Shanghai

While studying abroad at Fudan University in Shanghai last semester, Natalie Turturro craved cheese pizza. But the Western treat was neither easy to come by nor to order. At one restaurant, the Boston University junior asked for "extra cheese" and was served a container of mozzarella. However, such experiences just whetted her appetite for learning new cultures. So, instead of returning home last month, she elected to spend another semester overseas, this time with BU's London program.

Foxconn Technology Group, the world's biggest assembler of consumer electronics, began work Thursday on a Shanghai headquarters that it says will help spearhead its efforts to sell more in the China market. The groundbreaking by Foxconn for its new, 80,000 square meter (861,120 sq. feet) "crystal box" center in Shanghai's prime Lujiazui financial district reflects the company's shift toward sales and services, said company chairman Terry Gou. "We are turning our export factories to be more domestic market oriented," Gou told a slew of Chinese and foreign dignitaries who turned...

SHANGHAI -- Stand on the concrete promenade of the Bund, a once-chaotic river wharf at the very center of this city, and spin: The horizon towers for 360 degrees. Neon streaks in blue, red, orange, and green. Silver apartment buildings merge at the edge of sight. Turn after turn, the fantasy of the Oriental Pearl Tower and the certainty of the 88-story Jinmao Tower punctuate new Pudong, a district sprung from swamp and farmland . If the goal were simply reinventing the physical face of a place, then the game in Shanghai has been won: In the blur of a dozen years, hundreds of acres of low, lane-linked...

Over the past two years Wang Wei and her husband Liu Yiqian dropped a reported $317 million on their hobby. Now they need somewhere to display the collection they've amassed. The solution: a private art museum that Wang hopes will impart some class to China's flashy nouveau riche. Wang and billionaire investor Liu are part of a new generation of wealthy Asians that is better known for splashing out on extravagant toys such as private jets, mega-sized yachts and supercars. Some, instead, have built big art collections and now aspire to showcase their refined sensibility to a wider audience.

SHANGHAI - A rainy night in Shanghai. Neon lights reflect violet-pink-yellow-red in puddles along Nanjing Road East, a pedestrian-only commercial district where 21st-century high-tech buildings bump against 1930s Art Deco wonders. Umbrellas snap open as shoppers scurry past Westernized clothing boutiques, electronic stores, high-end jewelry shops, and brightly-lighted fast food emporiums with familiar names: KFC, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Wendy's. I am dodging raindrops with Jenny O'Connor, my niece, who traveled to meet me from her home in Guangzhou.

SHANGHAI -- Strutting, preening and greeting the audience in Chinese, the Rolling Stones made their debut in mainland China yesterday in a censored -- but still raucous -- show. The "world's greatest rock 'n' roll band" opened their show with "Start Me Up," a song with suggestive lyrics that apparently made it past the censors who banned five other hits. They then pounded through almost two hours of classic rock. "Dajia hao ma?" -- r "How's everybody doing?" -- Mick Jagger yelled to the packed house at Shanghai's 8,000-seat indoor stadium, where the audience was...

Shanghai has prohibited U.S. battery maker Johnson Controls Inc. from resuming lead-processing at its automotive battery plant on the city's outskirts following a probe that alleged the company is to blame for lead poisoning cases among local children. Johnson Controls on Monday disputed the findings, pointing to an independent investigation commissioned by an industry group that found the lead acid car battery plant was not emitting excess lead. A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Bureau in Shanghai's Pudong district, Ju Chunfang, that the company...

SHANGHAI — China’s newest university has no football field or fancy library. For inspiration, it looks not to Confucius, but to Ronald McDonald. But Shanghai’s Hamburger U. aspires to be a leader in higher learning for ambitious Chinese managers. McDonald’s Corp. inaugurated its first Hamburger University in China yesterday to train new generations of managers as foreign companies step up efforts to develop and keep Chinese talent. China is McDonald’s fastest-growing global market, said Tim Fenton, the company’s president for Asia, Pacific,...

China is seeing a fresh upsurge in labor unrest as slowing demand for its exports in Europe and the U.S. hits manufacturers already juggling tight credit and weakening growth at home. In one of the latest labor actions by restive young Chinese workers, hundreds of laid-off factory staff gathered Friday outside a Shanghai factory of a Singaporean supplier to major consumer electronics companies such as Motorola and HP. Some workers said they were beaten by police earlier during the protests — one showed bruises on his forehead.

PGA champion Keegan Bradley cares more about counting birdies than votes. He flew halfway around the world with the intention of winning a World Golf Championship, not any kind of an award. Whatever the case, he sure made this PGA Tour player of the year discussion a lot more interesting Thursday. Bradley did most of his damage on the par 5s at Sheshan International with three birdies and an eagle, which carried him to a 7-under 65 and a two-shot lead after the one round of the HSBC Champions.

Citigroup Inc. has sold its 2.71 percent stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank for an after-tax gain of about $349 million, as the company maneuvers to build its own business in China. The $668 million sale was made via a block trade to unnamed institutional investors, the New York-based bank said in a statement Monday. Citigroup and the state-owned Shanghai plan a new "strategic arrangement" for their cooperation that will involve using Citi's worldwide networks and credit lines to support SPDB's global expansion, it said.

SHANGHAI - A rainy night in Shanghai. Neon lights reflect violet-pink-yellow-red in puddles along Nanjing Road East, a pedestrian-only commercial district where 21st-century high-tech buildings bump against 1930s Art Deco wonders. Umbrellas snap open as shoppers scurry past Westernized clothing boutiques, electronic stores, high-end jewelry shops, and brightly-lighted fast food emporiums with familiar names: KFC, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Wendy's. I am dodging raindrops with Jenny O'Connor, my niece, who traveled to meet me from her home in Guangzhou.

Shanghai has prohibited U.S. battery maker Johnson Controls Inc. from resuming lead-processing at its automotive battery plant on the city's outskirts following a probe that alleged the company is to blame for lead poisoning cases among local children. Johnson Controls on Monday disputed the findings, pointing to an independent investigation commissioned by an industry group that found the lead acid car battery plant was not emitting excess lead. A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Bureau in Shanghai's Pudong district, Ju Chunfang, that the company could...

SHANGHAI - A court here has rejected an effort by a Chinese company to stop Apple from selling its popular iPad here during a trademark dispute about who owns the rights to the iPad name. The Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court released a statement on its website yesterday saying it would not rule because a related trademark court case between the two companies is pending in Guangdong province, in Southern China. An Apple spokeswoman said the company was pleased with the decision but would continue to challenge the position of the Chinese...

Apple Inc. is facing yet another challenge to its use of the iPad trademark in China — this time in a court in California. A Proview Electronics Co. spokeswoman said Friday that the company filed a lawsuit against Apple's use of the trademark inside mainland China in the Santa Clara Superior Court on Feb. 17. An attempt by Proview to win an injunction to stop Apple from selling iPads in Shanghai was foiled this week when a court there rejected...

Apple defended its right to use the iPad trademark in China in a heated court hearing Wednesday that pitted the electronics giant against a struggling company that denies it sold the mainland China rights to the tablet's name. Shenzhen Proview Technology's lawyer Xie Xianghui argued that the sale of the iPad trademark to Apple Inc. by Proview's Taiwan affiliate in 2009 was invalid. "Apple has no right to sell iPads under that name," Xie said. Apple countered that Proview violated the sales contract by failing to transfer the trademark rights in mainland China.

President Barack Obama's half brother attended this year's Shanghai book fair, where he signed autographs and promoted his semi-autobiographical novel "Nairobi to Shenzhen," organizers said Thursday. Mark Ndesandjo works as a consultant in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, while also writing and engaging in charity projects. He made an appearance at Shanghai's annual fair on Wednesday, signing the Chinese edition of his book, organizer Guo Jingyang said. The diary-form novel tells the story of an abusive parent, patterned on his and Obama's Kenyan father.

SHANGHAI — Investigators searched today for the cause of a fire that engulfed a high-rise apartment building under renovation in China’s business center of Shanghai, as the death toll rose to 53 with more than 70 in hospitals. The official Xinhua news agency cited a witness saying the fire began when building materials caught alight. The blaze spread to scaffolding and then to the 28-story apartment block, which houses a number of retired teachers, it said. The government said more than 100 firetrucks were called to battle the blaze, which was largely put out about...