David Pierson of LA Times has the answer, and it all boils down to one thing: Self defense. more ›

Saturday evening in Taiwan's Taoyuan County (桃園縣), a dad dropped his daughter headfirst onto the seats below while unsuccessfully attempting to catch a foul ball at a baseball game between Taipei's Brother Elephants and Taoyuan's Lamigo Monkeys. more ›

Thanks to your kind donations, Parhat Ablat and his scrappy team of Xinjiang baseball players can now compete in Shanghai for the China National College Baseball Tournament. But their troubles are far from over. While they've gotten enough money to bring 13 players over, it seems like they're still trying to figure out how to pay to keep the 13 players here long enough. So in case you felt like reaching into your pockets, you can still make donations at The Documentary Foundation or email parhat(dot)ablat(at)gmail(dot)com for more info! more ›

After all the success of the NBA in China, other American sports leagues are dying to get in on the Chinese sports market. The NFL came up with a kitschy Football-related reality TV show to win the hearts and minds of the populous, but the MLB is kicking it up a notch: they're actually letting people play baseball to get them to like it! The League has started summer sports camps around China, but they're hoping their new baseball development center at Dongbeitang High School will pay off with some major league material in time. In a country like China where baseball is a completely foreign sport, it's probably the best way, don't you think? more ›

Five Chinese swimmers received two year bans yesterday after testing positive for the anabolic steroid clenbuterol at a national competition last June. According to the AP the athletes' coaches also received one to two year bans. more ›

Is China's national baseball team getting better or worse? more ›

Beijing's Olympic baseball stadium has never had a particularly bright future. Plans to raze at least one of the two structures, built next to the much more commercially lucrative Wukesong basketball arena, seem to remain unchanged. This AP report indicates that, as China Sports Today has been told in conversations with China-based baseball professionals, the main stadium could soon be history. The reason is simple--lack of sufficient interest in the game to justify a substantial lineup of games. more ›

China's professional baseball league started off with a sweep last week as the Tianjin Tigers swept the Guangdong Leopards in three games, 11-1，13-10，and 8-5. Being the league's official opening series the first game was preceded by a red carpet ceremony and boasted of, surprise surprise, cheerleaders. more ›

Play ball! On Tuesday the China Baseball League released the official schedule for this year's games. The Shanghai Eagles, cheered on by their newly named mascot Tianyi the Eagle will play 9 home games this year, all in the first pre-Olympic half of the season. The home opener is April 18 against the Guangdong Leopards at Pudong's Kangbei Baseball and Softball Stadium. With the opening of the new metro lines making the trip out to the stadium is easier than ever: simply take Line 6 to the West Gaoke Rd station and walk west one block to the sports complex that hosts the Eagles' games. Bring some snacks, your glove and be ready to cheer the home team! more ›

The Los Angeles Dodgers take on the San Diego Padres this weekend at Beijing's Olympic baseball stadium. Seating capacity is limited to 13,000 spectators, and sure enough Emma has sold out their allotment of the cheap seats here in Shanghai. We're curious as to the scalper situation in Beijing, but for the risk-averse, other Chinese ticketing websites still have a small number of tickets left. A little internet sleuthing can still get you into the RMB 88 section! As far as the line-ups, San Diego is bringing a mix of veterans and new players to Beijing:

The Padres traveling contingent includes players with substantial experience in the Major Leagues (closer Trevor Hoffman), up-and-coming regulars (Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Kouzmanoff) and a host of players who will play in the Minor Leagues in 2008.

None of the pitchers on the roster played more than 16 games in the majors last year. Non-roster invitee Chan Ho Park, who is seeking to revive his career, is the most experienced with 11-plus years of major league service, and will be joined by pitchers including Hong-Chih Kuo, Eric Stults and Eric Hull, who spent most of last year in the minors.

Earlier we had reported that America's favorite pastime might soon be making its Chinese debut and now it's official. The China Series 2008, as its being called, will feature two games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres on March 15-16. The games will be held at Beijing's Wukesong Baseball Field, which will also be used for the upcoming Olympics. No word yet on when tickets will be available or how much they will be. more ›

According to Major League Baseball's official website, the LA Dodgers and San Diego Padres have committed to playing two exhibition games in Beijing's Olympic stadium next March. The games, scheduled tentatively for the weekend of March 15-16 at the Wukesong baseball stadium, are part of an MLB outreach to Asian baseball fans. The effort also includes season opening games between the Oakland A's and reigning champion Boston Red Sox at the Tokyo Dome, and a... more ›

Photo of a Mummy 3 set in a Hebei Province desert from China.org.cn more ›

The Shanghaiist Weather Center is 100 percent sure the answer will be yes (although is Shanghai Circuit really in Shanghai?). It's dry now in the French Concession, but the dark clouds above suggest it won't stay that way for long. Here's the latest weather update from the official Formula 1 website: Thus far Sunday has been dry with a little wind, but no sign of the edge of Typhoon Krosa, which is sweeping through the... more ›

According to anonymous MLB officials, the American professional baseball league is making plans to send a few teams to Beijing to play exhibition games during their pre-season spring training. The games would be held in March, five months before the start of the 2008 Olympics, and take place at Beijing's Wukesong Field, a small stadium with a capacity of 15,000 that will host the Olympiad's baseball events. more ›

Pioniers, a minor league team in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In 2007, he was signed by the Beijing Tigers of the China Baseball League (more info here). The CBL season already over, Kim recently answered some of our questions via email. more ›

... on the line—June 7-10 are the dates for that annual rite of passage known as the university examination (高考). This year is also special in that it marks the 30th anniversary of the reinstitution of the examinations after the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Part of what piques our interest about the examinations are the ingenious cheating techniques that have proliferated with the spread of mobile devices such as phones, laptops, and walkie-talkies. Each year, they try to crack down, and this year is no different: the new rule is that you can't leave the test room prior to the last half-hour of each test session. But we trust after the tenth, we will find some more reports about how some people managed to cheat the system. It's hard to not be amazed by the progress has been made since the days where we scribbled history notes on the inside of our hand or the old crib-sheet-in-the-baseball cap days. more ›

Yep. At least that is what Newsweek would have us believe. They attended the 2007 World Cheerleading Championships in Orlando, Florida, last month and noted that 38 teams from 15 foreign countries participated in the international events. Two years ago, when the international events were launched, three teams showed up. more ›

Would you believe that we get emails fairly regularly from people looking for even the most basic information about the China Baseball League? We wrote a story about the pro league back in 2004, and it's a testament to how little English info about the league exists out there that it's still one of most widely read CBL sources on the internet (it helps that Wikipedia linked to it). And so we have people asking us about everything from how they can play in the league to how they can watch a game ... or even if the league exists anymore (and lately that actually has been a pretty good question). Shanghaiist's last post about the CBL came in July 2005. Shortly thereafter the league saw a change at the top — Tom McCarthy, the American who helped found the league, left, and when he did, information about the league in English dried up (look, their English website still thinks it is April 2005). And throughout last season, the Chinese version of the site sat unchanged, as well. (Tianjin beat Guangdong for the title, for those of you still on the edge of your seat.) We think we're going to give the CBL another chance in 2007, however. They've updated and redesigned their website (they even have a countdown to opening day ... which is Friday). And we're really jonesing to watch some baseball action. The MLB season has started, but our satellite TV is down and we've been too lazy/busy to burn or buy a new card and we doubt our internet connection could handle MLB.tv. And while the CBL is a far cry from the big leagues (or even the minor leagues) there's something nice about an afternoon spent at the ballpark. And where is the Shanghai ballpark? Well, the Eagles are back in Pudong's Congbei Stadium, near the intersection of Yunlian Lu (云连路) and Qihe Lu (齐河路) . Here is a map and public transportation directions (in Chinese) courtesy of Baidu. You'll see that it is much easier to hop in a cab. We called up a college student who we met at a game a couple years ago (his English name is Goose) and he hooked us up with the 2007 China Baseball League Schedule, which you can see in English and Chinese by pressing on the "Continue reading ..." link below. Goose also invited Shanghaiist readers to visit his baseball BBS website. So check out the schedule, after the jump, but keep in mind that Shanghai's first home game isn't until April 20. Maybe we'll see you there? If the concessions situation is the same as it was in the past, we should plan on packing our own beer and hot dogs, not to mention peanuts and Cracker Jacks. Also on Shanghaiist
Beijing Tigers could win China baseball crown today
Wild Pitch? Major League Baseball to open China office
Ouch! China clobbered by Japan in World Baseball Classic Related
Basbeall league gets Japanese help (Xinhua)
In search of baseball's Yao Ming (Shanghai Diaries)
MLB invests in China’s baseball growth (Shanghai Diaries)
Take me out to the bangqiu bisai (Shanghai Diaries)
Buy me some peanuts and … soy sauce rice crackers? (Shanghai Diaries) Photo of Goose from danwashburn.com. more ›

Shanghaiist is in a panic. Our Enjoy card expires on Saturday and we have a million (OK, not really, but it seems like it) coupons left in our book and they are all useless by tomorrow midnight. After swapping vouchers like baseball cards with other coupon clippers, the plan for today is to maximize our discounts to the fullest extent for 12 hours or more… more ›

It seems like, all across the network, folks were up to no good. Maybe it was all the green beer from last weekend... more ›

With the sun out, the temperatures high, one can only think of one thing-- what's going on in the World of the -ist's? more ›

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... more ›

The report, in Chinese gives us a brief glimpse of a bunch of new regulations called, in Chinese, 《上海市民公共行为条例》, or something like "Shanghai citizens' public behavior regulations." The million dollar question is whether or not this thing has any teeth, or put in more everyday terms, how much will we have to fork over if we are caught doing something "bad"? more ›

As 2006 ends and 2007 begins, the -ists look back not at the past week, but at the past year. So here it is, your Best of 2006 Spectacular. And from all of us at the -ists, happy New Year! more ›

is a hit. It's getting rave reviews, grossing millions, and definitely the most quotable thing we've seen in ages. But Borat seems to have missed most of the -ist cities, and we were all wondering how the film would have been different if he'd made his way around the world on the -ist tour. more ›

-Bostonist discussed two big state issues-- what sort of math constitutes a marriage and what kind of alcohol can be sold in most grocery stores. And the politically minded Curt Schilling went on "Jeopardy!". more ›