Here's an English news link:CHINESE police have rescued 33 intellectually disabled people forced to work at a building site by slave labour merchants after the apparent suicide of a detainee alerted authorities. The Chinese press offers some information. For example, the report above says that about 2/3 of the 33 people discovered were mentally disabled, and that they came from all over China. The ringmasters behind this operation go to train stations around China and......

A recent article in Bokee about human guinea pigs that test out new and experimental drugs for a living or sometimes just for a kick. The article says that there are three different types of people that do this: 1. university students who might be studying medicine and could use the cash, 2. people who want to further the cause of medicine (and who might be sick themselves, and thus have a stake in it),......

.asia domain names approved [BetaNews] But don't start rushing for the domain names yet as registration will not begin for another six to nine months. As usual, trademark holders will first be awarded rights to domain names. India's success to help halve world poverty [Hindustan Times] Spectacular poverty-cutting gains made by India will help the United Nations meet its goal of halving world poverty by 2015, said Kishore Mabhubhani, a renowned Singaporean public policy specialist......

Bangkok, Thailand - Backpacker blues on Khaosan Road [Asia Times] For years, Bangkok's venerable Khaosan Road has been a welcome, low-priced respite for the throngs of backpackers crisscrossing Southeast Asia. But changing times are pushing out the street vendors and budget inns in favor of upscale establishments that are also attracting another element - more of Bangkok's notorious sex trade. Ulaanbataar, Mongolia - School represents a slice of North Korea [Eurasianet] There is little that......

People who made the news this week Zhao Yan (赵岩), the Chinese journalist jailed in 2004 while working for the New York Times is expected to be freed this weekend. Zhao was charged for revealing state secrets after a Times report was published that correctly predicted the retirement of Jiang Zemin (江泽民) as president and Communist Party chief. He was also accused of fraud for taking RMB20,000 from a village official. Prior to joining the......

China’s August Consumer Price Index is out: a whopping 6.5 percent higher over comparable period last year, much higher than the 5.8 to 6 range economists were forecasting. The number, which measures inflation at the retail level, further breaks down to a 6.2 year over year price hike in major metro regions; but out in poverty stricken rural areas, goods and services are 7.2 percent more expensive than they were 12 months ago. In other......

Pyongyang, North Korea - Two Koreas to hold first summit in seven years South Korea's President Roh Moo-Hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il will meet in Pyongyang from August 28-30 -- their first summit in seven years to promote lasting peace on the peninsula, divided for 60 years by minefields and barbed wire. Kabul, Afghanistan - Taliban offer women hostages for female Afghan prisoners The Taliban said Tuesday they were willing to swap women......

Part of Huaihai Lu to be shut for 20 months due to subway expansion A section of Huaihai Road W. between Xinhua Road and Huashan Road will be shut down for 20 months starting on Saturday due to construction on a new subway line, metro officials said yesterday. Use of transport card to be expanded Local residents will be able to use their transport cards to pay taxi, bus, and subway fares in Nanjing and......

When you've got nothing left to sell, sell your blood. That's how many people in China, most notably in Henan, got AIDS. But as long as there's poverty, you can bet that there will be people willing to sell their own blood. In the town of Jieyang in Eastern Guangdong province, a recent expose lead to greater media attention, which meant that the authorities actually had some work to do. An investigation started, which lead......

Ear Scope turns wax removal into primetime entertainment "Imagine if you can the wild and crazy times you could have with the company's line of Ear Scopes, which combine a pick with a small video camera and allow you to actually watch what's going on while you scrape around and try to avoid puncturing your eardrum." Cabbie held after Swede overcharged "Christoph Johamnes arrived at Pudong International Airport early Wednesday morning for his first......

Shanghai Sunrise, a local non-profit charity established in 1995, is looking for board members and volunteers. Shanghai Sunrise aims to help remove Shanghai families from the poverty cycle by providing education scholarships for disadvantaged students. Despite China’s compulsory education law stating that no tuition fees will be charged for nine years of education, the reality facing many families in Shanghai and throughout China that this does not cover tuition fees for high school. Often, the......

The Washington Post reports that China has failed to meet its environmental goals:China's environmental watchdog admitted Monday the country had failed to reach any of its pollution control goals for 2006 and had fallen further behind as the economy picked up speed. The State Environmental Protection Agency said faster-than-expected economic growth meant that sulfur dioxide emissions increased by nearly 1.8 percent, or 463,000 tons, over the previous year, according to a report on its Web......

The New York Times Magazine has an interesting story about General Tso's Chicken, probably the most famous "Hunanese" dish that most people from Hunan Province (or anywhere else in Mainland China, for that matter) have never heard of: General Tso’s chicken is named for Tso Tsung-t’ang (now usually transliterated as Zuo Zongtang), a formidable 19th-century general who is said to have enjoyed eating it. The Hunanese have a strong military tradition, and Tso is one......

Just days after The New York Times gave us its take on budget travel in Shanghai, AskMen.com offers up its own tips for those without such limited funds. The concept here is interesting: what is a good way to spend US$10,000 in a weekend in Shanghai? And why not? According to writer Scott Mills: Gone are the “made in China” days when tourists felt uncomfortable about spending large sums of money in a city where......

Have you ever considered the question: Are our children learning from that great resource of information that is the internet? If in some of the poorer countries the answer is a resounding no, that's mostly because computers are expensive and the last thing on the minds of people who are struggling under circumstances of poverty and deprivation. Nonetheless, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Nicholas Negroponte had the idea of decreasing the digital divide by......

The Santo Chino Ride continues, and Christopher now finds himself at the base of Huangshan in Anhui Province, struggling to wake up early enough to climb the mountain (he's not a morning person). We'd like to make one clarification: In yesterday's report, we failed to mention the full scope of Hands on Shanghai's Rising Stars program. In addition to the mentor program we mentioned, the bulk of the money generated from the Santo Chino Ride......

We have always heard the stories of ducks (ya zi -- 鸭子 -- slang for gigolos or male prostitutes) in the city, but have never met any. "Could women really pay young men to sleep with them?", the prudish male Shanghaiist has often wondered, curious and a touch excited that we could maybe use our God-given bed-time mediocrity to work ourselves out of poverty and get our necks above the rice-line. The Guardian seems to......

Shanghai's luxury hotels took a hit during the Chinese New Year period, and in order to recuperate some of their losses, cut their prices in late January by as much as 50-70 percent. For example, the Sheraton went down from 1600 yuan a night to 728 yuan a night, and the Portman's prices fell from 3000 yuan to just 800 yuan.Taobao, one of China's main online auction and shopping sites, is no longer permitting the......

Shanghaiist is not about to engage in an argument on the socio-economic impact that China's one-child policy has had on all aspects of the country's existence and future. We recognize the importance of population control in a country that continues to struggle with large-scale poverty, underemployment, unemployment, a weakened social welfare system and disappearing farmable land to grow enough food for a 1.3 billion (and growing) population. We definitely don't want to get into a......