This new Procter & Gamble commercial for the London 2012 Olympic Games is full of China scenes and "honors everything that all moms do to help their children succeed by showcasing the amazing moms behind Olympic athletes". Makes you want to go buy all the P&G products you can find hug all the world's moms out there. more ›

Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has arrested Thomas and Raymond Kwok, the heads of Hong Kong's largest real-estate firm, Sun Hung Kai Properties, for suspected bribery. However, as of yet, official charges have not yet been placed on the two billionaire brothers more ›

A 6-year-old boy's penis was bitten off by his dad Wednesday morning in Shenzhen. Doctors are understood to have reattached the boy's penis but aside from being mentally scarred for life, the boy may never regain full use of his penis. Shanghai Daily reports: more ›

A family of five died from gas poisoning in the Fengxian district of Shanghai last night. They were found dead at approximately 10.30 after neighbours alerted authorities to the smell of gas in the area. more ›

Li Yang, the celebrity English teacher who is now better known around China as a shameless wife-beater, announced his decision to convert to Islam past midnight on November 6, which happens to be Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice, celebrated by Muslims worldwide. more ›

Kim Lee, the American wife of Li Yang, the self-styled evangelist of the English language and founder of the Crazy English franchise, has filed for divorce at the Chaoyang District People's Court in Beijing, demanding full custody of their three children and an equal split of the family's wealth and property. more ›

It's been two months since Li Yang, the self-styled evangelist of the English language and founder of the Crazy English franchise, was accused by his American wife Kim Lee of domestic violence, but Li has not only NOT been hiding in a hole, he's been going around China talking about the episode to just about anyone willing to interview him! Li was recently in Shanghai for a talkshow where he was unlucky enough to meet the sharp-tongued Jin Xing, the dancer who was unceremoniously booted off a Zhejiang reality show as a judge recently, just because she was transgender. more ›

A 31-year-old man from Jiangsu Province frittered away over 6 million RMB ($940,800 USD) in Beijing. The money was sent to him by his parents, who thought he was at Oxford University pursuing advanced studies. more ›

Zhang Xinyang (张炘炀), a 16-year-old getting his PhD in pure mathematics at Beihang University (北京航空航天大学), earlier this year refused to defend his master's thesis until his parents agreed to buy him his own apartment. Finally out of options, Zhang's parents rented an apartment in Beijing, and lied to their son about buying it. He's found out about the ruse, but his demands for an apartment haven't wavered. more ›

Following several days of silence after his wife Kim Lee accused him of domestic violence, Li Yang of Crazy English is now back in top form, going on a media junket to repair his tarnished reputation, even as he's supposedly receiving professional help. But we're getting very mixed messages about how penitent the dude truly is. We leave you to make up your own minds about what sort of a man he is with these few quotes from the Chinese press: more ›

Li Yang, founder of Crazy English, has finally admitted to hitting his wife, and made a public apology to her Saturday afternoon via his Sina Weibo account which has over 600,000 followers. more ›

Here's some news that our good friend Li Yang of Crazy English (and his wife) might like to hear:

Legislators are in the final stages of designing a new law to tackle the scourge of domestic violence, a leading women's rights campaigner said on Wednesday. more ›

The woman that's been going on Sina Weibo to accuse Crazy English founder Li Yang of domestic violence, says she now wants to divorce him for the sake of her children. more ›

Li Yang, the self-styled evangelist of the English language who's known around China for his high energy, high intensity Crazy English lessons, is in trouble. A woman, believed to be his American wife Kim Lee, has gone on Sina Weibo to accuse him of domestic violence, and she has the pictures to prove it. more ›

Zhang Lijia, author of the book Socialism is Great, offers us a personal anecdote on the identity of her mixed-race kids. She writes of a recent trip to Bangladesh with her daughters:

Everywhere we went, people asked us which country we were from. At point, May, my older daughter, aged at 14 (but going on 18) replied without thinking: “We are from England.” I immediately contracted her: “I am from China and my daughters are half-Chinese.” Later I pulled May aside and asked: “You were born in China; you spent 10 out of 14 years in China and you are living in China. How does it qualify you as ‘English’?” May blinked her big round eyes. “Well, if I tell people I am Chinese, people wouldn’t believe me.” more ›

There's something for almost everyone this weekend! As always, what's a weekend without the usual parties galore? The TICT rooftop party is bound to be one of the hottest parties in town. Music fans, delight yourself with the sounds of Afrosonic Orchestra, oh and that English guy, James Blunt, is also in town! If you're a sports enthusiast, you can still catch the Nike Festival of Sport, as well as cricket with the Hong Kong Cricket Club. For foodies, there's an "all you can eat" barbecue, and for the families, there's a fun day at the beach in store. And if that's still not enough, head over to our calendar for more. more ›

"A father threw his 10-month-old son to his death from the 14th floor of an apartment block in Shanghai's Minhang District yesterday, police said. Afterwards, the man, surnamed Zhu, tried to kill himself by cutting his wrists. He is recovering from his injuries in hospital. Neighbors said Zhu, 29, and his wife, Wang, 28, were having 'a fierce row' at about 3:40pm. Suddenly, the husband threw the baby out of the window, a witness said. The mother rushed outside but could do nothing to save her child. Police said their investigations were continuing." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

In Shanghai, the monthly reward for registered residents with only one child has been raised from 2.5 to 30 yuan until the child is 16. This makes it the first change for 30 years, as the city's payment is the lowest in the nation. Other provinces already began to raise their contributions years ago. more ›

The mother from the Pudong Airport stabbing says she is currently trying to find the foreigner who stopped to help her after her son, whom she claims suffers from mental problems, stabbed her several times. A video taken from scene is now circulating widely on the Chinese internet, showing what appears to be a youngish, dark haired Caucasian man wearing an orange long-sleeved shirt and brown or grey pants. more ›

"A MAN studying abroad was detained this week after he allegedly stabbed his mother, who had come to meet him off his flight home, city police said yesterday. The victim, surnamed Gu, who had been in a coma, was still in hospital last night, although she was in a stable condition. The attack took place on Tuesday afternoon in a terminal hall at Pudong International Airport after the suspect, surnamed Wang, returned from Japan. Gu was there to pick him up, said airport police. But soon after Wang arrived, the two started to quarrel about his tuition fees at the airport. Wang suddenly took out a knife from his luggage and stabbed his mother several times, local police said yesterday. Wang was taken into custody by airport police. Wang is not wealthy and had disputes with his family about education expenses in the past, according to one of his relatives interviewed by Shanghai-based Xinmin.cn." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

"THE city is still waiting to hear whether it can alter the one-child policy and allow residents to have larger families. Local population experts have been in talks on loosening the policy with government departments, but so far there is no timetable. However, Xie Lingli, director of the Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission, said the city was ready to act whenever an announcement was made. Shanghai has had an extremely low birth rate for years, the commission said, and the ratio of old people to young was greater than in the rest of the country." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

The Spring Festival is all about spending time with your family and if new years aren't about turning over a new leaf, then we don't know what is. Over the holiday, a jail in Jialing, Sichuan found a meaningful way to do both and allowed over 150 of its inmates to invite their relatives for a foot-washing ceremony. The traditional Confucian ceremony acted as an apology for the shame they brought to their families. more ›

Tencent aired this commercial during the CCTV Gala last week, the most expensive air time on Chinese television. It resonated with the thousands of Chinese working and studying abroad, and probably with anybody else who's ever felt that thousands of miles can sometimes bring you closer to the ones you love. more ›

CNN's Stan Grant visits an old woman in Beijing who has been abandoned by her family and says she has lost all her will to live anymore. Heartrending, and a sign of things to come in a rapidly ageing China:
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Shanghai PRIDE, the three-week whirlwind of parties, performances, art exhibitions, film screenings, dinners, and panel discussions celebrating everything LGBT in Shanghai and China, is alas finally coming to a end! Their LiberASIAN closing bash on Saturday night promises to do what queens everywhere were born to do: throw a damn good party. more ›

This is an advertisement. Candidate should have the editorial, writing and project management skills required to take a piloting role in a new magazine. An interest in family/kids issues (schools, health, and recreation) is essential. The successful candidate will also have the talents and personality suited to team work, rigid schedules, and a varied task load. Dedication, flexibility, and imagination will be highly appreciated. Please send a cover letter, resume and writing samples to hr@urbanatomy.com. A full job description is available upon request. More job ads. Information on how to place a job ad. more ›

O cruel fates: this year, the Spring Festival and Valentines day happen to fall on the same day. The deadly combination of holidays will force young Chinese lovers to choose between their family and their significant other. Or will it? Shanghai Daily reports that over a third of polled netizens said they would celebrate with both family and lovers. If everything goes smoothly, Double Happiness should ensue. But for the lonely and far from home, it's probably going to be one of the worst days ever. more ›

What would have been a 60-year-old woman was found dead in her Pudong home last week - after rotting there for roughly two years. more ›

Hundreds of parents set to the streets on April 15th in a peaceful march, begging for help in finding their missing children. Originally reported by the New Express (translated by Danwei), the parents claim that about 1,000 children have gone missing from the Dongguan area since 2007. At their wits end, they've set out to draw more attention to the apparent, widespread abduction problem. more ›

Chinese volunteers have organised a charity event and donated over 100 tonnes of rice to Sarah Obama, the relatively poor step-grandmother of US President Barack Obama who "only recently got electricity in her metal-roofed shack" in Kenya. The rice was for her 82 adopted orphans aged between four and 18 most of whose parents have died from AIDS, as well as other impoverished, starving Kenyans. Said Julius Ole Sunkuli, Kenya's ambassador to China, "She will be very happy to see the support from China after she returns from Obama's inauguration." more ›