An explosion took place last weekend at a Shanghai-based Apple factory, making it the third lethal incident at an Apple factory in only 15 months. The incident has left roughly 60 people injured and is currently under investigation by Chinese authorities. more ›

China Hush has featured this short video of the average Chinese factory workers counting and assembling decks of cards at what can only be describes as the speed of a madman. Notice the young chap in grey can complete the task while focusing squarely on the camera. Watch the clip in full above, and expect a headache. more ›

Employees at Foxconn received a 66% increase in their wages on Friday, with average pay to be around $300 (2,000 RMB) a month. The Shenzhen-based factory that produces iPads, iPhones and Dell computers was plagued by a spate of suicides this spring, in which 12 workers jumped to their deaths. It was widely felt that low wages and arduous 15-hour days contributed to the cluster of deaths. Friday's wage increase is the second such attempt by Foxconn to improve working conditions for its 300,000 employees, having pledged a 20% pay rise in May. more ›

Perhaps the promises of higher pay and better conditions at Foxconn haven't been much solace to its workers or someone just had an unfortunately timed accident: either way, another worker - this time a summer intern - has fallen out of a Foxconn dormitory and died. 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."

• Confucius? No, Yao Ming [Reuters] "Instead of a cultural icon, well-known author or scholar, President Barack Obama sought the advice of ... a basketball player as he talked of the importance of strong U.S.-Chinese economic ties. In a speech opening the Strategic Economic Dialogue between the United States and China, Obama - an avid basketball fan and player - quoted China's most popular sports star and Houston Rockets center, Yao Ming."
• Tenenbaum heads to China [The State] "Inez Tenenbaum, the nation's new consumer-safety chief, will make her debut on the world stage this week to warn Chinese and other major Asian exporters to expect tougher regulation of toys, drywall and other products found to have recent defects after entering the United States."
• Key to Chinese mayor's corruption hidden in Buddha's ear [People's Daily Online] "A former north China mayor and his wife concealed about 300,000 U.S. dollars in bribe money in a safe deposit box in a Buddhist temple, hiding the key in a Buddha statue's ear, a court heard Monday. Xu Guoyuan, former mayor of Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is accused of taking bribes worth more than 1 million U.S. dollars."

Recently, a famous recruitment website did a special survey of sexual harassment in the workplace. To our surprise, it seems that one third of the male respondants said that they had encountered forms of sexual harassment. more ›

Women in China have it rough. Between being sold for 300 yuan, being dug up as corpse brides, and that pesky gender imbalance, a report has now come out stating that gender discrimination is widespread in the Chinese workplace. more ›