Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper has ended his five-day visit to China with a one-hour meeting Saturday evening with Bo Xilai, the embattled Communist Party chief of Chongqing who is now facing a serious setback in his ascent to the Politburo with the disappearance of his erstwhile right-man, former police chief Wang Lijun. more ›

After featuring the political calligraphy of Bo Xilai prominently on its front page for two consecutive days on Feb 8 and Feb 9, Chongqing Daily appears to have done an about-face in its treatment of the municipal Communist Party chief. Today, it was Chongqing mayor Huang Qifan that occupied much of the paper's front page. more ›

Unsubstantiated rumors of defection have been burning up the internet all day involving the popular anti-gang Vice Mayor of Chongqing, Wang Lijun (王立军). Last night Weibo users reported that police cars had surrounded the US consulate in Chengdu. Combine that with the announcement this morning that Wang has been put on "vacation-style" medical leave and voila, you have a solid gold rumor generator! more ›

A 45-year-old woman died recently after walking off a 20-meter bridge onto a river bank in the Jiangjing district of Chongqing, apparently because she was distracted by the text messages on her cell phone. more ›

Not a month after they revealed their newest landmark would be a pretty blatant knockoff of some other building, Chongqing is drawing ridicule once again for copycat architecture. Its newest project is a 280-meter, 70-floor tower on the bank of the Yangtze river to be completed in 2017. Designed to imitate a pair of rapturous figures posing in the form of "庆," Chongqing's second character meaning "celebration," the design is being compared to Beijing's CCTV tower. more ›

Pictured right is the mayor of Yuzhong District in Chongqing as he smiles for the camera before eagerly gulping down a bottle of water made from liquid manure. He's doing it to promote a new sewage treatment plant in Chongqing's Yuzhong District which has successfully extracted potable water from liquid feces. According to base technologist Yangchao Hong, it's the one and only plant in China where dung is converted into drinking water: more ›

In China's biggest muncipality, Chongqing, lies one of the most sought after sites in all of urban China. The site, which resembles lower Manhattan, has now been bought by one of Asia's biggest real estate companies, Capitaland, for more than 1 billion US dollars. Developers aim to transform the unique and charismatic site into an economic heavyweight in the future. more ›

• Wen Jiabao spooked everyone out recently by telling a story that isn't heard very often, of how his own family was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution.
• A group of university professors at Yangtze University in Hubei recently got on their knees for NIMBY protests against a steel processing plant near their campus.
• Chongqing's leadership is all about giving to the 99%, while Guangdong's bigwigs would prefer to keep it amongst the 1%. A bit simplistic an explanation, but that's apparently all anybody understands these days.

A few links to start off your day: more ›

The world's number one retail outlet Walmart announced on Tuesday that it has reopened its stores in Chongqing, effectively ending the 15-day forced closure after charges surfaced that they've been selling ordinary pork under the more expensive "organic" label. 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 ›

The truth is in out there, and especially in Chongqing. Planes were diverted from landing at Jiangbei International Airport in Chongqing municipality Wednesday afternoon, reportedly due to an Unidentified Flying Object reportedly sighted flying high above the airport. Normal operations at the airport resumed after a little under an hour. more ›

A few links to start off your day: more ›

We haven't heard much about this, but Henry Kissinger was a special guest last week at CPC darling Bo Xilai's massive Red Songs celebrations! He even gave a small speech to the gathered masses. In usual form, Kissinger, approximately one million years old, appeared on the verge of sleep as he delivered this absolutely impossible-to-understand address. Mostly we suggest you watch it for the expression on the face of the guy taking notes behind him. more ›

Chongqing party boss Bo Xilai (薄熙来) scored massive brownie points among conservative party elders yesterday for successfully conducting the biggest ever red song fest. 108 choirs from all across China participated at the event held at the Chonqing Olympic Centre, and the total number of participants and spectators came up to over 100,000. more ›

"These are songs that have saved the nation, built up the nation and strengthened the nation. Not only have they allowed an impoverished, weak, quasi-colonised and a semi-closed China to establish itself among the great peoples of the world, it has enabled it to become the world's second largest economy. There are some who say, is this not too 'left'? Is this not a return to the "Cultural Revolution"? If only you could be there to experience it for yourself, you would know that that is not the case." more ›

Could this be the start of a new urban legend? Let's hope they keep out of our sewer systems at least. An alligator of the critically endangered Yangtze species was found in a dumpster in Chongqing earlier this week. Police have temporarily placed the alligator in a jail cell while deciding whether to place it release it in the wild or send it to a zoo. more ›

Models showcase the body painting works by New Zealand artist Men Bourk and Chinese painter Ren Zhongni at the Chongqing-Auckland International Body Painting Festival on May 8, 2011. The artists combined various iconic images of the two cities into their paintings. more ›

Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai may have replaced prime-time television dramas with communist propaganda and assembled thousands of people to sing red songs with him, but here at the local primary school in Duping Village of Chongqing's Wushan Town, it's Michael Jackson the kids are dancing to. Every morning 10am, students at Duping Primary School will assemble in neat rows on their school field, set amid the verdant hills of rural Chongqing, and move to the King of Pop's Dangerous as part of their daily calisthenics routine. Here's the scene on a recent morning:
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Every day at 10am, instead of the normal calisthenics routine, 700 Chongqing grade schoolers dance to Michael Jackson's "Dangerous" for their morning exercises. Neat. more ›

Chongqing held its first ever belly dancing competition last weekend, open to professionals and amateurs alike. Dozens got up on that stage at Chongqing's Foreigner Street, some with substantially more to shake than others... more ›

Would you just take a look at how festive that is? No, it's not Chinese New Year all over again -- it's just the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party in Chongqing. According to Xinhua, approximately 10,000 people came dressed in red to celebrate the momentous occasion by singing good ol' fashioned communist songs and to renew their Party oaths. more ›

If there is one article you must read this weekend, it's this article by John Garnaut of the Sydney Morning Herald, entitled "Show them the money, old China". The article offers fascinating insight into what's going on today in Chongqing, one of China's four direct-controlled municipalities, and the economic hub of the western region. Here is an excerpt: more ›

In celebration of Women's Day yesterday, the Chongqing Women's Prison held a dance competition among inmates. While the rest of the 2,000-odd inmates looked on, groups of self-choreographed dance numbers took to the stage. Is it me, or do those first girls in blue look outrageously young to be in prison? more ›

Previously open only to students from Hong Kong and Taiwan, this year, ten students from Chongqing will be selected to participate in a month-long White House internship program. It's not entirely clear what the program is, as the English-language press hasn't exactly picked this one up yet. more ›

The Chongqing Broadcasting Group has just announced its plans to send ratings for Chongqing Satellite TV, one of fourteen channels in its portfolio, down the toilet. And what revolutionary plans they are (trying to be punny here) -- all prime-time drama serials between 7.30pm and 11pm have been cancelled and replaced with such inspiring shows as Liberating the Southwest《解放大西南》, Moving Ahead for New China《为了新中国前进》, Sounds of Gunshots on the Plains《平原枪声》, Everyday Red Songs《天天红歌会》and Liberation《解放》. more ›

On January 11, in just about a week, new trains on the Shanghai-Chengdu and Shanghai-Chongqing high speed lines will begin operation... and boy are they aiming for a much higher income level than the citizens who normally ride the rails. New cars are equipped with the "most luxurious soft sleepers" in China, and a ticket for these first class cabins costs 2330 RMB (after 30% off!). more ›

Forget slaving away at your office desk all day to bring home the dough. Turns out all you need is a basin, a couple of towels and a few sheets of newspaper and, KABOOM, you got 30,000RMB, or at least, for one man in Chongqing, this is all it takes. more ›