Hey folks, at the request of K. M. Morris at Barking at the Sun, I’ve whipped a little badge that can be placed on your blog or Web site to direct people to the Red Cross Society of China’s quake relief donation information.

Instructions
You can just copy and paste that code directly into your site’s sidebar, or where ever. The graphic is on our servers here, but you are welcome to download it (right-click, save image as…) and re-upload it to your servers if you wish.

Also, please note that the link, by default, …

In some brief news unrelated to the earthquake, the Mother Jones blog has reported that Pringles and Fanta are now banned in China because of toxins.  You need to watch out for the berry-flavored version of Fanta, the rest are apparently ok.  Also, Chinese officials found an infestation of beetles in Nestle’s coffee flavor.  Mmm, delicious.

As I’ve already posted my thoughts/experiences with today’s earthquake at my blog, I’ll not repeat them here - suffice to say, for me it was a bit of a non-event.

However, I am very curious to hear what your experiences were. I’ve therefore created this post as an open thread for any and all (Laowai or otherwise) to share their experience in regards to the earthquake that struck Sichuan earlier today, leaving thousands dead and being felt as far away as Beijing, Bangkok, Hanoi and Taipei.

Also - follow the Shanghaiist’s frequently updated coverage for the latest details.
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Green Bamboo
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Steve’s China Blog
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Last summer acclaimed documentary filmmaker Tan Siok Siok headed out into the streets of Beijing with a rather ambitious goal of capturing the essence of the city and its people the summer before the Olympics.

The result is Boomtown Beijing, a film that paints a picture of not just a city or the sporting event that it will play host to - but rather how a singular event has inspired people to do what in the past was so difficult and dangerous - dream.

The documentary follows the story of three Beijingers - an 11-year-old boy who hopes to be an Olympic torchbearer, a street sweeper looking to put together …

There’s this spot on my university campus that we’ve taken to calling “The Makeout Garden.” During the day it’s like any spot of green on the grounds of the ivory tower – a blip of green to contrast with the blase bathroom-tiled buildings of academic boredom. It’s full of elderly people performing taiji and students sprawled out sleeping during the morning and afternoon, but as soon as the sun goes down, it turns into a live re-enactment of an AXE commercial.

And I’m not really surprised. All of my students have at least three to five other roommates. They need to go somewhere. If it’s not The Makeout Garden, then it could be any of the “love …