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And here it finally is -- the video that Warren Buffett sent in to CCTV to be played at the spring festival gala -- in all its 45-second glory! To send his new year's greetings to 1.3 billion Chinese, the Berkshire Hathaway chairman strummed on his ukulele and sang "I've Been Working on the Railroad" in front of a room-sized model railroad. more ›

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Shanghai is doing it big for the year of the Dragon, with heaps of events that'll keep you out and about all weekend. We've got dance performances, comedy sets, parties, feasts, fireworks, and all sorts of excitement to bring in the new year! Indulge yourself, and have a happy new year! Read on for all the details, or head over to our calendar for more. more ›

Bangkok celebrates the Year of the Black Water Dragon with a special underwater dragon dance. more ›

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What the what?! Apparently Warrent Buffet has already sent in a video of himself singing and playing guitar for this year's CCTV Spring Festival Gala, to be aired on a special web broadcast on New Year's Day (January 23.) more ›

The thrill is gone, the dream has died (however, the non-VIP seats we showed you yesterday are staying): "Luxury VIP suites on the forthcoming Shanghai-Beijing High Speed Railway are to be removed and more standard seats installed in their place. The planned VIP suites had attracted heavy criticism from passengers complaining about high ticket prices and the difficulty of buying even standing tickets during the annual Spring Festival rush. Such luxury suites, charging more than 2,000 yuan (US$308) a ticket, appeared on bullet trains between Shanghai and cities in Sichuan Province in January. The suites did not prove popular." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

The Spring Festival is all about spending time with your family and if new years aren't about turning over a new leaf, then we don't know what is. Over the holiday, a jail in Jialing, Sichuan found a meaningful way to do both and allowed over 150 of its inmates to invite their relatives for a foot-washing ceremony. The traditional Confucian ceremony acted as an apology for the shame they brought to their families. more ›

We all know that traveling on a train during the Spring Festival rush is anything but glamorous or sexy, but count on FHM to inject copious amounts of that into even the unsexiest of situations. This is FHM China's risque editorial on the Spring Festival annual migration that's drawing a fair bit of criticism. The photographer Liu Jianan also has a few more out takes from the shoot that he's posted on his blog. more ›

World of Chinese puts into graph form what, after days of fireworks exploding against your windows, some of you may be beginning to feel. For a bigger version of the graph, click here. more ›

Sopranos and tenors are a fixture at every year's spring festival gala show on television, but what happens when show producers, in their overzealousness to connect with younger audiences, make them sing songs that were never meant to be sung by them? The result, ladies and gentlemen, is a CATASTROPHE, as you will see in the following clip from Beijing TV's show: more ›

Chinese New Year celebrations light up the night time sky of cities all across China. more ›

Welcome, everybody, to the Spring Festival Gala (aka the CCTV New Year's Gala) liveblog. For those who want to watch what's bound to be eyebrow-raising, if not completely entertaining, but don't have a TV or live in China - you can check out a streaming broadcast here. more ›

It's less than an hour to 春晚 (chun wan), aka the CCTV New Year's Gala, aka the annual Spring Festival television celebration that's watched simultaneously by almost double the amount of people than in the entire United States every year. And since I am, for the first time ever, actually in front of a tv with CCTV before 8pm Beijing time, I'm going to watch it. And liveblog it. more ›

With less than a week to go before Chinese New Year, the whole populace is scurrying to find a way back home for the holidays. And even despite the fact that our nation's train network is developing at a positively nauseating speed, scores of people still miss out on train seats. But no worries, we're a resourceful people and in what could be the new trend for 2011, many people are choosing to moto it home. more ›

Did I not get the memo about the Long Bar closing? Apparently one of Shanghai's oldest expat bars, situated in that top part of the Portman (Shanghai Center) since it was built almost, is now being turned into a place called CVRVE. It looks like a futuristic airport lounge. more ›

According to Shanghai Daily, the "anti-pickpocketing map" was made to highlight theft hotspots in the days leading up to the Spring Festival (a notable peak time for crime). The creators of the map collected observations and experiences of theft from its users and marked the most high frequency crime scenes with red tags. more ›

Chinese New Year has come and gone and despite all the fireworks going off dangerously close to buildings all over the city, the only actual fire (at least, reported fire) was one completely unrelated to celebrations - a recycling center was set aflame on Sunday, killing six people and injuring eight. Investigations found that it did not have a license to store flammable chemical substances, and the fire was triggered by an explosion of chemical containers during the waste treatment process. The city is now checking potential safety problems at businesses, with Mayor Han Zheng stating that for each severe accident, there could be 300 mild accidents, 300 accidents that failed to happen and 1,000 potential safety problems. Officials are aiming to have all businesses across Shanghai safe by March 1. Hmmm. Good luck with that. more ›

• Ah, fireworks. Here's one more video - this time of Shanghai welcoming in the Fortune God with a city-wide show that made us feel like we were part of The Blitz. Don't worry guys, soon it'll all be over. [Dan Washburn]


• While the last couple days have been bitterly cold, apparently the end of the Spring Festival also means the beginning of slightly more comfortable weather. Tomorrow, just as everyone gets back to work, temperatures are set to rise to about 13C. Sunday and Monday will see the weather get even warmer, heading to a high of between 14 to 16C. [Xinmin]


• Speaking of CNY almost being over, Shanghai is now bracing for the rush back. Wednesday reported a daily transport volume of 750,000 passengers, 70,000 more than on Tuesday. Today's supposed to be even worse, since it's the last day of the holiday. [Xinhua]

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When Chinese New Years is just a few weeks away and everyone in China scrambles to find a way home for the holidays, you get lines like these outside every ticket center in Shanghai. And this one (while the picture doesn't even capture the entire line) was pretty tame, thanks to the timing (work hours on a work day). Why aren't they calling to reserve the tickets they need? According to Shanghai Daily, "it's nearly impossible to reach a hotline ticket agent between 3pm and 4pm each day as tickets for the newest day of travel go on sale at 3pm. When the system works after 4pm, tickets for many destinations have already sold out." But even when you're lining up here, there's something else to be wary of: scalpers more ›

Good news on the H1N1 front! It seems like we’ve finally hit the peak and are now coming down in terms of infections and deaths. According to the Health Ministry’s weekly report, there were 1,556 confirmed cases of the flu since January 11, about 500 less than the week before. Then again, with the upcoming Spring Festival, the flu could become much easier to spread, what with all the people returning home for family reunions and all. Yeesh, we say bunker down and wait for it all to be over. more ›

O cruel fates: this year, the Spring Festival and Valentines day happen to fall on the same day. The deadly combination of holidays will force young Chinese lovers to choose between their family and their significant other. Or will it? Shanghai Daily reports that over a third of polled netizens said they would celebrate with both family and lovers. If everything goes smoothly, Double Happiness should ensue. But for the lonely and far from home, it's probably going to be one of the worst days ever. more ›