When news of Steve Jobs' death hit Weibo this morning around 7:45am, the Chinese weibosphere absolutely exploded with tributes, quotes, videos, news, and photos. We logged on around 9am to find a big black bar across our Weibo homepage informing us of Jobs' death, directing us to this page, which has received almost 50,000 comments. The page also links you to other sites where you can memorialize Jobs, take surveys about him, and discuss his influence on the digital world. more ›

China has been pulling out all the stops to make next month's Olympics in Beijing – and several other cities – go according to script. Aside from the usual massive building projects associated with the Games, China has also seriously tightened its visa policy, saturated its citizenry with Olympic propaganda and denied foreign media direct access to most Chinese athletes. more ›

Chairman of China Southern Airlines, Liu Shaoyong (刘绍勇) piloted the inaugural flight from Guangzhou to Taipei yesterday carrying 258 passengers. On landing at the Taoyuan International Airport, the 100 or so mainland tourists were given a warm welcome including this lion dance and an Taiwanese aboriginal dance you see in the video, but later in the day, they were also greeted by Falun Gong members at a popular tourist site. This first encounter remained civil but the group outlawed as a spiritual cult in China has promised to step up its presence at all the scenic spots that mainland tour groups will visit, so that "they can see our freedom, and we can change their thinking." more ›