And those reports were published by China's state-run media. On November 3, Xinhua listed He Kexin as being 13, referring to her as "this little girl" (an apt description for any of China's diminutive gold medalists). A May 23 story in China Daily listed He as being 14. Gymnasts must be 16 the year of the Olympics to be eligible to compete. He's birthday is officially listed as January 1, 1992, a rather eye-opening date......

Sina.com have officially entered the war of words over CNN's Tibet coverage with an online petition that is currently up to 1.14 million signatures. This latest development in the ongoing row over doctored and mis-titled photographs is breaking over on China Daily:The website's appeal read: "Violent crimes of beating, smashing, looting and arson broke out in Lhasa in early March, but Western media organizations such as CNN and BBC have churned out untrue and distorted......

The boxer shorts rebellion [Mara Hvistendahl, The New Republic] "You'd think that the younger, Internet savvy generation of Chinese twenty- and thirtysomethings would be the ones guiding China into better relations with the West. Instead, they seem to have glanced toward the rest of the world and turned back, appalled."Avoid tall buildings [Adam Minter, Shanghai Scrap] "Half the steel material sold at wholesale markets and now being used in construction has failed quality tests."Shanghai-Hangzhou express......

As a country that has largely distanced itself from the clusterf*ck we call 'The International War on Terror' back in America, China has generally been considered one of the safer places in the world in terms of not getting blown up. While we hope that this doesn't change any time soon, recent developments have given us some cause for concern. It all started earlier this week when a man strapped with explosives boarded an Australian......

We've been here before so don't get too excited, but it seems that blogspot sites are once again accessible in Shanghai. Photo from China Daily Good news for Olympic athletes who have recently been (sort of) granted permission to blog (but not podcast) at the Olympic games by the IOC. Any media-savvy athletes however, will be registering their own domain names in order to avoid a blanket ban. We notice that www.LiuXiang.com has already been......

We told you about Shanghai's skyscraper envy. Now, the World Financial Center has barely been completed but our wonderful city has already announced plans for yet another skyscraper that will dwarf it. Two days ago, the all-authoritative Xinhua produly proclaimed that the new building, which is to be named Shanghai Center (we are unsure if this has any relation to the existing Shanghai Center) will be the world's tallest at 580 meters and 118......

By Jake in Shanghai Chinese New Year around the world Reuters: Chinese New Year exodus exposes Singapore generation gap AFP: Brown sends New Year wishes to China Xinhua: Chinese new year goods sold in Mexico's Chinatown AllAfrica.com: Botswana: Chinese Celebrate New Year The Canadian Press: Chinese New Year banquets being held more frequently in restaurants Xinhua: Danish PM wishes for closer cooperation with China in New Year HIV/AIDS China Daily: Charting the battle against......

By Jos H.L. Kurstjens Around Shanghai New York Times: Plan to Extend Shanghai Rail Line Stirs Middle Class to Protest AFP: Shanghai metro apologises to kissing couple in Internet video Xinhua: Shanghai aims to become national trendsetter AFP: Beckham to play in Shanghai China Daily: Shanghai to base growth on service industry The New Year Chill AFP: Snow storms cause deaths in China ahead of Lunar New Year AP: Heavy snow in China strands......

Photo by 2-C Around Shanghai AFP: Kissing couple sue Shanghai metro over Internet video China Daily: Shanghai to reduce house sizes AFP: Shanghai observatory blinded by city lights AFP: Shanghai to close hundreds of migrant schools Olympic watch Reuters: Beijing seeks "civilised" crackdown on beggars CNN: Human rights questions remain for China The Canadian Press: Beijing wants to cut smoking in hotels for Olympics Miscellaneous AP: China Shuts Down Pornographic Web Sites Globe and......

By JFK Miller The KMT, the party of Chiang Kai-shek, is back in power in Taiwan after a thumping victory over the DPP in last week’s national legislative elections. The elections were the first round of two major national polls, and the KMT also looks set to win the second round in March when the island votes to elect its president. So what does all this mean for cross-straits relations? Most pundits agree there’ll be......

A China Daily report dated 14 December 2007 suggesting that Beijing may make a temporary exception for banned foreign publications such as Playboy and The Sun has travelled around the world and created a mini-furore and lots of confusion back home here. Here are the offending paragraphs:All pornographic material is prohibited on the mainland but a temporary exception could be made for the Games, according to the biggest importer of foreign publications in the country.......

Gay China seen through the eyes of three different media this week China Daily has an interview of two gay men and a lesbian that also features a big, bold picture of two young men kissing in Beijing. The first story of a 57 year old married man caught our attention:Tong Ge was married to a woman for more than 20 years, and has raised a son. But Tong is gay. "If I could turn......

By JFK Miller China Daily columnist Kang Bing thinks Beijing is being unfairly criticized by overseas media in the lead-up to the Games: “… some overseas media are demonizing Beijing's air pollution and traffic problems...” “… the Chinese capital would be lucky if criticism against it ended just there. Beijing has kept its promise to the IOC on press freedom, but some media seem to be asking the host to adopt freedom and democracy according......

Compiled by Shanghaiist Staff Shanghai Eye has gleefully reported the demise of News Views Reviews in a recent post:Rumour has it Shanghai’s NVR magazine, a rip off of the week, is no more. Most nodding dogs agree, this was likely to happen. Owner Thats Shanghai is looking pretty ropey too, and now comes with a "RMB 18" price sticker. Jeremy Goldkorn of Danwei picked up the story and put the boot in:The idea of doing......

China Daily: Beijing-Shanghai Railway to break ground mid-Jan Xinhua: Shanghai launches research center to study job-related crimes WSJ: China Punishes Violators Of One-Child Policy Reuters: China Party expels members for flouting one-child rule The Canadian Press: Canadian exports to China rise strongly, unaffected by human rights emphasis Xinhua: Beijing student commits suicide for 'hukou' Forbes: Taiwan president says opposition win could see island join China Photo from Ken Yip......

A BBC report (proxy needed) talks about the Confucian schools that are now thriving across China. And why are parents sending their kids to such schools?:"Traditional culture has many advantages that cannot be learned by modern education," says Yu Fang, the mother of a three-year-old pupil. "It emphasises virtues like kindness and self-discipline. It is very good for my son and very good for Chinese society as well." Another mother, Wang Ching, agrees: "This is......

It is no secret by now. China executes more people than the rest of the world put together (yes, even more than the Islamic world). In fact, Amnesty International says China carries out about 80 percent of the world's total capital punishments, if not more (1,770 people in 2005). The recent UN vote for a moratorium on executions saw a fractious two-day debate between the anti-execution camp led by Italy and the pro-execution camp led......

So we know that scientists get paid peanuts in China, but there's hope yet: China Daily ran article about an amended national law which allows scientists to report failures.:The law, for the first time, allows scientists to report failures during the process of innovation without harming their records in future funding applications. "The country encourages scientists and technicians to freely explore innovation and bravely shoulder risks," reads the bill. Scientists and technicians, who can provide......

2007 was a great year for Shanghai's LGBT community. Brimming with events and parties that forced us to dig up photographic evidence to remember, the one-year old and 650+ member ShanghaiLGBT group really got into its stride this year, organizing events for all of the crazy and diverse characters in the group. The growth of the LGBT community in Shanghai was evident at this year's second annual LGBT Pub Crawl, where people were turned away......

The environment Shanghai Daily: People's Square set to shine with solar power Xinhua: Chilling effect from Great Hall of the People China Daily: Shanghai running out of cemeteries New York Times: A Shanghai Hotel Goes Green China Digital Times: More Than Four in Five Chinese Glaciers Retreating - People Online China Digital Times: Deal With Global Warming: Try Not to Divorce - China Youth Daily Travel AFP: China produces first home-grown bullet train: report......

According to the official countdown, the Beijing Olympics are about 240 days away and the pressure is mounting for China's athletes to bring home the bacon, especially in China's strongest events like ping pong, diving, and gymnastics. In traditional Chinese business fashion, gymnastics coaches are making their gymnasts sign a contract to stay injury-free and drug-free in preparation for the Games, according to this article from China Daily. In an unusual move to secure a......

Looks like a high intensity lightning bolt hit someone at the China Daily recently that foreign journalists want to know the truth about China, so they decided to do an article to inform their readers, just in case they, erm, didn't already know. Here's an excerpt from the story:French journalist Caroline Puel wants to present the real China to her readers, who are eager to know more about the country with the Beijing Olympic Games......

Shanghai Awaiting Approval on Disneyland [AP] Shanghai is awaiting approval of mainland China's first Disneyland, and the theme park could be built on an island in the Yangtze River, according to reports in the mainland and Hong Kong media.Shanghai sets up $1bn fund [FT] Shanghai's city government is setting up a financial investment company with about $1bn to spend on investments in China and overseas.New mechanisms required for China's climate change efforts - Greenpeace [Forbes]......

Despite the fact that Kevin Rudd - the fluent Mandarin speaking leader of the Australian Labor Party - is widely predicted to romp it in at the Australian Federal election this coming Saturday, it seems he's not taking any chances. The latest salvo in Rudd's "earnestness offensive" according to the Sydney Morning Herald, takes form in a seven-metre billboard of The Great Rudd (see right) that has been suspended above Cameron Road in Hong......

...well, that is if that most beloved of governmental catchphrases elicits in your mind the reprehensible world of Disney. That's right, it's full Steamboat Willie ahead for the cloven-hoofed mouse and his sinister denizens and their scheme to move into Chuansha and Nanhui, according to China Daily. Plans for a Disneyland Shanghai were mooted in 2005, but put on hold due to the company's fears that it might detract from their Hong Kong park. Now......

Ladies (and guys with long hair), resist from buying those cheap hair bands you find at the mom and pop stores in your 'hood because the news is out that some of them are made from USED condoms. China Daily cites an unnamed dermatologist with the Guangzhou Hospital of Armed Police who says viruses and bacteria abound on these hair bands recycled from condoms and users could be infected with AIDS, genital warts and other......

The space station, the Olympic pigs and white-collar wages Shanghaiist scans thousands of China headlines every single day, and believe us, we do want to believe all the news we read here in China, but every now and then, we come across something that makes us remind ourselves to take EVERYTHING we read with a great pinch of salt, no matter how authoritative the source may sound. Just yesterday, for instance, China Daily reported that......

No more rescuing Shanghai [IHT] Now that PetroChina's stock is trading in Shanghai, this year's surge in Chinese shares will lose one of its catalysts: the mainland debuts of Hong Kong-listed companies.China Railway Group sets plans for Shanghai IPO [IHT] China Railway Group Ltd., a state-owned builder of railway lines, will begin subscriptions for an initial public offering in Shanghai on Nov. 20, the company said in an announcement Wednesday.Dollar Falls to Record on China's......

China urges UN support for Olympic Truce in 2008 [Bangkok Post] China asked the UN General Assembly Wednesday to adopt a resolution supporting the Olympic Truce, a time-honoured practice from ancient Greece to respect the sportive events that will take place in Beijing next year.French foreign minister in China with sensitive issues on agenda [AFP] France's foreign minister Bernard Kouchner held talks with China's leaders Wednesday to pave the way for President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit......

You may have noticed the above special green signs appearing on new exit gates near subway station exit stiles. What do they mean? Starting on Oct 19, passengers over 70 years of age carrying a social security card with proof of age can ride Shanghai public transportation (bus and metro) for free during off-peak hours. By the end of the year, the Metro company plans to install automatic card readers to quicken the entry process......