Top 10 blogs about China

What are the most popular blogs about China? I have compiled the data of the blogs in China by considering or analyzing their Alex rankings, comments and public praises. Here are 10 China blogs that are most popular among foreigners.

1. chinaSMACK – chinaSMACK was founded in August 2008. It is the most successful China blog. Tight concept. Good execution in virtually all aspects. Good selection of coverage. Hot and viral.

2. Shanghaiist . This site is a part of a bigger network called Gothamist. All sites belonging to this network bring the latest news related to some specific city. As it is obvious from the name Shanghaiist is all about China's most international city - Shanghai.

3. ChinaHush – A small brother of ChinaSmack which at one point could become a worthy challenger for the crown of the best site in this category. it is now blocked in China. 

4. Huff Post China  - The Huffington Post is an American news website, content aggregator, and blog.It provides  big news on China. includes blogs, news, and community conversations about China.

5. China Digital Times - Maybe shouldn't be in the same list with other news aggregators. Because it is a more serious media and doesn't make accent on sensational stories.

6. Ministry of Tofu –maily offers translated articles and in-depth analysis on China-related topics. Nice design, quick turnover of posts - all that promised good results.

7. Lost Laowai - a China expat community web site for expatriates and travellers in China - featuring reviews + info about travelling, living, teaching and working in China.

8. Tea Leaf Nation – It is an e-magazine founded in 2011, offering fresh analysis and original commentary on news and trends distilled from Chinese social media.

9.China Buzz - China Buzz delivers the latest hot topics widely circulated on Chinese Language Internet. To take pulse of Chinese web and serve as the most comprehensive English based portal for worldwide users to understand modern China. 

10. Chinawhisper - the most fresh addition to this group.Chinawhisper is dedicated to top 10 lists of trivia from a variety of categories about China.

China opera in Nanjing subway

An Chinese opera actor and an actress perform a classical Kunqu Opera on a subway in Nanjing Sept 27, 2011. To promote Kunqu Opera, they are performing parts of three classical operas on the subway.

Kunqu Opera is one of the oldest forms of opera still existing in China, with its origins dating back to the end of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). It has distinguished itself by the virtuosity of its rhythmic patterns and has exerted a dominant influence on all the more recent forms of opera in China, including the Sichuan and Beijing operas.In 2001, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization) proclaimed Kunqu Opera as a masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity (a UNESCO program that ensures the best of every country's traditions is preserved and developed as well as made known to the outside world).

Kunqu Opera, acknowledged as an elite opera, has suffered somewhat of a decline since the eighteenth century because it requires a high level of technical knowledge from the audience. Today, it is facing competition from mass culture and a lack of interest amongst the young. Of the 400 arias regularly sung in opera performances in the mid-20th century, only a few dozen are still performed.

Shanghai subway crash, hundreds injured

The crash of two subway trains in Shanghai on Tuesday and it has left more than 270 people injured, at least 20 of them in critical condition.

The crash occurred Tuesday afternoon after Shanghai Shentong Metro Group blogged that Line 10 was having delays due to equipment problems. The line opened last year and is one of the newest in the city.

The city's health bureau said 271 people were hurt, none seriously.

The subway operator said problems with signaling equipment appeared to have caused the accident.

This incident was strikingly similar to a train wreck in July - also a rear-end crash - that killed 40 people in the city of Wenzhou, near Shanghai.

The latest accident renewed questions about the safety of China's aggressive rail-building plans.

7 China Blogs you should follow

The answer to English China blog fatigue is to start following some Atypical China Blogs. Here are several blogs that are most popular among foreigners.

1) Wangjianshuo - Wangjianshuo’s blog, one of the first and most consistently posting English blogs written by a native Chinese citizen, is a personal journal that provides insight into Chinese society through the eyes of a Chinese engineer who has progressed in his career to become the head of Baixing.com, a classifieds Website owned by eBay.

2) Shanghaiist . One thing that I learned recently about this site is that it is a part of a bigger network called Gothamist. All sites belonging to this network bring the latest news related to some specific city. As it is obvious from the name Shanghaiist is all about China's most international city - Shanghai.

3) China Digital Times - maybe shouldn't be in the same list with other news aggregators. Because it is a more serious media and doesn't make accent on sensational stories.

4) ChinaHush - small brother of ChinaSmack which at one point could become a worthy challenger for the crown of the best site in this category. But in the end of 2010 it was blocked in China and lost half of its traffic.

5) Ministry of Tofu - new kid on the block which joined the competition. Nice design, quick turnover of posts - all that promised good results. For some reason, however, already for more than one week the blog hasn't been updated and with such kind of sites pauses are highly undesirable.

6) Chinawhisper - the most fresh addition to this group. Similar to ChinaHush and Ministry of Tofu. Not much to say about it at this moment - time will show.

7). chinaSMACK - We’ve blogged about repeatedly since we started following Fauna and chinaSMACK in August 2008. I consider it the most successful China blog launch of 2008. Tight concept. Good execution in virtually all aspects. Good selection of coverage. Hot and viral, and potentially GFWbait. Kai wrote extensively about chinaSMACK as the leader in the translation wave of China English blogs.

Chinese rich donate pigs to farmers

More than 20,000 attended. The singer topping the bill was no rock star but 43-year-old businessman and high-profile philanthropist, Chen Guangbiao.

Many of the concert-goers might have turned up anyway for the free livestock and farm tools Chen had promised to give out after the Sunday night show in Bijie's city square.

"It was packed. There were fans from Xinjiang, Gansu and Inner Mongolia, holding up posters," Chen said by phone on Monday before catching an afternoon flight to Beijing from Guiyang, the provincial capital.

After the two-hour concert of pop songs, including some he had penned himself, Chen handed over 2,000 pigs, 1,000 sheep and 113 tractors to the Bijie city government, asking that they be given to farmers in need.

"All boars and rams were wearing green flowers, and the sows and ewes were wearing red flowers," Chen said. "I hope people will soon have lambs and piglets at home."

Chen said he will check with the local government in a month's time. "I've asked them to put distribution details online."