• An extremely rare Chinese map of the entire world, which was made in 1602, is now on display at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. It's pretty awesome. [Guardian]
• In the latest sign of new openness about homosexuality here, state media all over China (not just internet media) covered Zeng Ge and Xiao Pan's gay wedding on their front pages. [AFP]
• Kevin Spacey is about to become the biggest Hollywood actor to star in a 100% Chinese movie. Luckily, it seems like he won't have to learn a lot of Chinese to do it. [Hollywood Reporter]

The hostage crisis at the Putuo KFC two nights ago was a shining triumph for the Shanghai police, who managed to kill the bad guy and save the migrant worker's little four-year-old girl. Now, you can relive the glory with this account of the proceedings (in Chinese). Although we would have preferred to see Samuel L. Jackson or Kevin Spacey handle something of this danger, there was some local talent on hand. One of the negotiators dressed up and pretended to be the store manager, but to no avail. A female special forces officer also dressed up as a KFC employee and brought food and drink, but evidently, someone didn't do the chicken right, because the hostage-taker got nervous. The special forces officer had a gun stuffed in her pants but decided that this wasn't the best moment to use it. more ›