News You Might Have Missed: Single Shoppers, Confucian Curves and Thanks for Giving
This past weekend's Singles Day proved that whether people are unattached or not, they are willing to spend money – lots of it. Beijing's latest Soho project is open (and empty), but are the curves the future of Chinese architecture? We're also approaching the season of giving, and one woman has already been sweetly repaid for her kindness.
Last Sunday was Singles Day (11.11), the Chinese answer to Valentine’s Day. Apparently, the unattached love their retail therapy – and retailers are all too willing to exploit that fact. According to Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce group: "213 million loners in China flooded the Internet yesterday to buy USD 3.1 billion."
Not everyone is interested in staying single and carefree. A college student in Beijing wrote a 160,000-character love letter to a girl ... only to be rebuffed for his 212-day effort. And when guys want to pop the question, they are apparently willing to spend big to make the moment magical. Pheromone, "a Beijing company that specializes in organizing proposals," claims that their clients spend an average of RMB 7,000 on a proposal.
Galaxy Soho has been open for a few weeks now – despite the fact that no venues within the complex are actually open for business yet. But that could change quickly if scholars are right that the Chinese prefer curves. Zhongyong (中庸), the Confucian concept of harmonizing with nature, is being cited as the reason angular Cadillacs don’t sell well in China. Could it also responsible for the "continuous curvilinearity" of the newly opened and ultra-bulbous Galaxy Soho? If architect Zaha Hadid continues to pursue that design concept, how round will the next project be?
If you need more reason to give over the holiday, here’s an inspirational story that might have you more willing to donate or help out where you can. A Beijing Weibo user’s mom gave away a winter jacket to an older gentleman that looked after a small shop. Before the man returned to his home province, he wrote the following poem thanking her for what she did.
Cotton-padded clothes for winter, single-layered clothes for summer
The Sun and the Moon can tell your kind heart
Just when autumn starts to turn into winter, I received a jacket
Felt better than wearing fine silk in summer
Rain and snow suddenly arrived
This jacket defended me from the cold
We are strangers to each other
Only rough sentences I can offer
Last week, Microsoft announced the termination of MSN, which left millions of Chinese users worrying about which chat program they would switch to. It turns out that China's MSNers can rest easy. Despite the messenger service being shut down worldwide, it will still continue to go strong in China.
Finally, it seems nothing is too good for Fido. A Huairou woman was recently caught embezzling RMB 220,000 from her company to provide for 70 stray dogs and cats she has taken in.
Photos: News.dsqq.cn, Homesthetics.net
