What is the content of Chinese individuals' aspirations and what is the relation between dreams and the everyday reality? This is basically the topic of the interesting photo series- '现实给了梦想多少时间?' 'how much time does reality allow for a dream to exist?' which appeared in the Chinese media recently. 

Filling up numerous commercial ads or bulletin boards, the word '培训', (peixun - training, teaching, cultivating) has become more abundant than street snacks, indicating that in contemporary China people continuously assess their own capabilities, getting in shape for present-future career and personal challenges.  

McDonald's (麦当劳 Maidanglao), has been attracting Chinese middle-class members and young adults who enjoy the scent of American culture. New designs in some of China's McDonald's branches are making the chain a stylish adult location, a step which reinforces the differences in the way this fast-food chain is treated in China and in the west.

English slogans for Chinese products are often directed at Chinese customers, who appreciate western sophistication, even when such titles are actually funny and meaningless English sentences.

There some common features in the Japanese sentiment amae and the Chinese practice of guanxi. However, while guanxi is often linked to a collectivist Chinese society, amae is a more universalistic concept that can perhaps be understood better in the west. Through amae the emotional root of guanxi can perhaps also become more comprehensible.

'Self-help' books, now very popular in China, might seem to contradict the roots of Chinese tradition. However, traditional Chinese principles such as Li 礼, the effect of ritual on the inner spirit and the lack of distinction between 'superficial' and 'deep' cultural elements are also present in the manner they are adopted in today's China.