Local legislators have elected Jiang Ping (姜平), secretary-general of the Shanghai municipal government and director of the government's general office, as vice mayor in a meeting yesterday morning. more ›

Our good friend Adam Minter just received a gift from the Shanghai government that had us scrambling to our own mailboxes. Unfortunately, it seems like they've yet to hit our apartment complex, so we'll take his word for it: somebody's stuffing the mail with books on fitness and a waist measuring tape. more ›

Shanghai might be setting up a "bravery fund" in the near future to reward people who are good samaritans. The "bravery fund" was revealed during a discussion on a new draft of the public security administrative law - it will be used to buy injury and death insurance in case the award recipients are hurt or killed. All will be an attempt to encourage that whole "pay it forward" philosophy in an era when more and more stories about people being afraid of the consequences of helping out. more ›

In a surprising bid for transparency, the Shanghai government is planning to make its expense budget public for the first time ever. According to the Shanghai Municipal Finance Bureau, all collection, distribution and application of special funds, administrative and institutional unit revenues, as well as the welfare and sports lottery revenues, will be open for viewing by the public. While it's still quite rare, Shanghai's not the first county to lift a veil on their money spending. Guangdong Province recently released their expense budgets for free download by the public. The response was so great, it crashed the government's website. more ›

With all that whining and wheezing earlier this year, you would've thought we'd reached a resolution by now. But even though Disney is pulling resources out of Hong Kong, it still hasn't committed fully to putting them into Shanghai - and it's hard to tell who's fault it is. more ›

If Helen of Troy could be said to have a face that launched a thousand ships, we guess Lu Jiali over here had the sex appeal to launch a thousand corruption schemes. Who is she? The alleged mistress of an entire slew of Shanghai officials currently embroiled in the city's social security scandal. Rumored to be in her little black book: more ›

Shanghai Daily has published some interesting figures on city corruption. Apparently 822 government officials in Shanghai were punished last year, including 10 sub-ministry level officials and 62 division chiefs. Amongst them was Zhang Kepeng, former vice director of the city's Putuo District, and former VP of Shanghai Huayi Co., both for taking bribes. more ›

If you can prove to China that you're a "qualified expert" on something, you might soon be in luck with regards to your visa situation. According to the Shanghai government, high-level professionals who meet several standards could convert their temporary stay permit to a permanent residency in 2009. more ›

According to China Daily, the Walt Disney Company and Shanghai's municipal government have finally signed a project proposal to build a Disneyland theme park on the Chinese mainland. Assuming the newspaper hasn't jumped the gun, this would put a stopper on the will they won't they drama that's shadowed the deal since it was a glint in Mickey Mouse's eye. more ›