They say that you learn something everyday. While this may be far from true for many people around the world, I can confidently say that for me, it really is true. Everyday I see something in Beijing that fascinates me. From a man cycling a rickshaw with a colossal mountain of plastic bottles on his back; or a lover's squabble on the subway that results in the boyfriend breaking into romantic song - an idea no doubt lifted out of a cheesy boy band music video. Most days I also pick up a new phrase or new word to expand on my growing Chinese mandarin vocabulary. What interests me most about China, however, is the profound difference in culture and way of thought. Chinese people my age often have radically contrasting feelings towards many things, most notably for me, is their priorities in life.

Today I read an article published by the Shanghai Metropolis Daily, which featured a list they called a "Hierarchy of Snobbery". The lists, which cover everything from taste in the opposite sex, to favoured brands, music, and movies, are, what the paper claims, reflect a person's intelligence, class, and even how "international" they are.

Here are a few of my favourites...

Cell Phones:
1. Blackberry
2. Apple
3. Xiaomi
4. HTC
5. Samsung
6. Sony Ericsson
7. Nokia
8. Motorola
9. Lenovo
10. ZTE
11. shanzhai mobile phones.

(Original Chinese text) 手机：黑莓>苹果>小米>HTC>三星>索爱>诺基亚>摩托罗拉>联想>中兴>山寨机

TV Shows:
1. British TV shows
2. American TV shows
3. Japanese TV shows
4. Korean TV shows
5. Taiwanese TV shows
6. Thai TV shows.

(Original Chinese text) 电视剧：英剧>美剧>日剧>韩剧>港剧>台剧>内地剧>泰剧

Coffee:
1. Costa
2. Starbucks
3. Left Bank
4. U.B.C.
5. Typhoon Shelter (Tea House)
6. McDonald's/KFC
7. Nescafe Instant

(Original Chinese text) 咖啡：COSTA>星巴克>左岸>上岛>避风塘>麦当劳、肯德基>雀巢速溶

Most desirable Women:
1. Light-skinned, rich, slim, beautiful, and with big boobs
2. light-skinned, rich, slim, and beautiful
3. light-skinned, rich, and beautiful
4. light-skinned and rich
5. light-skinned and beautiful

(Original Chinese text) 女神：白富瘦美挺>白富瘦美>白富美>白富>白美

Second generation Chinese:
1. PLA second generation (children of People's Liberation Army officers)
2. Government official second generation
3. Rich second generation
4. Children of coal mine owners
5. poor second generation
6. children of farmers

(Original chinese text) 二代：军二代>官二代>富二代>煤二代>贫二代>农二代

If there's one thing that unites the Chinese nation, it's a love of food. Upon arrival in any city in China, the air is filled with an aroma of food and exotic scents. Rather than just refueling the body, mealtimes are regarded as the most important times of the day. All work stops for lunch and dinner times, and it is considered highly inappropriate to skip a meal due to work commitments. In China, no business deal is finalized nor relationship formed until you have sat down and shared a meal - more often than not, washed down with a few shots of Baijiu, a paraffin-like tasting strong Chinese liquor. Food is so important to the Chinese people, that conversations are initiated with a casual, "have you eaten?", rather than the western counterpart of "nice weather we're having" or "how's it going?"

With this in mind, it's unsurprising that among the rows and rows of restaurants, a number of entrepreneurs are keen to locate a niche market. Low and behold, the themed restaurant landed. Although the older generations of Chinese prefer to stick to traditional Chinese restaurants, teenagers and young adults, possibly in a bid to rebel from their disciplined school and work lives, are keen to try something new and unusual. So, as disturbed as I was to come across a restaurant that had a chosen the universally-acknowledged unappetizing theme of poo poo as its premise, I nevertheless found myself inside the restaurant, perched upon a toilet seat and browsing the poo-inspired menu.

With dishes such as a beef curry served in a tabletop commode, and mashed potato swirled into a turd-shape and served in a urinal, I had clearly entered some kind of doodoo dream-world. Even my drink came in a curly-poo cup...I was relieved to discover the content was orange juice. Chocolate milkshake may have been too much for my reserved English insides to handle. However, while the food looked very good, the concept of eating out of a commode left me feeling quite uneasy. Nevertheless, the House of Poo Poo restaurant was bustling with potty young Chinese diners enthusiastically licking the toilet bowl clean. However friendly the staff are and no matter how many cuddly poo toys decorate the walls, a walk on the stool-side of dining left me feeling like ****.

Last week, people across China enjoyed a three-day holiday to mark Qingming festival. But rather than enjoying a break somewhere nice, or putting their feet up in front of the TV, many Chinese people will have spent the holiday spending time with family or visiting cemeteries to pay respects to their ancestors.

Qingming Festival, which fell on April 4th this year, is also known as tomb sweeping day. It is a day set aside for Chinese people to remember family members who have passed away. Like most Asian countries, family plays a major role in the lives of the Chinese people. Therefore, it is considered essential that Chinese people of all ages make a special effort to honour the dead.

For those that have the opportunity to visit cemeteries on this day, the standard ritual is to burn incense and offer sacrifices to the dead. It has long been a tradition for families to burn fake money, which is peculiarly printed in the style of dollar bills. As the fire eats away at the money, it is believed that the 'money' is passed over to their family members on the 'other side'.

A Chinese friend of mine once told me that his grandmother, who had passed away a couple of years earlier, visited him in a dream. He noticed that her clothes were shabby and her hair unkempt. So, come Qingming festival, he made sure he bought plenty of paper money to burn for her. The next night he dreamt that she visited him once again; this time wearing her lovely new clothes. Rather than query the belief, with questions such as 'is currency necessary in heaven?' or 'where would one buy clothes in heaven?', I choose to respect the belief. The emphasis and consideration that Chinese people attach to the importance of family is admirable and something I consider to be severely lacking in British society today. However, I can't help but smile at how much emphasis cash has in Chinese society. If Qingming festival proves one thing, it's the belief that even in death, money and possessions are indispensable.

Since China's 'opening up' 34 years ago, the significance of money and status have become even more magnified. It is no longer simply a car, apartment, and job that prove your worth, it's also your partner, where you eat, and of course, your mobile phone, handbag, and a whole host of other materialistic paraphernalia. So it came as no surprise when I discovered that this year, it wasn't just paper money that Chinese families were buying as offerings for their ancestors, but also paper Apple iPads and iPhones.

At 80 US dollars per iPad, and iPhones for around 4 US dollars, these paper offerings do not up at a snip. In an attempt to drum up enthusiasm, sellers on popular Chinese shopping site, Taobao.com, offered discounts to bulk buyers. How many iPads does one's deceased relative require? For those really wanting to splash out and treat their deceased loved ones, then paper villas, cars and even houses are also available.

A majority of Chinese people that I spoke to about Qing Ming festival plans told me that they will not be bulk-buying paper iPads just yet. In recent years, as the Chinese people have become more aware of eco-living, people have been encouraged to commemorate relatives on QingMing festival by planting flowers and trees around gravesites. However, the traditional way of commemorating Qingming festival remains the most popular option.

Blue skies are a rarity for us Beijingers. So rising on a Saturday morning to a view like this is the ultimate way to shake off those city blues. I guess the best things in life really do come for free!

This week, the news has been inundated with footage of people all around the world celebrating the Chinese New Year.

Today, I saw images of dragon dances and kung fu acts on the streets of London, Ontario, and Madrid.

The first thing that stuck me was how these celebrations seemed far more stereotypically 'Chinese' than celebrating New Year in the Chinese capital has ever been for me!

I've spent my fair share of Spring festivals in China, but i'm yet to see a dragon or lion dance parade through the streets of the city.

"Hello Birmingham, this is Kate Adie reporting from some horrifying war-torn land"...Oh no, wait, that's not right...

This is in fact Nikki Aaron coming to you from Beijing. Differences? Many. Similarities? Also many. For those are not bomb blasts, machines guns and screams of horror upon the streets of China - they're fireworks, firecrackers, and squeals of excitement, as the nation welcomes the almighty Year of the Dragon.

A great many people these days resort to buying wine in supermarkets. With our ever increasingly hectic lifestyles it's a convenient way of going about wine buying, but it's also easy to fall into the trap of buying wines which are reduced in dubious discounts, or to just end up drinking relatively uninspiring wines produced at a price imposed by the supermarkets and made by winemakers who are not exactly inspired to produce their best work.

There is of course another way; that of the online wine store or online wine clubs. I've set out below some that I'd recommend.

Guest blogger Mimi Bekhechi, of PETA, urges families to buy their cats or dogs from animal shelters, rather than breeders or pet shops.

In the largest study of its kind, the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) in conjunction with YouGov have just produced the Animal Wellbeing Report, scoring more than 11,000 British pet owners on how well they look after their animals.

Woefully, according to the report, 48 per cent of guardians in "animal-loving" Britain are failing to provide their animals with even "adequate" levels of care.

For most people, it only takes seconds to fall in love with an adorable cat or dog who needs a home, but adding an animal companion to the family means pledging to love and care for him or her - for better or for worse - for the animal's lifetime, which could be the next 10 to 20 years.

Awards Season

The film awards season is now beginning in earnest. BAFTA have published their long list, from which the 6,000+ membership will choose the nominees and then the winners. I'm one of the voters. The trade press say that less films have been made this year but those completed are of higher quality. Having less films to consider is certainly a blessing and I have to say I'm really enjoying my movies at the moment. But, the big question - how am I going to vote? Tricky, with a lot of good films on offer. I think in my top three though contains two films based on true stories, the third is directed by a Brit in his 70th year. Can you guess the films?

One of my day jobs whilst we are making 'Turbulence' is running a Thursday evening film course at The Midland Arts Centre or MAC. To celebrate the awards season, I am going to dedicate each week to a different category. There'll be evenings on cinematography, actors, script, costume etc. I'm hoping to include special guests and even a special awards ceremony on the final night!

So what do the awards actually mean? For me I'd say being nominated is the most significant thing and being on that list year in, year out certainly does no harm to a career. The actual winner is much more of a lottery and ultimately less significant. Also there tends to be the lean towards one film picking up nearly all the prizes. Whilst this makes a good news story, I have to say I do think it's a shame and generally doesn't reflect what's out there. For my own work, I tend to think about the words of Martin Scorsese, famous for not winning an oscar for most of his career. He always said its not the prizes that matter but being able to make the next film. Here's to that.

So, I'm off to vote! You can see the BAFTA 'long list' using the link below, these will become nominees, and after a third round of voting, winners. Can you see any of your favourites from 2010?

http://www.bafta.org/awards/film/entered-films,65,BA.html

Also check out MAC's evening courses and of course, our film Turbulence. We are now looking for completion finance of £75,000. if you know someone who might like to invest, please ask them get in touch. Businesses can invest in the film and offset this against corporation tax before April 6th 2011.

About Turbulence http://www.turbulencefilm.com
For Turbulence investment e mail Natasha@dreamfinder.net
For MAC's courses see http://www.macarts.co.uk/page/3704/Learning+Participation
To follow me on Twitter it's @bikefilm

Brumcast 183 'Lay that ghost to rest' was broadcast live on http://www.rhubarbradio.com on 1st November 2010 at 8pm Featuring metal, indie, folk, funk, hip hop, acoustic & more, All tracks written and performed by artists from Birmingham and the UK Midlands. Download free and direct from here Full show details and audio streams at the archive
Here's this show's playlist :-
1. Munchbreak - The Dirty Kitchen (5:42)
2. Machine Boy - Happy Very Happy (Single Mix) (3:51)
3. Naseby Crossing - No Way Heavy (3:17)
4. Mother Dirt - Belly Crawler (5:06)
5. The Gruber - Purgatory
6. Trevor Sensitive and the Locals - I knew that you didn't love me anymore when you changed Facebook status to single (5:08)
7. Clacka Clark - it's only love (3:15)
8. Turn off the Sun - Lay that ghost to rest (4:08)
9. Castillo - Empires and Ashes (3:50)
10. Barolo - Allez Allez Allez !! (2:57)
11. Police Bastard - Born to die (3:45)
12. Free School - Unravelling After The Lottery (6:00)
Enjoy!
Little Chris
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