In a meeting yesterday to further promote Shanghai's "Campaign to Wipe Out Fires" (清剿火患战役), it was announced that Shanghai will open a fire hazards hotline on October 20. Residents are now encouraged to call 96119 and report all manner of serious violations of fire safety. If you call in something they deem a major fire hazard, they are offering a minimum reward of 500RMB for your trouble! more ›

Oh my god Shanghai. Arm yourselves. Not 24 hours after a wicked Line 4 escalator cackled before terrifying passengers last night, one of the most highly-trafficked escalators in Jing'an Temple caught fire today! Plumes of white smoke are said to have spilled out onto Nanjing W Road, engulfing the mall above the metro stop around 10:40am this morning. more ›

On the morning of July 23, in reaction to a dispute over the ownership of a local fish pond, villagers near Foshan, Guangdong arrived at the local fish market carrying weapons, planning to "teach a lesson" to the head of the fish market. When police arrived to investigate, the villagers attacked and overturned the police vehicle. They then tied the officers to the overturned vehicle, and began pouring gasoline around them! more ›

[Monday, 10pm] People are currently aTwitter with news that that Beijing's CCTV headquarters has gone up in flames, and from the following pictures snapped and uploaded by various eyewitnesses (including some amazing on-the-scene photos by real estate tycoon and CEO of Soho China Pan Shiyi), the fire looks pretty damn bad and appears to have engulfed the part of the complex that houses the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Beijing. Given that today is Yuanxiao Jie (元宵节) which marks the culmination of the Lunar New Year festivities, it is not unlikely that stray fireworks were the cause of this disaster. Follow what the China Twitterati is saying at #cctvfire. Videoclips after the jump. more ›

Following the death of four female students at the Shanghai Business School in Xuhui District, the Shanghai Education Commission has launched an emergency fire safety campaign to be conducted throughout all schools. Students from the dormitory told reporters from the Xinhua News Agency that the fire extinguishers they tried to use were all way past their expiry date and the griefstricken parents are now blaming the college for the death of their daughters. According to Shanghai Daily, an electric heating stick (used to boil water) that was placed on the blanket of one of the girls caused the fire. more ›

Sad news from the Shanghai Daily:

FOUR college students died after falling off the balcony of their six-story dormitory at Shanghai Business School while trying to escape a fire early this morning in Xuhui District, police said. more ›