For all you petrol-heads out there, this April sees the return of the Shanghai Auto Show, and it's looking to be a wheely good one with several premiers and world launches to get us geared up and raring to go.

• Audi has revealed only sketches of its Q3 ‘baby’ SUV model, it’s new compact crossover, and will also present the long-wheelbase version of the Audi A8L.


• BYD will also launch a SUV with the mighty BYDS6 complete with a mega 2.0L and a 2.4L engine.


• BMW has released the first images of the new Concept M5 ahead of its debut here in Shanghai with a roaring V8 engine.

• Disabled shoppers vs. Parkson Department Store [Danwei] "The Fuxingmen Parkson department store in Beijing was host to a piece of performance art yesterday morning. Two cardboard cutouts of blind people, two empty wheelchairs, and a few shoes were arranged outside the entrance to protest an incident at a Parkson store in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province in which an elderly woman in a wheelchair was refused entry. Jiangxi's New Legal Report has been following the case very closely. On October 13, the paper told the story of Ms. Zhang and her wheelchair-bound mother, who were barred from the store on October 8."
• Google Books Settlement: The Chinese Chapter [WSJ] "Google’s (GOOG) troubles in China seem to have taken a new turn as a result of the company’s plan to create a vast digital library of books. The China Written Works Copyright Society (CWWCS) has called on Chinese writers to stand up for their legal rights in the face of Web search giant Google’s proposed book settlement, according to a post published on the official website of Chinese Writers’ Association (CWA)..."
• China accused over ‘missing’ Uighurs [Financial Times] "China has refused to disclose the whereabouts of dozens of Uighur men who “disappeared” after July riots in the western Chinese city of Urumqi, according to Human Rights Watch, with the fate of hundreds more yet to be accounted for. In a report published on Wednesday, the human rights group identified 43 missing Uighurs detained after the riots and said many more members of the Muslim ethnic minority might have been taken away by the authorities."

• Learning to drink like a local in Qingdao, China [CNN] "Another round of toasts and exclamations of "hajiu" sounded out around me. I took a sip and set down my small glass of Tsingtao beer as my new friends downed theirs and refilled. Our seafood dinner, perched on the single cluttered table of a tiny antique shop, was punctuated regularly by such moments. I joined in happily, although somewhat bemused, at each increasingly beery celebration of our host, the worldly Captain Jau. My company, a gathering from four regions of China, was engaging me in Chinese drinking etiquette, in the city of Qingdao."
• At Frankfurt book fair, only official China can show its face [NRC Handelsblad] "Censorship in China is the theme Dai Qing chose for her lecture in the margin of the Frankfurter Buchmesse, which opens on Wednesday. She was supposed to have been an official guest of the book fair, which this year has chosen literary China as its main theme. But Dai Qing, who is well-known outside China for her campaigns against political repression and costly projects like the Three Gorges Dam, is not welcome at the official event."
• Xinhua vs Financial Times [Danwei] "Two headlines from the home pages of The Financial Times and Xinhua, two ways of looking at the world. The Financial Times: US hardens stance on renminbi rigidity; Xinhua: China not currency manipulator: U.S. government"

We're a sucker for anything that involves the Super Mario Bro.s theme, so we were quite delighted by this cute little vid of a Chinese guy who uses an RC racecar to plink plonk that ubiquitous song on an expertly arranged array of bottles. But, like most things that delight us on the Chinese internet these days, it seems like this too is a viral video. This time around, for Ford. Sigh. Oh well, at least they're entertaining? more ›