Results tagged “rats”

Whenever there is a crisis or a natural calamity, there are the people who lose money and then there are the entrepreneurs. It seems enterprising businessmen have decided to cash in on an outbreak of rodents in the Dongting Lake area in Hunan province which saw an estimated 2 billion mice on the run from the flooded Yangtse River by taking the matter into their own hands - literally.

Our weekly round-up of some of the highlights from China's English-language blogosphere:

There are many remarkable things in Xi'an, and we don't just mean the super-sized rats and colorful mobile phones. The first ever cell (mobile) phone film festival (or in Chinese here) is being held in Xi'an in September. Entries were being accepted as of Juy 8 and will continue on until August 25. The head of the jury is the Hong Kong indie film director Fruit Chan (陈果).

According to reports, Chongqing municipality, in order to better combat internet related crimes, is going to require that all internet users register their names and information. The original report came out on July 7 in a local Chongqing newspaper and has stirred up quite a bit of debate. Questions revolve around whether or not there is legal precedent to do this (and the relation between local and national laws) and whether or not this measure will improve the police's ability to fight crime or whether or not it's just more red tape and headaches for everyone. Jack Qiu (see above link) seems to think that it's mostly for show the political correctness of Chongqing:

Sometimes you need to clean yourself up, get serious, and move in with daddie for a few months before you head to Latin America for a new gig. The District bid's Jenna Bush adios. D.C.-based television shows have an elderly audience and DCist has some suggestions to fix that. They're also throwing Butterstick the panda bear a birthday bash.

The post's conclusion: Shanghai's subway system is cleaner than New York's.

If you don't think the "everyone born in a certain year is the same" philosophy is a crock of shit and you live your life by the rules of readings of the stars done by people who don't have real jobs, then read on.

Shanghai quarantine officials are reportedly "on the lookout for dangerous Barbie dolls" after German media reports said the plastic toys contained a cancer-causing chemical. The chemical in question -- Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate or DEHP -- is found in many plastics and is not considered toxic at the level at which it usually exists in the environment. That said, it could still give you cancer, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, part of the U.S. government's Department of Health and Human Services:

• It's "rat breeding season" in Shanghai and the city is running a "rat sweep" campaign through November 11. "Businesses and residents will be able to get information about rats, how to control, catch and kill them, from their local health campaign office." Lovely.
• The first Miss Hooters China was crowned recently -- and there are three of them. "I can meet new friends, broaden my mind and have fun," said Zhou Shouya, one of the winners who has a chance to join the 10th annual Hooters International Swimsuit Pageant in Las Vegas next year. "Hooters makes me happy. I can't change the weather but I can change my mood."
• A man in Baoshan District agreed to buy an apartment there, but now he wants out of the contract. Why? The previous owner murdered his lover and dismembered her body there. For some reason, the real estate agent neglected to mention this.

The recent attention surrounding Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation's (SAIC) attempt to purchase British manufacturer MG Rover has brought the Chinese automotive industry to the international stage, even if Britain's last remaining full-scale automotive production company deemed the £60m SAIC bid disappointing. Yet while the rest of the world is paying attention to China's production, Shanghaiist has been contemplating a very different byproduct of Chinese automotive industry growth: traffic.