Finnish expatriate Mario Hakulinen, also known by his Chinese name Ma Ruinan, has been living in Fuzhou for the last 11 years. Over the last decade, he has become increasingly frustrated with the drivers who refuse to give way to pedestrians. To do his bit to make Fuzhou the safest city in China, he decided to take matters into his own hands -- by jumping in front of cars and using "tai chi" to ensure drivers stop for pedestrians. More on why he does what he does after the jump... more ›

“I want to see your elections with campaign flags flying all over the place. Taiwan and China are one country. How can you arrest me for illegal entry?” more ›

Two days ago, a video was uploaded to Youku titled "Changping (Fujian) government worker starves 90 year old mother." The video, which shows an extremely emaciated old woman lying on a filthy tatami mat, has drawn sharp criticism from many who question how such an incomprehensible act could happen in 21st century China. more ›

The chief of the school canteen, surnamed Zheng, confirmed that they made the dish with 50 leftover moon cakes after Mid-Autumn Festival. They mixed the moon cakes with sauces and vegetables such as green pepper, chili pepper and an edible black fungus, according to a recipe in the newspaper.

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 municipal leaders in the Fujian city of Xiamen have begun releasing some of their frozen pork reserves (yes, you heard that right) for general sale on August 15th to combat the huge rise in pork prices across China this year, which have averaged over 35 percent. Though the new (and quite literal) stimulus of government pork is being sold at 15 percent below market value, there's a catch: only 5 retailers in Xiamen will be licensed to sell the pork, and each buyer will only be allowed to buy 5kg worth of pork each purchase. Oh, and if you're buying more than 2kg at a time, then you'll need to show some ID. That move to start importing more pork into China can't come fast enough. more ›

A young post-90's (90后) mother in the Fujian city of Zhangzhou (漳州) reportedly strangled her 10-month son to death during a live broadcast Saturday morning on QQ.com. The 19-year-old mother, surnamed Zou, announced to netizens that she would kill her child and broadcast the murder live on a QQ chat. She apparently murdered her son after having an argument with the baby's father. more ›

Hey, even farmers have to break out the video camera to see if they can get a few hundred thousand clicks on Youku every now and then. Farmers from Fujian province have filmed a patriotic music video, covering the Red classic, 'The East Is Red,' in their native Minnan dialect. more ›

Congratulations, Chen Wenyuan (陈文原), it looks like your 15 seconds of internet video fame have arrived. Chen, a junior at Fujian Agricultural University now trending as 'Sharp Dish Sorting Brother' (犀利收碗哥), has cracked the top ten on Baidu's internet buzz index, after video of his peerless dish-classification skills was posted online. more ›

A Hunan man has been detained by Taiwanese marine police after he rowed over from Xiamen to Taiwan's Kinmen Island on a makeshift boat put together with several styrofoam boards, using badminton racquets as oars. After spending a good five over hours rowing across the straits, the man looked clearly exhausted as he was intercepted by the police. He says he made the journey with the aim of defecting over to Taiwan and join the Kuomintang. Taiwanese authorities however are unlikely to grant the man asylum and are expected to deport him back to the Chinese mainland. We dread to think what will happen to him when he returns to the embrace of the motherland. more ›

Another day, another building on fire. This time, the victim is the historic Fahai Temple in downtown Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province, built over a thousand years ago in 945. No casualties were reported in the fire, which was put out by a team of 150 firefighters in an hour (armed by the jet-powered water cannon, perhaps?). None of the cultural relics in the temple were said to be burnt, although looking at these pictures, we can't say we can be sure of that. more ›

A blogger out of Fujian has compiled an open-source google map that places major pollution sites around china. While similar sources have existed in the past, this is the first one that allows other users to contribute sites with pollution problems. The map, which was created by Guo Baofeng, has attracted a lot of interest on Chinese BBS' and Forums: check it out while you still can, because you never know when it could suddenly disappear. more ›

In the most recent tiff over pollution, villagers in Fujian attacked police and took local officials hostage to protest a sewage treatment plant (next to a tannery and oil refinery) that they said was polluting the environment - evidenced by foul smells coming form the building. While the protests had occured over several days - ever snce the plant sent a major stench through the area on August 19 - on Monday, things boiled over. 10,000 people confronted 2,000 riot police and at least 10 people were injured with the demonstrations turned violent, according to South China Morning Post. more ›

Youku Buzz has found an upload of Senior Year (高三). The 94-minute video documents the last year of classes at No. 1 High School of Wuping in Fujian Province and won the best documentary award at the 30th Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2006. Luckily, this version contains English subtitles so everyone can follow along. more ›

Despite weather reports that Typhoon Morakot would swing by our way (which triggered a rush of preparation for floods and damage) it... simply didn't. Yesterday was rainy and gross, but not any rainier and grosser than Shanghai weather normally tends to be. The same could not be said for other areas around Asia. more ›

Man the sails, Typhoon Morakot is heading our way! It hit Taiwan this morning and should be in China by Saturday, according to Reuters. Across the strait, Morakot is a category 2 storm (from a scale of 1-5), meaning it's medium strength, but whether it will stay that way before hitting China still seems to be unclear. more ›

• E-waste 'recycling' in Guiyu, China [Alex Hofford] "So today I decided to upload more photos from a recent trip to Guiyu, the 'e-waste processing capital of China', that I made as part of a field project for my MJ course at the University of Hong Kong's JMSC. I have put these photos at the back of the album, behind the photos from Guangxi Province and Hong Kong that I took in 2007 and 2008."
• 9,000 officials guilty of graft: SPP [China Daily] "The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) revealed yesterday that more than 9,000 officials were found guilty of corruption in the first six months of the year and said it had investigated 6,277 industrial bribery cases. Qiu Xueqiang, SPP deputy procurator general, told a conference of procuratorate chiefs that the industrial bribery cases involved 6,842 people."
• China snubs World Games opening [BBC] "China has boycotted the opening ceremony of the World Games in Taiwan, an official with the games has said. A spokesman for the games, Hermann Kewitz, said China had not given an explanation but said that Chinese athletes would compete in the events. Beijing's decision came after organisers allowed Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou to open the games."

The Telegraph recently released a story saying that a man in Fujian had caught a giant rat, allegedly swooping it up after seeing a big crowd of people surrounding it in on the street. more ›

Peter Kirby of Daedalum Films explores the tulou, the earthen roundhouses in Fujian Province which have just made it to the UNESCO World Heritage list and meets some of the people who live in them. more ›

Tulou, the unique buildings of Fujian Province in southeastern China, were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List on Sunday, during the 32nd session of the World Heritage Committee. According to the submission provided by China's State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Tulou buildings have been built since the 11th century. Designed to meet the requirements of a whole clan living together, they usually consist of a rammed earth outer wall and internal wooden framework, often of a circular configuration surrounding a central shrine. From the People's Daily:

In recommending the inscription of the Tulou buildings, ICOMOS, the professional evaluation institution of the World Heritage Committee, praised their breath-taking magnificence, unique and exquisite style as well as their durable and ingenious structure, saying they present a unique charm and outstanding universal value.

Britain's most tiresome newspaper the Daily Mail has a typically sober and balanced report on a new animal show in Xiamen, Fujian (presumably HaiCang Safari Park). more ›