This piece was first published in the Sizzling Summer Reading (#10) issue on May 24th, 2007.
Click here if you want to read or comment on the original article online.

Technorati Tags: 2007, blogging, China, cityweekend, column, theblogger, writing, 中国

This piece was first published in the Gobi or Bust (#9) issue on May 10th, 2007.
Click here if you want to read or comment on the original article online.

Technorati Tags: 2007, blogging, China, cityweekend, column, theblogger, writing, 中国

This piece was first published in the MIDI Music Festival (#8) issue on April 19th, 2007.
Click here if you want to read or comment on the original article online.

Technorati Tags: 2007, blogging, China, cityweekend, column, theblogger, writing, 中国

This piece was first published in the Hip-Hop Nation (#7) issue on April 5th, 2007.
Click here if you want to read or comment on the original article online.

Technorati Tags: 2007, blogging, China, cityweekend, column, theblogger, writing, 中国

There is really no more to say. This incredulous story from The SMH.

A Chinese woman survived a fall from a sixth-floor balcony after she landed on a large pile of excrement dug up by workers clearing a septic tank, state media said.

The unnamed woman was stretching to hang washing when she lost her balance and fell from the balcony at her home in the southern city of Nanjing yesterday, the semi-official China News Service quoted a local newspaper as saying.

The woman suffered only minor injuries after the 20cm heap cushioned her fall, the agency said.

Workers had been dredging the tank after complaints by local residents, it said.

Picture taken from On Smith's Comicsblog.

Technorati Tags: 2007, blogging, China, april, Shanghai, shanghaiist, 上海, 中国

All of this sounds super-tacky to this little Shanghaiist.

So where is this monster located? In the Shizu Mountain National Forest Park, just outside the Henan capital, Zhengzhou. National Forest Park... hmm.

Not surprisingly, there is a little controversy. The (forever-blocked) BBC News reported that there are moves to stop this incredulous construction situated on top of the Shizu Mountain National Forest Park due to environmental concerns. Here's an excerpt of their story.

The Henan Environmental Protection Agency says it has sent a team to investigate the project that started without the necessary environmental assessments, Xinhua news agency reported.

"If the project fails our assessment, we will order it be stopped or the demolition of the completed part," an unidentified official with the administration was quoted as saying.

An online survey showed more than 90% of respondents disapproved of the dragon, Xinhua said.

"The planned dragon is like an expressway which will damage vegetation, affect the landscape and destroy the local ecological system," Wu Mingzuo, director of Henan Ecology Society, was quoted as saying.

"Shizu mountain is a symbol of Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor, who is considered the earliest ancestor of China," the Shanghai Daily quoted Dai Songcheng, director of the Henan institute of culture, as saying.

"Such an immense structure on the mountain top is disrespectful to Huangdi."

Shanghaiist also believes this is a little disrespectful to the concept of a National Forest Park as well. However, there is the suggestion that the dragon structure could help minimise the impact of sand storms on the nearby capital. USA Today's Weather blogger had this to say about the concept.

The weather connection is that the 13-mile long dragon sculpture could help protect the city from the tremendous sandstorms that blow in from the north each spring. Located south-east of the Gobi Desert, the city of Zhengzhou is apparently quite vulnerable to sandstorms. Although the sculpture doesn't seem that tall in the photo, it may very will be high enough to protect the city. Sandstorms rarely rise more than 50 feet above the ground, in contrast to duststorms, which can rise much higher in the atmosphere.

Henan's capital Zhengzhou sounds more and more like a bit of a wacky place to hang out in. Apart from building giant dragon sand breaks, the fun-loving residents of Zhengzhou have been up to quite a number of activities recently like giant face sculpture competitions and organising baijiu-influenced nude runs for the sake of the environment. Oh, then there's the odd student hullabaloo, and don't try and be a HIV/AIDS activist there either, you might embarrass someone.

Technorati Tags: 2007, blogging, China, march, Shanghai, shanghaiist, 上海, 中国

Chinese news portal CHINA.ORG.CN reported today that the controversial construction of a giant dragon inside Shizhu Mountain National Forest Park was halted by local government.

The local authorities of Xinzheng delivered a written statement to Xinhua which simply said, "We attached great importance to the project after the media reports. The departments of land, environmental protection, and other bureaus have ordered Zulong Company to halt the project because it does not have official approval."

On learning of the local government's decision, Li Shumin, president of Zulong Company, the private developer behind the project, told Xinhua that he was considering filing a lawsuit to retrieve the millions he had invested in the project, although he did not specify who exactly he planned to sue.

With this in mind, check out the prophetic words of journalist and blogger Chris O'Brien.

It is another example of the chaos that reigns far away from Beijing’s influence. Not even the local authorities know what is going on. Apparently, the project was halted for not going through the correct planning procedures back in 2003. Xinhua has reported that the dragon is already under threat as it appears to constitute a serious breach of environmental regulations. The local environmental department has only just managed to get out of the dark:

The Zhengzhou environmental protection administration said they had learned of the project through media reports.

And someone is of course lying:

A Henan newspaper quoted an official with Xinzheng City as saying the dragon is a business project and has nothing to do with the government. Zulong Company vice president, Li Xiong, told the media that the dragon project had support from the government.

Meanwhile, China looks like a crazy place to the rest of the world and the politburo has to find an excuse not to attend a 60th People’s Republic of China birthday party in Henan.

Well, at least Henan is looking a little like a crazy place as we speculated yesterday, but when we read Danwei's article this morning our suspicions about Henan were confirmed.

Dai Songcheng, director of the Henan Institute of Culture, is quoted in these reports as saying, "Such an immense structure (Shizhu Mountain Dragon) on the mountaintop is disrespectful to Huangdi." Incidentally, Zhengzhou is also home to the 106-meter high, 200 million-yuan statue of Huangdi and Shennong...

A dedication ceremony is scheduled for 18 April (2nd day of the 2nd lunar month).

Shanghaiist is a little puzzled as we thought Australia was the home of The Big things, but it looks as though China is well on its way to usurping that crown.

The Shizhu dragon was to be completed for the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China but now looks as though it could end up as some half-completed stone dragon white elephant.

Also on Shanghaiist
Giant dragon to save city from sand, then accept advertising job

Picture taken from the China.org.cn website.

Technorati Tags: 2007, blogging, China, march, Shanghai, shanghaiist, 上海, 中国

A crane in use at the Boss & Winner construction site buckled this afternoon in Shanghai.

The crane is currently hanging across the top of the roof of the constructed building, and doesn't appear to have been secured in any way. There was no one visible on the construction site when we were there earlier this evening.

It is unknown if there were any fatalities or injuries. There were no ambulances at the scene when we arrived.

The greater part of the section of Jiangsu Road between Yuyuan Road and Yan'an Expressway was closed to pedestrians and traffic. Police and firefighters are on the scene. Also, there appears to be a number of rescue vehicles including another crane setting up on the closed portion of Jiangsu Road opposite the Agricultural Bank of China branch.

Traffic to Jiangsu Road from Changning Road was diverted through local side streets, which also included reversing one-way traffic on Zhenning Road. There were plenty of gawkers. Traffic is still pants around this area. Avoid it if possible.

UPDATE: Shanghai Daily is on the story — and they say the collapse happened in the morning:

Tower crane collapse halts traffic in downtown By Chen Yiqin 2007-3-28

THE arm of a tower crane fell from the top of a 28-floor building and is stuck dangling off the side of the building, disrupting morning traffic in Shanghai's downtown Changning District.

The steel wire on the crane's arm snapped around 10am, and the arm crashed into an elevator pillar on the site. The arm was hanging 90 meters above the ground.

The police have cordoned off the area along Jiangsu Road, the section from Yuyuan Road to Xuanhua Road.

Another crane, with a 10-ton lifting capacity, has been sent to the site to remove the broken tower arm. The police said the crane should be fixed later this evening.

No injuries have been reported, but traffic in the area is still backed up.

Technorati Tags: 2007, blogging, China, march, Shanghai, shanghaiist, 上海, 中国

Here at Shanghaiist, we think the Letters from China blog has been busy carving their own blogging niche by reporting on yet another novelty condom available here in China. Not content with sharing the news that police warrant card and Lei Feng frangers were to be found in China, they have now identified the big bopper — Chairman Mao condoms:

Recently, a sex shop near the Nanyuan Road bus stop in Suzhou has chosen a surprising tactic: it is selling condoms in packages bearing the image of Mao Zedong. The shop even puts those condoms near naked models and fake penis. Many people see it as ergo [parody] and profiteering from Mao Zedong. One wonders whether the disgraced designers and merchants have lost their humanity?

Mao was by some accounts a bit of a root rat, so there appears to be a modicum of defence surrounding the manufacturer's choice of the leading helmsmen for their product.

We hope that novelty condoms like these help to lower the rising incidence of sexually transmitted diseases here in China, namely syphilis and HIV. Want to know why such things are on the rise here? Fear of stigmatisation of STD carriers is reported to be one major problem, as is the neglect of public health concerns. One area we may think is worth investing some money in is sex education, which may go a long way to help clarify some misconceptions about unprotected sex and STDs.

In contrast to the plethora of Mao trinkets available around China, we think this is a much better gift for our friends back home. We also think now the true believers can screw the rest of the population (just like the man pictured on the box used to)!

Also on Shanghaiist
Extra! Extra! Benzo taxis, CCTV condoms and cotton pickers
Done with the eulogy? Bring out the strippers!
Trannies in condom halter tops and anti-theft underwear
We're No. 1! Shanghai kicks ass in condom use
Excuse us while we go burn condoms for our dead relatives
Condoms for some, miniature Chinese flags for others

Tip and picture taken from Letters From China blog.

Technorati Tags: 2007, blogging, China, march, Shanghai, shanghaiist, 上海, 中国

This morning, Chinese language news portal 163.com had a great scoop, and revealed the future planning for Shanghai and China's Maglev railway system.

Shanghaiist's Chinese ability is sadly limited, but using the new-fangled internet technology we reported on earlier this week, we were able to get the gist of the 163.com article.

The article reveals that the current 30km long section of the Pudong Airport-Longyang Road Maglev line will be extended to eventually form a giant T network. The first stage of the extension is planned to be finished in 2009. Firstly, a 37 kilometre extension will connect the Pudong International Airport to Hongqiao Domestic airport and pass via the World Expo 2010 site. The Maglev will also meet up with the Shanghai South Railway station, and the planned Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway station at the Hongqiao Airport. The second, and biggest Maglev extension (104 kilometres) will connect Hangzhou to Shanghai. In total, the whole Maglev network will be approximately 200 kilometres long.

A little further digging around on this announcement revealed that Shanghai blogger Wang Jian Shuo had this morning dug up a rail, metro and maglev route map that outlines how Shanghai's mass public transportation system could potentially develop into between 2008 and 2012. Wang Jian Shuo also linked out to a new site to this little Shanghaiist, the Shanghai Metro Fan bulletin board on which we discovered (care of Google Translation tools) a few, lively discussions on the regarding this recent transportation development.

Of the positives coming out of this announcement, there now might be a convenient way to get into Shanghai (albeit not downtown) from PVG and to connect to the domestic airport in Hongqiao. The connection of the major transportation systems is another plus, which reflects the 'Road to Nowhere' situation of the current Maglev line.

While it is great to get caught up on the gadget and technology hype rollercoaster, Shanghaiist is also aware that these plans come at a cost for local residents. Recently, The Spiegel reported that a group of Shanghai residents have appealed to German Chancellor Angela Markel to stop the extension of the Maglev in Shanghai. This from The Spiegel article:

In a letter quoted in the German newspaper Tagesspiegel, the residents write: "The Transrapid project is curtailing the human rights of Shanghai residents, because the rights to health and existence are being ignored." More than 1,000 inhabitants of the Tianyizou housing development in the Pudong district support the appeal, its authors told the newspaper. They are concerned about their health and security, as the safety distance between the houses and the maglev line extension has been set at only 22.5 meters — much narrower than the current Transrapid track. And the residents claim that there has been little notice or information about compensation given to those who are to be evicted.

This appeal is in light that the German Government together with multinational companies Siemens and ThyssenKrup under the guise of Transrapid International have developed the technology to be utilised in this extension.

Besides health concerns, there is also the displacement of thousands of residents to make room for the physical space required for this system. This from Monsters & Critics website:

A sign saying 'Notice of Demolition and Resettlement' is pasted to building No. 69 at the Plum Garden No. 1 housing development in the Xuhui district. An old man, who declined to give his name, gestured towards a group of his neighbours there and said: 'We're sad that we have to go.'

And this:

Thousands of residents in the districts of Xuhui, Minhang and Pudong have already been told that move they must. Many feel taken by surprise. Expressions of opposition have proliferated on the internet.

'But the government has ignored the protests of all the people who live here,' wrote residents of 1111 Shuyung Street in the Minhang district.

Some resident's affected by this announcement have jumped on the net and formed their own protest site.

Let us remember the other impacts a 200 kilometre Maglev network could have as well. At the end of January this year, a high-speed bullet train service between Hangzhou and Shanghai commenced operation, with initial speeds of 160km per hour, following upgrades to tracks in April this year, could have the capability of running at 250km per hour. That is pretty fast, but not as fast as what the Maglev is reputedly able to reach (up to 430 kilometres per hour). The 200km Shanghai-Hangzhou journey is projected to take 26 minutes, but the slower train travelling at half the speed may take around an hour.

According to the railway-technology.com website, the Maglev extension is proposed to cost USD$36 million per kilometre. Yep, you read correctly. The original 163.com article also quotes a similar number, but also mentions that the current 30km long section between Longyang Road and the Pudong Airport cost RMB10 billion (USD$1.2 billion) and two and a half years to complete.

From these figures it appears the remaining 170 kilometres of the Maglev system will cost around RMB56.1 billion (at today's exchange rate, USD$7.25 billion). Even though there exists a need to expand China's rail capacity, Shanghaiist thinks that is an awfully expensive way to save 40 minutes on a train journey and we doubt that this money will be money well-spent.

A few other things to consider. We are sure that a lot of taxi drivers out at Pudong airport won't welcome this news. Residents of tourist-swollen Hangzhou may think this is a blessing or a curse, and we're sure the construction of a hyper-electric powered magnetic railway system will of great joy to China's electricity polluters producers.

This is going to be one interesting story.

Related
Shanghai Metro Fans website
163.com
Wang Jian Shuo's blog entry
Proposed future Metro, Rail & Maglev map of Shanghai, care of Wang Jian Shuo's Flickr photos
Railway Technology - Shanghai to Hangzhou Maglev system

Also on Shanghaiist
More Maglev... less Bund Tourist Tunnel
Witness the power of this fully operational Maglev
Shanghai to Hangzhou in 26 minutes
Hangzhou on my mind

Technorati Tags: 2007, blogging, China, march, Shanghai, shanghaiist, 上海, 中国

The New York Times has a great article on how the resurrection of the MG-Rover brand is representative of the foreign acquisition and join-venture strategies of China's automobile companies, all of which are designed to help build international brands from China. Shanghaiist has previously mentioned Anhui province's Chery Automobile and Chrysler's joint-venture story, and there's also a few blogs monitoring such developments in the Chinese automobile industry.

In the above article, the NYT interviewed Jonathan Anderson, chief economist for Asia at UBS in Hong Kong about the hyperbole surrounding the state of China's foreign investments in automobile industries. He had this to say...

“This is not Japan in the ’80s; this is Japan in the ’60s,”

In 2005, Nanjing Auto decided to acquire MG-Rover with the intent on keeping the brand going. Nanjing Auto paid just over $100 million for the MG assets, MG manufacturing equipment was shipped to China to reduce the cost of the labour-intensive production of MG cars, and the new parent-company also retained key managers in the MG structure. The loss of one of Britain's most loved brands wasn't received well back in the UK due to the stink of poor administration. Wikipedia states that the Longbridge Manufacturing Plant progressively downsized its working force from 16,000 to 6,000 since its opening in 1982 until MG-Rover's collapse into administration in April 2005. At the time, nearly 6,000 jobs were lost when the Longbridge plant closed. But it also appears that the former home of MG-Rover hasn't missed out on this Chinese-led revival. Fansite, MG-Rover.org reported at the end of January this year that the first batch of 42 MG TF's had emerged from the lines at the Longbridge plant. Let's hope that this can help the 23% of former MG-Rover employees still in financial difficulty due to the company's previous failure.

There has also been quite a bit of speculation whether Nanjing Automobile has over-stretched its finances in acquiring and producing MG-Rover. This doesn't appeared to have impinged on the construction of new models for MG in Nanjing. For this iconic brand's sake, we hope Nanjing Automobile has things under control.

Related
The Classic British Sports Car From China (NYT)
Longbridge plant is back in business with MG car deal (The Scotsman)

Also on Shanghaiist
The MG, resurrected
'Oh, he's drunk. How would he know where we're going?'

Picture taken from The Maestro Blog.

Technorati Tags: 2007, blogging, China, march, Shanghai, shanghaiist, 上海, 中国

It seems the world's obsession with the Western world's "it" language, Chinese Mandarin, extends to our world leaders. And like a lot of politicians faced with a tough assignment, they like to throw a lot of money to solve the problem.

In Australia, the former Federal Government's Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone's obsession with learning Chinese Mandarin has been revealed to the public. The public that is footing the bill estimated to be worth AUD$70,000 (RMB430,000 or USD$55,000). Wayne Swan, Federal Opposition Treasury spokesman has this to say about Vanstone's silver-spoon attempt at learning Chinese.

"Senator Vanstone has apparently spent $70,000 to unsuccessfully learn Mandarin. That is pretty stunning by anybody's standards."

Australian newspapers reported yesterday that Senator Vanstone, immigration minister from 2003 until the ministerial reshuffle in January this year, racked up a bill for private Chinese language lessons worth at least AUD$31,000. It is speculated that the final bill, including a AUD$3,600 airfare to China for the senator's teacher, could total AUD$70,000.

Senator Vanstone has a reputation in Australia as being a cold-hearted arsehole hard-nosed, determined politican, but also one that was surprisingly supportive of learning Asian languages despite her portfolio.

Senator Vanstone told Australia's Fairfax Press she could not recall the amount the department had spent on her Mandarin lessons but said it was part of her then job as immigration minister.

Wow! AUD$70,000. Imagine spending that on lessons here in Shanghai where university courses cost around RMB8,000 to RMB12,000 per semester, or hourly lesson rates cost anywhere between RMB40 to RMB200. Even removed from a normal Chinese-speaking environment, you would think that spending that large amount of money allow you to obtain a reasonable degree of knowledge for the language, wouldn't you? Not so.

However, she failed to impress a seasoned Mandarin-speaking businessman when she delivered a speech in Mandarin in Canberra last year. The man described her effort as excruciating.

We wonder what really prompted this desire to learn Chinese from Senator Vanstone. For a number of years, China has been on the lips of Australia (and many other western countries) as the place of big opportunity. At the time, one of her opposition contemporaries Kevin Rudd, was well-known for his intellect and Mandarin language ability honed through previous service in the Australian Embassy in Beijing. Rudd has now risen through the ranks to become Leader of his political party. Was it a little green eyed monster that prompted Amanda to catch up? Or did she want to taunt immigrants or detainees in Australia's immigration detention centres in their own language? Well, these are pure speculative ideas on our part, Shanghaiist doesn't agree with her politics or her political party on this issue. Further reading reveals that recently the overspending Senator may have been angling for a plum job representing Australia in China.

Senator Vanstone was removed from the portfolio in Mr Howard's January reshuffle and has since been widely touted as a possible ambassador.

Beijing has been mentioned as one post the former minister, an avid fan of Chinese culture and arts, would dearly love.

Diplomatic sources also said speculation had been rife the former minister would leap at the chance to become the leader of the Australian team for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, a job akin to getting an ambassadorship.

As an Australian, Shanghaiist feels that she should have used taxpayers money a little more judiciously and just kept to her strong suit of detaining refugees fleeing world conflicts, political oppression, or seeking a better way of life in Australia. She's was very good at that.

Photo of Amanda Vanstone taken from The Radar Blog.

Technorati Tags: 2007, blogging, China, march, Shanghai, shanghaiist, 上海, 中国

December 26th, 2006: Two-headed reptile fossil from age of the dinosaurs found.

February 19th, 2007: Two-headed baby born in Guangzhou.

March 7th, 2007:This little piggy's just weird.

March 14th, 2007:Two-headed cow born in China.

March 17th, 2007: Two-headed turtle found in China.

Here at Shanghaiist, we only have this to say about this.

Picture of Blinky taken from the Springfield Weekly website.

Technorati Tags: 2007, blogging, China, march, Shanghai, shanghaiist, 上海, 中国

Shanghaiist may be accused of going with the flow on occasions, and one of those areas might be to do with our narrow-mind set on the lovely, cute and adorable panda. We've applied our finest available powers of research to bring you the following snippets on the flipside of China's panda tail, and yes, it is mucky in there. So let us be accused of panda-ring no more. Yes, this is reporting with bite.

The period of March to April is usually where pandas come into heat. However, due to an unusually warm winter this year, it appears spring has already sprung for pandas in China.

The Times recently reported on Niu Niu, a wild panda rescued after taking a beating from three other pandas. Due to her injuries, Niu Niu lost her front left paw, and now faces an uncertain future. CNN has video footage of Niu Niu trying to get around her enclosure. However, panda-centric ingenuity has been called for, and the obvious answer is get a wild animal fitted with a prosthetic paw.

Niu Niu has difficulty feeding herself because pandas need both paws to grasp the bamboo, and she requires constant help.

But that is not the only shortcoming that confronts a three-pawed panda. Her loss of balance has severely affected her love life. Without her fourth paw she cannot stand up — and that means that she is unable to mate. So staff at the rescue centre in Shaanxi province, northwest China, came up with the idea of fitting her with a prosthetic limb.

They have approached local suppliers of artificial limbs for humans to help to solve Niu Niu’s problem and are eager for advice from international experts. Ning Feng, a reporter for a local newspaper who visited Niu Niu, told The Times: “The factories have sent employees over to look at the panda. But before making any decision they need to do more research. We hope that someone in Britain may be able to help.”

Ah, yes, the UK. Well known for their work in prosthetic limbs for wild beasts.

Let's hope that once Niu Niu gets her mojo back, she doesn't run into some of the problems of her kin when it comes to, uh, self-expression.

...the long bamboo pole being wielded from above giving this female panda Huamei the odd whack. (you can hear her making a mewling sound of displeasure) This was to correct her "bad habits" I was told. Firstly she likes to play with the water in the little rock pool you can see her heading towards. And her other bad habit? "Oh, masturbation." Right. anything to avoid procreative sex apparently.

Time Magazine's China Blog has some shaky & swivelling footage of the action (download link here). But Shanghaiist thought, getting spanked whilst self-servicing? Some may think that these aren't mewling sounds of displeasure. Kinky pandas.

Simon Elegant went on to describe how the panda, Huamei further attempts at getting some satisfaction went down when she set her eyes on her intended...

Anyway, she was in heat (oestrus for the technically minded) and thus had a male panda on either side in separate cages in the hope they might hit it off. After a while, she finally decided that maybe males weren't so bad after all and lifted her tail and backed slowly to the wire mesh fence that separated her from her male neighbor Wugong. He took one look at her apparently-not-so-inviting hindquarters and headed straight to the bamboo clump in his cage for a good feed. oh, well, back to the lab for you, Huamei.

Huamei, single and sexually repressed. We blame The Man.

We also learnt that another female panda's attempt for sexual liberation was snatched by 'keepers' at the Chengdu Breeding Centre.

Last month, four-year-old Yash-uang became the first panda to escape Chengdu's famous breeding base through a gap in the wall. Keepers say she was in in search of a mate, but Shanghaiist feels that she saw the light and her chance to escape the shenanigans at panda research stations around China as described here.

Zeng Zhixiang, a researcher at the centre, said: “We’ll fix up the wall and install an electric pulse network outside the panda villa to prevent them from climbing out.”

This is repression of panda sexual freedom if we've ever heard it.

Who would have believed it, but thanks to nanheyangrouchuan for a tip. Image taken from Boredom.Net.

Technorati Tags: 2007, blogging, China, march, Shanghai, shanghaiist, 上海, 中国

Not being content with constructing fine automobiles that are capable of outperforming a Ferrari F430 on Shanghai's Tianma circuit, Chery Automobile has announced a joint-venture with Uruguay-based armoured car company, Bognor Automotive Manufacture and Assembly, to produce a bullet-proof version of their mid-range Eastar sedan here in China.

Fan Shiwei, the Chery official in charge of the project, said in a statement:

Bullet-proof cars are a new growth area. There are no makers of bulletproof cars in China now, and this means Chery has once again broken new ground...

There were no details of production numbers or targeted countries for export, by the way.

Chery is probably most famous for its tiny QQ hatchback. In 2006, Chery appears to have shrugged off allegations of blatant re-engineering and became China's seventh largest automaker, and fourth largest producer of sedans with sales of 302,500 vehicles. In January this year, Chery sold 37,207 vehicles, second only to the 40,570 units sold by Shanghai General Motors. Chery also recently announced JV plans with American Daimler Chrysler to produce a small-car for the US market.

For a good review on Chery, check out this Washington Post article.

Technorati Tags: 2007, blogging, China, march, Shanghai, shanghaiist, 上海, 中国