A new report from the Economic Policy Institute calculates that America has lost 2.8 million jobs to China in the past decade, with 70 percent coming from manufacturing. 24/7 Wall St. has listed the top ten states that have lost the most jobs due to the shifting rules of global commerce since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. more ›

• A 13-year-old girl was abducted by a couple who planned on raising her and marrying her to their 22-year-old son. In stereotypically creepy fashion, they claim they "did not know the girl was only 13." Someone call Chris Hanson.
• A salon owner skipped town with almost one million RMB after enticing some of his regular customers (and some staff) to deposit up to 50,000RMB onto their membership cards in anticipation of "promotional offers." For those who are wondering, given 100RMB for a haircut, 50,000RMB will buy you four haircuts a year for 125 years. We can't even imagine what kind of happy endings promotional offers that place was selling.
• The Shanghai government has its hands full trying to deal with 55,000 tons of rotting duckweed plants that were dredged from the Huangpu River. The plants originated from Zhejiang Province; perhaps we should send them back?

Over 20,000 students braved freezing temperatures, wind, and rain to attend a job fair at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan on Sunday, February 27. Many lined up for hours outside the gymnasium on campus waiting for their chance to distribute resumes and talk with recruiters inside. The more than 200 companies and institutions who took part will provide nearly 10,000 positions. more ›

Lately you can barely make it through a Twitter feed without reading something about the dismal job market for college graduates in China. Whether it's flocking to US universities to boost their chances of employment or using their diplomas to compete for Ayi jobs, for the undergraduate in China, the situation has gone from discouraging to just plain bad. But migrant worker bad? more ›

UPDATE: Some relief for victims of KaiEn English fiasco as ChinesePod CEO downplays Ken Carroll's role more ›

UPDATE: Another day, another disgruntled KaiEn English teacher more ›

• China's Alibaba Adds Social Networking to E-commerce [PC World] "China's Alibaba Group has started mixing social-networking functions into its leading e-commerce platforms, a move it hopes will convince users to spend more time and money on Alibaba Web sites. Alibaba is crafting social-networking platforms specifically to complement two of its core operations. The beta version of a Web site with Facebook-style applications and a Twitter-style feed is being grafted onto Taobao.com."
• China, the world's factory--a photo tour [CNET Asia Blogs: The Tech Dynasty] "These images are from WethicA, a company that audits factories with an eye toward child labor, workers rights, health & safety, and wages. From the WethicA newsletter: "We are posting real untouched photos of factory working conditions from about one year ago. We have decided this summer to show you an important part of the job we do during audits by telling you why these pictures have been taken. Actually, an audit is much more investigative than ticking boxes off a questionaire. One has to walk in with an open mind ready to question everything in these situations and not only ask a list of predefined questions.""
• China's turning children against me: Kadeer [ABC News] "The children of exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer have gone on Chinese television criticising their mother. Two of Ms Kadeer's children and her brother were at first reported as having written letters blaming their mother for orchestrating recent violence in far western China. Now the two children, along with another son, have recorded interviews with Chinese television for a special program."

• HTC Releasing Three Android Phones In China [InformationWeek] "The company will have to remove Google Maps and tailor the operating system on the Hero, Magic, and Click to gain Chinese government approval. HTC will be bringing out three custom-tailored Android handsets for China by the end of the year, the smartphone maker said."
• Official says China's jobless situation 'very grave' despite improving economy [Los Angeles Times] "China's jobless situation is "very grave," with millions out of work due to the global crisis and the threat that unemployment might rise despite recent improvements in the economy, the government said Tuesday. Beijing is trying to create jobs for laid-off workers, new college graduates, migrants and others, said Wang Yadong, deputy director of job promotion at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security."
• Bret Stephens: China’s Pollution Problems Are a Result of Government Economic Control [WSJ] "A funny thing happened on the way to saving the world’s poor from the ravages of global warming. The poor told the warming alarmists to get lost. This spring, the Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum, led by former U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan, issued a report warning that “mass starvation, mass migration, and mass sickness” would ensue if the world did not agree to “the most ambitious international agreement ever negotiated” on global warming at a forthcoming conference in Copenhagen. But never mind about that. The more interesting kiss-off took place in New Delhi late last month, when Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told visiting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that there was no way India would sign on to any global scheme to cap carbon emissions."

Suicides are already the main cause of college deaths in Shanghai and it looks like the terrible job market is only going to make that statistic more prominent. According to the Telegraph, a wave of suicides have swept the nation as one in three of this year's graduates ahve been unable to find a job. These recent out-of-college kids are being added to the 1.5 million from last year who are still out of work. While the government has been trying to combat the unemployment rate by offering positions as teachers or low-level officials in rural areas, those jobs hardly seem worth the four years of effort and tuition fees graduates racked up, especially if they did it to escape the countryside in the first place. It's a tough situation to weather and the only suggestion we can think of is that maybe one more piece of China's grand economic stimulus should be devoted to mental health helplines. more ›