As residents in China, our lives could have been irrevocably changed this week by the earthquake in Sichuan province… or, as for many Shanghai residents, it could be totally unaffected. As part of Shanghaiist’s new Green Scene column, we have “borrowed” a list that shows our readers how we can make a real difference in earthquake victims’ life- today- right now. Excerpts from Crossroads, a website that provides a review of corporate social responsibility issues......

Al-Jazeera: The scenes of destruction and devastation, and the smell of death. Melissa Chan wins our thumbs-up once again with this report: AP catches up with the group of British tourists that have been rescued from the Wolong Panda Preserve: AP: "The focus of rescue workers is starting to shift to a recovery mission. The death toll is already approaching 15,000 and that number is expected to skyrocket. (May 15)" France24:"While the earthquake's death toll......

UPDATE, 18:09 The first Japanese relief workers are expected to leave tonight. A group of 60 earthquake specialists together with sniffer dogs will head to Sichuan over the next few days. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has appealed for earth-moving equipment to aid rescue efforts in the region. Many relief workers are currently sifting through the rubble with their hands according to ABC News. The latest official death toll stands at 19,500 but is expected to......

As we told you earlier, there had been very real fears that the Zipingba Dam, 6 miles upstream from the devastated city of Dujiangyan, was displaying "extremely dangerous" cracks. The People's Daily is now reporting that the dam is "structurally stable and safe" following a full inspection. "The conclusion was reached after a panel of experts, led by Jiao Yong, Vice Minister of Water Resources, rushed to the site and made a thorough inspection of......

Though reports are varied, it now appears that the current death from the Wenchuan earthquakes is somewhere between 17,000 and 20,000 (latter figure from the Time China Blog, although most of the media is still reporting the official count at a more conservative 15,000. It's still to0 early to say just how high that figure will climb once everything is said and done, but an earlier Time's estimate put that number at around 100,000 (their......

The environment NY Times: Disaster Set Off by Colliding Land Masses NPR: Geology, Engineering Contribute to Quake Damage Probe International: China's deadly quake: Is the Three Gorges Dam to blame? Treehugger: China earthquake threatens nearby dams, environment Rescue efforts The Guardian: Ill-equipped soldiers face losing battle in huge rescue operation Press TV: China rejects foreign rescue teams NY Times: Quake toll rises; China struggles to reach victims Xinhua: Wen: 90 more copters for quake......

Film star Jackie Chan has donated RMB10million to help those in need following the earthquake in Sichuan province. Other celebrities have also dipped into their wallets. From CriEnglish: "Jackie Chan also sent his consolation to the quake victims and encouraged them to hold on as "people all over the country are with you," the star said. The One Foundation initiated by kungfu star Jet Li has made a donation of one million yuan and......

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Melissa Chan of Al-Jazeera is one of several foreign correspondents currently in Sichuan Province and files this story from Juyuan Middle School at Dujiangyan (都江堰) where Premier Wen Jiabao was earlier.......

Danwei points us to this CCTV segment of Prime Minister Wen Jiaobao (温家宝) speaking to quake victims at various ground zero zones, including the Juyuan Middle School at Dujiangyan that we told you about in Update 49 here. We are reminded of this fantastic loudhailer blogpost by Richard Spencer of the Daily Telegraph, "Good officials are important in China". Well worth a read.......

Photo taken at Shanghai's Jing'an Temple by ?lifemage? Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos at shanghaiist.com.......

As reported earlier, the epicenter of the Sichuan earthquake was not only near the city of Wenchuan, but it was also very close to the Wolong Panda Reserve. Xinhua informed us that some pandas at other facilities were safe, but the status of the Wolong pandas was still known. Luckily we have good news. We received this email from Karen Rose, Chairman of Pandas International:We have a report from the Bifengxia Panda Base that......

Scene of devastation at a school in Dujiangyan (都江堰) which collapsed from the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan, China * Over 10,000 feared dead in biggest earthquake in China for 30 years * Earthquake measured at 7.9 on the Richter scale, epicentre(s) in western Sichuan * Second earthquake/aftershocks measuring 5.0 and 6.1 magnitude reported at epicentre today * Relief efforts hampered by terrain and poor weather * 15 British tourists among the missing. The group......

By Sue Anne Tay For those who are looking to contribute to current aid efforts underway, you can now donate money to the Red Cross Society of China which has formed a disaster relief working group to be dispatched to the earthquake-stricken Wenchuan County in Sichuan. They have also published an emergency relief hotline, along with bank account information to receive donations to assist their cause: Account name: Red Cross Society of China 开户单位：中国红十字会总会 For......

By Kenneth Tan, Dan Washburn, Pete Chorba, and Derek Sandhaus digg_url = 'http://digg.com/world_news/Huge_earthquake_jolts_Sichuan_tremors_felt_across_China'; A strong earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale has rocked Wenchuan in Sichuan province, some 92km northwest of Chengdu. The earthquake took place at 14:48 Beijing Time and tremors were felt (by our MSN friends) as far as Wuhan, Shanghai and Beijing. This picture on the right shows the aftermath of the IT department of the Sichuan Bureau of the Xinhua......

The total number of reported HFMD cases has risen to 27,500 and the death toll has edged up only slightly to 34. 22 of the deaths were reported took place in Anhui.The situation in Fuyang, Anhui Province, which was the first city to experience a major outbreak of HFMD, says the Ministry of Health. For the first time, patients discharged in Fuyang has outnumbered those checking in to hospitals.Meanwhile, the number of reported cases in......

The huge African community in Guangzhou is starting to feel the heat as many of them are being forced to leave the country because of new visa policies, reports Bloomberg citing the South China Morning Post:Nearly half of the 10,000 Africans in the city have already been forced to leave because their visa-renewal applications have been denied and at least 100 people are stranded in Macau without enough money to return home, the newspaper reported.......

From Panthea Lee and Dan Shemie, two very tired organizers of Shanghai's Pangea Day movie marathon that wrapped up not too long ago: So after weeks of plotting, scheming and ceaseless fretting, our Friends of Pangea Day event in Shanghai has gone off without a hitch. For those unfamiliar with the situation, a brief explanation: the Chinese government has launched a serious crackdown on cultural events in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics. Case in......

Photo of young mother with her children in Xi'an's Muslim quarter by elephantonabicycle Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos at shanghaiist.com.......

We agree with PandaPassport that this has gotta be the worst case of child abuse. Ever. In case any of you were thinking of showing your support for the Olympics with a nice funky hairdo, take your pick of a crazy Olympic hairstyle here.......

Just in case you missed it. Via CNN, everyone's favorite cable news network. Since we need to go walk the dogs before it starts raining again, we'll leave you with someone else's commentary (in 140 characters or less): it is a pretty amazing feat. not sure how the brits will top it for the london games..swim it across the channel? More from Google News. Direct link to video here, although you might have trouble accessing......

Direct link here. Click around — there are some neat features (if you are into geeky maps and fire). NOTE: We couldn't get the embed code for the map to work, so you'll have to settle for a screenshot. Haven't had much luck embedding maps from Google China recently — anyone have any insight? Figured it out. But the map is a little wide for the space we have available. Screen cap after the......

Since the time we told you about Shirley Phelps-Roper's email to China Daily columnist Raymond Zhou, everybody's favourite church, the Westboro Baptist Church has completely revamped its official website GodHatesFags.com (check it out — it actually is looking kinda swanky now). Looking through the site, we found this press release sent out in late January, when China was suffering its worst winter storm in 50 years, praising the Lord for "punishing" China — "that evil......

Via Danwei: Media mogul, celebrity blogger and ICS host, Hong Huang (洪晃 or Huang Hung as she is known in the US) speaks to MSNBC on the recent outburst of Chinese nationalism. Her mother was Mao Zedong's English teacher. For a previous Danwei interview with Hong Huang, click here.......

Xinhua says that a total of 12,164 Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD or 手足口病) cases have been reported so far this year. 26 fatalities have been recorded. Outbreaks have been recorded in twelve provinces and municipalities: Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Henan, Hebei, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Beijing and Chongqing.Danwei cites another Xinhua report that all 18 districts of Beijing have reported outbreaks of the disease, with 1,482 infections recorded. Two kindergartens in the capital......

Photo from Heidi D Via Danwei: For the first time, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has acknowledged that visa procedures have been tightened. Said Qin Gang, according to the AP:"We have made some arrangements according to usual international practice. That is, in the approval process we are more strict and more serious with the procedure," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said. He did not directly link the changes to the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Olympics, but......

From Patrick Carr of Current TV:The Burberry factory in Treorchy, Wales, closed down to much protest last year - but what happened after? In this pod we visit the Chinese factory and find that the same has happened again, with Chinese factory workers near the city losing their jobs as cheaper rural factories means the factory has moved again.........

Thomas Crampton, on a recent trip to Shanghai, catches up with Paul French of Access Asia. French says that so much of what Doctoroff, CEO, Greater China of J. Walter Thompson, and others claim as pioneering was done 80 years ago by adman Carl Crow (of whom he wrote a biography). We're still not quite sure what to think of French's views yet, but we know Doctoroff's Twelve Facts about the Confucian Consumer left us......

This just in, from Xinhua: At least three people were killed in a bus explosion in Shanghai at about 9:00 a.m. Monday, according to fire fighters who rushed to the scene. The cause of the explosion is not yet known. Fire fighters estimated that there were about 50 passengers on board the No. 842 Bus, which suddenly exploded en route between the Guoxing Road and Shunguo Road in Yangpu District, to the northeast of Shanghai.......

Chinese reports have been saying that around May 1, Google China unveiled its Onebox search function, which allows you to find movies and movie times. If you've used Google in the US, you are probably familiar with this function, it's the thing that sits atop the regular search results, as you can see in the pictures. The main key words are the movie, the name of the theater, and the city that you live in.......