A few links to start off your day: In Bloomberg, Adam Minter takes a look at the debate raging over anti-radiation maternity suits in China, and why the bizarrely popular trend is likely coming to an end. Check out the new Sinica Podcast about the Wukan uprisings, and the debate that Han Han has recently inflamed over liberalization in China. The Telegraph looks at the explosion of Chinese luxury shoppers arriving on English soil and how it impacts luxury retailers, who are quickly hiring Mandarin-speaking staff and being advised to avoid topics like “politics, Japan and communism”. more ›

A few links to start off your day: This week Business Week looks at the somewhat shady practice of Christian private schools luring over wealthy Chinese exchange students in order to proselytize and convert them. In a Foreign Policy piece entitled "The End of the Chinese Dream", Christina Larson examines the palpable sense of frustration among city dwellers, and asks the question: "Could it possibly be true that a swath of people in China's big cities is downwardly mobile?" more ›

A few links to finish off your day: Terminal 3 shenanigans, smartphones, China's Miami, and post-80's nostalgia more ›

more ›

• Evan Osnos of The New Yorker uses his crumbling 4-year-old Beijing hutong home as a metaphor for some possible liabilities surrounding China's breakneck development.
• Malcome Moore of the Daily Telegraph gives us the blow by blow account of a town in China first made filthy rich, then totally ruined by a pyramid scheme.
• China Digital Times takes a look at US China Ambassador Gary Locke's unexpected and immediate rise to stardom in China, and some not-so-friendly editorials in Chinese State Media that have come out as a result.

Here's the latest roundup of information that's surfaced on the fire:
• Eight welders, a number of whom were unlicensed, have been detained under suspicion of sparking Monday's fire on the 10th floor of the building during an “energy saving” renovation project. Illegal multiple sub-contracting and inadequate supervision of the renovation project, said Luo Lin, the head of the fire cause investigation is also to blame. "It was the illegal and irregular construction that caused this terrible accident, which should not have happened and could have been completely avoided," Luo said.
• China has called for a nation-wide overhaul of fire-safety procedures, including the removal fire hazards, education of the public, and implementation of strict accountability. Shanghai Daily reports that any building not meeting safety standards will be shut down, but we're not rejoicing over that news just yet. Wouldn't that be nearly all of them? We'll believe it when we see it. And nobody seems to be talking about how embarrassing this is coming only ten days after China’s “Fire Prevention Day" last Tuesday, where the entire country underwent drills, specifically targeting densely populated urban areas.

A Beijing divorce court has started allowing evidence other than sperm tests for divorce cases relating to infidelity. As the aforementioned physical evidence is rarely conclusive, most divorce courts' judicial criteria involve assessing the "emotional connection" of the couple. Needless to say, raunchy text messages are definitely a step up. [China Daily] more ›

• KFC adds shaobing to set menu [China Daily] From next Monday, all KFC stores will start serving shaobing, but only during breakfast period. Other details, like pricing, shape, taste, and what KFC is going to call it, are being kept under wraps till June 15.
• Ma calls for agreement on use of traditional Chinese [Taipei Times] President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday he hoped that Taiwan could reach an agreement with Beijing on the teaching of traditional and simplified Chinese characters at schools for overseas Taiwanese and Chinese, whereby students would be taught to read traditional characters and write simplified characters.
• Naked Escorts in Wuhan Bar [Danwei] In recent months, our newspaper has been receiving letters from readers reporting that the May Flower nightclub in Wuchang offers "naked escort" services.

Photo from lookoutbelow more ›

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  Shanghai wants 50 top minds every year
  
  
  “Local authorities are offering lucrative packages to lure leading academics to the city under a new scheme to help boost its competitiveness.”
  
  


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  Shanghai to launch int’l channel targeting foreigners
  
  
  “The ICS programs, covering news, information, fashion, entertainment, foreign TV shows and movies, will be aired in English and Japanese, with Chinese captions, for 19 hours a day.”
  
  


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  Shanghai GM to launch Buick LaCrosse hybrid prior to Olympic Games
  
  
  “The move will make Shanghai GM the third joint venture automaker to deliver a hybrid vehicle in China following Toyota and Honda. Toyota Motor Corp is currently the only carmaker that builds a hybrid car in China.”


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  China Eastern to resume Shanghai-Saipan flights
  
  
  “China Eastern will resume its twice weekly Shanghai-Saipan flights starting Jan. 11, 2006, close to five months after the charter flights were suspended because of the decline of tourists coming in from China.”
  
  


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  China to survey dialects to better protect them | World | Reuters
  
  
  “A focus will be the Shanghai dialect … ‘As more and more young people in Shanghai use the dialect to communicate online, and as its vocabulary expands, it will be standardised and promoted as a distinct local language.’”
  
  


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  China’s New Bestseller: The Bible
  “Amity has churned out 41 million Bibles for Chinese believers at its plant outside … Nanjing, including more than 3 million copies last year. (About nine million copies have been exported to Africa, other parts of Asia and Central Europe.)”
• 5 nabbed in whisky sting
  “Police have arrested five people alleged to have duped a Swedish man into paying nearly 5,000 yuan ($680) for coffee and whisky during a recent business trip to the city.”
• Cyclists to race to top of city’s tallest tower on December 31
  “One contestant, Zhang Jincheng, the Guinness record keeper, is a 23-year-old from Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province. His two challengers are 28-year-old Andorran Xavi Casas and 34-year-old Colombian Javier Zapata.”


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  City tightens protection for historic buildings
  
  
  “The city government issued new rules last week banning road expansion on most of the 144 downtown roads lined with historic houses. The rules also ban tall buildings from being built in conservation areas.”
  
  


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  blognation China
  
  
  China tech blog worth checking out.
  
  


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  China Web2.0 Review
  
  
  Another China tech blog.


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  China: Pollution map of China released
  
  
  “Just over a year since their first mashup was released, the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, headed by journalist-environmentalist Ma Jun, has just released its Air Pollution Map, complete with its own BBS and space for feedback forum.”
  
  


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  Todd Crowned China’s Sole Survivor
  “The 22-year-old flight attendant and world-class schemer outwitted, outplayed and outlasted his competitors for 39 days to be crowned the $1 million winner of the reality show’s 15th edition and the youngest winner in the series’ history.” 15!
• Three Beijing buildings on Time magazine’s best list
  “Three architectures in Beijing are on the list of 10 best architectural marvels (new and upcoming) selected by the Time magazine to be published on the Dec. 24.” None from Shanghai.