China :: Shanghai

Shanghai rock bank Bremen plays in front of the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Pudong, as part of a one-year anniversary celebration for the opening of the World Expo Shanghai 2010.

FOUR officials in Shanghai have been punished for dereliction of duty in relation to a recent food safety scandal involving steamed buns, the city government said yesterday. Wang Xinghua, deputy director of Baoshan District's food production supervision office, has been removed from his post. Two other officials of the agency and a deputy director of the district's quality and technology supervision bureau were given "disciplinary punishments," a joint investigation team said in a statement. Tang Qi, director of Lianhua Biaochao Co, the company that runs the Lianhua and Hualian supermarket chains, was fined an amount that was not revealed. The two supermarkets were the main outlets for the steamed buns which contained banned additives and had been made with expired buns recycled and added to the mix. An investigation into the popular product was launched after China Central Television exposed production problems. Shanghai Shenglu Food Co in Baoshan was found to have b...

A couple jumped off the platform of a Metro Line 1 station in a suicide attempt today and brought the subway into a halt during the morning rush hour. The man was killed and the woman was injured by a fast moving train as it pulled into the station. The incident happened at 7:43am at Line 1's Gonghe Xincun station where the couple was seen jumping into the tunnel just as the train was coming into the station. They were carried out by Metro staff before 8am and the operation gradually resumed. Passengers were stranded at some busy stations along the line. The man was pronounced dead at the hospital while the woman was in a critical condition. Police are investigating the case.

LOCAL authorities have ordered H&M stores and the Bob Dog clothing brand to stop selling items of baby clothing that failed national quality tests. A Bob Dog shirt was found to contain a high pH index that could cause a skin allergy, while an H&M coat contained insufficient fiber, said the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. The legal pH index range for children's clothes is between four and 7.5, but a Bob Dog shirt produced last December showed a reading of 9.1. The watchdog said it believed the clothes hadn't been rinsed properly after the dyeing process, leading to excessive pH index. Bob Dog was not available for comment yesterday. The watchdog also found problems with an H&M baby coat, produced late last year. The hem was supposed to be contain 100 percent polyester fiber but tests found that spandex was mixed in. H&M said it withdrew the product once it was told of the results. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Bureau of Quality...

WHITE-COLLAR workers in the Lujizui financial zone will find the trip from the Lujiazui Metro station to their office towers made easier with a new bus service launched today. The Lujiazui Financial City Bus and its stations are equipped with LED screens to show the latest stock market information. Free Wi-Fi and a Lujiazui map are also available at the stations. The red bus is inviting the public to design its skin that should symbolize the financial zone. The design competition will be held annually and the winning design will be printed on the bus exterior. The bus runs daily from 7am to 9pm with an interval of 3 minutes during rush hours and 7 minutes on average. The fare costs 1 yuan (15 US cents) but it's free within two hours after you take the Metro or other buses. The 5.3-kilometer route has 11 stops and connects 30 office buildings in the financial zone, including the Shanghai International Finance Center and the Super Brand Mall. It has a short distance between stops, av...

Things can move slow at airports in China.. Last week when we were flying to Xian, I was pleased when we arrived at Pudong airport and saw that China Eastern had self check-in stations (as usual in China, the lines to the check-in counters were pretty long). Although the stations were only in Chinese it was pretty straightforward and we quickly managed to put our information, pick our seats and print our boarding cards (but not bag tags, those you werent able to print). Mom and dad had a bag they needed to check in, so we located a counter that said bag drop and lined up. There was a huge line to this counter, and first I thought it was some kind of misunderstanding. Were all of these people really lining up just to drop off their bags? They sure were. All of us in the looooong line were holding on to our boarding cards, impatiently glancing at our watches and staring at the actual bag drop counter where action seemed to be very sloooooow. Actually, I don't understand how it coul...

METRO builders said yesterday that construction on all 77 stations along four new subway lines has started. The new lines, 11, 12, 13 and 16, will see passenger volume increase about 10 percent. More than 5 million passengers use the Metro network each day.