For those of you that found that video of that Guangzhou train station stampede too gruesome to watch, then please, DO NOT click on this video (h/t to Global Voices). The clip contains images of dead bodies, and in fact it's so gory we're surprised that it hasn't been removed from Youku yet. On 29 January at 7.40am, a bus travelling from Chongqing flipped over a 40 metre cliff because of the frozen road conditions......

People who made the news this week Kim Jong-Il, the President of North Korea, has met up with Wang Jiarui, the head of the international department at the Central Committee of China’s Communist Party, in Pyongyang on Wednesday. According to South Korea's Chosun Ilbo, when Wang voiced his explicit dissatisfaction with the DPRK's failure to meet its nuclear disarmament deadline, Kim said, “The present difficulties are temporary and can be conquered.” Kim also made a......

This video entitled “这个女人太要了” ("This girl wants it too much") uploaded to Youtube just five days ago has received over 317,000 views and raised a storm on the Chinese internet. It shows a young Chinese couple hugging and kissing at a subway exit point before finally saying goodbye. Well, it turns out that the clip was taken via the surveillance cameras that you see all around subway stations and the (really annoying) voices in the......

It is no secret by now. China executes more people than the rest of the world put together (yes, even more than the Islamic world). In fact, Amnesty International says China carries out about 80 percent of the world's total capital punishments, if not more (1,770 people in 2005). The recent UN vote for a moratorium on executions saw a fractious two-day debate between the anti-execution camp led by Italy and the pro-execution camp led......

In a recent blog entry, leading sexologist-sociologist Li Yinhe (李银河) has voiced her thoughts on recent porn crackdowns [h/t to Global Voices, translation by Shanghaiist]: 今天在中央12台看到打击淫秽网站的报道，不像看到破获谋杀、盗窃或性侵害的报道那样觉得毫无问题。 Today I saw reports on CCTV-12 related to the crackdown on porn sites. And unlike other reports on murder, theft, and sexual crimes, I thought there was a problem with these reports. 公安人员的侦破非常努力，法律部门的审判严肃认真，他们执法的依据也非常明确：刑法关于打击淫秽品的传播和禁止组织色情表演的条款。 The public security guys work very hard on the crackdown, and the justice department has issued......

What's happening around the nation as one year closes and another begins 2007 is definitely the year of angry students. After last month's bloody riot at the Hefei PLA Artillery Academy is a Christmas Eve clash in Tianjin's Nankai University, said to be among China's top ten universities. We all know the powers-that-be do not like angry students, so they will be watching this in 2008.In the above picture, laid off bank workers at the......

How a CCTV-5 news-reader aired her marital grievances at the launch of the new Olympics channel This was just too good to pass up! From John Kennedy of Global Voices:Friday was meant to be a big day for China's main sports channel CCTV-5, with a lavish ceremony attended by top station executives held to celebrate its official change of name to The Olympics Channel. It got a bit bigger when a visibly upset Hu Ziwei,......

Nature News cites an EU report that finds that the real value of a Chinese scientist's wages is the lowest among the 38 countries surveyed. Yes, Chinese scientists make even less than Indian scientists. (h/t to Global Voices )CNNIC announces that China now has 72.82 million blogs and 47 million bloggers. That's one quarter of all Chinese netizens.The Little Red Blog bets against Baidu and roots for Google in the year 2008.Washington Post asks......

If you guys still haven't heard about the scuffle between the group of 120 or so Hubei tourists and their Macau tourist guides, here's the video which includes some really really crazy scenes. Looks like even the riot police had to be called in! Short little backgrounder from Reuters:A group of tourists on a trip to Macau riot after being pressured to spend in shops. The tourists said guides took them to too many shops......

The Red Laowai (红老外) — yes, that shirtless dude in New York that's been singing communist propaganda songs such as “My China Heart"《我的中国心》, "Without the Communist Party, there is no New China"《没有共产党就没有新中国》and "Oriental Red"《东方红》and putting his videos online — has done it again. This time, he has put his shirt on, created a music video and he's singing Jay Chou and rapping. The song 止战之殇 (The Wound That Ends War) is an anti-war song in......

The craze for Chinese language learning The Economist: False Eastern Promise: The craze for teaching Chinese may be a misguided fad Ken Carroll: The Economist at its misguided worst The Peking Duck: Is the rush to study Chinese a time-wasting fad? The Pudong petrol station blast Shanghai Scrap: China National Petroleum to Dead Workers: Blame Yourselves. Wang Jianshuo: Diesel shortage caused traffic jam The lifestyles of the rich and famous Sydney Morning Herald: Britney......

Southeast Asian pact exposes rifts [NY Times] Southeast Asian leaders signed a charter here today that was drafted as a watershed document to bind the region together as a European-style economic community but has instead exposed the sharp divisions over Myanmar and other issues among the signatories.Malaysia busts DVD lab in its biggest raid in 2007 [Reuters] Malaysia has raided a laboratory capable of churning out $52 million worth of pirated DVDs a year in......

We told you about the lavish homecoming party that was thrown by Pizhou (邳州) in our neighbouring Jiangsu province for its party secretary Li Lianyu (李连玉). John Kennedy of Global Voices Online informs us that Chinese netizens have reacted strongly to the series of pictures we showed you. On one particular forum, 800 comments were received on one single afternoon. Here's a kickass selection of comments that he picked up, followed with his translations:太牛的场面 让我呕吐了好久......

So, like we told you, the word "democracy" (民主) was mentioned 60 times in President Hu's report to the 17th Party Congress. The China Media Project fills us in on other top buzzwords. “Socialism with Chinese characteristics” (中国特色社会主义) was mentioned 52 times, “scientific development” (科学发展) was a distant second at 38 times, “opening and reform” (改革开放) was mentioned 34 times, just edging out “harmony” (和谐) at 33. “Deng Xiaoping Theory” (邓小平理论) made 10 appearances and......

Georgia Popplewell of Global Voices Online has offered a great summary of reactions from the international blogosphere to Friday's announcement that former US vice president Al Gore and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have won this year's Nobel Peace Prize. The China section was a real gem and we thought we'd share it with you! 如果这个美国人当年赢了布什，世界会很不一样！ If this American had won at the time instead of Bush, the world would be a......

We had a good laugh when we saw this "patriotic" banner by Chinese blogger Xiucai ("秀才") which reads: "Joyfully welcome the 17th Party Congress, building a harmonious society together. Xiucai is a good comrade. This site has temporarily shut down comments and forum features." [h/t to Rebecca Mackinnon] The truth is, as the 17th Party Congress looms closer, Chinese bloggers have been having anything but a party. MacKinnon also points us to an excellent post......