TIME's Beijing bureau received a note this week from the customs department that 62 copies of its May 14, 2012 issue entitled The People’s Republic of Scandal were being "safeguided by customs" to be "dealt with". Read Hannah Beech's account of their fruitless attempts to get their magazines back: more ›

Well, well, well. Look who managed to make the cover of TIME magazine this week: everyone's favorite ousted Chongqing boss, Bo Xilai. You know you've made it big when... more ›

The poll for TIME's Person of the Year award is now up and running and... what do we see? Both Hu Jintao and Liu Xiaobo are on it! So which corner are you in - The Nobel Peace Prize winning dissident with visions of democracy or the leader of one of the new old superpower on the block? Or you can skip the controversy and vote for any of their other silly options: Glenn Beck, Lady Gaga or "The Unemployed American." Ugh, does anyone take this seriously anymore? Does TIME even take this seriously anymore? more ›

We don't particularly like it when Time Magazine chooses abstract notions or groups to give its "Person of the Year" award to: it feels contrived and too nebulous to really serve as an honor to anyone, and shows a little too much sensationalism for our clearly refined palates. Then again, we might just be bitter that we didn't get a special mention for 2006's social media-centric "You" Person of the Year award when Wang Xiaofei got one. In any case, the shortlist of this year's candidates is out, and some very notable Chinese people are on it. By our count, there's nearly 800 million on the list. more ›

We make no apologies for professing our love of Han Han: there's something about unbridled angst and resistance to the status quo that really gets us going. Needless to say, that view isn't shared by everyone on the mainland, and we often find Han Han at the center of some controversy, which only makes us more intrigued by him. The most recent blow comes from China Daily's Raymond Zhou, knocking the "rebel without a cause" for his poor interview in Time magazine. more ›

Since Hu Jia (胡嘉) is currently being charged for inciting subversion behind closed doors, we figured there is no better time than now to show you Prisoners in Freedom City 《自由城的囚徒》, a documentary made by him and his wife, Zeng Jinyan (曾金燕), while under a seven-month house arrest from August 2006 to March 2007. As ironic as it may sound, Freedom City is the name of the compound that houses the couple's apartment. This is not your typical arthouse documentary because it was made by Hu and Zeng with their little digital video camera, but what it lacks for in polish it makes up for with its power to send chills down your spine. more ›

Time Magazine recently published a list (click here) of, what they consider, to be the top 5 Asian bands to watch in Asia for 2008. Representing China is PK-14, a band that Time is describing as postfolk. Shanghaiist isn't exactly sure what the hell postfolk is, or if it is an accurate description of the music...but we don't really care, no matter how you describe PK-14's music..it still rocks. The band is currently in Sweden recording their new album which is scheduled for release on Bing Ma Si later this spring. more ›

Gay China seen through the eyes of three different media this week more ›

The latest issue of TIME Magazine has an interesting story of a US-based company that has just set up shop in where else but Inner Mongolia, to feed the millions of hungry Chinese who are now looking to eat something other than pork: more ›

World's hairiest man / pop-star bids to join Beijing Olympic torch relay

Would you believe it? The world's hairiest man is a Chinese, and he is a rock-and-roll singer! Yu Zhenhuan, who has an average 41 hairs on every .4 square inch of his skin, and is now just recovering in Shanghai from an ear operation, says he wants to be part of the torch relay for next year's Beijing Summer Olympic Games.

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. more ›

Shanghaiist may be accused of going with the flow on occasions, and one of those areas might be to do with our narrow mindset on the lovely, cute and adorable panda. We've applied our finest available powers of research to bring you the following snippets on the flipside of China's panda tail, and yes, it is mucky in there. So let us be accused of panda-ring no more. Yes, this is reporting with bite. more ›