Blogs » Society » Where to Buy Christmas Trees and Decorations in Shanghai

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• Where to Buy Christmas Trees and Decorations in Shanghai
• Shanghai Young Bakers: The Bakery Helping Disadvantaged Youth
• [CLOSED] Caption This Moment and Win Loot
• Gaming China's naval rise
• Shanghai Young Bakers: Helping Disadvantaged Youth One Croissant at a Time
• ‘A Changing China’: Fareed Zakaria GPS
• Passport row escalates; Vietnamese display cunning avoidance tactics
• Ippudo: The Worldwide Ramen Chain Opens in Shanghai
• Was Gilbert Arenas Injured Due To Insufficient Warm-up? (Also, Here’s All 6 Minutes, 10 Seconds He Played)
• Imprisoned doctor's son appeals for fathers release
• Nestlé moves into Chinese supermarket fusion food
• Boobs And Crystal Cars At The Guangzhou Auto Show
• The Chinese civil service: Time for a new analogy?
• Pencil This In: Nov 26-29 - Dance, Film, Arts, Fashion
• Censors lift ban on account of Cultural Revolution massacre
• The New York Times On Wen Jiabao’s Family Fortunes, Part Two
• Surf's up in Hainan!
• Here’s The 18-Year-Old Who Got A Party Boss Fired, And Of Course Bo Xilai And Wang Lijun Are Involved, Because Chongqing
• Elton John dedicates Beijing concert to Ai Weiwei; Ai says 'I'm in love with him'
• Presented By:

Where to Buy Christmas Trees and Decorations in Shanghai Posted: 25 Nov 2012 08:31 PM PST Date: Nov 26th 2012 11:28a.m. Contributed by: amberwoo

Shanghai Young Bakers: The Bakery Helping Disadvantaged Youth Posted: 25 Nov 2012 07:29 PM PST Date: Nov 26th 2012 10:55a.m. Contributed by: amberwoo Shanghai Young Bakers is a non-profit organization sponsored by The Carrefour Foundation and provides French bakery training to disadvantaged Chinese youth

[CLOSED] Caption This Moment and Win Loot Posted: 19 Nov 2012 09:43 PM PST Date: Nov 20th 2012 1:43p.m. Contributed by: katvelayo

Gaming China's naval rise Posted: 25 Nov 2012 08:00 PM PST With news that a navy jet has just been landed successfully for the first time on China's new aircraft carrier, China's naval rise has once again been brought to the fore. What does a growing Chinese naval capacity mean for the future? [ more › ]

Shanghai Young Bakers: Helping Disadvantaged Youth One Croissant at a Time Posted: 25 Nov 2012 07:29 PM PST Date: Nov 26th 2012 10:55a.m. Contributed by: amberwoo Shanghai Young Bakers is a non-profit organization sponsored by The Carrefour Foundation and provides French bakery training to disadvantaged Chinese youth

‘A Changing China’: Fareed Zakaria GPS Posted: 25 Nov 2012 07:46 PM PST Fareed Zakaria sums up very well the challenges facing China's new leadership–and in under four minutes, Not a word wasted:

Passport row escalates; Vietnamese display cunning avoidance tactics Posted: 25 Nov 2012 06:30 PM PST In a cunning move that may dismay cartographers hoping to gain from the recent spate of re-drawn maps, the Vietnamese have chosen a different approach to dealing with the new Chinese passports. Unlike India, who chose to respond in kind by issuing their own re-drawn maps, Xinhua reports that the Vietnamese border control agency are issuing separate visa sheets so that they don't even have to look at the disputed Chinese passport pages. This avoids the tricky issue of stamping an official Vietnamese seal over the Chinese claims. Cartographers wait nervously to see what the Filipino approach will be. [ more › ]

Ippudo: The Worldwide Ramen Chain Opens in Shanghai Posted: 25 Nov 2012 06:39 PM PST Date: Nov 26th 2012 10:27a.m. Contributed by: miss_ng_in_action

Was Gilbert Arenas Injured Due To Insufficient Warm-up? (Also, Here’s All 6 Minutes, 10 Seconds He Played) Posted: 25 Nov 2012 06:51 PM PST Saturday night's CBA season opener brought out the stars. The world's best badminton player, Lin Dan, and probably best female diver, Wu Minxia, were in attendance. Li Ning threw the ceremonial jump ball. Shanghai Sharks owner Yao Ming was in the stands. But the biggest attraction was on the floor, in the form of former Dream Teamers Stephon Marbury and Gilbert Arenas — two of only three Team USA Basketball players to compete in the CBA — who were expected to duel deep into the game. That didn't work out as planned. Arenas hobbled to the bench barely six minutes in — check out the entirety of the minutes he played in the video above (after the jump on Youku for those in China). He pulls up limp at the 8:22 mark, in what was originally diagnosed as a strained groin. The injury has since been described by Xinmin Evening News as an "intramuscular strain of the right thigh" (though "groin injury" still seems like the popular diagnosis). The journalist who wrote the Xinmin piece also noticed that Arenas was very lackadaisical during pre-game warmups and the layup line. When he asked Shanghai head coach Dan Panaggio whether Arenas's old injury made him ill-prepared to play, Panaggio seemed defensive: "Who thinks that?" Arenas is out for at least a week, and past that — who knows? Judging by the gloom around the team, it seems likely he'll be sitting for a lot longer. Even with former Charlotte Bobcats forward DJ White, Shanghai will have a tough time without its premiere offseason signee. This is the very epitome of small sample size, but let it be symbolic: during the Beijing game, on their very first possession, the Sharks didn't get Arenas the ball; in the first possession after a timeout, only he got the ball. The latter worked out much better for the Sharks, as Arenas drained a three-pointer (forward to the 6:30 mark). Savor it, Agent Zero fans. It could be the only shot he makes all season.

Imprisoned doctor's son appeals for fathers release Posted: 25 Nov 2012 05:00 PM PST Du Ziying, a Chinese-born Australian citizen,was jailed in China last year after an investigation into his Chinese business dealings. Dr Du was born in Hubei but has had Australian citizenship since the early 1990's. He founded a successful Australian bio-tech company with a Chinese partner but their business relationship encountered difficulties. On one trip to China in February 2011 Dr Du was detained by police at Beijing's Capital airport. His family waited for hours at Sydney airport before they realised that Du wasn't coming home. [ more › ]

Nestlé moves into Chinese supermarket fusion food Posted: 25 Nov 2012 03:30 PM PST The world's largest food company, Nestlé, has been selling to China for well over a century. Recently the Swiss multinational has been making inroads into the rapidly growing Chinese coffee market. Importing a non-Chinese beverage is one thing, but now, The Independent reports; the company is looking to boldly go where no Swiss multinational company has gone before: Chinese supermarket fusion food. [ more › ]

Boobs And Crystal Cars At The Guangzhou Auto Show Posted: 25 Nov 2012 04:00 PM PST Chinese auto shows are special, able to launch a model's career in much the same way that American Idol launches pop careers, but when scantily-clad adults are too passe and scantily-clad five-year-olds are too controversial, what does an organizer do? In Guangdong province, where the 10th Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition opened on Friday (extended from seven to 10 days), the answer seems to be: turn to crystal. The above picture is via Xinhua, captioned, "Lexus LFA Crystal model draws attention at Guangzhou auto show on Friday." Not to say there wasn't sex. Not to say that at all: UPDATE, 9:53 am: More via Kankan Net and Car News China: (H/T Alicia)

The Chinese civil service: Time for a new analogy? Posted: 25 Nov 2012 02:00 PM PST Descriptions of securing a Chinese government job have jumped several Olympic medal categories and moved straight to gold. Previously the vast number of state positions and generous associated benefits were known as the 'iron rice bowl'. However, since the early 1990's those employed by the state have increasingly been tempted to 'xia hai', (to 'jump into the sea'), and enter the private sector. [ more › ]

Pencil This In: Nov 26-29 - Dance, Film, Arts, Fashion Posted: 25 Nov 2012 12:30 PM PST Pencil This In is all the things you'd want to do this Monday through Thursday. Get hooked on Barbarossa cocktails on Monday, explore differences and similarities between two cultures at Rubato's Asian-European dance clash on Tuesday - or pay Dada a visit for the weekly Sub-Cinema evening with forgetten cinema gems, this week with 12 Monkeys. On Wednesday, you can check out the new exhibition at Minsheng Art Museum. Thursday night sees a fashion show at Eden by designer Vanessa Chiu. Read on for all the details, or check out our calendar for more! [ more › ]

Censors lift ban on account of Cultural Revolution massacre Posted: 25 Nov 2012 11:00 AM PST Several million people died violent deaths during the Cultural Revolution and over a hundred million people were persecuted. Published accounts of how these millions suffered and died have been slowly drip-fed to the nation in increasing volume. Now one account, that had previously faced strict censorship, is freely available online. Written by Tan Hecheng, it is entitled Bloody Myth: An Account of the Cultural Revolution Massacre of 1967 in Daoxian, Hunan. It gives an account of the bloody deaths of 9,000 people in a Hunan county at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. [ more › ]

The New York Times On Wen Jiabao’s Family Fortunes, Part Two Posted: 25 Nov 2012 11:42 AM PST They're already blocked, so fuck it, right? The New York Times has continued to delve into Wen Jiabao's "hidden family fortunes," following up on its original blockbuster that got the website blocked on the mainland. In "Lobbying, a Windfall and a Leader's Family," David Barbosa and co. report that Wen Jiabao was directly responsible for keeping the company from breaking up. In 1999, "I humbly request that the vice premier lead and coordinate the matter from a higher level," Ma Mingzhe, chairman of Ping An, implored in a letter to Mr. Wen that was reviewed by The New York Times. Ping An was not broken up. The rest, as they say, is history. Ping An became one of China's largest financial companies, one which made Wen Jiabao's family very, very rich. The NY Times offers this helpful infographic that shows the number of effective Ping An shares Wen's family members owned (they did so through a series of other companies, notably the investment company Taihong). A more creative government would simply spin this as Wen being the most generous family man in the history of mankind. In a society more forgiving of these type of things, Wen could go before cameras and deliver a speech about how he isn't ashamed to have used his connections in a interrelationship-based society to help his sister-in-law make a few million on the side, and his dear friend, the mother-in-law of his son, who was down on her luck and just needed a few million to get back on her feet. He could say that he'll give all the money back but not the Tibetan mastiff, and perhaps we'll all cheer his political acumen and call his speech Checkers 2.0. The article isn't as damning as the earlier one, which implied — in so many words, intended or not — that Wen was a hypocrite. This article makes no claims of broken laws or a smoking gun, and it's coated in such financial-speak as to uninteresting to the layman — yet it has the establishment equally skittish, judging by their response: In Beijing, China's foreign ministry did not return calls seeking comment for this article. [...] Neither Mr. Wen, who is expected to retire in March, nor Mr. Dai, who is now the head of the National Social Security Fund, could be reached for comment. [...] After reviewing questions from The Times, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange declined to comment. The China Securities Regulatory Commission in Beijing did not respond to inquiries. Poor Wen. People just can't seem to forget him soon enough.

Surf's up in Hainan! Posted: 25 Nov 2012 09:30 AM PST China is not known for its surfing but, with sports and hobbies diversifying as rapidly as the middle class expands, it may be in the future. With a lengthy coastline there is great potential although the prevailing winds do not often favour good surf. The best surfing spot is Hainan island where the 2012 Swatch Girls Pro ASP Women's World Longboard Championships are currently being held. It is the second year in a row that Hainan has hosted the event, which is attended by many of the worlds best surfers. [ more › ]

Here’s The 18-Year-Old Who Got A Party Boss Fired, And Of Course Bo Xilai And Wang Lijun Are Involved, Because Chongqing Posted: 25 Nov 2012 10:32 AM PST The Chongqing sex scandal is getting very, very interesting. Whatever intrigue was already inherent in a scandal involving a high-ranking Party official and his mistress, raise it to the power of Wang Lijun and Bo Xilai. Let's start here: The femme fatale has been identified as Zhao Hongxi, who was 18 years old in February 2007 when she secretly videotaped herself having sex with Lei Zhengfu, then the party secretary of Chongqing's Dianjiang county. Ministry of Tofu, which first broke this story on English-language media, reports via Caijing and Beijing News: In 2007, in order to win lucrative contracts from him, who had by then been promoted to the vice party secretary of Chongqing's Jiulongpo District, one construction company offered huge bribes to Lei. However, having netted millions of yuan, Lei was not impressed and rejected their offer. The company soon found out about Lei's particular interest in women. So they hired several young women, all under 20, and put them through strict training before sending them to sexually please Lei. At the same time, these young women, who approached Lei with fake identities and proffered to be his mistresses, secretly videotaped the intercourse for the company to have more leverage over Lei. In 2009, the head of the construction company reportedly first threatened to expose Lei, and that's how we come to the former party secretary of Chongqing, Bo Xilai, and his police chief, Wang Lijun (who you might remember from this saga): Lei came cleaned on his 'one-time mistake' to Bo Xilai, then the party boss of Chongqing and a contender for one of China's most power political posts. Soon, Wang Lijun, then Chongqing's police chief, headed a special team to investigate the matter. As the result, Zhao Hongxia was detained for 30 days, and the boss of the company was incarcerated for a year for 'carving an official seal without authorization from the government.' If this scandal du jour is beginning to sound a bit too heavy — sex, politics, Bo Xilai – relax: China's Internet is full of deft photoshoppers who bring proper perspective to it all. Because if a classic political sex scandal doesn't devolve into this, why even bother? More via Ministry of Tofu The website 591hx.com has lots of pictures of Zhao Hongxi, sourced from Dongfang Net: Also, a woman by the name of Zhou Xiaoxue has been identified as another of Lei Zhengfu's mistresses. It's true what they say about power and money being an aphrodisiac, in a manner of speaking.

Elton John dedicates Beijing concert to Ai Weiwei; Ai says 'I'm in love with him' Posted: 25 Nov 2012 08:21 AM PST Global superstar, ex-director of Watford football club and rocket-man Elton John is no shrinking violet. Performing in Beijing's MasterCard Center, Elton is said to have dedicated his concert Sunday evening to the dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. The respect is clearly mutual, Ai and John met up together before the concert and in a tweet Ai said: "I'm in love with him, although we only spent less than ten minutes together. He's sincere and generous." [ more › ]

Presented By: Posted: 25 Nov 2012 08:21 AM PST

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