Two hundred residents of the Xinxin Garden community in Urumqi, Xinjiang, found this noticed taped to their doors ten days ago: NOTICE Buildings 3 and 4 belong to us. The brutes currently living in them are requested to move out within 7 days. Otherwise, your entire family will be killed.....!!! A developer dispute apparently lies behind the threat.

Use Skype? Here's a bit of a report and rundown of the recent news that Skype's Chinese partner was found to be storing the data (unsecured) of conversations deemed "sensitive" based on keywords.

Thomas Crampton interviews ex-CNN Beijing bureau chief and the driving force behind Global Voices Online, Rebecca MacKinnon, about advice she has for journalists coming to China during the Beijing Olympics. Her advice echos loudly for other visitors or long-term residents as well.

As the weather gets warmer here in Shanghai, in another region of China, Hefei, Anhui Province, where’s China’s fifth largest lake, Chaohu Lake resides, a blue green algae outbreak was discovered, affecting at least 320,000 people who depends on it as a water source. The outbreak is caused by a rise in temperature, allowing algae growth to take place. Of course, some required chemical reagents like ammonia and nitrogen must have existed in plentiful amounts before this kind of algae can take place.

Nick Young shares the story of how his non-profit newsletter, China Development Brief, permanently ended his ability to enter China - after 12 years of living here and showing great respect and well-rounded attitude towards the country. Obviously it was time to kick him out.