• Barack Obama and Bill Gates endorse real estate in Xi'an [Danwei] "The developer erected four giant 10x6m billboards around the building, each displaying the portrait of one "spokesperson" coupled with a quote in English and Chinese. In the Obama sign, the quote of choice is 'The values upon which our success depends have never changed,' a slight adaptation from a line in his inaugural address: 'Our challenges may be new....but those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old'."
• Red tape to test transsexuals' desire [Eastday] "It was revealed last month officials at the Ministry of Health plan to set clear criteria for people who qualify for the surgery, as well as the hospitals and staff allowed to carry it out. Some in the transgender community, however, have raised concerns the new rules could be too strict [...] His fears center on the fact that, if the rules are approved, patients will have to prove they have had the desire to swap their gender for at least five years, and have lived full-time as their chosen gender for two years."
• A Virtual Game to Teach Children Languages [NYTimes Bits Blog] "Kids choose an avatar and pick a scene, like a castle in a fantasy land or a supermarket in the United States. They are confronted with challenges, like dodging flying monsters or buying fruit, all of which ask them to use English. If they hit a ceiling in their language capabilities, they go to the wizards’ library and read so-called magical books that teach them lessons. The company is initially focusing on kids age 7 to 12 in China but plans to expand globally, eventually teaching many different languages to kids all over the world."

While reading up on the latest lawsuits brought against Baidu by the world's top music labels, we were alerted to this old Baidu advertisement that stars Hong Kong funnyman Stephen Chow (周星馳) as Ming Dynasty poet Tang Bohu (唐伯虎). In the 1min 50 sec long spot, Tang Bohu endeavours to charm over a girl with a Caucasian man who says nothing apart from “我知道” (I understand) in all the wrong tones. The Caucasian represents Google, the foreigner that apparently knows nothing about China. And guess who wins over the girl eventually! more ›

The tenth Shanghai International Film Festival starts on June 16, and as the time draws near, people have been wondering what actors and celebs will grace the red carpet on opening night. One report we've read says that Oliver Stone, Maggie Cheung, John Woo, and Stephen Chow will be among the stars that show up. A slightly more snarky report states that Sharon Stone will show up, which is great for we connoisseurs of older women, but which the report says presents something of an image problem for SIFF because, artistically speaking, Sharon Stone is somewhat past her prime. more ›

CCTV just started shooting this 40 part series in Guangdong—with a total budget of $6.4 million. That figure sounds awfully minuscule, but what we do we know. The person they picked to play Bruce Lee is Hong Kong actor Kwok -Kwan Chan (陈国坤), who got his big break starring in Stephen Chow movies such as Shao-Lin Soccer. more ›

Photo by goodnight&go taken from the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site. more ›