• Corrupt officials are illegally holding $1.5 billion in Chinese public money hostage... and that's just the cash anti-corruption officials have been able to find. [Huffington Post]
• A man with a hunting rifle went on rampage in Hunan, killing 12 people, seriously wounding two others and setting fire to six homes. [AFP]
• Zhang Yimou, the most successful director in China and the man responsible for both the Olympics and National Day spectacles, talks about his fame and his integrity as an artist. [Financial Times]

In case you didn't think our cities were crowded enough, an official has predicted that some 300 million Chinese currently living in rural areas will move into urban centers during the next 15 to 20 years. 300 MILLION, aka the population of the United States aka half the population not living in cities right now. The official was pretty upbeat about it, arguing that the fast pace of urbanization will create at least 1 trillion yuan in annual investment opportunities - building water supplies, waste treatments, heating and other public utilities. We're not anti-city by any means, but this sounds like a disaster. Not only do we already have some of the world's densest cities, but weren't we all about encouraging farmers to stay on the land last year? What's with the sudden about face? Source: China Daily more ›