Hao Hao ReportThe best China news and blog posts

A large outbreak of the infamous H5N1 virus was discovered last week in Turpan. So far, a large number of poultry have either died directly from the epidemic or were culled, but so far no humans have contracted the virus.

SHANGHAI - The death toll from a highly infectious virus that preys on children rose to 24 Sunday as it spread to a new province amid heightened efforts by China's Health Ministry to contain it.

The official Xinhua News Agency said an 18-month old boy who died in Foshan city in Guangdong province Friday had enterovirus 71, known as EV-71. Another child who died in the same district on April 25 also tested positive, it said.

The deaths follow 22 already reported in central Anhui province, 1,000 miles to the north. More than 3,000 have been infected.

2008 coined the Chinese internet meme: 很黄，很暴力 (”very yellow, very violent”). Despite roundly being used in the most humorous of situations, few things truly exemplify the dark side of this meme more than two videos that have spread across the Chinese-language internet this year.

QQ, for those that don't know, is China's most popular IM software. Usage is so widespread that among the younger generation you're near as likely to get someone's QQ # as you are their mobile number.

Shanghai has built China's first outdoor testing facilty for fourth generation (4G) mobile phone technology.

4G phones will enable users to:

It's 11 pm...the phone rings...you're tired, you have to be up the next morning at 7, you're ready for a good night sleep. You decide to ignore it...but then, 1 minute later, they call back again, and again, and again. Aiiiyaaa! Is there any logic behind the cell phone insanity?

Shanghaiist turns the rumour mill with the announcement that China Mobile will launch the HTC G1 Android phone to China. The phone was launched last Tuesday by T-Mobile in the US, and is the first device to run on the Google developed Android platform.

Founded by Pony Ma in Shenzhen, China, in November 1998, Tencent is now recognized as the leading provider of Internet, mobile & telecommunications value-added services in China. QQ, Tencent's instant messaging service platform, officially launched in Feb 1999 and announced in its 2006 Q3 report that it has 221.4 million active users. What's more, the total registered user accounts has climbed to 572.3 million!

Metabetable at Mark’s China Blog posts some interesting examples of the literal meaning of some Chinese words and I thought to add more to that while correcting some of his earlier translations.