Xinjiang, located in the far northwest of China, is an intriguing place renowned for its spectacular scenery, cultural diversity and delicious cuisine.

With the spread of migration across Mainland China, Xinjiang restaurants have become very popular and are found in cities throughout the country.

A new restaurant offering Xinjiang cuisine has recently opened in Shanghai's Caojiadu area. Nicely decorated and centrally located, this restaurant is aimed at Shanghai's middle classes and this is reflected in their pricing.

Each table is adorned with the richly colourful pattern of an Uygur tablecloth and, under a layer of glass, the notice to the left.

One would usually expect in these confines to encounter something like a menu, a restaurant introduction or maybe even some literature introducing the culture and beauty of the region.

However, the notice in fact carries the following rather depressing message:

Below it is a photocopy of an invoice from the German wholesale retailer Metro with the purchase of 50 drums of 20-litre cooking oil - underlined twice, in bold! 

That a restaurant such as this feels it necessary to display such information so prominently is symptomatic of a general trend in society. After numerous food scandals affecting foodstuffs as diverse as milk, rice, pork, dumplings and bean sprouts the public has lost their faith in the ability of the authorities to regulate the food industry.

This notice has been prompted by another infamous practice, the use of "gutter oil", where recycled waste oil is illegally resold to consumers. 

It is significant that this invoice is from a foreign retailer, who are seen as more trustworthy, and highlights China's crisis of confidence in the industry.

The scene below was photographed at Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport Terminal 1 - which serves international flights to destinations across East Asia.

The photo features two airlines - the privately owned Taiwanese carrier "EVA Air" and the Chinese government majority owned "China Eastern Airlines" 

At first view it looks like a pretty normal airport scene, however at second glance you can see that both planes in the photograph are themed, or as they say in the business "have special liveries"!

The two contrasting designs serve as a good example of the difference between private business being run for the benefit of shareholders and state owned enterprises being run for 'the benefit of all'.

Let's take a closer look at the two aircraft:

EVA AIR
Adorned with the cute image of Hello Kitty, this might not be everyone's cup of tea, however it is an attractive design which instantly draws people's attention.

The service is primarily aimed at developing tourism between Taiwan and Japan and comes complete with it's own website.

CHINA EASTERN
This design features the logo of the Xinhua News Agency, their website address and some yellow clouds. 
It is poorly presented and easily forgettable.

According to this account on their website (Chinese only) the objective is to "further enhance brand awareness, social influence, promote bilateral business and achieve new development"

Ceremonies to promote and announce the launch of these respective services were held.

KEY FACTS
Information about the parties involved is summarised in the tables below:

Senlinx carries out reviews of factories throughout Asia and our staff are lucky enough to view some interesting scenes.

Few of which are as colourful as this mountain of reject earplugs however, which was witnessed earlier this week in Taiwan.

Interesting observation from a recent visit to Kenting National Park, on the southern tip of Taiwan.

Take a look at the images below, to the uninitiated they appear to be promoting three different hotels, however they are all taken in the same place.

In actual fact, they have more in common than first meets the eye, they share:
- an identical logo
- the word “hotel”
- and most importantly, the same Chinese characters

The three names photographed (there may be more we didn’t spot!) are:
- New Osaka Hotel: a correct English translation
- Shin Osaka Hotel: New has been written "Shin" using an old Taiwanese romanization system
- Xin Da Ban Hotel: New has been written "Xin" and Osaka has been written "Da Ban" using the standard Chinese pinyin system

Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into Latin script and is used in China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Taiwan only adopted the use of standard pinyin in 2009 and take-up has been rather slow.

Whether in Mainland China, or as in this case Taiwan, it is important to remember that it is the Chinese name that counts. This applies as much for trying to track down your hotel late at night as it does for placing an order with your new Chinese supplier.

When visiting China, especially outside of the big cities, if possible always try to get names and addresses written in Chinese characters.
For the majority of Chinese people, invariably including taxi drivers, pinyin is like a foreign language and your attempts to read it will be greeted with nothing more than a puzzled look.

It's doubtful that the owners of this hotel will ever read this post, but if they do, our advice would be to choose an English name and stick to it. For the record New Osaka Hotel works just fine for us! 

Whilst on a recent business trip to Jinhua in Zhejiang province, the Senlinx team took some time off to explore Double Dragon Cave. 

Although it shares a name with the 1980’s beat’em up video game, fortunately that is where the similarities end – getting there did not involve beating up any thugs!

On a hot summer’s day dressing in shorts, t-shirts and flip flops seemed like a good idea, but upon entering the cold and damp cave it was apparent that we were somewhat underprepared. 

We visited two very contrasting caves, one of which followed an incredible path over, through, under, around and in between an array of rock formations, pools and waterfalls. 
The other was a huge cavern at the top of a mountain climb, which although spectacular, had an eerily almost church-like feeling to it.

Rather than being decked out with head torches and following a guide, these caves were lit up with fluorescent lights which made navigation easy. 

It also left us feeling that we were on the set of a Star Wars movie! May the force be with you!

Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts is a stunning building in the heart of the city, just a block away from Tiananmen Square.

Designed by French architect Paul Andreu, it has been nicknamed ‘The Egg’ due to its oval shape.

In an area steeped in history, being next door to China’s parliament the Great Hall of the People and Tiananmen Square, Andreu’s design was certainly bold. But what was his inspiration?

Well here is the Senlinx theory:

Chairman Mao’s trademark hairstyle

National Centre for the Performing Arts