Saga Ringmar

The news is that Shenhua Group, the state-owned mining and energy company, has completed its upgrades that will dramatically decrease coal-burning in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

So does that mean more blue skies, sunshine and good times? Well, maybe. But when the environment is concerned, things aren’t always that simple.

Shenhua Group’s new upgrades mean the annual emission of dust, SO2 (sulfur dioxide) and NOx (nitrogen oxide) in the north will go down by 84 percent, 71 percent and 83 percent respectively. The upgrades have taken 3 years and have cost the company 2.35 billion yuan. However, when you’re sitting in a gas chamber it’s hard to empathize with a state-owned coal-power house’s financial plight. Read the whole article here. 

After the strain of a polluted and freezing cold winter, it’s about time someone gave your tangled locks a good seeing to. We headed over to Catherine de France to check out their keratin protein treatment to see if it could tame our stressed-out hair. We were led into a dimly lit room where an assistant was tasked with applying shampoo and administering a scalp massage while the mellowing voice of Billie Holiday emanated from the speakers. Back in the salon seat, another technician paints the keratin solution over each strand of hair. The process takes about 10 minutes, which is a good opportunity to catch up on celebrity gossip courtesy of the many English-language fashion magazines (just like the salons at home). After the wait, our hair was blow-dried and straightened to within an inch of its life, but instead of them looking over-processed, the result was dazzling—our strands glowed and were silky smooth to touch. The treatment is supposed to last three months and, if you care for it correctly, the result is shinier, smoother, and thicker hair for much longer than a typical treatment would last. Catherine recommends doing the treatment before the summer starts, so you won’t have to scout out a salon on your vacation (you know, after the heat tries to kill it dead). The treatment costs from RMB2,000-3,000 depending on hair length. Read the whole review here.