We totally dig what they're doing over at World of Chinese these days: serving up a daily list of China's trending topics on Baidu and Sina Weibo, in Chinese and English, with full explanation for each topic. Charlie Custer of China Geeks is behind the lists, informative and insightful as always. Super duper interesting, and an excellent way to stay up to date with what's being talked about online in China. more ›

When we did our last review of fashion sites, a certain website called Yitrends didn't exist yet or else it would've definitely topped the list. This web upstart blows away all the competition on our style radar, acting as information central for all "China-centric fashion news." Curious to see who was behind this powerful momentum, we had a quick chat with the two founders, Rita Chung and Alice McInerney, to see what Yitrends is all about. more ›

What is this? A pretty cool graphic of China twitterers based on where they're located. Thanks to resizing issues, it's hard to read this pic, but head over to @gabyu's web trend map and you'll find a good list of people to follow if you're into China issues (us included!). more ›

This may have been obvious to anyone who's ever been at a show at Zhijiang Dream Factory, but Shanghai (and we're assuming greater China) has got an ever growing population of *gasp* hipsters! Exhibit A: M-Style magazine, which has apparently been churning out monthly issues since January 2008. more ›

Whilst smoking bans in restaurants and bars seem to be spreading throughout the rest of the world, Shanghai is having second thoughts. more ›

Shanghai Securities newspaper came out with an article that claimed that they had a contact that says that tax authorities are investigating Google China for tax evasion. Moreover, they are not just looking at the company's taxes, but individual income taxes as well — including those of Lee Kai-Fu, Google's man in China, who is rumored to owe more than 5 million RMB in unpaid taxes. The report says that there is a several month grace period during which you can pay back the whole thing, but so far, we don't know if Lee or Google are in any serious trouble. Google spokesman say the whole thing is a fabrication and that they have not received any audit notifications from the tax bureau. more ›

Baidu rolled a new feature as of yesterday—a person of the month, which you can see in their logo. They say that they pick the person based on searches done in their engine, so it's a bit like Google Trends meets Time Person of the Year on a monthly basis. This month it's Xu Sanduo (许三多), a character from a popular TV series called Soldier Sortie(士兵突击), which has become one of the more popular shows... more ›

Right: GoogleTechTalks presents Professor Teng-Kee Tan, a technology entrepreneurship expert with the Singapore-based Nanyang Technological University who talks about Competing and Collaborating in China with Bi-Cultural Competence. Pretty interesting stuff if you operate on a strategic level at work. And if you have 66 minutes to spare! more ›

I turned to several government departments, including the local police station and the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau Yangpu District branch, but no one would solve the problem. I know the residence problem will affect my daughter's whole life, so I still asked authorities for help, but I was shocked by the result. They suggested I send her to an orphanage.

On the website, there's information about the hotel, world's highest observatory, shopping and business areas that will comprise the center. As for the name, we found this explanation: more ›

Another week, another edition of Shanghaiist Reads. SH and Shanghai Talk are on the clock … more ›

Airplane manufacturer Boeing's headquarters in Everett, Washington was Hu Jintao's first stop in America because of the lucrative deal that China planned to sign. China has been a boon to Boeing, says the New York Times: more ›

In China, you expect all statistics to look "big", but, provincial bumpkins that we are, it can still be shocking. This report (in Chinese) informs us that about 90 couples a day (thirty thousand a year) are getting divorced in Shanghai. With that many people untying the knot every day, privacy has become an issue, so now the city has several rules and regulations that the folks at the divorce registration office have to follow. For example, they can only meet with one couple at a time, they have to talk with them face to face, offices cannot be smaller than 30 square meters, etc. If there is in fact a breach of privacy, the owner of the big mouth gets a good dose of schooling on the matter, then gets moved to another office and perhaps another job. more ›

The folks over at Lonely Planet emailed to let us know that our fair city has been named the number one "City on the Rise" for travellers in 2006, according to their new Bluelist book. Bluelist, which is indeed blue, covers 2006 and 2007, so we'll still be on the rise heading into the Olympics. Here's how they describe the Bluelist: more ›

Why log your own trees when you can destroy another country's forests? Burma (or Myanmar) can't really complain about Chinese loggers illegally hauling away environmentally criminal amounts of trees in broad daylight as China -- for whatever reason -- provides protection and support against all of those pesky international accusations of widespread human rights atrocities. Nevermind that whole thing about Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Despite all of China's concern for cultivating and maintaining its rising international status, it's nice to know that Burma's oppressive military dictatorship has at least one very concerned friend in the world. Concerned indeed: more ›

Hong Kong fashion mecca Joyce will expand its boutiques to Shanghai and Beijing by 2007, according to managing director Adrienne Ma. Ma told Bloomberg News: "Greater China is definitely our focus, our direction, our strategy." more ›

Despite earlier opening date confusion, we're here to tell you that Muji's open. The name may mean little to most, but that's almost the point. The full name, Mujirushi Ryohin, translates as "no label, quality goods", and the chain famous for its unbranded, minimalist stationary, toiletries, kitchenware, furniture and clothing has finally landed in Shanghai after almost a year of changed dates and press releases. more ›

Most Taiwan restaurant trends pass through Shanghai at some point. So it will only be a matter of time before we're eating out of toilets: more ›