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. China Daily says trucks full of......

Fox: Read My Tattoos, No Prison Break In China "News Corporation's (NYSE: NWS.A) Fox Television denied that it has licensed Beijing based media company Zonbo Media to remake American TV series Prison Break or any related online activities in China, reports Beijing Youth Daily." Lawsuit says Ark. company selling counterfeit Budweiser in China "Anheuser-Busch Inc. sued USA Bai Wei Group Inc. in Arkansas' Pulaski County Circuit Court, seeking an injunction to revoke Bai Wei's......

Our weekly round-up of some of the highlights from China's English-language blogosphere: Native inhabitants of a large Chinese city looking down on Chinese newcomers from outside that city? Eyes East is surprised that Dalian may not be as "open" as it advertises after all. He ends his post by asking: "Is this just a Dalian thing?" We glance up and take a look around and conclude that it's definitely not. Beijing Newspeak writes about the......

Get Paid 300 Rmb per Minute and Get Beaten "A Chinese businessman has advertised on the Internet for a stand-in mistress to be beaten up by his wife to vent her anger and to protect his real mistress, Chinese media reported on Monday." China: Job applicants must love parents "A private company in Anyang, Henan Province in China asks applicants whether they are filial, honest and kind before hiring them. This is the first......

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). It seems that although official festivals of......

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......

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. Yeah, we may have a few issues with our World Cup broadcasters here, but this guy......

A China-focused blog called The 88s had a post earlier this month entitled "Subway Markets," which compared Shanghai's subway system with New York's. (The anonymous author behind The 88s splits time between New York and China, not sure if that means Shanghai or not.) The post's conclusion: Shanghai's subway system is cleaner than New York's. To get the obvious out of the way: Shanghai’s subway system is one of the world’s youngest. But I don’t......

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 Daily among others reveals the thoughts of soothsayers who say the first thing that comes off the top of their head whilst not being quite sure why anyone is still......

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......

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......

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. We see it every day on our......