Hong Kongers snub Beijing Sydney Morning Herald: Hong Kong voters snub Beijing, strike blow for democracy TIME: One for the Democrats in Hong Kong Reuters: Pro-democracy Chan wins symbolic Hong Kong election Fake moon pictures? Fox: China: Our Moon Photo Is No Fake The Canadian Press: China rejects questions over allegedly generic lunar surface photo The Telegraph: China defends lunar probe pictures China business WSJ: China Railway Shares Surge On Shanghai Trading Debut WSJ:......

The craze for Chinese language learning The Economist: False Eastern Promise: The craze for teaching Chinese may be a misguided fad Ken Carroll: The Economist at its misguided worst The Peking Duck: Is the rush to study Chinese a time-wasting fad? The Pudong petrol station blast Shanghai Scrap: China National Petroleum to Dead Workers: Blame Yourselves. Wang Jianshuo: Diesel shortage caused traffic jam The lifestyles of the rich and famous Sydney Morning Herald: Britney......

Leave it to the Chinese to make a business out of anything. Richard Spencer of The Telegraph reports that a new breed of waste collectors has struck deals with jewellery makers to pan for gold in the sewage. This business is now proving to be so lucrative that one building has sold the rights to its sewage for 140,000 yuan a year. We wonder how much our sewage is worth.The Indians may be generally envious......

Shanghai surprise as luxury goods addicts flash the cash in red China [The Telegraph] Luxury goods addicts seem to have added Shanghai to the list of must-visit cities if the shopping buzz is anything to go by, says Mark Kleinman.China sets up party leadership reshuffle [Financial Times] China’s Communist party has cleared the way for the appointment of a new senior leadership group following the retirement of vice-president Zeng Qinghong and two other members of......

So, like we told you, the word "democracy" (民主) was mentioned 60 times in President Hu's report to the 17th Party Congress. The China Media Project fills us in on other top buzzwords. “Socialism with Chinese characteristics” (中国特色社会主义) was mentioned 52 times, “scientific development” (科学发展) was a distant second at 38 times, “opening and reform” (改革开放) was mentioned 34 times, just edging out “harmony” (和谐) at 33. “Deng Xiaoping Theory” (邓小平理论) made 10 appearances and......

2,000 sex-related ads dropped from Chinese television and radio [People's Daily] About 2,000 advertisements adjudged to be sexually suggestive have been dropped from television and radio broadcast across China over the past two weeks, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) said on Wednesday. Work on Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail to start by end of 2007 [AFP] Work on a long-awaited high-speed rail linking Beijing and Shanghai is expected to start by late 2007,......

About 100 Chinese teachers are expected to arrive at state schools in the United Kingdom (yes, that haven of foreign language education) by next year, but schools which have already employed some of those teachers in their classrooms (which they described as "lovely") have already found problems, such as the following:"Their lack of familiarity with the English system of discipline, target setting etc is a problem.""They also tend to have different, perhaps unrealistic, expectations of......

Here, Shanghai, were your favourite stories for the month of September: Most Voted: 1. China home to the world's largest Christian population? 2. Typhoon Wipha coming to town? 3. Crazy Olympic hairstyles 4. Dianping's Shanghai specialty must-eats 5. Oops! The Telegraph can't tell Hu Jintao and Chen Liangyu apart... Most Commented: 1. The Shanghai Show: Huang-poo 2. Sorry, 'guest': You are being phased out 3. The latest on Survivor: China 4. Take us home, Steak......

China rejects pork imports from U.S., Canada [Reuters] China has rejected shipments of pork kidney from the United States and of spare ribs from Canada after finding traces of a banned growth agent in them, in the latest volley of cross-border accusations over product quality. China's kung fu peace-keepers head for Darfur [The Telegraph] With kung fu, automatic rifles and armoured personnel carriers, China showed off its new-found power this weekend, and how it says......

... and we thought Xinhua's mistake of illustrating a story on the causes of the debilitating disease multiple sclerosis with an X-ray photo of Homer Simpson's brain was bad! In his latest blog entry, Richard Spencer of the Telegraph cites a report by a group of Sinophile Brits organising a festival called ChinaNow that supports the notion (held by well-educated Chinese types) that "Chinese people were better informed on foreign affairs than British people were".......

Shanghai's booming subway [LA Times] The Chinese metropolis was even later than L.A. in building its system. But it is already big, with plans to make it the biggest within a decade. Shanghai: Art Deco capital - for now [The Telegraph] Just as Shanghai's priceless architectural legacy is gaining overdue recognition, it faces new threats from developers, reports Richard Spencer. Don't exaggerate product quality issues--China [The Inquirer] Concerns about the quality and safety of products......

Are there any Living Buddhas among the enlightened readership of this blog? You have been informed: With immediate effect, all your reincarnations must receive government approval, and if not, they will be deemed "illegal or invalid" by the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA). Thank Buddha for SARA because the latest regulations are all for the convenience of all the future Living Buddhas yet to come. As it tells us: It is an important move......

Whenever there is a crisis or a natural calamity, there are the people who lose money and then there are the entrepreneurs. It seems enterprising businessmen have decided to cash in on an outbreak of rodents in the Dongting Lake area in Hunan province which saw an estimated 2 billion mice on the run from the flooded Yangtse River by taking the matter into their own hands - literally. China Daily says trucks full of......

DNA technology has lead many to ponder what could actually be in the world. For some of us, our links with DNA technology stays closer to a key tool in the endless variations of CSI and as a means to revive lost species in Jurassic Park. However, perhaps soon on the tip of each person's tongue will be the application of DNA hereditary testing and its potential for re-writing Chinese history. For residents of the......

How big will the Shanghai premiere of Casino Royale be tomorrow night at Shanghai Film Art Center? Well, the stars of the movie will actually be there. And that doesn't happen too often — last month, Edward Norton flew to Beijing for a Painted Veil press conference, but didn't make the trip for the premiere in Shanghai the following day. Daniel Craig, 007 himself, and Bond girl Eva Green are slated to appear at the......