Suicides are already the main cause of college deaths in Shanghai and it looks like the terrible job market is only going to make that statistic more prominent. According to the Telegraph, a wave of suicides have swept the nation as one in three of this year's graduates ahve been unable to find a job. These recent out-of-college kids are being added to the 1.5 million from last year who are still out of work. While the government has been trying to combat the unemployment rate by offering positions as teachers or low-level officials in rural areas, those jobs hardly seem worth the four years of effort and tuition fees graduates racked up, especially if they did it to escape the countryside in the first place. It's a tough situation to weather and the only suggestion we can think of is that maybe one more piece of China's grand economic stimulus should be devoted to mental health helplines. more ›

Coming from a country where streaking is a time honored tradition, we rolled our eyes and laughed when we heard about the two young graduates from Fudan University who rubbed "I Love Fudan" on their naked bodies and ran through the campus. And then we promptly forgot about it. more ›

• Israeli oranges' faked in China [BBC] "It has now been revealed the fruit, a type of orange-grapefruit hybrid marketed as Jaffa Sweetie, were not Israeli in the first place. The Sweeties were brought to Iran from China, where faking the origin of goods is a common practice. The discovery of apparent Israeli origin caused a stir in Iran."
• Tibetan students protest in China [AFP] "Hundreds of students at a Tibetan school in China's northwest held a daring protest, demonstrating over education conditions, locals and an overseas Tibetan group said Saturday. The protest took place Friday morning among Tibetan students at the Xiahe middle school in Gansu province, the proprietor of a local hotel told AFP by telephone."
• China Falls Short on Olympic Cleanup [ScienceNOW] "When most people think about the Olympic Games, they envision blazing torches, gold medals, and triumphant athletes. But a handful of scientists saw the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to find out what happens when a major industrial city suddenly cuts back on air pollution. The first analysis of this "experiment" concludes that China's efforts produced only a slight improvement in Beijing's air quality."

The Philippines have been exporting college graduates to work as domestic helpers / maids in other countries for many years now, but now, their Chinese counterparts are looking to do the same domestically:

Desperate Chinese graduates, facing grim job prospects amid slowing economic growth, are clamouring to find posts as nannies and domestic helpers for the rich in one southern province, state media reported on Wednesday. more ›