• The city's environmental work now focuses on drinking water. In one year, if things work out according to plan, Shanghai's water is supposed to be good enough to drink directly from the tap. City officials say that this vision will realized with the completion of the biggest reservoir in Shanghai, the Qingcaosha Reservoir, close to Chongming Island and a new pipe network. Could this be the beginning of the end for bottled water?
• A campaign to get more expats to donate blood has been started by the The Shanghai Blood Centre in a move to build up reserves of uncommon blood types. Rare types such as Rh negative are more common among Westerners than Chinese, and stocks of this blood type are often scarce. So if you know you have a rare blood type, donate ! If you don't, do it anyways.
• Chinese universities are gaining in status, though none of them have yet reached the world's top 100 list. At the top of this year's Top 100 Asia Pacific list, however, we find Shanghai's well known Jiaotong University, up from a previous 14th place.
• The city's newly finished cruise ship terminal is experiencing a bit of trouble, ships heading for the terminal need to pass under the low Yangpu Bridge to get there. If the vessels are larger than 87,000 gross tons, they won't be able to reach the terminal at all. Hmm.
• Owners of karaoke bars in Shanghai are in talks with state-level authorities about new copyright payments, which have been the source of much complaint. According to the Music Copyright Society of China, every Shanghai karaoke room should pay RMB 11.10 a day in copyright fees, the highest payment in China. In Beijing, which has the next highest payment, the fee is RMB 11.

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