Frank Langfitt

Rubber Ducky, You're (Not) The One. Hong Kong Quacker Spawns Others

Frank Langfitt — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:22:00 +0000

Perhaps it was inevitable.

More Than 100 Dead In China Poultry Plant Blaze

Frank Langfitt — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 11:17:00 +0000

A fire at a poultry processing plant fire in northeast China on Monday has killed at least 119 people, according to the Jilin province government. The blaze is one of the country's deadliest industrial accidents in recent years.

Flames broke out a little after 6 a.m. and the sprawling, low-slung plant filled with dark smoke, witnesses said. About 300 workers were inside the facility owned by the Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Company in Mishazi Township of Dehui City.

The state-run newspaper Southern Metropolis reports that all but one of the plant's doors were locked at the time.

In China, Customer Service And Efficiency Begin To Blossom

Frank Langfitt — Wed, 29 May 2013 19:52:00 +0000

China's infamous bureaucracy has bedeviled people for ages, but in recent years, daily life in some major Chinese cities has become far more efficient.

For instance, when I worked in Beijing in the 1990s, many reporters had drivers. It wasn't because they didn't drive, but because they needed someone to deal with China's crippling bureaucracy.

I had a man named Old Zhao, who would drive around for days to pay our office bills at various government utility offices.

China's Air Pollution: Is The Government Willing To Act?

Frank Langfitt — Fri, 24 May 2013 08:02:00 +0000

Denise Mauzerall arrived in Beijing this year at a time that was both horrifying and illuminating.

China Builds Museums ... But Will The Visitors Come?

Frank Langfitt — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:39:00 +0000

Shanghai did something last fall that few other cities on the planet could have even considered. It opened two massive art museums right across the river from one another on the same day.

The grand openings put an exclamation point on China's staggering museum building boom.