When it comes to flights to, from and inside China, it seems everyone has a China Eastern horror story. This one might top it all. things got so bad on this particular flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai that the passengers staged a sit-in.
Some woman in Southern California was so upset by Miley Cyrus' “chink-eye” pose that she decided to file a class action suit... for $4 billion. Because that's the number of Asian Pacific Islanders who live in L.A. County (a little more than 1 million) times the minimum damages for a civil rights violation ($4000 USD - about 27,340 yuan).
According to the Wall Street Journal, a lawsuit against the Bank of China has been filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming that Bank of China transferred millions of dollars for terrorist groups bent on attacking Israel, ignoring demands by Israeli counterterrorism officials to halt the practice. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of more than 100 victims of terrorism in Israel and alleges that the money was transferred for the militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Iran and Syria, and processed through Bank of China's branches in the U.S. and China. "I don't know about the matter," Wang Zhaowen, spokesman for the bank, told Dow Jones Newswires. According to one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, Bank of China now has 20 days to respond to the lawsuit under U.S. legal procedures.
Protests, protests everywhere — in Europe, within China, and all across the United States. Quite frankly, we can barely catch up with it all. Watch protestors shout "CNN liar! Cafferty fire!" in this video of the anti-CNN demonstration which took place outside CNN's studios in downtown LA that we told you about earlier. [h/t to Danwei]
Shanghaiist's Paris correspondent Hélène Franchineau brings us these photos of a demonstration conducted by the Chinese student community there on Saturday in protest against the western media's biased reporting of events within China. On the same day, similar protests were conducted by the Chinese community across the United States. The anti-CNN demonstration which took place outside CNN's studios in downtown Los Angeles attracted "thousands of Chinese Americans and overseas Chinese" according to this Xinhua report. Another demonstration in the Upper Senate Park in Washington D.C., just across the street from the U.S. Capitol Building, attracted about 300 protestors.
The Los Angeles Dodgers take on the San Diego Padres this weekend at Beijing's Olympic baseball stadium. Seating capacity is limited to 13,000 spectators, and sure enough Emma has sold out their allotment of the cheap seats here in Shanghai. We're curious as to the scalper situation in Beijing, but for the risk-averse, other Chinese ticketing websites still have a small number of tickets left. A little internet sleuthing can still get you into the RMB 88 section! As far as the line-ups, San Diego is bringing a mix of veterans and new players to Beijing:
The Padres traveling contingent includes players with substantial experience in the Major Leagues (closer Trevor Hoffman), up-and-coming regulars (Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Kouzmanoff) and a host of players who will play in the Minor Leagues in 2008.The Dodgers seem to have left their star players in Florida in favor of featuring their two Asian prospects:
None of the pitchers on the roster played more than 16 games in the majors last year. Non-roster invitee Chan Ho Park, who is seeking to revive his career, is the most experienced with 11-plus years of major league service, and will be joined by pitchers including Hong-Chih Kuo, Eric Stults and Eric Hull, who spent most of last year in the minors.That's disappointing for True Blue fans, but the chance to see Joe Torre leading a team in America's national pastime still has us excited to be there. For the unlucky, unadventurous, or just plain lazy, baseball will show its face in our lovely hometown starting next month. The China Baseball League 2008 season runs from early April to late September, with a three-and-a-half month break over the summer for the Beijing Olympics. Shanghai's Special Olympic Stadium, Kangbei Baseball and Softball Field in Pudong, will host the city's Shanghai Eagles in 12 games this season. According to the official schedule posted to the CBL's site last month the Eagles' first home game will be on April 18. Take us out to the ballgame! Major League Baseball Spring Training in China, San Diego Padres vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (split-squad), Wukesong Baseball Field, Beijing, Friday and Saturday, 1 pm. Previously on Shanghaiist
Having soft-opened since February 9th, Lawry's the Prime Rib is ready to put on its best face for Shanghai's beef lovers beginning with its grand opening tomorrow. Shanghaiist was able to do some preview dining and we were left with one distinct impression: this place takes its prime rib traditions very seriously.
Steven Spielberg's decision to withdraw from arranging the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics caused press around the world (except for China) to rub their hands with glee this week at the prospect of China's dirty laundry being flown from the flagpoles of Beijing.
href="http://torontoist.com/2008/02/phototo_snowbal.php">photographing a big, organized snowball fight.
Earlier we had reported that America's favorite pastime might soon be making its Chinese debut and now it's official. The China Series 2008, as its being called, will feature two games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres on March 15-16. The games will be held at Beijing's Wukesong Baseball Field, which will also be used for the upcoming Olympics. No word yet on when tickets will be available or how much they will be.
Photo Credit: Malingering
The last time an anchor from our favourite TV channel made it to the news, he created such a brouhaha that culminated in the eviction of one coffee company from the Forbidden City. In the news this time is New Zealand-born anchor Edwin Maher who for many years before arriving in China was a weatherman with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The Los Angeles Times published a profile of Maher that started it all off. It...
New Burger on the Block: Thanks to the always up-to-date Christine Lu from the China Business Network, we learned that Los Angeles based burger joint Fatburger is planning on expanding big into China, starting with their first restaurant at the Venetian in Macao. From their press release: Additional Fatburger restaurants are scheduled to open in Hong Kong in the coming months: the first on Queens Road East and the second at Jia Hotel in Causeway...
There isn't a live music update this week, but it's art shows galore TONIGHT. Three picks that aren't in your conventional Moganshan Lu / Taikang Lu destinations.
He's performed shows around the world from London to Los Angeles, from Vegas to Berlin and from Zurich to Tokyo. Earlier this year, world-class magician Marco Tempest, the Virtual Magician, was hired by Daihatsu for Auto Shanghai, apparently the world's second largest car fair. Watch him in this newly released video as he goes around Shanghai, rehearses for the big show and impresses the girls backstage. Pretty interesting stuff. At least we now know one car company is not just counting on the tall svelte models dressed in metallic mini-skirts to pull in the crowds.
China hurting in world opinion polls [China Post]
In a survey covering 18 countries which account for 56 percent of the world's population, 38 percent said China can be trusted to act responsibly while 52 percent said the country can't be trusted.
Letter accuses China's party of drift [Los Angeles Times]
A rare open letter signed by 17 former top officials and conservative Marxist scholars ahead of a key party meeting accuses China's top leaders of steering the country in the wrong direction, pandering to foreigners, and betraying the workers' revolution.
Nine in 10 downed China officials had mistresses [Reuters]
Chinese anti-graft investigators have found that 90 percent of the country's most senior officials brought down in corruption cases in recent years had kept mistresses, drawing a link between sex and misconduct.
Illegal mapping in China by foreigners on rise [China Daily]
The number of cases involving foreign institutions and individuals conducting illegal surveying and mapping in China has been on the rise in recent years, according to the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM).
Video of Blind Stereo MV
OK, we've never heard of East Star Airlines before, but it has just become the first private airline in China to be authorized to operate international flights. A Xinhua report tells us that under Civil Aviation Administration of China regulations, new airlines may apply to operate international flights only after three years of operations. East Star has been in business less than two years, but it beat rivals Okair, Ueair, Juneyao Airlines and Spring Airlines to be the first. Hmm... we wonder what made them bend those rules!
Air China has been hit by a spate of minor accidents lately. Yesterday flight CA941 (and that's a Boeing 767 you see in the picture), headed to Dubai from Beijing, was ready for takeoff with 148 passengers on board at about 5:15pm, when its "fore-undercarriage suddenly took back, leaving the plane nose on the ground". Ouch! Just two days before this though, yet another Air China flight (a Boeing 747 this time) had to make an emergency landing at the Los Angeles International Airport. The plane had just taken off when the captain reported a tire blowout. Thankfully there were no reports of injuries, although tire debris was found on the runway.
Mercer HR Consulting has once again released the findings of their annual Cost of Living Survey (it's almost as if they release a new report every month, doesn't it?).
If you are familiar with drinking heavily or going to Chinese banquets (basically the same thing), you've probably been forced to chug try some Maotai. Deemed "China's national liquor" by Reuters, Maotai or máotáijiǔ (茅台酒) is one of the most famous brands of Chinese rice wine (or báijiǔ). Although dignitaries like Margaret Thatcher and Richard Nixon have put this put-hair-on-your-chest drink to their conservative lips, the popular liquor is now threatened. You see, Maotai is...
The upcoming May holiday sees a Shanghai band heading to the US and a US band (not Pretty Girls Make Graves) coming to Shanghai.
It is said that the first step toward recovery is admitting that you have a problem. Of course, this begs the question: recovery from which problem? Whatever the impetus for these changes, China has finally admitted to taking the organs of executed prisoners. Does this mean an end of the free-flow, all-you-can-afford, buffet-bonanza on the virile organs of hapless young peasants executed under one of China's 70 capital crimes?
is a hit. It's getting rave reviews, grossing millions, and definitely the most quotable thing we've seen in ages. But Borat seems to have missed most of the -ist cities, and we were all wondering how the film would have been different if he'd made his way around the world on the -ist tour.
Zhu said that after 10 minutes of treatment Bai's lung cancer had been cured and he would recover quickly.
The two photos above are from Shanghai. The second, we think, is Shanghai Railway Station. Barbieri's work comes to our city as part of the Shanghai Biennale and the Year of Italy in China. More Biennale events are listed here.
Shanghai malls haven't been doing too hot lately. The Cloud Nine Shopping Mall in Zhongshan Park can claim to be "the city's biggest shopping center in terms of floor space," but suffers from a severe lack of tenants and had to cede their home-grown basement grocery store to Carrefour in in June due to lackluster sales. In July, the Los Angles Times exposed Shanghai's luxury malls as "ghost malls", spearing Plaza 66 and others for renting space to designer name brands at cut-rates in order to create a façade of prosperity and high fashion for the city.
It's a brilliant idea. And we can only hope she keeps it up for decades to come -- and then maybe we can see some changes. What we learn from this segment of her life is that Asian women don't age much in three years and that Miss Lee abandoned black-rimmed hipster glasses for a short period of time and then decided to give them another try. A good move. They look good.
This may be old news (in fact, according to this link, it's almost three-year-old news) but we just learned over the weekend that McDonald's delivers in Shanghai, so we thought perhaps it would be new to some of you, too. We're not sure if every McDonald's in town delivers, but the one we were at in Yu Yuan (don't ask) does. The sign says they deliver between 9 am and 9 pm and require a minimum order of 50 kuai -- which means Shanghaiist won't be getting delivery anytime soon, since the only reason we ever go to McDonald's is for their ice cream.
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