• Just the mere whiff of Chinese investment in the Italian debt market had stocks going bonkers on Monday. WSJ points out that, weirdly enough, none of the rumors are really substantiated and this anonymous Italian official just happened to mention the prospects one day before Italian bonds for 2018/2020 go on sale...
• That's Shanghai gives us a nice review of Paul French's new non-fiction murder mystery Midnight in Peking.
• LA Times explains why the mooncake is very much the fruitcake of China. (Agreed - dessert should never feel like a punishment!)

These pictures were taken of the front entrance yesterday, amid reports that the opening of the park could be delayed past March. Looks to be about right, if you compare the early designs of that gnarly entrance gate with the real deal. See our previous post on the park for more details! more ›

After years of back and forth, it looks like Shanghai Disneyland has been given the go-ahead. According to news sources, the Shanghai Municipal Government Informatin offices announced the deal's approval early this morning. While details still have to be worked out between the mouse and the ministries, it seems like a pretty set deal. more ›

With the recent news about Beijing giving Disneyland Shanghai the go ahead, it looks like it's only a matter of time before the mouse lands in town. After a recent meeting of the City's International Business Leaders Advisory Council, Mayor Han Zheng declared that a decision could be announced as early as next week. But between the lines, we all know that's code for unequivocal approval, right? After all, it's not like the Shanghai government would announce a greenlight on Disneyland and then snatch it away last minute. Oh wait. more ›

A very recent story by the LA Times reminded us of one of our favorite threads in the Shanghai Expat forums: Chinese behaving badly at the Ikea in Shanghai. According to the article about the Swedish furniture maker's Beijing location, shopping for actual Ikea goodies can sometimes seem like getting a souvenir at the end of a trip to a theme park. A furniture theme park: more ›

Seemingly apropos of nothing, Li Bincheng, a leading tourism official in Shanghai, told people that China can sustain three Disney theme parks if it wanted to. "China has a population of 1.4 billion or 1.5 billion. It will not be a problem even if there are three Disneylands here," he said in response to a question about competition between Hong Kong Disneyland and the on again-off again Shanghai park. He then went on to add that if the Shanghai park ever actually came to be, it'd probably be ten times larger than its Hong Kong counterpart. But no worries, because Guangdong and Guangxi residents will probably still go to the much much smaller Hong Kong Disneyland since they live closer. Hmmm, that sure is a lot of talk for something that hasn't even won approval from the higher ups in Beijing yet. Source: SCMP more ›

As the ultimate tribute to Jacko, Shanghai's getting a little wacko by building a smaller version of the ex-King of Pop's Neverland Ranch on Chongming Island. The real ranch, located in California, contained an amusement park, a zoo, lakes, cinemas and an "Indian village" and housed Jackson from 1998 to 2005, when he moved out after police investigations into allegations of child molestation caused him to feel that Neverland Ranch had been "violated." According to the planners of the project, Shanghai's mini Neverland Ranch will have the same layout, and include a farm with an equestrian park as well as some Michael Jackson memorabilia. It is expected to cost around 100 million RMB. Source: Shanghai Daily more ›