Imagine receiving threats all day long, through a loudspeaker. That's daily life for residents of a town in northeast China, where the authorities are trying everything to get rid of them. Read more and hear it for yourself...

With counterfeit brands all the rage in China, children might be surprised to unwrap "Adadas" or "IVIKE" trainers on Christmas day this year. Faced with tougher laws, fakers have given up on producing exact replicas and moved on to innovative ways to reproduce brand names. Read more...

One of our Observers in China is leading an investigation into... the public toilets at Shanghai train station. It might seem like a trivial subject, but Web users from the city don't think so - not when the WCs rake in 11 million euros each year. Read more...

Grafitis depicting the previously unknown Yang Jia have popped up on Beijing walls. The young Yang was projected into the limelight after he was tried and executed on November 26 for the killing of six policemen. So why did he become a national icon? Read more...

Relations between China and France have reached a new low as Nicolas Sarkozy's meeting with the Dalai Lama approaches. So outraged are Chinese web users that they can't wait for the meeting on Saturday to express their indignation. Read more...

While most Chinese cities have seen their communal housing buildings disappear one by one over the past half century, Shanghai's Pig Cage Stronghold is still standing, and the vibrant home to hundreds of people. Read more and see the pictures...

An Australian company has just signed a deal with major Chinese cargo company COSCO to provide tankers powered by sails that are fuelled by sunlight. Read more...

To publicise his donkey meat, a butcher from Hunan sent fake Japanese soldiers marching through the streets on asses. For once, the Japanese and Chinese agree on something - that the stunt was anything but funny. Read more...

There's a theory going round amongst economists that only the dynamism of the Chinese economy and its growing internal market could put the world back on track. Not necessarily. Read more...

These photos have been the subject of much debate among Chinese bloggers. It's time, according to them, to get these young shoe shiners back into school. Read more...