Two years ago, Al Jazeera's China correspondent Melissa Chan visited the city of Ordos in Inner Mongolia and found an entire town raised from the desert in just five years, complete with gleaming skyscrapers and futuristic buildings. Only problem was, nobody was actually living there. more ›

And another one bites the lethal injection dust. Reports have confirmed that Li Lindong, the truck driver who ran over an ethnic Mongol herder on May 10th in Inner Mongolia's Xilinhot city, was executed on August 18th. The case has been an lightning rod for controversy, since Li's murder of the herder, named Mergen, occurred when a group of protesters blocked a road that ran through their village. The ethnic Mongolians were protesting noise and pollution caused by coal trucks traversing through grasslands when Mergen was hit by Li's truck. Mergen's body was dragged for 145 meters before he died, and subsequent large scale protests occurred in the wake of the incident. more ›

We didn't know there was such a hullaballoo over "emulational guns" to begin with (though further research has uncovered that the government's been banning them since Olympics times), but fake guns are not allowed! About 11 suspects, including a graduate of Inner Mongolia University of Technology, have been detained in Inner Mongolia on charges of selling imitation guns that replicate things like AK-47s and AWP snifer rifles. They were all found through "online monitoring and surveillance." The final haul from these wiley toy gun sellers? 120 whole guns and 300,000 rounds of ammunition. OH MY GOD, THAT'S SOME BIG OPERATION YOU GOT THERE. more ›

While more than half a million are being evacuated from their homes in southern and central parts of China to escape horrific flooding, in Inner Mongolia communities are facing a very diffirerent problem. Droughts are a devastating threat and with overgrazing, population pressures, and tree logging the province's famous lush grasslands are quickly turning into barren deserts. You'll see in these snapshots some of the reforestation efforts from locals and the Shanghai Roots and Shoots organization. more ›

The Han Chinese truck driver responsible for the killing of an ethnic Mongol herdsman in Inner Mongolia that sparked the worst riots in the region in 20 years was sentenced to death yesterday. more ›

An auspicious sign for the new year appeared this morning over Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia. But remember, no need to sob. more ›

Has this been a crazy year for UFOs, or what? New reports say we can add one more sighting to an ever growing list: an airport near Baotou, Inner Mongolia was forced to shut down on September 11th for passenger jets to prevent them from crashing into a "UFO." more ›

You know that thousands-vehicle-strong traffic jam that's ensnarled roads in Northern China? The one that stretched for 60 miles and 11 days, thankfully vanished before the weekend, but then reformed on another 19-mile section on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway? Apparently our friends at MKRide were stuck in that! more ›

The last we'd heard of Ordos in Inner Mongolia, it was a completely modern, thoroughly upgraded ghost town, who knew it'd soon become the setting of a Guinness World Record breaking human domino set? more ›

Better days ahead for Sino-Vatican relations? more ›

He Pingping, the world's shortest man, died of heart complications while filming a tv show in Italy on Saturday. He was only 21. more ›

And no, unfortunately it's not the Great Firewall. Apparently around 300 feet of the actual great wall,, located in a remote part of Inner Mongolia, has been irreparably damaged by Mongolian gold prospectors. The section, an historical artifact built during the Qin Dynasty between 220BC and 206BC, is more like reinforced earth than the formidable stone structure snaking through Beijing, but historians insist that it still carries the same significance. Hohhot Kekao Mining has been blamed for the destruction and can face a penalty of up to ten years in prison or a fine of 500,000RMB. more ›

Is there anywhere in the world's most populous nation where there is absolutely no one? As it turns out, yes, there is! In the southwestern part of the Inner Mongolia region lies the spanking new and ultra-modern Ordos City (鄂尔多斯), which government officials have raised from the desert in just five years with tonnes of public money. The only problem is, nobody's moved in from the old Ordos City, located just 30 kilometres away. more ›

After a manhunt involving over six thousand security personnel, three of the four escaped convicts were captured and apprehended in a raid today, while the last was shot and killed, says China Daily. more ›

“I cannot remember the people who bribed me with money, but I do remember the ones that didn’t.” — Xu Guoyuan (徐国元), ex-mayor and vice Party chief of Chifeng City in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region more ›

Short 50 second report on CCTV with footage from Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Beijing showing how Muslims across China are celebrating Eid Al Adha, the holiest feast in the Islamic calendar conducted to mark the end of the Haj, or the pilgrimage to Mecca. more ›

Doomsayers over at Slate examine the myriad of potential disasters that could derail the Beijing Olympics, calling it the "Summer Olympics Disaster Guide". Pollution (no surprise here) and visa restrictions rank the highest with a 90% possibility while the unrest in Tibet and algae plaguing Qingdao’s waters come in a close second. But for us, the threat of a locust invasion entering Beijing from Duolun County in Inner Mongolia is hair-raising. According to local officials, cooler temperatures and drier conditions in May have delayed locust hatchings. "The directive," he said, is to prevent the locusts from taking flight, prevent them from entering Beijing and prevent them from destroying everything along their path." more ›

(Roots & Shoots video about Jane Goodall...and gnomes) more ›

Li Yang (李阳) of the Shanghai-based Crazy English movement has been getting a lot of bad press lately, and Shanghai Daily's Wang Yanlin is the latest to chime in, with a hard-hitting piece slamming the self-styled English guru who believes that getting his students to yell out phrases after him combined with hand gestures is the best way to learn English. The media-savvy Li Yang is also a dynamic speaker on stage who clearly understands... more ›

The latest issue of TIME Magazine has an interesting story of a US-based company that has just set up shop in where else but Inner Mongolia, to feed the millions of hungry Chinese who are now looking to eat something other than pork: more ›

Photo from Anton Berkovich. more ›

Even as the majority of the domestic and international press crowned Inner Mongolia native and Shanghai resident Duo Zirong for her courage to stop the truck and "save" 800 cats from the food trade on July 7, dissenting voices have been raised with regards to the character of this women. And some have gone so far as to call her — as we have heard recently from those involved in various animal rescue organizations — more of a psychopath hoarder than a cat saviour. more ›

In just three hours ago from a Reuters report:Three underground priests - Liang Aijun, Wang Zhong and Gao Jinbao - who have been unwilling to join China's Catholic Patriotic Church have been detained by plain clothes police in Inner Mongolia, having fled there from neighboring Hebei province, a Catholic stronghold. more ›

"People say they love hip hop, but then they go to Guandii. To me, we’ve never had hip hop in China. We just took things from the States. It’s never been homegrown. And I really hope we can have a scene to call our own." more ›

Attendance falling at your local place of worship? Loyal herd looking elsewhere for spiritual direction? Have a carnival! That'll win 'em back. If only the Pope had thought of it ... like the Shanghai Xuhui District Tourist Bureau did. It's annual Longhua Temple Festival runs until May 7th, meaning you have one weekend left to catch all the fun. more ›

We never thought we would ever see The Slits appear on a poster promoting a Shanghai event, but that day has arrived thanks to 88 New Wave who have been quietly putting on offbeat punk parties at Cs Bar. We like their eclectic and open take on punk, enjoying everything from Gang of Four to Salt 'n Pepa. more ›

After conducting a worldwide search for a bride, the world's tallest man, 56 year old Bao Xishun (2.36m tall), has finally found his other half in his native region of Inner Mongolia. He will marry 1.68m tall Xia Shujun who, as you can see in the picture on the right, comes up to just his elbow. more ›

Sunday morning, while most people will be sleeping/ clubbing/ trying to get sober, about 15,000 runners will gather for the Shanghai marathon and half marathon, starting at 7:30 am, on Nanjing Dong Lu and Sichuan Lu. more ›

China has finally announced its long-awaited (and in Shanghaiist’s opinion very long overdue) first human case of bird flu. While the CNN story does not confirm the flu strain, the unlinkable subscription-only South China Morning Post (which has some of the best, most up-to-date information on bird flu) reports that the boy in Hunan province tested positive for the H5N1 strain. While the boy has successfully recovered after falling ill at the end of October from eating part of a chicken that had sickened and died, his 12-year old sister did not … though at the moment her death can only be presumed to be caused by bird flu. Three other suspected human H5N1 cases have not yet been confirmed. more ›

China admitted earlier this week that the bird flu situation here is "grave," especially for the 2,600 dead birds found in Inner Mongolia. Now, quite suddenly it seems, Shanghai is starting to act like it is taking the threat seriously (and Shanghaiist is having SARS flashbacks, like when immediately after the government stopped lying to the people and Shanghai University gave all the foreign teachers a thermometer ... and vitamins). It was announced yesterday that all travelers arriving in Shanghai by air, land or sea will have the soles of their shoes sterilized. We couldn't find anywhere exactly how the shoes will be sterilized, or how they plan to pull this off -- that's a helluva lot of feet to clean. Luggage and packages will also be checked more thoroughly, sometimes by sniffing dogs with a nose for poultry. So, if you are in the habit of gnawing on those nastly looking vacuum-packed chicken legs they sell at all major transportation hubs in China, finish up and throw the bones out the window before crossing the border. more ›