Welcome to the inaugural episode of Chinese Soundbites, a podcast series brought to you by ChinesePod and Shanghaiist. Every week we'll be bringing you topics and words pulled straight from the headlines, in Mandarin Chinese. This week we're taking a look at Shanghai's favorite son -- no, not Liu Xiang -- the humble hairy crab. If you're wondering why people would put in so much effort into eating an animal with such little meat, you'll......

Chinese kids are starting early these days. Someone over at the PCPop.com forum with a nephew attending first grade looked through his textbooks one day and was shocked at what sex education for first graders looks like in China these days — funny cartoons, witty dialogues, testicles that talk to one another, and cool-looking Mr Condoms wearing shades. We wish sex education was this fun for us when we were growing up. No, wait a......

Welcome to the latest episode of Chinese Soundbites, a podcast series brought to you by ChinesePod and Shanghaiist. Every week we'll be bringing you topics and words pulled straight from the headlines, in Mandarin Chinese. We've been covering some pretty heavy topics lately, but now it's time for a break -- a week-long "Golden Week" break, in fact. Millions of people will be on the move this week as they celebrate the 59th anniversary of......

ChinaSmack points us to this shocking and sad story of 11 year old student Zhang Yaoyin in Hunan Province who had her had smashed against the desk by her teacher numerous times, then hit savagely with a metal bar before going thrown out of the window of the fourth storey classroom to her death. This incident occurred in September 2006 but was given fresh attention via a new post on the Chinese forum Mop and......

Welcome to the latest episode of Chinese Soundbites, a podcast series brought to you by ChinesePod and Shanghaiist. Every week we'll be bringing you topics and words pulled straight from the headlines, in Mandarin Chinese. The turmoil on Wall Street and across the world's financial markets have us all looking warily at our investment accounts, waiting for the so-called other shoe to drop. The turmoil is being felt in China, as well, and the economy......

Welcome to the latest episode of Chinese Soundbites, a podcast series brought to you by ChinesePod and Shanghaiist. Every week we'll be bringing you topics and words pulled straight from the headlines, in Mandarin Chinese. Unless you happen to work for Lehman Brothers, the biggest story in China this week has been about melamine, a fun little chemical first discovered in Sanlu infant formula and then in dairy products from pretty much all of China's......

Welcome to the latest episode of Chinese Soundbites, a podcast series brought to you by ChinesePod and Shanghaiist. Every week we'll be bringing you topics and words pulled straight from the headlines, in Mandarin Chinese. This week the topic, and food, on everyone's lips... mooncakes. As the gifting and re-gifting festivities take place this weekend, get informed about what this holiday is all about. And if you're lucky enough to receive the gift of......

This report by France24 throws light on what migrant workers who are resident in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing but lack the proper hukou documents go through to put their children in school. The schools which will accept their children run outside of the state education system and charge a monthly fee of RMB100 — no small sum for parents on migrant worker salaries. Schools like the one featured in this report may soon......

Welcome to the newest episode of Chinese Soundbites, a podcast series brought to you by ChinesePod and Shanghaiist. Every week we'll be bringing you topics and words pulled straight from the headlines, in Mandarin Chinese. This week Jenny and Amber jump into a topic that's on (almost) everyone's lips -- the US presidential election. If you're in China this Fall (and especially if you're an American), you'll need to be able to answer the inevitable......

Shanghai Daily reports a man killed 3 members of his family in a grocery store on Tongzhan Road, in Jiading's Fengbang Town. It appears he killed his wife and in-laws as a result of a domestic dispute and has since turned himself in. Meanwhile, ChinaSmack informs us that within a few days of the start of the new semester, four middle school students in Shanghai have committed suicide.......

The Peoples Daily reports the Ministry of Education has added new rules for primary school teachers to "take care of their students' safety" and "teachers should pay more attention to the health of students", spurred on by the public condemnation of secondary school teacher Fan Meizhong who ran for his life, leaving behind his students during the May 12 Sichuan quake. No word on what they'll do with errant teachers next. Will all teachers be......

Welcome to the newest episode of Chinese Soundbites, a podcast series brought to you by ChinesePod and Shanghaiist. Every week we'll be bringing you topics and words pulled straight from the headlines, in Mandarin Chinese. This week Jenny and Amber talk about the drenching Shanghai received on Monday. It was a case of flooding worse than any in recent memory, but it actually had a surprising effect on the commuters caught in the maelstrom. Vocabulary:......

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Chinese Soundbites, a podcast series brought to you by ChinesePod and Shanghaiist. Every week we'll be bringing you topics and words pulled straight from the headlines, in Mandarin Chinese. In this first episode Jenny and Amber talk about Liu Xiang (刘翔, Liú Xiáng), the Chinese hurdler who carried the hopes and dreams of the Chinese nation on his back but was brought down by an Achilles' tendon injury before......

According to the Shanghai Daily, this Sunday, over 500 students tried to use false admission notices to register at Shanghai Normal University's school of mathematics and science. As the school denied having issued any admission notices at all, there was little doubt about the authencity of their documents: "The university authority was quite confused by the sudden influx of 'check-in' students," said one of the university's publicity officials. "It is almost impossible for a single......

The city's environmental work now focuses on drinking water. In one year, if things work out according to plan, Shanghai's water is supposed to be good enough to drink directly from the tap. City officials say that this vision will realized with the completion of the biggest reservoir in Shanghai, the Qingcaosha Reservoir, close to Chongming Island and a new pipe network. Could this be the beginning of the end for bottled water?A campaign to......

This weekend, in just 14 hours, the panda population of China increased by four, as three female pandas at different zoos gave birth. An event worth noticing, since giant pandas in captivity hardly ever seem to mate without the right encouragement. Olympic athletes with time on their hands will not have to be bored for long, the Olympic Village provides a training center where athletes can learn basic Chinese, or brush up on their calligraphy......

In an article about official Olympic protest areas, the Wall Street Journal linked to some scanned pages from Olympic Security English, a training manual for Olympic police. We have reproduced those pages for your enjoyment. Poor Mr. Leer. He's an honest man. He can only make Indian pan cake. He's never seen a bomb. Yeah, right. Source: Enzaji Leer is caught red handed with the bomb!......

We've all seen our fair share of rules and regulations compiled for the upcoming Olympics, but Peaceful Rise translates a novel set of prescriptions for Chinese citizens' interaction with Westerners during the Games, found on a new series of posters in Beijing. "Eight Don't-Asks" when chatting with foreign guests, one poster advises: Don’t ask about income or expenses, don’t ask about age, don’t ask about love life or marriage, don’t ask about health, don’t ask......

"Resolutely love and protect the entire student body. Respect the students’ selfhood and treat students fairly and equally. Help students by alternating discipline and kindness, and act as a mentor to students. Protect the safety of students. Defend the students’ lawful rights and interests, promote the students’ complete, active and healthy development. Do not mock, satirize or discriminate against students. Do not subject students to corporal punishment or disguised forms of corporal punishment." All inspired......

Photo by elephantonabicycle A student after a school performance washing the make up from his face. Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos at shanghaiist.com.......

A new documentary film comparing six high school students from China, the U.S. and India calls for reform of the U.S. education system in favor of the more rigorous Asian education systems. Two Million Minutes, a film developed by American venture capitalist Bob Compton, points out that students in China and India work much harder than those in the U.S., score consistently better than American students on international student comparisons, and now pose a......

Fiery episode of 《针锋相对》on Phoenix TV hosted by Hu Yihu (胡一虎) discussing whether Fan Meizhong (范美忠), teacher at the Guangya School in Dujiangyan, was "morally corrupt" for being the first to run away when the earthquake struck (If you missed this story earlier, read this backgrounder by Danwei). Unfortunately, we won't be able to translate everything said in these four videos, but a few things are worth pointing out. First, Fan starts by saying that......

Scene of devastation at Juyuan Middle School (聚源中学) in Dujiangyan (都江堰) The government has announced the start of a massive probe to find out why close to 7,000 schools classrooms have been destroyed and promised that anyone found responsible for shoddy construction will be severely punished. A great many of the casualties we've seen so far are students and teachers who were still in class when the quake struck. From AFP:"If quality problems do......

Interesting piece by France24 on Shanghai student, Qiu Gonghao, who appears to be having the time of his life studying at the Ecole Polytechnic in Paris, one of the top engineering schools in France. Will this chap ever choose to come back to Shanghai, we wonder?......

function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} html .fb_share_link { padding:2px 0 0 20px; height:16px; background:url(http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/images/share/facebook_share_icon.gif?0:26981) no-repeat top left; }Share on Facebook Today we received the following two tips on our Contribute page:Dutch news sources say that tens of thousands of foreign students in China are being told to go home. Supposedly, instructions have been handed down to Universities that they are not allowed in China during August and September - even if a student continues their studies......

宋祖英等联名提议:小学应增加繁体字教育_时政新闻_新闻_腾讯网 via kwoutNope, it's just a proposal so far. According to the article, some folks on the arts side of the Political Consultation Congress have written a letter calling for some level of traditional character (繁體字) education in elementary schools in China, arguing that some knowledge of traditional Chinese characters is necessary for people to fully understand the language, culture and history of China. Judging from our observations of our friends, we would say that......

Anti-China exiles ready for Tibet trek [AFP] "Tibetan exiles in India were set to begin marching to their homeland Monday as part of protests marking the Dalai Lama's escape from China in 1959 and the run-up to the Beijing Olympics."China's International Schools are Growing [US-China Today] "Christiana Lilly is not your typical American girl. As the daughter of a diplomat, her world and life experiences extend far beyond the United States. Between Taiwan, Singapore, Burma,......

...and we don't mean playing the role of a teacher in a film, we mean an actual teacher. No, really. Most of us know Jay Chou (周杰伦) – the mumbling Taiwanese R’n’B superstar – as that guy who stares blankly at us from Meters Bonwe adverts on the metro, but if you thought he was just another vacant celebrity then a reappraisal may be due, as Jay will soon take up the post of lecturer......

People Daily has this short two-paragraph news item on the latest developments in starting pay for fresh graduates:The Education and Economic Research Institute of Peking University and the Institute for Higher Education recently issued the "2007 employment situation for college graduates" survey results. The investigation revealed that the employment rate of graduates in 2007 reached 70%; the average starting salary for graduates was 1,798 yuan; and half of graduates received less than 1,500 yuan. The......

From You.Presscue.com More scandalous sex pictures from Hong Kong ... this time courtesy of their Family Planning Association!......