Uyghur circus performer Aygul Memet performs hoola hoops at Canada's Got Talent, and not only does she wow them, she also educates them about her homeland which -- as Josh Summers of Far West China astutely observes -- she refers to as "Uyghur", not "Xinjiang" or "East Turkestan" and which she says is "occupied by China". more ›

US vice president Joe Biden's "noodle diplomacy" act in August last year led to booming business at the Beijing eatery where he spent RMB79 for him and his group of five, as locals came in search of the ‘Vice President's Meal'. Apparently, Canadian premier Stephen Harper has also sparked off a similar food craze after his recent visit to the capital. more ›

Alleged smuggling boss and former entrepreneur Lai Changxing has been prosecuted for smuggling and bribery by the People’s Procuratorate of Xiamen on Monday. more ›

Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper has ended his five-day visit to China with a one-hour meeting Saturday evening with Bo Xilai, the embattled Communist Party chief of Chongqing who is now facing a serious setback in his ascent to the Politburo with the disappearance of his erstwhile right-man, former police chief Wang Lijun. more ›

An uproar broke out earlier this week in the Canadian province of British Columbia when a brochure sent by the provincial government to business owners entitled "How to Market Your Business to China" warned against promotions involving gay tourism, casinos or gambling. more ›

A mass email containing several amorous messages from Canada's foreign affairs parliamentary secretary Bob Dechert to Xinhua News Agency reporter Shi Rong, was leaked Thursday evening to more than 240 leading journalists, academics, politicians and entrepreneurs in Canada. more ›

For pedestrians, the law of the Chinese road/jungle maintains that one can only survive by possessing cat-like reflexes and all-seeing peripheral vision. Otherwise, you might end up giving a rather minimalist street theater performance whereby you lie prone on the ground for the edification of assembled onlookers. Canadian diver Kevin Geyson, in Shanghai for the FINA Championships, unfortunately did not receive this highly-urgent memo in his inbox: crossing the street outside of the Oriental Sports Center in Pudong, Geyson was hit by an oncoming vehicle on Saturday. Currently being treated at Huashan hospital（华山医院）in Jing'an district by both Chinese and Canadian doctors, Geyson's condition is reportedly stable. more ›

For 12 years the deportation case of Lai Changxing has been languishing in Canadian courts. Though it was known that he scammed the Chinese government out of millions of dollars worth of tax money, his lawyer made the case that, should he be deported, the Chinese justice system would not give him a fair trial. Being returned to China would mean torture and possibly execution, argued Lai's lawyer. “But Justice Shore ruled that ‘Mr. Lai has failed to establish that he will suffer irreparable harm if he were returned to China.’ The judge said the fact that Mr. Lai had been in negotiations with Chinese officials to return belied his assertions of risk if he returns. Chinese officials have assured Canada that Mr. Lai would not be executed or tortured and would get a fair trial with access to a lawyer if he is returned to face charges.” Source: NYTimes.
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Via The Calgary Herald: "China and Alberta. On the surface, they don't appear to be natural partners. One is a Communist country that sits on the far left of the political spectrum; the other is an entrepreneurial Conservative bastion halfway around the world. But if you think China and Alberta don't have a lot in common, think again." more ›

Looks like ridiculous housing prices at home isn't the only reason to move to Canada - it's actually just so nice over there, eh? At least that's what 77% of Chinese people think (and 53% of adults in the world's 24 leading economies for that matter). To them, not only does Canada have "one of the best qualities of life anywhere in the world" and tolerance of all types of people, it's also a country that's "welcoming to immigrants" and where "rights and freedoms are respected." This bodes well for both Canada's attempts to lure in more global talent and for its population to finally grow beyond that of Shanghai and its surrounding area. more ›

Just because China is home to the world's largest population doesn't automatically mean that Shanghai Expo will be the world's most well attended World's Fair in history. We've seen what daily attendance has looked like over the past week, and if no major change happens in that figure, then we are definitely not going to get the projected 70-100 million visitors. more ›

There have now been nine confirmed cases of H1N1 on th Chinese mainland, with two new patients cropping up in Beijing and Fujian province over the weekend. In Fujian, a two-year-old girl tested positive for swine flu after returning from the U.S. with her family via Hong Kong. Meanwhile, in Beijing, the confirmed was a 46-year-old man surnamed Zhang who had flown over from Canada. Unfortunately, he took the subway several times before showing symptoms, possibly contaminating all of Beijing. Meanwhile, there are two suspected cases in Zhenjiang province and Shanghai. The Zhenjiang patient is a 19-year-old boy who came to New York. The Shanghai case is a 30-year-old Chinese man working for an Australian company who flew in from Melbourne. So far, swine flu has claimed no casualties in this country. Source: China Daily more ›

Canadian Jewish rap is truly something to behold. And tonight, you'll be able to behold it at Yu Yin Tang when Socalled (aka Josh Dolgin) hits the stage. Socalled is known for mixing hip hop with slightly less street sounds - drum & bass, folk music and klezmer. more ›

A classic Hengshan Lu tale from Louis Lei Yu, Chinese-born DJ at CFUV 101.9 FM, radio station at Canada's University of Victoria: "[T]his is my bitter experience at the cold fairyland NYE show. So I saw cold Fairyland on NYE, I looked on the Internet and saw that they are playing and I thought 'oh cool, at lease I get to see one decent Chinese indie band during my trip to China.' This turned out to be one of the worst concerts I’ve ever saw, and not because of the band at all…" Read on at China Music Radar. more ›

If you are twiddling your thumbs this weekend and bored out of your maple tree, head down to Yandang Lu for the Hello Allo Canada street festival and mingle with the three lively mascots: the beaver (ummm, you have got to be kidding!!!), the moose and the goose. more ›

In the past 24 hours, the number of Western news agencies reporting details and speculations about Diana O'Brien’s death have multiplied. Shanghai police have stayed quiet on the death though, refusing to report details to foreign press. The result is a series of conflicting stories, most of which point to the model’s death occurring in her own Shanghai apartment building, not on Chongming Island, as we reported yesterday. Some sources say that she was killed in a botched break and enter. Her boyfriend reports her body was found by her roommate, fellow Canadian model Charlotte Wood, and that Chinese authorities told him all valuables were stolen from the pair’s apartment. more ›

To be frank, we were kind of hoping that we wouldn't have to do a whole post about Celine Dion on Shanghaiist, but then this article from China Daily struck us as somewhat odd and we felt we should share our cynicisms with you. more ›

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. more ›

Diving queen Guo Jingjing (郭晶晶) has been slammed left right and centre for her less than stellar behaviour at a press conference after taking home the silver for the women's 3m springboard final at the "Good Luck Beijing" FINA Diving World Cup where she was edged out by team mate Wu Minxia (吴敏霞). more ›

We were surprised to read from the China Briefing blog that ShanghaiExpat.com has been reported to the Chinese Network Security Police:

The social expatriate website Shanghaiexpat.com has had a legal case against it lodged with the network security division of the Public Security Bureau in Shanghai for libel and ‘disrupting social harmony’ it has been reported today. The site, which last year celebrated its fifth anniversary, has proved popular with local expatriates yet has consistently drawn criticism for its generally negative online forums and it’s sometime racist portrayal of Chinese nationals and the general living environment in China, it has been alleged. more ›

NYT: China Censors a Film, Then Bans It Entirely more ›

For a second straight week Shanghaiist has missed our Friday deadline, oops. The good news is that Saturday is when all the really good stuff happens. more ›

Since Net Nanny lifted her ban on YouTube, we have been catching up on the some of the vids that we missed during the year-long ban...okay, it wasn't that long. Looking for any excuse to waste time and avoid Christmas shopping, we watched every episode available of the first season of Project Runway Canada (the other PRC in our lives). It's the Canadian version of the very popular (especially among the LGBT crowd) American show,... more ›

Photo from Slow Boat to China: Winter time at the Summer Palace in Chengde. more ›

We've been somewhat faithful readers of Foreign Policy for awhile and noticed that they had a couple of articles that either mention or focus on China in their recent issue. Jeff Chang has written an article called It's a Hip-Hop World where he talks about how globalized hip hop has become, and, in this context, mentions Shanghai. More worrisome than a bunch of seventeen-year-olds in baggy pants is information we found in the article on... more ›

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... more ›

Well, this weekend there might not be a 1234 Beach Rock Festival, but that is no reason to stay home, curled up with a blankie, crying about what might have been. Live Bar out in Yangpu has shows going every night, showcasing emerging underground acts from Shanghai and Beijing. Friday night, Yuyintang will be hosting big hair, metal band Arch Enemy from Sweden. Apparently this is a pretty well known European metal band, and after listening to a few of their songs, they might make you want to kick some dude (any dude) in the balls. This, in case you didn’t know, is a big thumb’s up for a metal band. For those who don't really like kicking (or possibly being kicked) then check out the Lulo Reinhardt Latin Swing Quartet at the Melting Pot on Friday or on Sunday at Labella's Cafe. We have heard rumors Lulo Reinhardt is an amazing Jazz guitarist and we are looking forward to seeing him play. Antidote, one of Shanghai's favorite monthly parties is holding an exhibit of party posters and videos from the past 2 years at the Source gallery and will hold a party at the gallery, tonight. more ›

In our 10 years of clubbing life we have never seen anything like this: more ›

Comments below don’t necessarily represent the Shanghaiist’s point of view or opinion regarding the Canadian government (we don't want them to hold a grudge and kick us out of Canada too!)… we just received it recently from the Busdriver promoter and thought it was kind of funny… shows are still on in Beijing and Shanghai…..and we are as giddy as a school boy in the girls locker room to see Busdriver play live! more ›

A 30-year old man in Guangzhou appears to have died of exhaustion after a three-day Internet gaming binge. Paramedics tried to revive him at the cybercafe but failed and he was declared dead on the spot. more ›