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This photo, taken on Monday, shows nearly 1,000 cargo boats stuck in the Yiqiao section of Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, due to the low water level in the canal caused by the two consecutive floods hitting the area this year. The flooding caused mud and sand to rush into the sea, thereby creating a rush of water out of the canal. [Photo/CFP]

On August 26, 2009, China Sky One Medical, Inc. (CSKI) issued a press release admitting material differences between their financial reports filed with the China State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) and their financial statements filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It was contemplated that "in future filings there will be no material differences in the information contained in the financial statements filed with the SAIC and the SEC."

Lihua International, Inc. (LIWA), another Chinese company who went public through a reverse-merger, also had material differences between their SAIC financial reports and SEC financial statements for 2008. For 2009, LIWA continued to have material differences in their SAIC financial reports and SEC financial statements. A comparison of the two filings follows this article.

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Patrick Chovanec submits:

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Jim Trippon submits:

But a stopped clock also tells the right time twice a day. That doesn’t make it a reliable timepiece.

Let’s take a closer look at Dr. Doom’s influence, his credibility and his words. In an interview with Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong he said the following:

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Just got back from a screening of Iron Man 2 in Xintiandi (Sunday afternoons are great for movie going in Shanghai — only eight other people in the theater) and once again China’s censors didn’t fail to disappoint. This was the oddest one I’ve seen yet: They made all spoken references to “Russia” or “Russian” inaudible. (One Twitterer believes they simply played the words backwards.) A short scene from Russia and a clip from Russian TV, both near the beginning of the movie, were left in. But why?

The Russian references were not political in nature. They were innocuous nods to the nationality and spoken language of Ivan Vanko, aka Whiplash, the villain portrayed by Mickey Rourke. (More information on that character’s background here … be careful, that link features some spoilers.) While most of the censorship consisted of altering the audio track, one scene — during a dinner in a hangar, Vanko asks Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) to fetch his pet cockatoo — appeared to be cut short.

Another viewer noted that the censorship, not surprisingly, also carried over to the Chinese subtitles:

In one specific scene I recall, the dialogue was between Hammer and the Russian guy, and he says “You do realise that I don’t speak Russian?” The word was distorted enough to make me think something was briefly wrong with the audio, but the Chinese subtitles also said “You know I don’t speak your mother language?” (What should have been 俄语 had been replaced with 母语)

Chinese censorship is nothing new, but this latest edition really has me confused. It had nothing to do with China. Nothing to do with politics. Nothing to do with violence. And, as far as I know, “Russia” is not a dirty word here — at least officially. So what’s going on? A Cold War comrade pact that somehow got grandfathered in?

I’d love to hear your theories. And I’d love to see what they would have done with Rocky IV.

Find Iron Man 2 showtimes here. Yes, that is a Google.cn URL. No, I don’t know why it still works.

Photo by NicoDeeds.

★ We mourned the death of a man murdered by friends who inserted an eel up his ass.

★ We spotted a ‘dying’ man outside the UK pavilion.

★ We took to heart China Daily’s advice not to get stuck in a portable toilet at the Expo.

★ We heard about a Chinese man who ate 1,500 light bulbs over 42 years.

★ We came across the most creative Chinese invention ever.

★ We were amused by an ad on CityWeekend.

★ We saw a Shanzhai TV Tower, a Shanzhai China pavilion and a Shanzhai electric car.

★ We wondered if China has finally found its own Harisu.

Homeless children in Shanghai in the 1920s:

[from China Postcard]

G.E. Anderson over at ChinaBizGov brings our attention to the shanzhai electric cars he discovered while in Baoding City, Hebei Province.

Anderson writes that these nondescript cars run on “an array of traditional lead-acid car batteries”, and with a minimum price tag of RMB 16,800 (not including sure-fire discounts), is highly affordable for someone needing a simple vehicle solely to get from point A to B within a small town.

Curious about how a shanzhai electric car moves? Click on the video for a spin around town with Anderson:

Does the video convince you that shanzhais are the future?

According to this report by Jimmy Wang, the seat of the shanzhai electric car revolution is located in Shandong Province, where the landscape of roads is drastically being changed with the proliferation of these affordable cars.

More technical info: the shanzhai can travel up to 120 kilometers on one charge, and be driven at a maximum speed of 55 kilometers per hour. A charge can easily be done overnight in a normal household outlet, taking six to eight hours. Also, they emit zero greenhouse gases. Who needs e-bikes when you can cocoon yourself and put around town in an adorable shanzhai?

Shanzhais currently occupy a legal gray area when it comes to central government policies — neither considered proper cars nor motorcycles, there are of course fervent debates about classification, licensing, and manufacturing issues, with no easy resolution in sight.

So, we won’t be seeing shanzhai electric cars on Yan’an elevated highway anytime soon… though at a maximum speed of 55 km/h, perhaps that’s a good thing.

Read more about shanzhai products in China here.

Electrolist, by Shanghai Ultra of the VOID crew, gives a regular lowdown on the Shanghai electronic music scene, with picks, tips, news, and other rumors.

This week Electrolist is carries a slightly more serious message than its usual irreverent tone. Many clubbers and fans were annoyed to read that The Shelter was to be shut down by the local authorities because of the Expo. Whilst this was an irritating inconvenience for those who like to goto that spot, spare a thought for promoters like Electrolist’s own crew, Void, who faced losing a substaintal amount of money, having already paid to bring an international guest DJ to Shanghai but suddenly had no venue to host the gig.

Thankfully, The Shelter will be open this weekend afterall since the authorities changed their minds about shutting the place down. So that means music lovers will have the chance to be treated to the rare talents of Glasgow’s Vince Watson as he performs a live show at The Shelter with Void tonight. If you ever thought electronic music lacked soul and emotion – just go and witness Vince’s uplifting and powerful set. At the very least, his show won’t be what you expected.

Listen to this live recording of his performance at Void last year. Make sure you switch on your VPN though – the censor threw yet another spanner in the works when the website Void uses for hosting its recordings and sets, was blocked in March – Archive.org, the Internet archive.

But an important point has to be made. Shanghai is a city which has spent billions on promoting itself as an international world centre with all the attractions and cultral trappings which go with that. However it is places like The Shelter, YYT and Logo which put on alternative music events which make a significant contribution to Shanghai’s character and generate unique culture. They are proof that there is more to Shanghai nightlife than swanky Bund bars, nightclubs with tables on the dancefloor and KTV. It’s all about giving Shanghai the variety of entertainment choices which any world-class city should be able to provide without question. But hassling these venues, especially during the Expo, only pushes Shanghai backwards.

The situation affects all promoters negatively. Those who rely on such events to make a living have their livelihoods threatened. For Void, the situation is a little different because we are one of the few promoters in town who pay substaintal amounts in DJ fees and flights to bring top-quality artists here, but make a loss almost every time we do so. We use parties where we have no international guest to subsidize bringing the bigger names. That means few bad turnouts or a forced cancellation like what almost happened could leave the Void lads severely out of personal pocket…simply because we tried to bring some great artists to Shanghai. Let’s hope by the time Expo is over, the powers that be understand better the positive role alternative promoters and venues play.

Anyway – the party is going off tonight. If electronic music is your bag then tonight is the night if you like it deep, melodic, groovy and dance-inducing. Vince Watson will perform with a variety of analogue gear including the classic 909 drum machine, so don’t miss his improvised funk.

Picture taken from the seminal Underground Resistance release, “Message to the Majors“.

TONIGHT: Void presents Vince Watson LIVE @ The Shelter, No. 5 Yongfu Lu, near Fuxing Xi Lu 永福路5号，近复兴西路. 60 RMB on the door

Read more about music in Shanghai here.