digg_url = 'http://digg.com/olympics/Video_Sneak_preview_of_Beijing_Olympics_opening_ceremony'; Much to the dismay of some Chinese YouTube commenters, a Korean news team sneaked into Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium and videotaped rehearsals of the much-hyped Zhang Yimou-orchestrated opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. One Twitter user commented that the whole thing "looks somewhat fascist. Confascisism?" What do you think? UPDATE: The original two videos we embedded were removed by YouTube. We have replaced them with three more. Via Danwei......

After their great series of stories about the Chinese media last week entitled "Brand China", National Public Radio (NPR) show, On the Media, has done another great story explaining exactly how the Chinese internet works and what role the internet plays in Chinese society. The show includes interviews with Jeremy Goldkorn of Danwei and internet specialist, Rebecca MacKinnon, and can be downloaded or streamed for free. Transcripts of the show are also available for free.......

From Danwei: "But conspicuously missing from the list are the Big Three of the Chinese Youtube clones: Youku.com, Tudou.com and 56.com. Although 56.com has been off line for nearly two weeks after an apparent porblem with the authorities, these three websites have the largest amount of funding of any video websites in China, most of it foreign. By most accounts they are also the most popular video sites in China."......

Adam Schokora of Danwei outdoes himself with this latest episode of the Shanghai Beat which sees him interviewing three of the city's top graffiti artists: Popil, Zhang Lan (AKA: Mr. Lan), and HKer. Good to know the graffiti scene is alive and well here!......

Jonathan Watts, the China correspondent for The Guardian, has recently put in his year so far article about the internet here. It covers a lot of familiar ground and quotes Zonaeuropa and Danwei.org, among others, as sources. One of the most quoted facts in these kinds of articles is the world’s most read blog being “Lao Xu”. Lao Xu is the Sina.com blog of actress/writer/director Xu Jing Lei 徐静雷. So what’s going on at the......

From Danwei: In this episode of Danwei TV's 'The Shanghai Beat', host Adam Schokora meets up with Sean Leow and B6, co-founders of the Neocha.com. The video ends with a performance by Shanghainese indie-pop trio Hard Queen. Also on Shanghaiist Yet another Gay Shanghai video NeoCha and Neospring Creative Festival Are you creating quality fresh, informative and entertaining videos about Shanghai or elsewhere in China? Email us at info at shanghaiist.com and we can discuss......