In our past life as a media whore public relations executive, we learnt that one of the defining elements of PR with Chinese characteristics is that cash is not only frequently extended in return for positive coverage, it is actually industry standard that you hand out the cash to journalists in nice little envelopes discreetly tucked into the media kit as "travel expenses" (车马费). That this is standard practice is hardly news, but tough luck......

In our past life as a public relations executive, we were always surprised at how China's media world appears to be in sort of a pre-Cambrian age with as many publications going out of business as there are coming in. Call up all the journalists you've invited after a press conference and there always be bound to be one or two publications that have folded up. Well it appears we haven't quite come out of......

The last time an anchor from our favourite TV channel made it to the news, he created such a brouhaha that culminated in the eviction of one coffee company from the Forbidden City. In the news this time is New Zealand-born anchor Edwin Maher who for many years before arriving in China was a weatherman with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The Los Angeles Times published a profile of Maher that started it all off. It......

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......

So about a week ago, the news surfaced that German-born Swiss-based couturier Phillipp Plein released a limited edition T-shirt that screamed "F-U-C-K YOU CHINA". OK, it was more like a whisper - the words were only readable up close and as we all know, couturiers are all about subtle elegance. We didn't think too much about it but boy did it create a massive furore on the Chinese internet (see here and here). Someone else......

The last time we heard from Air China, it was hit by an embarrassing spate of accidents. Not so long afterwards, it announced an order for 15 units of the new Boeing 767 Dreamliner. This time, Air China has proclaimed its ambitions to grow its market share in Beijing from the existing 44% up to 50%. And just how does it hope to do that? Well according to Vice-President Zhang Lan, the airline intends to......

Harshing the mellows of college kids all over China, the Ministry of Education has announced a ban on off-campus student housing:In a notice issued on Friday, the ministry instructed all universities to make the dormitories "another front for political and ideological education" to create "a good climate for the students' growth." The ministry told the universities to strengthen the administration of dormitories, in what it says will ensure the safety of students and heighten communication......

Watch this video clip of the poor receptionist girl working at Google China getting harrassed by a guy, Zola Zhou, (once) billed as "China's first citizen reporter". Zola first gained widespread attention for his blog reports on the Chongqing nailhouse. Hungry for more success, he also went to Xiamen to report on demonstrations against Haicang PX. Hell, he even got interviewed by NBC. In his latest reincarnation, Zola pays Google China a visit to complain......

Top labor scams listed "5. Companies ask job applicants to submit design work prior to an interview. The works are often used commercially later even if the applicant didn't get the job." What to do with a visitor in Shanghai? Part 3 - An Evening in Pudong Title says it all. Baidu Removes Porn From Search Results "Since March 12, Baidu's search results page has been showing pornographic photos when users input Chinese characters......

Even though we've long put our public relations days behind us, we can't help but think what a day in the life of a PR executive at Starbucks must be like. They must all have been working overtime lately with the Seattle-based coffee company hitting the headlines like crazy lately. First it was the landmark victory against Shanghai Xingbake, then there was the trans fat issue. This week, little known CCTV-9 news anchor Rui Chenggang......

Ours is. And so is the internet for many other friends in offices and apartments across Shanghai. Oddly, Gmail and Google GTalk are the only things (other than Chinese websites) that will load for us right now. We get about one-fifth of the Shanghaiist home page and then it craps out. (How did we manage to post this? Why, Shanghaiist's St. Louis bureau, of course. Thanks, Ryan!) We've been told that things are OK internet-wise......

Many of you might have read our post regarding the horrible mass-slaughter of dogs in August. Sadly, it seems we could be experiencing the third wave of the canine cull, based on this Economic Daily report (in Chinese) that says five major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Wuhan are going to address "dog problems". Tang Yunli, deputy director of Beijing Public Security Bureau, said the bureau is going to extend its administrative reach......

OK, so it's a bit difficult to type like Elmer Fudd, but you can always find inspiration by trying Google in Elmer Fudd language. But back to the news: The World Tribune informs us that: China’s Communist Party has ordered media outlets to tone down reporting on the financial scandal that led to the dismissal of Shanghai Communist Party leader Chen Liangyu. The scandal is expected to implicate other senior Communist Party officials, including possibly......

Via the ever-informative (and concise) Pacific Epoch: A 24-year old Shanghai man is auctioning his soul on Alibaba's online auction site Taobao, reports Sina. The item has received 25 bids so far, with the maximum bid at 31 Yuan. Taobao public relations manager Tao Ran said that many unusual things are for auction among Taobao's 20 million listings and that Taobao does not support soul transactions on the site. Hell, even Bart Simpson got $5,......