BBC's Beijing correspondent Damian Grammaticas is back from a week in Taiwan covering the recent elections. He reflects: more ›

For those of you that weren't in Shanghai today, just know that the weather has affected the city's regular serotonin production in a significant way. Suffice it to say, the day's lack of sunlight and non-stop gray drizzle means that a great number of us are going to spend the evening moping about indoors, and we have just the perfect thing for it: an hour-long BBC documentary on China's expansion in Africa! more ›

One day, the most trusted sources on China's own history will be Chinese academics, rather than international ones. Until then: "A book about China's disastrous Great Leap Forward policy has won the £20,000 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. Mao's Great Famine, by Dutch historian Frank Dikotter, beat five other short-listed titles to the award. Chair of the judges Ben Macintyre praised the book as an 'epic record of human folly'. Mao's Great Famine reveals new details of the period from 1958-1962, providing fresh historical perspectives on Mao's campaign to increase industrial production during which tens of millions starved to death. The academic - currently chair of professor of humanities at the University of Hong Kong - was one of a small number of historians to be given access into the Chinese archives." [BBC News] more ›

"The BBC Chinese Service has made its final radio broadcast in Mandarin after nearly 70 years. Shortwave programming in Mandarin is a casualty of spending cuts announced by the BBC World Service in January. From now on, Mandarin-speakers will be served only by the BBC's Chinese-language websites; a weekly radio broadcast in Cantonese will continue. BBC managers say they have had to make tough choices because of a 16% cut in UK government funding. BBC World Service Mandarin programming began back in 1941, pre-dating by eight years the proclamation of the People's Republic of China." [BBC] more ›

Yes, this one has been out and around the internets for a few months now. But just in case you missed it, as we did, take a look at BBC's latest profile of China's most famous artist-turned-dissident. more ›

This weekend, Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was charged with ‘inciting subversion’. Today, facing a barrage of criticism over its handling of the case, the PRC responded with a gentle reminder for the West to not interfere. more ›

So we stumbled upon one of the longer articles we've seen on China Daily lately and it's about... a BBC presenter that doesn't like pandas. Wildlife expert Chris Packham told Radio Times magazine that he reckoned they should “pull the plug... Here's a species that, of its own accord, has gone down an evolutionary cul-de-sac. Unfortunately, it's big and cute and a symbol of the World Wide Fund for Nature and we pour millions of pounds into panda conservation.” After controversy reared its ugly head, Packham apologized for his statements. Oh geez, if people could get Packham to retract his comments, maybe we've got to tone down on our panda hate too. more ›

• Online Market Flourishes in China [NYTimes] "Taobao fever has swept the school Mr. Yang attends, Yiwu Industrial and Commercial College, where administrators say that a quarter of the 8,800 students enrolled operate Taobao shops, often from dormitory rooms. And across China, millions of other ordinary people — recent college graduates, shopkeepers and retirees — are also using Taobao to sell clothes, mobile phones, toys and just about anything else they can find at neighborhood stores and wholesale markets or even smuggle out of factories."
• China turns back Xinjiang plane [BBC News] "An Afghan aircraft bound for Urumqi in China's restive Xinjiang region has been turned back, reports from both countries say. Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported first that the plane had been hijacked, then that it had been the subject of a bomb threat. An Afghan diplomat said the plane's operators had not been told about a threat, just ordered to turn it back. "
• 3,000 China mobsters sentenced since 2006 [UPI] "Chinese officials say more than 3,000 reputed gang members have been locked up or executed for organized crime activities since January 2006. The tally was announced Sunday by the Supreme People's Court and was part of a continuing effort to curb violent crimes and the organizations behind them, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported."

Qin Gang, do you have children? more ›

Perhaps Umbrella Men will become the newest internet meme out of China! Today, Black and White Cat compiled the footage we'd featured on our site into one neat lil' video! For some reason, watching the Umbrella Men's campaign against foreign camera people looks even sillier when its shown back to back to hilarious old timey Umbrella Man music. more ›

Satisfying our craving for old China photographs, the BBC has put up some online versions of rare 19th Century prints that recently went on display in Beijing. more ›

Shanghaiist reader Oliver Denton has been fact-checking the BBC over its recent story about Oasis canceling the China leg of their tour, which presumably happened because Noel Gallagher appeared at a Free Tibet Benefit Concert over a decade ago (as linked to in a previous post, the promoter insists it was for economic reasons). more ›

The video on the right is SMG's report on the global tour that the Olympic torch is currently on. Things are all bright and sparkley, everything is going according to plan, and the torch will be taken to places where it's never been before, including Almaty, Kazakhstan. No mention of the challenges the Olympic torch relay has faced, no mention of the protests that has dogged the torch everywhere it has gone, and no mention of the Chinese Ambassador to the UK dropping out of the torch relay mentioned in this BBC report (embedding disallowed, unfortunately). In a separate report by AFP, Lodi Gyari, an envoy of the Dalai Lama, has urged China to drop plans to run the Olympic torch relay through Tibet in light of what has happened, but China promptly dismissed the call as another "bid to sabotage the Games". more ›

From the BBC:

Stephen Sackur talks to Liu Mingkang, Chairman, China Banking Regulatory Commission. Will China escape the downturn in the American economy?

BBC: "Protests in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu turned violent as police made arrests outside the Chinese embassy."
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Well, it's all over the news. Hunan TV is going to do a Chinese version of the hit US TV show Ugly Betty. According to a report from the BBC, the lead character—the Chinese Betty—has already been chosen. A Chinese article that we read, dated March 7, says that Hunan TV wants to hold nation-wide auditions to find the ugliest girl possible. So we're not sure what the case is, but in any case, whoever is chosen will soon have their identity known to the world, because the show is supposed to start shooting in April. The plans are to stretch the show out over ten seasons, with about 40 episodes each, for a total of 400 episodes. However, unlike in the US, there aren't going to be longish breaks between seasons (and presumably, no writers' strikes either). more ›

This evening will see the second week of the Shanghai International Literary Festival kicking off down at M on the Bund. Events will continue across the weekend and throughout the week, providing plenty of opportunities to see a whole host of great writers and performers. Ticket details can be found here as can the full line-up (which we suggest you check - there's far too much going on for us to cover it all in one post!). Below are just some of the highlights you can expect to see: more ›

Now into its fifth year, M on the Bund’s Shanghai International Literary Festival kicks off this weekend and once again has an impressive line up featuring a string of famous names and expert figures from across the book world. Running for the next three weekends, the festival offers Shanghai’s literati the chance to see some of the best Chinese and international writers. With so many great events to choose from (you can buy tickets and view the full line-up here) it’s hard to select highlights, but below are Shanghaiist’s picks from this weekend’s guests… more ›

BBC's take on inflation in China includes footage of the Chongqing Carrefour stampede for cooking oil that we haven't seen before.
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Gold and silver ingots have arrived at the Shanghai Mint for processing into Olympic medals! Quentin Sommerville of the BBC speaks to Clinton Dines of BHP Billiton China. more ›

BBC's Shanghai correspondent Quentin Sommerville goes to the Pingyang neighbourhood south of Shanghai and finds that the anti-Maglev protests have not quite abated. In his report [VPN required], he makes the following observation:

Rarely have protests in China been so well organised, or the protesters so well-dressed.

A BBC report (proxy needed) talks about the Confucian schools that are now thriving across China. And why are parents sending their kids to such schools?:

"Traditional culture has many advantages that cannot be learned by modern education," says Yu Fang, the mother of a three-year-old pupil. "It emphasises virtues like kindness and self-discipline. It is very good for my son and very good for Chinese society as well." Another mother, Wang Ching, agrees: "This is a material world, people want a higher standard of living and they are focused on material things, not spiritual ones." Modern China, with its headlong rush for growth, needs more balance and more of the social order and courtesy extolled by Confucius, she says. Confucianism and Communism have never been happy bedfellows... [read more]

It is no secret by now. China executes more people than the rest of the world put together (yes, even more than the Islamic world). In fact, Amnesty International says China carries out about 80 percent of the world's total capital punishments, if not more (1,770 people in 2005). The recent UN vote for a moratorium on executions saw a fractious two-day debate between the anti-execution camp led by Italy and the pro-execution camp led by Singapore, which has the ignominious honour of having the highest number of executions per capita in the world (coming from there, we are ashamed). The result of the vote: 104 for, 54 against and 29 abstentions. Opponents of the moratorium included the United States, China and Iran (one rarely finds these three countries in the same camp). more ›

Not content with sinking its rabid fangs into our children, our metro system and our optometrists, it seems the sinister cabal behind the Hello Kitty brand now wants to ensnare 50 percent of YOU, dear readers. more ›

Business and Economy WSJ: China Takes Additional Step To Cool Economy AFP: Underground money traders flourish on Hong Kong border Religion Xinhua: China-based Christian group prints 50 mln Bibles Reuters: Dalai Lama says sorry he can't meet Pope SCMP: Student leader finds meaning in life with God's will on campus [Subscription] AP: Dallas evangelical Christian seminary offers online courses in Chinese Miscellaneous AP: China Detains 33 in Deadly Mine Blast CNSNews: For China, Even... more ›

It may only be a spit away by plane, but for those of us too cheap environmentally concerned to fly, getting up to Beijing for the weekend is a bitch (despite our love of munching through a bottomless nosebag of sunflower seeds to looped pan-pipe renditions of Celine Dion songs). Which is why we don't go. So the proposed high-speed line between Shanghai and BJ, which will reportedly cane it along at 350km/h and take... more ›

They say bad news travels fast. That Pudong gas blast we told you about on Saturday has made it to international news. The Associated Press, Reuters, the International Herald Tribune, BBC, Times of India, ABC (Australia) all reported on the blast. more ›

More than a dozen prominent Singapore celebrities have come out in support of a new parliamentary petition to repeal Section 377A in the city-state's Penal Code which outlaws “acts of gross indecency” between men by appearing in a Youtube video uploaded recently. 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 ›