Peter Foster of The Daily Telegraph breaks the story of a man who set himself on fire October 21 on Tiananmen Square, but the incident appeared nowhere in Chinese news media. Here's what happened according to a reader who witnessed the incident: more ›

"I don't have to answer this question. We should focus on tennis today... And actually, I don't really know what happened." more ›

Yesterday, June 4, was the 22nd anniversary of the government crackdown on pro-democracy student leaders in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Here's a quick roundup of links:more ›

After 2.5 billion RMB and nearly four years of renovations and expansions, the National Museum of China finally reopened on Tuesday to select visitors. It tripled its previous size to over two million square feet and is now reportedly the largest museum in the world. It has 49 exhibitions rooms, more than one million cultural relics, an 800-seat theater, and a 300-seat conference hall. It also has a professional in-house filming studio for shooting programs about the collections, which are not allowed to leave the premises. more ›

The capital finally had its first bout of snow last week, but someone it seems decided to use the fresh snowfall to leave a very strong message. The photo shows the Chinese characters for "six" and "four" written in the snow at Tiananmen Square, a reference to the June 4, 1989 crackdown on student protests. more ›

The rehabilitation of Confucius, the ancient sage whose ideas were once denounced by Chairman Mao as feudal ideology, continues. On Tuesday, a larger-than-life bronze statue of Kong Zi (孔子) was unveiled at the northern entrance of the newly-reopened National Museum, not far from where the Chairman's portrait is situated on Tiananmen Square. Hailed by China Daily as "the latest sign of the philosopher's comeback amid the country's efforts to promote him as a symbol of traditional Chinese culture", the statue was created by Wu Weishan, a sculptor from Nanjing, who has created over 20 statues of Confucius in different sizes and styles. With over 320 Confucius Institutes are located in 96 countries worldwide, one wonders why the sage isn't already on the square itself. Maybe that day will come yet. more ›

Now are those real police Segways or shanzhai ones? We will never know but we sure are looking forward to the summer when they patrol the square with their segways and umbrellas! That will be such a sight to behold! more ›

In an interesting turn of events, Foursquare, the location based social networking system, has been de-listed as a banned site in China thanks to a partnership with China Daily USA. You may remember the popular service was quickly shutdown after waves of check-ins and sensitive comments at Tiananmen Square on June 4th. more ›

Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square (French: Le jour se lève sur la place Tienanmen) is a 1998 National Film Board of Canada short animated documentary directed by Shui-Bo Wang which received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. Consisting of a colourful collage of personal and archival photos and original artwork, this fascinating documentary is one man's autobiographical look back at the turbulent Cultural Revolution and the subsequent years. An exceptional piece of work that is well worth 29 minutes of your time this Sunday: more ›

You probably have already read through Part I here, which chronicled the top five most clicked on Shanghaiist stories from January to June. Now here's Part II: the top five stories you guys read for the rest of the year. more ›

• A car in Shuijing was pasted with the slogan "The head of the Public Security Bureau is my father, I can commit murder and arson without fear!" in an attempt to attract attention to a murder case in the driver's hometown. [ChinaSmack]
• One columnist discusses the differences between Russia and China in terms of business and corporate governance... and China comes out on top. That makes us feel bad for Russia. [The Moscow Times]
• Speaking of regulatory policy, here's a couple of signs of things to come... kind of, since it's really hard to figure out what's to come even when you're listening to everything the government's saying. [WSJ]

A Beijing hairdresser is preparing to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Communist China's founding with a replica of the buildings and monuments around Tiananmen Square -- all made entirely of human hair. more ›

• 87 kg marijuana bust at Beijing airport [Danwei] "The front page of today's Beijing News features a photo of two Beijing airport customs officers, a passenger and the contents of his luggage: 87 kg of marijuana. According to the report, the man flew to Beijing from Lagos via Doha on March 2. He went though customs without his hold luggage. On March 3, he returned to the airport to pick up his overweight baggage, when his plastic-wrapped cargo attracted the interest of the customs officers."
• China Demands West Takes Responsibility for Imports' Carbon Footprint [ClimateBiz] "Speaking at a meeting of large polluters in Washington intended to deliver progress ahead of international talks in Copenhagen later this year, Li Gao said China should not pay for emissions arising from the manufacture of goods that are exported for use in rich nations. Speaking to the BBC, Li said any successor to the Kyoto Accord agreed in Copenhagen should recognize that rich countries are indirectly responsible for a large chunk of China's carbon emissions." A meeting of large polluters?
• Soldier's story a new look at Tiananmen crackdown [AP] "In bearing witness about his role in the military crackdown on the 1989 student demonstrations in Beijing, Zhang says he hopes to add momentum to calls for an investigation and reassessment of the protest movement — and to further its ultimate goal of a democratic China. 'I feel like my spirit is stuck there on the night of June 3,' Zhang, 40, said in an interview at his home in the dusty northern city of Tengzhou, referring to the date in 1989 on which the final assault began."

Three people set themselves on fire in Downtown Beijing earlier this afternoon, according to Xinhua. The three sat in a vehicle and started the fire at around 3pm at the intersection of Chang'an Ave and Wangfujing Ave, a busy shopping area less than one kilometer from Tiananmen Square. more ›

WARNING: This video contains graphic images that may not be suitable for everyone. more ›

By Jeffrey Wasserstrom more ›

According to Major League Baseball's official website, the LA Dodgers and San Diego Padres have committed to playing two exhibition games in Beijing's Olympic stadium next March. The games, scheduled tentatively for the weekend of March 15-16 at the Wukesong baseball stadium, are part of an MLB outreach to Asian baseball fans. The effort also includes season opening games between the Oakland A's and reigning champion Boston Red Sox at the Tokyo Dome, and a... more ›

Starbucks Corporation, the world’s biggest coffee shop chain, recalled 250,000 children’s plastic cups made in China after receiving reports of the cups breaking and posing a choking hazard. more ›

Today is China's 58th National Day. Thousands braved the rain this morning at the Tiananmen Square for the flag-raising ceremony. From what they're wearing, it looks like the weather up north has turned cold already. Also looks like it's mostly youngsters in the crowd (many of whom have travelled from afar). Check out the sea of digital cameras and mobile phones. China has truly arrived in the digital age. more ›

Via China Digital Times: This 2 minute video clip from buggyrun creatively juxtaposes images of the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square in Beijing. more ›

Ma Lik, the head of Hong Kong's leading pro-Beijing political party who questioned whether China's Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 should be called a massacre, died Wednesday, an official said. He was 55. more ›

This is a snippet from Reuter's report on yesterday afternoon's case of vandalism in Beijing's Forbidden City. more ›

The song that got the most votes was the folk ballad, "My Wonderful Home Town," followed by "I Love China," "Singing Praises of Motherland" and 27 others, Xinhua news agency said.

Or, maybe not. At the risk of pissing off a commenter, we are posting about Mike Tyson yet again. (This is probably the last time, so it should be safe to check back tomorrow.) We didn't realize that Tyson made a side trip to Beijing during his recent stay in Shanghai. Danwei did, however. more ›

Image from Amazon.com. more ›

... And you should be, too. In fact, Shanghaiist has so much time on our hands that, despite cognizance of our own mortality, we surf places like Youtube for cheap laughs. And we're happy to report that we've found some things that might be of interest to you. First there's this video about a Shenzhen Disney factory and how they the workers there are paid miserably (33 RMB a day), are in constant danger of workplace injuries, are yelled at and insulted by their superiors, work from morning until night, and do not have normal social or family lives. more ›

Or maybe it won't. Either way, it will likely make its owner even richer. In 2001 at a Shanghai store, Liu Gang, founding partner of one of Beijing's largest commercial law firms, bought an ink map on bamboo paper that could be from the 18th century and could be a copy of a world map from 1418 that could offer proof that Chinese admiral Zheng He did in fact beat Christopher Columbus to the "New World" by more than 70 years, as at least one disputed author -- Gavin Menzies, who wrote 1421: The Year China Discovered the World -- has been claiming for a while now. Liu bought the map for US$500 and will unveil it -- well, a copy of it -- tonight in Beijing. We found this bit interesting: more ›

America's favorite action star and advocate for the mentally handicapped, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, isn't the only US governor on a trade mission to China this week. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is here too, just nobody seems to notice. AFX reports: more ›