Information continues to trickle in ever-so-slowly on the so-called new social benefits system that China is rolling out for expatriates here. Now, they're saying some -- not all of us! -- will be allowed to retire and to withdraw our pensions here. But who will get it, and who won't? Nobody seems sure. more ›

"The whole procedure, up till today, every step has been illegal and unreasonable," Ai told Reuters in an interview, shortly after he had paid the bond. more ›

Melissa Chan of Al Jazeera brings us video of the flood of money and support flowing into Ai Weiwei's studio in Beijing. His 15 days to cough up a RMB 15 million tax bill are slowing ticking away, but within 8 days, contributions stand at a whopping 6.25 million RMB. more ›

The notice from the tax bureau has come out. Acting as the "actual controller" I'll explain a bit. 15 million. Heh. One year's profits at Chinese Rail. more ›

• Evan Osnos of The New Yorker uses his crumbling 4-year-old Beijing hutong home as a metaphor for some possible liabilities surrounding China's breakneck development.
• Malcome Moore of the Daily Telegraph gives us the blow by blow account of a town in China first made filthy rich, then totally ruined by a pyramid scheme.
• China Digital Times takes a look at US China Ambassador Gary Locke's unexpected and immediate rise to stardom in China, and some not-so-friendly editorials in Chinese State Media that have come out as a result.

We already know how many people live in Shanghai and how many foreigners live in China, but we've never had a very clear picture of how many foreigners live in Shanghai. Global Times breaks it down for us, with numbers from last year's Shanghai census, the first ever to count foreigners. Here are some of the more interesting figures: more ›

Russell Flanary, Shanghai bureau chief of Forbes magazine, weighs in on China's new "social benefits" for foreigners:

Rather than emphasize the higher costs and taxes, the state paper put a positive spin on the news in a headline saying: “Foreigners set for social benefits.” The “benefits” start on Oct. 15, it said. more ›

Constructing a heightened personal aura through purchasing pricey baubles just got that much easier: "China, already the world's second-largest luxury goods market, will soon slash import duties on opulent items to encourage wealthy local shoppers to buy more pricey cosmetics, watches and liquor, Chinese media said on Monday. Citing unidentified sources, the paper said China's finance ministry may unveil a revamped tax system before the National Day holiday in October so that Chinese consumers can buy luxury brands such as Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton at home over the Christmas and New Year holidays. With the new taxes, duties on imported cosmetics, milk powder, watches, clothes, suitcases and shoes are expected to be reduced or even scrapped entirely, it said. Owing to hefty import taxes, prices of 20 luxury brands of watches, suitcases, clothes, liquor and consumer electronics in the Chinese mainland are 45 percent higher than those in Hong Kong, 51 percent higher than US prices, and 72 percent higher than French prices, a study by China's commerce ministry showed." [China Daily] more ›

"Very few low-income households have their own cars. If tolls for roads and bridges were abolished, the government would still have to repay the banks. This money could be used by the government to develop other public or social security services. Would this then not be unfair to low-income families?" more ›

• Award Offers Expats Lower Taxes [Shanghai Daily] "Shanghai will launch a "financial talent award" soon to make the city more attractive to foreign financial specialists, said Fang Xinghai, director of the Shanghai Financial Services Office, yesterday. The award also allows for a lower tax burden for expatriate financial talents in Shanghai and aims to build the city into an international financial hub by 2020."
• Mindful of Japan, US expert urges caution on China [AFP] "The United States should avoid a formal partnership with China to address global problems as it would hamper the alliance with Japan, an influential US foreign-policy thinker told Congress Thursday."
• 'Excellent' migrant workers get Shanghai hukou [Global Times] "Li Ying, a sanitation worker from Jiangsu Province, was so happy to be given a hukou for Shanghai Wednesday she burst into tears in the police station. Li - who has worked in the city for the past 10 years - was among a group of 40 “National Excellent Migrating Workers” to be given the household registration certificates for the thriving city."

• The World Expo Tunnel, which stretches beneath the Huangpu River, connecting Pudong and Puxi reached its full length on August the 20th: it's 2.67 kilometers long, and located 1.117 kilometers below the river.
• The soccer World Cup qualifier match between North and South Korea has been moved from Pyongyang to Shanghai, because the North had refused to play the anthem or fly the flag of its opponent (technically the two Koreas are still at war). The match is scheduled for September 10, sounds like an interesting game, eh?
• Migrant workers in Shanghai will be able to claim unemployment benefits and have the right to get health benefits while they are employed. This was stated by the department of safety in labor this week. Welcome news for a group who are definitely in need of a few more rights.

5) Other conditions regulated by the State Council more ›

Comments below don’t necessarily represent the Shanghaiist’s point of view or opinion regarding the Canadian government (we don't want them to hold a grudge and kick us out of Canada too!)… we just received it recently from the Busdriver promoter and thought it was kind of funny… shows are still on in Beijing and Shanghai…..and we are as giddy as a school boy in the girls locker room to see Busdriver play live! more ›

Shanghaiist is somewhat of a frequent flyer to Beijing, and because he isn't employed by some big multinational but rather runs his own little business, he can only afford to put himself on cattle class and often has to scour the internet for the cheapest available deals. We especially love this nifty little function on eLong.com which shows you the cheapest available flight within a week of your selected departure date. That has worked to our advantage in the past because we have relatively flexible schedules, and we have flown to Beijing for as low as RMB530 (that's RMB400 for the ticket and RMB130 for miscellaneous taxes) on Hainan Airlines. more ›

We're sure that you're all sick and tired of hearing about the Chinese stock market, but since we're struggling bloggers, we get vicarious thrills by talking about things that people with money do. Stocks in China took a slight tumble on Friday, amid more concerns that stock capital gains taxes were in the works. Everyone is still debating whether or not the stock market is a bubble or not, but some analysts say that whatever market corrections come won't have a hugely deleterious effect on the economy either in China or abroad. more ›

The lyrics were written by a Shanghai man named Gong Kaijie (龚凯杰), who's been playing the stock market for ten years and knows of what he writes. And although he was the one that provided the initial spark of creativity that made this happen, it is the singer of the song, 24 year-old Shanghai native Wang Bei (王蓓) that lent her voice to the words. Wang once wanted to be a star, but was weeded out of the pop-star manufacturing assembly line TV shows such as Super Voice Girls (超级女声). It looks like she might still have her chance. more ›

Just what exactly is the attitude of people in Shanghai towards luxury items? It seems, from some reports, that China is the third largest market for luxury items after the US and Japan, with the added benefit of less taxes to "curb barbaric luxury consumption." Once the province of super-rich (men), luxury goods consumption in China is now in part being driven by women. Another interesting phenomenon is that people in Shanghai are more cynical towards brand-names than are people in second-tier cities, who are now the hard-core true believers. more ›

For more del.icio.us links, visit the Shanghaiist Contribute page, which is updated throughout the day. more ›

LAist has so much fun this week! They go to E3, where they overhear the timeless remark "Man, this is where nerdy girls get laid." Is that a promise? They also give us this week's best CDs and make us realize that LA is the best place to use Zillow. more ›

Photo by Captain Video taken from the Shanghaiist photos page. To see your photos on our photos 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 ›

The agricultural tax levied on China's peasants since 594 BCE has now been officially abolished, promising to spare the country's 900 million peasants a total of 50 billion yuan a year (on average, each peasant pays 55 yuan in tax per year). You can read a Chinese report here. Though the new law takes effect on January 1, 2006, taxes on peasants had already been scaled back significantly in the majority of China's provinces previously. January 1 just marks the official end for the entire country. more ›

Photo of Glen Frey, whose song "Smuggler's Blues" was a hit in the mid-80s, from eaglesfans.com. more ›