The trouble with chocolate bars

Slate's Daniel Gross has been reporting from China for the last few days and an item he posted yesterday has caused some buzz amongst the twitterati:

"I'm hoping a Slate reader can answer this question before I depart. I have yet to see a chocolate bar in China. Why? Please send answers to [email protected]."

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This blogger has been living in China for a long time. Chocolate bars are sold at most convenience and grocery stores. So I don't really have an answer to Gross' question. Maybe he needed to leave the hotel more and patrol the streets? Hershey bars can be a little harder to find outside of full-fledged grocery stores, but Dove chocolate bars, Snickers , M&M candies and domestic brand chocolate bars are everywhere. A Motley Fool report says that annual chocolate sales are rising swiftly in China and are estimated to surpass $1.2 billion by 2012.

Gross' other observations about life and economics in China can be found through the links below:

• What I Saw Inside China's—and the World's—Most Important Dam

•  Shanghai Express
  

• Hot Pot's Top Spot: What a meal of beef stomach and duck throats taught me about the new China
  

• Shanghai Manners
  

• How Do You Say "Pink Cadillac" in Mandarin?