One of Beijing’s oldest pre-capitalist relics is now a desolate monolith flanked by a bustling Baskin Robbins, a French cafe and five-star hotels on either side of the city’s main east-west avenue.

The government-run Friendship Stores in China used to be shops exclusively for foreigners. [Read more]

I remember the thrill a windy day last March, when I first set eyes on what was then the world’s most controversial skyscraper being built. It still draws China’s biggest buzz about a building. [Read more]

The White House opened its doors to Indians to celebrate Diwali with US President Barack Obama greeting the guests and lighting the traditional Indian lamps. Each guest left with a box of Indian sweets and memories of feeling at home. In London, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wore a garland and hosted a Diwali party at 10 Downing Street to cap a week of Indian festivities in the UK. [Read more]

I put down my cell phone and ignored the laptop. In the age of broadband in the capital of the third-biggest economy with more netizens than the population of USA, it was once again time to switch on the fax machine, dig into a drawer and pull out my prized possession: a red plastic chop (seal). [Read more]

The curvy girls in ghagra cholis were swaying their hips on stage to Aishwarya Rai’s moves in the 2005 Bollywood hit kajra re that continues to crash into Indian weddings.

But this was a stodgy old Beijing theatre where elite Chinese usually amble past signs saying ‘please keep quiet’ and ‘please dress decently’ to watch classical Peking Opera. [Read more]