China :: Shanghai

Ryan Pyle for The New York Times Discipline issues are rare at the middle school linked to the Jing’An Teachers’ College in Shanghai. The city is thought to have China’s best schools. By DAVID BARBOZA SHANGHAI — In Li Zhen’s ninth-grade mathematics class here last week, the morning drill was geometry. Students at the middle school affiliated with Jing’An Teachers’ College were asked to explain the relative size of geometric shapes by using Euclid’s theorem of parallelograms. Ryan Pyle for The New York Times A teacher instructed students in class at the middle school associated with Jing’An Teachers’ College in central Shanghai. “Who in this class can tell me how to demonstrate two lines are parallel without using a proportional segment?” Ms. Li called out to about 40 students seated in a cramped classroom. One by one, a series of students at this medium-size public school raised t

from World news: China | guardian.co.uk by Owen Hatherley This global architectural event typifies a culture at one with contradictions. But how long can these be held in balance? The Shanghai Expo is the most violent, overwhelming, claustrophobic, garish, dramatic vision of harmony you could imagine. This gigantic and lengthy event, which finishes today, is defined through superlatives: with more than 70 million visitors it is the largest expo ever held, singlehandedly resurrecting an event which had become the object of retro-futurist nostalgia. There's more to the expo than mere PR puffery – what it says about architecture and the city is fascinating, and what it neglects to say, even more so. Like all expos since the 1950s, Shanghai 2010 has a theme, which is "Better City, Better Life", and a sugary sinopop theme song bears the same title. It crams into the site all possible debates about the contemporary city – but crucially, it smooths them all into a

By OLIVER CHIANG Image via CrunchBase While I might have taken a few days off from blogging, Mark Zuckerberg’s China trip has continued full steam ahead. Since his last spotting around Beijing and with Chinese search giant Baidu , the Facebook chief has paid more visits to top Chinese internet companies on his “vacation” in the country. While in Beijing, Zuckerberg also visited the offices of Sina Corp, meeting with Sina CEO Charles Chao for an “information exchange on the Chinese Internet market,” Sina spokesperson Liu Qi told Bloomberg . The two also talked about Sina’s microblog service Weibo, a Twitter-like service. It looks like a gutsy Bloomberg reporter approached Zuckerberg at his Beijing hotel to inquire about his trip, to which the Facebook CEO only responded, “I am only holiday.” That was around Wednesday last week. Photo of Mark Zuckerberg with Alibaba CEO Jack Ma via t.qq.com/jinmingliang Zuckerberg has since left Beijing and has more recently

SHANGHAI Daily was honored as a indication institution as good as Wu Zheng, emissary editor-in-chief of a newspaper, a indication particular during a inhabitant discussion in Beijing hold yesterday to prerogative a institutions as good as people who contributed to a success of a Shanghai World Expo. Shanghai Daily published 185 issues of Expo Daily, a only central English every day journal during a Expo site, throughout a eventuality that ran from May 1 to Oct 31. Other indication people included Bai Yifan, a veteran proffer who sent some-more than 70,000 reduced messages to guide alternative volunteers; Lin Qibin, better known as a "Running Traffic Policeman" since he was regularly running when directing bustling trade in front of an Expo entrance; as good as Xu Weiqin, a convey train motorist during a site who sometimes worked for some-more than thirteen hours a day. The Central Committee of a Communist Party of China as good as China's Cabinet honored 377 institutions

IT'S surprising but true: In a male-dominated society where many people still want boy babies, boys lag far behind girls academically and they're turning into sissies. Tan Weiyun reports on bashful boys. One seven-year-old first-grade boy in Shanghai sometimes bursts into tears when told that his school work is poor. A 10th grader still wants his mother to wash his back in the bath and cuddle him until he falls asleep. A fresh college graduate is so bashful and insecure that he doesn't know how to approach girls and has taken a course on dating. They are examples of China's soft and bashful boys who need toughening up. They speak quietly, they're hesitant and hang back and many lack the drive that will see them through school and into adulthood. Some are quite effeminate, members of the 'flowery boy' generation, and there are famous examples of boys having trouble tying their shoelaces because their mothers have done it for them for years. One of the stronge

Century Garden, Shanghai 上海 世纪公园 A male was severely harmed this afternoon after he fell off a height of a Metro Line 3 hire upon Chifeng Road as well as was strike by a coming train. The male in his 50s had his left leg crushed by wheels as well as was strike in a head. He needed an evident operation of amputation, doctors during a Changhai Hospital said. Metro police pronounced no a single had any physique hit with a male before his tumble as well as they have been investigating a cause. The collision happened during 12:15pm, pronounced a cleaner upon a platform. She pronounced a man, short as well as slim, jumped off a height when a train was pulling in to a station. Some passengers attempted to drag him up but failed. When he was lifted out of a rail tunnel, he had roughly lost a single leg, a cleaner said. The operation of Line 3 returned to normal in 15 minutes, officials said.

A male walks around a dilapidated century-old Gangsi Building during a Bund yesterday. All a 200-plus residents had moved out by 9pm yesterday, a deadline issued a week ago by a government inspection team which concluded a building was too dangerous to live in. It will be sealed for a two-year restoration project. No one will be admitted unless approved by a operative unit.

A helper puts the Santa Claus hat upon Luo Yiwen, who donated blood upon Christmas Day in response to the call by the Shanghai Blood Center. More than 70 internal university students donated blood yesterday. Shanghai is job for some-more people to experience in unchanging blood donations.

MOST of Shanghai's inauspicious greeting cases have been associated to intravenous drips, officials from a Shanghai Clinical Center for Drug Adverse Reaction Monitoring said yesterday. Shanghai has a little 20,000 inauspicious greeting cases a year, as well as drips were involved in about 80 percent of them. "IV abuse is a usual emanate in internal hospitals because of patients' disagreement as well as blind trust upon a effects as well as doctors' crude practice," said Du Wenmin, a center's vice director. Children as well as a elderly have been a vital recipients of drips.

A brand brand new container-sized, clouded cover computing core that can cut energy expenditure by 40 percent as well as be adapted in the shorter duration has been invented in Shanghai, the government-invested firm said today. Cloud computing, widely used by firms such as Google as well as Apple, is Internet-based computing in that shared servers provide resources, program as well as information to computers as well as alternative devices when needed, covering IT, education, health caring as well as commercial operation management sectors, experts said. Shanghai is the single of five cities comparison to rise the clouded cover computing attention underneath the inhabitant policy. "It's the made-in-Shanghai clouded cover computing core in the container," said Wu Siquan, clamp president of @Hub, an IT use firm invested by Shanghai government. At present, many clouded cover computing centers have been outrageous as well as need lots of power. With the brand brand new techno

SHANGHAI might have a white Christmas, as sleet approaching overnight might still be fibbing in a morning, according to a Shanghai Meteorological Bureau. Sleet as well as sleet are foresee for today, with temperatures trimming in between a low of 3 degrees Celsius as well as a tall of 6 degrees. Tomorrow should additionally see sleet, with a low of 0 grade as well as a tall of 4, weathermen said. Winds should additionally be stronger today as well as tomorrow averaging 61 kilometers per hour, which equates to better air peculiarity today after a city experienced 4 somewhat soiled days in a row, pronounced a Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau. Today's air peculiarity is approaching to be good, second in a five-level scale. The new misty as well as misty days have disturbed a public, generally after Shi Yuzhu, a famous businessman, pronounced upon his weibo - China's homogeneous to Twitter - which respirating air in Shanghai upon a normal day is a homogeneous of smoking 9 c

A construction worker had a 10-centimeter spike private from his body after he was accidentally shot in a back with a spike gun, sanatorium officials pronounced today. Doctors at Shanghai No. 10 People's Hospital private a nail, that was lodged utterly inside a man's body, sanatorium officials said. The worker, identified by a surname Zhao, was only 1 scale from a spike gun when he was shot although doctors pronounced they didn't know how it happened. The spike was only 1 millimeter from his aorta as good as 2 millimeters from his spiral cord. If a spike reached either, Zhao could have died at a scene, doctors said. Doctors private a spike successfully but deleterious circuitously blood vessels as good as nerves. Zhao was recovering good as good as would likely return to work soon, according to sanatorium officials.

SHANGHAI plans to build some-more affordable homes next year, as a city increases efforts to improve a living standard of center to low income households. The city will see affordable housing totaling 15 million block meters built in 2011 - an enlarge of 25 percent on 2010, Liu Haisheng, director of a Shanghai Housing Support as well as Building Administration Bureau, told a municipal conference yesterday. The city's affordable housing program mainly includes bill homes, houses built for relocated residents as well as open housing units for rental. Homes for relocated residents will comment for 8 million block meters; bill homes are allocated 5 million block meters; as well as open rent units 2 million block meters. Shanghai began work on some-more than 12 million block meters of affordable housing this year. The city has been striving tough to enlarge a supply of affordable housing as rapidly surging home prices have labelled people on lower incomes out of a market. New home cost

MORE than 100 suspects have been incarcerated for allegedly offered as well as production tawdry luxury products in a series of crackdowns over a last 3 months, Shanghai military pronounced today. More than 210,000 feign products were confiscated from 29 production workshops as well as 55 storehouses. The products were worth an estimated 196 million yuan (US$29.5 million), according to police. A sum of 108 suspects have been incarcerated in a cases, which in a little instances engage accomplices in alternative tools of a country. In a new case, military raided a bureau in Sichuan Province as well as an additional in Guangdong Province for production feign Louis Vuitton as well as Gucci handbags. Police pronounced they started investigating a wardrobe market on Qipu Road, a famous place in Shanghai for cheap clothes, as well as found which many of a feign branded handbags as well as purses were wholesaled by dual people, one identified as Jiang as well as a alternative as Li. Officers d

A FOREIGN bag-making association yesterday settled a salary dispute with around twenty displaced person workers from Guangdong Province, after a man appeared to gloomy with craving while protesting about wages. Chen Shixiao, from Dongguan in Guangdong, collapsed in front of Norway-based ITP Group's canteen in a Pudong New Area upon Monday afternoon. The incident attracted media coverage as well as Chen claimed which he as well as associate workers had usually eaten a bowl of present noodles since last Sunday as they had no money. However, a comparison central of ITP Group told Shanghai Daily which a workman had simulated to gloomy to seek open sympathy. Chen pronounced he was regenerated by medics at a Zhoupu Town People's Hospital in a Pudong New Area. He pronounced a group came to Shanghai upon December 1 to work for a company. But when workers launched a set upon last Friday over a wage dispute, ITP Group demanded behind their canteen cards, claiming which they indispensable

Shanghai will go on to concentration on creation in all aspects of amicable as well as mercantile growth subsequent year, speed up a gait of mercantile restructuring as well as try to urge its urban supervision mechanisms to safeguard public safety, top supervision officials pronounced currently at a Party meeting. Next year, a city supervision will increase investment as well as set up a 10-billion-yuan (US$1.5 billion) account to support technology as well as creation programs. The account will yield subsidies to firms or institutions intent in research, monetary as well as alternative urban growth projects that are approaching to significantly contribute to mercantile restructuring as well as technology innovation, city mayor Han Zheng told a two-day full assembly of a Shanghai Committee of a Communist Party of China, that finished today. The mayor additionally pronounced stabilizing a prices of every day necessities as well as reforming illness caring polices to revoke healing loss

Shanghai. China ONLINE sales of products done from a skins of cats as well as dogs have caused outrage, with Taobao.com, China's greatest e-commerce platform, a target of animal lovers'fury. More than 6,600 products have been being advertised upon a website, from cushions as well as boots to waistcoats. An online debate is calling for Taobao to take action opposite a sellers, as well as it has received support upon multiform of China's leading social networking websites, such as sina's microblog, douban.com as well as tianya.cn. "How can they have ads upon such products?" pronounced a debate supporter, Mo Ji. "They will receive retribution because they have spoiled so many trusting lives." However, cat as well as dog products don't seem to be proof too renouned with buyers with many stores recording no trades. One seller, who called himself "sjz2ys," from Hebei Province, pronounced all a cat-skin products were authentic, though he only

CONSTRUCTION of a railway connecting Shanghai as well as Nantong in neighboring Jiangsu Province is expected to start early next year.It will revoke transport time between a cities from five hours to only over a single hour.Experts have authorized a overpass over a Yangtze River to allow building a whole of a railway to proceed. Trains upon a line will transport at about 200 kilometers per hour.The brand new railway will be about a single hour faster than by bus.The railway will be about 250 kilometers as well as will price an estimated 48.68 billion yuan (US$7.29 billion), Shanghai Evening News reported today. Tickets will price 70 yuan each.

DURING this festive season, Shanghai Times Square presents a memorable experience of authentic Christmas culture, entertainment and traditions. The lighting ceremony at the shopping mall began the Christmas celebration season with a new theme 'Christmas Full House.' Following the footprints of reindeers, shoppers are invited to visit a fascinating European house with a large-scale handicraft nativity scene, and receive seasonal greetings from Santa Claus. As the central part of the seasonal celebration, the house is built with great support from the Austrian, Belgian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian and Portuguese Consulates in Shanghai. Diversified decorations from these countries create a magical festive atmosphere. For most Western families, the nativity scene, which represents the birth of Jesus, is one of the most recognized traditions during Christmas. The nativity scene which makes its debut at Shanghai Times Square is about 70 years old and is handmade from burn

A GANG of more than thirty young group pounded a organisation of displaced person workers, a single a lady in her 80s, with knives as well as iron pipes in Shanghai yesterday morning. Several of a workers, who had been looking remuneration of long-delayed salaries, were injured. Police arrested most of a purported enemy as well as are still sport for a others as well as a male pronounced to have hired them. The attack, which witnesses pronounced was similar to a stage from a mafiosi movie, began during around 10am when 3 vans forsaken off a squad in front of a offices of a cashmere clothing association in Minhang District. Witnesses pronounced a young group - each wearing a red badge scored equally round their arms to distinguish themselves from a "enemies" - jumped from a vans as well as rushed in to a building. Led by Gao Yuanshu, a team of displaced person workers had been occupying a third-floor bureau in a bureau bureau bureau building given final Wednesday in protest du

SHANGHAI has strictly entered winter, the city's continue business voiced yesterday. The business pronounced December fourteen was the initial day of winter this season after the normal temperature dipped next 10 degrees Celsius for five straightdays. Yesterday's normal temperature was 4.9 degrees. Meteorologists pronounced currently will be often balmy with the high of fourteen degrees.

CAR image prices in Shanghai suddenly fell neatly at this month's auction yesterday notwithstanding peppery automobile sales recently.The average cost for the in isolation automobile image plummeted to 15,970 yuan (US$2,383) in December, the dump of 29,321 yuan from November, Shanghai International Commodity Auction Co said.The average cost was the lowest given 2003. The lowest bid fell 34,500 yuan from the year ago to 10,400 yuan this month, the second lowest cost upon record. The lowest bid upon jot down was 8,100 yuan in Jan 2008. The government offering 9,000 automobile plates this month, 500 some-more than in November. Industry watchers were surprised by the decline as automobile image prices had been upon the rise for four consecutive months as well as hit this year's tall of 45,291 yuan at final month's auction. Car licenses upon the second-hand marketplace additionally increased to 47,500 yuan final month. Meanwhile, newcomer automobile sales increased twenty-seven

MANY shops and cafes have quit the city's historic Jing'an Villas complex ahead of the end-of-year deadline authorities gave them to leave. Residents living in the 70-year-old complex say local officials have been descending on the street every day and that the disruption has prompted many unlicensed businesses to shut up shop early. Last month, residents complained that noisy restaurants and bars disturbed them late at night, resulting in Jing'an District authorities telling most businesses there to close. Residents told Shanghai Daily yesterday that they feared the lane, which links Nanjing Road W. with Weihai Road, was being turned into an entertainment district like Xintiandi or Tianzifang when all they wanted was a quiet neighborhood. Shanghai Daily yesterday found that although some business name signs were still on display, their doors were locked. While many residents were delighted to have peace return to their street, others were sad to see the businesses go. Resi

Two Santas perform customers in front of a shopping mall on Nanjing Road W.in Jing'an District yesterday. Many downtown streets have been filled with Christmasdecorations to greet the Western festival subsequent Saturday.

DESPITE the freezing weather yesterday, actor-turned-director Jiang Wen's ultimate film, "Let the Bullets Fly," met with great enthusiasm by his fans upon the film's entrance day. Shanghai United Cinema Lines, the largest motion picture chain in Shanghai, raked in 2.6 million yuan (US$395,000) in ticket sales, the great begin for the film that stars Jiang as the squad boss, Chow Yun-fat as the brag as well as renouned humerous entertainment actor Ge You as the fraud. "The movie's abounding elements of suspense as well as black humor, as well as its star-studded expel will definitely have it the box bureau prodigy during this festive season," pronounced Wu Hehu, United Cinema's deputy general manager. Wu additionally believed the film appeals to all generations as well as could tip this month's box bureau although it faces competition from the couple of alternative expected Chinese drive-in theatre set to jam-pack the Christmas as well as New Year

FOR 43-year-old JamesKoratzopoulos, general manager of the InterContinental Shanghai Pudong, the love of food and beverage is certainly in his blood. The son of an executive chef and holder of dual degrees in hotel management and human resources management, the Australian national embarked on his career with the hospitality industry about 20 years ago as a food and beverage manager in Cape Schank resort in Victoria. Since then he has never struggled to get out of bed and face the work day. "I feel blessed to be able to do something I really enjoy and this is one of the industries that you need to really enjoy in order to succeed, and you need to wear out many pairs of shoes," says Koratzopoulos. The GM has worked at the Pudong hotel since 2004. He previously spent two years in Beijing, where he first joined the InterContinental Hotels Group as an executive assistant manager. "It is a very demanding industry that always keeps everyone on their toes because the business is

MOST Shanghai residents are not in a hurry to buy a home because of the current high prices and prefer to adopt a wait-and-see stance after the introduction of tighter policies to curb speculation, according to a survey released by the Shanghai Statistics Bureau yesterday. More than half of the 1,532 respondents aged from 20 to 70 years old in the survey said they wished to purchase a home but it's unlikely that they would do so in the next three years. Only slightly more than 20 percent said they planned to buy a home in the next three years, and the remaining quarter of respondents said they did not want to buy because of the high housing prices and their low income. Even for those able to afford a home, they were not eager to do so because of low sentiment. 'The wait-and-see sentiment still dominates the market right now and exerts a huge influence on potential buyers,' the survey said. About 70 percent of the respondents were under 45 years old, with many of them highly

WITH trains arriving late and Metro services having ended, hundreds of tired rail travelers were stranded at Hongqiao Railway Station on Wednesday night, exposing inadequate public transport at the newly opened hub. Many passengers, whose trains were delayed due to snow, complained that there was only one night bus line heading downtown at the station, which opened this July. 'It's sad when you are stuck with nowhere to shelter,' said a passenger surnamed Ye. Ye's train from Fujian Province was scheduled to arrive at the station at 10:20pm, but it did not arrive until 11:30pm and the two subway line servicing the station stop operating about 11pm. As many trains suffered delays, at least four services arrived later than 11pm on Wednesday night. The only night bus route at the station, with intervals of 40 minutes between services, couldn't cope with the number of delayed passengers. Things got worse as some taxi drivers were refusing to take short-distance fares. Th

NO.15 on the Bund is suffering another severe case of subsidence. On Zhongshan Road E2, the 11-floor structure was built about 80 years ago and now has cracks climbing from the ground up to its 10th floor. Although the building was reinforced during a project in 2004, the sinking problem has not yet been solved. Property management officials said parts of the outer walls fell off two years ago and hit a residential building. No one was hurt during the accident. Then part of the building's water pipe broke earlier this year and cost 7.3 million yuan (US$1.1 million) in wasted water. The most dramatic evidence of subsidence is the 10-centimeter drop into the lobby, which was once at ground level.

SHANGHAI students rescued from the Yellow Mountain in Anhui Province in an operation that cost a young policeman his life yesterday apologized publicly for their 'reckless behavior.' The statement followed a barrage of online criticism accusing the 18 climbers, including 14 students of the city's Fudan University - of indifference toward their rescuers. They were led to safety at the scenic area in southern Anhui on Monday morning. However, 24-year-old Zhang Ninghai died after he fell from a cliff while escorting the rescued students back to a hotel. Public anger increased when it emerged that Fudan students, including one of the 18, had coldly considered online how the tragedy affected the presidency of the university climbing club and discussed how best to manage public relations. Enraged web users went so far as to publish the students' identities and contact details online. Facing growing hostility, the chastened climbers launched a microblog on sina.com. 'Each

A worker prepares to hang lanterns during a shopping center in downtown Shanghai yesterday. As a Western-style Christmas, that is gaining recognition in town, draws near, followed by New Year's Day as well as a Spring Festival, decorations featuring standard Chinese elements such as traditional red lanterns have been still popular upon local streets.

DOCTORS during a Shanghai Children's Medical Center removed a 3-centimeter needle from a heart of an eight-year-old boy, who was discharged yesterday. Parents took Wang Pengfei, a tyro from Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, to a Suzhou sanatorium for checkup after he felt stomach sickness. X-ray hearing found a shadow in his heart. Under a doctors' suggestion, he was brought a Shanghai Children's Medical Center final Tuesday. A serve checkup found a needle-like object in a boy's heart. It was damaged in to dual with one partial in a chest flesh as well as another in a heart. Doctors motionless to work upon a child immediately since a damaged needle could wandering serve in to a heart through heartbeats. The operation took about one hour final Thursday as well as a complete needle, rusty as well as stranded with surrounding tissues, was successfully removed. Both a child as well as his relatives could not recall how a needle entered his body. Doctors guessed a needle pierced wit

HOMELESS centers saw fewer people turning up than approaching despite Shanghai's frozen weather yesterday. The city has around twenty centers upon condition that giveaway food, accommodation, hot baths as well as even healing care, pronounced a social gratification division of a Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau. The homeless, however, don't appear to appreciate a government's efforts. Officials pronounced they appeared demure to go to a centers even when invited. And when core staff attempted to draw towards them inside out of a frozen wind, they would still refuse. While a little pronounced they elite their freedom, others were afraid they would be sent behind to their hometowns. On Jinling Road E., Zhang Li, a broom picker, pronounced he'd rather nap upon a street than go in to a shelter. Zhang, wrapped up in a worn-out down coat, rummages each litter garbage bin upon a highway in all weathers, looking for equipment that can be sold. "I need no charity, even if they

Ice is expected to cover Shanghai's streets tomorrow sunrise with the continuing snow as well as low temperature, weathermen said, reminding drivers to be careful. A yellow road-icing alert, lowest of the three-level system, was released by the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau during 2:30pm currently warning which ice would probably start city traffic in the next twelve hours. The snow is foresee to go on compartment midnight as well as the accumulation would reach three centimeters in partial of the city, the business said. The winter's first snow began to tumble on the city this sunrise as well as the temperatures have been plunging. At about 10:26 am, snow first appeared in the city's suburban Jinshan District, then spread to Songjiang as well as Qingpu districts as well as reached downtown prior to noon. The snowfall should go on this afternoon, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau said. The business released the blue cold-wave alert yesterday during 5am today. The heat rec

Mounting criticism as Fudan mourns loss of life : "STUDENTS in Fudan University yesterday mourned a young policeman who lost his life during Sunday's rescue of 18 Shanghai tourists, most of them Fudan students, who got lost in the Yellow Mountain in Anhui Province. Students laid chrysanthemum flowers in the shape of a heart on the campus yesterday morning to pay respect to Zhang Haining, a 24-year-old policeman in a public security bureau near the mountain. University authorities also sent a letter of condolence to Zhang's family yesterday. Meanwhile, netizens discussed how the accident could have been avoided on local BBS and many blamed the tourists for Zhang's death. 'I doubt whether it's reasonable to ask police to search in the rain and darkness when the tourists could camp in a safe place,' said one netizen who identified himself as icermoon on the University BBS. Some criticized the students for entering the prohibited area and asked the school's

ENGINEERS are investigating whether they can save a sinking 100-year-old building near the Bund, after residents complained that they were living in a dangerous slum. 'We are planning to uplift the building's sunken foundations from the outside to help it stand straight again,' said a manager surnamed Zhang with property management company Duanzheng Co. Zhang expected the project would be a great challenge, and said no decision had yet been taken as engineers had to determine its feasibility. It is feared that renovations might destroy the decrepit structure. Over the past few months, engineers had drawn up proposals for the four-storey building on Zhongshan Road E2, but these were vetoed due to concerns about the building. 'The final plan will come out in the beginning of next year, otherwise we will tear the building down and rebuild another one for its residents,' said Zhang. Gangsi Building was built in 1910 to serve as dormitories for workers from a British shi

Honey trap rackets lead to 4 killings : "HONEY traps aimed at stealing or extorting money from prostitutes' clients have led to four recent killings, the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court reported yesterday. Judges urged police to crack down on the practice - known as xianrentiao in Chinese. Xianrentiao involves a prostitute's client being robbed by her accomplices or blackmailed with threats to report rape to police. The word xianrentiao literally means 'a god or immortal jumping.' People say that even a god could do nothing except stamp his feet in rage if he was caught in a honey trap. Judges said the xianrentiao trap usually occurs in suburban areas where migrant workers are gathered. 'Most of the people who devise these traps are from the same areas,' said Ao Yingjie, a court judge. 'If theft or blackmail fails, they turn to violence. ' The court's latest case involved a Jiangxi Province native migrant worker surnamed Liu, who

DISTINCTIVE white seat covers in Shanghai's taxis will soon be a thing of the past as the city's cabbies replace them with PVC seats in dark colors. Taxis in service will begin switching to PVC seats next year and new vehicles will also be fitted with imitation leather, officials with Dazhong, the city's leading taxi company, told Shanghai Daily yesterday. Shanghai cabs started a trend of using white cloth seat covers, a practice that spread to other cities, including Beijing, an official said. 'In a decision by the industry authorities, new taxis will be fitted with PVC seats, which are easy to clean compared to the current cotton and sponge-covered seats,' said Guan Lu, an official with Dazhong. The operator claims the move is environmentally friendly as white fabric covers must be washed frequently. Guan explained the change was inspired by the 3,000 Volkswagen World Expo taxis the authorities put into service in May, which were fitted with PVC seats. 'Driver

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SHANGHAI consumers have been warned to be on a lookout for sesame seeds which have been painted black. The rapt by marketplace watchdogs follows a new investigation which found tone had been combined to oranges to have them demeanour fresher. The sesame complaint was unclosed when a patron who paid for a seeds from a soppy marketplace found which when she dripping them in water it turned as black as ink. "This is a initial time which we have heard of painted sesame," pronounced Shen Li, an central from a Shanghai Industrial as well as Commercial Administrative Bureau. "We have sent teams to carry out an investigation. So distant we can't confirm a composition of a coloring." The woman, surnamed Chen, pronounced she paid for black sesame during a Huaqing soppy marketplace on Meilong Rd in Xuhui District on Monday. It was being sold during 9 yuan (US$1.35) per 500 gram, much cheaper than a twenty yuan customarily charged for good-quality product. To a naked eye a

A 91-YEAR-OLD veteran of World War II arrived in locale yesterday to be reunited with his family after netizens as well as volunteers helped him to fix up his brothers after roughly 60 years apart. Cai Linsen hugged his youngest brother, Cai Shouxin, who is 83, in the road house in Yangpu District yesterday afternoon, with laughter as well as tears upon the aged men's faces. "My brother, it's really been the long, long time!" Cai Linsen told his younger sibling, his voice tremor with fad as well as emotion. Cai Shouxin came from Jiaxing City in Zhejiang Province for the reunion, accompanied by volunteers. They will revisit another brother, Cai Yunhui, 89, who is reduction mobile, in Hongkou District. Cai Linsen, who lived in Baoshan City of Yunnan Province, hadn't seen his family since he final returned to Shanghai in 1954. In 1942 he was sent to Yunnan to correct the highway from Yunnan to Myanmar as well as after to India for military training. Cai Linsen was th

SHANGHAI'S key stock index rose today after China yesterday vowed to keep economic growth on track next year. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.15 percent, or 32.80 points, to 2,873.84. Turnover was 76.9 billion yuan (US$11.6 billion). Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks the smaller market in southern China, was up 2 percent to 1,324.75. A statement issued after China's leaders wrapped up an economic planning meeting yesterday said the government would keep its policy flexible, proactive and prudent while trying to maintain a balance between fast growth and stability. Worries about an increase of interest rate was partly relieved after China's central bank ordered commercial banks to put aside more money from landing last Friday, third in five weeks. The reserve requirement rate will be raised by 0.5 percentage point after December 20. Some analysts said that China is not likely to raise interest rates in a short-term after the government vowed to keep its ec

EIGHTEEN Shanghai tourists, mostly Fudan University students, have been rescued this morning after they lost their way in a mountain in Anhui Province last night. But a local policeman died after fell from the cliff when he was escorting the group back to the hotel. The group called for help around 11pm yesterday after they got lost while exploring the Yellow Mountain, a famous scenery in eastern China. Since the students were unable to tell their position, local police could only map out a preliminary search area through the global positioning system. More than 200 rescuers took part in the search. Four hours later, they found the trapped Shanghai tourists. No one was injured in the incident. The tourists were given accommodation in a hotel near the scenic area. But their return to Shanghai has not yet been decided. Fudan University said 11 of the 18 tourists are its students who went on the trip without telling the school.

A total of 688 commonly used medicines are on the city's basic medicine list, meaning they are covered by medical insurance and are sold at cost price, Shanghai Health Bureau announced yesterday. State-run community hospitals are required to only sell drugs on the basic medicine list. This is intended to make better use of local medical resources and encourage people to go to community hospitals for treatment of small and common diseases. Under a national health reform that began in April, Shanghai government has worked out a local reform plan based on the city's medical resources and living standard. The city's basic medicine list, based on the national list, includes Western and traditional Chinese medicines. Under the policy, all drugs will be purchased by the government through bidding and will be retailed at cost price. Normally, hospitals can add a surcharge of up to 15 percent for medicines they sell. Local community hospitals are expected to finish their purchase of