Last week on Saturday, China had it’s first major high-speed railway accident. The accident occurred when a high-speed train in the eastern province of Zhejiang slammed into the rear of another train, sending four train cars plunging off a 49-foot bridge and derailing two others.

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Here is a brief summary of events:

July 23, 2011 – at 8:38 p.m. local time near the city of Wenzhou, train D301 from Beijing collided with train D3115 traveling from the Zhejiang provincial capital of Hangzhou.

July 24, 2011 – On Sunday night, the Railways Ministry said it had dismissed the chief, deputy chief and Communist Party secretary at the Shanghai Railway Bureau, which administers the railways in much of eastern China.

- Images from the crash scene showed backhoes and other large equipment manipulating some of the wreckage, prompting some to question whether the government was mishandling or trying to bury evidence crucial for the investigation. The Railways Ministry spokesman was quoted by Chinese media saying that it was necessary to cover some of the debris to enable rescue equipment to reach parts of the site.

July 27, 2011 – Premier Wen Jiabao orders a “swift, open and transparent” investigation into Saturday’s fatal high-speed train collision.

July 28, 2011 – At least 39 people confirmed dead and 192 others injured. Police said the identities of all 39 dead in the accident have been confirmed through DNA tests.

- Design flaws in railway signal equipment led to Saturday’s fatal high-speed train collision near Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province, the Shanghai Railway Bureau said on Thursday. Having been struck by lightning, the signal system at Wenzhou South Railway Station failed to turn the green light to red, which caused the rear-end collision.

- The signal equipment was designed by the company Beijing National Railway Research and Design Institute of Signal and Communication. The company posted an apology on its website, expressing its condolences and regret to victims of the accident and their families.

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Just when you thought that China was out of new ideas in the the “faking” department, something more elaborate and larger than any fake iPhone has caught the attention of many.

Meet the fake Apple store:

The Apple iPhone and iPad have become a major hit in the Chinese market. Many businessmen were quick to capitalize on such trend. One decided Instead of just selling fake Apple products, to fake the entire Apple store.

The stores are located in Kunming and from a distance, look just like one of Apple’s iconic full-service retail stores. Featuring a glass exterior, pale wood display tables, a winding staircase and giant posters displaying Apple products, and a neatly organized accessories wall. Even the employees wear the blue shirts and Apple-emblazoned name tags similar to those worn by Apple Store employees in China.

Since the story broke out, 2 of the 5 fake stores in Kunming have closed. Some netizens have reported that the stores were selling genuine apple products. However, the stores cannot be found on Apple’s list of authorized retailers.

China has only four authorized Apple stores in Beijing and Shanghai, although the electronics firm has labeled China a “key market”. In contrast, it has 236 stores in the United States.

Given the insanely strong demand for the iPhone and iPad in China and the extremely large population in China, it would be wise to increase production and the number of stores. Far worse than these fake Apple stores in China are the scalpers that make Apple products constantly unavailable and Apple’s inability to properly deal with the matter.

Source: WSJ and chinadaily

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The past few weeks, we went through some cool iron sculptures of the villains from Transformers – the Decepticons. Now, check out this badass iron sculpture of, the leader of the righteous Autobots, Optimus Prime.

Click here for more!

Last time we saw the awesome man-built Megatron sculpture.

Now, check out this amazing iron sculpture of the main antagonist from the last Transformers film – The Fallen.

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Click here for more pictures!

In what might sound like a dream come true, prison inmates in China are forced to farm gold in the MMORPG World of Warcraft.

Obviously, things aren’t always as great as they sound. Check out the video below to understand why…

So instead of just suffering physically, China’s prisoners also have to suffer mentally. What might seem like an addictive hobby for a lot of gamers is torture to these prisoners.

According to the Guardian, “prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labour.”

This is no surprise as the virtual economy is growing rapidly. Around the World, millions of gamers are prepared to pay real money for virtual currency to obtain virtual goods in games. It is known as “gold farming” – the practice of building up credits and online value through the monotonous repetition of basic tasks in online games such as World of Warcraft. The trade in virtual assets is very real, and outside the control of game publishers.

Figures from the China Internet Centre show that nearly 2 billion dollars worth of virtual currency was traded in China in 2008 and the number of gamers who play to trade credits are on the rise. It is estimated that 80% of all gold farmers are in China; with 100,000 full-time gold farmers in the country.

From the sound of things, China is also going to be a leader of labour exploitation in the virtual world.

via The Guardian

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The people who helped build this iron sculpture must really like Transformers. Just look at the amount of work and detail put into it.

Click here for more pictures!

During the massive salt rush that struck China after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, a Chinese man from Wuhan city spends 27,000 CNY (around 4,123 USD) to purchase 13,000 catties (around 8 tons) of salt.

Now after the panic across China has subsided, this man wants a refund. As expected, no stores were willing to offer refunds.

via CQIT

As a guy, what is the first thing you notice when looking at a woman?

Most men have probably been asked this question millions of times. The most typical answers are the eyes, mouth, and hair. The most honest answer would be boobs. But for this certain man, his answer would definitely be feet…

Meet Mr. Liu, he loves feet so much, he will lick them clean.

Based in Wuhan city, Mr. Liu likes to stalk his prey on Wednesday and Friday of each week. When the moment is right, he will strike. First he takes 200 yuan ($30) only, then he will take off your shoes, then socks, surely. Be it large or small, dirty or clean; he will lick them all.

Check out the action below:

Thank goodness he has been caught!

How mad do you need get to destroy your car? What if it was a Gallardo?

Well this Chinese owner would destroyed his Gallardo over a dispute with the dealership.

The millionaire reportedly bought a Gallardo (price up to $700,000 in China) last November. Six months later, the engine wouldn’t start. The car was transported to the dealer, in Qingdao, who allegedly didn’t fix the problem but dinged the bumper and chassis during the trip. The irate owner tried unsuccessfully to get the problem fixed, to no avail. He escalated his case all the way up to Lamborghini CEO Stephen Winkelmann, but apparently the dispute wasn’t resolved.

So on March 15, World Consumer Rights Day, the Lambo owner hired a team with sledgehammers to destroy the car in public.

You can see the destruction here:

Lamborghini later issued a statement saying: “We put customer satisfaction first at Lamborghini and think that in this case we did everything to solve the problem. We solved the problem to the satisfaction of the customer.” The statement added that for reasons that are “independent from the relationship with Lamborghini, the owner decided to take this action and smash the car.”

The media later reported that the owner was a Japanese-Chinese businessman who imported the car from Japan. The Gallardo wasn’t even new, but was eight years old and probably was valued at about $80,000.

Apparently, the Lambo owner had a problem with the car, which was promptly fixed. But the owner had a larger business dispute with the businessman who owned the Lamborghini dealership in Qingdao. The event was used for the owner to gain publicity for his own business and to discredit the owner of the Lambo dealer owner.

This explanation is more compelling given the fact the owner placed stickers on the car bearing his own company’s logo (As you can see in the photo above). He also smashed the car in front of his company’s office building, to direct more attention to his business.

I guess the answer to the opening question would be: no one. At least no one is mad enough to calmly hire a group of workers, put banners on the car, drag the car to office and wait until World Consumer Rights Day before smashing the car.

via WSJ 1 and 2

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China normally evokes a strict and disciplined image. This image, however, elicits the scorn of many Chinese that is usually reserved for the filthy rich.

A Chinese netizen posted about running into the two women wearing military uniforms at the Shenzhen airport and shocked by how they were accessorized: two shoulder bags/purses, a Burberry and LV (Louis Vuitton) respectively, LV branded luggage bags and suitcases, and the black paper bag at the bottom left corner of the photo was a newly purchased Gucci.

Attentive netizens calculated how much all of the items in the picture cost: Large LV luggage bag/each = 58,500 yuan, 5 * 58,500 = 292,500 yuan, small LV bag/each = 26,000 yuan, 2 * 26,000 = 52,000 yuan, and not including the rolling suitcase and other items, the total: 344,500 yuan (~52,197 USD).

The question is whether the army personnel are that well paid or are they just carrying fakes.

via chinaSMACK.

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