“Guangzhou Supports You!” is a new crowdsourced, hyper-local online photography activity in Guangzhou, China.

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China’s Central South University has set up a new facility to help students deal with emotional stress.

In an online review of a clone of the HTC Diamond 2 phone in China, a local tech blog argues that the fake could be better than the original.

The Happy Farm game on Chinese social networking sites is one of the most popular and particularly among white-collar workers. Some Happy Farm enthusiasts enjoy virtual farming so much that they have decided to try out the real thing. One Shanghai farm is planning to jump on the trend and put up 100 cabins for city farmers to use during extended holidays.

Chinese girls are buying ‘homes’ at iPartment, a social networking/gaming site that lets users interact with their ‘love apartment’ via pets, diaries, gardens, and games all while looking for someone to share it with.

Located near the former city wall of Beijing, Steven Holl’s “Linked Hybrid” complex is completely self-contained, and features one of the largest geothermal heating and cooling systems in the world.

In a fascinating illustration of crowdsourcing (and piracy) in China, Yeeyan, a collaborative translation website, has posted the prologue and first two chapters of The Lost Symbol.

Walking through the Shanghai subway recently, we noticed a rack of “Coqui” (小青蛙) shoes which looked incredibly similar to Crocs, which have been popular in Shanghai for the past few years.

Jan Chipchase shows us this image he took in China of red pasted ‘duilian’ either side of a new ATM. The Nokia enthnographer says that the duilian helps bless every transaction that passes through the machine – If you’re a believer, of course.
Jan Chipchase

We’ve been following the shared workspace trend globally for a few years now and have been noticing a uptick in the number of co-working spaces in China lately. We’ve been particularly impressed by the efforts of the newly-opened Xindanwei (新单位) in downtown Shanghai, who joins a few other shared workspaces sprinkled throughout the city.

Anybody who visits IKEA on a weekend in China will be sure to find the familiar scene of customers napping on the couches and beds. And if you stop by the popular IKEA cafeteria, you almost certainly will have to wait around before a table opens up. Following up on our previous coverage, we now take a deeper look at Chinese consumers reaction to IKEA.
Opening their first store ten years ago, IKEA has become a popular place for the rising middle class to spend their freetime, but they are not necessarily buying the furniture. In our experience, Chinese customers are [...]

The LA Times has published an interesting gallery of images showing Beijing consumers using their local IKEA store as a space to relax and socialize. Beyond shopping, the store has become a destination for Saturday afternoon family outings, naps, and photo shoots.
Only with China’s recent economic growth have branded retail experiences become more common. For most Chinese the concept is still fairly foreign, making visiting these locations a form of entertainment.
[via LA Times]

In the latest report to track China’s wealthiest people, we learn that Beijing has the most multimillionaires in China. The Hurun Report’s newest publication titled “China’s New Aristocrat Consumption Threshold Report” lays out the details on Beijing’s estimated 143,000 multimillionaires and 8,800 billionaires. In comparison, Shanghai has 116,000 multimillionaires and 7,000 billionaires.
The typical rich Beijing family profile is that of a couple in their 40s with a teenager. Annual spending for Beijing’s rich is roughly USD 850,000, including an estimated one-fifth of that going to charity. Tokyo and Osaka are top travel destinations, while BMW and Mercedes Benz are the [...]

We’ve covered previous marketing efforts from China’s leading sportswear and shoe company Li Ning, who seems to be willing to push the envelope in terms of innovative ways to reach the local youth market. The company recently released an eco-friendly shoe called the “Green 001″ for the Spring 2009 line. The  shoe is constructed from eco-friendly materials, including ample use of hemp. In their marketing campaign (see above poster), Li Ning is promoting a simple theme: “Environmental Protection = Trendy.”
Interestingly, the tongue of the shoe is embroidered with the image of Wangari Muta Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement [...]