I don't know if you've noticed, but all the road name signs across Shanghai have been changed! The old signs, which had a sort of quaint old new china feel about them, have been being replaced by ones which are larger and substitute Pinyin for English. So Taiyuan Lu becomes Taiyuan Rd. Why not? But I'll continue to use Lu in whatever language -- it make it less confusing.

Shanghai is experiencing a tidal wave of divorces. But don't blame me!!! Last year, there were 82,000 marriages in the city and 13,000 divorces, a small proportion perhaps compared to some other countries, but still a rise of 21 percent over 1997.

Divorce cases now account for more than half of all civil cases heard in the city's courts, apparently. What are the main causes of divorce. According to the report I read, it's gambling and drug use, not adultery and irreconcilable differences, the most likely causes in most of the world. An increasing number of the divorces involve Chinese-foreign couples. Many of those Chinese women involved who marry more for money and a foreign passport than for love are finding that the reality of life in a foreign context is not as ideal as they had expected, perhaps.

Have you noticed (you Shanghai residents) how computer Internet access has been dramatically upgraded over the past couple of months? It's speedy, dramatically improved from a year ago, and better than Hong Kong, London and Switzerland -- three places I've been over the past couple of weeks (escape!)

Eeeuuuwwww! Here's an item to read while the eat dinner: a new sewage treatment machine has been put into operation at the Shanghai Longhua Sewage Disposal Factory - a worm centrifugal dewaterer. It's domestically produced by a People's Liberation Army factory and should allow China to become less reliant on imported sewage treatment equipment. How much sewage does China produce? I'm glad you asked. A total of 2.4 billion tons annually. Now, let's see. 1.3 billion people, that means 1.8 tons per person per year. Hmmmm. Makes you think, doesn't it?

Ericsson is planning a new advertisement campaign to push its mobile phone products, and once again the star will be Hong Kong singer Andy Lau. The new phones are said to make connection to laptop computers and the Internet easier. China is now Ericsson's largest market in the world.

The best desserts in town -- there's a new competitor - the 54th floor restaurant in the Grand Hyatt. I had a creme brulee and almost fainted!!

Byeeeee!