Here's the first major poll to call bullshit on North Korea's "Global Happiness Index" which found earlier this year that China was the happiest nation in the universe and the DPRK was a very close second. In a survey of 155 countries around the world, Gallup has found China to be a rather unhappy nation. more ›

• Dreamworks Animation is looking to set-up operations in Shanghai to produce giggle-inducing content for the Chinese market. Pleasant Sheep and Big Big Wolf are Really Really Screwed.
• First Volvo, and then Iceland, and now Saab?! How long before Scandinavia just becomes China's Norse Autonomous Region?
• Surprise! "Being a selfish ass" accounts for nearly a third of all traffic accidents in Shanghai.

Intelligent Life, the lifestyle and culture magazine from The Economist, is running a poll to find out which city should be the capital of the world. more ›

A new study by GfK Automotive has asked Americans of all ages about there automobile buying preferences, and it turns out that not only are the Gen Y (i.e. Harry Potter Generation) kids willing to buy foreign, they're willing to buy Chinese. While only 38% of Americans in general were open to the idea, "looking at younger consumers, 52 percent of Gen Y car shoppers say they would be willing to take a look at a Chinese automobile, and 41 percent would consider an Indian-made vehicle." Whoa, just hold on a second kids. Maybe you're thinking sure, Chinese cars are cheaper and some even come with a built-in karaoke system! But they might want to first take a look at a few videos like this one, or this one. more ›

A research center under the Beijing petition office (called the Center for Research on Social Contradictions, of all things), along with private polling companies, has released results of a survey on the most common cause of social unrest in China. Respondents said forced evictions were the most important factor, placing it above all other reasons, combined! Low compensation and forcible resident removal were obviously important factors in the choice. Now that they've got some proof, here's hoping they actually do something about it so people can stop blowing themselves up and lighting themselves on fire. more ›

Shanghai is now the sexiest city in China, according to a survey by Horizon Research. Hey, maybe that's why all those tourists want to visit! The survey found that 17% of respondents found Shanghai to be the sexiest city because of its "landmark buildings," "big events such as Expo" and its appearance as a "modern city, strong economy and prosperous." Second place was Hong Kong, and Chongqing. It seems only Chongqing was actually quoted for having beautiful women. more ›

• China and Argentina in currency swap [FT.com] "China, which is pushing to end the dominance of the dollar as a worldwide reserve, has agreed a Rmb70bn ($10.24bn, £7.18bn, €7.76bn) currency swap with Argentina that will allow it to receive renminbi instead of dollars for its exports to the Latin American country. Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, said the deal was signed on Sunday by Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China, and Martín Redrado, Argentine central bank president, in Medellín, Colombia, where they are attending a meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank."
• Nanotechnology: Tom Mackenzie on China's giant step into nanotech [The Guardian] "Nanotechnology is big business conducted on an atomic scale. China is a major player, using it for a speaker just 1mm thick - or super-strong armour."
• China's Far Too Rosy Self Image [Pomfret's China] "A new poll by researchers at the University of Maryland and Globescan sums it up in the starkest terms. A whopping 92 percent of Chinese surveyed believe that China has a mainly positive influence on the world; whereas a mere 39 percent of people polled in 20 other major countries agree. This is the largest perception gap among the countries' polled. (And it's getting worse. Views about China have declined markedly over the last year.)"

The Shanghai Fag Hag is back! After an extended and highly enjoyable break from China, we have returned, just in time for the release of Li Yinhe's (our personal, sexologist hero!) Homosexuality Survey. Peijin Chen, has done an awesome translation of the survey on his blog, but we'll give you a few highlights. Not to give it all away, but this fairy queen found the answers surprisingly enlightened:
• When asked if they thought heterosexuals and homosexuals are equal individuals, just over 80% said yes. (I know it's not 100%, but we are getting there.)
• 91% said that they ought to have equal employment rights.
• Almost 30% said they would support gay marriages. (Go California!)

A survey conducted online by Sohu shows that to the Internet netizenry (at least those who took part in the survey) thinks, in regards to the telco reshuffle: more ›

Really strange results just in from the Durex Sexual Wellbeing Global Survey this year: 78% of the Chinese have sex weekly, but only 24% were able to achieve an orgasm everytime they had sex. Any sexperts out there wanna tell us what insightful analysis one can make based on the above two statistics?
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According to a blog essay we found, a recent poll by Harris Interactive showed that of 6,000 people from France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and the US, the overwhelming majority considered China the second most powerful nation in the world after the USA. We did some searching on the internet, and couldn't find mention of that report. We tried on Harris Interactive's site as well, but no dice. Perhaps we haven't looked hard enough? Or... more ›