Shanghai-based tech entrepreneur and Tudou co-founder Marc van der Chijs was recently flabbergasted to find a picture of his daughter, Elaine, used without permission on the packaging of Halloween products on the shelves of Carrefour. He and his wife called up the company and told them to remove their daughter's picture from the packaging... or else! more ›

If this can happen in Chongqing, what are the chances that it's also happening at Walmart's outlets in Shanghai and elsewhere in China too? You tell me:

The Chongqing Industry and Commerce Administration launched an investigation into the supermarket chain after receiving complaints that ordinary pork was sold as organic at higher price, Chongqing Evening News reported yesterday. more ›

First the glow-in-the-dark pork, then the tainted buns, and now this. Is anything safe to eat in this city anymore? more ›

Our hearts go out to the family of the father and son killed by an explosion in Pudong yesterday. The blast, which happened at around 3:20pm in a two-story residential building in Sanlin Town, was powerful enough to destroy the roof and cause half the structure to collapse. Another man and his daughter were injured. The cause of the accident is still being investigated. more ›

We all know Coldplay frontman Chris Martin loves him some Apple. Earlier this year he performed at an official Apple event. Hell, he and wife Gwyneth Paltrow even named their daughter after the computer brand.¹ But do you think Martin knows there is a pseudo Apple Store named Coldplay in Shanghai? more ›

Oh thank goodness! We nearly had a heart attack this morning when we read this chilling article (maybe just chilling to all of us who enjoy comparably cheap imported French cheeses) in the Economist noting that two big shareholders were reportedly pushing Carrefour to sell off its China and Brazil businesses. At least according to the company, it's not true. more ›

Sometimes your new electronic gadget isn't as new as you'd think it would be. One patron of the Carrefour in Jinqiao got a bit of a shock when he opened his “brand new” camcorder and found over 30 minutes of the Jinqiao Carrefour staff's Spring Festival Christmas party on it. Source:Jonathan Chambers more ›

Carrefour is in a bit of trouble again — but not the same sort of trouble as what happened a few months ago. This time, its Nanjing outlet has been caught by regulators for "illegally" using the Olympic rings and the Five Friendlies together with its own logo in the store. A store manager clarified that the store had done so to show their support for the Beijing Olympics, but "clearly there were a few things that we failed to consider and if so, we are happy to correct them". As a regulator explained, every instance of the use of an Olympic emblem has to be approved by BOCOG and no approval had been granted to Carrefour. Earlier this year, shortly after the anti-Carrefour riots, the French retailer's Beijing outlets were also quick to "show support" for the Beijing Olympics by having their staff wear caps with the Olympic rings — only to get rapped soon after for "illegal usage". more ›

Depending on where you read your news, the nation-wide boycott of, and protests against, French supermarket chain Carrefour in China were either a well-attended show of nationalistic pride or were over-shadowed by the bargains on offer inside the stores. Angered by events surrounding the Olympic torch relay in Paris last month and by President Sarkozy declining to rule out a boycott of the games in Beijing in August, the protests had been arranged through on-line forums and text messaging. more ›

Following up on our previous post entitled "Attack on an American volunteer by anti-Carrefour mob in Zhuzhou, Hunan," we were contacted today by James Galvin, the unnamed American volunteer mentioned in the story which has now gone on to receive coverage by the Associated Press. In his email, Galvin provided his first-hand account of the alleged incident outside a Carrefour Sunday night in Hunan Province. He feels the story has gotten blown out of proportion. He called the initial email summary of the incident submitted to Shanghaiist by one of his fellow volunteers "sensationalist," adding the colleague "had only seen me for thirty seconds. That should have been enough to see I was not 'cut up.'" Shanghaiist ran the initial post on the incident on April 22 after receiving a copy of an official email from the volunteer organization's China field director — which spoke of a "mob mentality" and "punches" being thrown — that appeared to corroborate the initial version of events we were given. We had also seen an email from a U.S. Vice-Consul in Beijing saying she had spoken with the field director and that the Embassy was "highly concerned about what happened." We felt it was newsworthy and posted the story as a word of caution to our readers in various parts of China. We updated the story after the initial tipster contacted us again saying he was worried his account was "factually inaccurate in many ways." more ›

READ THIS: Volunteer in China: "I was not in fact attacked by a mob" more ›

Danwei informs us that Carrefour.com.cn is currently "undergoing a website update and maintenance", but CarrefourS.com.cn is alive and hopping with nationalist messages and other "user-generated propaganda". Crazy times.
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Having recently trumped the US as the world's number one carbon emitter, China has a long way to go to be considered an environmental role model. But today, on Earth Day, we have high hopes for clear skies ahead. Cough, cough. more ›

We're somewhat late bringing this to you, but yes, over the weekend, anti-French protests took place over the weekend all over China outside Carrefour stores in Hefei, Qingdao, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Xuzhou, Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Jinan and Kunming. Although these were mainly anti-French anti-Carrefour protests, they were described by People's Daily as "protests against Tibetan independence". more ›

By Benjamin Cohen more ›

First it was Coca-Cola. Now Carrefour, too, has been hit. The video on the right shows a confrontation between a (lone?) woman protestor outside Carrefour in Beijing and a PSB officer (h/t to PandaPassport). Jason Leow of the Wall Street Journal writes:

Some Chinese citizens, angry over foreign criticism of their country's policies in Tibet, are calling for boycotts of at least two European retailers for purportedly supporting the Dalai Lama, the latest sign of growing tension between China and the West ahead of the Olympics. more ›