China's top negotiator for Taiwan, Chen Yunlin (陈云林) sure has a tough job. Not only does he have to meet rabid anti-China activists on his trip to the island each time, he also gets thrown lots of not-so-nice stuff, like eggs. more ›

Would it be flippant of me to ask what the deal is with all the earthquakes recently? Because, honestly, what's going on? Now added to the list of recent earthquake struck nations is Taiwan, which experienced a 6.4 magnitude quake near Kaohsiung city this morning. Luckily, it seems like there have been no casualties so far (only injuries from falling debris), though there have been some aftershocks. more ›

• Should You Look For Work In China? [Forbes] "The New York Times recently ran an article about young Americans flocking to China for job opportunities because job prospects are so bleak in the U.S. The article made it sound as if it's easy to find a good job there even if you don't speak Mandarin or know much about Chinese culture. Is it really that easy? The answer quite simply is no."
• Lead poisoning sickens 600 kids in China [Salon] "The number of children sickened from lead poisoning has risen to more than 600 in a northern Chinese province where authorities shut a smelter earlier this week thought to have caused the contamination, state media reported. More than 80 percent of the 731 children living in the two villages near the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co. in Shaanxi province have tested positive for lead poisoning, nearly double the number reported earlier this week."
• InMusic Festival review - checkit! [China Music Radar] "In China, most events of this scale are announced and then never happen. We expected this would be the same, particularly given that InMusic can barely publish a monthly magazine, no matter organize a multi-day, multi-stage festival with international caliber acts. Yet, being a supporter of the need for more successful festival events in China we were hopeful. As the days approached it became clear that the festival was actually going forward and so with curious anticipation we secured our tickets, packed our tent and headed out of Beijing…"