Extra! Extra! Suicide notes, internet censorship and artificial islands

- ESWN has translated the sad story of a 31 year old woman who left a goodbye note on her blog before commiting suicide because of her unfaithful husband, an employee at Saatchi & Saatchi Beijing. The story is now making the rounds big time in the local advertising scene and has also unleashed a manhunt which saw enraged citizens coming up to his apartment to seek revenge for the dead woman. More pictures here.

- According to the Sunday Times newspaper in London, Chinese officials have tried to cover up the deaths of 10 workers at the new Olympic stadium site by paying their families unusually high amounts of compensation of up to £13,000 (approx RMB183,000). It appears other news outlets have not picked up the story yet.

- Looks like the internet censors are working overtime to keep the Internet safe for us all in the run-up to the Olympics. Detailed working instructions by some government propaganda unit have been leaked out to some Chinese blogs and translated by the ever excellent China Digital Times [proxy required].

- A 165-meter chimney at an old power plant will be transformed into an observation tower called the Harmony Tower for the 2010 World Expo to demonstrate planners' efforts to mix advanced technology with the city's history.

- Thinking of buying your own island? Now you don't need to go to Dubai to do that anymore. Shanghai's Municipal Ocean Bureau has plans to build an artificial island (Note: Picture above is of an artificial island in Dubai) shaped like a magnolia - the city's official flower - in Hangzhou Bay to house up to 80,000 people.