Three men were handed jail sentences for up to a decade in a secret trial last year for "inciting subversion of state power" through their criticisms of former president Jiang Zemin. The details of the trial have only now emerged through a Hong Kong-based rights organisation, writes Will Clem of the South China Morning Post: more ›

Literary badboy and rally driver Han Han (韩寒) is set to take anti-fraud crusader Fang Zhouzi (方舟子) to court for claiming online that some of his works were probably ghost-written. more ›

India is set to lodge a formal protest with China over the ill-treatment of one of its Shanghai-based diplomats in Yiwu more ›

As with other companies that have seen their logos and trademarks hijacked by Chinese companies, Apple now risks losing control over selling its iPad tablets in China, after a Shenzhen court ruled the multinational tech-giant guilty of copyright infringement. more ›

After receiving an unsatisfying ruling about a traffic violation, this man, surname Zhou, strapped 1 kg of explosives to his body and planted himself outside the High Court in Kunming, Yunnan. Armed with an electronic detonator, he threatened to blow himself up at any minute. Police cordoned off 100 meters around the entrance, and had to expand that area to 200 meters after a large crowd of observers gathered. After a little over an hour, negotiators managed to persuade the man to give up the explosives. more ›

Three Uighur have been sentenced in the wake of the recent mysterious syringe attacks in Xinjiang, but their jail terms have not eased the tension between the Uighur minority and the Han Chinese majority or addressed the controversy surrounding the case in the first place. more ›

If you think only Chinese people use Baidu, you're dead wrong. Recently, a friend of ours in the US complained that he was unable to find any more music through Baidu's MP3 search service. Not a surprise really, since that treasure trove of pirated music that is now getting sued for big bucks in a Beijing court by some of the biggest names in music including Universal, EMI, Warner, Sony BMG and their local subsidiaries,... more ›

Southeast Asian pact exposes rifts [NY Times] Southeast Asian leaders signed a charter here today that was drafted as a watershed document to bind the region together as a European-style economic community but has instead exposed the sharp divisions over Myanmar and other issues among the signatories.Malaysia busts DVD lab in its biggest raid in 2007 [Reuters] Malaysia has raided a laboratory capable of churning out $52 million worth of pirated DVDs a year in... more ›

A prominent former Thai senator accused of sex crimes against four underage girls was sentenced to 36 years in prison on Tuesday, when an appeals court stiffened the sentence of a lower court. more ›

The massive NBA marketing machine rumbled through Shanghai last night in the first of three “China Games,” the latter two to be held in Macau beginning tonight. The pre-season game between the Orlando Magic and the Cleveland Cavaliers was held at the Qizhong Sports Stadium in the Min-hang district. Some observations:
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So, like we told you, the word "democracy" (民主) was mentioned 60 times in President Hu's report to the 17th Party Congress. The China Media Project fills us in on other top buzzwords. “Socialism with Chinese characteristics” (中国特色社会主义) was mentioned 52 times, “scientific development” (科学发展) was a distant second at 38 times, “opening and reform” (改革开放) was mentioned 34 times, just edging out “harmony” (和谐) at 33. “Deng Xiaoping Theory” (邓小平理论) made 10 appearances and former President Jiang Zemin's pet phrase “Three Represents” (三个代表) racked up 9 appearances. See how the occurence of these phrases have risen/fallen over the past Party Congresses (totally useless information that you can try to use to impress your date with). more ›

And in Shanghai...
• John Pasden talks about his (Chinese) wife freaking out over his fever.
• Swiss James of ISpyShanghai recommends the Ganzhi Blindman Massage on the corner of Beijing Lu and Shaanxi Lu.
• Marc van der Chijs (of Tudou fame) shares with us the inconveniences that the cancellation of a recent China Eastern flight brought him and how he was handled.

Some things you were never supposed to hear about ... so keep them to yourselves please! Shhhhh. more ›

On Bokee.com we read an article about Zhang Shaocang, a corrupt official from Anhui province, who seems to have cribbed his letter of remorse/self-criticism (悔过书) from similar letters written by other corrupt officials. The article claims that there is a striking resemblance between Zhang's letter and the letter written by Zhu Fuzhong in May of this year. The writer of the Bokee article has inserted, in red text, the places where the writing of the two letters seems most similar. On a more sardonic note, the writer has, on the side column, written an outline of the "eight-legged letter of self-criticism", where the "eight-legged essay" refers to the a form of scholarly writing used in imperial Chinese examinations known for being rigid, formulaic, originality-stifling format. They begin their essays by saying how they came from a poor background, had good intentions and character, and wanted to do something for their country. But then they began to slacken in their study of political thought and ideology, then emphasize that their mistakes were made in an environment where there weren't enough checks on their actions and behavior, emphasize that they let down the Party and the people, and then beg the court for a chance to redeem themselves (i.e. they ask for a more lenient sentence.) more ›

The North West Food Court is a casual sit-down spot – highly local, moderately clean, poorly staffed – with a rather varied menu. Prices range from 1 RMB (for a Fried Crispy Pancake) up to 58 RMB (for a Big Plate Of Chicken). more ›

Number 3 Baoqing Rd, at the corner of Huaihai Rd near the Changshu Rd metro station, is an old colonial-style house with almost 4000 square meters of attached private gardens. For 55 years, award-winning and state-honored Shanghai painter Xu Yuanzhang and his family have lived in this house, upkeeping the house and gardens that his grandfather Zhou Zongliang purchased from a German owner seven years after it was built in Shanghai's booming 1930's. more ›

Malaysia will help train Thai Muslim religious teachers and provide scholarships for students in southern Thailand as part of an agreement signed between the country's two leaders aimed at curbing violence in the region. more ›

At least 20,000 police surveillance cameras are being installed along streets in southern China and will soon be guided by sophisticated computer software from an American-financed company to recognise automatically the faces of police suspects and detect unusual activity. more ›

As the weekend starts Shanghaiist is giddy with excitement. Not because this weekend is overly exciting (though there are a few good shows out there), but because this weekend marks the unofficial end of the summer music drought. Next week Coolio and Avril Lavigne with both be in town (where are our media passes?), AK-47 along with Brain Failure and Top Floor Circus will hold a special pre-1234 Beach Rock party and the following week the SUBS will be back in town. September gets even better, though Shanghaiist will be in Beijing to catch the New York Dolls, NIN, Mando Diao, PE and Markey Ramone, Shanghai shouldn't feel left out....the Exploited will be playing at 4Live in September in what will be a shat (replace the a with an i) kicking good time. Ok, enough of what is coming in the near future, let’s get down to what is happening this weekend. more ›

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The couple promised to pay Ma 100,000 yuan as reward for a child and 150,000 yuan if there were twins and they paid Ma 3000 yuan every month after they made the agreement. Ma tried artificial insemination in October 2006 but this failed and the doctors said she was probably not suitable. However the doctors said they would try once again later.

Image from China Daily. more ›

After their appearance in the final of The Championships, Wimbledon, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have both qualified for the year-ending Masters Cup, held annually in Minhang, Shanghai. more ›

Image of the Great Wall from Laurence: Will it be counted among the new 7 wonders of the world? more ›

• 3 in US accused of enslaving Chinese acrobats
  Three men enslaved more than 20 Chinese acrobats, feeding and paying them little to work, and confiscating their passports and visas.


• 'Mass incidents' on rise as environment deteriorates
  Chinese people's refusal to accept an ever deteriorating environmental situation has resulted in a rising number of "mass incidents", the country's chief environment official said on Wednesday.


• Becoming Bill Gates' right-hand man
  Showing signs of genius even as a young boy, it was not surprising that Dr Zhang Yaqin would rise to become a right-hand man of the world's most powerful billionaire.

It’s the end of the line for Shanghai’s most notorious drug lord, Li Bin. Shanghai’s highest court has turned down his appeal against a death sentence decision from October of last year. Along with Li Bin, 19 members of his gang were given life sentences. more ›

See anything newsworthy? Leave us a tip on the Shanghaiist Contribute Page! more ›

Watch this video clip of the poor receptionist girl working at Google China getting harrassed by a guy, Zola Zhou, (once) billed as "China's first citizen reporter". Zola first gained widespread attention for his blog reports on the Chongqing nailhouse. Hungry for more success, he also went to Xiamen to report on demonstrations against Haicang PX. Hell, he even got interviewed by NBC. more ›

Elsewhere - Indian-born billionaire Lakshmi Mittal - the fifth richest man in the world - has emerged as a contender to buy Birmingham, while Arsenal faces a takeover bid from an Arab tycoon Mohammed Al Hashimi who was a partner in a £450million bid to buy Liverpool. In the meanwhile, ousted billionaire Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, is reportedly poised to buy English football's Manchester City, although the Bank of Thailand said it has not received a money transfer request from Thaksin. Are Asians going to take over the English Premier League someday? more ›

Is it us or have there been a lot of political news stories and incidents in recent weeks? A few weeks ago, the restive group of villagers in Guangxi rioted over fines relating to the one-child policy, a glimpse of which you can see in the video on the left. Then maybe on Thursday or Friday night of last week, hundreds of Zhengzhou students rioted in the streets, after a student vendor was beaten by some inspectors. Down in Shenzhen, thousands of workers protested outside a plastic Christmas tree factory, citing long working hours as the source of their discontent. (Note to self: get real tree and throw away plastic tree currently hidden in closet before December.) more ›