This sad little picture, taken by Paul French at China Rhyming, depicts what's left of British writer J.G. Ballard's childhood home now that it's been thoroughly gutted. Located on Panyu Lu and Xinhua Lu, the expat villa-turned-restaurant turned into a construction mess early last month. more ›

With so much of Shanghai's historical architecture disappearing day by day, you might think that most Shanghailanders, ourselves included, have become desensitized to the frequent reports of demolition and destruction. Looks like that isn't true, as we are still heartbroken over Malcolm Moore's recent story on the latest casualty of Shanghai's relentless urban development, British author J.G. Ballard's childhood home. more ›

• Sichuan peppercorns: "There's a war in my mouth." [Boing Boing] "Sichuan peppercorns, oh yeah! Raven of Made with Molecules after eating them wrote, "There's a war in my mouth." They create a riot of numbing and tingling sensations, particularly if you can get relatively fresh ones (i.e. not stale from sitting around in a Whole Foods bulk bin). Raven links to an abstract about the particular anesthetic-sensitive potassium channels inhibited by hydroxy-alpha-sanshool, one of the components of sichuan peppercorns that make them so exciting."
• Death of a Dystopian: The life and legacy of J.G. Ballard [Reason Magazine] "J.G. Ballard is best known for Empire of the Sun (1984), a largely autobiographical coming-of-age novel based on his upbringing in Shanghai, where his father was a businessman, and his internment in a World War II prison camp during the Japanese invasion. For those with darker tastes, there is the cult classic Crash, a wild, transgressive 1973 novel about a community of car-crash fetishists that was eventually made into a Cronenberg film. His writing is obsessed with the territories where the organic meets the inorganic; it is absurdist, bleak, vivid, and awake to the psychological effects of media and manmade landscapes. In the words of the novelist Martin Amis, “Ballard is quite unlike anyone else; indeed, he seems to address a different—a disused—part of the reader’s brain.”
• Life in jail for killing Chinese student [News.com.au] "THE killer of a Chinese student who was left to die after being raped and choked on a roadside verge has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Danny Adam Wright, 36, was found guilty of the wilful murder and sexual penetration of Chinese student Jiao Dan, 22, in the Perth suburb of Inaloo on October 8, 2007. Justice Michael Murray told the court in sentencing Wright today that it was a dreadful incident for which Wright had failed to show remorse. He sentenced him to life in jail with a minimum non-parole period of 18 years."

• Just a reminder: Gourmet Month is almost ending! Book a restaurant today. IMMEDIATELY! [City Weekend]
• A group of residents are now protesting the destruction of prolific Shanghai writer Eileen Chang's grade school. The area, which was supposed to be a protected heritage site, is now almost completely a pile of rubble. [Xinmin (Chinese)]
• Shanghai may be extending what would become the longest and fastest Metro route to Kunshan, a commercial center in Jiangsu Province that's 50km away. Talk about one helluva commute! [Shanghai Daily]

• 'Empire of the Sun' author J.G. Ballard dies [USA TODAY] "Writer J.G. Ballard, best known for the autobiographical novel Empire Of The Sun, which drew on his childhood detention in a Japanese prison camp in China, died Sunday, his agent said. He was 78."
• No-Drama Obama China Policy [JLM Pacific Epoch] There is no split in the Obama administration when it comes to China policy. Non-naïve, non-ideological, clear-eyed and serious engagement is where this relationship is headed. It looks like Obama will be coming to China after the APEC meetings in November. Look for the White House to use its star-power to reach out directly to the Chinese people.
• Porsche Introduces a Luxury Sedan to the Chinese Market [NY Times] "Company executives said that the car would start at $89,800 in the United States and more, sometimes much more, in countries with higher taxes. The turbo version with a V-8 engine will cost 2.5 million yuan, or $366,000, in China, which has stiff import taxes and heavy taxes on family vehicles with large engines."