China state-owned media is once again reporting a crackdown on foreigners who live, work and travel the country without the proper credentials. more ›

Amidst disputed reports that three more Tibetan herders set themselves ablaze over the weekend to protest the government's repressive policies (bringing the total number of self immolations over the past year to 19), the Chinese government has vowed to continue it's crackdown on what it has described as a "handful of criminals illegally gathering and smashing and looting." more ›

James Fallows talks with China analyst Damien Ma about the recent elevated security within China since calls for a "Jasmine revolution" surfaced earlier this year. Ma observes that China has shifted from being more externally aggressive to internally aggressive in 2011, a shift that may be a reaction to the Arab Spring, but is also likely due largely in part to nervousness surrounding the coming political transition next year. more ›

The China Economic Times is dismantling its investigative reporting team after pressure from the Communist Party. According to CMP, people inside CET are saying a "ridiculous leader" reportedly came to their offices and broke up the investigative unit. The head of that unit, Wang Keqin, reacted to this on his Weibo, saying "Where political power burns books, it will ultimately burn people also. Where political power begins to suppress the voice, if it is not stopped, its next step will be to destroy the witness!" more ›

It's probably safe to say that police efforts to stamp out prostitution in China have a bad rep- and for good reason; considering the proliferation of pink Karaokes and massages, any "raid" seems arbitrary and possibly corrupt. That's probably why Shanghai police are getting rid of raids altogether, trying out a new route: undercover sex workers. more ›

As with politics, it seems a week is a long time in Chinese celebrity - you only have ask Guo Degang. It's unlikely he'll get back to you though. He started off last week as a maverick people’s hero, the highest-paid xiangsheng (cross-talk) comedian in China and began this one as a virtual enemy of the people. more ›

China's ongoing battle against porn has seen many valiant battles: internet crackdowns against illegal pornographic sites, bans on sexting, and even a youth crusade against yellow material. But even with China's best and brightest censors on the case, China always needs more help stopping smut. And what better force to combat porn than a justice league of mothers? Sixty mothers were selected from a pool of over 200 eager applicants to be internet watchdogs and report material not safe for children. Watch out kids, you better remember to clear your internet browser's history, or else you might find your favorite questionable sites blocked! more ›

Ever been surfing around on the Chinese internet, looking at BBS forums and searching for any new pictures of Jay Chou that might have surfaced since you were last on, only to stumble across some terribly lewd pornographic site that wasn't blocked by the Great Firewall? Neither have we, but in case you do, the government is now offering between 1,000-10,000 RMB for tips on pornography. There are 9 different categories users can tip the police off about, including mobile porn. Apparently the campaign is already pretty successful: 3,500 out of 13,000 or so tips have been confirmed. Take that, pornographers! more ›

Since China unveiled its new 3G system earlier this year, it seems a number of perverted entrepreneurs have been utilizing the system to revolutionize the Chinese mobile internet: that's right, we're talking about mobile porn. Since it's easier for them to evade the authorities by changing IP addresses and domain names because of a lack of efficiency in monitoring the new technology, the highly illegal pornography industry in China has increasingly shifted their focus to mobile phones. The authorities are looking into ways to crack down on the porn sites, but as we all know, Chinese netizens are a pretty tough group to control. more ›

We always thought it looked kind of cool in old Yakuza/Triad gang movies, but when we actually hear about people cutting off their own fingers to prove a point, we're a little more disturbed than excited. A driver was caught in one of Shanghai's recent black cab dragnets, where police officers pretend to hire cars illegally functioning as cabs, and then fine them. more ›

Shanghai Daily has some startling statistics about drunk driving in our city - according to a study released yesterday, we have almost double the amount of fatal road accidents related to DUIs (8.3%) than that of the national average (4.16%). Last year, over 6% of traffic accidents in Shanghai were caused by drunk driving. more ›

"Those who drive dare not to drink, those who drink dare not to drive" is a particularly apt and Chinese way to summarize the philosophy behind the recent crackdowns on drunk driving in Shanghai. Sina News recently published a Cops-esque article about dragnets set up at hotels around the city, which captured more than 1200 drunk drivers in just the last ten days. The drama included stakeouts of hotel parking lots, intersection checkpoints, and even searches for "sleeper cars" with drunk drivers trying to "sleep it off". Once caught, techniques of avoiding arrest in Shanghai range from the internationally popular "drink two bottles of mineral water" to the less palatable "wash your mouth out with soap". It seems the Shanghai police are serious about this campaign: they've even forced on-duty policemen to turn off their mobile phones to avoid "preferential treatment" of suspects. Amazing! more ›

We already know about the Chinese government's obsession with blocking porn. It's brought us the web portal clean up, the Green Dam and - most recently - the heinous Google block. But now they're even tearing down websites that are about sexual health. more ›

Now that the various politically sensitive anniversaries are over in the region, Tibet has been reopened to foreign tourists. China Daily said on Sunday that a group of 11 German travelers had arrived in Lhasa for a six-day tour and would be seeing various key scenic spots before leaving for Nepal. They are the first officially allowed visitors since February, near the start of the Tibetan New Year - which was unofficially boycotted by Tibetans over the government crackdown on riots last year. Source: AP more ›

It's been a month since the online internet porn crackdown, and now China is planning to expand its crusade to cellphone websites, chat rooms, video download services and instant messenger groups. more ›

Looks like the life of that satellite dish you have covertly installed on your patio may be coming to a premature end if the Shanghai government has its way. more ›

UPDATE, Friday 9:45 am: The show will go on ... at Windows Tembo. more ›

Wan Yanhai more ›