The other day I spotted a new kind of popcorn maker at a bus stop in Changchun. What it was strikingly different from the old–fashioned one was that it remained noiselessly during the whole process of application. The stall keeper operated the machine expertly. First he took a few spoonfuls of something like cream and put it into a heated pot. Then he added a cup of maize grains. After covering the pot, he began to twirl it slowly. A few minutes later, the popcorn was produced and emptied into a basin before being filled a plastic bag for sale.