Controversial ultra-nationalist Peking University professor and 73rd generation descendant of Confucius Kong Qingdong (孔庆东), who recently handed out the Confucius Peace Prize to Vladimir Putin via two Russian babes, does not like the Hong Kong MTR bitchfight that we just saw taking place between mainland tourists and local passengers. He has some harsh words for the people of Hong Kong, who he thinks are mostly bastards, running dogs of the British, and thieves. With English subtitles thanks to Youtuber @languagelover7. more ›

Everyone knows how utterly useless those security checks at subway stations are, but did you ever think you'd live to see it scrapped? Good news from Shanghai Daily today:

Shanghai is considering ending the security checks at Metro stations and replacing the X-ray scanners with manual random checks and police dogs, the top official of the city's politics and law committee said yesterday. more ›

Almost two months after the terrifying Line 10 rear-end collision that left 280 injured and cast aspersions over Shanghai's claim to modernity, Shanghai's Metro system continues to be plagued by a myriad of technical problems. more ›

Seen on Line 10 of the Beijing Metro on Halloween night -- a creepy female phantom in red dress. more ›

Last month's horrifying rear-end collision on the Shanghai Metro saw 284 people hospitalised and while thankfully nobody died from the incident, many questions remain unanswered. more ›

The Shanghai government has announced the names of the 15-member investigation panel which it has assembled to look into Tuesday's subway collision. The panel is made up of two teams -- an 11-member incident investigation team, headed by Qi Jun, bureau chief of the Shanghai Work Safety Administration, and assisted by Shen Weizhong, his assistant bureau chief, as well as a four-member team of expert consultants headed by Liu Ruichang, formerly deputy chief engineer at the Shanghai Railway Bureau. more ›

Shanghai Metro's latest statement released on its website yesterday has contradicted earlier assertions by company chairman Yu Guangyao that faulty signals equipment supplied by Shanghai Casco Signals Corp, a joint venture of France-based Alstom SA, caused Tuesday's subway collision. more ›

Here's a quick round-up of all you need to know about yesterday's Shanghai Metro rear-end collision: more ›

Also watch a report by Channel News Asia after the jump... more ›

A rear-end collision took place today at around 2:30pm or 3pm at the Laoximen metro stop on Line 10 (some reports say Yuyuan Gardens Station, but we're taking the most recent reports.) Due to a signal failure in Xintiandi Station, the trains reportedly had switched to manual control, which is where things went wrong. more ›

This morning, a man attempted to commit suicide by laying himself on the subway track at the Songhong Road station. Quickthinking passengers informed metro staff who then activated the emergency brake. Everyone was on tenterhooks as they watched the train coming in, but heaved a sigh of relief as it came to a complete halt just before the man. Crisis averted. more ›

Shanghai's Metro authority just announced the closure of two downtown roads, beginning this Saturday. Qufu Road (曲阜路) in Huangpu District and Damuqiao Road (大木桥路) in Xuhui District will be closed for more than two years, until the end of 2013, in order to make way for Line 12 metro stations in the Metro expansion plan. Once completed, Line 12 will connect Minhang district with northern Pudong. So if you're a driver, bus passenger, or frequent cab-taker, expect to catch yourself stuck in traffic or making a detour if you're near the mentioned areas. Pedestrians, and cyclists, (and we suspect four-legged friends, as well as some e-bike/scooter riders) will not be affected. more ›

Looks like the subway mobile shopping space is really heating up. First we had the subway supermarket shopping app Yihaodian that seeks to replicate the success that Tesco had in South Korea. Now we have Ubox, a mobile app for iPhones, Android and Java-based phones, that allows you to pay for your vending machine purchases with your cell phone. more ›

Huzzah! Line 2, Shanghai's busiest Metro line is stepping its game up beginning on Thursday, by shortening waiting times along certain stops, in addition to extending service hours. The move is being made to meet demand from travelers and residents who need evening access to the city's two airports. The stretch running from Guanglan Road Station to Pudong International Airport will now provide daily service from 6am to 10pm, extending the current daily service time by 1.5 hours. The waiting time between trains from Guanglan Road to Pudong Airport will be reduced to 7 minutes from the current 8.5 minutes during rush hour. Three extra trains will be added for the section between Guanglan Road and Yuandong Avenue, with services concluding at 10:24pm. As for the western section of Line 2, trains running from Yuandong Avenue station to East Xujing station (which includes both Hongqiao Airport stops) will have their intervals reduced to 6 minutes 42 seconds, down from the current time of 10 minutes. Current end of service for the downtown sections of Line 2 is 11pm. more ›

Subway trains in Nanjing were delayed along line 2 yesterday, and reports coming out today state that recent heavy rains had a role, by flooding water channels and elevating the underground bed lining which subway track lays on. In a video from one of the stranded trains, passengers mill about annoyed and anxious at the delay, only to then run away in screaming terror when things start going wrong for the train car. more ›

Since people in Shanghai love constant surprises, the Shanghai Metro has been pulling out all the stops this summer, coming out with one hit after another on the Line 10 of Doom. We've been privileged enough to witness Line 10 trains going in the wrong direction, platform doors shattering, and now trains breaking down with all the doors shut and impossible to open from inside. more ›

A new mobile shopping experience is coming to major cities around China with a subway network, and is currently being tested in Shanghai and Beijing. more ›

Passengers travelling on Line 10 of the Shanghai Metro were spared a heart attack on Thursday evening when they got off the train in one piece after it went on the wrong track at the Longxi Road station line split. more ›

We know China's going bat-shit crazy over the new Transformers 3 movie right now, but this is taking it a bit far, don't you think? Thanks to tipster Jack for this photo of transfer TRANSFORM information on a Line 2 metro ticker. more ›

Global Times informs us of more details involving the horrific escalator accident that happened in a Beijing metro station yesterday. Apparently the escalator suddenly changed direction, plummeting downwards at "free-fall" speed. A maintenance check had just recently been performed on the machine, produced by Otis, and now all Otis escalators on Line 4 have been put out of service until further review. Initial inspections suggest the malfunction was caused by "damage to spare parts that resulted in the drive chain slipping." The Beijing MTR promises to cover all medical expenses and arrange for compensation. more ›

An as-of-yet unexplained "malfunction" of a Bejing metro escalator has killed at least one person and seriously injured several others in a nightmarish accident. The photos from this thing are brutal, witnesses say the whole metro "smells of blood." From Xinhua: more ›

It looks like Subway wants all of China eating fresh, all the time. On Monday, the company announced plans to more than double its number of stores in China, from the current 220 to over 600 by 2015! They announced a 40 percent growth in sale revenue in Beijing last year, and appear intent on taking over the mainland, one tuna sandwich at a time. Tuna is, by the way, the most popular sandwich choice by the Chinese, but the company is looking for even more ways to tailor items to local tastes. This is a phenomenon massively popular with mainland giants like KFC and McDonald's, whose gnarly shrimp patty burgers and red bean ice cream are screamingly popular. One shudders as the possibilities: Green tea teriyaki chicken? Taro 'n' cold cuts classic? Fragrant fish ball sub? (We did hear talk of a Peking Duck sub though, and have salivated over that rumor ever since.) more ›

Because if there is anything Shanghai residents need, it's more pampering: "...if passengers are unhappy with a train's temperature, they can speak to the driver through the emergency intercom system. Alternately, they can dial the complaint hotline, 6437000 or advise Metro workers at stations. The air-conditioning temperature setting is based on what is considered comfortable, but passengers may feel cold or hot, depending on how full trains are. Though the temperature has been set when a train leaves the terminal, drivers now can adjust the temperature according to passengers' needs, said Shentong Group. The new system is on all lines except Line 1, where the air-conditioning system is too old to be upgraded." [Shanghai Daily] Wow, Shanghai metro, you are opening an entirely unnecessary can of worms. I can only imagine the abuse those emergency intercoms will be seeing in the coming months. more ›

In order to make way for metro line expansion, two high-rise building were demolished in downtown Ningbo on Wednesday. An 11-story financial center and 21-story riverfront high-rise were reduced to rubble in the largest ever demolition undertaken in the city. After a complex network of explosives were placed, it took a total of exactly 7 second for these two buildings to be carefully and simultaneously blasted to smithereens. more ›

Thought the state-abetted tree-cutting was just a Nanjing problem? Well, now, it's come to Shanghai too, and for the same reason. more ›

A Taiwanese sporting goods brand had the brilliant idea that a crowd of 20 pantless Taiwanese models traipsing through Taipei subways could be a great way to market their "no pants day" campaign. Hmm, seems to have worked well so far. Video after the jump! more ›

Metro trains in Shanghai currently run at between 50 and 70 km/h, but when the new Line 22 opens this November, trains will take you from the Shanghai South Railway Station to Jinshan District at speeds of up to 160 km/h. Over in Pudong, the new Line 11 -- which is scheduled to go into service some time in 2012 -- will connect the Longyang Road Station with Lingang New Town by Shanghai's southeast coast at a speed of 120 km/h. If you're feeling overwhelmed by the Shanghai Metro's breathtaking pace of development you saw last year, they're not completely done yet. The metro's network is set to balloon further from the current total length of 400 km to 600 km by 2015. more ›

We told you about this awesome vending machine for live hairy crabs in Nanjing a while ago, but now we've got more pictures up close. The crabs are priced very reasonably, from RMB10 to RMB50 depending on size and gender. And, if you're so lucky to get a dead crab, they'll give you 3 live crabs as compensation -- sounds like a good deal to us! [From ChinaDaily via ChinaTravelGuide] more ›

A male foreigner received a beating from bystanders on the Guangzhou subway recently for his obnoxious behaviour. Before he boarded the train, said eyewitnesses, the man had had a knife confiscated at security checkpoint. On the train, he began yelling at other passengers, calling them prostitutes, and flipping the bird at them. Later on in the altercation, a young Chinese woman who speaks English stepped in to try to talk some sense into the young man, but he would not listen, flipping her cell phone out of her hands, at which point a male passenger totally lost it -- and began attacking him. The incident ended at the next station when the foreigner took his belongings and got off the train.
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Four new stations opened yesterday on Line 10 and all of them have something to do with Hongqiao Airport. So if you're flying out of there and want to transfer between the two terminals, take the subway. Well, except if your flight falls anywhere out of the 6am to 10pm window, that is. Before, after that, you'll have to taxi it. more ›