Am back after a lightning quick Christmas and New Year's in the US: San Francisco, Washington, New York City. Family, a few friends, editors and more family. Updated the iPod. Packed China books. Bought dark chocolate. Saw Syriana, about how US oil interests affect a fictitious country in the Gulf, and The White Countess, about 1937 Shanghai, as the Japanese invade. By the time I am back in China, pirated copies of Memories of a Geisha will be for sale on the sidewalks in front of Carrefour.