were designed to help spectators cheer for their favourite athletes in a smooth, civilized manner.
The Ministry of Education is also arranging special training sessions in schools for the 800,000 students who are expected to attend [...]

Continue reading “Beijing Promises to Hold Most Irritating Olympics Ever” »

In the middle of its opening night party, the new China Doll club by 3.3 has been shut down, apparently due to improper licenses, according to sources who attended the event. Witnesses said that they were not licensed to have come combination of music, drinks and dancing. Presumably it will be back up and running [...]

Continue reading “New China Doll Shut Down” »

Any foreigner living in China now will tell you that something weird is going on. Our fellow foreigners are disappearing in great numbers. It as if wild animals are picking them off on their smoggy bike rides to work. Increasingly we feel like Mexicans just inside the American border: looked upon suspicuously, regardless of the [...]

Continue reading “Goodbye Foreign Visitors” »

While places like the State Department have good information, and BOCOG has scarce information, Cup of Cha brings you the real scoop about what to be prepared for during the Olympics. Good Luck Olympics indeed!
1. You may not realize this, but “Murphy” was Chinese. Or at least a traveler to China. Everything that can go [...]

Continue reading “Tips for the Beijing Olympic Traveler” »

One of my readers who is apparently trying to sell Olympics tickets online sent me an odd e-mail he received from a potential buyer, which tried to draw an ethnic pride to get a good price:
Beijing Friends,
I am Ethnic Chinese born in China.
I live in America at the moment.
I need help from other Ethnic Chinese, [...]

Continue reading “You Scratch My Han Back” »

Near my office, on a back street there is a great Sichuanese restaurant I sometimes like to have lunch with [some] colleagues. It is in the business district, but one of the charms of Beijing is that even among the modern developments, there are still some charming back alleys (for at least two more months). [...]

Continue reading “China Says “No” To Spitzer” »