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By JFK Miller The KMT, the party of Chiang Kai-shek, is back in power in Taiwan after a thumping victory over the DPP in last week’s national legislative elections. The elections were the first round of two major national polls, and the KMT also looks set to win the second round in March when the island...
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Well, then: Oops. What last month we said was going to happen, this month was made official. China has scrapped May holiday, one of its three Golden Weeks , and turned three traditional festivals into national holidays. Here's how your official 2008 Chinese holiday schedule now looks: New Year's Day...
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Migrant workers—let's face it, you either love 'em or hate 'em. There's just no in between. It seems that lately, they've been getting some love from the people, what with Chongqing's official Migrant Worker Day and now with the recent announcement by none other than Premiere Wen Jiabao himself that...
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Today is the 70th anniversary of the start of the Nanking Massacre which took place in 1937, and more than 8,000 people were gathered today in the Nanking Massacre Museum this morning in a memorial ceremony as you see in this picture from Shanghai Daily . The number of deaths that resulted in the six...
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What would you do if you paid a shitload of money to study at some college, thinking it would legit and all, only to be told that your diploma would not be recognised after all? We don't know about you, but we would definitely riot. Well, that's what some civilian students at the Hefei PLA Artillery...
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Earlier this month, when we told you that China's new labour law was going to be a big, big thing, we had no idea it would also be the cause of some serious blood-letting. Local gangs and triads have been attacking the Shenzhen Dagongzhe Migrant Worker Centre which has been instrumental in providing...
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Bokee.com is doing an online poll to determine who were the real movers and shakers of China in 2007. The plug they're using is "谁最敢动中国" (who most dared to move China), and you can vote and then see the results, live. They also have little blurbs about each of the front-runners, explaining why they've...
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We read a fair amount of China-related news, and it's hard not to get a bit apathetic about it all, since so much of it seems to revolve around the same few topics. Slate's article, however, touches on something we don't normally hear about: China's tomato products industry. : China, it turns out, now...
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Overheard in the comment section of our earlier story on the Chongqing cooking oil stampede was the opinion that the pushing and shoving here in Shanghai is much worse than in Chongqing. Agreed. We see so many potential stampedes happening here everyday and wonder why more people are not getting tromped...
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If you run your own company, or if you have been hired by someone else to hire theirs, read this. Because something is going to change on 1 Jan 2008 that will not just have a profound impact on labour relations in China, it may rock your world to its foundations, especially those of you hiring "unofficial...
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We've been somewhat faithful readers of Foreign Policy for awhile and noticed that they had a couple of articles that either mention or focus on China in their recent issue. Jeff Chang has written an article called It's a Hip-Hop World where he talks about how globalized hip hop has become, and, in this...
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We told you previously of China's great vision to be a "harmonious society" by 2020 — yes, that year when paradise will come to earth if nations around the world all accomplish their visions. Now, it looks like there is even a "harmonious ranking" to help us measure how "harmonious" we are, and it has...
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You will get to see scenes like the one above on Nanjing Lu a lot less often from next year on. All those rumours that we've been hearing have been confirmed. The May Golden Week holiday is going to be cut down to one day , and this may happen as early as 2008. In the meanwhile, three more national holiday...
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If you thought all Uighurs/Xinjiangers were fighting for the independence of East Turkestan, this video might be of interest to you. The Opposite End of China brings to our attention an excellent PBS documentary China from the Inside which features some very interesting footage such as a rare interview...
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A stampede in a Chongqing Carrefour hypermart has left 3 dead, 24 injured and another 7 seriously injured . The culprit? Cooking oil. As part of its 10th anniversary celebrations, a 5-litre bottle of cooking oil that was originally priced at RMB51.40 was to be sold at only RMB39.90. This news was enough...