Results tagged “theindustry”

This is definitely one of the best pods we've seen on China's sex workers so far. Laura Ling of Current TV, goes around China and finds that the sex trade, while virtually non-existent 25 years ago, is now booming everywhere. She also almost got into trouble with some local mafia (which brought back some nasty flashbacks of our own encounters with them a few years ago), but fortunately she got away with it and her tape!

Thou shalt not collude on pricing, the regulatory god said unto the Moses of industries in most countries, including China. But the instant noodle cabal either did not hear it or turned a deaf ear. In late July, noodle makers joined forces in raising prices by about 20 percent, and as much as 40 percent for some products.After less than three weeks of regulatory pressure, media assailing and public discontent, the industry backed down, apologized and initiated an across-the-board price cut. Is this a triumph of consumer rights and regulatory protection? Yes ... hmm maybe.

Continue reading "Thou shalt not collude on pricing, says China Daily columnist but fails to hit out at state-owned airlines"

Update: EastSouthWestNorth translates a story from Southern Metropolis Daily tracing how the story of the bogus buns was found to be fake, and says kudos to the netizens who raised the following doubts from the beginning:

As if Shanghai taxi drivers didn’t already have enough foolish foreigners to rip off, soon the most gullible of all tourists, cruise passengers, will be arriving. By the end of this year, a brand new cruise terminal will be opening at the northern end of the Bund. The US$260 million dollar site has been under construction since 2004 and is expected to hold up to three luxury cruise liners.

Shanghai is fast becoming George Costanza’s dream city. First, there is a sandwich craze that is sweeping through town and now the 34th Annual Miss Bikini International Pageant is being hosted by our fair city. Yesterday at Taipingqiao Lake in Xintiandi, there was a promotion for the festival that included Julia Liptakova, last year’s winner and Yang Lei, the runner up.

It seems that the TIME Magazine China Blog has been blocked by the Great Firewall of China (GFW), or "GFW-ed" to use the industry nomenclature. The blog normally covers a full-range of issues, including topics and analysis that local media wouldn't touch with a 10 meter 棍, and as a rule, TIME tends to "err on the side of free speech." However, evidently the blog took things a step too far for China's censors, when on June 4th, all three bloggers (Simon Elegant, Bill Powell, and Austin Ramzy) wrote about the world's largest public square.

There seem to be some varying opinions on whether China is really going to be requiring bloggers to register their blogs using their real names or not. Earlier in the week, it was widely reported that the ISC (Internet Society of China), a quasi-governmental organization that exists under the umbrella of the MII (Ministry of Information Industry), had published a draft "code of conduct" that would encourage but not mandate that users register under their own names. According to Xinhua:

Our weekly round-up of some of the highlights from China's English-language blogosphere:

Shanghaiist thinks there aren’t enough cars in Shanghai. The air, quite frankly, is incredibly clean. There’s nary a spot of traffic. And really, couldn’t taxi drivers be more conscientious by honking their horns just a LITTLE more often? Shanghai needs more cars. Definitely. And what better place to encourage additional consumption than the Shanghai Auto Show!

A week ago, we told you about The Departed's bad odds for finding its way into Chinese theaters — censors, reportedly, didn't like a plotline that had Chinese government officials (or people working for government officials) trying to purchase advanced military computer hardware. Well, now we learn that "[d]istributors for Martin Scorsese's Oscar-nominated crime thriller The Departed are negotiating with Chinese censors to edit out some of the politically sensitive scenes." But wait, SARFT is saying its primary problem with the movie is violence:

American in Shanghai, a fascinating and entertaining insight into the remarkable career of an entrepreneurial ex-pat. Shanghaiist spoke with the author to find out more.

Fans of rap and hip-hop, take this down: Jay-Z is coming to Shanghai. Probably. The Grammy-winning rapper reportedly will be performing at the Hongkou Soccer Stadium on Monday, October 23, as part of a tour that will also see him making stops in Taipei and Seoul, according to Shanghai Daily.

Mobile phone madness

The move follows a series of recent complaints over a huge billboard in the Xujiahui area that displayed the bare thigh of a Hong Kong pop star who was selling skin-care products. ...

Takeshi Yasutoko and Lincoln Ueda, pro skaters

Chien-Chi Chang has the distinction of being not only a member of Magnum Photos, widely considered the most prestigious photo agency in the world, but also of being the only the only full member of Chinese ancestry (Chang is from Taiwan, a citizen of the US).

Shanghai finally has an answer to Okay Airlines! The first of Shanghai Spring Airlines' Airbus 320s arrived at Hongqiao Airport earlier this week, and the budget airline expects its first flight to Shandong Province's Yantai to leave on July 18. The China Daily makes it seem as though Yantai is the only destination Shanghai Spring currently has permission to fly.