Imagine this: Eight National People's Congress lawmakers write to the Chinese government, requesting to block deals by a long list of United States companies, from Lockheed Martin and Boeing to Honeywell and General Electric.

If you believe Americans are preoccupied these days with issues such as the economy, jobs, troop withdrawal from Iraq and the war in Afghanistan, you may be wrong. Cordoba House, the proposed Islamic center to be built two blocks from Ground Zero, the World Trade Center site in New York, is the hot issue in the country at the moment.

New York, the most expensive American city, is much cheaper compared with Shanghai and other Chinese cities, at least when it comes to summer arts, since many big-ticket events in China are totally free there.