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| Popular News |
Shanghai men complain about the "visual harassment" of summertime clothing |
Apparently, some Shanghainese are taking umbrage with girls' outfits this summer. Seems like, to beat the heat, girls are wearing less and less, and some people feel the extra skin is a "visual disturbance." In a survey on Xinhua, 55% admitted to being uncomfortable by the ways girls were dressing nowadays, and 62% of men even considered it sexual harassment! Jeez, you'd think with all the buddha belly baring, guys would be a little more open to letting us air some flesh.
 
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Princess Di's death anniversary used to sell underwear in China |
   Guangdong-based underwear company Jealousy International has been selling their Diana brand of underwear for years now. But to commemorate the anniversary of Princess Diana's death, they rolled out a new ad campaign featuring a half-naked Diana doppleganger playing a cello. Unfortunately, a British citizen was right there to capture it.
And then he told the Daily Mail about it:
A British journalist who happened to see the images this morning was appalled. Sam Chambers said: 'I was just going to collect my baggage from the carousel when I saw it flash up on a rolling advertising screen and couldn't quite believe what I was seeing.'
Mr Chambers, who is originally from Kent, but has worked in China for a decade, added: 'I thought, surely not, because it was rolling quite quickly. So I waited to check when it came up again and, sure enough, there was an image of Diana.
'It's all the more striking because today is the anniversary of her death.'
The company told China Radio International that, from the beginning, the "Diana" line was supposed to honor Princess Diana's taste in underwear. Their website for the line depicts Diana's taste as very faux "French Romantic," which leads me to wonder if they ever actually saw anything she wore.
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Shiliupu Dock (aka "16 Pu" - no kidding) now open for... not much, it seems |
              A stone’s throw away from the Bund is the Shiliupu docks. Recently rebuilt, for the hefty sum of three billion RMB, the dock saw its official opening on Saturday. Unfortunately, it seems that the only thing the dock is open for is critique.
Shiliupu dock (Shiliu - 16, Pu - Stores) is one of the city's oldest wharf areas; it played an important role in the development of Shanghai and helped it to make a name for itself in the shipping industry. Unfortunately, it was also the dock that time forgot. Over the last couple of decades, growth on both sides of the Huangpu River, the development of Pudong, and the adoption of other methods of transport led to its decline in business. The dock was demolished in 2004 after the government declared that it would be rebuilt in to a ‘water tourist centre’.
It was set to re-open alongside the Bund earlier this year, but construction took longer than expected. However, the delay was okay since this hotly anticipated new venture would combine the best of old and new, turning it into what Shanghai promised would be the world’s leading water tourist centre. With this in mind we were rather excited at the promise of sauntering along the river, grabbing some food, some conversation and lapping up some of the 150 years of history. We decided to head down there, camera charged, new writing pad, brand new biro! What greeted us, however, was one big wave of disappointment.
The dock is being coined a ‘water tourism centre’. It boasts shops, leisure facilities, and restaurants to suit all budgets. On paper, this dock is pretty snazzy. Unfortunately, what you see is not what you get. On arrival you are struck with a slight level of confusion. Where is it? What is it? Am I here? Signposting clearly wasn't the designers’ forte (although apparently more are on the way).
A small, discrete, yet colourful archway marks the boundary between the Bund and ‘16 Pu’ - the new hip modern logo (must have taken an age to think up, eh?). Along the promenade is 12 berths filled with sightseeing ships that look like they have seen better days. Unfortunately; the ‘new and old’ that was promised is only too evident from the commercial endorsement blazon across some of slightly run down boats. In berth 12 was a pricey little number. It looked like the Rolls Royce of the boating world and was named ‘Predator’. Several barges carrying logs sailing past it on the river provided a stark contrast.
It seems that, whilst discrete, the archway leading to ‘16 Pu’ was acting like a glass wall. The crowds of people on the Bund virtually stopped and the promenade of Shiliupu dock was littered with only a handful of people. The architecture along the promenade is nice. It provides shade and the small grassy areas were nice to sit on. The up market restaurants along the promenade (who all missed a trick by not putting tables etc outside) were slightly out of our budget, so we decided to head below ground and check out the ‘commercial and leisure’ facilities that they offer.
Unless you’re in need of a pound of carrots, some basil and a Haibao, you’re probably not going to find much. Groceries and more Expo souvenirs are probably not the first thing on your mind as you’re about to take a sightseeing cruise. Expecting some clothing boutiques, perhaps the odd souvenir shop, a high street store even, we were rather let down when we were greeted by a ‘Family Mart’.
As we explored the three floors, things didn’t get much better; two expo souvenir shops, a smoothie bar, a burger king and two convenience stores. Other than that; every other retail unit was boarded up with large ‘Opening Soon’ signs. ‘Opening Soon’ yet no sign of development; don’t hold your hopes up!
Clearly the docks operator, ‘The Shanghai Huangpu River Assert Management Co’, was pressured to open. Construction work on the building itself is still being carried out. There were entire corridors shut to the public....simply because there is nothing down there. Several escalators broken. Plants waiting to be installed. Water fountains had no water. We came across the waiting area and ticket office. Currently 2 companies operate from the dock and a 50 minute tour between Nanpu Bridge and Yangpu Bridge costs 100 yuan. There weren’t many people taking either company up on their offers though as they waiting room was barely half full.
We spoke to a group of 7 American tourists waiting for their tour. One lady, Anna, 43, told us that she hadn’t even realised her group had left the bund! After informing them of a brief history of the dock, they said that it was a shame that they’ve gone down the ‘modern road’ and taken away its character. They said it could have had much more charm. Charm is definitely something it does lack. Given its entrenched historical roots, you can’t help but to feel that the developers could have done more. The promise of a ‘new and old’ partnership has not stretched much further than the Hyundai advertising on one of the ships; the oldest thing we saw was one of the cleaners!
If, despite this, you fancy going down and having a gander (perhaps in a few weeks when the teething problems are ironed out) you can take the metro to Yu Yuan, leave via exit 1 and walk for about 5 minutes east along Renmin Lu. Alternatively, take the metro to Nanpu Bridge and take the 65, 928 or 910 bus from the bus station nearby.
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Midweek Music Preview: Sassy Kraimspri, Black Violin and Jeff Lang! |
 All the live music picks for this city from now until Sunday. This week brings a smattering of southern Norway rock, some sassy Taiwanese indie, violinists getting all modern with classical pieces, local bands heading back to school and the return of Australian song maestro, Jeff Lang! If you recall, we interviewed him last year and were absolutely wowed by his performance. If these are all our picks, he's our pick of the week.
If you're looking for non-live music stuff to head out to, we covered that back in our Pencil This In.
WEDNESDAY
After being no-noed by the police earlier this year, Oscar's is bringing back its open mic night - where "special emphasis is being focused on the 'communal jam global village attitude where all are welcome to come and entertain or just enjoy the space. " To help you enjoy the space, all ladies' cocktails are free, select beers are 2-for-1 until 11pm, and if you perform, you get a free beer as well.
8:30pm to 11:45pm, Oscar's 1377 Fuxing Lu near Baoqing Lu, 复兴中路1377号
If you're in the mood for some Norway punk, Sassy Kraimspri hits Yuyintang tonight to throw up a mix between "Bosshog and Crass, Motorhead and PJ Harvey." That means that it'll be rockin' and soulful at the same time or something. 50RMB cover.
9pm, Yuyintang, 851 Kai Xuan Rd by West Yan'an Rd, 凯旋路851号
THURSDAY
ANTIDOTE brings you ‘Emil de Waal + Spejderrobot’ and Xiao He 小河 on September 2nd at Yuyintang. Something very different awaits you as intense drumming clashes with electro jazz. Experimentalism is the word of the evening. Cover: 30RMB
9pm, Yuyintang, 851 Kai Xuan Rd by West Yan'an Rd, 凯旋路851号
Never thought violining could be cool? Check out Black Violin, two classical-trained violinists who combine pieces like those of Bach with hip hop, jazz and funk. We knew Shostakovich was due for a mash up with Jay-Z! Wild! And it's sponsored by the USA Pavilion, so it's free!
9pm, Mao Livehouse, 570 Huaihai Xi Lu near Hongqiao Lu, 淮海西路570号
FRIDAY
Yuyintang welcomes all the local Shanghai school bands back on Friday night to rock out to their first school weekend (assuming Tyhoon Kompasu doesn't actually come). Come to see Five Fingers Dancing, Fivepence, Crossroad,Delusion and The Rank! 40RMB.
9pm, Yuyintang, 851 Kai Xuan Rd by West Yan'an Rd, 凯旋路851号
SATURDAY
Australian blues legend Jeff Lang returns to Shanghai to promote his new album, Chimeradour. Lang has been compared to the likes of Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix for inspired and unique performances. Doors open at 9 PM. Cover charge: 60 RMB, 40 RMB with student ID.
9pm, Yuyintang, 851 Kai Xuan Rd by West Yan'an Rd, 凯旋路851号
On Saturday, Mao Livehouse is hosting Taiwanese indie group katncandix2. An indie duo began on the streets of Taipei, Sheng Zhe (guitarist/composer/producer) and Xiao Qiu (vocalist/lyricist) tell more stories about growth and being young in their 2010 new album, with folk-flavored songs such as the titular first single "Goodbye Prince", "Nice Day", "How Should I Put It?", and "The Traveler Who Cannot Return". RMB120, RMB150 at the door.
9pm, Mao Livehouse, 570 Huaihai Xi Lu near Hongqiao Lu, 淮海西路570号
SUNDAY
We welcome Beijing's Hao Yun, folk singer and songwriter, to Yuyintang for a mellow Sunday night. Called the "new spokesman of city folk," he has signed onto Universal Music and recently released his first album. 60RMB cover.
9pm, Yuyintang, 851 Kai Xuan Rd by West Yan'an Rd, 凯旋路851号
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Watch: MKRide hits China's longest traffic jam |
You know that thousands-vehicle-strong traffic jam that's ensnarled roads in Northern China? The one that stretched for 60 miles and 11 days, thankfully vanished before the weekend, but then reformed on another 19-mile section on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway? Apparently our friends at MKRide were stuck in that!
Ryan and Colin Pyle were hitting up Inner Mongolia on their ride across the whole of China, and unfortunately got caught up in the tail end of the jam, which stretched from "Huitengxile to Hohhot." Though they did have cameras on them, which means they were able to load up a fascinating little video about it(on Youtube). Lucky it's a motorcycle ride across China and not a car ride, eh?
For more MKRide updates, click on our MKRide tag.
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Photo of the Day: Men and birds |
Photo by Natasia
More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here).
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Job Ad: That's Shanghai magazine seeks senior editors |
 This is an advertisement. That's Shanghai magazine is recruiting for two senior editorial positions: Life & Style Editor and Food & Drink Editor. Preference will be given to applicants with the following: Strong writing skills, preferably with prior magazine experience and / or journalist qualification; Spoken Chinese; Familiarity with, and enthusiasm for, all things Shanghai; Strong organizational skills and 100 percent commitment to deadlines; An abundance of ideas, creativity and enthusiasm. Please send a cover letter, resume and writing samples to hr@urbanatomy.com. A full job description is available upon request. More job ads. Information on how to place a job ad.
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China India territory disputes hits Shanghai Expo? |
 From People Forum China and India, never quite besties, are now at odds with each other over a whole host of issues. It seems that as the world's two most populated countries continue to gain economic and political influence, their relationship with each other has become increasingly strained. But who'd have expected the conflict to actually hit the Expo in Shanghai?
The problem: maps at the India Pavilion were allegedly showing certain parts of Tibet and Arunachal Pradesh as belonging to India - claims that China contests.
Arunachal Pradesh is an area that's located in the far northeast of India and contains parts China considers as sections of its Tibetan Autonomous Region. A 1914 treaty between Great Britain and the de facto independent government of Tibet established the McMahon line, which India now considers its northern border. But since the Republic of China (back then) wasn't a party to the treaty, China now disputes its legitimacy.
There was a brief war over Arunachal Pradesh in 1962, but China ended it after conquering most of the area, declaring victory and then voluntarily moving back behind the McMahon line. It has more or less quietly sat there until recently.
Unfortunately for India, China has chosen now to become especially prickly about its territorial disputes. On Friday, it denied a visa to Indian General B.S. Jaswal, apparently on grounds that he had worked in Kashmir, another area that's somehow politically iffy.
According to Times of India, Chinese officials came into the Indian Pavilion in July and removed India tourism brochures with the offending map after "terrible pressure from its experts on Indian affairs as well as a postings in Internet blogs and discussion forums (like club.china.com) complaining about [them]." As it notes, "the Chinese government closely watches Internet postings to gauze public opinion and often acts on them to calm signs of dissent."
India's Ministry of Defense has denied that the Chinese government was responsible for anything that happened at the Expo, saying there was no "factual basis" for the Times of India report, but ToI responded that several Indian pavilion officials, speaking on conditions of anonymity, had confirmed that their maps had been taken away.
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Pencil This In: Shanghaiist Scrabble Happy Hour... and other events! |
 All the things you'd want to do this Monday to Thursday in Shanghai. On the schedule this week: Malaysian indie rock, Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit at Chinatown, Roots & Shoots events aplenty and of course - our awesome Shanghaiist Scrabble night!
MONDAY
If you're at Expo, or thinking of going for the cheaper afternoon shift, check out the Malaysia Pavilion: Five standout acts from Malaysia’s Indie and Rock scene are here in Shanghai! The performers rock band One Buck Short and singer-songwriters Liyana Fizi, Ady Suwardy, Zalila Lee and Izzy Mohamed are showcasing the upcoming FEYST10 World Tour. The shows are free to all Expo ticket holders.
5pm to 9pm, Malaysia Pavilion, Expo 2010 Shanghai China, 3588 Pudong Road, Shanghai
TUESDAY
Shanghaiist Scrabble Happy Hour is here again! Celebrate the end of August and drink your back-to-school blues away while engaging your brain in some righteous wordsmithery. With every two-for-one drink, you get five scrabble tiles: make words on our board, and the person with the most points at the end of the night wins 250 RMB worth of drinks at Cotton's!
6pm to 10pm, 294 Xinhua Lu, near Fanyu Lu (新华路294号, 近番禺路)
Chinatown hosts its first performance of Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit," a cooperation between their regular cast and actors from other recent Shanghai productions. Tickets are 150RMB for a seat and cocktail. If you miss it today, you can also go to see it on Wednesday or Thursday.
7pm, Gosney & Kallman's Chinatown, 471 Zhapu Lu near Haining Lu, 乍浦路471号
WEDNESDAY
Luo Fahui's show, "The Doom of Spring Flourish" has its open ing party at the FEIZI Gallery. Luo Fahui was born in 1961 in Chongqing, China and his oil paintings have since been exhibited both China as well as Madrid, London and Brussels. As a partnership with Shanghai Roots & Shoots, limited editions of the Artist Series Wine (Luo Fahui 2010) will be provided by Jade Valley Wine & Resort. For each wine bottle, you will get an artist's autograph and a tree planted in your name.
5pm to 7pm, Feizi Gallery, 55 Fuxing Xi Lu near Wulumuqi Lu
THURSDAY
Shanghai's premier cricket club, the Bashers, will be hosting a pub quiz at the Camel. To enter a team (they recommend 4) will cost 100RMB with all proceeds going to the Roots & Shoots Million Tree Project. There are prizes to be won and drinks specials on the night.
7pm to 9pm, The Camel Sports Bar, 1 Yueyang Road
The Shelter hosts a night of internactive music and media with ROM. icenine and olivepixel will be showing their cyberpunk audio/visual experiment on the screens while DJ Cavia and DJ Blaise will spin dubstep, rachetcore, and dark electronic.
10pm, The Shelter, 5 Yongfu Lu near Fuxingxi Lu
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Watch: Timelapse of the Italian Pavilion at Shanghai Expo |
Last month, we asked you guys to submitmovies to the Italian Pavilion's My Expo Movie contest and possibly send your submissions our way too. Now someone has done so - and just in time for Vimeo to go back behind the GFW. Boo. Well, I suggest you either get a vpn and watch this anyhow.
The movie is made by Joe Nafis, whose great timelapse videos we've featured before. Love timelapse as much as we do? Here's a couple more of other pavilions by other people.
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Officials insist Shanghai smoking ban is working, 66 places fined |
Update on Shanghai's smoking crackdown: It took three months for the smoking ban to nab one establishment. Now, according to Xinmin, that number has risen to 66 as of June 30. Another 1,345 were given a warning. Unfortunately, that's hardly... well, anything. There's probably 66 stores in one section of a street here in Shanghai. But officials insist that the overall smoking rate in the city has gone down. Stats collected by their team of anti-smoke regulating volunteers found that the smoking rate at banned locations dropped to 28.1% from 37.5%, while incidences where people were discouraged from smoking went from 19% to 51.9%.
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Strike a Pose: Shanghai sashays ahead in world fashion |
 As summer sets to leave us and stores begin to fill their rails with the latest autumn/winter collection; all of the fashionistas out there can be kept warm in the knowledge that they live in one of the ‘Fashion Capitals’ of the World.
In the latest rankings, according to the Global Language Monitor’s annual survey; Shanghai and Hong Kong have come up trumps. Hong Kong, taking 2nd place, is now the highest ranking Asian city....ever, and Shanghai has taken 12th place. Both of these Asian metropolises have out placed Tokyo, and even helped remove Rome from the ‘Big 5’ as it dropped from 4 to 22; the biggest decline the ranking has ever seen.
Shanghai is often coined the ‘Paris of the East’ and this history, the large expat community, and the increase in new and young designers coming to the city have helped Shanghai climb up the table.
This year's league table documents the instability of the economic world and of global fashion - especially for Italy. Not only did Rome drop out of the top 20, Milan - after its rather disappointing fashion week - also fell out of the "Big 5," rolling down to number 6. New York reclaims its crown as number 1 and is followed by Hong Kong, London, Paris and Los Angeles. Also joining the Top 10 are Sydney, Miami, Barcelona and Madrid.
"This year's list of the Top Fashion Capitals shows the global fashion industry remains in flux, with the relative decline of some of the previously leading players and formerly regional players emerging as significant new influences," Rebecca Payack, Manhattan-based fashion correspondent for Global Language Monitor.
The table is compiled using “GLM’s Predictive Quantities Index, a proprietary algorithm that tracks words and phrases in print and electronic media, on the Internet and throughout the blogosphere”. Unfortunately this method has come under scrutiny as academics believe that it can be influenced by “couch potatoes with no fashion experience”.
Although these academics probably have a good point - bah humbug. We’ve taken 12th place, and that makes us look good - kinda! If you want to help Shanghai strut in to the Top 10 in time for next year’s league table then jump on the fashion band wagon now! Join the blogosphere by checking some of the best fashion blogs based in China, and go crazy! You may just want to lay of the seaweed though.
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The next Shanghai Apple Store is located on Huaihai Lu |
   Back when we covered the opening of Shanghai's first apple store in the IFC building of Lujiazui, we mentioned that this was just the beginning of a full retail onslaught Apple had planned for China. Now several people have reported seeing the next Shanghai Apple Store on Huaihai Lu.
One tipster, who sent in the first picture, reported that it was located at the corner where there "was a computer/electronics market not too long ago (before it got shifted further east on Huaihai)..." The other two pictures are from MIC Gadget.
If what Apple's Senior Vice President of Retail Ron Johnson said was true, it is one of two other stores in Shanghai (and one of 23 in the entire country) that will open by 2012.
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Thursday Timewaster: Literal translations of Chinese songs |
We're not exactly who's behind these literal English translations of Chinese songs, but they seem to have gained quite a following! Youku user Ouzi (欧子, which could be literally translated into "Euro kid") has 27 videos of literal translations up on his page. The most recent one, about Chinese children's songs, was published 8 hours ago but has already garnered over 20,000 hits.
All of the different songs follow the same easy, but hilarious format. Ouzi makes a literal translation of the words of the song: for instance, “没有共产党就没有新中国" becomes "No the Communist Party, No the new China." Then he sings it in slightly tone deaf broken English and everybody, English-speaking or not, is entertained!
Besides translating Chinese songs into English, apparently Ouzi has also tried his hand at translating English songs into Chinese. These efforts have not met with as much acclaim (though it could be that he chose James Blunt to translate. Maybe netizens have better taste in music than I thought).
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Tourists want to go to Shanghai most of all! |
Is it our sexy Bund waterfront? The promise of haggling in old merchant gardens? The Expo (probably not)? Whatever it is, Shanghai beat out Beijing and Chengdu as the place international tourists want to visit the most in China! The poll, co-conducted by Gallup and Fudan University, found that Shanghai ranked top in most of 12 qualities, which included criteria such as attractiveness, culture, environment, individuality, integrity and investment value. It was deemed lower, however, in security.
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Photo Set of the Day: Abandoned Buildings on Suzhou Creek |
       While one of them found a rollicking second life as a haunted house, there are other equally haunting buildings on Suzhou Creek that haven't been put to use. A member of our Shanghaiist Flickr pool, Hey It's William, went by last month to snap pictures of some of the abandoned, surprisingly graffitied, buildings by the water.
More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here).
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Shanghaiist Scrabble winners: Hoo Hoos! |
 Congratulation Hoo Hoos, for blasting past the competition at our most recent Shanghaiist Scrabble night! The five of you managed to throw up 1004 points worth of words onto the board, effectively beating out everyone else by quite a large margin! Hope you enjoyed the 250RMB worth of drinks and join us again for the next Shanghaiist Scrabble on September 28th.
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Yunnan cooperating with US conservative group on new 'abstinence education' program |
 young couple, girl pulling away from boys advances. As if China’s hormonal and horny students haven’t got enough to contend with. With universities getting all up in their "are you or aren't you a mistress" business and some high schools already patrolling the halls for kissing couples, now "God" has gotten in the way of them even learning about doing it... at least in Yunnan.
The Educational Bureau of Yunnan province has recently instructed schools and universities to teach students to abstain from premarital sex and to ‘cherish their chastity’. The program; ‘No Apologies’ (无悔今生) is the ‘love child’ of an American conservative Christian organization - Focus on the Family (FOTF), whose main goal is "nurturing and defending the God-ordained institution of the family and promoting biblical truths worldwide”.
Some of the things they teach include the dangers of pornography (sore wrists? Big phone bill?), the benefits that delayed gratification has on marriages (after so long, anyone will do), and the theory that sex distracts youngsters from realizing their dreams (because successful single people are eunuchs).
Oh, and no fundamentalist Christian group is complete without a homophobic slur, right? They also preach the importance of ‘honoring the heritage of sexuality’ whilst condemning SpongeBob SquarePants for its pro-homosexual messages to elementary kids. Barney and Jimmy Neutron were in the firing squad too. Strangely enough, FOTF's co-founder, who was recently caught vacationing with a known male prostitute, wasn't.
In the organization's quest to promote their rants message, they are now spreading the message in China by hitting the younger generations. Schools in Yunnan will soon be issued with a US-published booklet that contains topics on contraception (hopefully not just the rhythm method), how to maintain pre-marital chastity, things to consider with regards to abortion and rather bizarrely..... ‘how to tell whether a person is infected with the HIV virus’.
Now, we're no doctors, but we’re pretty sure (really, really, really sure) that unless HIV sufferers walk around with ‘HIV’ stamped on their forehead, then telling whether or not a person suffers from the illness is almost impossible.
The focus being on the maintenance of pre-marital chastity, the pamphlet also includes role-plays in order to fully verse students on what to say if they face a situation that could lead to sex. Role play scripts include:
Boy: "If you love me, you will have sex with me."
Girl: “If you love me, you would not want me to give up my cherished chastity.”
Boy: "It's very safe, I have a condom."
Girl: You want me to bet my future with that condom?”
Boy: "You are the only thing I want to dedicate myself to."
Girl: Good! If I am your only, then you can wait until after we are married.”
Sassy! We love how it's only boys who are made out to be the horny ones. After all, girls can't really want it themselves, right? That'd be so... ungirly! Also, can you imagine anyone actually being shut down by these? Our guess: These phrases will work as well on innocent Yunnan girls as they did on Bristol Palin.
When it comes to the ‘birds and the bees’, Chinese students have a pretty raw deal. They are either faced with the prospect of learning ‘what goes where’ from the internet (which could be pretty risky given the nature of some sites. Coming soon - ‘Why Chinese students love BDSM’) or from so called ‘sex-perts’ sharing their ‘sexpertise’ when parents don’t feel comfortable doing so. If you really want more than the current 32% of today’s Chinese youth learning about sex through school, do you really want them learning it this way?
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The Economist interviews "Mao's translator" Sidney Rittenberg |
The Economist has posted an interview with "Mao's translator," Sidney Rittenberg (李敦白). Arriving in China in 1944, Rittenberg befriended Mao, Zhou Enlai and other top Communists. During his long involvement with the Chinese Communist Party, Rittenberg was imprisoned twice. The first time in 1949, after being falsely fingered as a "spy" by Joseph Stalin, he spent six years in solitary confinement and the second time in 1968, for ten years when labelled a "May 16th element" (五一六分子).
In spite his long time in prison, Rittenberg still expresses a restrained fondness for Mao, who he describes as the "best listener I've ever run into." Like any reformed communist, Rittenberg is now making big bucks as an advisor for multinationals like Hughes Aircraft and Intel on their China buisness, and he has many interesting observations on China, past, present and future.
The interview runs about 15 minutes and streams a bit slowly, so you may wish to download it directly here.
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The ten most 囧 people of ChinaJoy |
          This blog post has been making the rounds, listing the ten most 囧 people who had their pictures taken at ChinaJoy, the Chinese gaming expo answer to E3. We'd previously covered their booth babes and cosplayers, but with the exhibition now over, there seems to have been plenty more to look at.
囧 (jiong) is an emoticon used to represent surprise or shock. I'm not sure how shocking half these people are (like "Breast Phone Girl" - really? Someone using her cleavage to hold a phone when she doesn't have pockets is a surprise?), but Chinese netizens sure like talking about them!
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Cash for Clunkers: Shanghai's e-waste recycling program |
While most of the news about e-waste in China is on its deadly environmental impact, Shanghai Scrap argues that really, what people should be talking about now is the country's new comprehensive e-waste recycling programs - one of the best funded in the world. Not only is it saving the environment, it could give you great discounts on new tech! Thanks to the direct subsidies for purchasing old electronics, an informal market has sprung up to sell you dead tech to exchange for recycling vouchers. It's a win on all fronts - for you, for e-waste resellers and for the environment!
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The typhoon is coming! Typhoon Kompasu will spray Shanghai |
While this morning was all blue skies and fluffy white clouds, the weather has changed quite drastically - and now, Shanghai's Meterological Bureau is saying that Shanghai's first day of school (tomorrow) will also welcome the first day of the Typhoon Kompasu. Expect heavy rainfall and winds between level 6 or 8 on the Beauford Scale (anywhere from between 39km/h to 74km/h). We'd argue from the storming outside that the MetBu's a little late - Typhoon Kompasu's already knocking at the door.
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Typhoon Kompasu scares Shanghai's schools closed |
While today has been delightfully not typhooning so far (cross our fingers, knock on wood), apparently scares about Typhoon Kompasu coming to town actually closed all Shanghai schools on the day they were supposed to start. So yay! One extra day of summer vacation for all! School will start up tomorrow, but I wonder when the typhoon will actually hit.
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