China :: Shanghai

SHANGHAI, the world's busiest container port, will consolidate its title this year and leverage its record throughput to become a multi-faceted provider of port services. The city, which overtook Singapore as the world's biggest container handler last year, saw its annual container traffic volume surpass 30 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) yesterday. The figure hits an unprecedented level in the world's port history and marks a new leg in Shanghai's voyage to become a global shipping center by 2020. China's remarkable trade boom is reflected in the Shanghai port numbers, which went from 7,951 TEUs in 1978 to 29.05 million TEUs in 2010. The city's customs oversaw a total of US$790 billion worth of imports and exports in the first three quarters of this year - a 19.3 percent year-on-year increase. And its port handled 23.9 million TEUs over the first 10 months, ahead of that of 23.56 million TEUs at Singapore Port. Shanghai International Port (Group) Co,...

A middle school math teacher has stirred controversy after forcing 20 of his students to slap their own faces for three minutes because they made noise in class and scored poorly on exams. Angry local residents are demanding that the teacher resign and asking the school to announce a punishment. But some of the teacher's students, including some who were forced to slap themselves, are calling for leniency. The incident occurred in a class at Donglu Middle School in Pudong on Tuesday when the math teacher surnamed Yang ordered 20 students in his class to slap their faces after he was irritated by them making noise in class. The students said Yang was known as a very strict teacher, so almost all the students obeyed his order and started slapping themselves in the face for about three minutes. Those who slapped too lightly were told by the teacher to slap harder, students told the Oriental Morning Post. Yang's behavior has sparked anger among local residents, especially so...

Local taxi driver Qin Bo speaks to media about how a woman delivered a baby in his cab yesterday. Yesterday morning, Qin was taking a pregnant woman and her husband to Changhai Hospital. En route to the hospital, the woman couldn't wait and gave birth to the baby in the vehicle. Qin rushed the couple to the hospital and left the hospital without charging the taxi fare. The mom and the baby were finally safe and sound after treatment.

A Chinese sportswear company was ordered to pay 480,000 yuan (US$76,200) in damages to the US-based footwear manufacturer New Balance for unfair competition. The Huangpu District People's Court also ordered Niubanlun Sportswear Company in Quanzhou, Fujian Province to stop producing sports shoes with a logo similar to New Balance's "N" design. New Balance filed the lawsuit last November against Niubanlun for using a logo similar to its unique "N" design and had a Chinese brand name that sounds similar to "New Balance." The US firm said it registered its trademark in China in 1983 and accused Niubanlun of making and selling counterfeit shoes since 2007. Niubanlun argued that this was not an infringement case because its "N" trademark was legally registered. But New Balance said Niubanlun's trademark should not be used on sports shoes. The court ruled the Chinese company to pay for unfair competition, saying New Balance is a famous ...

A six-year-old boy was killed yesterday in a fire that broke out in an apartment in Shanghai's Baoshan District, xinmin.com reported. Police said the fire began at about 11am yesterday in an apartment building on Xinchuansha Road. Flames leaped through windows and plumes of black smoke rose into the sky. Firefighters carried a boy out of the fire but medical workers confirmed he was already dead. The boy's parents are from Chongqing Municipality and they went out in the morning, leaving their son alone at home, police said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

The "biggest illegal building" on Xingjiaqiao Road N. in Hongkou District is demolished yesterday. Originally a two-story house, the building was illegally extended to become a seven-story "high-rise" (upper right) about two years ago. The demolition took five days to minimize the impact on neighbors.

A Jiao Tong University student said he nearly drowned after being thrown into an icy creek from a bridge near the school's Minhang campus during a robbery this morning but police suspect the student was telling a lie to avoid an exam. "My roommate was almost killed after he was robbed around 6am this morning," a student wrote on his microblog. The victim allegedly said he was blanketed by someone and pushed over the bridge as he was walking toward his dorm this morning. He told his roommates that he struggled for nearly 30 minutes before he was able to get out the freezing waters. He was later accompanied by a roommate to report the robbery to the police. However, police told the Shanghai Daily that they decided to drop further investigation because they suspected the student was lying. Police said the student might have reported the incident in order to avoid taking an exam today but they did not explain why they had come to that conclusion.