So this is what it looks like when two 10,000-ton vessels smush into each other. Last Saturday two cargo ships collided near the port of Shenzhen, most likely as a result of heavy fog. This particular collision luckily resulted in no casualties or oil leakage, just some nasty-looking hull damage.
Photos: Container ships collide off the coast of Shenzhen
Shanghai Metro: Power failure, not signals error, caused collision
Shanghai Metro's latest statement released on its website yesterday has contradicted earlier assertions by company chairman Yu Guangyao that faulty signals equipment supplied by Shanghai Casco Signals Corp, a joint venture of France-based Alstom SA, caused Tuesday's subway collision.
Xuelong Helicopter's missing mechanic is found dead
Shanghai police were able to recover the body of the mechanic who had been missing since a helicopter serving China's Antarctic exploration ship, Xuelong (雪龙), fell to the sea. Fishermen discovered remains with ID belonging to 56-year-old Yang Yongchang off the muddy banks of Changxing Island. Final confirmation, done through a DNA match, is still needed. The helicopter was carrying four men when it crashed into the ocean off of Shanghai only one minute after taking off from Snow Dragon. The three other passengers suffered minor injuries. Source: Shanghai Daily
Antidote presents Knifehandchop and Sulumi
This coming Saturday, Antidote will be hosting Knifehandchop from Toronto and Sulumi from Beijing. Antidote organiser Michael Ohlsson aka DJ Ozone explains why he invited the two DJ's:These guys are producers, not just DJs. I've always been interested in music that is current, innovative, cutting-edge ... but also accessible. Not just experimental noise. And I love to share this new music with people. The music that Sulumi and KnifeHandChop are doing is very different from...
1234 Beach Rock Festival this weekend
If you fancy yourself a punker, pretend to be a punk, or just like watching punks, then the 1234 Beach Rock Festival, is a dream (possibly wet) come true. Scheduled for the 20th and 21st of this month, the 1234 BRF is bringing together some of China's best punk/skinhead bands and adding a sprinkle of international flavor. Included in the line up are well known Chinese punk bands: the Unsafe, SMZB and Misandao, while Shanghai will be represented by local favorites Banana Monkey, Loudspeaker, the Mortal Fools and Muscle Snog. There will also be over a dozen other Chinese bands traveling here from Nanjing, Beijing, Wuhan and Xian to take part in this festival. International acts (as of today) are Cheb Samir and The Black Souls of Leviathan, Skip Jensen, Anti-Clockwise and MIMY.
Today's Links: New CCP leadership, expansion of Xinjiang national park and Olympic kitchen trash treatment
China issued a sweeping denunciation of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian on Thursday, accusing him of stirring animosity between the sides to divert attention from his personal scandals.
How to die a brilliant death!
The Chinese-made Brilliance BS6 sedan, currently being sold in the European market, splendidly failed a German 40mph frontal crash test. Reuters said:
"In the event of a side crash, the strain on the driver's chest and abdominal area would be so high that a person would have little chance of surviving in a real accident," it said of test results for the Brilliance BS6 model.If you really want us to ruin your Saturday, check out a video of another car crash test of another Chinese car, the Chery Amulet We don't know much about the science of crash testing, but don't let that ruin the bone-crumpling visuals of this video. The video seems to be of Russian provenance, and when we looked it up, we found that the Chery Amulet is indeed sold in Russia and from the looks of it, has been for a couple of years. The China Daily reports that Chery is going to enter the US market in late 2007. Geely, another Chinese automaker and rival of Chery, is also set to make its debut in the US market in 2008 or 2009. That article has several quotes from Malcolm Bricklin, the man who brought the Yugo to the US and is now helping these Chinese automakers break into the US market. Bricklin said "he was willing and eager to help Geely succeed in the United States through his 50 years of experience in the auto industry.":
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Evening Links: Suicide Rabbit, Google and realtor cartels
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Photo by spiky247 found via the Shanghaiist Contribute page.
Movie Review: Jia Zhangke's Still Life
Jia Zhangke’s Golden Lion-award-winning Still Life (in Chinese, Sanxia Haoren, or "The Good People of the Three Gorges") isn’t quite the masterpiece that we’ve come to expect from the man responsible for the pitch-perfect The World (2004) or Platform (2000). But save for a few minor hiccups, it comes awfully close.
Beijing Olympics ticket prices announced
For those of you that are interested in catching some of the Olympics in 2008, you might want to check out the ticket pricing scheme just unveiled today. The Opening and Closing ceremonies will cost at least 200 and 150 yuan, respectively, while the events will go as cheap as 5 yuan for students and 30 yuan for the rest of us. In fact, 58 percent of all tickets will cost less than 100 yuan. Now we just need to find an affordable place to stay or crash while we're there.
Extra! Extra! Lonely Planet, Li Na and WTC
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Test Drive: American Airlines Shanghai to Chicago direct
For our recent trip to the US, we decided to check out American Airlines' nonstop service from Shanghai to Chicago, which they launched in April. Since moving here in 2002, we have primarily used Northwest Airlines' Shanghai-Tokyo-New York route, save for a couple legs on JAL and Air Canada, whose website is embarrassingly incompatible with Safari. American is now our airline of choice for flying home. Here are some notes on our travel experience:
Good cop, fake cop
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a … mannequin traffic cop? Yup, that’s what you would have seen, if you were driving on the Sihuiqiao section of Beijing’s intercity highway yesterday. Propped up in a construction zone, a crash test dummy fully equipped with a safety vest, a hard hat and an auto-rotating signaling stick (we want one too for the next Shanghaiist Rave). A crash test dummy wearing a helmet -- we love it.
Ang Lee: 'The glory of Taiwanese Chinese cinematic talent'
Did anyone watch the Oscars rebroadcast (in English, with Chinese subtitles) on CCTV-6? We tried but had to give up -- the editing was awful, awful, awful. Much like trying to watch Brokeback Mountain in a Chinese theater, we assume. They tried to turn three-plus hours into less than 90 minutes, so you had acceptance speeches like, "Oh, there are so many people to thank ..." Cut. They eliminated huge chunks of the show. The dubbed version they showed in the morning was much better. That's when we heard host Jon Stewart butcher Zhang Ziyi's name. Zooey Zhang? "Sounded almost French," said one of our friends. (Zhang, by the way, is the first Chinese to twice present awards at the Oscars. Here is what she wore.)


