"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 ›

It's heeeeereeee - Shanghai Disneyland is breaking ground and beginning construction this Friday. more ›

This stuff is dope and we can't wait to find it in our next copy of the Reference News 《参考消息》. more ›

What do people who grew up during the Cultural Revolution feel about youth who've grown up in the "Consumer Revolution"? Alec Ash over at The China Beat interviews two professors at Peking University and finds out the older generation is worried about their younger counterparts' "self-centeredness" and “psychologically vulnerable." So basically, the phrase "kids these days!" can be heard anywhere around the globe. more ›

Vienna Café goes epic tonight, when showing Yimou Zhang´s drama "To Live" (Huozhe) from 1994. The film who is based on the novel of the same name by Yu Hua, earned several awards and nominations in Cannes that year, as well as other international film festivals. The story starts in the forties, moves passed the CCP´s 1949 victory, on to the Cultural Revolution in 1966 and onwards... more ›

Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square (French: Le jour se lève sur la place Tienanmen) is a 1998 National Film Board of Canada short animated documentary directed by Shui-Bo Wang which received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. Consisting of a colourful collage of personal and archival photos and original artwork, this fascinating documentary is one man's autobiographical look back at the turbulent Cultural Revolution and the subsequent years. An exceptional piece of work that is well worth 29 minutes of your time this Sunday: more ›

Nien Cheng (鄭念), author, has passed away in Washington D.C., according to the Washington Post. The 94-year-old former KMT diplomat is best known for her bestselling autobiography Life and Death in Shanghai, which chronicled the six-and-a-half years she spent as a prisoner during the Cultural Revolution. In one of the most harrowing tales from the book, she finds out that her daughter, a prominent Shanghai film actress, was killed by the Red Guard for refusing to denounce her mother. For summaries and reviews of her seminal memoir, check out the original New York Times book review and this article from Time Magazine. more ›

The old ladies and fellas you see dancing in the parks in the morning, China´s "forgotten generation", rarely gets a chance to be the central subject in Chinese movies. Director Ye Kai is now presenting an exception to that rule, by creating a feel-good comedy about a charming group of elderly amateur dancers, caught up in a quest to win a competition that will let them take part in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. more ›

The national university entrance examination: a rite of passage for many Chinese students, and all important, some might say, in determining much of what happens in your life afterwards. It's a lot of pressure for 17 and 18 year-old kids. This video was taken in Hankou, supposedly before the test. One might be more inclined to celebrate afterwards, though of course those that might not have done so well would perhaps seek solace in Johnny Walker, as one does in times of need. more ›

• One of the more intriguing art/food destinations has just opened up: The Factory (at 1933), which is billing itself as a lab of sorts for Shanghai's young artists and will have a weekly-changing reasonably affordable menu. [Urbanatomy]
• Uh oh, apparently cellphone eavesdropping tools are being sold around town that could let you listen in on someone's every call, as well as send and receive their text messages. Talk about frightening! [Sinosplice]
• Ford's Asia Pacific VP, John Parker, tells BBC why he's "cautiously optimistic" about the car market in China at the Shanghai Auto Show. [BBC]

While the Cultural Revolution was no laughing matter, it seems that some clever Chinese were able to get a chuckle or two from skewing political rhetoric behind closed doors. more ›

Here's an interesting mash up between a Cultural Revolution-era Long March opera and "Ninja" by Jay Chou, created - if the video's to be believed - by Lee Tang (李唐) from Lu Xun Academy of Fine Art two years back. Is the song choice supposed to be a little ironic, considering one of the parties the Long March ended just around the beginning of the second Sino-Japanese War? more ›

You may have walked past the Holy Trinity Cathedral before and not even known it. The church has been under construction for a couple of years now and protected from public view by the ever-cunning big cement construction wall. But it's still there, awaiting its impending resurrection amid a chorus of jackhammers. more ›

This week, we bring you a documentary called "Asian Cinema Odyssey - China" which was screened on Discovery Channel (although others say it's from National Geographic) . We can't seem to find any other information about this documentary (so let us know if you do find any) which is almost like a Chinese Cinema 101 crash course.. It starts with a bit of history on how the Chinese film industry has arisen from the ashes of the Cultural Revolution, and goes on to talk about the rise of the 5th and 6th generation filmmakers, the struggle with censors, the new breed of underground directors and the globalisation of Chinese cinema. A great watch if you can set aside some time to load all the clips! more ›

The Xujiahui Cathedral (徐家汇天主教堂), otherwise known as the St. Ignatius Cathedral of Shanghai (聖依納爵主教座堂) is lit up especially for the Special Olympics. more ›

More than a dozen prominent Singapore celebrities have come out in support of a new parliamentary petition to repeal Section 377A in the city-state's Penal Code which outlaws “acts of gross indecency” between men by appearing in a Youtube video uploaded recently. more ›

This restaurant deserves awards. Lots of awards. The menu is essentially Chinese food, but it’s been inspired by the best influences of the West. The concept is described beautifully in the name. more ›

Picture of Chinese soldiers from tigeranger1971. more ›

... on the line—June 7-10 are the dates for that annual rite of passage known as the university examination (高考). This year is also special in that it marks the 30th anniversary of the reinstitution of the examinations after the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Part of what piques our interest about the examinations are the ingenious cheating techniques that have proliferated with the spread of mobile devices such as phones, laptops, and walkie-talkies. Each year, they try to crack down, and this year is no different: the new rule is that you can't leave the test room prior to the last half-hour of each test session. But we trust after the tenth, we will find some more reports about how some people managed to cheat the system. It's hard to not be amazed by the progress has been made since the days where we scribbled history notes on the inside of our hand or the old crib-sheet-in-the-baseball cap days. more ›

We admit it — we kind of like old wind-up tin toys. We only have one, though. It has ping pong players who go back and forth and it really used to scare our dog. Well, the International Herald Tribune recently published a story ("A trip into China's past, through its toys") about a museum filled with such gadgets from the first three quarters of the 20th century. The Museum of Shanghai Toys, naturally, is in Singapore. A snippet: more ›

Celebrated American writer and critic Gore Vidal was interviewed by former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr on Sunday at Glamour Bar before a full audience as the opening speaker for the 2007 Shanghai International Literary Festival. Over his career which spans more than 60 years, Vidal has produced novels, plays, screenplays, and numerous essays and pamphlets, and most recently, he published his memoirs, Point-to-Point Navigation. more ›

A few weeks ago principal shooting wrapped on director Hu Xueyang's (胡雪杨) latest film, Shanghai 1976 (《上海1976》), a Cultural Revolution era romance involving two half-Chinese half-Caucasian sisters, daughters of a missionary. Here's the IMDB plot summary:

Shanghai 1976 is a moving story that tells the tale of a forbidden love and of the loss of innocence in Shanghai, China, in the turbulent year 1976. Four young people come of age and fall in love against the backdrop of political and historical events. Their heritage reflects Shanghai's cosmopolitan history. Two Eurasian girls, sisters, meet and fall in love with two Chinese men. As their lives become more entangled, they find themselves ostracized. While the Great Cultural Revolution unravels around them, these four begin to dream new dreams, to reach for freedom and to nurture hope for a brighter future.

The Straits Times today tells us about 27 year old Liu Qian who "has been feted as a modern-day heroine, held up as a role model for women, and won the hearts of thousands across China". For the past eight years, Liu was the mistress of Yao Chuanrui, a former manager of a Shenzhen-based state-owned company, who had been detained by police for questioning over the alleged embezzlement of RMB70 million. more ›

The Guardian reports that in Shenzhen, police paraded a bunch of prostitutes and johns in public: more ›

Going to Beijing is a little like embarking on a Chinese safari - we see rare species (honest dedicated government officials), fascinating landmarks (Olympic Buildings, formerly known as Hutongs), and even blood-curdling adventure (Ring Road traffic at 5 pm). more ›

Moon River looks like a diner. It feels like a diner. And, most importantly, it tastes like a diner. The people behind this place got the details right -- the black and white tile floors, the red swivel-top stools and even the colorful curly straws. And we love the huge retro neon sign out front -- it's perfect. They've even got a jukebox (the same one they had out in Gubei) but it no longer works, and -- we just learned this -- did you know jukeboxes are technically illegal in China? An old Cultural Revolution law that never came off the books, we were told. more ›

Commenters, however, thought it kind of rang true: more ›

Local police said the lecture was "unacceptable", the newspaper said. more ›

A report on Yahoo! China got our attention because of it's uh, attention-grabbing headline: 中国游客海外不文明行为震动高层 ("The uncivilized behavior of Chinese tourists abroad shocks the upper levels of government"). The central government's "Civilization Bureau" recently ran an internet survey and just published the results (in Chinese) a little over a week ago. This includes the top 10 uncivilized Chinese behaviors abroad as well as 20 suggestion about how to improve the situation. more ›

The Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci died recently at the age of 77. Known during most of her career for aggressive, throw caution to the wind type interviewing, she's had an audience with movers and shakers from the Ayatollah Khomeini to Henry Kissinger and Deng Xiaoping. In the New York Times obit/article linked to above, we found links to several of her interviews, including one with Deng Xiaoping in 1980. The interview is interesting as it takes place at a critical juncture in Chinese history -- Deng had assumed control two years earlier and launched the reforms that set the country on a drastically different path than the one Mao had envisioned. The interview deals with the legacy of Mao, the Gang of Four, the Cultural Revolution, and what the consequences of China's reforms. more ›