China's middle class is projected to reach 40% of the population in 2020, twice the proportion at the turn of the century, according to the International City Development Report released jointly by the Social Sciences Academic Press and Shanghai Academy of Social Science more ›

"If only Hong Kongers knew this: that if the mainland does not have democracy, Hong Kong will not have democracy, and there will be no changes in its circumstances. If Hong Kong does not have democracy, then there will be no security for Hong Kong's liberty and rule of law, and there will be no change in its circumstances. If Hong Kongers took their dissatisfaction and anger, and used it to push for democracy in Hong Kong and the mainland, then Hong Kong would stand to gain from it, and so would the mainland." more ›

English translation with thanks to China Digital Times. Click the "CC" button if you do not see the captions. more ›

Yesterday, we saw a full-page advertisement in Apple Daily Hong Kong that has raised tensions between Hong Kongers and mainlanders to a fever pitch. The truth is, "anti-locust" sentiment had been simmering below the surface for a long while in the city, way before the recent Dolce & Gabbanna protests and the Kong Qingdong hoopla. The swarming, migratory insect has been used as a label for the people from the mainland that have come to crowd the streets of Hong Kong and are perceived to deplete the scarce resources of the city, leaving poorer locals to fall through the cracks. Last year, the above song "Locust World" went viral in Hong Kong as its lyrics struck a chord with what locals felt they've had to put up with in the onslaught of a "mainland invasion". It's now available with English subtitles thanks to Youtuber iloathelilyallen. more ›

Around 20 girls under the age of 18, including two under the age of 14, have had a prostitution ring of their own making uncovered in Shanghai's Zhabei district, after a customer who had his watch stolen reported the ring to local authorities. more ›

Last Saturday afternoon on Weining Road (威宁路) in Xi'an, a Caucasian woman lifted a man lying on the street, while using her limited Chinese skills to ask for help from passersby. After she helped the prone stranger get off his feet, she led him to rest inside a small shop, whereupon the owner of the store told her: more ›

Zhang Xinyang (张炘炀), a 16-year-old getting his PhD in pure mathematics at Beihang University (北京航空航天大学), earlier this year refused to defend his master's thesis until his parents agreed to buy him his own apartment. Finally out of options, Zhang's parents rented an apartment in Beijing, and lied to their son about buying it. He's found out about the ruse, but his demands for an apartment haven't wavered. more ›

"Beijing tells foreigners that they can understand the city, that we have the same sort of buildings: the Bird’s Nest, the CCTV tower. Officials who wear a suit and tie like you say we are the same and we can do business. But they deny us basic rights. You will see migrants’ schools closed. You will see hospitals where they give patients stitches—and when they find the patients don’t have any money, they pull the stitches out. It’s a city of violence." more ›

The video below captures a scene from bus 81 in Pudong last week that has sparked massive controversy online. It shows an elderly bottle picker who, after paying his fair and bringing his bags on board, is shoved around and yelled at by both the driver and a male passenger as they try to throw his stuff off the bus. The passenger continues to scream at the old man as the bus eventually moves forward, accusing him of stinking up the bus and inconveniencing others. At the next stop, the passenger grabs one of the bags and pulls it off the bus, tearing it and scattering the contents. The old man is left scrambling to pick up his livelihood before the doors slam shut. more ›

As we take a look back at the last year of our reporting, Shanghaiist brings to you a list of the most important news events of 2009. Whether they be political, cultural, or social, these were the things that happened that changed our lives and perceptions of the world around us, for the better or worse. Without further ado, here's the top five news events from around Shanghai more ›

As foreigners in Shanghai, we understand the difficulties with assimilation: if you're not from Shanghai you are different, no matter where you're from. In all honesty, though, it may be easier to be a foreigner in Shanghai than it is to be an waidiren, an outsider from another part of China. more ›

The above is from a report about the cancer patients affected by the corrupted medicine from Shanghai's Hualian Pharmaceutical. According to an article from Jan. 10:

Under the guidance of and with the participation of a joint investigation team set up between the Ministry of Health and State Drug and Food Administration, concerned departments in Shanghai identified the cause of the accident: Hualian's staff mixed Vincristine Sulfate into Methotrexate for injection and Cytarabine for injection, and this caused damage to the drugs and made them unqualified and unusable.

Thanks to the commenters on that last post, especially the one that alerted us to videos of the protests/marches that were on the Taiwan Youtube site. There were two that we found, embedded below. The first one is just a short clip of people walking around during the day. The second is from Xujiahui in the evening, with more chanting, from the evening of January 6. Oh yeah, and to the commenter who mentioned that we ought to put "alleged" in front of "health effects", you're probably right. If you're interested in learning a little about what health effects maglevs might have on people, you could try this Google scholar search. No definitive answers, but maybe a rudimentary way of glimpsing what is out there. more ›

1. university students who might be studying medicine and could use the cash, 2. people who want to further the cause of medicine (and who might be sick themselves, and thus have a stake in it), and 3. people who are in it just for the money. more ›

We read a fair amount of China-related news, and it's hard not to get a bit apathetic about it all, since so much of it seems to revolve around the same few topics. Slate's article, however, touches on something we don't normally hear about: China's tomato products industry.:China, it turns out, now grows more tomatoes for processing—the kind that get turned into ketchup, pasta sauce, salsa—than any place in the world besides California, and maybe... more ›

We’ve known since arriving in Shanghai that there are two types of waiguoren out there: the ones with the chauffeur-driven cars, portly bellies and a company villa in a hermetically-sealed Jinqiao gated community; and the rest of us. Not that Shanghaiist is bitter or anything, in fact, we quite like the directionless romantic bent of our life at present. Which is why we’re suspicious of labels, such as this one, dug up by John at... more ›

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences recently published a report about how much income you need in order to be classified as white-collar in various Chinese cities. At the top of the list was Hong Kong, where you needed to make at least 18,500 RMB. As for some of the other cities:The benchmarks in some major cities at the upper end are: 8,900 yuan ($1,194) in Macao, 5,350 yuan ($717) in Shanghai, 5,280 yuan ($708)... more ›