Photos circulating Weibo show that there is partial flooding in a tunnel on Shangzhong Road within the Inner Ring road here in Shanghai. more ›

Whoo-wee what a storm we had this morning! Heavy clouds rolled in and started dumping on us around 7:30am, went nuts for about two hours, and resulted in 17 canceled flights and flooding all over the city. Thanks to all loyal weibo-using Shanghai residents out there with their phone cameras handy, here's a nice photo collection of the madness. more ›

Floods have taken 21 lives in Guizhou's Wangmo County (望谟县), with an additional 32 people being reported as missing. The torrential downpour that began on Friday has impacted 16 cities and counties in Guizhou province, affecting nearly 400,000 people, with 13,000 hectares of ruined farmland (32,124 acres) and an estimated 1.34 billion RMB in damages occurring in Wangmo County alone. more ›

The water level at the Three Gorges dam, aka the largest hydropower plant in the world, reached its maximum yesterday, spurring electricity output to full capacity for the first time since it began operations in 2008. Dam officials have been holding back water since September in order to let it rise to its peak height of 175m Tuesday morning. more ›

As if the floods weren't enough, this year's torrential rains have caused the worst incident of landslides this year to happen in Gansu province. Official estimates released this morning put the death toll of the slides at 137, with 1,348 people still missing. more ›

They've been called the worst floods in a decade, causing tens of billions of dollars in damage, killing at least 928 people and causing another almost 500 to go missing. And with more rains coming to all parts of the country, China can only brace itself for more devastation. more ›

We've often accused Shanghai of trying too hard to emulate the other great metropolises of the world: London, New York, Paris. But it seems that, more and more, the city it will most likely resemble is Venice. According to a recent article by the Associated Press: more ›

A picture of a deeply submerged Lujiazui has been making the rounds on various internet forums, and it's got Shanghai newspaper Xinmin pretty worked up. The picture shows several Pudong-side waterfront landmarks, including the iconic Pearl Tower, halfway sticking out of the water. The forum titles tend to show the photo with the title that the pictures are from a new study in the U.S. which purports that two thirds of delta regions around the world are at high risk of flooding - including Shanghai. more ›

The recent flooding by Typhoon Morakot had some incredibly tragic consequences, but we're glad we were able to find this little piece to laugh at. In one of the flooded cities around China, one group of victims decided that the new river Morakot created was a great place to practice racing their dragon boats. more ›

So how about that rain, huh? At around 1pm today, the heavens above Shanghai suddenly opened up and poured its heart out, not stopping in intensity for the next two hours. It seems to have slowed to a drizzle now (thankfully), but not before creating a brand new river for the city… right in the heart of the French Concession. more ›

• Johnny Depp images not spared by China's Internet porn filter [ABS-CBN] "What do Johnny Depp, Garfield, Paris Hilton and roast pork have in common? In China, the answer is that a new government-mandated Internet filter rates some pictures of all four of them as bad for your moral health. Beijing has ordered all personal computers sold in China from July 1 to be preinstalled with the Green Dam software, which it says is designed to block pornographic and violent images, and which critics fear will be used to extend censorship."
• China Flooding Kills 75 [VOA] "Heavy rains are causing severe flooding in areas of southern China. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee from their homes, and the government said as many as 75 people have died. As heavy rains continue in southern China, state television broadcast images of people rafting down flooded streets, in water reaching as high as the storefront signs on Monday."
• World's rich targeted in new model for carbon cuts [CNN] "Researchers in the U.S. have proposed a new way of allocating responsibility for carbon emissions they say could solve the impasse between developed and developing countries.A hypothetical scenario in the report controversially absolves China, currently the world's largest emitter of carbon emissions, from making cuts to C02 for the next decade. The scenario assumes that the world agrees to take action to cut global emissions from 2010, so that levels of carbon emissions in 2030 are similar to now."

• South China rains kill 20, force 700,000 from homes [Xinhua] "Torrential rains and floods in southern China have left at least 20 people dead and two missing. More than 700,000 people have been relocated as downpours have destroyed houses, flooded crops, cut power, damaged roads and caused rivers to overflow, according to the latest figures from the provinces of Hunan, Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangdong and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. "
• SHANGHAI BUILDING COLLAPSE: Hundreds protest [Straits Times] "HUNDREDS of Chinese homeowners protested outside government offices in Shanghai demanding refunds after a 13-story apartment building in a complex under construction toppled over, newspapers reported on Sunday. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post said the protesters marched on Saturday through central Shanghai, holding handwritten signs and chanting: 'Lotus Riverside, refund (our) homes!'"
• China apologizes to Mexico for tough swine flu stand [AFP] "China's Health Minister Chen Zhu Friday apologized to his Mexican counterpart for failing to warn him about the tough measures Beijing imposed on Mexicans to combat swine flu. "I regret that I did not talk first" to Minister Jose Angel Cordova, Chen said on the sidelines of a meeting in Cancun about the swine flu pandemic."

Welcome to the newest episode of Chinese Soundbites, a podcast series brought to you by ChinesePod and Shanghaiist. Every week we'll be bringing you topics and words pulled straight from the headlines, in Mandarin Chinese. more ›

Got photos of this morning's storm or the flooding that followed it that you'd like to share? Email them to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically show up on our Contribute Page. Flickr users, simply tag your photos "shanghaiist". more ›