We all kind of figured that it would happen someday, but it might be a little sooner than you could have imagined: Shanghai is becoming a dominant world financial center. Law firm Eversheds released a survey of over 600 economic leaders from around the world weighing in on their companies economic prospects in the coming year: those in the west had a far gloomier outlook than their eastern counterparts, and if that trend continues, international opinion could have Shanghai and London battling for the title of "world's second most significant financial center" behind New York within the next decade. Sounds crazy and/or a bit far fetched to us, especially coming from an economic outlook survey, but with China, you never know. more ›

• In one of the most hilarious pieces of news to hit the weekend, customs officials in Los Angeles stopped a shipment from China that was listed as Christmas ornaments but turned out to be... $2.6 million worth of bongs and pipes. Somebody hit that, man. [LA Times]
• Daniel Gross waxes on about how companies in China have decided to solve their lack of export demand problem by *gasp* selling to the Chinese. [Slate]
• Ooooh, the U.S. and China are getting cozier and guess what? India's getting J.E.A.L.O.U.S. [Financial Times]

The Chinese economy boom has helped increase numbers of both great and not-so-great things. On one hand, you've got rising literacy rates, development and internet penetration. On the other hand, you also get more pollution, city overcrowding and... syphilis. According to the World Health Organization, cases of the STD are now growing by 30% a year, and it's all because of migrant workers who now make enough money to hire more prostitutes. All the more reason to take up Zhang Feng's proposal and give them sex toys, eh? more ›