"This is how a free and democratic New China will be. All governments at various levels all the way to the central government will be elected through popular, fair and anonymous voting. They will be responsible to the people that elected them. It will be a fulfillment of Sun Yat-Sen's Three Principles of the People, of Lincoln's idea of government of the people, by the people, for the people; and Roosevelt's Four Freedoms. This will guarantee the independence, solidarity and unity of the nation, as well as its cooperation with the democratic nations of the world." more ›

Mao Xinyu (毛新宇), the PLA general who is famous for being the grandson of Chairman Mao and little else, has a new part-time gig -- teaching at the Guangzhou University Songtian College. The general will be the new brainwasher instructor for 66 students in Mao Zedong Thought (is anyone surprised?), which, far from dying out, has been enjoying something of a resurgence with the revival of the left in recent years. more ›

35 years ago today, China's first premier Zhou Enlai (周恩来) passed away from cancer at the age of 77. A skillful negotiator and able diplomat, Zhou quickly rose through the ranks of the Chinese Communist Party and became crucial in its rise to power. During the Cultural Revolution, Zhou's efforts at containing the Red Guards earned him great popularity among the people. This led to a protracted factional struggle between leftist radicals led by the Gang of Four (which included Mao's wife Jiang Qing), and the moderate camp led by Zhou. After he was diagnosed with cancer, Zhou began to delegate his responsibilities to his protege Deng Xiaoping (邓小平), who would later on become the paramount leader of the People's Republic. Zhou's death, some eight months before Mao, led to massive protests against the Gang of Four (who had by then gained control of most of the central government) when they banned all displays of mourning. This eventually sparked off the April 5 Tiananmen Incident of 1976 (not to be confused with the 1989 protests). While Zhou remains arguably the most popular politician among China's first echelon of leadership, new biographies and reports have appeared in recent years, suggesting that he frequently caved in to Mao's whims instead of mitigating them and protecting all those he could have. more ›

This stuff is dope and we can't wait to find it in our next copy of the Reference News 《参考消息》. more ›

A Danish-Norwegian artist's latest project involves her baby dressed up as the "most evil historical figures of the 20th century." Among the costumes include Hitler, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein and... Chairman Mao. more ›

More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here). more ›

Of course there were going to be official speeches, a PLA march or two, and tons of fireworks... but did you know the Chinese government was also planning on celebrating its 60th anniversary this year with a star-studded blockbuster movie was well? How delightful! more ›

So the story goes: When Chairman Mao visited Shanghai he asked, 'I know there is a Shanghai (上海：on the sea), but is there a Xiahai (下海：under the sea)?' We assume that this was followed by uncomfortable forced laughter as none present (save possibly Zhou Enlai) had the heart (read: cojones) to tell him that the joke stunk. more ›

Available in either a Day or Night versions, this motorised marvel displays images of the Bund drifting by for a maximum of 8 hours. Leave the DVDs alone for a while and enjoy the music of your choice (the clip features "Carbon Dating" by the Super Furry Animals) as you try to understand why on earth the Pinyin is written from right-to-left. more ›

... and spotted doing menial tasks like sweeping the roads, picking up the trash, cooking and putting up pictures of Chairman Mao. No, really, it's just the Red Laowai in his latest incarnation. Tired of singing Chinese commie propaganda songs, he became Jay Chou for a while before donning on his uniform again to become Comrade Lei Feng, the soldier in whose footsteps the youth of China have been indoctrinated to follow. In this latest... more ›

We didn't know whether to laugh or to cry when we saw this one — a shirtless white guy with a picture of Mao Zedong in the background singing patriotic songs such as “My China Heart"《我的中国心》, "Without the Communist Party, there is no New China"《没有共产党就没有新中国》and "Oriental Red"《东方红》which can be best described as a love song to Chairman Mao. He looks like he's got a chest that would make the ladies swoon and the guys jealous, but apart from that — boy, does he make our hair stair on end! more ›

Photos from powerprints, beatdrifter, and David Feng. more ›

The video includes two images of Kevin Rudd cleverly photoshopped into old communist propaganda posters (yes, the type that you'd find in the Dongtai Lu antique market), and classic lines among the subtitles (which are supposed to the translation for the rubbish Chinese voiceovers) include "Rudd impress and frighten Australian person with his earnestness offensive," and "He unnerve decrepit Howard by deploying clever principle of 'similar difference'. Leader Rudd declares swift and violent Education Revolution." Ingenious. And as the Sydney Morning Herald notes, political parties with their multi-million dollar advertising budgets have a thing or two to learn from guerilla tactics such as these. more ›

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's meeting with the Dalai Lama [Reuters]:

"It's gross interference in China's internal affairs. The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition... This disgusting conduct has seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and undermined Sino-Canadian relations... The Chinese side demands the Canadian side ... correct its mistaken conduct, immediately adopt effective measures to eliminate adverse impact (from the meeting) and stop winking at or supporting anti-Chinese activities by Tibetan forces."

Recently, internet traffic ranking site Alexa reset the counters of a large number of Chinese websites that have been suspected of manipulating their rankings, including Zhanzuo.com, Kooxoo.com, Pomoho.com, UUSee.com and 67.com. Dating website Marry5.com was another hit by Alexa's move. At one time, it ranked 270 on Alexa (even higher than Match.com!). A China Business Post report also cited a source that said almost all Chinese video sharing sites were manipulating their Alexa rankings. Many new Chinese portals hungry for funding have all resorted to cheating through various means. more ›

Color us excited. The "Lust, Caution" trailer is out! more ›

Remember that Chairman Mao bag that you...your "friend" bought the first time you came to China? These bags are found all over China and they are easy to spot. The bags are dark green with a red star or red portrait of Chairman Mao on the flap. Usually, the bags will contain some quote from Mao's The Little Red Book (the second best selling book in the world, by the way), written in red Chinese... more ›

This is a snippet from Reuter's report on yesterday afternoon's case of vandalism in Beijing's Forbidden City. more ›

We here in the Ist-A-Verse know that we're sensational, but it's very rare that we get a chance to be sensationalistic. This week, we've decided to have ourselves a little fun and try our hand at tacky tabloid headlines, using nothing more than our favorite posts from this week. more ›

Chairman Mao's wax doppelganger is probably turning over in its glass case. This Tuesday evening, April 3rd, at 9:30 p.m. local time, NASDAQ President and CEO Bob Greifeld, US Ambassador to China Clark T. Randt, along with representatives from NASDAQ listed Chinese companies will ring the opening bell remotely from … you guessed it …The Great Hall of the People. Meanwhile, back in the US, NASDAQ executives and PRC Consul General in New York Liu Beiwei will host a reception at NASDAQ Tower in Time Square to mark the occasion — no word whether fried dumplings will be served. more ›

Here at Shanghaiist, we think the Letters from China blog has been busy carving their own blogging niche by reporting on yet another novelty condom available here in China. Not content with sharing the news that police warrant card and Lei Feng frangers were to be found in China, they have now identified the big bopper — Chairman Mao condoms: more ›

DNA technology has lead many to ponder what could actually be in the world. For some of us, our links with DNA technology stays closer to a key tool in the endless variations of CSI and as a means to revive lost species in Jurassic Park. more ›

The Beijing News recently reported on the unveiling of a 24-carat gold-plated 7-metre high statue of Chairman Mao in Changsha, capital of his home province of Hunan. more ›

One of the art works you won't be seeing at the Beijing human rights exhibition is Andy Warhol's iconic portrait of an iconic guy, Chairman Mao. The painting found a new owner at a Christie's auction: more ›

The Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci died recently at the age of 77. Known during most of her career for aggressive, throw caution to the wind type interviewing, she's had an audience with movers and shakers from the Ayatollah Khomeini to Henry Kissinger and Deng Xiaoping. In the New York Times obit/article linked to above, we found links to several of her interviews, including one with Deng Xiaoping in 1980. The interview is interesting as it takes place at a critical juncture in Chinese history -- Deng had assumed control two years earlier and launched the reforms that set the country on a drastically different path than the one Mao had envisioned. The interview deals with the legacy of Mao, the Gang of Four, the Cultural Revolution, and what the consequences of China's reforms. more ›

In this week's edition of "Shanghaiist Trashes the Media" we have an article from the Sydney Morning Herald. Here's the premise: more ›

Shanghaiist has always been intrigued by the bits of Western history and culture that seep into the Chinese mainstream — the terrifying, ungodly mix of Buicks, Kenny G, and Da Shan gives us a headache, but is fascinating to behold. Though not quite as fascinating as washing your hair with birth control pills. more ›

Photo by Moriirom taken from the Shanghaiist photos page. To see your photos on our photos page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site. more ›