Winopete has 'read' the dregs in his wine glass and come up with the following predictions for the Year of the Rat:Another 3 or 4 night clubs will open, and another 3 or 4 will evapoRATe into Shanghai's failed business netherland, with at least 2 or 3 of them being reincarnated as something else. We're not naming names yet to avoid legal complications.Pudong will remain a wasteland for iRATe pub-goers, with salvation only delivered by......

Hong Kongers snub Beijing Sydney Morning Herald: Hong Kong voters snub Beijing, strike blow for democracy TIME: One for the Democrats in Hong Kong Reuters: Pro-democracy Chan wins symbolic Hong Kong election Fake moon pictures? Fox: China: Our Moon Photo Is No Fake The Canadian Press: China rejects questions over allegedly generic lunar surface photo The Telegraph: China defends lunar probe pictures China business WSJ: China Railway Shares Surge On Shanghai Trading Debut WSJ:......

Workers clearing China landslide discover bus in the rubble; 29 believed dead [The Canadian Press] The bus was found three days after a landslide tore a 50-metre gash in a mountainside Tuesday heightening concern that the massive reservoir of the Three Gorges Dam, was wreaking ecological havoc in the region.US studios sue Chinese website for film piracy [AFP] 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures and Universal Studios have filed a lawsuit against......

... at least that is what Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas would have us believe (h/t to Danwei). She recently wrote in to China Daily columnist Raymond Zhou after reading his opinion piece on recent comments by Chinese celebrity Sun Haiying (孙海英) who not too long ago ignited a huge debate with his comments that homosexuality was unequivocally "criminal in nature" ("同性恋就是犯罪“):Dear Raymond The very day that Godless China decriminalized......

Fox: Read My Tattoos, No Prison Break In China "News Corporation's (NYSE: NWS.A) Fox Television denied that it has licensed Beijing based media company Zonbo Media to remake American TV series Prison Break or any related online activities in China, reports Beijing Youth Daily." Lawsuit says Ark. company selling counterfeit Budweiser in China "Anheuser-Busch Inc. sued USA Bai Wei Group Inc. in Arkansas' Pulaski County Circuit Court, seeking an injunction to revoke Bai Wei's......

China is biggest espionage threat to Canada "Almost half of counter-espionage efforts in Canada target Chinese spies, the head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service told a senate committee on Monday." Songs, kisses and sweat on Labor Day of migrant workers "In the prosperous metropolis of Shanghai, migrant workers even joined in performances, singing and dancing and taking part in games to show their talents." Hershey lures Asians with green tea Kisses "The century-old......

But they only get RMB 25,000 in damages. The movie companies involved in the suit were New Line Productions, Walt Disney, Warner Bros Entertainment, Columbia Pictures, Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures. The defendant was listed as Shanghai Leying Audio Visual Co. Ltd, but this story tells us the company also went by the name "Kadi" and was " well-known to many expatriates in Shanghai for selling pirated products." We think it might......

Last night, like every Sunday night, would normally be Coco Zhao’s regular show at JZ with his Possicobilities band. However, unlike most other Sunday nights, last night Coco himself wasn’t able to make it due to illness, but his band faithfully played without their fearless leader. Later in the evening they were joined by a few other musicians including Erica Li (of JZ regular Wednesday night fame) and Fox the sax/flute man. After the Possicobilities......

Let's look back at a week in which no site in the -ist network adopted anyone from Africa... -Austinist reveled in the dumb antics of some U.T. law students and posted some great audio from former New Orleans natives who've decided to stay in Austin. But the best news for Austinist? They were voted Best Local Entertainment Web Site by the local Austin alt-weekly. Congrats, Austinist. -DCist gloried in being told their musical tastes made......

GigShanghai: Pinkertones, goth an the NFL?...

A few weeks ago, we told you that several US airlines are jockeying for one opening route to and from China early next year: Northwest from Detroit to Shanghai, United from Washington, D.C., to Beijing, American from Dallas to Beijing and Continental from Newark to Shanghai. Why are we rehashing old info? Well, yesterday Shanghaiist received, not one, not two, but three emails from family and friends asking us to sign this petition, which supports......

In this week's edition of "Shanghaiist Trashes the Media" we have an article from the Sydney Morning Herald. Here's the premise: Given that I'm no stranger to bashing my credit card in the more established fashion capitals of Paris, Milan and New York, I decided it was only right that I took myself and my slightly less enthusiastic shopper of a boyfriend, David, off to Shanghai for a week of bargain hunting -- and to......

The July 30 overnight party at the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall held earlier this year was the last of its kind. Due to severe public criticism of the event, the company that once held the lease and the rights to this section of the wall has had its lease revoked. Reader, please observe a moment of silence to yourself. Thank you. The English polisher in you should read this August 9 China Daily......

Last month, the developers and designers of the nearly-a-decade-in-the-making Shanghai World Financial Center (WFC) skyscraper in Pudong caved in to pressure from China's Japan haters and announced they had made alterations to the planned appearance of the building, which will be one of the world's tallest if it ever gets completed. Most notable among the changes -- the large circular hole that was to cut through the building's top floors was replaced by a large......