Shanghaiist

Good, bad and the ugly: Chinese cities ranked by air quality

Shanghaiist — 2012-05-25T04:00:23+07:00

It's no news that China's air pollution is bad. In fact if this NASA map of PM2.5 levels is anything to go by, Eastern China has it the worst in the entire world. But why is the air pollution in some Chinese cities is simply bad (like Guangzhou) while others are super bad (like Beijing?) And which provinces are actually doing anything about it? [ more › ] ]]> Follow @shanghaiist

Couple knocks over elderly woman, then buries her alive

Kenneth Tan — 2012-05-24T15:21:14+07:00

A young Chinese couple has been arrested by local police in Liupanshui, Guizhou for knocking over a 68-year-old woman in Yuyao, Zhejiang with their car, and then burying her alive when they thought she was dead. An eye-witness says he saw the couple get out of their Santana to help the old woman lying on the ground, saying they would send her immediately to hospital. Worried about the penalties for drunken driving, the 25-year-olds may have decided to bury the woman when they thought she was no longer breathing on their way to the hospital. [ more › ] ]]> Follow @shanghaiist

TIME Magazine's Bo Xilai issue seized and confiscated

Kenneth Tan — 2012-05-24T14:40:22+07:00

TIME's Beijing bureau received a note this week from the customs department that 62 copies of its May 14, 2012 issue entitled The People’s Republic of Scandal were being "safeguided by customs" to be "dealt with". Read Hannah Beech's account of their fruitless attempts to get their magazines back: [ more › ] ]]> Follow @shanghaiist

Is CCTV host Yang Rui an anti-Semite?

Kenneth Tan — 2012-05-24T03:37:46+07:00

Douchebag Chinglish talkshow host Yang Rui (杨锐) is the gift that keeps on giving. Last week, the CCTV News anchor shocked the world with anti-foreigner remarks so needlessly incendiary that even the Global Times had to tone it down by juxtaposing his diatribe against comments by critical Weibo users. Well, apparently he not only has a problem with foreigners -- the people he is supposed to have a Dialogue with -- he isn't a great fan of Jews either. [ more › ] ]]> Follow @shanghaiist

OK now for foreigners to handle state secrets

Kenneth Tan — 2012-05-23T18:56:11+07:00

Our good friend Yang Rui will probably not like to hear this but a draft guideline being proposed by the State Council that will seek the OK for foreigners to legally work in posts involving China's state secrets. They will, however, first have to be approved by central or local government agencies. [ more › ] ]]> Follow @shanghaiist

Chinese government plans to use guns and rocket launchers to make it rain

Shanghaiist — 2012-05-23T17:30:22+07:00

The vagaries of nature be damned! The Chinese government has green-lighted plans to develop rainmaking technology during the next three to five years that would literally make it rain whenever they feel like the ol' crops need a little watering. Part of the plans include using 7000 rocket launchers, at least 50 planes and nearly 7000 guns to launch silver iodide into the clouds to boost the probability of rainfall. [ more › ] ]]> Follow @shanghaiist

Flipping the script: U.S. cracks down on illegal Chinese teachers

Shanghaiist — 2012-05-22T16:40:39+07:00

On May 17th, the United States Department of State sent out a policy directive to American universities sponsoring Confucius Institutes. It states that Chinese academics teaching grade-school levels at institutions without the proper accreditation are violating the terms of their visas and must leave the country at the end of the current term. [ more › ] ]]> Follow @shanghaiist

Russian cellist Oleg Vedernikov sacked by Beijing Symphony Orchestra

Kenneth Tan — 2012-05-22T15:33:29+07:00

Oleg Vedernikov, the principal cellist of the Beijing Symphony Orchestra and arguably the most famous Russian expat in China, is now officially jobless. The orchestra has decided to sack him for his "uncivilised behaviour" in an incident on a high-speed train headed from Shenyang to Beijing last week. [ more › ] ]]> Follow @shanghaiist

Shanghai has sunk 6 ft since 1921

Kenneth Tan — 2012-05-22T14:43:18+07:00

Kate Springer of TIME's Ecocentric blog, has some eye-popping numbers in her latest post on land subsidence, which she says is affecting more than 50 cities in China. Across the country, 49,000 sq. mi. of land have dropped at least 8 in, and Shanghai is, unsurprisingly, leading China's rapid descent into the ground, and has sunk more than 6 ft. since 1921. [ more › ] ]]> Follow @shanghaiist

Douchebag CCTV host Yang Rui backtracks, hopes we'll forget about him

Kenneth Tan — 2012-05-22T13:31:04+07:00

Yang Rui (杨锐), the world's most widely watched Chinglish talkshow host and anchor of CCTV News' ~~Monologue~~ Dialogue, has, in his latest statement to Josh Chin of the Wall Street Journal, attempted to walk back some of his more incendiary remarks made against foreigners in China. [ more › ] ]]> Follow @shanghaiist

New head coach Lippi shines in Guangzhou Evergrande debut

Shanghaiist — 2012-05-22T03:01:00+07:00

Just days after signing former Italian national team head coach Marcello Lippi, Guangzhou Evergrande, who currently sit atop the CSL standings, kept their hot streak alive by defeating Qingdao Jonoon last night 1-0. Lippi, who led Italy to a World Cup victory in 2006, signed a 2 1/2 year contract with the club last Thursday. [ more › ] ]]> Follow @shanghaiist

On heels of Drogba signing, Anelka threatens to quit

Shanghaiist — 2012-05-22T02:00:00+07:00

So much for a warm welcome. Just hours after the Daily Mail reported that Didier Drogba was set to leave Chelsea and finally sign a £250,000-a-week (RMB 2.5 million-a-week!) contract with Shanghai Shenhua, Nicolas Anelka — Drogba's former teammate/entire reason for coming to Shanghai — threatened to quit the team all together. [ more › ]

Chinese fishermen drama reaches conclusion

Shanghaiist — 2012-05-22T00:41:52+07:00

29 Chinese fishermen kidnapped by North Koreans have finally been freed and are now home in China. [ more › ] ]]> Follow @shanghaiist

Your opportunity to work with Yang Rui: CCTV's Dialogue now hiring!

Kenneth Tan — 2012-05-21T15:11:11+07:00

Are you a native English speaker with 10 years of media experience and desperate for a job? If so, you might want to consider joining the international arm of CCTV News because they're hiring news editors for Dialogue, now the favourite talkshow of China's expatriate community. [ more › ] ]]> Follow @shanghaiist

Washington Post peers into princelings educated abroad

Shanghaiist — 2012-05-21T14:40:15+07:00

In the Saturday edition of The Washington Post, Andrew Higgens and Maureen Fan waxed poetic about the two-facedness of China's Communist leaders denouncing Western values while simultaneously enrolling their children and grandchildren into Western universities. [ more › ] ]]> Follow @shanghaiist