And what would summertime be without another global pandemic? "The Center for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) of Hong Kong Special Administration Region announced on Wednesday that two pig samples taken in a flu virus test were positive for H1N1, but no significant genetic reassortment of viruses was found. The result came from a regular influenza virus surveillance in pigs conducted by the University of Hong Kong (HKU) at Sheung Shui Slaughterhouse from February to April. Under the program, pigs at the slaughterhouse were tested by blood, tracheal and nasal swabs twice a month. A CFS spokesman said given the wide transmission of the pandemic H1N1 virus in humans, detection of the virus in pigs would not be a surprise. It was expected that positive findings might appear from time to time in the surveillance program in future. The spokesman said that all imported live pigs from the Chinese mainland must come from registered farms and be accompanied with animal health certificates issued by the Chinese mainland authorities." [Xinhua] more ›

Another animal has been diagnosed with another disease that could potentially infect humans. More than 4.4 million ducks have been found to be infected with a new virus named BYD Virus. It causes reduced mobility, a reduction in the number of eggs produced, a loss of appetite and in many cases, death. more ›

Yay! According to the World Health Organization, swine flu is officially over and done with - the pandemic has "largely run its course" and the world is no longer at phase six of the influenza alert level! So if you're out tonight, pour a drink to the disease that caused no amount of frustrations and hardships for the last year. more ›

While it hasn't been in the news recently, H1N1 hasn't actually left the country. In fact, seven people died from swine flu in March, bringing the current death toll of the flu to 800. Also last month, 429 people were confirmed to be infected, 70 of whom were hospitalized. So yeah, hopefully you got inoculated when the government was giving out free shots (and hopefully those shots were real). 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 ›

Uh oh - like the rest of the nation, Shanghai's really racking up the swine flu fatalities now. A 57-year-old man became the fifth person to die from H1N1 this morning, following four other deaths - including Shanghai's first child victim - in just the last two weeks. He was confirmed to have the flu on November 28 when he was admitted with serious pneumonia. Health authorities say that that despite the recent uptick in deaths, Shanghai is still safe. more ›

Oof, just a day after the third H1N1 death in Shanghai comes the first child swine flu fatality. A five-year-old girl died of complications, including severe pneumonia and multi-organ failure at the Shanghai Children's Hospital yesterday afternoon. Despite the sudden rise in swine flu deaths, health officials say there is no epidemic outbreak in Shanghai communities or schools, and the general incidence of swine flu is stable. more ›

A 53-year-old man became the third person to die from H1N1 in Shanghai yesterday, after he succumbed to swine flu complications at Xinhua Hospital. He was suffering from other chronic illnesses as well, according to Shanghai Daily. The two previous deaths - a 60-year-old man and 50-year-old woman - happened over the weekend. So far, the city has detected 2,256 swine flu cases. The China mainland has had 194 fatalities in just November alone, and almost 10,000 new cases were confirmed this week. We're reaching epidemic time people, start popping those Vitamin Cs and make sure you get your flu shot. more ›

Ruhr oh, while H1N1 might have already hit its peak in the West, it seems like deaths from it are only rising in China. The number of deaths caused by swine flu here have increased sharply over the past few weeks, with he Ministry of Health’s website stating late Tuesday that the reported number of people killed has jumped to 178 from 53. "The epidemic situation in our nation remains grim,” the statement said. Back in May, we gave a couple of tips for preventing, identifying and treating H1N1. Guess it’s time to brush the dust off that again. more ›

• What is it with Slate columnists and inane articles about this country? First Daniel Gross of Slate can't find a chocolate bar in China, and now somebody's tricked him into writing an entire article based on Tiananmen slogans that were never there.
• East South West North picks the top ten Hollywood movies that suck up to China. Of course, 2012 makes top pick with its theme of the People's Liberation Army saving the world, but how did you feel about Dragonball Evolution's surprising Chinese twists?
• Alibaba, China's internet service for busineses to find and sell to each other has 45 million registered users and a market cap of over $17 billion. Forbes talks to the man behind the magic, David Wei.

• Wow, that's a huge amount: 1.5 million people per day are getting innoculated with the swine flu vaccine. [AP]
• This year's Chinese Blogger Conference was held in an ancient cave in Lianzhou, Guangdon. Why? You'll have to watch this video to find out. [WSJ]
• A government report has said that China's Three Gorges Dam has doubled in cost and has been plagued with multiple problems. Here's a summary of them. [Al Jazeera (on Youtube)]

Since up until now, we've only seen the third case of serious swine flu emerged in Shanghai, you may well be wondering, “how bad could all this hullabaloo get anyway?" more ›

Shanghai has now recorded its third serious case of swine flu - a 43-year-old local man who is now in stable condition at the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center. According to Shanghai Daily, the city has detected 1,538 cases of H1N1 since the first patient in the city was reported in May. So far, there have been no deaths directly related to the flu, but experts expect an increase in serious cases soon. Altogether, China has recorded 43 deaths and 67,000 infections related to H1N1 thus far, which actually isn't bad when compared to the toll the flu's taken on the United States. more ›

Xinjiang has been through a lot of political and social trauma in the last couple of months, what with the riots in July, syringe attacks in September, the executions that followed, continuous H1N1 scares, and an internet blackout throughout the province. more ›

A student from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics has reportedly died from A/H1N1, marking the fourth death in China from the Swine Flu. The death was brought about from the contagion spreading during obligatory military training, where twenty eight students were infected with the virus and quarantined. The student was also the first in a major city to die from Swine Flu, although there have been related deaths. As the flu season descends on us in Shanghai, it might be a good idea to go get a flu vaccination. Or at least refrain from licking pigs. Photo from badgirlsrpeople2 @ Wordpress more ›

Just in time for the national day celebration, Beijing announced that it has begun a countrywide swine flu vaccination campaign. Shots were administered to thousands of students participating in the 60th anniversary parade and will be given to 65 million citizens by the end of the year, with priority placed on those in public service and the infirm. China is now the first country to implement such a campaign against swine flu: given the drastic increase in swine flue cases, we hope the effort is enough. more ›

• Google Earth Used By Netizens To Discuss Urban Planning [chinaSMACK] "For those of you who lived in or been to any major city in China, you must have at one point gotten stuck for hours during the morning commute or being lost within the maze of side streets and intersections. Things apparently don’t look that much better from the bird’s eye view, as curious Chinese netizens shockingly discovered (thanks to Google Earth) that even cities in Africa have seemingly better city planning and layouts than Chinese ones. The crux of the arguments boils down to whether it was truly poor city planning or because that most Chinese cities, like Rome, were not built in one day."
• The Akamai Of The East [Forbes] "In the first seven months of this year, 40 million users plugged into China's Internet for the first time, about 7 million more than the entire population of Canada. For China's Web sites and telecoms, that's a server-straining, broadband-bending rate of growth. For a privately held Beijing company known as ChinaCache and its investors, it's the kind of statistic that opens champagne corks. As the top content delivery network (CDN) in mainland China, ChinaCache holds a near monopoly on the lucrative business of selling Internet-based companies a fast track through the country's congested cyberspace."
• Taiwan film festival pressured to drop film about Chinese dissident [Monsters and Critics] "After Chinese protests, the organizer of the Kaohsiung Film Festival came under pressure Thursday to cancel a showing of a film about the life of a Chinese dissident. The Kaohsiung Film Archive announced earlier this month that it planned to show the Ten Conditions of Love, a documentary about exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, during its October 16-29 film festival in Taiwan's second-largest city."

With the flu season beginning, it's certainly good to take precautions: keep warm, drink lots of fluids, avoid swine flu, et cetera. But that may be hard to do: Chinese health officials have now reported over 9,100 cases of A/H1N1 on the mainland. What's worse, more than half of the cases have been reported in the past three weeks. In response, China's health department has prepared enough Tamiflu for ten million people, which is a startlingly high number, even in China. We're not the type to panic over pandemics, but we're going to unpack our extra sweaters and sanitary face masks just in case. more ›

Two months after the first swine flu-related death in China, Shanghai has been hit with its own number one serious victim. A 35-year-old migrant worker is currently comatose and suffering from multiple organ failure in Shanghai No. 1 People's Hospital thanks to the A/H1N1 virus. He fell ill on Thursday and was confirmed to have the flu on Friday. His status comes as over 100 people across China were infected with A/H1N1, which according to Xinhua means that the peak season for flu has begun. Better start reviewing that PSA we wrote up about preventing, identifying and treating this dastardly disease. more ›

• South China rains kill 20, force 700,000 from homes [Xinhua] "Torrential rains and floods in southern China have left at least 20 people dead and two missing. More than 700,000 people have been relocated as downpours have destroyed houses, flooded crops, cut power, damaged roads and caused rivers to overflow, according to the latest figures from the provinces of Hunan, Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangdong and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. "
• SHANGHAI BUILDING COLLAPSE: Hundreds protest [Straits Times] "HUNDREDS of Chinese homeowners protested outside government offices in Shanghai demanding refunds after a 13-story apartment building in a complex under construction toppled over, newspapers reported on Sunday. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post said the protesters marched on Saturday through central Shanghai, holding handwritten signs and chanting: 'Lotus Riverside, refund (our) homes!'"
• China apologizes to Mexico for tough swine flu stand [AFP] "China's Health Minister Chen Zhu Friday apologized to his Mexican counterpart for failing to warn him about the tough measures Beijing imposed on Mexicans to combat swine flu. "I regret that I did not talk first" to Minister Jose Angel Cordova, Chen said on the sidelines of a meeting in Cancun about the swine flu pandemic."

• Shanghai has decided to stop on-board aircraft passenger temperature checks, to the dismay of budding photographers hoping to document the bizarre hazard suit teams. [Shanghai Daily]
• Mudwrestling at Martini Bar? Those are two things we thought never would really mix, but it somehow happened. [SmartShanghai]
• What a load of bull. Shanghai's planning on building a bigger version of Wall St.'s charging bull statue to be placed on the waterfront. It'll mark the tail end of China's Year of the Ox and... we guess, be auspicious somehow. [The Age]

Just like they warned, China's now reported its first death related to swine flu - though they're not sure if the death was actually caused by the virus. A 34-year-old female patient in Zhejiang province had been recovering from H1N1 when she was found dead on her toilet yesterday morning. The hospital said her temperature had been normal for a week, she was coughing only occasionally and her other symptoms were disappearing. The death was ruled as accidental, though police are still investigating. The total number of mainland infections is currently at 867. Source: SCMP more ›

More photos on 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 (and here). more ›

Welp, they tried. Despite the makeshift hazard suit wearing airplane temperature checkers, the proposals for ever more stringent visa regulations, and everything else the government has done to try and stop swine flu, it looks like localized "cluster outbreaks" of H1N1 just can't be avoided. As Guangdong struggles with the mainland's first community outbreak, the Ministry of Health has warned that there will likely be "serious cases or even deaths." Guangdong currently has 233 known infections, the most in China. Health officials are predicting that it may be the first place in the country to experience a swine flu-related death as well. Source: SCMP more ›

• In China, a new breed of dissidents [WSJ] "Political consciousness is beginning to spread," says Merle Goldman, professor emerita of history at Boston University and associate at Harvard University's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. "Ordinary people use the term 'rights' now," she says. "The problem is, of course, that there's not much they can do about it at this point. But the concept is there."
• Nine cases added to mainland total [Shanghai Daily] "The Guangdong Health Department said last night that three new cases in Shenzhen had been confirmed. They were two Chinese sisters aged 18 and 20 who flew in from New York on Thursday and a 13-year-old Canadian girl who arrived in Shenzhen from Canada on Saturday."
• 'Mass hysteria' in Jilin: Fair call, or fog? [Caijing] "More than 1,000 workers at the Jilin Chemical Fibre Group Co. Ltd. in the northeastern city of Jilin reported dizziness, nausea and other symptoms during a three-week health crisis that so far has defied clear explanation."

Shanghai confirmed its fifth case (already!) of swine flu over the weekend. This time, the patient was a 23-year-old female college student who had been studying in the U.S. She had taken a flight from New York to Hong Kong on Thursday. On Saturday, she developed a fever and was quarantined at Shanghai No.1 People’s Hospital. Eight family members and friends are under medical observation for the week. Shanghai’s first case, a businessman who had flown in from Melbourne, has recovered and is now out and about town. more ›

Despite China's strident attempts to protect itself from the A/H1N1 virus, a domestic case was discovered yesterday in Guangdong province. The patient had been in direct contact with another suspected flu patient, one who was confirmed to be a carrier of the virus on Thursday. more ›

Those two suspected cases we told you about this morning have now been confirmed! That means that Shanghai has now gotten its first swine flu victim. The 30-year-old who arrived from Australia on Saturday was hustled straight to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center after registering at 38.8 degrees upon getting off the plane. He had first started experiencing symptoms, including runny nose and fever, three days before his flight. 24 people who were in close contact with him on the plane are now under quarantine and the Shanghai government is on the look out for 20 more passengers that ought to be under observation as well. If you were on or know anyone who was on the Air China CA178 flight from Melbourne on Saturday, please contact authorities now by calling 12320. Source: Shanghai Daily more ›

There have now been nine confirmed cases of H1N1 on th Chinese mainland, with two new patients cropping up in Beijing and Fujian province over the weekend. In Fujian, a two-year-old girl tested positive for swine flu after returning from the U.S. with her family via Hong Kong. Meanwhile, in Beijing, the confirmed was a 46-year-old man surnamed Zhang who had flown over from Canada. Unfortunately, he took the subway several times before showing symptoms, possibly contaminating all of Beijing. Meanwhile, there are two suspected cases in Zhenjiang province and Shanghai. The Zhenjiang patient is a 19-year-old boy who came to New York. The Shanghai case is a 30-year-old Chinese man working for an Australian company who flew in from Melbourne. So far, swine flu has claimed no casualties in this country. Source: China Daily more ›

Yet another swine flu patient has been found in Beijing, making it the third case to be discovered this week and China's fifth case overall. The latest patient is a 21-year-old Chinese Canadian male who came over from Toronto. He arrived in Beijing on May 16 and sought treatment for a fever on the 19th. It seems like there really is an uptick in H1N1 discoveries recently, which makes us really worry about our plans to head out of the country this summer. It also brings up the question: how many more cases before we stop reporting them individually and start in bulk? Source: Economic Observer Online more ›