Holiday tourists flock to Beijing, drawn in part by Olympic venues [Xinhua] "Tourist arrivals here rose 14.4 percent year-on-year in the first two days of the National Day holiday, with 635,000 travelers, many of whom packed historic sites and Olympic venues, tourist officials said. "Taiwan Premier demands apology from China over melamine [Taipei Times] "Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) yesterday demanded an apology from China for allowing products contaminated with melamine to be exported to Taiwan."China......

Paralympics - changing attitudes in China [Radio Netherlands] "It's money well spent, but China's own 83 million disabled people no doubt find it more important not to be discriminated against any more by the rest of society, or to be stared at as if they were circus freaks."Woman who stripped during Paralympic opening mentally ill [AFP] "A woman who burst into the Beijing Paralympics opening ceremony and tried to remove her clothes was mentally ill,......

This article in the China Daily caught our attention:Three hundred and twelve travelers were found to be HIV positive in the first seven months of this year, up 19 percent year-on-year, a report released Tuesday showed. They were among 756,000 travelers who received random blood checks at border crossings, according to the report compiled by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ). The increase in positive cases was mainly due to the......

It doesn't take much to see that the sex industry is rife in Shanghai. There are few streets that you can walk down in this city without seeing the pink glow of a "massage parlour" or worse, being accosted by someone offering you sexual services. A few months ago we showed you this excellent film from Laura Ling on Current TV about sex workers in China, and it seems that Chinese women who are......

The following update from Beijing-based AIDS activist Wan Yanhai (万延海) is currently being circulated among gay and other AIDS-related online groups (proxy/VPN required) on the mainland:Account of police raids targeted at LGBT in Beijing Wan Yanhai First instance: in the second half of January 2008, the police in Chaoyang District visited the residence of a LGBT activist. They enquired about her ex-roommate residence permit, asked for her picture, and enquired about the nature of her......

All this month (that would be March), the photography of Hong Kong artist Norm Yip will be on display not on the walls of a fancy-schmancy gallery on Moganshan Road, but on the meandering walls of Shanghai Studio. The photography, in mostly black and white, features fit, mostly East Asian men in various stages of undress, in front of simple backgrounds or stark black backdrops. The pictures do not feature any naughty bits, so Mr.......

Photo by Peijin Chen Sexually transmitted diseases on the rise Reuters: China reports rise in sexually transmitted diseases Independent: China admits that cases of HIV/Aids have risen 45 per cent AFP: China launches first anti-AIDS drive for gay men: state media Religion AP: China Official Explains Religion Policy The Hindu: China for conditional constructive dialogue with Vatican Christian Today: Miliband should raise religious freedom in China visit – CSW The environment Reuters: Top China......

By Jake in Shanghai Chinese New Year around the world Reuters: Chinese New Year exodus exposes Singapore generation gap AFP: Brown sends New Year wishes to China Xinhua: Chinese new year goods sold in Mexico's Chinatown AllAfrica.com: Botswana: Chinese Celebrate New Year The Canadian Press: Chinese New Year banquets being held more frequently in restaurants Xinhua: Danish PM wishes for closer cooperation with China in New Year HIV/AIDS China Daily: Charting the battle against......

This is definitely one of the best pods we've seen on China's sex workers so far. Laura Ling of Current TV, goes around China and finds that the sex trade, while virtually non-existent 25 years ago, is now booming everywhere. She also almost got into trouble with some local mafia (which brought back some nasty flashbacks of our own encounters with them a few years ago), but fortunately she got away with it and her......

So we know that scientists get paid peanuts in China, but there's hope yet: China Daily ran article about an amended national law which allows scientists to report failures.:The law, for the first time, allows scientists to report failures during the process of innovation without harming their records in future funding applications. "The country encourages scientists and technicians to freely explore innovation and bravely shoulder risks," reads the bill. Scientists and technicians, who can provide......

What's happening around the nation as one year closes and another begins 2007 is definitely the year of angry students. After last month's bloody riot at the Hefei PLA Artillery Academy is a Christmas Eve clash in Tianjin's Nankai University, said to be among China's top ten universities. We all know the powers-that-be do not like angry students, so they will be watching this in 2008.In the above picture, laid off bank workers at the......

A recent article in Bokee about human guinea pigs that test out new and experimental drugs for a living or sometimes just for a kick. The article says that there are three different types of people that do this: 1. university students who might be studying medicine and could use the cash, 2. people who want to further the cause of medicine (and who might be sick themselves, and thus have a stake in it),......

This World AIDS Day, we witnessed an extraordinarily well-coordinated effort by Chinese media to raise AIDS awareness among the populace and to communicate the resolve of the central government to win the battle against the disease. This small sampling of stories that appeared in state-run English-language media is enough to give you an idea of what went out on Chinese news: President Hu: HIV/AIDS not scary President Hu tells HIV carriers, communities not to be......

China's very first Miss World, Zhang Zilin (张梓琳) was crowned yesterday at the 57th edition of the beauty pageant in Sanya, Hainan. Miss Angola was first runner-up and Miss Mexico was second runner-up. This year's pageant coincided with World AIDS Day and was used by organisers to help raise awareness about the disease. Highlights of the show included a televised speech by former South African president Nelson Mandela, whose son Makgatho died of an AIDS-related......

Yet more news on China's HIV/AIDS situation, and this time from a most unlikely source. Did you know, dear readers, that Naked News, the "program with nothing to hide" that has its news anchors strip as they read the news, has male strippers newsreaders too? Apparently this program is targetted mainly towards the gay market (which makes us wonder if the program will ever have a market among women)? We were surprised to learn that......

We've had a hard time making sense of the conflicting reports on China's HIV/AIDS situation that kept appearing on our RSS this morning. First, there was an AFP report that China says estimated HIV/AIDS cases rise to 700,000, and then AP came out with a conflicting report entitled China HIV/AIDS figures down. In the AP report:China has 223,501 people infected with HIV, the official Xinhua News Agency said Thursday, a sharp drop in previously reported......

Even as UNAIDS is busy fighting allegations that it had inflated estimates for years in an alarmist effort to raise funds, Beijing has reported that HIV/AIDS cases are up more than 50% so far this year. Angela Sun of Current TV visits a village in Hebei Province (she did not say where exactly) where many of the residents contracted HIV through government-sponsored blood selling schemes. The plight of AIDS villages has been covered by many......

Golf in China: All growing, all new, all raw [ESPN.com] In China, the sport of golf is younger than Tiger Woods himself. But the game has grown exponentially in recent years, leading to more courses and the development of some pros through the Omega China Tour. But as Dan Washburn reports, all is not without struggle.PM Manmohan Singh meets Chinese counterpart in Singapore [Times of India] Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday met Chinese premier......

The Ministry of Health will soon relax a 14 year old rule that bars foreigners with HIV/AIDS from entering China, although a date has not yet been set, reports the Associated Press. Needless to say, this is of MAJOR significance. As everyone who is employed in China on a work visa (and we're referring to the 'Z' visa, not the 'F') will know, if you are found to have the HIV during your health check,......

Ladies (and guys with long hair), resist from buying those cheap hair bands you find at the mom and pop stores in your 'hood because the news is out that some of them are made from USED condoms. China Daily cites an unnamed dermatologist with the Guangzhou Hospital of Armed Police who says viruses and bacteria abound on these hair bands recycled from condoms and users could be infected with AIDS, genital warts and other......

Two nights ago, Canada’s CBC aired a documentary titled China’s Sexual Revolution. It was shot in Shanghai and Beijing using hidden cameras and interviews with academics and pop culture figures. While we haven’t yet seen the thing, it apparently cobbles together AIDS, bar culture, and the manufacture of sex toys to look at how China is “a country that’s quickly becoming X-rated.” In the trailer, the camera pans a Shanghai disco as the narrator solemnly......

Fresh off the press: A video of the secret police who watched over AIDS, environmental and democracy activist Hu Jia (胡嘉) day and night while they were under house arrest from July last year to March this year has just been released (h/t to CDT). Who is Hu Jia and why are the powers-that-be watching over him? Perhaps the best summary of Hu's trouble-making activities is found in a report by Jonathan Watts of the......

... at least that is what Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas would have us believe (h/t to Danwei). She recently wrote in to China Daily columnist Raymond Zhou after reading his opinion piece on recent comments by Chinese celebrity Sun Haiying (孙海英) who not too long ago ignited a huge debate with his comments that homosexuality was unequivocally "criminal in nature" ("同性恋就是犯罪“):Dear Raymond The very day that Godless China decriminalized......

Shaanxi official fired after mistresses revolt [Shanghai Daily] 11 angry mistresses have caused Pang Jiayu, 63, former top political adviser in Shaanxi Province, to lose his job. China pledges more support to Caribbean region [Xinhua] China plans to offer 4 billion yuan (US$530 million) in low-interest loans to Chinese firms in three years to encourage more investment in Caribbean regions. Western acts rock Beijing music fest [AFP] Thousands of Chinese music fans flocked to a......

In a story that reminded us of the Andrew Speaker incident, two Taiwanese tuberculosis patients have defied a travel ban and flown to Nanjing from Kaohsiung (via Hong Kong). They have since been "located" by Chinese officials (we wonder how they did that!) and "are now receiving treatment". A maximum fine of 300,000 New Taiwan dollars (US$10,000) awaits the Taiwanese jetsetters. A 49 year old Shenzhen man has contracted the pig-borne disease Streptococcus suis......

From Shanghai Daily:Central China's Hunan Province is planning to make HIV tests compulsory for people working at recreation venues to monitor the rise in HIV/AIDS cases. Hunan had reported a total of 4,379 HIV/AIDS cases by June 30, ranking eighth among the country's provinces or regions. Officials said 57.8 percent of HIV infections in Hunan were caused by drug users sharing needles, but that cases of sexually-transmitted diseases have been rising. Photo from Kat.H:......

Face-lift after 'health check' on Xupu Bridge "Xupu Bridge's 240 suspension cables are to have a large-scale renovation to make the bridge safer and more beautiful prior to the opening of World Expo 2010, the Shanghai Engineering Administrative Bureau has said." If no Expo, safety not an issue. Frozen fish from China recalled as two in Chicago fall illfpr "The list of potentially deadly products reaching the United States from China continued to grow......

When you've got nothing left to sell, sell your blood. That's how many people in China, most notably in Henan, got AIDS. But as long as there's poverty, you can bet that there will be people willing to sell their own blood. In the town of Jieyang in Eastern Guangdong province, a recent expose lead to greater media attention, which meant that the authorities actually had some work to do. An investigation started, which lead......

At the risk of appearing as though we are once again fellating the "gay agenda", we thought we'd point out the interesting news announced Thursday that China aired its first program about gay and lesbian issues ... online. The show is called 同性相连 in Chinese and Gay Connections in English (although the Chinese press release calls the program Connecting Homosexual People) and it premiered its first episode of a 12-part weekly series on April 5......

These days, Shanghaiist is rarely surprised about anything that happens in China. However, we did think that this news story did come from a little out of left-field. A Henan-based investor group is constructing a 21-kilometre (13 mile) long metal Chinese dragon as a tourist attraction. The dragon's body forms a nine-metre (27-foot) high wall running along a ridge-line, with the dragon's head rising 10-metres (30-feet) above the surrounding land. This project plans to cover......