Nanjing
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 28/10/2025
Our journey from Shanghai to Nanjing aboard a Chinese high speed train highlighted China’s remarkable efficiency. This busy connection features four separate tracks in parallel, with trains departing on average every ten minutes.
The
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- 2025-10-23
Shanghai
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 21/10/2025
The paradox of ATMs in China’s cashless society
What purpose do ATMs serve in a society that has entirely abandoned cash? During my four weeks in China, I have not used physical currency once. Everything, from street food
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- 2025-10-19
Shanghai
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 14/10/2025
ALDI in China
The German ALDI supermarket giant opened its first stores in China in June 2019. Today in October 2025, there are some 80 ALDI stores, most in Shanghai. Only since April they started to expand to Suzhou and Wuxi. ALDI has built a
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- 2025-10-10
Beijing, Shenyang, Dandong
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 07/10/2025
Westerners in China
Walking along the streets of Beijing, Shenyang, Dandong and Shanghai, compared to 10 years ago, it is remarkable how few young Europeans or Americans are left in China. These days, there are many Russia
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- 2025-10-02
Beijing
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 30/09/2025
The barbarians in Beijing
The Old Summer Palace, the Yuanmingyuan “圆明园” in Chinese, located in the Haidian district of Beijing, was a large imperial garden that the emperors of the Qing Dynasty operated for over 150 years. It was known as th
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- 2025-09-24
Beijing
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 23/09/2025
Core values
The 12 core socialist values:
富强 (Fùqiáng) – Prosperity and Strength民主 (Mínzhǔ) – Democracy文明 (Wénmíng) – Civility和谐 (Héxié) – Harmony自由 (Zìyóu) – Freedom平等 (Píngděng) – Equality公正 (Gōngzhèng) &
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- 2025-09-19
Beijing
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 16/09/2025
A short report of the first few days in Beijing
Hainan Airlines flight HU494 BRU – PEKLast week, Hainan Airlines quickly swapped its scheduled Airbus A330-300 for a Boeing 787-9. Almost 10 hours in the air. Departed from Zaventem half an hou
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- 2025-09-17
My next adventure unfolds in China and beyond!
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 09.09.2025
Seventeen Arched Bridge, The Summer Palace, Beijing, China
I’m thrilled to announce that my annual journey to Asia is almost here! This Sunday, 14 September, I’ll be embarking on my
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- 2025-08-26
How China’s Mandate of Heaven redefined legitimacy
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 20.08.2025
Qing Dynasty (Taoist) painting of the Chinese pantheon, Hunan Museum
For millennia, rulers have sought divine justification for their power but none framed it as conditionally as China’s Mandate o
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- 2025-08-19