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It's been a while since we featured the great stuff by China Green, but they've been doing their good work still, turning a camera lens on the various environmental issues in China. This time, Sam Wangyal and his colleagues have taken a look at Tibet's famed antelope: The Tibetan Antelope, called Tsoe or Chiru, lives above the tree line on the Tibetan Plateau at an altitude of 14,000 ft and above. They are protected against the sub-zero temperatures and icy winds of the Himalayan plateau by the softest, finest hair on earth. An undercoat of this extremely fine fur, covered by a coarse outer fleece, enables it to survive winter temperatures of negative 45 degrees Fahrenheit. In a cruel twist of fate, nature’s ingenuity is leading to ruin for this species. Shawls made from this fur, or shahtoosh, meaning “king of wool” in Persian, have long been prized amongst wealthy, fashionable Indian households. But in fact, shahtoosh shawls are produced by actually killing the antelope, a fact publicized in 1993 by world-renowned biologist, Dr. George Schaller. Despite current laws protecting the Tsoe, poachers shoot the animals before removing this prized undercoat, to be sold off to eager buyers. Read more on their site. 'Add

NYT: A Penthouse in Shanghai

Our city was profiled recently in the New York Times' Great Homes and Destinations section. Shanghai expat Nichol Bradford opened her Huaihai Lu lane house to the NYT, showing off her Art Nouveau styled building and Hot Dog Decor-styled... well, decor. There's even a photo gallery so you can get a better look at Ms. Bradford's stylings. As with most homes featured there, it's absolutely out of my personal budget, but gee - ain't it nice to share what you could have in this city? 'Add

Shanghai sees reemergence of unlicensed pedicabs... and the cops trying to catch them

Unlicensed pedicabs, which for the longest time have been gone from our city, have been making quite a comeback recently. To combat this, police have issued a pedicab crackdown, which cumulated in them seizing 60 of these electric wagons in just one short hour! The police especially targeted Changjiangnan Lu in the Baoshan District, which is one of the largest electric pedicab gathering spots in the city. Trying to escape the police, several drivers jumped into the nearby river with their vehicles, which caused this scene to the right. Perhaps they thought the police wouldn't bother trying to fish their muddy tricycles out. How naive. In the end, police dug out ten of those from the river, just adding to their collection count. Of course, Baoshan District is not the only Shanghai location filled with these unlicensed rides. This summer has seen a reemergence of electric pedicabs, especially around famous tourist spots such as Nanjing Lu, Fuzhou Lu, and the rest of the Bund area. Why have they come back? Xinmin found three reasons for it: First, it's very hard to get a cab around these areas - or even if you did get one, the cab driver might refuse to take you because the ride is too short. How rude! Second, signs and street markers are sometimes confusing to tourists. When they can’t find their way, for example, from the busy Nanjing Pedestrian Street to the Bund, tricycles seem to be the cheapest and the easiest ride to take. Third, after 22 o'clock, most of the buses become unavailable or come less often. As the administrators are also off duty by that time, pedicabs grow active in the dark of night. Days ago, as I got out of the malls near Nanjing Rd and People's Square at night, not surprisingly, I was warmly greeted by four of these tricycle drivers. They used three kinds of languages - Shanghai dialect, Chinese and English - to try and persuade me to get on. Safety is the main reason why I chose not too - they don'ts have seat belts or other adequate protection, something you shouldn't ignore on Shanghai's crazy driver roads. But, from a different perspective, I can see how the inconvenience of the public transportation is definitely a major cause of the renaissance of these pedicabs. As funny as it is to see a picture of pedicab drivers swimming in a river, maybe the authority should think more about how to solve the traffic problem instead of spending their time tracking down these "pathetic" pedicab drivers. 'Add

Peace Hotel re-opens, Telegraph gets a peek inside

As we reported, the Peace Hotel reopens to the public today. Malcolm Moore of the Telegraph got a first look at the renovated 81-year-old landmark. He says: The restorers insisted on forensically stripping back the paint to find the original colour scheme, and have uncovered the octagonal glass roof in the lobby. However, much has also been lost. The hotel has added a new wing and rooms have been modernised to include “things like hot running water” according to the general manager. More excellent pictures of the hotel can be found on his Flickr account. 'Add

Has Xinhua's chief defected? Or is he just having back trouble?

Wan Wuyi, a man with mysteriously crippling back problems It's a problem that never troubled Kim Philby but if it had, it would perhaps have saved MI-5 a lot of embarrassment. Online rumors circulating yesterday claimed that Wan Wuyi, the 58-year-old head of domestic news at Xinhua, may have switched teams after going AWOL following a training course at Oxford University. But Wan has apparently surfaced to refute this, saying he’s actually holed up in London with a bad back. “This is totally wrong. It is a rumour," Hei Dalong, the Xinhua bureau chief in London told the Telegraph earlier this week. "Mr Wan is at my home. He has been ill for 50 days". Clearly he’s pretty ill, then. Wan’s case wasn’t helped by the Sydney Morning Herald which reported “Mr Wan's wife is said to have emigrated to Britain already”. According to today’s Global Times, though, the story can be traced back to mirrorbooks.com, who “quoted an unnamed retired senior editor at Xinhua in Beijing as saying, "Wan has decided to stay in Britain and join his wife.”” The paper spoke to “Mandy O'Sullivan, the secretary of the Spinal Unit at St. Luke's Hospital, who confirmed… they do have a patient named Wan Wuyi”. The rumour was likely fueled by an earlier announcement of a state crackdown on so-called "naked officials" corrupt cadres who stash their loot overseas, move their families abroad and then join them permanently. 'Add

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