Roughly 1,000 factory workers left their work stations and blocked a highway this week to protest extreme working conditions at their factory which produces parts for Apple and IBM in Shenzhen. The protest is the latest in a growing series of labor disputes in China, highlighting a need for truly independent trade unions amid worker fears over the future of China's economy. more ›

Is industrial safety standard reform going to happen anytime soon? Fires and other accidents certainly occur often enough: "At least 14 people were killed when a fire ripped through a dormitory building belonging to a ceramics factory in south China early Tuesday, the local government said. The blaze engulfed the building belonging to the Shengfeng Ceramics Factory in Foshan city, a manufacturing centre in China's southern Guangdong province, the local government said in a statement on its website. The fire took three hours to extinguish, leaving 14 people dead and two others seriously wounded, the statement said, without identifying the victims. According to the People's Daily website, two people were killed when they leapt from the windows of the building. The cause of the blaze is under investigation, the People's Daily report said." [AFP]. more ›

While we can't say Apple is rotten to the core, it looks like they could use a couple lessons in how to manage their factories better. In the biggest scandal since that Foxconn employee committed suicide, over 2,000 employees at one of the company's industrial parks in Suzhou went on strike over unfair pay and safety conditions. And like any good strike, it involved turning over cars, destroying factory property, and throwing rocks aplenty. more ›

Well shoot. The Factory, the art/food destination that only just opened in late April and played host to a multitude of interesting art/food events is now "termporarily suspending its activities." According to its recent blog post, they'll be closed until November while they undertake "a strategic review to refocus and further develop its creative core." We'd heard rumors of them having trouble paying chefs, causing some of the founding members to leave - does that have anything to do with this? more ›

Judging by the deluge of events this week, Shanghai is charging full steam ahead into Fall and taking no prisoners. So what we have here is just a sampling of the fun things you can do this week in Shanghai: a book launch here, a lecture there, some concerts and expos in between. more ›

Or at least Shanghai. The story of live hip hop in our city (MC Hotdog aside) is generally one of rumour and disappointment. Remember when Nas tore ish up at Racks? Or when Jay Z wowed a packed crowd at Hongkou Stadium? No, us neither. That's largely because it didn't happen. Sure, we had Kanye go through the motions in a half empty stadium last year, but that's been pretty much it. This weekend though, might just make up for all the hurt. more ›

It's going to be an artsy rest of the week. Besides the busy weekend - where you can choose between going to the Antidote Electronic Music Festival or the Cut&Paste arts competition - there's a couple things to make sure your weekday nights are just as crazy. more ›

Music lovers can get their weekend started early tonight with three great events going on around the city. more ›

• One of the more intriguing art/food destinations has just opened up: The Factory (at 1933), which is billing itself as a lab of sorts for Shanghai's young artists and will have a weekly-changing reasonably affordable menu. [Urbanatomy]
• Uh oh, apparently cellphone eavesdropping tools are being sold around town that could let you listen in on someone's every call, as well as send and receive their text messages. Talk about frightening! [Sinosplice]
• Ford's Asia Pacific VP, John Parker, tells BBC why he's "cautiously optimistic" about the car market in China at the Shanghai Auto Show. [BBC]

An international phenomenon that started in China has finally made it back, almost instantaneously across many Chinese media outlets yesterday. The story is that a netizen from the UK who goes by markm49uk found a picture of a factory worker from Foxcon in Guangdong on his brand-spanking-new-straight-out-of-the-box iPhone. The photo is probably the result of someone testing the phone or just mucking around with them in the factory but because the worker is a sweet looking young girl, she has become somewhat of a sensation. more ›