This just in from a reader tip. Via the easternmiles.com newsletter: In order to guarantee safety of civil air transport during Beijing Olympic Games period, Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has decided to implement special inspection measures in Beijing Capital Airport, Shanghai Hongqiao and Shanghai Pudong Airport, airports in Qingdao, Tianjin, Shenyang, Qinhuangdao, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Jinan, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Hefei, Changchun, Harbin, Huhehaote, Dalian, and airports inside Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Tibet Autonomous Region......

Great debate is now raging on the Chinese internet about the appearance of a nude beach in Sanya and whether it should be acceptable or not. In this video, the reporter found a dozen middle-aged men in a deserted part of the Dadonghai Bay tanning in the sun (don't ask us why they were in such awkward poses at the start of the clip!). They don't seem to be bothered by the fact that just......

Holland Cotter, the New York Time’s art critic has been traveling in China as part of a series “Throwing Open the Doors” that explores how China's shifting self-image is reshaping its art and art institutions. His second piece on Dunhuang’s Mogaoku, also known as “peerless caves” is a thoughtful and evocative piece on the nature and history of the Buddhist grottoes. Cotter was lucky enough to be able to spend the night at the site......

Tulou, the unique buildings of Fujian Province in southeastern China, were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List on Sunday, during the 32nd session of the World Heritage Committee. According to the submission provided by China's State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Tulou buildings have been built since the 11th century. Designed to meet the requirements of a whole clan living together, they usually consist of a rammed earth outer wall and internal wooden framework,......

Chairman of China Southern Airlines, Liu Shaoyong (刘绍勇) piloted the inaugural flight from Guangzhou to Taipei yesterday carrying 258 passengers. On landing at the Taoyuan International Airport, the 100 or so mainland tourists were given a warm welcome including this lion dance and an Taiwanese aboriginal dance you see in the video, but later in the day, they were also greeted by Falun Gong members at a popular tourist site. This first encounter remained civil......

Both the Shanghai government and Walt Disney Co have now denied media reports confirming the arrival of Disneyland in Shanghai by 2012. According to municipal spokesperson Chen Qiwei, "The project still needs central government approval and Shanghai will obey Beijing's decision." And with that, ladies and gentlemen, we're back at square one, so brace yourselves for the next round of ding-donging. Looks like "done deals" on Xinhua and Shanghai Daily are not what they seem.......

Chinese tourists will no longer need to make their way to Hong Kong for a touch of Disney because a bigger, better Disney is coming to Shanghai in 2012. Located in Pudong's Chuansha Town (or 20 minutes from Pudong Airport), Shanghai Disney will cover 10 square kilometers — eight times the size of Hong Kong Disney. [Source]......

With opinion polls indicating that Chinese sentiment towards France has greatly deteriorated after the Paris Olympic torch pro-Tibet protests, it's not completely surprising that tourism from Beijing to France has fallen by 70 percent in the past few weeks. But suspicions have arisen that Beijing's official tourism body has taken measures to stop the city's potential travelers from patronizing France. "We were given the assurance that there had never been an order for tourism agencies......

China releases 1,157 involved in Tibet unrest [Channel NewsAsia] “BEIJING - China has released a total of 1,157 people who were involved in riots in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in March, the official Xinhua news agency reported Friday, quoting a senior Tibetan official.”Opening the flood gates: airlines allowed to fly between China and Taiwan [flightglobal.com] “In a long-awaited political breakthrough, Chinese and Taiwanese carriers will receive a much needed boost with the launch early next......

This sounds like a joke, but it's absolutely true. Luxury goods manufacturer Louis Vuitton have produced a series of three audio guides to China. Voiced by some of the top actresses in the business, the guides are produced like high-budget radio plays with sound effects, a plinky-plonky piano soundtrack and a plot. The Beijing and Hong Kong guides are voiced by Gong Li and Shu Qi respectively whilst Shanghai gets Joan Chen ("Lust, Caution", "The......

Olympics China Rises: Restricting the foreign press Reuters: China urged to curb executions ahead of Olympics China Herald: Another Olympic mishap: problems in getting tickets Channel NewsAsia: Hong Kong toughens rhetoric to avoid Olympic Games protests ABC News: Athletes banned from Beijing opening ceremony China and the U.S. Blogging For China: America opens its doors, slightly, to Chinese tourists People’s Daily: First Chinese leisure travelers to U.S. greeted by music, hospitality Washington Post: In......

Shanghai travelers en route to Europe have never had it cheaper, but the real winners may be Hong Kong commuters. Newcomer Hong Kong Express Airways (which launched its first SH-HK flight only three days ago) announced Thursday that it will offer a monthly package for unlimited trips between the two cities, all for around 6,000 RMB. The deal is currently available in Hong Kong for HK$6,888 (6,086 RMB) a month, and the company reported that......

From the highly authoritative People's Daily:The Beijing Olympics official website recently released "A guide to Chinese law for Foreigners coming to, leaving or staying in China during the Olympics" (hereinafter referred to as "the Guide"). The Guide points out that ticketholders for the Olympic Games from overseas will not automatically be granted a visa. They still need to apply for a visa from China's overseas embassies. Fons Tuinstra of China Herald fills us in on......

If you've been looking to fly to Europe for that much-needed break, ladies and gentlemen, that time is now. Air fares to Europe are at all-time lows and have never been cheaper in the six years that we've been here. Lufthansa leads the pack with the eye-popping offer of a return flight to Germany from Beijing at RMB3,760 and from Shanghai at RMB4,880. Air France has the very special web deal of a return tic......

Travel agencies in Beijing have been asked to withdraw France as a tourist destination, starting this week. The move appears to have come from the Beijing Municipality. CITS says that they have been asked to suspend travels to France until further notice. Tours to France in June are on, but July's trips are cancelled. BTG International Travel Tours had the same info but CTS said all groups departing for France are now officially off. An......

Shanghai-based Daedalum Films takes you on a walk through the Song Qing Ling Memorial (宋庆龄陵园), a little known cemetery in western Shanghai home to the remains of Song Qing Ling, numerous other Chinese personalities — and scores of foreigners who came to Shanghai mostly during its early boom years in the mid-1800s and early 1900s, some identified by simple gravestones, and some anonymous. Song Qing Ling Memorial, 21 Song Yuan Lu (宋园路21号). Map.......

After a successful month running at reduced capacity, the new Terminal 2 at Pudong Airport took another 18 airlines under its wing today. Whilst you should double check when you get to the airport (the airline who sold you the ticket may not be the one running the plane), the full list of airlines now operating from Pudong reads as follows:AeroflotAerosvit (Ukraine)Air CanadaAir China Air IndiaAir MacauAir New ZealandAlitaliaANA NipponAsiana (RoK)British AirwaysCathay PacificCebu PacificDragon AirEVA......

Richard Brubaker of All Roads Leads to China has some good visa news (if true), but only for UK citizens. An update he quoted from the British Chamber of Commerce:Visa Situation Update The British Embassy lobbied the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing and have now secured confirmation from them that 12 month multiple-entry business visas will continue to be available to all qualifying UK applicants. Chinese Embassy websites now makes clear that the following......

function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} html .fb_share_link { padding:2px 0 0 20px; height:16px; background:url(http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/images/share/facebook_share_icon.gif?0:26981) no-repeat top left; }Share on Facebook Richard Brubaker of All Roads Lead to China talks to Magic of VisaInChina and throws in a few comments on the impact the new visa regulations will have on Hong Kong-China business:Just spoke to Magic, a well known consultant in Shanghai, about the current mess and it seems that the door opened again on the 16th…......

Frequent travellers such as grade B Shanghainese men should be painfully aware that airports the world over (LAX, we're looking at you) love to gouge their guests with prices inflated above those in the city. News that the Shanghai Airport is clamping down on this practice should then come as a relief. Shadowing a promise by the Beijing's airport to keep prices low at the new Capital Airport's new Terminal 3, the Pudong Airport Authority......

Latest message from the Commissioner's Office of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong S.A.R.:Visa applicants are increasing in a large number and need longer waiting time in the visa office recently. If you don't reside or work in Hong Kong permanently, you are required to apply Chinese visa from the Embassy or Consulate-General of Peoples' Republic of China in your resident country. You are welcome to China for tourism, business, visit of the......

Recently we were lucky enough to add a new guidebook to the collection: The Insider's Guide to Beijing (2008 Edition) brought to you courtesy of the nice people at Immersion Guides (affiliated with the unfortunately named That's BJ Magazine/website/thebeijinger.com). We have a lot of Chinese guidebooks, but we have yet to encounter one quite so thorough as this one. At just over 700 pages, it leaves no stone unturned*. Covering everything from buying art to......

By Benjamin Cohen Everyone's been talking about Moganshan lately, but it was only last weekend that we joined up with a few friends for a jaunt through its bamboo forests. This historic expat retreat, three hours from Shanghai, has enough cool mountain air and shimmering lakes to revive any weary urbanite. While Moganshan has plenty of hotels, we opted for a newly refurbished, carbon conscious cabin by Naked Retreats (and no, it was not that......

Shanghaiist recently caught up with Philippe Tzou, the Shanghai Couch Surfing volunteer. Couch Surfing is a great non-profit organization that helps people travel around the world staying in the homes of like minded people and sharing their knowledge and experiences. Shanghai has developed a unique CS community. As Shanghai-resident Philippe Tzou’s current guest Sascha Wenzlick put it: In Germany loads of people have CS accounts so you don’t get requests to surf so often. But......

From yesterday until April 29th, this is the list of airlines which will use the new Terminal 2 at Pudong: FM Shanghai AirlinesBA British Airways VS Virgin (UK)NW Northwest (USA)5J Cebu (Philippines)GA Garuda (Indonesia)QF Qantas (Australia)AI Air IndiaAZ Alitalia (Italy)MH Malaysia AirlinesPR Philippine AirlinesQR Qatar AirwaysRA Royal NepalUN Transaero (Russia)VV Aerosvit (Ukraine) N.B Even though your ticket might say one airline, the actual flight could be being run by another airline. So it's still worth......

By Kate Merkel-Hess I recently received two new travel books (of sorts) in my mailbox, one of which I wrote a few short bits for. Beijing Time by Michael Dutton, with Hsiu-ju Stacy Lo and Dong Dong Wu, (due out in May from Harvard University Press) and Urbanatomy: Shanghai 2008, edited by Nick Land (published by China Intercontinental Press in 2007) fall at opposite ends of a rather loosely envisioned “travel book” spectrum, but both......

Calling out to all you London readers of Shanghaiist! If the Trans-Siberian seems a little too Express, your carbon footprint keeps you awake at night, or you're just ready for a new adventure, then a new company is offering the unique chance to go from London to China by bus. Originally going by the oddly controversial name of "Buddha Bus", the company has been re-incarnated as "ButterflyBus" and plans its first departure on September 6th.......

So,the Mountain Goats have a new album out and on it is a song called "Tianchi Lake." It's about the the crater lake at Changbai Shan, in Jilin Province, on the North Korean border. (More photos from our 2004 trip to Tianchi here.) You can listen to the song here. And here are the lyrics: Children by the water banks laughing long and loud Changbai’s high fine western peaks just beneath the clouds Currents in......

The Maglev station in Pudong has long been a breeding ground for taxi drivers eager to rip-off new arrivals. You step off the train, and into a den of thieves. Things are looking up for visitors however, as a ring of eight drivers have been arrested and held for systematically ripping-off passengers they picked up at the Longyang Road station. More details here. Tips for travellers:Always get a receipt for a taxi ride; if you......

Beijing Capital Airport's spanking new Terminal Three opens this Friday. The Norman Foster-designed building is being touted as the largest building in the world. And it is colossal. To give you an idea of just how big it is, the terminal is the size of 170 soccer fields put together, and that is 17 percent more floor space than all of London Heathrow's five terminals put together! The terminal is shaped like the character 人......