An unidentified Chinese warship demanded that the Indian amphibious assault vessel INS Airavat identify itself and explain what it was doing in the South China Sea, after the ship left Vietnamese waters in late July. An Indian official has defended his country's right to transit through the international waters of the South China Sea, stating that questioning the right of passage by any other nation is "unacceptable." While the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry has confirmed that the INS Airavat docked in Vietnam from July 19th to the 22nd, they claim to have no knowledge of the incident. Though the incident is the first ever reported confrontation between the two navies in the South China Sea, it's merely the latest case of Chinese vessels harassing foreign ships this year. Reports surfaced in May of a Chinese fishing boat cutting the cables of a Vietnamese survey ship, leading to a series of protests that continued well into August. If we were one of the fenqing, we'd be all like, "Guess India and Vietnam didn't get that memo about the waters being called the South China Sea, and not the Eastern Vietnamese Sea (or Far Eastern Satellite Indian Ocean)?" more ›

Hey, neat! Who doesn't get a little tingle in their loins at the thought of a new amphibious warship being declared battle-ready? "The Jinggangshan (井冈山) dock landing ship, which is the largest warship in the Chinese Navy, was officially launched in Shanghai, Monday's Jiangxi Daily reported. The report did not give the exact date of the launch. With a displacement of 19,000 tons, the amphibious warship is 210 meters long and 28 meters wide and can carry helicopters, armored fighting vehicles, boats and landing craft as well as nearly 1,000 soldiers, Jiangxi Daily said. The ship was christened the Jinggangshan last December 'to show the love for the revolutionary base area and inherit and carry forward its revolutionary spirit,' according to Jiangxi Daily and china.com's report. Jinggangshan, or Jinggang Mountains, is located in East China's Jiangxi province and is known as the birthplace of China's People's Liberation Army and the cradle of China's revolution." [China Daily] more ›

Take a look at the Economist's illustration of the world's standing military personnel by country. China boasts the largest numbers at over 2.25 million. Surprisingly (maybe?) China ties with the US on air force size and its navy isn't far behind (worth noting that China's air force alone dwarfs the size of Britain's entire military). But as far as who is most "heavily militarized", measured by personnel per 1,000 population, the USA is three times more militarized than China, and North Korea blows everybody else out of the water. And does that big grey "other" section of the Russian military make anybody else nervous? more ›

Today a Chinese military official confirmed what everybody has known for at least a few months - if not years - already: China is nearing completion on its first aircraft carrier. more ›

It's summertime, and the world's navies have been cruising each other in the warm waters of the world's oceans as if it were some kind of brawny maritime love parade. Indeed, there has been a flurry of naval action in the Asian theatre recently - some of it routine and annual, some related to the Cheonan incident, but also chest thumping and jostling for position in territorial claims all over the place. more ›

• The WSJ pours cold water over Warren Buffet's darling, BYD, pointing out that their oft-regaled batteries are produced using 15-year-old methods: cheap manual labor that scraps 15 to 30% of its produced batteries because they fail to meet quality standards. [WSJ]
• The controversy surrounding the suicide of a young woman at Shanghai Maritime University has underscored the alleged lack of sensitivity to the problems of out-of-town students in Shanghai's many colleges. [China Daily]
• A guard at one of those black jails in Beijing, the ones used to keep protesters from reaching Zhongnanhai, was sentenced to eight years in prison for raping a young female detainee. [Associated Press]

• A hotel room that has stories to tell [Danwei] "But to see the photos as a realistic reflection or criticism of the social morbidity is not the only angle to appreciate them; take a closer look, you may find these photos do resemble a mystery/detective movie."
• China's navy turns 60 [Straits Times] "China's navy will mark its 60th anniversary with a ceremony starting on Thursday dubbed the 'naval Olympics' that will display the country's nuclear-powered submarines for the first time, state media said. The four-day event involves 21 vessels from 14 countries in the eastern city of Qingdao and includes a fleet review to be held Thursday - the fourth one in China since 1949."
• China Blog Guide: Ten Eclectic China Blogs You Should Follow [CNReviews] "The answer to English China blog fatigue is to start following some Atypical China Blogs. And, yes, some of the best are authored by “white dudes” (although some of them may in fact be “fake foreigners“…Adam Schokora comes to mind). Here they are..."

• “Zhejiang University Girl” Exposed By Human Flesh Search [Chinasmack] "On the evening of April 11th, through the human flesh search of netizens, the person who concocted “Zhejiang University Girl” came forward to apologize. The netizen passing as Zhejiang University Girl is “河谷渔风” ["He Gu Yu Feng"], from Jinhua in Zhejiang province, a male, born 1976 December 17. He admitted “Zhejiang University Girl” was fabricated. Reporters contacted and interviewed “河谷渔风”. “Writing this post was simply a fenqing vent. In the beginning it was posted on Tianya, there was no intention to target Zhejiang University, and even less to point at Professor Zheng Qiang.”"
• After Olympics, national spirit soars while human rights lag [USATODAY] "Not everyone agrees the billions spent on hosting the Summer Games was worthwhile. "I hoped the Olympic Games could improve my life, but they only brought disaster," says Zhang Wei, whose home was demolished in 2006 to make way for an Olympic makeover project just south of Tiananmen Square. She applied for a permit to protest but instead was sent to detention for a month. "The police told me it was because I told the truth about the demolition of my property to journalists," she says."
• Will Ditching The9 Help World Of Warcraft Get Past Chinese Censors? [Business Insider] "Starting in June, NetEase (NTES) will get exclusive operating rights to run the game in mainland China, replacing Blizzard's longtime partner The9 (NCTY), according to reports in Chinese media. Hopefully a new partner will help Blizzard through what's been a difficult period in its relations with the Chinese government. Blizz's latest Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, still isn't on sale in China."

• Arrests made over audio porn [Shanghai Daily] "City police approved the arrest of a Shanghai native surnamed Gong, 30, the general manager of ilisten.cn, for allegedly making a profit by spreading pornography. Other suspects in custody include two of Gong's employees - a local in charge of the company's technical department, and an Anhui Province native who worked in the department. A 23-year-old Shandong Province woman surnamed Ma was caught in Beijing. She was allegedly hired to record some of the audio books, police said."
• The world’s most lucrative social network? China’s Tencent beats $1 billion revenue mark [VentureBeat] "A billion dollars in revenue in a single year? Not even MySpace, currently the most profitable social network outside China, has managed to accomplish that. But publicly traded Tencent, a leading Chinese web portal, instant message client, social network, game developer and more has done it, and largely through the use of virtual goods and other 'Internet valued-added services,' like avatars, dating services, online memberships, music and community sites."
• Dissident warns Taiwan on China [Taipei Times] Yuan Hongbing (袁紅冰), a Chinese democracy activist living in exile in Australia, yesterday warned Taiwanese to beware of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “two-faced” approach to diplomacy. Yuan made the remarks at a press conference in Taipei after 15 Chinese academics were blocked from leaving the country to take part in a conference on the development of liberalism in China, despite calls for more cross-strait cultural and intellectual exchange by the Chinese leadership.

Photo from fateless_gypsy more ›

A museum designed to help Chinese people learn about all things African has opened up in Shanghai, says Xinhua:

The Museum for An Experience of African Lifestyle, which is now in open to the public, is Located on Xianggang Road near the Bund. more ›