The Financial Times takes a look at the widely-cited US-based dissident website Boxun.com, which it says has been reporting on every twist and turn of the Bo Xilai case with "unusual accuracy". The site was founded by one Watson Meng, 47, who studied electrical engineering at Duke University, worked in China for several multinationals, and now edits the website from his home in Durham, North Carolina. more ›

In this week's totally insane China news, a 95-year-old woman thought dead climbed out of her own coffin after lying in it for six days! First thing she does? Raids the fridge. more ›

For the first time in 70 years (to the month!), the Economist has launched a new section of their magazine. The last time this happened was when they started up the US section following the events at Pearl Harbor. Now we say something something about how it's representative of a new global shift yadda yadda. more ›

Public relations impresario Richard Burger, better known as the Peking Duck, comments on the PR disaster otherwise known as the Confucius Peace Prize:

This is what we call a train wreck. Everything the CCP has done to suppress the Liu Xiaobo story has only succeeded in keeping it front and center. The Confucius prize only exists, of course, because of Liu, and any coverage it gets dredges up the embarrassment China suffered with the empty seat in Oslo. Now once again China faces smirks as the world witnesses the internal disarray that seems to spell the end of the Confucius Peace Prize. And once again, the story of Liu’s imprisonment and his wining the Nobel prize gets churned up all over again. more ›

We first saw this Tumblr a few months ago after their first few posts and instantly recognized it as genius. Accidental Chinese Hipsters (subheading: A loving gaze cast upon the grandmother wearing dayglow jeggings and a visor) has now fleshed out their initial few pics and man, there are some winners! Photos come mostly out of Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as some choice characters from American Chinatowns. more ›

A friend in the state apparatus told me, “You’re all too greedy. Forty years ago, writers like you would’ve been shot. So you tell me, have things gotten better, or have they gotten worse?” I said, “No, you’re all too greedy. Ninety years ago, that kind of thinking would have gotten you laughed out of the room. So you tell me: after all that, have things gotten better, or have they gotten worse?” more ›

At long last (has it only been a few months? feels like ages...) Danwei.com is back! For those of you unversed in China blogs, Danwei started way back in 2003 (medieval in internet years) and tops the list for Chinese media coverage, commentary, and saviness in general. The new Danwei is making some substantial changes to their format, dropping the daily news updates for a more in-depth "web magazine" approach. From Danwei: "We’re relaunching on Danwei.com. We will publish periodic issues based around a theme, rather than daily news updates. We are currently looking for quality writing, photography and video, and we’re going to pay contributors for their work. We’ll devote time to editing, and producing or commissioning original video art work." And don't worry, their archives are still available over at Danwei.org (blocked inside the firewall, mirror site here.) more ›

Not that you really wanted to know, but here it is. The oldest daughter of tiger mom Amy Chua is embracing the attention as tiger daughter and has launched a blog for all the people who can't get enough of Chua senior's ridiculous antics. It's not her first writing foray into the public eye. Back when Chua's book was hot controversy, Sophia wrote an open letter on the NY Post defending her mom's crazy. Now on her blog, Sophia (who is much more likable than her mom) clears up rumors about which university she'll be attending (Yale or Harvard at this point) and shares more home stories about her infamous mother. more ›

"The city missed a perfect chance to show its people that unlike some other places in this country, Shanghai is capable of telling the truth in a difficult time." more ›

Last month in Jiangxi, three people (mother, daughter, and family friend) set themselves on fire to protest the demolition of their home to make way for a public transportation project. The family friend, an elderly man, died of his wounds and the mother and daughter, both members of the Zhong family, were seriously injured. Now two party officials have been sacked for the widely publicized debacle. more ›

PR guy Imagethief points us to this blog called "Nicely Made in China," which brings us a weekly dose of great products that come from these shores. The stuff they end up featuring is cute - thankfully, since the about page makes it seem stodgy and a tad sinophilic. The most recent entry is about designer t-shirts in Beijing - sweet! more ›

Just a week after we noticed City Weekend's latest revamp (and commented on how similar it seemed to CNNGO's), it looks like CNNGo went and redid their own site too! When's our revamp coming along? more ›

Sometime over my vacation, City Weekend did a complete face lift on their site. And now... it looks like a blog! more ›

In our ongoing Threesday feature, Shanghaiist takes the time to count out three of....well, whatever catches our fancy that week. This week it's fashion blogs that focus on China. more ›

We're always on the lookout for lists of blogs to read and this site has done us the favor of aggregating 50 of the best blogs about China. We're on it (of course), but so are some of our perennial favorites (ChinaSMACK, Imagethief, Far West China), as well as a couple we hadn't heard of but mean to add to our own RSS feeds (China Movie Database Blog... what?!). Check it out. more ›

A blogger out of Fujian has compiled an open-source google map that places major pollution sites around china. While similar sources have existed in the past, this is the first one that allows other users to contribute sites with pollution problems. The map, which was created by Guo Baofeng, has attracted a lot of interest on Chinese BBS' and Forums: check it out while you still can, because you never know when it could suddenly disappear. more ›

Yesterday was my first time to Shenyang city. And it was the first time I was so “warmly” welcomed by Shenyang people that I almost slept on the street last night. more ›

As China's indie music scene has grown ever larger and more varied, blogs have popped up to keep us English-language speakers in the know. We've long relied on China Music Radar and Rock in China Wiki, as well as Kungfuology (both Andy Best and now Jake Newby) and SmartShanghai and a host of other sites we're probably just forgetting right now - feel free to add them in comments. more ›

If you're reading this blog in China or if you've got one of your own here, you're part of a national trend: having blogs is about five times more popular in China than it is in the US. If you're listening to some music online and instant messaging at the same time, you're an even more typical Chinese Internet user. more ›

• A hotel room that has stories to tell [Danwei] "But to see the photos as a realistic reflection or criticism of the social morbidity is not the only angle to appreciate them; take a closer look, you may find these photos do resemble a mystery/detective movie."
• China's navy turns 60 [Straits Times] "China's navy will mark its 60th anniversary with a ceremony starting on Thursday dubbed the 'naval Olympics' that will display the country's nuclear-powered submarines for the first time, state media said. The four-day event involves 21 vessels from 14 countries in the eastern city of Qingdao and includes a fleet review to be held Thursday - the fourth one in China since 1949."
• China Blog Guide: Ten Eclectic China Blogs You Should Follow [CNReviews] "The answer to English China blog fatigue is to start following some Atypical China Blogs. And, yes, some of the best are authored by “white dudes” (although some of them may in fact be “fake foreigners“…Adam Schokora comes to mind). Here they are..."

Since nobody's had the brilliant idea to set up a Xinjiangist yet, we rely on various blogs getting blocked on and off to learn what's going on about the region. If you already have Far West China and Opposite End of China (possibly taken down?) already on your blogroll, consider adding this one too: The New Dominion. more ›

You’ve seen her byline all over the site for the past several weeks, and now we’re ready to make it official: We are happy to announce that Elaine Chow is the new Editor of Shanghaiist. more ›

Congratulations to Matt Mayer who yesterday became (we believe) the first person to visit every station on the Shanghai Metro system in one day. more ›

That's what Matt Mayer, the guy behind the ExploreShanghai metro map is trying to do right now. He laid out his plan, and the rules, here, a blog post that finished with: "147 stations, eight lines, one manic Monday. Wish me luck!" You can follow Matt's progress live on Twitter. His last message: "50 shanghai metro stations completed in 3h 7m 33s. Station 50 is west nanjing road. Shame i dont have time to visit marks and spencers :)" You can get in touch with Matt throughout the day. We're sure he'd love to here from you — it's going to be a long, boring Monday. more ›

Bryanboy, the campy, witty, bitchy Filipino fashion blogger who says he's "so gay I sweat glitter" is in Beijing right now. While in the Jing, Bryanboy has been tramping around town in his Dior moon boots, visiting posh hotels, shopping at American Apparel and Uniqlo, visiting haute couture exhibits, and molesting cute boys. With so much to do, it's no wonder Bryanboy's blogging activity has been light, but he did take some time off to educate his readers on what Chinese toilets look like. Baboosh! more ›

Nominations for the Ninth Annual Weblog Awards will close in around 24 hours. Go make your nominations for Best Asian Weblog and 29 other categories now: http://2009.bloggies.com/ more ›

• Black and White Cat translates a collection of headlines from the earliest editions of Xinhua Daily, Jiangsu Province's oldest party newspaper. In its bid to oust the Kuomintang, the CCP positioned itself as a champion of democracy and demanded for change, human rights and general elections.
• Tao Wang of UBS explains to Thomas Crampton why he thinks the new wave of unemployment is unlikely to cause unrest in China.
• EastSouthWestNorth has a set of pictures of what is supposed to be Guangdong's most run-down school.

Littleredbook.cn is a promising new blog from Shanghai-based ad agency bloodyamazing. Their mission: "Our mission is to make the world of advertising & creative in China more accessible to companies outside the Middle Kingdom. You'll find here the most relevant information for researching and eventually launching your own China campaigns." more ›

• Adam Minter of Shanghai Scrap says China's block of the New York Times does not matter as much as it once did.
• Chris Gill of Shanghai Eye says he has it from a reliable source that the HSK, the Chinese proficiency examination for foreigners will be scrapped in two years.
• Jenny Leung of China Digital Times interviews Qi Hanting, the student who founded the Anti-CNN website.