An estimated 6,000 out of the 30,000 Chinese residents in Libya have successfully left the Northern African country after dictator Muammar Gaddafi threatened a Tiananmen-style crackdown. Of these, 1,600 left by land via Tunisia, 4,300 left via Greece's Crete Island, and another 372 left via the Egyptian capital Cairo. The above pictures depict the scene at the Beijing Capital Airport yesterday. more ›

This picture says it all. Watch and learn! more ›

Photos by Jeremy Breningstall. more ›

Oh god: we're not really sure how this is newsworthy, but apparently Nanfang Daily decided that a bunch of pictures of drunken foreign girls awkwardly passed out was good enough to at least make into a photo gallery. The pictures were taken from popular BBS site Huanqiu: we couldn't find the original post, though we did find pictures of another netizen getting a duck drunk, which are funny, and somehow more disturbing. more ›

Back in 2007 Shanghaiist's Hélène survived the Great Wall Marathon. Following in her footsteps, we decided to give it a try. But we decided that running 21 k (the half marathon) was plenty exercise for us on a Saturday morning. more ›

A photographer in Xiamen has been condemned for lying in wait to get these unfortunate (but, we admit, amusing) pictures of people on bikes hitting a pot-hole submerged in rainwater. According to Ananova, one netizen wrote: "The pictures are well shot, but the person who shot this is disgusting. He knew there was a pit, but was waiting htere for someone to fall over." The photographer defended himself by arguing that without the pictures, the government would have never noticed the pit. (Oof, turns out this whole story is at least four years old. On the bright side, chances are the pot hole has actually been fixed by now! Thanks @apgalbraith for the check.) more ›

This Chinese shepherd has found a novel way to both save money on a sheep dog and to keep his flock in line at the same time — by showing his flock a picture of a wolf! Ananova quotes a man from Xi'an by the name of Du Hebing who tells Huashang Daily he shot the picture by chance:

"After visiting Qinling Wild Animal Park, on the way home I saw a group of sheep walking along the road with a man holding a picture following behind them," he said. more ›

Jeff Rutsch of Slums of Shaolin shares a great set of pictures taken by his grandfather taken in 1980, right after China was reopened to foreigners. more ›

To bolster confidence against terrorist attacks in the upcoming Beijing Olympics, Xinhua gives us stills from a CCTV special of the armed police demonstrating anti-terrorist tactics in Jinan, capital of Shandong Province. more ›

Spot any interesting ad in your neighbourhood? Snap a picture and send it to us at info AT shanghaiist DOT com! more ›

Jake Newby's recent post on Shanghaiist hinted at the erosion of Moganshan Lu's art district by new development. Following up, we bring you images from the area and can only hope that the 'development' is to put in riverside parkland around the then preserved heritage architecture, taking the arts district to the next level. And letting Island6 back in once the new gardens are done. We can dream, can't we? more ›

Migrant workers—let's face it, you either love 'em or hate 'em. There's just no in between. It seems that lately, they've been getting some love from the people, what with Chongqing's official Migrant Worker Day and now with the recent announcement by none other than Premiere Wen Jiabao himself that the popular "Migrant Worker Song" (or "Ode to the Migrant Worker" as we prefer to translate it when we're feeling poetic), a song written by workers and popularized over the internet, will be performed at the annual CCTV Spring Festival show. more ›

We arrived in an incredibly foggy but wonderfully warm Wenzhou on a business trip Wednesday morning. On our way from the airport into the city, we were forced to make a detour and found ourselves unable to make our way to our destination because an entire area had been cordoned off. All we could see was a HUGE plume of smoke billowing out from a building which made us wonder if someone had bombed it... more ›

... and spotted doing menial tasks like sweeping the roads, picking up the trash, cooking and putting up pictures of Chairman Mao. No, really, it's just the Red Laowai in his latest incarnation. Tired of singing Chinese commie propaganda songs, he became Jay Chou for a while before donning on his uniform again to become Comrade Lei Feng, the soldier in whose footsteps the youth of China have been indoctrinated to follow. In this latest... more ›

Or more specifically, Hilton, which was rendered as Hiton in a recent issue of The Bund (外滩画报). They ran some pictures and an interview with Paris Hilton when she was here, but unfortunately, it's only in Chinese. She has some interesting thoughts about dark matter in the universe, which she's been exploring for her upcoming novel. On the other hand, it seems that she won't discuss where her money comes from, or if she's saving... more ›

Hong Kongers snub Beijing Sydney Morning Herald: Hong Kong voters snub Beijing, strike blow for democracy TIME: One for the Democrats in Hong Kong Reuters: Pro-democracy Chan wins symbolic Hong Kong election Fake moon pictures? Fox: China: Our Moon Photo Is No Fake The Canadian Press: China rejects questions over allegedly generic lunar surface photo The Telegraph: China defends lunar probe pictures China business WSJ: China Railway Shares Surge On Shanghai Trading Debut WSJ:... more ›

China's very first Miss World, Zhang Zilin (张梓琳) was crowned yesterday at the 57th edition of the beauty pageant in Sanya, Hainan. Miss Angola was first runner-up and Miss Mexico was second runner-up. This year's pageant coincided with World AIDS Day and was used by organisers to help raise awareness about the disease. Highlights of the show included a televised speech by former South African president Nelson Mandela, whose son Makgatho died of an AIDS-related... more ›

What would you do if you paid a shitload of money to study at some college, thinking it would legit and all, only to be told that your diploma would not be recognised after all? We don't know about you, but we would definitely riot. Well, that's what some civilian students at the Hefei PLA Artillery Academy did a few days back. And it turned out to be a very bloody incident. Iron doors were... more ›

Thanks to reader Brian Lim who took this picture at the Shigongshan park in Suzhou! Send more pictures of bad Engrish our way at info AT shanghaiist DOT com... more ›

JinJiang Park, that wonderful wonderland that we saw a few days ago, is, as Swiss James of ISpyShanghai.com discovers, a "rich vein of badly translated English". Reading through this sign just made us go "OMFGOMFGOMFGOMFGOMFG..." The 3,541 members of the Facebook group Save Chinglish - China's disappearing culture (by the way, don't forget to join our group!) will be disappointed that Chinglish is not only not disappearing, it is alive and well! Pictures from ISpyShanghai.com... more ›

This is just waaaaay too cute. If these three videos aren't enough for you, then hop over to Life in the Fast Lane for more amazing pictures and videos of baby pandas from day 1 to day 120 of their birth that made us keel over from an overdose of cuteness. Have a fabulous Thursday, Shanghai.... more ›

Shanghai-based Scandinavian photog 2 dogs began yesterday bright and early to bring us the action from the 2007 Toray Cup Shanghai International Marathon which saw 20,000 runners from 46 countries and regions gather here. The run flagged off at 7:30am. Some runners did the full 42 kilometre marathon, others did the 21 kilometre half marathon, and yet others chose to do the 4.5 kilometre fun run. The Toray Cup has been held in Shanghai since... more ›

They say bad news travels fast. That Pudong gas blast we told you about on Saturday has made it to international news. The Associated Press, Reuters, the International Herald Tribune, BBC, Times of India, ABC (Australia) all reported on the blast. more ›

The yuan broke the 7.4 mark against the US dollar for the first time yesterday largely fueled by expectations that China is seeking a quicker appreciation of the currency to fight inflation. more ›

Have you ever wondered what life must be like for someone who is watched everywhere she goes, whether she's eating, drinking, sleeping, shopping? It's the reason why Shanghai photographer Don Yap has tagged her "jailbird" in one of his recent portraits of her. Watch Paris eat xiaolongbao at Nanxiang and sip tea at Yuyuan, and go shopping at Lu Kun's (the greatest PR coup scored yet by any Shanghai-based designer!). The Shanghai municipal government... more ›

Baidu has released its video search report, and Kaiser Kuo of the Ogilvy China Digital Watch translates and summarises some of the key findings. Interestingly, “adult-related” search terms account for 34.14% of daily search volume, followed by celebrity-related (14.74%), TV serial related (12.48%), and animation-related (12.21%) searches. Google is reportedly under investigation in China for tax evasion, says Paul Midler of The China Game.Chinese Skype users now exceed 25% of the global total.While venture capital... more ›

Lots of news from the House of Blues and Jazz in Shanghai: The latest band featured there wraps up their final few weeks at this revered and relatively long-lived jazz venue; also the club gets ready to move to its new digs over at the bund. Theo Croker and band The current band at the House of Blues and Jazz has been there already for many weeks, and they're doing great. It's a dynamic group... more ›

Photos from powerprints, beatdrifter, and David Feng. more ›

There recently was bit of kerfuffle over the exhibition of certain group of historical pictures at the Guangzhou Sex Culture Festival: these pictures, unlike many of the other exhibits, featured some inter-species passion. According to an informal survey of twenty exhibition participants, there were those that a) supported showing such pictures b) did not support such pictures and c) those that were just "observing" and didn't really hold any opinion. Most of those that supported... more ›