China has a moratorium on building golf courses, so how are we now getting 22 of them that take up an area 1.5 times the size of Manhattan on Hainan Island? Shanghaiist founding editor Dan Washburn takes an in depth look at Mission Hills Hainan. [Financial Times Weekend Magazine] more ›

Shanghaiist's inhouse sex scandals specialist Kenneth Tan writes about the six sex scandals that have rocked China over the last few years and given our readers a super hardon. It should perhaps be of no surprise that some of these scandals count among this website's most trafficked stories. This post promises to end your year with a blast, so read on: more ›

What a difference ten years has made for China, from the new kid on the block to one of the world's most influential movers and shakers. Since 2000, China has turned the notion of "New World Order" on its head. During those 10 years we've watched China experience some breathtaking highs and painful lows. I first started watching China early in 2001, when I moved from the US to Hong Kong, and still remember exactly where I was and how I felt when I heard the big news that made it to No.1 on my Personal Five Most Significant China Stories of the decade. more ›

The South China Morning Post has an interesting feature on Deng Yujiao, the folk heroine waitress whose story of stabbing a violent and lusty official rocketed her to national fame. In a Chicago-esque twist, Deng, a high school dropout, is now being approached with offers to work in everything from botanical research to movies. Professor Fu, a professor in botany at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that she should become his student and work for a PhD. Meanwhile, some film and television producers have "cast their eyes on Ms Deng to star in a movie." How will all this attention play out? Nobody knows, since her movements still may be restricted and there are fears she could be targeted for retaliatory actions if she stays in her hometown. more ›

Deng Yujiao, the waitress who killed an official after he allegedly sexually assaulted her and promptly became a Chinese folk hero, has now been released following a two hour trial. The dead official, head of a trade promo department in Deng's town, is said to have demanded "special services" from Deng, thrown money in her face and pushed her to the sofa several times before she stabbed him with a fruit knife. The internet soon took special interest in her case, rallying several times against perceived "injustices" during the investigation and pre-trial phases of her ordeal. The Hubei province court ruled that Deng was guilty of intentional injury and had acted with "excessive defence," but freed her without punishment. She was diagnosed with a "mental imbalance." Source: BBC more ›

Though Deng Yujiao, the 21-year-old waitress accused of killing a government official, may have been saved by the flurry of internet postings in her support, the same netizen fervor may be making it dangerous for reporters to get the full story. more ›