Mr Shangguan Junle, the chairman of Haomen Jipin Restaurants, wrote on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo last week that he had decided to stop serving shark's fin from the beginning of this year to 'protect sharks and the environment'. But the 34-year-old entrepreneur felt it would be too wasteful to throw away his remaining stock. more ›

Wow. If this can happen in Taiwan, what are the chances that it'll happen in China too? more ›

A few links to start off your day: more ›

Led by his love of sharks, Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay embarked on an investigation into shark's fin, the controversial dish that is wildly popular among the middle class in China, and in Chinese communities around the globe. more ›

Recent pictures on the MOP forums have shown images of sharks, mouths gaping open, butchered and put on sale at undisclosed Wal-Mart locations here in China. Nobody says what city they're in, but a disproportionate amount of the posts are found in Shanghai forums. Does that mean this Wal-Mart is somewhere in Shanghai? Yao Ming would not approve. more ›

We strongly suspect that this is nothing more than a way to parody Airport Auntie while getting the point across that sharks fin soup is a morally reprehensible delicacy... but there's something about watching Hong Kong people wig out that just tickles our fancy. more ›

Photo by Anton Berkovich. more ›

While we were wondering why neither ESPN Asia nor Star Sports on our satellite system was showing the Dallas Mavericks-Golden State Warriors game this morning, we noticed a clip on ESPN video that talked about NBA commissioner David Stern expressing interest in setting up a joint venture hoops league in China. We stopped going to Shanghai Sharks games a few years ago because the team didn't seem to care too much about its fans, so we think this has to be good news: more ›

LAist has so much fun this week! They go to E3, where they overhear the timeless remark "Man, this is where nerdy girls get laid." Is that a promise? They also give us this week's best CDs and make us realize that LA is the best place to use Zillow. more ›

The Shanghai Sharks are not just a bad basketball team -- they haven't made the CBA playoffs since winning the league title in 2002 (Yao Ming's final season) -- they are cheaters, as well. Statisticians at Shanghai's final home game of the season credited Sharks guard Liu Wei with 16 assists, enough to assure Liu the regular season league assists crown. One problem: Liu only has seven assists in that game. more ›

China may have found the oft-discussed "next Yao Ming." Of course he is only 13 years old, so we'll have to wait a while to find out. But according to the Wenhui Daily, Tian Yuchen is already 205 cm tall -- that's almost 6-foot-9. When Yao Ming was 13, he was "only" 197 cm. Tian is from Changchun in Jilin province and he's already a member of the Shanghai Sharks youth team, the same place Yao got his start. The paper said Tian is considered the "secret weapon" for the Sharks' much-needed CBA turnaround (they are currently 3-5 and dead last in the CBA South Division standings). Tian is actually being trained to play as a guard and he's already signed an endorsement deal with athletic apparel brand Li Ning. more ›

Watch out! The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) is moving toward "real professionaliztion." Their grand scheme, called the "Polarstar Project," launches this Sunday with the start of the 2005-2006 season, the league's tenth year of existence. more ›

Shanghaiist knows a thing or two about Australia. So we obviously know a bit about sharks (or “Noahs”, as they’re called Down Under). We therefore read with great interest that the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium has opened a special exhibition called “I Love Sharks -- Our Ocean, Our Home.” more ›

Shanghai's model worker Yao Ming has decided not to represent his hometown in the Chinese National Games, which begin this October in Jiangsu Province. more ›