Want to watch US congressional candidate Mark Amodei make an idiot of himself? Sure ya do. This is the Nevada candidate's election campaign video which consists of a mock Chinese news broadcast trumpeting the decline of the US and the rise of our own good fortunes. It then cuts to Amodei himself who says he would never let the China nightmare happen and then for good measure, utters the word "independence". We really like his classy scare-tactics, how Chinese troops are edited so that they're marching over DC, but most of all how we get called a "great empire". more ›

More people should have listened to analyst Kelvin Tan of Las Vegas Sands, the Nevada-based hotel, gaming and retail corporation. When reports began appearing on various horse-racing websites at the end of October stating that Beijing Jockey Club had been awarded an unprecedented 12-month gambling license, Mr Tan swam against the tide, maintaining that the Chinese government would continue to restrict betting to table games in border casinos. Had his bearish stance been adopted earlier by the main drivers behind the Beijing Jockey Club’s ambitious breeding, training and racing programme -- namely Hong Kong businessman Yun Pung Cheng and his racing director Kevin Connolly -- things might not have taken as dramatic a turn as they did in the last month, when more than 600 thoroughbreds were given lethal injections as fortunes at the club waned. In a country where considerably less humane slaughter methods are widely employed, the mass-euthanasia has been described by the chief executive of the International League for the Protection of Horses as “a tragedy, but not one as bad as neglect, starvation or being sold to work in front of a cart for the rest of your days”. Nonetheless, with the 2008 Olympics looming, it is a major PR blow for animal-unfriendly China, which is having to stage its Olympic equestrian events in Hong Kong as a result of being unable to provide adequate quarantine provision. Not to mention a huge blow for the 600 horses who met their maker. more ›

Planning a party can drive a man to drink. Thankfully for Shanghaiist, we're now just a short walk from good, cold beer -- KABB recently started carrying Samuel Adams Boston Lager. Now, there are plenty of places in Shanghai to get a decent brew -- if you are willing to pay for it -- but there is a definite dearth of hoppy beers in our city. And Shanghaiist likes a hoppy beer. A nice Sierra Nevada Pale Ale makes us sooooo happy. Unfortunately, we haven't seen any of those in Shanghai. There are two Australian beers -- Coopers Sparkling Ale and Coopers Original Pale Ale -- that you can find at a handful of local bars and restaurants. In fact, the City Mart (kind of a fake-and-not-really-very-good City Supermarket in the basement of the Pacific Department Store on Huaihai Zhong Lu) used to carry a nice selection of Coopers beers, and Australian wines, at very reasonable prices. We'd buy a six-pack of pale ales for 9 kuai a bottle. Pretty damn good (even if the beer isn't quite as hoppy as we would like). And then one day we walked in and all the Australian stuff was gone ... and replaced by Heineken. Yuck. Shanghaiist was very sad. more ›