The rain, which had been irking us all day, let up at around 7pm - surprising us all with a pleasant, cool night. We tossed back our drinks, hummed along with the best tunes of 2009 and raffled off a series of amazing prizes. Thanks to everyone who came along and lent a hand to Hands on Chengdu. more ›

• In Memory: 1 Year Anniversary Of The 5.12 Sichuan Earthquake [CN Reviews] "As expected, the Chinese media and internet is crawling with content commemorating the one-year anniversary of the devastating 2008 May 12th Sichuan Earthquake (often also referred to as the Beichuan/Wenchuan Earthquake) that killed a reported 68,712 people, including 5,335 students, with around 18,000 people still listed as missing. We’ve compiled six of the most popular “512″ videos on Youku."
• The Eight Star Government Office Building [Netease - translated by ESWN] "Linyi city has three districts and nine counties, of which five of those counties are classified as "impoverished." But under the leadership of the Linyi city Party Committee and Government, a world-class government office building has been constructed. This building has an area of 120,000 plus square meters spread over 23 floors (including two basement levels) serviced by 18 elevators. The building was constructed for 38.2 billion RMB at an average cost of 3,200,000 RMB per square meter. Today it was announced by Guinness (China) proclaimed that this to be the only eight-star government office building in the world."
• China should release a critical earthquake preparedness document [China Media Project] "In early 2005, more than three years before the Wenchuan earthquake struck, a number of cities and provinces, including Sichuan and Shaanxi, participated in a wide-scale action for earthquake preparedness. That action responded to a series of central government demands, including the strengthening of dangerous and old school buildings. The time has come for China’s government to make public the critical national document behind that 2005 push."