the Beijinger

Robin Guo is appalled to hear that her child’s playthings may be poisonous. The mother of 3-year-old Colleen is one of countless Chinese parents stunned by a new study that found dangerous levels of heavy metals in nearly ten percent of the country’s children’s products.

We’re still waiting for things to get back into full swing around here, but that means you have some time to: 1) take some photos to try and win a month or two’s rent money, 2) catch up on web news like the accusations of Han Han not being a real writer and China getting snubbed at the Oscars, and 3) sleep. If you don’t like those ideas, you can get your fill of more movie screenings, and aspiring thespians: don’t miss a workshop teaching you how to audition for the stage.

Tickets went on sale yesterday for Capital M’s Literary Festival. The restaurant’s fortnight of talks on writing, food and travel begins on February 25, which also serves as the unofficial kick-off date for Beijing’s book-based festival season. Here's a rundown of what to expect, where to purchase tickets, and the novelists, journalists, memoirists and adventurers who will be showcased at the Capital M Literary festival.

Valentine's Day is here which means chocolate, flowers and romantic meals. If you're still searching for that perfect place here is a full list of options with dinners ranging from fun tasting plates at TERRA for a (relative) deal to caviar and champagne extravagance at Maison Boulud.

Pleco, a New York-based company who specialize in developing tools to learn Chinese, have announced a new iPhone feature that looks like it will be invaluable, not only for those learning Chinese characters, but for anyone who lives here and isn’t fluent in reading Chinese. The feature uses the iPhone camera to look at and “read” Chinese characters through an Optical Character Recognition system. There’s no need to take a photograph – you just point you camera and the app provides an instantaneous definition.

The results are in, the votes counted. Time now to unveil the winners of the Beijinger's 8th Annual Reader Restaurant Awards - Beijing's most comprehensive, most trusted and most prestigious survey of the capital's dining scene. Almost 200 restaurants were nominated across 45 categories - and the winners are ...

Restaurant of the Year (Non-Chinese)
Best: Maison Boulud
Outstanding: Capital M
Outstanding: Mosto

Restaurant of the Year (Chinese)
Best: Da Dong
Outstanding: Made in China, Grand Hyatt
Outstanding: Haidilao
Outstanding: Dali Courtyard

New Restaurant (Non-Chinese)
Best: Modo
Outstanding: Kro’s Nest
Outstanding: Agua
Outstanding: Flamme

New Restaurant (Chinese)
Best: Little Yunnan
Outstanding: Fook Lam Moon, China World Summit Wing
Outstanding: Yan Can Cook

Update: Comments on this post have now been closed - we encourage readers who'd like to continue to discuss visa queries to head to either this section of the Beijinger forum or to Nadine's page devoted to visa issues - which can be found here - http://fxzl.blogspot.com

"We have made some arrangements according to usual international practice. That is, in the approval process we are more strict and more serious with the procedure"

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang

Beijing saw a marked drop in the number of overseas tourists in April, which fell by 5.3 percent year-on-year, according to official statistics revealed on Tuesday. Yu Xiuqin, the bureau's spokeswoman attributed the decrease partly to Beijing's tightened business visa approvals on foreign visitors for international exhibitions and conferences, because of safety concerns for the coming Olympic Games.

China Daily: Beijing sees marked drop in overseas tourists in April

An enormous amount of confusion currently exists throughout Beijing's expat community in regard to the Chinese government's apparent, but not officially announced, recent tightening of visa policies. The lack of an adequate response from government departments and spokespeople to the increasing demand for clarification of the gap between the existing regulations and commonly observed practices, has only added to the frustration felt by both business people and those hoping to travel to China during the Olympic period. As applications are being handled on a case-by-case basis, it’s almost impossible to make absolute and irrefutable statements about what’s going on, still, patterns have begun to emerge and below I outline what is known and what can be suspected to be the case in regard to the new visa situation.

What we know for sure:

When there’s no taxis in sight or no subway stop near your destination, hopping on a bus can make any journey around Beijing a little easier. However, the Chinese-only bus signs sometimes make this option impossible for expats.

However, Chinese search engine Baidu can give you a clear bus route to get from point A to point B. You don't need the ability to read or write Chinese – just a bit of common sense.

JUE Festival has brought us lots of joy and good acts over the past three years. Next month, it's back with Death Cab For Cutie - probably the biggest indie pop band in the world. They will play the opening weekend of the Festival: first in Shanghai on March 9, then in Beijing at Tango 3F on March 10. Ticket information remains unrevealed (like the rest of lineup) but we'll have both for you as soon as we get them.

Aside from the JUE Festival, there are more exciting acts to looking forward to in coming months: