Those sounding the death knell for an Apple, China Mobile iPhone partnership maybe a bit premature. On Friday, a China Mobile spokesperson in Hong Kong confirmed(in Chinese) that discussion between the two sides is still ongoing, but didn’t elaborate on any details. China Mobile has bluntly stated that it has no intention of sharing subscription revenue with handset manufacturers, the core of Apple’s business model. And as the overwhelmingly dominant carrier in China, it is... more ›

You guys ready for yet another ranking of most expensive cities? ECA International has ranked Shanghai the 8th costliest city in Asia for expats, so if they're to be taken seriously, Shanghai is cheaper than Beijing which came in 7th but more costly than Singapore which came in 9th. Seoul was the most expensive Asian city, while Guangzhou came in 10th. Also, Shanghai was named the 100th most expensive city in the world. That's 99... more ›

The Xinhua News Agency is reporting that China may allow foreign multinationals to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange(SSE). SSE officials are conducting feasibility studies and companies names mentioned include HSBC Holdings Plc, Coca-Cola Co., and Siemens AG. China is under renewed international pressure to speed up its currency reform and open its financial market. Letting foreign firms trade on domestic bourses may just be the first of many steps toward integrating China into the... more ›

According to a blog essay we found, a recent poll by Harris Interactive showed that of 6,000 people from France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and the US, the overwhelming majority considered China the second most powerful nation in the world after the USA. We did some searching on the internet, and couldn't find mention of that report. We tried on Harris Interactive's site as well, but no dice. Perhaps we haven't looked hard enough? Or... more ›

Question: “Who are three people who’ve never been in my kitchen?” Or lately: "Name three people hating on the once mighty US dollar." On Tuesday, Cheng Siwei, the vice chairman of China’s National People’s Congress suggested that China’s foreign exchange regulators ought to consider shifting the country’s massive USD $1.4 trillion reserve into “stronger” currencies. The greenback has been on a downward spiral since 2003. Little did Cheng know that his remarks would trigger a... more ›

And in a class all by itself, the US$1 trillion(1,000,000,000,000) club. On Monday, the 4 billion A-share offering, priced at 16.7 yuan per share, finished its first day of trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange at 43.96 yuan, rising as high as 48 yuan intraday. At US$1.005 trillion, PetroChina’s market cap is more than twice that of its US peer, Exxon Mobil (USD $486 billion), even though Exxon Mobil generated four times as much revenue... more ›

The lead paragraph of a Calcutta Telegraph article reads:

China has outpaced India in science in two decades and acquired a staggering lead that keeps widening, the most comprehensive analysis yet of Indian and Chinese research has said. more ›

Excitement is palpable among the crowd as China launched its first lunar orbiter, the Chang'e One satellite (named after the goddess of the moon 嫦娥), half a century after the Russians became the first to set out to space. more ›

For those keeping scores at home, and we know you are, this is now the third installment on the on-again, off again love affair between Bear Stearns and the Chinese government sponsored investment firm, CITIC. At this point, we don't know what or whom to believe. more ›

Earlier this week, we told you that a Chinese state owned bank is in talks to buy a stake in US investment bank, Bear Stearns. Apparently, we got some bad info, well actually Dow Jones Newswires got some bad info. See what happens when Rupert Murdoch gets involved? Anyway, today, we learned from a much more reputable publication, Shanghai Daily, that the deal is off, or something like that, here is the quote more ›

According to Bloomberg News, finance ministers of the G7 nations, currently meeting in Washington are once again expected to issue a strongly worded statement prodding China to do more with an undervalued yuan. The traditionally US championed trade tussle is getting some very vocal support from the Europeans and the Canadians this time around. more ›

Bear Stearns, the troubled US investment bank may soon find the People’s Republic of China among its key shareholders. According to Dow Jones Newswires, Jiang Dingzhi, vice chairman China Banking Regulatory Commission confirmed reports of China Citic Bank holding preliminary discussion with Bear Stearns for a stake in the Wall Street firm. China Citic Bank is a division of China Citic Group, an investment arm of the Chinese government. Bear Stearns’s Tokyo spokesperson refused to comment on the story. more ›

Georgia Popplewell of Global Voices Online has offered a great summary of reactions from the international blogosphere to Friday's announcement that former US vice president Al Gore and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have won this year's Nobel Peace Prize. more ›

Chinese investors came off of the October golden week in a buying mood. The A share market gapped higher and never looked back. At mid day break, the Shanghai Composite Index is up 3 percent, or 166 points at 5718, yet another record high. more ›

China Construction Bank’s A share began trading yesterday. The ￥6.45 IPO closed at ￥8.53 , a whopping 32 percent gain, eye popping in any Western markets, but here in China, a big yawn. Two other smaller companies went public on the same day, both advanced 200 percent plus, cha-ching! CCB was the largest China IPO to date(￥58 billion), but that title will soon belong to Shenhua Energy, the nation’s largest coal miner. The offering attracted a record ￥2.6 trillion(USD $355 billion) of funds looking to buy shares. The actual amount raised, based on projected ￥37/share and 1.8 billion shares offered would fall somewhere in the neighborhood of ￥66.6 billion, still a lot of zeros. more ›

Photo from US National Archive and Records Administration via Pingnews.com more ›

China is a Democracy, But Not Copy of the West, by Zhu Jing of the Chinese Embassy in Nairobi for the East African Standard, [via A Glimpse of the World]:

China practises a unique democratic experience, which is beneficial, reasonable and fruitful because it suits the country and has stood the test of time. more ›

It is now official: The Great Wall has been chosen as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World in an unprecedented global vote that drew nearly 100 million internet and telephone voters. In fact it received the most votes among the 21 finalist sites (not very surprising as China has one of the biggest internet populations?). Other sites that have been recognised as new wonders include: more ›

The recent hoopla over poisonous, tainted, and otherwise malignant Chinese exports — toothpaste, toys, and pet food, oh my! — has left us with an unpleasant taste in our mouths (and not just the minty-fresh kind). Industrial malfeasance has become the bane of Chinese commerce, and we have no intention of downplaying the unique brand of terror experienced by a parent who realizes he just gave his kid a lead-addled plaything. more ›

The Chinese-made Brilliance BS6 sedan, currently being sold in the European market, splendidly failed a German 40mph frontal crash test. Reuters said:

"In the event of a side crash, the strain on the driver's chest and abdominal area would be so high that a person would have little chance of surviving in a real accident," it said of test results for the Brilliance BS6 model.

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Mercer HR Consulting has once again released the findings of their annual Cost of Living Survey (it's almost as if they release a new report every month, doesn't it?). more ›

Continuing the fine Shanghaiist tradition of plagiarizing and plundering regurgitating Shanghai Daily stories, we bring you this article:

SHANGHAI named 83 folk arts as its first batch of city-level intangible culture heritage today as part of the city's efforts to protect and promote these "traditional treasures." more ›

Today is World No Tobacco Day, and according to a joint study done by Shanghai city and Fudan University public health researchers found that 82.8% of Shanghai people in a survey said they supported the idea of smoking/non-smoking sections in restaurants, while around 70% of restaurant managers said they were hoping to either completely ban smoking or else try sections. However, in reality only 6.1% of restaurants have banned smoking, and only 24.2% of restaurants have non-smoking sections. more ›

2200 years is a long time to get around renewing anything, but we say better late than never. Forget the seven wonders of the ancient world, it's time, in the 21st century, to let the people of the 42nd century know what we consider to be the seven wonders of the world. The Great Wall of China is one of the top 10 finalists:

According to the most recently published data, on May 7, the top 10 were the Great Wall of China, the Acropolis in Greece, the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico, the Coliseum in Rome, the Eiffel tower in Paris, the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu, Petra in Jordan, the statues on Easter Island, Britain's Stonehenge and the Taj Mahal in India. more ›

In 2006, Shanghaiist prayed for a direct flight connecting the United States' east coast to Shanghai. Hell, we even signed a petition to the FAA. But the travel god(s) turned a deaf ear to our pleading, and awarded the precious route to Washington, DC/Beijing. Bummer! But an announcement made yesterday after a two day summit between the senior American and Chinese finance ministers has rekindled our hope. To accommodate surging trade and air traffic between the two nations, the US and China have reached a broad based agreement to open more direct passenger and cargo routes. According to the Houston Business Journal: more ›

Last Sunday, Beijing took another step in diversifying its mammoth US$1.2 trillion (that's 1,200,000,000,000) foreign reserve by purchasing a US$3 billion stake in US private equity giant the Blackstone Group. more ›

Well, at least one membership organization for international human resources thinks so. Here's how the top 10 shakes out: more ›

A small, but relevant story for expats in Shanghai considering their next trip to the US of A. You may want to reconsider including a few fake Rolex watches in your take-home bag of goodies for your friends and family there. more ›

Back in late February, a 10 percent swoon in China’s equity market touched off a global sell off. Had you NOT listened to us and bought in on the dip, you’d be sitting pretty and swimming in coins like Scrooge McDuck. Yesterday, the Shanghai Composite Index crossed 4000 for the first time ever, a whopping 50 percent higher than where it stood at the end of that dreadful day just two months ago, and on the heels of a 160 percent gain last year. Sorry, we were dead wrong. Now we hear stories of people pawning their homes, cars, children to raise capital for the stock market. Very sensible indeed. more ›

The term 'food poisoning' is taken to the next level in China, with reports that not only have ingredients from China been killing pets, but have now killed up to 365 humans too. The New York Times reports that a safe additive used in cough syrup was substituted with diethylene glycol (an industrial solvent and a prime ingredient in anti-freeze) by Chinese companies. When exported from China, the syrup was labelled as 99.5 percent pure glycerin (a safe ingredient). It passed over three continents without being quality tested, and arrived in Panama to be used in cough medicine. Most of the victims have been children, unwittingly poisoned by their parents. more ›