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• Chef Quiz: What Type of Diner Are You?
• Xixiang Ji: Heavenly Hunan Cuisine
• Watch: Oppa Carrier Style!
• Tried and Tested Family Activity: Shanghai Ocean Aquarium
• Model given 9-month suspended sentence for posing in cop uniform on Weibo
• Chinese hospitals ordered to treat HIV/AIDS patients, or face the consequences
• Watch: 'Shanghai High Speed', gorgeous time-lapse of China's greatest city
• Escape Shanghai: Lake Dal in Kashmir
• Midweek Music Preview: Nov 28 - Dec 4, Joker, Thomas Leeb, Maxime Zecchini
• Hottest English portmanteaus with Chinese characteristics
• Young Sexy Model Convicted For Impersonating A Cop Online (Or Revealing An Uncomfortable Truth?)
• The Onion Is Really Rubbing It In: “Exemplary Reportage, Comrades”
• Potaci: Quick, affordable pizza marred by an overly doughy crust
• Is there a Doctor Yao in the building?
• 'Interview' @ Tin Foil Hat Theatre
• Presented By:
• Here come the cavalry! Taiwanese filmmakers stand up for Golden Horse Awards
• Shanghai Stock Index falls below 2,000 to 4-year low
• Russia’s Siberian dams power “electric boilers” in Beijing
• Olympic songwriters deported from Taiwan

Chef Quiz: What Type of Diner Are You? Posted: 27 Nov 2012 08:33 PM PST Date: Nov 28th 2012 10:30a.m. Contributed by: chefhu

Xixiang Ji: Heavenly Hunan Cuisine Posted: 27 Nov 2012 08:00 PM PST Date: Nov 28th 2012 10a.m. Contributed by: mengsta

Watch: Oppa Carrier Style! Posted: 27 Nov 2012 08:00 PM PST The unstoppable rise of Gangnam-style parodies melds seamlessly with unrelenting Chinese naval expansion in a video posted on Monday on Chinese site Youku. [ more › ]

Tried and Tested Family Activity: Shanghai Ocean Aquarium Posted: 27 Nov 2012 07:30 PM PST Date: Nov 28th 2012 9:39a.m. Contributed by: cityweekend_sh

Model given 9-month suspended sentence for posing in cop uniform on Weibo Posted: 27 Nov 2012 07:00 PM PST A 23-year-old model living in Beijing has earned the dubious achievement of becoming the first person convicted of impersonating a police officer online. [ more › ]

Chinese hospitals ordered to treat HIV/AIDS patients, or face the consequences Posted: 27 Nov 2012 06:00 PM PST Last week the Ministry of Health ordered all Chinese hospitals to provide medical care (including counseling and testing) for HIV/AIDS patients. In the past, HIV-positive individuals had to hide or forge their health status in order to receive medical treatment for non-HIV illnesses. [ more › ]

Watch: 'Shanghai High Speed', gorgeous time-lapse of China's greatest city Posted: 27 Nov 2012 05:00 PM PST Maurice Dusault of Tiny Carousel brings us this gorgeous time-lapse of Shanghai, laboriously but fantastically shot by hand. [ more › ]

Escape Shanghai: Lake Dal in Kashmir Posted: 27 Nov 2012 04:00 PM PST Date: Nov 27th 2012 5p.m. Contributed by: leemack

Midweek Music Preview: Nov 28 - Dec 4, Joker, Thomas Leeb, Maxime Zecchini Posted: 27 Nov 2012 04:00 PM PST Midweek Music Preview is a rundown of all the events happening on stages across Shanghai. After Shanghai survived the triple invasion of Elton John, J Lo and Blue last week, the focus is back on the smaller stages with their minnows and gems. With BooshKaBash, we see a small music festival in two parts at the Melting Pot and YYT. Besides that, Joker play country and blues tonight, and on the other days of the week, fingerstyle master Thomas Leeb, emocore rockers Forget and Forgive and the noisemakers of Yaksa make sure you're well entertained. Piano virtuoso Maxime Zecchini makes sure the fans of classical music are happy, and Lucy Rose rounds up the week with her husky, gentle voice. Peace out. And if that's still not enough, head over to our calendar for more. [ more › ]

Hottest English portmanteaus with Chinese characteristics Posted: 27 Nov 2012 02:59 PM PST Below is a list of the so-called hottest English words on Twitter posted onto Sina Weibo by Gao Xiaosong, famous songwriter and media commentator. Some of them, such as niubility and shitizen, have already entered the Internet vocabulary and come into wide use by Chinese netizens. Others are rather new, but the social phenomena they imply are very familiar to Chinese and anyone that observes China closely. We have provided a short definition and a little context to each entry below. Freedamn: Freedom + Damn. Freedom with Chinese characteristics. Smilence: Smile + Silence. Smile without saying anything. When Chinese net users uses the word, it implies a shared tacit understanding or hidden knowledge, but given the pressure and censorship, one chooses to remain silent and dismiss it with a smile. Togayther: Together + Gay. The portmanteau reflects the growing trend of coming out and tolerance for homosexuality in the Chinese web community. Some say it is also the natural outcome of the increasing surplus of males due to China's favoritism toward sons and sex-specific abortion. Democrazy: Democracy + Crazy. Democracy in China is a pipe dream. Shitizen: Citizen + Shit. Chinese grass roots are sometimes treated like shit. Innernet: Inner + Internet. Chinese Internet. With the Great Fire Wall, the one of the best-known and powerful Internet censorship apparatuses, in place, the flow of information is largely restricted inside the Wall. Departyment: Department + Party. The invisible hand of the Communist Party is behind every department. Chinsumer: Chinese + consumer. Like Peking Pound, it is a word coined to describe the splurge of Chinese shoppers overseas. Emotionormal: Emotion + Normal. Emotions (of survivors, families of victims, etc.) are calm, despite devastating loss, physical injury or psychological trauma. It is usually used to satirize the propaganda organ's poor lie that an unusual or unique situation has little impact. Sexretary: Sex + Secretary. Female secretary/assistant to male boss. It implies the commonplace sexual and often extramarital relations between the two. Halfyuan: 50 cents party, or 5 mao. Online commentators paid by the government (originally at the rate of 50 Chinese cents per post) to sing praises for the regime. Canclensor: Cancel + Censor. Online censors who delete sensitive posts. Wall-E: Great Fire Wall + Wall•E. The censorship apparatus. Circusee: Circus + See. Be an onlooker on the Internet. A common belief among Chinese netizens that if there are enough spectators on the web observing at the social or political scene, even if nothing more is done, the sheer number of people who eye the developments and have knowledge can pressure the authorities to give in. Vegeteal: Vegetable + Steal. A popular online game, similar to Farmville, on Chinese social media sites such as Renren.com. Yakshit: Yaxshi + Shit. Yaxshi is an expression in Uyghur, a lingua franca spoken by Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic minority in the northwesternmost part of China, which means 'Awesome'. It first came to Chinese public knowledge at the 2009 CCTV Lunar New Year Gala when Uyghur performers sang happily that "the Party's policy is Yaxshi (Awesome)!" Later, it becomes the catchphrase to exclaim at the poor governance or propaganda tactic. Animale: Animal + Male. The nature of men. Corpspend: Corpse + Spend. Fee for having the remains of one's family or friend retrieved from the water.  People who do corpse retrieving for a living sometimes rip off the family of the victim. There have even been horrendous news reports that instead of rescuing people who had fallen into the water, corpse retrievers would just watch them drown so that they can make a fortune out of the dead. Suihide: Suicide + Hide-and-seek. Chinese local law enforcement's lame excuse for sudden death of people in detention after putting them through the third degree. It traces its roots to February 2009 when the Yunnan police explained that a young man sustained fatal injuries from butting his head against the wall while playing 'hide-and-seek' at the detention center, but later it was found that he was beaten to death in police custody. Niubility: Niubi + Ability. Niubi means "f**king Awesome" in Chinese colloquialism. Antizen: Ant + Citizen. Citizens as humble as ants. Urban grass roots living in ant-tribes, a form of warren-like subterranean abode. Gunverment: Gun + Government. A government that rules by armed forces, and hence, violence. It comes from Mao's quote: "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun". Propoorty: Property + Poor. China's overheated real estate market can easily make a middle class family poor and even bankrupt. Stuck Market: Stuck + Stock Market. The benchmark Shanghai Stock Exchange Index has been, overall, bearish for the past few years. Smaller, retail investors suffer the most from the glum market. Livelihard: Livelihood + Hard. A life in hard mode. It comes from the widespread Internet joke that anyone born in China must have chosen HARD mode when they were reincarnated, instead of EASY mode that corresponds to life in Europe or other developed regions, and therefore have to suffer. Stupig: Stupid + Pig. Z-Turn: Zhe teng + U-Turn. Much ado about nothing. Zhe teng appeared in a 2009 keynote speech delivered by President Hu. It is a very informal expression that roughly means tinkering about or doing meaningless things, which amounts to asking for trouble and often ends with self-inflicted harm. Chinese netizens cleverly translate zhe teng to 'Z-turn', which also sounds similar to the Chinese word. After Hu introduced it to the Chinese official newspeak, zhe teng now implies effort to experiment political reforms, which is, according to the authorities, is much ado about nothing. Don'train: Don't + Train. High speed passenger train that, some warn, you don't want to ride, which sounds like Dong Che, its Chinese name. In 2011, a deadly crash between two high speed trains near the city of Wenzhou killed 40 people, sparking public fury over the nation's blind and relentless quest for speed at the expense of people's safety. Foulsball: Foul + Football. Chinese Association Football. The sport in China is infested with corruption, that is, organized under-the-table gambling, and game-fixing. The foul play, coupled with poor playing techniques, makes Chinese Association Football a perennial disappointment and a national disgrace for Chinese soccer fans as well as non-fans. Gambller: Gan bu + Gambler. Gan bu in Chinese means Cadres. There has been an increasing number of reports that party cadres and government officials squandered away millions of dollars in public funds at casinos in Macau, Singapore as well as Las Vegas. Goveruption: Government + Corruption. A government riddled with corruption. Harmany: Harmony + Harm + Many. Harmonious Society is a political catchphrase put forward by Chinese President Hu Jintao, and is also symbolic of the censorship effort to stifle 'discordant voices' to achieve the façade of unity with the government, often at the price of jailing and punishing dissidents. Profartssor: Professor + Fart. Pseudo experts encouraged by a mouthpiece or the propaganda department to talk bullshit, for example, "Milk poisoning is caused by lactose intolerance," and "Only by widening the gap between the rich and the poor can the society make progress," to defend the authorities and fool the public.

Young Sexy Model Convicted For Impersonating A Cop Online (Or Revealing An Uncomfortable Truth?) Posted: 27 Nov 2012 03:00 PM PST On July 2, Sina Weibo user @馨儿徽安 posted three eye-catching photos of herself to her microblog, in which she wore a police outfit while engaged in various attractive poses. Nothing at all is wrong with this, in case you're wondering. Images that are deemed too lurid are simply deleted by one of Sina Weibo's thousand censors, and no one suffers. But where @馨儿徽安 erred was in writing that she was a real policewoman, with real policewoman problems. As translated by May Daily: I am under great pressure working as a police officer in my hometown. I have to attend dinner parties with government leaders all day long. 'Police Beauty' is simply a nickname. Actually, what set off the alarms was probably the phrase government leaders. Suddenly, she became a bit too popular, and attracted the attention of, well, the real police. Despite admitting on July 3, just one day after her "deception" began, that she was in fact a 23-year-old professional model and not a cop, and that she was just trolling for followers, police cracked down on her white lie, and a court issued punitive punishment. She was sentenced to nine months in jail. On Monday, Fengtai Court in Beijing reduced the sentence to one-year probation thanks to her "good behavior." Authorities have, in the past months, renewed emphasis on cracking down on rumors, particularly those that start from microblogs. But we're guessing that Wang's only fault was exposing — inadvertently — a truth: that government leaders are wined and dined by pretty young women, sometimes all day. And who wouldn't bet that some of these women are models who moonlight as ladies from any number of professions, police included? Wang ruffled some feathers, and that's why she now has to pay. In China, you can be as brash, sexy, and offensive as you want — you just can't offend the wrong people. People believe this was the first time someone had been convicted for pretending to be a police officer.

The Onion Is Really Rubbing It In: “Exemplary Reportage, Comrades” Posted: 27 Nov 2012 09:51 AM PST Remember when Chinese propaganda rag People's Daily confused an Onion spoof for real news, proudly touting that Kim Jong-Un was the Sexiest Man Alive? Of course you do, it happened yesterday, and everyone in the world is talking about it. It was only a matter of time, of course, that The Onion would talk about it too, surely to tip its hat to its comrades across the ocean. And here it is: UPDATE: For more coverage on The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive 2012, Kim Jong-Un, please visit our friends at the People's Daily in China, a proud Communist subsidiary of The Onion, Inc. Exemplary reportage, comrades. Previous winners of The Onion's now-famous Sexiest Man Alive honor include T. Herman Zweibel (2007), Ted Kaczynski (2008), Charles and David Koch (co-winners, 2009), Bernie Madoff (2010), and Bashar al-Assad (2011). None of them rode mottled-white horses, and none of them — and we mean none — have a shadow of young Kim's swept-back mullet sexiness.

Potaci: Quick, affordable pizza marred by an overly doughy crust Posted: 27 Nov 2012 07:20 AM PST It's 4pm and your stomach's snarling because you ate an early lunch but can't pig out now as a friend invited you to all-you-can-eat Teppanyaki at 7:30. You need something cheap, quick, and small but filling so you think Potaci, a small Italian cafe serving a selection of small pizza squares. Unfortunately, they didn't quite massage the spot for us. [ more › ]

Is there a Doctor Yao in the building? Posted: 27 Nov 2012 07:00 AM PST Yao Ming, retired NBA basketball star, owner of the Shanghai Sharks, and really tall guy, has been awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Hong Kong's congregation today. [ more › ]

'Interview' @ Tin Foil Hat Theatre Posted: 27 Nov 2012 06:00 AM PST Shanghai's Tin Foil Hat theatre is playing host to an adaptation of Theo van Gogh's Interview. [ more › ]

Presented By: Posted: 27 Nov 2012 06:00 AM PST

Here come the cavalry! Taiwanese filmmakers stand up for Golden Horse Awards Posted: 27 Nov 2012 05:00 AM PST Taiwanese filmmakers have spoken out in support of the Golden Horse Film Awards after the opposition party suggest scrapping it for not awarding enough prizes to Taiwanese films. [ more › ]

Shanghai Stock Index falls below 2,000 to 4-year low Posted: 27 Nov 2012 04:30 AM PST The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.3 per cent to below 2,000 for the first in four years. Trading closed at 3pm CST with the index at 1,991.17, its lowest level since January 23, 2009. [ more › ]

Russia’s Siberian dams power “electric boilers” in Beijing Posted: 27 Nov 2012 02:39 AM PST A booming energy trade between Russia and China has triggered environmental protests and legal action against a new hydropower scheme in eastern Siberia. The underdeveloped, sparsely populated Eastern Siberia region that shares a 4,000-kilometre border with China has vast resources to offer its heavily populated and fast-developing neighbour. Hydroelectricity is key among them. A major new hydroelectric plant commissioned on October 31 stands as an example of what may transpire in many places throughout eastern Russia, as Russian and Chinese companies look to exploit the region for mutual benefit. Russia plans up to 10,000 megawatts of new capacity, mostly hydroelectric, to supply China with energy under a scheme where peak loads in northern China will be powered by Siberian hydropower thousands of kilometres and many time zones away. When the electricity isn't needed in China, it can power emerging regional industries in the exploitation of timber, minerals, metals, coal, oil and other resources, much of which is also destined for the Chinese market. "When millions of people in Beijing wake up in the morning and turn on their electric boilers for tea, that electricity will be coming from Siberian hydroelectric stations, Siberian dams," says Alexander Kolotov, director of the environmental group No to Dams in the eastern city of Krasnoyarsk. "The thing is, what price are we paying so that Beijing can calmly click on their electric boilers? We will pay for that with our Siberian rivers." Russia-China energy trade boom The year 2012 may mark a turning point for the energy trade between Russia and China. The Russian government estimates that, by the end of the year, Russia will have exported more than double the amount of electricity to China than in 2011 – over 2.6 billion kilowatt hours, up from 1.2 billion kilowatt hours last year. The surge is likely to continue, as the Russian government is showing its commitment to financing major new energy projects. Russian president Vladimir Putin signed an executive order on November 22 that allocates 50 billion rubles (US$1.6 billion) from this year's federal budget to RusHydro's plans to construct new electricity supply in the Russian Far East. The move is aimed at initially funding some major projects so that they become more attractive to outside investors, according to the announcement. China has also put forward initial long-term commitments to purchase Russian power. After China's domestic electricity demand jumped 11% in 2011, the Chinese government got on board with Russian providers. In February, the State Grid Corporation of China signed a contract with the Eastern Energy Company, an arm of the Russian government's international electricity supplier InterRAO, which will see 100 billion kilowatt hours of electricity supplied to China over the coming 25 years. The contract came after Russia's Federal Grid completed construction of a new 500-kilovolt transmission line, called the Amurskaya-Heihe, which will become the main line from the Krasnoyarsk region to the Chinese border, according to Federal Grid documents. EuroSibEnergo, Russia's largest private energy company, is looking to be a major player in supplying the contracted electricity. It is a subsidiary of EN+ Group, a company operated by oligarch Oleg Deripaska that also controls aluminum producer RUSAL. EuroSibEnergo already controls four hydropower plants in Siberia, and it is looking to expand those holdings with Chinese partners. EuroSibEnergo established a joint venture called YES Energo in 2011 with China Yangtze International, a subsidiary of China Yangtze Power, which is controlled by China Three Gorges Corporation. The YES Energo venture is designed to build up to 10,000 megawatts of new capacity, the bulk of it in hydropower, in Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East. The stated goals are both to develop the economy of Russia's underdeveloped eastern region and to export electricity to China. Hydropower sent to China The recently commissioned Boguchanskaya hydroelectric plant in Krasnoyarsk territory is EuroSibEnergo's flagship project. It was constructed under a public-private partnership formed in 2006 with RusHydro, the Russian government's operator of hydropower installations nationwide. Boguchanskaya will generate 3,000 megawatts of electricity when it is fully operational in 2013. Most of that has been promised to RUSAL, which is currently constructing a major new aluminum smelter. The excess electricity will go to the general Siberian grid, where some of the power will likely be sent to China. The plant serves as an example – perhaps a warning – of what may be in store under future projects built expressly for the supply of electricity to China. These include the proposed Trans-Siberian hydroelectric dam on the river Shilka and the Nizhny-Angarskii hydroelectric dam, also on the Angara River. About 10 million cubic metres of forest have recently been flooded for the Boguchanskaya dam, and the water level is still rising, according to Kolotov of campaign group No to Dams. Kolotov and others are now suing EuroSibEnergo and RusHydro for constructing the dam without environmental controls or measures to save cultural heritage lost in the flooded area. The Russian General Prosecutor's office said on November 12 that the filling of the reservoir violated legal requirements and potentially threatens the ecology of the region. The reservoir was not cleared of trees and other debris before being filled, and the result is a rotting, dead sea, which threatens to spread disease and irreparably harm the river, according to reports. RusHydro said in response that the local government was responsible for clearing the reservoir bed. Many residents who previously lived in the flooded area say they feel cheated by the resettlement process, and some are seeking greater compensation for the loss of their homes. Many sites of historical significance were flooded, as well as cemeteries that were only partially relocated, according to the reports of residents. In early November, the government ordered dozens of archaeological heritage sites, which are now located under the reservoir, to be taken off the official government register. Who benefits most – Russia or China? As the damage from the commissioning of the Boguchanskaya plant is being assessed, Kolotov is preparing for more fights on future projects. "We have a huge amount of energy, and we don't use it here," Kolotov said. "Here we will have another station built and then yet another. . . and these stations are utterly useless for the region. They are being built only for the export of energy." Kolotov also doubts the region will benefit from the energy export business. "China wants to buy electricity very cheaply, at a price not higher than the internal price in China. As a consequence, we are going to stimulate the development of the Chinese economy and not our own. We are going to sell cheap electricity to China, China will produce cheap goods, sell them to us, and we will buy them. So it turns out China wins twice," Kolotov said. The Boguchanskaya hydropower plant is part of a new US$5 billion industrial complex that the companies involved say is the world's largest energy and metal project under construction and the largest investment project in Russia for 25 years. The new Boguchansky aluminum smelter will have the capacity to produce 600,000 tonnes per year and is expected to become a locomotive of development in the region when it begins operation in 2013. Similar development scenarios, along with their striking environmental consequences, may play out again and again across undeveloped eastern Russia in the coming years as Russia and China expand their economic cooperation.

Olympic songwriters deported from Taiwan Posted: 27 Nov 2012 04:00 AM PST British band Transition has been deported from Taiwan despite recording the country's Olympic song. [ more › ]

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