By Derek Sandhaus In an interesting piece of news that slipped under the radar at the end of December, it was announced that the Yunnan government has officially put a cork in the Tiger Leaping Gorge dam project . We suspect that they were hoping this would go unnoticed by being announced on a Friday right before the holidays and, judging by the response, it almost did. For those of you unfamiliar with the Tiger......

By Derek Sandhaus Its hardly news to say that China has a bad record when it comes to animal cruelty. Less than ten days after China began working on raising the bar for treatment of slaughter animals it looks like more trouble is brewing for our furry friends, this time in Hubei province. Earlier this week authorities were shocked to discover that a Siberian tiger, a critically endangered species, was brutally dismembered and skinned at......

Workers clearing China landslide discover bus in the rubble; 29 believed dead [The Canadian Press] The bus was found three days after a landslide tore a 50-metre gash in a mountainside Tuesday heightening concern that the massive reservoir of the Three Gorges Dam, was wreaking ecological havoc in the region.US studios sue Chinese website for film piracy [AFP] 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures and Universal Studios have filed a lawsuit against......

Have China Scholars All Been Bought? "Academics who study China, which includes the author, habitually please the Chinese Communist Party, sometimes consciously, and often unconsciously. " Cartoon police to 'patrol' all Web sites in China "China plans to expand its use of animated police figures into a virtual force symbolizing the government's monitoring of all major Web sites and online forums, state media said Saturday." Eating Human Fetuses in China "The story was about......

Shaanxi peasant's diary--spanning 60 years--is published He started in 1941 and kept it until 2001, and now the sixty year diary of over 2 million characters has been published. (article in Chinese) NEWS BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL BOSSES ORDER CUTS IN CHINESE MOVIE Now it's Westerners asking the Chinese to cut out parts of their films? Comment is free: Sexual development Daniel A Bell asks whether China might not learn from Singapore and consider the......

Jia Zhangke’s Golden Lion-award-winning Still Life (in Chinese, Sanxia Haoren, or "The Good People of the Three Gorges") isn’t quite the masterpiece that we’ve come to expect from the man responsible for the pitch-perfect The World (2004) or Platform (2000). But save for a few minor hiccups, it comes awfully close. The plot, as is often the case in Jia’s films, is window dressing of the plainest variety. In two non-overlapping storylines (fans of Babel......

Yahoo might face a lawsuit over the jailing of Chinese reporter Shi TaoWe love Boston and we love The Globe, but what's up with this article?: BEIJING -- Di, Chao, Xu, and Wentao now answer to Eddy, Super, Promise, and Wendy. For the ever-pragmatic Chinese, adopting English names has always represented a way for them to bridge the linguistic and cultural gap. Now, as China widens its reach abroad and as the number of expatriates......

There's a serious drought affecting Chongqing and neighboring Sichuan, which recent reports have stated is the worst such drought to hit the region in 50 years. Water levels on the Yangtze are at lows unseen for 100 years, water is being rationed in Chongqing, and millions of people are already without safe drinking water. Losses are already in the billions of yuan, and it looks like the autumn harvests are going to be shite, thus......

NBA stars grace the "Basketball Without Borders" training camp for teens in Shanghai.Japanese government drastically ups the number of diplomats to receive "antispy" training, citing the suicide of a Japanese diplomat in Shanghai. Does this training include how to resist getting turned on by "sexy women" and not falling for "honey traps?" Sign us up!China's first genuine e-book was released on June 8. Sixty percent of Chinese readers get their books in some form online.Shanghai-Hangzhou......

Back in September we told you about the new eco-city of Dongtan out on Chongming Island. It seems that it's made the news again though it seems that this new Reuters report doesn't tell much of anything new. A couple of trivial new facts: all the cars will be electric, and the precarious wetlands, which are what the environmentalists are mostly concerned with, will be protected and separated from the eco-city by a 5 km......

In New Orleans, we have seen the devastation that can come from failing to heed scientific warnings. Will Shanghai be the victim of a similar stubborness regarding the Three Gorges Dam? Well, here's another warning: To tell you the truth, I have tons of concerns. I am extremely worried about Shanghai, situated at the mouth of the Yangtze River. In my view, Shanghai is the place that will be most affected by the Three Gorges......