Usually when we hear something about China saving the environment, it has to do with the heaps of government investment in solar and wind power - the whole "green tech" sputnik moment, to borrow a now annoying and hackneyed phrase. Unseen until now is a surprising alleged new force in the environmental movement: China's billionaires, who may now be privatizing the business of nature reserves. more ›

Last week marked the passing of one of the most influential people in China's environmental protection circles. Liang Congjie, the founder of Friends of Nature, passed away on October 28 in Beijing after a long illness. His conservation work with FoN has helped save both the Tibetan antelope and the snub-nosed monkey, but what he and FoN are most proud of is "helping to foster a growing network of grassroots environmental NGOs throughout China." For more on Liang, read some touching obituaries from NGOs in China, Christina Larson at The Atlantic, and the New York Times. more ›

Ignoring the shortcomings of Dongtan and other failed attempts at an eco-friendly settlement, China is forging ahead to create another "green city" in the north. This time, with financial assistance from the Singapore government, developers insist the project will succeed. more ›

Speaking earlier this week at a sustainable development forum at Tongji University, the director of city urban planning and land resource administration announced a plan to cover half of Shanghai with green space by 2020 . According to Shanghai Daily, “nature reserves, wetlands, forests and farmland will cover half the city's 6,787- square-kilometer area.” more ›

Here's one way to feel closer to the Little Mermaid without taking a swim with her at Expo: wear clothing made out of seaweed! Professors at a Science and Technology forum held in Shanghai this week revealed that “kelp fiber” spinning technology has been developed and “kelp clothing” could enter the market next year. more ›

Alas, we apparently weren't rich enough to get on the guest list for China's first "Private and Business Jet Expo" ever, held over the weekend in Hongqiao airport, since we just found out about it now. People who could schmooze their ways in were treated to private jet aircrafts displays, demonstration flights and exhibition pavilions, as well as some measure of controversy. It seems that private jets have yet to be added to the list of Chinese goods under the "luxury tax," turning private aviation pollution "into a legal vacuum where no related department is involved in" - an especially sensitive issue considering both the rising wealth gap and China's growing environmental concerns. more ›

In the latest crackdown on China’s increasing energy use, the Chinese government has ordered more than 2,000 highly polluting, unsafe or energy inefficient plants to ‘shut down’ within the next two months... but the good news is not all as it may seem. more ›

They used to be farmed for their fur, but authorities in Xinjiang have found a better use for these cute little animals: using them to deal with the almost overwhelming rat problem! And they've proven really, really good at being rat catchers too. more ›

Feel like there's been a huge rise in big environmental accidents happening recently? That's probably because there has been - the Environmental Ministry has revealed that accidents rose 98% in the first six months of the year, mostly because of higher demand for energy and minerals. “Fast economic development is leading to increasing conflicts with the capacity of the environment to absorb” demands, the ministry said. To combat the problems, it has started a nationwide investigation of drinking water and mine tailing ponds this year, as well as setting up databases on violations, strengthened regulations and is encouraging residents to report complaints. It has identified a “large number of culprits” and will be doling out punishment - and hopefully, this will mean what pristine waters are left won't be swept up in these harsh times. more ›

The Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau has announced that this year's average air quality so far is poorer than the same period last year. Normally, the city's air quality from June to September is the best of the year thanks to the wind direction and tropical cyclones. The worst season is from November to February, the bureau said. more ›

Even a hundred TV-shows cannot hide that something is seriously wrong in the way quality control is done in this country. And yes, there is now a fair amount of China-bashing going on, but that is very well deserved China-bashing. But the question what Mattel, and other companies, have been doing to stop this scandalous export of faulty products is a question that is all too easy ignored. Of course it is awful that millions of American children might be in danger when they bite on their toys, but has anybody already looked after the thousands of Chinese workers who have been painting those toys? They must have been exposed to much higher dangerous levels of lead than any of the children involved... It is shocking to see that Mattel get almost the role of a victim, instead of that of at least a fellow conspirator.

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If you are familiar with drinking heavily or going to Chinese banquets (basically the same thing), you've probably been forced to chug try some Maotai. Deemed "China's national liquor" by Reuters, Maotai or máotáijiǔ (茅台酒) is one of the most famous brands of Chinese rice wine (or báijiǔ). Although dignitaries like Margaret Thatcher and Richard Nixon have put this put-hair-on-your-chest drink to their conservative lips, the popular liquor is now threatened. You see, Maotai is... more ›

While browsing Digg for no reason in particular, we discovered something that appeals to two of our great loves, namely the environment and dodgy drawing. Yes, combined they form a cartoon competition aimed to promote environmental issues in China. It is only open to university students, and entries close on the 20th of May 2007. The winners will be announced on June 5th, and will receive cash prizes and the always-prized 'certificates'. You can learn more about the event, aptly-titled the 2007 University Cartoon Contest on Environmental Protection, via the China Daily website. more ›

These days, Shanghaiist is rarely surprised about anything that happens in China. However, we did think that this news story did come from a little out of left-field. A Henan-based investor group is constructing a 21-kilometre (13 mile) long metal Chinese dragon as a tourist attraction. The dragon's body forms a nine-metre (27-foot) high wall running along a ridge-line, with the dragon's head rising 10-metres (30-feet) above the surrounding land. This project plans to cover the metal structure in 5.6 million pieces of white marble and gilded bronze to form the dragon's scales which Xinhua reports should be "symbolic of the country's 56 ethnic groups". The dragon construction is planned to finished by 2009 to mark the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. The investor group states that advertising space on the giant serpent also will be sold and tourists can pay to have their names and other messages inscribed on the walls of galleries located inside. more ›

Xinhua reports: more ›

There's a few things in this life that start with the letter M that Shanghaiist doesn't like. Malingerers, marmite, and men with no moustache but full beards (OK, the last one is a bit of a stretch M-wise). Some would say that these are irrational and ill-conceived categorisations, but there is another one on the list that isn't — and that is mosquitoes. And it looks like Shanghaiist isn't going to enjoy our coming summer evenings. more ›

The State Environmental Protection Agency said faster-than-expected economic growth meant that sulfur dioxide emissions increased by nearly 1.8 percent, or 463,000 tons, over the previous year, according to a report on its Web site. An even more damning report from Germany's magazine talks about how China's environmental failures are impacting the rest of the world. more ›

Shanghaiist keeps following these stories on rabies that keep popping up around the country. Slaughters are happening in places like Nanjing, and now stories about dog bites and rabies cases in Shanghai and Beijing. Our paranoid mind can't help but wonder if the state media is planting seeds of warning. more ›

But taking a dip into a major, disgustingly-polluted body of water is exactly what the governor of Guangdong Province and the mayor of Guangzhou did ... along with 3,500 other loyal citizens. Why? To prove that the Pearl River is now "neither black nor stinky" -- in certain sections -- after 30 years of being completely offensive: more ›

For those who are in agony like Shanghaiist because of the god awful home karaoke practice that goes on in our neighbourhood, now here is a solution. With the revised Shanghai Environmental Protection Regulation implemented on May 1, we can now all just dial 110 and ask the police to sort it out (if they are not too busy ticketing jaywalkers). more ›

Without question, the major drawback of China's rapid economic growth has been the tremendous negative impact on the environment. Now officials at the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Environmental Protection Administration say that the Bohai sea--China's largest internal sea--has reached a tipping point. If measures are not taken to curb the dumping of pollutants into the sea from its tributary rivers, officials warn, the Bohai sea will be "dead" in as little as 12 years. more ›

Last summer, Shanghaiist snapped this picture of the grassy roofs of the Jin Jiang Hotel on Mao Ming Lu. Hotel workers said the grass had been there "for some time" and that it was "mandated by the district government." more ›

When we first visited Dandong in Liaoning province, our heart kind of went out to the little North Korean kids swimming in the Yalu River. Now we really feel sorry for them. Dandong's Xinjulang Paper Factory has been pumping 12,000 tons of concentrated waste into that river every day. The State Environmental Protection Authority has told the plant to stop production. This is all part of China's effort to publicly shame its worst polluters "amid concerns that the country's environmental problems have become so serious they are undermining economic growth and social stability": more ›

People who read Shanghaiist's posts on a regular basis must by now have a pretty good sense of the tongue-in-cheek manner in which most subject matter is approached. Every once in a blue moon, something will come along that is so immediately affecting and amazing that our usual sarcasm-laced tone just seems petty and small-minded. The LifeStraw is one of those things. more ›