So it seems that Moutai, a popular producer of baiju, has just been accused of selling fake liquor. The company, which packages their baiju in what looks like a detergent bottle, has since been quick to refute the rumors, claiming that they have already teamed up with local government units to investigate the allegations. more ›

Shanghai finds another crocodile in its rivers, your pipes are about to explode, restaurant smiley hygiene ratings go online, our legislator hates expensive baijiu, and more things being torn down in Shanghai. Here's what's happening around the city: more ›

Did you know that Shanghai held its first ever vintage Moutai auction over the weekend? On Sunday, over a hundred bottles of the top shelf baijiu sold for a total of 5.22 million. Most of the Moutai was brewed during the 1970s and 1980s, but there was one Five Star Maotai, bottled in 1955, that was listed for 1.26 million RMB. Unfortunately, it seems that even Chinese people won't pay much to drink the stuff. It didn't get sold. more ›

• France probes degree fraud [Straits Times] "FRANCE is investigating claims that hundreds of Chinese students bribed officials to secure diplomas in a corruption scandal at a French university... Prosecutors in Toulon launched an investigation last month after receiving a tip-off alleging that Chinese students were being sold degrees at the Institute of Business Administation (IAE) in the south-eastern town of Toulon."
• U.S. again declines to brand China FX manipulator [Reuters] "The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday declined to label China a currency manipulator, retreating from tough talk last year when a campaigning Barack Obama said Beijing had kept its currency's exchange rate unfairly low. In a semiannual report to Congress on currency practices of key trading partners, the Treasury said all were suffering from the current global economic downturn, but said none manipulate their currencies for trade advantage."
• Pirate Bay Loses A Lawsuit; Entertainment Industry Loses An Opportunity [Techdirt] "Well, the verdict has come down in the trial against The Pirate Bay in Sweden, and it appears The Pirate Bay has been found guilty and each of the defendants has been sentenced to a year in jail and told to pay $3.6 million in damages (less than a third of what the entertainment industry asked for)... The ultimate problem, of course, is that the entertainment industry still (amazingly) thinks this is a legal issue, not a business model one. It can win as many legal battles as it wants, but in thinking it's a legal issue, it will never recognize how its business models need to change."