Robot Cooking Machine

Popular Science magazine recently featured an article about a robot who can serve up 60o types of classic Chinese dishes with the touch of a button. Simply “feed” the machine with ingredients required for the dish and program the machine before it whips out a meal. Level of deliciousness may vary with individuals.

Developed by students from Yangzhou University and Shanghai’s Jiaotong University, the details of how the machine works have yet to be released.

Shanghai’s new botanic garden set to open at the end of the month

In an effort to increase greenery in the city, after three years’ construction, the Chenshan botanic park will open just in time for the Expo. At 207 hectares (three times the size of the Shanghai Botanic Garden), it boasts 9,000 species of endangered plants and trees , and eventually 30,000 in order to earn a spot at the world’s top 10 botanic gardens.

Designed by German landscape architect  Christoph Valentien (of the award winning firm Valentien & Valentien), several details of the garden were also inspired by Chinese culture and tradition, for example the design of a hill and a lake, the height of the pavilions, and the setting of the buildings.

A 71.4 m waterfall runs from Chenshan Hill into a deep lake at the Quarry Garden, constructed from an abandoned quarry. The park also has a  special garden that encourages blind people to feel the plants and smell the scents, equipped with an audio system to guide the blind on tours of the foliage.

China to keep RMB stable

China responded to US President Barack Obama’s suggestion that the country should consider a “market oriented exchange rate” by maintaining that the RMB will remain stable.

With the current squabble over the exchange rate between US and China , the Chinese government believes that the RMB is not to blame for the recent US-China trade surplus and refuses to involve politics, adding that doing so will affect the global financial crisis. China currently attracts a steady amount of foreign investors, despite a few uncertainties this year. The Chinese government is taking measures to ensure that foreign companies are treated equally in Chin. Foreign direct investment in China increased for the seventh straight month in February, up 1.08 percent annually to US$5.89 billion.

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China Fashion Week 2010

China Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2010 opened recently in Beijing and was an array of avant garde fashion seemingly influenced by everything from pop’s current IT girl, Lady Gaga to Salvador Dali and even Darth Vader. The event showcased works by a roster of young fashion designers and college students from domestic schools, with designers experimenting with different materials and fabrics in original and bold cuts. Even during the cosmetics and hair segment of the show, everything was out of the ordinary and a little bit wacky.

We’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Shanghai to reduce food waste

Taking cues from San Francisco, which started to impose a fine on food waste last year, Shanghai is taking another step towards environmentally friendly measures. According to Shanghai Daily, around 60 restaurants are expected to take part in a new program that encourages diners to order less dishes and reward those who doggy bag their leftovers.

Although not as strict as the law in San Francisco, which fines residents who do not properly dispose of their food waste, the new measure has seen a significant decrease in waste in some of the restaurants taking part in the trial since April last year.

The article also mentions that Shanghai generates 1,000 tons of food waste every day. Restaurants pay a waste disposal fee of 60 yuan (US$8.78) per 50 kg barrel. As part of this initiative , the Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau is considering offering more benefits such as discounted waste disposal fees for restaurants and lucky draws for customers featuring gifts including the 2010 World Expo tickets.