Bryan Crosby Dot Ca

The Greenland Plaza has now become a bit of a skyline marker in Nanjing and is visible from most of the important areas within the city.  I drop the GLP probably too often…but it is like my skyscraper baby – I watched the initial foundation excavation and was present for all the major moments in [...]

Familiar spaces become very different after living in them them, then visiting them after a prolonged absence. Nanjing University campus is a good example.  I lived just a block away from this campus for several years and walked through it or nearby it on a regular basis, drank beer in on its street curbs and [...]

When I initially wrote my ‘proposal’ for my program’s Fudan exchange, I prominently included Nanjing as a potential observational site.  This was chiefly because of my familiarity with the city, the area and a somewhat layman’s understanding of what the location was trying to achieve.  My goals for revisiting included a deeper exploration of some [...]

Interestingly enough, I was thinking about public spaces this morning as I walked through the desolate, abandoned landscape that is Queen’s University – Reading Week Edition.  One of the things I admire about the Queen’s campus is the way it effortlessly incorporates itself within the surrounding urban space, streets and fabric. The municipal streets slice [...]

I knew that this forum was taking place in my old stomping grounds of Nanjing, but if I didn’t know the location…well the forum title “Harmonious Urbanization” provides all the information one needs to determine that this conference is hosted on the Mainland. I’ve been sitting at my desk for the past twenty minutes trying [...]

Life in the Big Red without a passport is like life without arms or legs – you are consistently denied service, forced into a helpless infant like position in which you must rely upon many others for otherwise simple and menial tasks. For the record…yes I do have numerous copies of my passport (which is [...]

It would appear that the Chinese government remains confident regarding the price and uninterrupted supply of oil…as well as very bullish about future airline passenger numbers. China drafted a long-term plan for development of air cargo, which will require the building of 97 new airports, consolidation of smaller airports and upgrading of certain key airports [...]

Coffee ‘culture’ seems to be really taking off in Nanjing. This isn’t to say that it is a relatively new phenomenon as international coffee house brands have been in China (and Nanjing) for awhile.When I first arrived, Starbucks had a three store presence in Nanjing.  The two outlets in Xinjiekou (Da Yang and the now [...]

Some late night readings helped to fill in a few holes in the my question of the year…what is going on in these cities? Despite being surrounded in an uber-left wing environment during my time at UVic, I don’t hold very strong socialist tendencies. However, there are a number of items I feel should involve [...]

On June 1st, thin plastic bags (with a thickness of less that .025mm) were banned in China and bag-charging has been implemented for all PVC bags. Prices appear to range from .3 to 1RMB per bag, depending on the size. I was aware of this ban last week but I was curious about how it [...]