The World Expo Tunnel, which stretches beneath the Huangpu River, connecting Pudong and Puxi reached its full length on August the 20th: it's 2.67 kilometers long, and located 1.117 kilometers below the river.The soccer World Cup qualifier match between North and South Korea has been moved from Pyongyang to Shanghai, because the North had refused to play the anthem or fly the flag of its opponent (technically the two Koreas are still at war). The......

Photo by NoLimitsTW More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here).......

In the days following the earthquake a number of stories have started surfacing about Sichuan's enormous migrant labor force and their concerns for loved ones back home. Out of the many laborers that have moved into China's rapidly developing urban areas, more come from Sichuan than any other province. A recent article from the Wall Street Journal tells us:According to official figures, eight million migrant workers come from Sichuan. But the official figures exclude many......

‘From Camilla French and Judy Brettschneider of Current TV:Gathering Dust’ is a collection of fleeting portraits of migrants in Beijing. It visits a cleaner, a migrant school teacher, street vendors, sex workers and migrant children. These migrants come from poor rural areas, and when in Beijing, live at the fringes of urban society. Yet they perform many of the menial jobs without which, Beijing’s and China’s astonishing development would not be possible. We wanted to......

If you visit Contrasts Gallery on Jiangxi Lu now, you will find lots of migrant workers have actually made it their temporary home, but that is not some avant garde artist doing his latest exhibition. Here's a note from reader Arjen van der Schoot who loaned one of his paintings to the exhibition that is currently being held hostage by the workers:Contrasts Gallery on Jiangxi Road opposite Hamilton House over a disputed RMB 1 million......

Long story short, the place is a zoo, but what'd you expect. Of course, things are made worse by the weather. Here are some pics from the last few days. From what we've been hearing both in the news and in our apartment elevator, the dastardly weather gods have caused big time cancellations and problems. Despite the crowds of cold people and the massive B.O. from the people waiting inside the subway station, things......

Huang Qingnan (黃慶南), the activist from the Shenzhen Dagongzhe Migrant Worker Centre who was brutally hacked on his back, waist and leg is finally well enough to give an interview. Erm, well, not really. From this video, it appears he was splashed with acid too? We can't quite tell. Urgh. Anyhow, the muscles on his left calf have all been destroyed, which means he will have to learn how to keep his balance with his......

Troubling news has emerged over the last day regarding the tragic killing of a man in Tianmen, Hubei province. Clashes started last Monday over a failed promise by the city government to move a garbage dump away further away from a residential area. About fifty or so chengguan (城管) or 'city managers' were called in to control the crowd. Wei Wenhua, a manager at a local government-owned construction company with no apparent connection to the......

A recent article in Bokee about human guinea pigs that test out new and experimental drugs for a living or sometimes just for a kick. The article says that there are three different types of people that do this: 1. university students who might be studying medicine and could use the cash, 2. people who want to further the cause of medicine (and who might be sick themselves, and thus have a stake in it),......

You must have heard it many times by now that China is currently witnessing the biggest mass migration the world has ever known. The government says there are about 120 million migrant workers on the move, while some experts contend that there are over 200 million. They are building the apartments that you live in, the offices that you work in, and the malls that you shop in. What is life like for them? Current......

Cyber dissident Wang Dejia was arrested for "subverting state secrets" (what else?), which means penning too many articles critical of the government. Some of those critical essays pertained to the upcoming summer Olympics:In recent months, Wang also gave an interview to the Epoch Times, a media group backed by the banned sect F@lun G0ng, in which he claimed the Olympics would exacerbate the sufferings of Chinese people and leave them "living like dogs and pigs."......

Migrant workers—let's face it, you either love 'em or hate 'em. There's just no in between. It seems that lately, they've been getting some love from the people, what with Chongqing's official Migrant Worker Day and now with the recent announcement by none other than Premiere Wen Jiabao himself that the popular "Migrant Worker Song" (or "Ode to the Migrant Worker" as we prefer to translate it when we're feeling poetic), a song written by......

Shanghai Awaiting Approval on Disneyland [AP] Shanghai is awaiting approval of mainland China's first Disneyland, and the theme park could be built on an island in the Yangtze River, according to reports in the mainland and Hong Kong media.Shanghai sets up $1bn fund [FT] Shanghai's city government is setting up a financial investment company with about $1bn to spend on investments in China and overseas.New mechanisms required for China's climate change efforts - Greenpeace [Forbes]......

Two weeks ago, when we told you that China's new labour law was going to be a big, big thing, we had no idea it would also be the cause of some serious blood-letting. Local gangs and triads have been attacking the Shenzhen Dagongzhe Migrant Worker Centre which has been instrumental in providing legal advice for rural migrant workers and informing them about their rights under the new labour law. In separate attacks, they shattered......

Al-Jazeera is not the news channel one typically goes to for China news, but they have just come up with an excellent documentary that we felt compelled to share with you. It offers us a glimpse of what life is like for the more than 150 million people who have left their homes in rural China in search of a better paying job in the cities. It's the biggest mass migration the world has......

If you've ever wondered about the sex lives of Chinese migrant farm workers, the first report of its kind has been published in the eighth issue of The Chinese Journal of Human Sexuality. Among the sordid details:Of the 533 migrant workers from other provinces and regions, 41.84 percent of them want a sexual life outside of marriage. Of this category 12.01 percent have that thought often, among which 24.50 percent not only have the intention,......

Burma junta holds rally, arrests 4 activists [AP] On Saturday, the Burmese junta organized a mass rally in Rangoon to denounce Western powers and the foreign media, whom the military regime accuses of fomenting the recent protests. Officials said 120,000 people attended the event, some of whom were paid to be there. Among some of the slogans the crowds were made to chant include "Down with BBC! Down with VOA! Down with Radio Free Asia!"Singapore's......

Oops..we have been sitting on this a few days, all the beers and amazing shows made Shanghaiist a little loopy and unable to sit down and type. The entry below comes via Emily Moy who had a chance to sit down with Talib Kweli and Ozomatli at the Yue Festival press conference last Thursday........ Its 3:30p.m., I’m running up and down The Bund and, I’m LATE. My interviews with Talib Kweli and Ozomatli are to......

We told you about the fake water, we told you about the fake buns, and if you've been reading this blog a while now, you'd have realised by now we told you about a gazillion other fake products as well. Just when we thought we'd reached the frontier, China Daily comes along to tell us that the Beijing Television report we showed you was - well you guessed it - fake! A temporary employee......

We must admit that Shanghai Daily has some of the most curious captions around, but some of them do actually entice us to read on further! In this story entitled, Prison for a sleeping pill beauty cheat, we read of a 25 year old girl, Ma Jing, from Sichuan who was imprisoned yesterday by the Jing'an District People's Court for 10 years for robbing an elderly couple that had hired her to have a baby......

Former top drugs man faces death over bribes One of the nation's former leading drug administrators, Cao Wenzhuang, yesterday received a suspended death sentence from a Beijing court. This follows the execution order on Cao's ex-boss, Zheng Xiaoyu. 'Wife shortage' to hit nation in 2020s Today's boys may face a major problem when they become tomorrow's men - they will find it very difficult to get hitched because there won't be enough women. Taiwan doctors......

New York Yankees sign on first Chinese players. The New York Yankees announced today that they have signed left-handed pitcher Kai Liu and catcher Zhenwang Zhang to minor league contracts, becoming the first Major League team to sign a player from the People's Republic of China with approval from the country's baseball association. China Fines Six Banks for Lending to Stock Purchases China's banking regulator fined six banks for making loans that were illegally......

Face-lift after 'health check' on Xupu Bridge "Xupu Bridge's 240 suspension cables are to have a large-scale renovation to make the bridge safer and more beautiful prior to the opening of World Expo 2010, the Shanghai Engineering Administrative Bureau has said." If no Expo, safety not an issue. Frozen fish from China recalled as two in Chicago fall illfpr "The list of potentially deadly products reaching the United States from China continued to grow......

China to take up currency row directly with US Congress "Tough-talking Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi is to meet with key Congressional panels during her visit to Washington this month for a "strategic economic dialogue" launched by the two powers in December, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said." Survey on standard of living for migrant workers A survey found that the standard of living of migrant workers isonly about one half of that of city......

China is biggest espionage threat to Canada "Almost half of counter-espionage efforts in Canada target Chinese spies, the head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service told a senate committee on Monday." Songs, kisses and sweat on Labor Day of migrant workers "In the prosperous metropolis of Shanghai, migrant workers even joined in performances, singing and dancing and taking part in games to show their talents." Hershey lures Asians with green tea Kisses "The century-old......

According to this morning's Metro Express (时代报), officials at Shanghai's Conference on Population and Family Planning declared yesterday that there were 18.15 million inhabitants of Shanghai at the end of 2006 — and that doesn't include migrant workers. The figure is said to be 2.07 million more than 2000. By 2010, the population is expected to exceed 19 million. We also learn that each year Shanghai's population increases the size of a "mid-sized city" (the......

Chinese man dies during gaming session "The 26-year-old man, surnamed Zhang from the city of Jinzhou, died Saturday after a marathon gaming session from what a doctor said was overwork and obesity." Tom Online apologizes to The Beijing News for copyright violation "Tom Online apologized to The Beijing News for republishing articles from the paper without authorization between 2003 and 2006 and will provide compensation, Tom Online said in a statement." China Confirms Human......

Director Nick Broomfield recently released Ghosts (鬼佬) on the film festival circuit. The movie tells the story of Chinese illegals eking out a living in England, and although we searched quite thoroughly on a recent trip to the states, evidently it is only showing in England at this time. Therefore, because we have yet to see Ghosts, we cannot comment much further, and instead, here is the synopsis from the movie's website. Based on true......

Or at least on one Chinese song, written about a migrant worker's yearning to return home to see his parents: Chinese online hit "I Wanna Go Home, Mom and Dad" about migrant workers is expected to end Hollywood director Mel Gibson's next movie. The song is supposedly going to be used—at least partially in Chinese—in Gibson's upcoming film project. We were unable to find out what this film is called in English, but from this......

From this blog we found an article that had been taken from news.163.com about a school for the children of migrant workers' in Shanghai that was forcibly shut down by the police. The Jian Ying School (建英学校) on Dan Ba Lu (丹巴路）was given an ultimatum on January 5 that the school had to be shut down by January 8. On Monday morning around 6 am, people, including parents, onlookers, and journalists, gathered around the school.......