Weekendist: TICT rooftop party, Rugby World Cup quarter finals, and Shanghai Masters kicks off!
For those of you headed back to work this weekend, there's plenty going on to make you wish you weren't (or to keep you hungover at the office.) If live music isn't your thing, you can hit up TICT's delayed rooftop finale party, the Shanghai Rolex Masters kicking off on Saturday, or D10's attempts to break a world record tonight! If that's still not enough, head over to our calendar for more.
Photos: World's lamest highest Ferris wheel opens soon in Guangzhou
Presumably because they didn't want to put in the effort to best the world's tallest Ferris Wheel (located in Singapore), the Chinese have gone ahead and created a completely different category of world's highest Ferris Wheel.
Photos: Shanghai Tower hits 100 meters on its thrust skyward
I bet more than a few of you forgot that Shanghai is building the second tallest building on the planet! Not your fault. We've basically ignored Shanghai Tower (上海中心大厦) since announcing its groundbreaking three years ago, but regardless of our neglect, construction is plowing forward. The height of the tower's "core tube" has now surpassed the 100 meter mark. Only 532 meters to go!
Liu Xiang's comeback, near-record breaking sprints at Golden Grand Prix
Yesterday's action at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix was nearly record breaking. American sprinters Tyson Gay and Carmelita Jeter stole the show from hometown favorite Liu Xiang with the second fastest men's and women's 100m races in history. Liu still held his own and then some, tying times for first place with American rival Terrance Trammell, but only receiving credit for second place. Still, Liu's trainers were impressed with his results, and expect a full return to health and glory in the near future. We're excited, Liu Xiang's sponsors are excited, and, judging from the advertisements in today's papers, so is Liu. Is it just us, or does his Christ-like pose seem like it's heralding the second coming? Photo from Danwei.org
Jilin bride breaks world record with 2km long wedding dress
So we've sat on this piece of news over the weekend and we're still not sure what to think about it. Is it super awesome that a Chinese wedding couple decided to attach a 2.16km long train to the back of a wedding gown, complete with 9,999 silk roses, in an attempt to challenge the current world record holding wedding dress (1.58km)... or is it just super tacky? Zhao Peng and Lin Rong got married in eastern Jilin province, and it took their 200 wedding guests three hours to unroll the fabric of Lin Rong's dress. After the ceremony, he cut the dress down to 1,984.1022m to represent his bride's date of birth and then added 608 crystals to represent each day they dated. The whole dress cost about 40,000RMB - probably equivalent to the annual salary of his schoolteacher bride. Source: BBC
Richard Clayderman piano school to open in China?
Who is the most successful pianist in the world, according to The Guinness Book of World Records? Who sells millions of his albums? Who was referred to as the Prince of Romance by Nancy Reagan? Whose concerts are always sold out, wherever he performs? No, this is not Jay Zhou, Justin Timberlake, or even less André Rieu, but instead the wonderful and charming French pianist Richard Clayderman.
Around Asia: Iwo Jima, Salman Rushdie and Thaksin Shinawatra
Tamil Nadu, India - Officials in southern India are investigating claims that a couple, who are both doctors, let their 15-year-old son perform surgery to get into Guinness World Records as the world's youngest surgeon.
Today's Links: Bird flu, fake Vista and one crazy Andy Lau fan
For more del.icio.us links, visit the Shanghaiist Contribute page, which is updated throughout the day.
Photo by Swiss James found via the Shanghaiist Contribute page.
Yao Defen needs your help
We told you about her in in March. Now the latest on Yao Defen, the world's tallest woman, from Reuters:

