What's tame about gay marriages and enthanasia?
Will gay marriages be made legal in China? Will euthanasia be allowed? Will there be a "go slow" in the "go out" campaign?

If you can't stop 'em, tax 'em
China, you have to admit, is a great place if you're a smoker.

Let's take a break from long holidays
Starting today, the silly season will be upon us, seriously. Those who haven't left to join their families for the annual family reunion dinner tomorrow are on their way and those who get in their way, watch out.

A few tips on good service: whisky comes minus lemon
The size of China's economy in 2004 was about 15 per cent higher than previously estimated, it was announced last month mainly because the contribution of the robust services sector had been largely underestimated.

All she wants is a packet of green tea
When I was going home to India last year, I called up my mother to ask if she wanted anything from Hong Kong.

In the silly season, let's talk silly
Now that the silly season is well and truly upon us and is soon slipping away it might just be the reason to ruminate on what's really silly happening around us.

Green card inspires sense of belonging
There's a story about Zhang Yimou, the acclaimed Chinese film director who also happens to be my favourite, applying for a US green card only when his daughter needed to get there for her studies and promptly returning it when she got there.

In season for giving, make it easier for us to do so
Each time I dine out with Chinese friends, I'm appalled at the amount of food that is wasted. The only conclusion I can reach is that either they've been starving for ages or hibernating for decades, from the winter-means-cabbages-only era.

Anyone got a cure for medical ills?
During an extended visit to Beijing two winters ago, I needed medical attention for - I thought - a tummy ache.

Confucius institutes
When I was growing up in India, learning French or German was not difficult as long as you lived in a biggish city and cost next to nothing.

IPR protection
Whenever I call, or bump into, expatriate friends who have left the country, the first thing they say they miss about China is cheap (my editors have long taught me to use "inexpensive" - more economically correct) DVDs and cheap, (never mind economically-correct adjectives) wonderful food.

Jet-setting solutions
First impressions, they say, are the best - and last impressions last.

Name of rose
Many young urban Chinese have a well-kept secret. Often, their families and colleagues are in the dark. Only outsiders are privy to it.