President Sarkozy, the first world leader to say he would not attend the Beijing Olympics as a way of protesting China's handling of the Tibetan protests in May, has eaten his words after meeting Chinese President Hu Jintao at the ongoing G8 summit, saying he would attend the opening ceremony after all.......

不是“爱来不来”，而是根本“不欢迎你来”！ ~ It's not 'Come if you want,' it's basically 'You're not welcome." That's the response of Chinese netizens to French President Sarkozy who said he will decide next week whether to attend the opening of the Beijing Olympics, with his choice depending on how talks go between Beijing and the Dalai Lama's envoys this week. Sarkozy reiterated Monday that the events in Tibet were "not acceptable," but he also warned against angering a power......

With opinion polls indicating that Chinese sentiment towards France has greatly deteriorated after the Paris Olympic torch pro-Tibet protests, it's not completely surprising that tourism from Beijing to France has fallen by 70 percent in the past few weeks. But suspicions have arisen that Beijing's official tourism body has taken measures to stop the city's potential travelers from patronizing France. "We were given the assurance that there had never been an order for tourism agencies......

Travel agencies in Beijing have been asked to withdraw France as a tourist destination, starting this week. The move appears to have come from the Beijing Municipality. CITS says that they have been asked to suspend travels to France until further notice. Tours to France in June are on, but July's trips are cancelled. BTG International Travel Tours had the same info but CTS said all groups departing for France are now officially off. An......

Depending on where you read your news, the nation-wide boycott of, and protests against, French supermarket chain Carrefour in China were either a well-attended show of nationalistic pride or were over-shadowed by the bargains on offer inside the stores. Angered by events surrounding the Olympic torch relay in Paris last month and by President Sarkozy declining to rule out a boycott of the games in Beijing in August, the protests had been arranged through on-line......

Following up on our previous post entitled "Attack on an American volunteer by anti-Carrefour mob in Zhuzhou, Hunan," we were contacted today by James Galvin, the unnamed American volunteer mentioned in the story which has now gone on to receive coverage by the Associated Press. In his email, Galvin provided his first-hand account of the alleged incident outside a Carrefour Sunday night in Hunan Province. He feels the story has gotten blown out of proportion.......

We're somewhat late bringing this to you, but yes, over the weekend, anti-French protests took place over the weekend all over China outside Carrefour stores in Hefei, Qingdao, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Xuzhou, Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Jinan and Kunming. Although these were mainly anti-French anti-Carrefour protests, they were described by People's Daily as "protests against Tibetan independence". As usual, ESWN has been on top of things bringing us the latest news. This incident related last Thursday by ESWN......

From www.aujourdhuilachine.com:French athletes will not be allowed to wear their “For a better world” badge – meant to show their commitment to Human Rights, during the Beijing Games, said the French Sports & National Olympic Committee (CNOFS) President Henri Sérandour. “One cannot wear a badge for one cause, another one for another cause,” said the President on French TV Sports Channel News L’Equipe TV. “We will respect the Olympic regulations: no visible sign of......

First it was Coca-Cola. Now Carrefour, too, has been hit. The video on the right shows a confrontation between a (lone?) woman protestor outside Carrefour in Beijing and a PSB officer (h/t to PandaPassport). Jason Leow of the Wall Street Journal writes:Some Chinese citizens, angry over foreign criticism of their country's policies in Tibet, are calling for boycotts of at least two European retailers for purportedly supporting the Dalai Lama, the latest sign of growing......

A 1993 nude photo of Carla Bruni, French President Sarkozy's wife, has been sold at Christie's in NYC for $91,000 to an unnnamed Chinese art collector. A Telegraph article describes the pic:The portrait shows a younger Miss Bruni gazing thoughtfully into the camera with nothing but her crossed hands to cover her modesty.Apparently, the call for a the boycott of French products in China hasn't reached the French First Lady's body.........

And here's an assortment of pictures that will give you a good sense of what we saw and experienced: Photos by Hélène Franchineau UPDATE, 02:32: The torch has been extinguished a third time. UPDATE 2, 02:48: This raw video of the protest just in from AP:......

Editor's note: Former Shanghaiist contributor Hélène Franchineau was present at the Olympic torch relay in Paris earlier today and tells us of what she saw and heard. Today at 12:35pm Paris time, the Olympic torch left from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. It was supposed to travel through the capital for 28 km along the Champs Elysées, the City Hall and the Louvre to end its journey at 5pm in front of the......

Do films with titles like "Feathers of Dongtan" and "Sounds. Breaths" give you a tingle in your special area? If not, fret not, there's still some time to develop that acquired taste which is promotional films for really-big-Chinese-events. "Vision Shanghai", like "Vision Beijing," is going to feature documentary films by famous directors, thought the names of those directors have yet to be released. However, Shanghai Film Group has announced its next Expo film, a full-length......

By Julien Bertrand: On his first official visit to China, French President Nicolas Sarkozy must have been dizzy, witnessing the signing of contracts worth 20 billion euros in total, comprising of 160 Airbus aircrafts, two EPR nuclear reactors (to be built in Taishan, Guangdong, by 2014) and signal equipment for Shanghai’s future 36-kilometer metro line #10, a long-awaited deal between Alstom and Shanghai Metro that will link New Jiangwan Town to Hongqiao Airport. In an......

Honestly, when China threw a shitfit after German chancellor Merkel met the Dalai Lama, we really didn't give a hoot, in part because we've given up on seeing our dream of Tibetan secession realized in our lifetimes. But one thing you might not have known is that this diplomatic contretemps spilled over to affect our fair city. There was supposed to be a week long symposium sponsored by Der Spiegel at the Duolun Museum......

We read a fair amount of China-related news, and it's hard not to get a bit apathetic about it all, since so much of it seems to revolve around the same few topics. Slate's article, however, touches on something we don't normally hear about: China's tomato products industry.:China, it turns out, now grows more tomatoes for processing—the kind that get turned into ketchup, pasta sauce, salsa—than any place in the world besides California, and maybe......