56-year-old Zhang Nan of Hubei decided to be a little more daring in the name of vanity and health recently, resulting in a predicament whereby an eel had to be removed from his penis. more ›

Millions and millions of fish have mysteriously dropped dead along Fujian's Minjiang River in recent days. The exact number is not yet known, but the Shuikou and Huangtian townships are home to some 9,000 tanks, each with about 3,500 to 5,000 fish, and all of them are dead now, so do the math yourself. more ›

"The drought has pushed up the price of vegetables and freshwater fish in Shanghai. The retail price of green-leaf vegetables such as bok choy is now 8 yuan (US$1.23) per kilogram, 30 percent higher than before the drought began. The price of fish, such as perch and mandarin fish from Jiangxi and Hubei provinces, has risen 30 to 40 percent due to short supplies. The output of hairy crabs, from Anhui, Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, is expected to decrease. Crabs will also be smaller because they will absorb less nutrition due to the change in their environment. Though the price of this year's crop hasn't been fixed, a price rise is unavoidable, fishery experts said." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

This enormous sunfish, weighing 381 kg (840 lbs), was caught off the coast of Taiwan this week. And if that's not enough, the same guy also landed a 120kg swordfish! The catch has prompted speculation that these are in fact "quake fish", or fish driven closer to shore as a result of the earthquake and tsunami last month. For some reason, most of the Chinese press is particularly amused by the terrified girl in the video, who starts screaming when her father shows her the fish. more ›

Local authorities have said they will be releasing 20 million fish - silver and green carp - to combat the overwhelming pollution that runs rampant in Taihu Lake near Suzhou, our next door neighbor in China's eastern Jiangsu province. Crazy? Maybe not. more ›

This doesn't give us much confidence about the water quality in Shanghai: thousands of fish suddenly died yesterday in a Pudong river, according to Xinmin. About 10,000 dead river carp floated down the 1,500-meter stretch of Sanlin river to Sanlin Port and have started to decay and stink. The residents around the area at first started picking up the carp to eat, coming with barrels and plastic containers, but became scared when more and more fish showed up dead. Right now, the district environmental protection authority is saying that all the fish died thanks to a lack of oxygen - low air pressure and a new pump station could have made the water inhospitable. But they can't be completely sure until actual tests come in. Sounds... fishy. Photo from treehugger more ›

Hard working underground DJ group VOID has made it to the two year mark here in Shanghai. They'll be celebrating tomorrow with a party at the Shelter, but we took some time to get to know a little more about the group. Check out our interview with Shanghai Ultra below: more ›

Has KFC been substituting cod fish in its food with some other type of species? According to Xinmin, an insider at the fast food establishment has alleged that it uses a species of fish called "Dragon Cod" (龙鳕鱼) instead. more ›

In their first show of the year, the Shanghai's underground house and techno crew, Void, take a break from hosting the likes of Underground Resistance, Robert Hood, DJ Bone and Neil Landstrumm to showcase their own residents with a live, improvised decks and drum machine performance. more ›

It's getting later in the month, which means it must be time for another Void techno extravaganza at The Shelter. Continuing the "Techno Pioneer" theme from Robert Hood's slamming set in June, this month the boys are flying in Traxx for a nonstop four-hour set of house & techno insanity. more ›

Amelia of ChinaTravel.net draws our attention to this Beijing Olympic keychain souvenir with a live fish in it:

I found this picture up at the Beijing Olympics Fan blog and was shocked out of my wits!!! Who would ever buy this??? In 4 hours the fish would be dead, how do you explain that to your 6 year old daughter? I saw some guys selling these on the subway recently, they were claiming that the water was treated with food and chemicals that would allow the fish to live for months. BULLCRAP!

“The fish would have little oxygen available and it would be impossible to feed the fish. more ›