Results tagged “maps”

• Who knew that one simple gesture, like holding your own umbrella, could mean so much? Obama made an awesome first impression by shielding himself from rain on Sunday evening, thanks partially to the habit of Chinese officials usually having a flukey to hold their umbrellas, P. Diddy style. [Wall Street Journal]
• The LA Times has a great look at the story behild Jiyuan, a place known for manufacturing lead batteries where lead poisoning has gotten so bad that entire villages are being evacuated. [LA Times]
• So should we be calling President Obama 奥巴马 (àobāmǎ) or 欧巴马 (ōubāmǎ)? Both have been used in press releases, though the U.S. Embassy said it was now standardizing the Chinese translation of Barack's last name and should now be using the latter exclusively. [Danwei]

While on our regular traverses through the internets, we came across these hilarious netizen-made maps detailing what people from specific regions of China think about the other regions around China. And if you've ever been in a conversation with a Chinese person, you'll know they're full of opinions about what their Henan brethren are like, or what those damn Shaanxi people are always up to.

We'll be the first to admit that navigating Shanghai's streets can be a monstrous task at times. Maybe you're new to the city. Maybe, like some of us, you have the navigational ability of a sea cucumber. Either way, this shirt we found with a map of central Shanghai printed on it seems like the best low-tech way to get yourself un-lost.

A blogger out of Fujian has compiled an open-source google map that places major pollution sites around china. While similar sources have existed in the past, this is the first one that allows other users to contribute sites with pollution problems. The map, which was created by Guo Baofeng, has attracted a lot of interest on Chinese BBS' and Forums: check it out while you still can, because you never know when it could suddenly disappear.

Ever wanted to look at Shanghai through the lens of one of those older Sim City games? While we've discovered this 3D map of Shanghai before, James Fallows over at the Atlantic brought it to our attention again (it has been two years since we last swooned over it, after all) and we've re-realized how cool it is. It's called Edushi.com

As is the tradition, each year Google creates a rumor or a hoax that is designed to give the internet community a bit of a giggle. This year Google rehashed an old theme especially for us Chinese "fools."

Buses are everywhere and go everywhere in this city. But for those of us less familiar with the system, it can be tough to puzzle out which ones we can actually use. Well... did you know that Google Maps now shows exactly where the various bus lines running around the Shanghai area stop? Even though ditu.google.com is in Chinese, it's bound to be a great resource for anyone who lives more than a ten minute walk from a subway station. Hurrah!

The Explore blog notes that a shuttle bus transfer is no longer required when traveling from Yishan Lu (Lines 3/4) to Guilin Lu (Line 9), or vice-versa. The best Shanghai metro map around has been updated to reflect this change. Have fun on Line 9!

Source: Real Clear Sports

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(2008 Edition) brought to you courtesy of the nice people at Immersion Guides (affiliated with the unfortunately named That's BJ Magazine/website/thebeijinger.com). We have a lot of Chinese guidebooks, but we have yet to encounter one quite so thorough as this one. At just over 700 pages, it leaves no stone unturned*. Covering everything from buying art to child rearing, it's a valuable resource for tourists and residents alike.

The Crash Test Dummy Video Blog features videos of bike journeys around Shanghai. Recently they have been chewing over the same problem as Shanghaiist: Bought a good bike, Shanghai is great for cycling ... keep running into no-bike dead spots. Good for us, they have just released their first version of a Puxi cycle map.

So if you’ve ever fancied travelling from I’m a hot dashing dinosaur (Shanghai Indoor Stadium) to Thoroughly Hawaiian Satanists (Shanghai South Railway Station) to Drab Penguin (Nanpu Bridge) now is your chance!

When Shanghai resident and blogger Jakob Montrasio posted this photo on our Contribute Page, we wondered exactly when he visited the Forbidden City, because the blue skies in the photo weren't in Beijing last week when we were there. Then we realized the photo was taken in Zhejiang Province — a place called Hengdian World Studios (横店影视城) — where a seemingly life-size replica of the Forbidden City can be found (with a small mountain...

A few months ago, we informed you of the latest information about the 15th edition of CBS' Survivor: China, to be held...in China (surpise, surprise). In a few short weeks, the show will debut after filming its episodes during July and August. As the stentorian narrator in this early promo for the show says, "For the first time, a major American show goes behind the Great Wall to shoot entirely in China. It's a place...

Among the many things one can do to make China "lose face" in the international eye:

Pioniers, a minor league team in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In 2007, he was signed by the Beijing Tigers of the China Baseball League (more info here). The CBL season already over, Kim recently answered some of our questions via email.

Two bits of transportation news from random sources:

The Shanghai Daily and local media report that a historic slaughterhouse located at 10 Shajing Rd in Shanghai's Hongkou district is set to open in July as a luxury shopping shopping center featuring "house jewelry and car shops". The old slaughterhouse, built in 1933, is famed for being one of three in the world with a unique octagonal architecture, and whose twisting passages, balconies and bridges have been a prized target for wily photographers who could talk their way into the off-limits building used as a factory and warehouse since the 1950s; this "reporter" couldn't get in, but others have. The Metro Express article-cum-press-release linked to above likens the project to Xintiandi and certain areas of the Bund, and reports that architects are referencing old photographs of the building during the restoration process.

The back cover of yesterday's Xinmin Evening News featured the photograph to the right accompanied by an article centered on Mr Ding, a worker who has been employed at Shanghai historic Jiangnan Shipyard for 42 years. The reason that the photographer wrote the article is because he finally got the chance, through a photography contest, to tour the limited-access factory that was founded in 1856. And the reason that the newspaper published the article is that the factory is set to be moved to a new location; the buildings are being repurposed to serve as logistics, administration and public service bases, and supermarkets for the 2010 World Expo Park.

This is a little old, but we have a feeling many of you haven't seen it yet. From what we have read and seen (front row last month at Yunfeng Theater) of ?uestlove, drummer for The Roots, we always thought the man also known as Ahmir-Khalib Thompson would be a pretty cool guy to hang out with. And then someone told us to check out his blog on MySpace and now our new goal in life is get invited to one of ?uestlove's cookouts should we ever leave Shanghai and move back to rockin' Conshohocken. His blog is an entertaining and honest glimpse into the life of a celebrity, although it seems as though he's not really sure if he feels like a celebrity yet.

Shanghaiist contributor Micah has posted some information about the present and future of Wujiang Lu in the comments section of our post from yesterday. We thought they were worth highlighting.

Would you believe that we get emails fairly regularly from people looking for even the most basic information about the China Baseball League? We wrote a story about the pro league back in 2004, and it's a testament to how little English info about the league exists out there that it's still one of most widely read CBL sources on the internet (it helps that Wikipedia linked to it). And so we have people asking us about everything from how they can play in the league to how they can watch a game ... or even if the league exists anymore (and lately that actually has been a pretty good question). Shanghaiist's last post about the CBL came in July 2005. Shortly thereafter the league saw a change at the top — Tom McCarthy, the American who helped found the league, left, and when he did, information about the league in English dried up (look, their English website still thinks it is April 2005). And throughout last season, the Chinese version of the site sat unchanged, as well. (Tianjin beat Guangdong for the title, for those of you still on the edge of your seat.) We think we're going to give the CBL another chance in 2007, however. They've updated and redesigned their website (they even have a countdown to opening day ... which is Friday). And we're really jonesing to watch some baseball action. The MLB season has started, but our satellite TV is down and we've been too lazy/busy to burn or buy a new card and we doubt our internet connection could handle MLB.tv. And while the CBL is a far cry from the big leagues (or even the minor leagues) there's something nice about an afternoon spent at the ballpark. And where is the Shanghai ballpark? Well, the Eagles are back in Pudong's Congbei Stadium, near the intersection of Yunlian Lu (云连路) and Qihe Lu (齐河路) . Here is a map and public transportation directions (in Chinese) courtesy of Baidu. You'll see that it is much easier to hop in a cab. We called up a college student who we met at a game a couple years ago (his English name is Goose) and he hooked us up with the 2007 China Baseball League Schedule, which you can see in English and Chinese by pressing on the "Continue reading ..." link below. Goose also invited Shanghaiist readers to visit his baseball BBS website. So check out the schedule, after the jump, but keep in mind that Shanghai's first home game isn't until April 20. Maybe we'll see you there? If the concessions situation is the same as it was in the past, we should plan on packing our own beer and hot dogs, not to mention peanuts and Cracker Jacks. Also on Shanghaiist
Beijing Tigers could win China baseball crown today
Wild Pitch? Major League Baseball to open China office
Ouch! China clobbered by Japan in World Baseball Classic Related
Basbeall league gets Japanese help (Xinhua)
In search of baseball's Yao Ming (Shanghai Diaries)
MLB invests in China’s baseball growth (Shanghai Diaries)
Take me out to the bangqiu bisai (Shanghai Diaries)
Buy me some peanuts and … soy sauce rice crackers? (Shanghai Diaries) Photo of Goose from danwashburn.com.

Shanghaiist reader Jonas writes:

We hinted at this several days ago, but we didn't say more because the story we found didn't include some crucial information (like a location). But yesterday a friend who works for ESPN.com forwarded us the event's press release, which you can read here. There we learn that "[m]ore than 200 of the world’s top action sports athletes from more than 20 countries and five continents will compete in the three-day event and feature multiple disciplines, including Aggressive In-Line Skate, Skateboard, BMX Freestyle, Sport Climbing as well as a Moto X demonstration." But more importantly, we find out where all of this will happen — Yangpu District's Jiangwan Stadium.

In a city not exactly synonymous with the word "culture," it's refreshing to find the ever-so-rare odd subculture existing, nay, possibly even thriving.

If you have some time, it's definitely worth clicking around the site for a while. The site has another interactive sound map, with more than 20 sound clips from all over the country. We could have chosen that map to highlight in this post, but it totally skips over Shanghai, so we didn't.

We don't know honestly. We ride Shanghai's metro every day and have only used Beijing's a couple times back in 2004. Still, seeing Beijing ranked No. 9 (and Shanghai unranked) in this list of the top 11 underground transit systems in the world surprised us a bit — because all the China subway hype we hear is about Shanghai's fast-growing system (or maybe that's just because we live in Shanghai?). Here's what the list, from Virgin Vacations, said about Beijing's system (which ranked one spot ahead of Hong Kong's):

This service, located at ditu.google.cn, has replaced Google Local, which was at bendi.google.cn. First off, there's a couple of big differences between this and Google Maps for the US. You can't use satellite or hybrid mode in the Chinese version. If you want a satellite you have to go back to using Google Earth or other such sites, and of course it's hard to find your way there because all you see are blotches of rooftops. Ditu.google.cn just has the regular graphics.