Morning:
8°c
It's transport fortnight in Shanghai at the moment. Last week was the Boat Show, the weekend saw the F1 circus, and now it's the Motor Show. All very upmarket and crunch-testing.
Boats are pure luxury, unless you live on an island. You can certainly get by without one in Shanghai. In fact, until last year there was nowhere to keep one anyway, even if it was a must-have item.
But now there's the Shanghai Yacht Club. Twenty-five berths on the river south of the Bund, complete with palm trees and decking.
Where you go from there is another matter. Apart from river cruising, there's not much choice. There is sailing inland on Dianshan lake but with an average depth of 2.1 metres, it doesn't give much scope for a real status symbol.
Out to sea, the muddy Yangtze spreads its wares along the coast for 100 miles. For sandy beaches, read mud flats. So like most boats, a lot of time will be spent in port.
North of Dianshan, someone had the bright idea of turning unattractive marshland into an F1 circuit. Some $450 million and a lot of engineering later, it's a great success.
Although it's a bit of a hike from the centre, the Shanghainese have taken to F1 with a vengeance, and are delighted that their event is now earlier in the season - even if that meant a rainstorm-hit race.
The car industry has its problems. But the past couple of months have shown improvement, particularly from Shanghai Auto.
The Motor Show has been around for 10 years and, with China's car market seen as the only interesting game in town, this year's show will be important. BMW and Volvo are going for a big push, and the event is likely to attract record crowds.
* The first quarter's economic statistics were mixed but, in the words of the State Council last week, "better than expected". Many thought the government might introduce a second stimulus package. It now looks as though it will wait. Probably because it doesn't want to encourage the stock market too much.
* Next week is the 1 May holiday. Formerly a whole week, it has been downgraded to a mere day. "Golden weeks" were all the rage for stimulating consumption, but not any more. Guangdong province disagreed and declared a week's holiday. This was smartly reversed by central government, much to the embarrassment of everyone.
