China e-comm story: There is little you can’t buy on Alibaba’s Taobao app

Over the nearly three years that I have been a Beijing resident, I have accumulated what comedian George Carlin once helpfully referred to as, well, stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. Essential stuff and coveted stuff and thoroughly unnecessary why-on-earth-did-I-buy-this stuff. Crockery, cooking implements, bedding, plants, assorted pieces of furniture – the entire jumble of objects I needed as I set up a new home in a new city.

Jackets, woolly skirts, trench-coats, boots, scarves of all lengths and colours — the excellence of a winter wardrobe finally available to me after years of sweating it out in hot, muggy Mumbai. Japanese foot masks, bubble-tea earrings, a popcorn-maker for movie nights at my apartment where I fancied myself playing gracious hostess.