Turns out all that speculation that blind Chinese human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng fled to the US Embassy in Beijing was true. American officials confirmed that, following a six-day stint at the Embassy, Chen left Wednesday to receive medical treatment at a nearby hospital in the city. But it looks like Chen may have been forced out — he told the AP from the hospital this evening that authorities threatened to beat and kill his wife if he refused to leave the Embassy. more ›

No, these really aren't humans in bear costumes, but real black bears at Qingdao's Xiaozhushan Scenic Spot performing stunts to wow visitors for during the May Day holiday. more ›

Blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng has managed to escape from house arrest while his guards were not watching, and appeared immediately afterwards on Youtube, delivering a message to Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, with the following three demands: more ›

Eric Fish of Sinostand shares us with a recent experience of a biking trip through the Shandong countryside which may suggest that China is stepping up surveillance of hotels on foreigners in smaller towns and cities: more ›

After picking a vendor at 871 Tongchuan Road, we peeked inside the sea worm tank to observe a jumble of the fleshy pink critters heaving and squirming against one another. And let’s just say they looked so penis-like that it appeared as if a bunch of uncircumcised members had decided to detach themselves and live out their days as marine invertebrates. We poked one tentatively with a finger, prompting it to recoil slightly and then resume swaying nonchalantly underwater. It was dinnertime. more ›

Only days after possibly gunning down the wrong wolf during a hunt for the creature responsible for biting seven people in Tengzhou (two of whom died), Shandong's finest captured another suspect which isn't even the right species. Last week, police tracked down and "apprehended" a white wolf in Tengzhou, which has been revealed to be a husky. more ›

Citizens of Tengzhou no longer have to fear the big bad wolf...we think. Shandong police have gunned down a wolf suspected of attacking seven seven people in Tengzhou in under a week. Authorities allegedly encountered the wolf in a wheat field and shot it in the leg, prompting it to flee 20 km, before they caught up with the animal and finished the job. more ›

A polar bear cub born on New Year's Day and rejected by her mother, is now in stable condition at an aquarium in Penglai, Shandong province. Aquarium staff have had to bottle-feed the female which weighs just over a pound and has been suffering from severe malnutrition due to the absence of her mother's milk. more ›

2012 is looking to be par-for-the-course in China's food industry. So far we've already seen cancerous peanuts, flies mushed into pork jerky, and condoms both in yogurt and made of yogurt. This time around, the fake egg scare has come back again with a vengeance, as a man in Yantai, Shandong has unfortunately discovered. more ›

While in Beijing promoting his newest film, Batman star Christian Bale drove eight hours from Beijing to Shandong to attempt to visit and lend support to blind activist Chen Guangcheng - currently under house-arrest. Upon arriving, Bale and his entourage of CNN cameramen and reporters were pushed around and chased away by the team of undercover policemen guarding Chen's house. more ›

A small village in eastern Shandong once famed as a "longevity town" is now a "cancer town" after villagers began dying one after the other from cancer in the last three years. The cancer is believed to have been caused by the inhalation of illegally dumped toxic chemicals: more ›

A Good Samaritan in Longkou by Yantai, Shandong has been hailed "the most beautiful girl" after she risked her life and was left crippled from rescuing a crash victim, reported Qilu Evening News. Diao Na, a 24-year-old Nanshan Tourism manager, was hit by a car and injured after she and her husband ran to the assistance of a wounded woman lying in the traffic lane. more ›

Here's yet another tragic reincarnation of the Yueyue story all over again. A 5 year old boy named Longlong (龙龙) passed away from critical injuries in Linyi, Shandong Province after passersby ignored his mother's plea for help to rush him to the hospital. more ›

Yueyue's ashes have been returned to her hometown in Shandong province after her cremation in Guangzhou on October 29. Her father Wang Chichang's phone has been ringing off the hook with calls and texts from strangers, some requesting financial assistance, and others expressing doubts over his arrangement of donations he had received, accusing him of appropriating the money to himself. In a recent interview with state broadcaster CCTV, Wang said the donations he had received put him in a quandary. more ›

Foshan's Nanhai District Procuratorate has formally approved the arrest of Hu Jun, the first of two drivers who ran over two-year-old toddler, Yueyue, in the double hit-and-run that has gripped the nation and the world this week. The formality paves the way for the next step in the legal process of a case that will be highly watched by all quarters of Chinese society. more ›

On the 11th of October in the Shandong city of Jining (济宁市), a female secretary at a local intermediate court physically assaulted a 50-year-old female manager at a children's photography studio, during an argument over costs. more ›

Last week we posted about a coal mine fire in east Shandong province that trapped 36 miners underground in a mine owned by Zaozhuang Fangbei Coal Mine Co. Ltd. In more recent news, 24 miners remain trapped with little hope of a successful rescue. more ›

We only hope this ends well, regardless of whether the miners are rescued quickly, or if it takes months like it did in Chile: "A coal mine fire that occurred Wednesday night left at least 36 people trapped underground in east China's Shandong Province, according to State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) early Thursday. An air compression device at a parking lot 225 meters underground caught fire around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, trapping 36 miners working in the area, according to initial investigation. The mine belongs to Zaozhuang Fangbei Coal Mine Co. Ltd. in Shangdong Province. An experts team headed by SAWS director Luo Lin rushed to the scene immediately. Rescue operation is going on. The licensed coal mine is a low gas mine. It had completed technical revamp in June 2010 to expand production capacity to 150,000 tonnes a year. The work passed check of approval in October the same year." [Xinhua] more ›

Even using the most generous estimates, the world's current liger population is only around 70 or 80. Some, like National Geographic, even put it as low as 30. But whichever number you use, we can add several more ligers to that now. Four liger cubs were born on May 13th at a Shandong wildlife reserve. Two cubs didn't make it, but the other two--one male, one female--are doing well. Their mother was a Manchurian tiger and their father, an African lion. According to National Geographic, these large feline hybrids will carry some interesting capabilities: "The faintly striped, shaggy-maned creatures are the offspring of male lions and female tigers, which gives them the ability to both roar like lions and chuff like tigers—a supposedly affectionate sound that falls somewhere between a purr and a raspberry." more ›

The 28th Weifang International Kite Festival opened Sunday in Weifang, Shandong Province, the world's kite capital. The event drew some 100,000 tourists and competitors from 29 countries. more ›

Recently, the police in Heze, Shandong, published a video compilation of raw footage caught on security cameras documenting some of the most horrific accidents that have taken place on the city's streets. The video has attracted "tens of millions of visits" according to the Ministry of Tofu, and has gained its fair share of controversy -- some say this is the most effective way of raising the level of road safety awareness, while others say there are less graphic ways of achieving the same goal. more ›

While countries around the world are scrambling for a major rethink of their nuclear power strategy, and in some cases shutting down their existing nuclear plants, China is bulldozing its way ahead with new nuke plants, the first of which is coming to Shandong, China this April! more ›

On March 19 at approximately 3.40pm, a red helicopter landed on the field in the south campus of Dezhou University in Shandong province. Lots of bemused students watched as a female student boarded the helicopter and flew away. This video, taken by a student at the university on his mobile phone, gained 320,000 views within the first three hours of its appearance on Youku.
more ›

Above: Art students crammed into an exhibition hall in Jinan on February 14 for the start of the 2011 yikao season. [Note: yikao is short for yishu gaokao, and is the national college entrance examinations for art students.] more ›

China's eight winter-wheat-producing provinces are facing their worst drought in 60 years. Over 7.7 million hectares have been affected, 42% of the planned harvest, which has prompted the UN to issue a warning about the potential effects on international food prices. The Chinese government has announced a plan to spend 6.7 million RMB combating the problem, which likely began with cloud seeding that resulted in a long-awaited snow yesterday. more ›

I was just in Qingdao for the weekend for the Beer Festival, but it looks like the real beer drinking fun was to be had in its northern neighbor Weihai. This deer has been known to knock back four beers over the course of the day and will often deny water in order to get more beer. Good thing it's Tsingtao, so no worries about the deer being dehydrated too quickly. more ›

Remember how we told you we were going to become Qingdaoist for this weekend? Well, we're flying out there today... in fact, we're probably in the air right now! We've got a tentative schedule lined up of seafood, beer and blogging, and not much to guide us by except for these websites: myredstar (which seems to think Qingdao has nothing going on on a Friday night) and That's Qingdao (relation to That's Shanghai unconfirmed as of yet). This will be the first time in a while we've not known where to go in a Chinese city... and we'll most likely be drunk on top of that, so forgive us if old Qingdao hands end up finding what we do supremely touristy! But hey, if you have any recommendations of places to go, we'd love to hear it. Send 'em to tips (at) shanghaiist.com. And as always, thanks to our sponsors: the great people over at Ctrip. more ›

Looking for an excuse to travel out of Shanghai this August? Maybe you ought to try for the infamous Qingdao International Beer Festival starting next week. From August 15-30, the city of Qingdao will host China's biggest and baddest annual beerfest. The event draws people, brews, and munchies from all over China and the world. more ›

The 55-year-old from Nanzhuang village, near Qingdao, took three months to build the two-wheeler. It has no metal parts whatsoever - the joints were fixed with small wooden bungs and the chain mechanism was replaced by a rod-crank system that rotates the wheel. more ›