Chinese search engine Baidu just can't seem to stay out of the news. Pacific Epoch thinks that Baidu is finally living up to the formerly tongue-in-cheek moniker of "Google of China," while fool.com likens the growth of the company to a "runaway freight train." Certainly, there are plenty of reasons behind its phenomenal growth: for one, it copies most of the neat functions and applications that Google has—including a rumored instant messaging application. Called "Baidu Xiaosheng (百度小声)", no one actually knows if this thing exists or is just another fake cardboard steamed bun. The picture that you see came from a website where you could supposedly download the beta version, but the install file link no longer works. The Baidu public relations say that this so-called "leak" is a hoax, though there are those that believe that Baidu will eventually want to take on Tencent and other internet giants, meaning that an IM client and an email service are just a matter of time. What does seem to be closer to an undisputed fact is that Baidu is the fastest search engine in China according to a report from webpronews.com that measured and compared response times of various search engine websites.
This week in Baidu news
Will Spider-Man 3 swing into Chinese theaters first?
That's what some people are saying. According to China Radio International, the Shanghai Morning Post reported earlier this week that Spider-Man 3, expected to be one of the summer's biggest blockbuster movies, got the seal of approval from China's censors and will "open in theaters on the Chinese mainland on May 1, even though it won't be released in the United States until May 4." Pacific Epoch also reports this, citing the Legal Evening News as its source. They say the movie will appear "in theaters in Beijing on May 1." If true, moviegoers in China will be the first in the world (aside from those at the Tokyo world premiere on April 16) to witness "a strange black entity from another world bond with Peter Parker and cause inner turmoil as he contends with new villains, temptations, and revenge."
Afternoon Links: Heroin, Xbox, and exploding hotels
-
Microsoft is in talks with Chinese internet providers and government ministries for a possible Chinese New Year launch.
-
The city government is considering offering health insurance to foreigners working in Shanghai, alleviating problems for those whose work does not offer health insurance or who are temporarily unemployed.
-
Stores in the Xujiahui stop maybe closed for as long as a year.
-
One kilogram of high-grade heroin seized in Minhang. There are going to be some pissed off junkies out there tonight.
-
Chinese people are turning their back on Chinese! English more popular than Chinese among students! The soul of China is the David fighting against the merciless Goliath of Western cultural imperalism!
-
You've probably noticed people cutting off branches of the trees along the side of the road.
-
Gas leak causes explosion in Shanghai. Journalists attempting to report are harrassed, attacked. One bystander, an old man, also gets slapped up by hotel staff.
-
"Shanghai residents' salaries rose by 7.7 percent on average in 2006, ranking at the top of all Chinese cities in terms of salary growth."
-
"What the author failed to consider is the fact that a hat manufacturer has little in terms of barriers to entry, lots of competitors, and with 4 million units sold, I would have a hard time believing they are able to convince anyone to pay more than a co
-
"Chinese actress, director and blogger Xu Jinglei will release a biweekly electronic magazine called Kai La, reports Shanghai Youth Daily quoting Xu's agent Liu Xuan."
-
"A TINY tsunami lapped Shanghai's coastal areas on Saturday night after a massive earthquake off Japan trigged fears of tidal waves across the Pacific." Tiny tsunami?
-
"A FORMER high-ranking provincial official in east China's Anhui Province has been sentenced to death for corruption, according to media reports."
Taobao 1, Xiangyang Market 0
We expect nothing less of Xinhua, but it is good to see that they are maintaining the party line regarding the recent closure of Xiangyang Market. Here is the caption they used for the photo that appears top the right:
Anyone up for a game of strip mahjong?
Via p2pnet.net (and also seen on chinatechnews.com and Pacific Epoch) we learn that the Ministry of Culture has banned four video games: Blood Rayne II, Obscure, AV Mahjong and Kong Bu Lao Long (Horrible Cage).
Yet another RedBerry post
Have we mentioned China Unicom is about to launch a pushmail service dubbed the “RedBerry”? Oh yeah, we have, here, here and here. This Shanghaiist went so far as calling it a worthy challenger to the BlackBerry. But, now we aren’t so sure. Sage Brennan from Pacific Epoch uncovered this interesting, albeit somewhat disturbing tidbit:
The march of the QQ penguins
A while back, we told you about Chinese instant message and internet portal company QQ launching their own instant noodle and sausage brands. Now, from Sage at Pacific Epoch, we learn of the next industry QQ plans to take on: Hollywood. Well, not really, but some users of the popular Chinese forum Tianya.com have flexed their Photoshop skills and incorporated the QQ penguin into a variety of movie posters. Worth a look if you are bored (but, to be honest, it's really nice outside right now ... turn off your computer and play).
Shanghaiist isn't quite sure how this will affect us, but we are pretty sure that our American readers should go throw eggs at the corporate offices of 
Have your internet ... and eat it, too!
Via Virtual China, we learn that popular Chinese instant messaging software company and internet portal QQ (no relation to the Chinese car) is launching its own brand of instant noodles, to be sold at internet cafes. Now Chinese teenagers have no reason to go offline!
Xiangyang Market settles on new location (kind of)
Via AsiaPundit we learn some breaking news: It has been confirmed where Xiangyang Market will move once it it officially shut down on June 30. Where? Online of course. Visit xymarket.cn for all your fake goods needs. Here's what Pacific Epoch wrote about the site:
personals
Enter our FREE personals site!send a tip
tips@shanghaiist.comabout
advertising / arts/entertainment / calendar / contact / contribute / facebook / food/drink / jobs / mobile / news / other / personals / photos / popular / RSS / staff / twitter / videos write for us / weibosubscribe
Use an RSS reader to stay up to date with the latest news and posts from Chicagoist.