has been revealed by Thomas Crampton on his blog. Anyone know anything about these guys?......

A new documentary film comparing six high school students from China, the U.S. and India calls for reform of the U.S. education system in favor of the more rigorous Asian education systems. Two Million Minutes, a film developed by American venture capitalist Bob Compton, points out that students in China and India work much harder than those in the U.S., score consistently better than American students on international student comparisons, and now pose a......

U.S., China make gains on investing [WSJ] "The U.S. and China initiated talks about a bilateral investment agreement and finalized a 10-year plan to cooperate on energy and the environment, a relatively successful conclusion to two days of talks that were also marked by simmering economic tensions."Foreign companies accused of not meeting China relief pledges [Forbes] "A surge of strongly nationalist rhetoric combined with misinformation to cast blame on foreign investors for failing to contribute......

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......

Picture from forum thread on military.club.china.com. Thanks to Stephen Frost of CSR-Asia.com for the tip.......

From AP: The Olympic torch arrived in San Francisco for its only North American stop amid heavy security Tuesday, one day after its visit to Paris descended into chaos.From what we see in the video, looks like things are pretty calm so far in San Francisco! With disruptions in the Olympic torch relay in Athens, Istanbul, London and Paris, and more expected to dog the event everywhere it goes, the IOC is having such a......

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Is_Chinese_search_engine_Baidu_endorsing_Barack_Obama'; Or is Barack just fishing for the Asian American vote? (Get it? He's throwing a net? Nets are sometimes used in fishing? Ah, f*ck it. It's late.) Anyway, when we first saw this, just minutes ago (thanks, Sage) we went, "Huh?" Odd, no? Check Baidu out for yourself. Pacific Epoch tries to explain: Baidu has chosen US presidential candidate Barack Obama as the sixth face to grace its homepage logo. Following......

Touring season has official started for Chinese bands and this weekend Shanghai is bursting with shows worth checking out. Tonight the action starts early with three Xian bands playing at Yuyintang. Both Hush and 24hour Party People have played in Shanghai before and put on solid shows. This time they are joined by punk band Sucker. If you miss tonight's earlier show, you don't have to feel like a total bum, all 3 bands will......

美国数以百万计未成年少女沦为性奴隶_国际时事_新闻_腾讯网 via kwout What's interesting is this: the headline says that there are at least one million female sex slaves in the US. And the first paragraph of the article goes on to say that these figures from the US Department of Justice (DOJ), which estimates that anywhere from 100,000-3 million underage people are somehow involved in prostitution in the US. What somewhat pisses us off is the headline, which blatantly contradicts the first paragraph.......

Well, it's all over the news. Hunan TV is going to do a Chinese version of the hit US TV show Ugly Betty. According to a report from the BBC, the lead character—the Chinese Betty—has already been chosen. A Chinese article that we read, dated March 7, says that Hunan TV wants to hold nation-wide auditions to find the ugliest girl possible. So we're not sure what the case is, but in any case, whoever......

The free admission that began this week was such a great success at the Shanghai Museum that officials have now limited the maximum number of visitors to 5,000 at any time. The other three museums included in the trial also reported a spike in visitor numbers.Xunlei, the Chinese P2P service that is currently being sued by the Hollywood-based Motion Picture Association for US$1 million has said that the Shanghai court was not the appropriate place......

The Los Angeles Dodgers take on the San Diego Padres this weekend at Beijing's Olympic baseball stadium. Seating capacity is limited to 13,000 spectators, and sure enough Emma has sold out their allotment of the cheap seats here in Shanghai. We're curious as to the scalper situation in Beijing, but for the risk-averse, other Chinese ticketing websites still have a small number of tickets left. A little internet sleuthing can still get you into the......

Photo from danwashburn Way back in '04, when we were young(ish) and brazen, we declared that Da Marco on Yandang Lu had the best pizza in Shanghai. "I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life," is what we said. It was easier to be so sure-minded about pizza back then, because there were very few reasonable options Shanghai. Are there more now? We think so. But perhaps, after nearly six years, our......

Anti-China exiles ready for Tibet trek [AFP] "Tibetan exiles in India were set to begin marching to their homeland Monday as part of protests marking the Dalai Lama's escape from China in 1959 and the run-up to the Beijing Olympics."China's International Schools are Growing [US-China Today] "Christiana Lilly is not your typical American girl. As the daughter of a diplomat, her world and life experiences extend far beyond the United States. Between Taiwan, Singapore, Burma,......

Argghh..can you feel it? With the end of the holiday season things in the realm of live music are starting to pick up again. After a much needed break from Shanghai, we are back and ready for some musical action. During the break it seems that venues around the city have started to warm up to the idea of holding more gigs. In April, Windows Tembo, will reopen as a live music venue and is......

Ex-Playboy covergirl, epileptic dancer, and Shanghai Baby Bai Ling, was, as we told you earlier, arrested for shoplifting, but apparently, her shoplifting charges have been dropped and she was fined a grand total of US$200 for disturbing the peace. Here is her account of the incident:"I went across the [hall] with the toy in my hand, and asked which battery would fit. They told me [they knew which would fit], but they had really long......

Tonight will see the massive Shanghai Stadium host a sporting event for seemingly the first time in ages. More akin in recent times to holding pop concerts and ceremonies, the 80,000 all-seater arena will be the venue for an exhibition match between American MLS Soccerball team LA Galaxy and China Division One side East Asia (kick-off 7:30pm). The match is part of the Galaxy’s pre-season tour of East Asia and will also serve as a......

Landscape lights switched on again in Shanghai [Xinhua] "Shanghai switches on its landscape lights on Friday night after a lapse of more than four weeks. "Shanghai Cancels Art Exhibition [NY Times] "An exhibition of works by the artist Zhang Huan, right, was canceled by Shanghai’s local government just before it was to open this week at the Shanghai Art Museum. The Shanghai Cultural Bureau, which oversees the museum, declined to comment on Friday, as did......

A minibus explosion early yesterday morning in Pudong's Nanhui industrial zone killed one and injured four.Maglev activists have applied for approval for yet another demonstration slated for March 1 but the Public Security Bureau has rejected it. We are assuming that means the protest will go on anyway.A student who was accused of theft and subsequently jumped from a third-floor window has taken seven of her classmates as well as the school to court, demanding......

In an unexpected turn of events, China has announced that is willing to throw face to the wind and reenter human rights talks with the USA. ``The Chinese side is willing to keep contact with the U.S. in all areas,'' Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said today at the end of a Beijing press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, neither elaborating nor giving her the chance to respond. ``We're ready to resume......

Photo credit: sniderscion Torontoist spent its week uncovering who was behind mysterious ads for a drug called "Obay" that popped up across the country (Scientology? Frank Shepard Fairey?), first tracing them to an advocacy group called Colleges Ontario and then confirming their suspicions a few days later.Phillyist learned how to put on a puppet show – it's not as easy as you might think!Shanghaiist discovers that the average starting monthly pay for fresh graduates......

Al-Jazeera has followed up on the Yilishen ant farming incident, a massive investment scandal that conned thousands of Chinese (and as many as one million by some reports) out of their life savings. He also got into some trouble with the local police while on location at Yilishen's now-vacant office building. Four years ago, Yilishen got into trouble with the US Food and Drug Administration for selling "dietary supplements" that included Sildenafil, the active drug......

Not content with the prospect of being the next world power in cheerleading, China has now set its sights on cricket. The quintessentially British sport that is played mostly in Commonwealth nations has had a surprisingly long history here though, with the first recorded match played in Shanghai in 1858, between a team of officers from the HMS Highflyer and a Shanghai XI. Now the Asian Cricket Council wants China to start playing the......

Steven Spielberg's decision to withdraw from arranging the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics caused press around the world (except for China) to rub their hands with glee this week at the prospect of China's dirty laundry being flown from the flagpoles of Beijing. Citing China's tacit support of genocide in Darfur, the director claimed that his conscience no longer allowed him to continue business as usual, and that the hosts "should be......

Got your Chairman Mao figurine? Inflatable Pearl Tower? Spinning top that plays Axel F? Then you'll be needing the next big thing in souvenir tackery. Available in either a Day or Night versions, this motorised marvel displays images of the Bund drifting by for a maximum of 8 hours. Leave the DVDs alone for a while and enjoy the music of your choice (the clip features "Carbon Dating" by the Super Furry Animals) as you......

Photo by Michael D Manning Chinese espionage New York Times: Justice Dept. Announces Arrests in 2 Chinese Espionage Cases AHN: Pentagon Analyst, Boeing Engineer In Hot Water For Spying For China Red Orbit: U.S. Space Secrets Sold to China Monsters & Critics: Taiwan accesses damage after US unveils Chinese espionage New internet purge Guardian Unlimited: China launches new internet purge AP: China Targets Internet in Crime Sweep Xinhua: China to tighten supervision over "virtue......

We think we'd be all right if we never, ever watched the CCTV Spring Festival gala again, but we almost regret it this time because we missed out on some real doozies, like Zhang Ziyi's terrible lip-synching episode and as well as the slight faux pas, made by one of the hosts, that China's south was in the midst of an "abundant spring" even though many of the southern provinces are facing the worst winter......

We've all been hearing reports about the nightmare caused by the snow, or what Xinhua calls "China's war on snow havoc", which isn't quite as felicitous a phrase as the "US War on Terror", but hey, at least it's more real! The New York Times, among other media outlets, talks about the sense of anger and resentment that people are feeling about what some consider as a lack of preparation on the government's part. From......

As mentioned before, US expatriates are, for the first time, able to vote in a global primary, meaning that they get their own set of delegates during the primaries, which decide each party's respective presidential candidate. This particular event, held on Tuesday at the ecologically sound and coolly designed URBN hotel, was well attended. Computers were set up to help people register, liquor and hors d'ouevres helped people mingle, and Barack Obama's victory speech from......

China admits Olympic construction deaths: Rising food prices across Asia:......