Impression:" over the last few years the summer rains have generally been starting a bit earlier most years - seem to me they didn't much start until early June about 10 years ago. Temperatures, on average, seem slightly higher in the winter months too (despite the snow last winter).

Also, museums.

I have this vision of huge ocean-going vessels pulling away from the West Coast of the US, filled with weightless Airflakes and Sugartoodles, churning and polluting the waters of the Pacific and exhausting fossil fuels so that leetle American kiddies in inland Asia can have their Frosty the Tiger breakfast. Now I've got nothing against indulging kids in their favorite foods and I'm well aware that it's hard to deny them, but all this comes at a price, and I'm not talking about dollars or renminbi.

@mmkunming: I second your question, though there are a very few items that are worth importing (e.g.: really good olives and cheeses, mustard). But I have to laugh my ass off when I see, for example, US breakfast cereals at the Wicker Basket.

@Peter: OK - but what I meant by 'a certain amount of rootlessness' is something like: the ability to examine 'roots', practices, institutions, beliefs, habits etc. from a relatively 'nonattached' standpoint so as to be able to decide what should change and what should not. Change itself, and the tearing of thoughtless roots by the creation of new conditions, often allows us to examine change from this perspective. However, I'm not disagreeing with you about the developments you mention, which are all pretty worrisome.