Another day, another rich drunk idiot crashing their expensive cars into shit and expecting clemency. This time the deed happened in Guangzhou, when a drunk 30-something woman drove her Porsche the wrong way down a one way street, smacked a taxi cab, then began verbally harassing the occupants before telling police "I know city leaders!" more ›

Yesterday around 3pm in Runan County, Henan, a police car veered onto the sidewalk and knocked down a lamppost, killing four and injuring three according to state media. Other sources said the man driving the car was a heavily intoxicated policeman, and that the accident led to six deaths and one injury. more ›

A 2,000rmb (US $307) fine and 1 month in jail is the punishment for drunken driving one Shanghai expat discovered yesterday. Prosecutors handed down the verdict stemming from a minor accident on May 7th in which the expat rear ended another vehicle that was stopped at a red light. Though the foreigner's BAC measured 1.9mg/ml, far above the legal limit of 0.8mg/ml, he pleaded guilty and there were no injuries so the punishment was not severe. The case is the first of its type in Shanghai. more ›

Gao Xiaosong, the Chinese answer to Simon Cowell, was sentenced yesterday to 6 months in prison and a 4000 RMB fine for having caused an accident in Beijing while driving under the influence of alcohol. more ›

New stricter regulations for drunk driving came into effect on Sunday, and already two people have been caught. While before, the biggest threat to drunk drivers was "administrative penalties," now those who cause some sort of harm because of their behavior could face "criminal penalties" and six months in jail. more ›

The Korean Foreign Minister has issued an apology over the sex scandal involving three Korean consulate members in Shanghai. All three men under investigation are suspected to have had relations with the same woman! That's a pretty scandalous-y scandal. more ›

It goes without saying that observation of traffic safety laws in China could do with a lot of improvement. While we personally wouldn't have chosen this TV show's particular tactic to get people to pay attention to traffic rules, something has to be said for the impact it surely makes on viewers. more ›

• After the powdered milk scare not too long back, we looked at why mothers in Shanghai are turning to the teat. Looks like ‘breast is best’ after all!
• We were sooo let down by China’s national costume in Miss Universe; especially when we looked at last year’s costume and one of this year’s competitors.
• We got experimental with homemade shampoos! Perhaps ‘Miss China’ could take a gander at this one! If you have any leftover beer; then take a look…

We knew that drunk driving was becoming an ever more serious offense here in Shanghai (perhaps to curb the national statistic that 2x of us drive drunk compared to the rest of China), but did you know that being caught could get you deported if you're a foreigner? more ›

Following up on their major drunk driving crackdown earlier this year, China is now introducing a new law that will tighten the rules even further for drink and drive offenders. The new law states that motorists who are caught driving under the influence of alcohol will lose all of their demerit points. more ›

Driving home late at night can be a scary experience: as drunk driving is on the rise, we find ourselves wondering: are those erratic cars weaving through traffic all drunk, or just reckless drivers? But fear not: Shanghai Daily informs us of a new invention in the works at Shanghai's Jiao Tong University that will help Shanghai's crackdown on drunk driving. more ›

Shanghai Daily has some startling statistics about drunk driving in our city - according to a study released yesterday, we have almost double the amount of fatal road accidents related to DUIs (8.3%) than that of the national average (4.16%). Last year, over 6% of traffic accidents in Shanghai were caused by drunk driving. more ›

• Xinhua has a fun little photo gallery about a cooking competition that was held to greet the Shanghai World Expo. [Xinhua]


• Speaking of food, do you spend money on food like Kanye spends time in the spotlight? Then step up to the challenge and try to get breakfast, lunch, and dinner all for under 25rmb. [Urbanatomy]


• Here’s an update on the adjustment of the one child policy. Due to revisions in the policy some families will be able to have more than one child. Check it out. [BBC]

So Shanghai may have found a ridiculous amount of drunk drivers during the most recent ten day crackdown on drunk driving (1200 people!), but it didn't even make it into the top nine worst offenders. more ›

"Those who drive dare not to drink, those who drink dare not to drive" is a particularly apt and Chinese way to summarize the philosophy behind the recent crackdowns on drunk driving in Shanghai. Sina News recently published a Cops-esque article about dragnets set up at hotels around the city, which captured more than 1200 drunk drivers in just the last ten days. The drama included stakeouts of hotel parking lots, intersection checkpoints, and even searches for "sleeper cars" with drunk drivers trying to "sleep it off". Once caught, techniques of avoiding arrest in Shanghai range from the internationally popular "drink two bottles of mineral water" to the less palatable "wash your mouth out with soap". It seems the Shanghai police are serious about this campaign: they've even forced on-duty policemen to turn off their mobile phones to avoid "preferential treatment" of suspects. Amazing! more ›

Organ trafficking stirs concern [Global Times] "The number of organ transplants from deceased donors in China is only 130 since the first case in 2003, one of the country's leading transplant experts said at a seminar yesterday. About 11,000 transplant operations are performed each year in China, including both living- and all deceased-donor transplantations, including executed prisoners, making the country the second-largest in the world to the US in total number. But that number it is far from enough to meet demand, Chen Zhonghua, the Chinese Medical Association's deputy director for transplanting, said…" more ›

If you're planning on going out to the Hengshan Lu, French Concession area tonight, be forewarned - it seems like the cops down there have been cracking down on excessively drunk people, inside of cars and out. A tipster told us that he's seen as many as ten cops on the corners of Wulumuqi Lu and Yongjia Lu every night and a few more hanging around by Zapata's. Not only are they doing random drunk driving checks, they've also become much less forgiving of public displays of drunkenness and loitering. The breathalyzer testing has also been confirmed on Baoqing and Huaihai Lu. Perhaps they're afraid foreigners coming for the Expo will be disgusted by the sites of their drunken compatriots? P.S. No disrespect to the drunken laowai pictured, who very charitably and heroically chugged beer after beer at our July 4 party near where the cops are now patrolling. more ›

A 26-year-old Shanghai woman died in New York after being run over by an allegedly intoxicated off-duty police officer. Her family is now preparing to fly to the U.S. to handle funeral arrangements. The officer has now been charged with vehicular manslaughter, assault and driving while intoxicated. A woman identifying herself as the officer's mother blamed the victim, telling the New York Daily News that “It was her fault... my son went out and had a couple of drinks. He deserves to have a good time now and then.” Uh... worst mother ever? Source: Shanghai Daily more ›

From the Associated Press: more ›

It makes sense that drunk driving will be an increasingly big problem in cities like Shanghai. More people are driving. Police rarely pull people over. There are tons of targets on the streets. The whole "face" thing makes people less likely to admit they are too drunk to drive. And finally -- bai jiu will get you shitfaced. Wang Jianwei saw this trend as a potential business opportunity and set up Dongfang Car Service Co. in Hongkou District. His company provides "substitute drivers," who, as the the Shanghai Daily puts it, "take drunks and their cars home." One problem: In the first two his company has been in operation, only one person has used the service. He's already thinking about shutting it down. more ›