Hundreds of millions of Chinese enjoy watching sports on some level, but the Chinese sports market is much less organized—and commercialized—than it is in the West, especially the United States. That appears to be a temporary situation, as sports marketing behemoth IMG Worldwide Inc has signed a landmark exclusive 20-year agreement with CCTV that gives US-based IMG rights to develop and market new sports events in mainland China, according to a Wall Street Journal report.......

With 2008 marking fifty years of television drama on CCTV, Danwei shares with us an article from Oriental Outlook on the censoring process that determines just which dramas will be allowed to air on the television network. Danwei points out that "it seems like SARFT is to blame whenever people are upset with film and TV censorship... [but] television stations are ultimately responsible for what they broadcast, so they too employ censors to eliminate objectionable......

Could today's Beijing be what New York City was at the turn of the 20th Century? According to this article in Vanity Fair, there are certainly many similarities to draw upon. Kurt Andersen starts off noting the correspondences between population growth and development of city infrastructure. In 1904 New York's first subway line opened. Likewise, Beijing's new subway system is spreading out at a breathtaking pace (a point which subway fanatic and Beijingologist, David Feng,......

Within just three days of the introduction of the new Olympic bills noted for their absence of Chairman Mao's portrait, the price of the 10 yuan bills has shot up a hundredfold, with some collectors willing to part with RMB1,100 just to get hold of one of them. Some traders at Beijing's Madian Philatelic Market expect prices to come down to about RMB300 eventually.......

To bolster confidence against terrorist attacks in the upcoming Beijing Olympics, Xinhua gives us stills from a CCTV special of the armed police demonstrating anti-terrorist tactics in Jinan, capital of Shandong Province. Observe the acrobatic prowess, the state-of-the-art defense of the flame-thrower, the heavy-duty mob scattering water cannons, and, of course, no anti-terrorist drill would be complete without armed police on wheels! While we admit that high-powered water cannons might have conveniently served the......

With Rem Koolhaas's eagerly-awaited CCTV headquarters nearing completion in Beijing, many are considering the role of architecture in China's quest for status as a world power. Great buildings have always played a role in a regime's strength and prestige, and for the last decade China's central government has been hellbent on constructing impressive city skylines. Shanghai's own horizon has progressed at a breakneck pace, with its latest undertaking, Xintiandi II, (dubbed Xintiandi's "big sister" by......

One week after last month's deadly Sichuan Earthquake, we brought to you the heartrending story of Chen Jian (陈坚), a young man who was pinned under the rubble for 73 hours, but unfortunately didn't make it after rescuers managed to extract him after working on him for six hours. Today, Zhang Qian (张倩), the reporter who was by Chen Jian's side in his last moments still breaks down whenever she thinks of him. In this......

By Thalia Kwok CCTV suddenly discontinued broadcasting NBA games in the midst of semi-finals on May 24th and has yet to provide an explanation. Chinese NBA fans are in an uproar over missing the Western Finals. Speculation is starting to circulate through the local BBS that the ban may be political. Last May*, Ira Newble of the Cleveland Cavaliers (now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers) released a letter signed by most of his teammates......

Danwei points us to this new song by Beijing band DEFY, entitled "I don't watch CCTV" [the song is embedded after the jump because we couldn't turn off the auto-play]. Here's some of the lyrics:I don't watch CCTV I don't watch this fucking channel... ... Ai, I don't like you... ... CCTV, CCTV, CCTV Fucking channel Fucking channelVery interesting lyrics, but we wonder if these guys chose to sing in English, and not Chinese for......

... but it's been found to be a photoshopped fake. From Southern Metropolis Daily [Translation by ESWN]: In November 2007, the 12th annual China International Photographic Arts Exposition was held. Ye Weitang's won a golden award in the Social Lives and Customs section. Beijing Times Photography Supervisor Luo Yonghong raised these doubts: In the photo titled , there were several spots in which digital alterations clearly occurred. A1 and A2 were clearly the same......

We think we'd be all right if we never, ever watched the CCTV Spring Festival gala again, but we almost regret it this time because we missed out on some real doozies, like Zhang Ziyi's terrible lip-synching episode and as well as the slight faux pas, made by one of the hosts, that China's south was in the midst of an "abundant spring" even though many of the southern provinces are facing the worst winter......