A day after Wade’s July 19 visit, the Shaolin Temple released a statement saying that the two monks Wade was photographed with were not monks affiliated with the temple, and may not actually be monks at all.

“The two people dressed to look like monks – one of whom was not even properly outfitted – are not monks at Shaolin Temple. It is unclear whether they are actually fake monks,” read the statement.

Although Wade’s Shaolin Temple visit was well-documented by Chinese media, the identities of the imposters remain a mystery.

Shaolin Temple has distanced itself from the controversy, saying that they had no part in organizing the trip, which it maintains was not “official”.

“There are often people who pretend to be monks at Shaolin Temple in order to fool tourists. Now, they have caused a misunderstanding among netizens and negatively impacted the reputation of Shaolin Temple,” the statement added.

Here is Wade on stage at the Shaolin Temple:

A video of Wade’s kung fu performance can be seen here.

The 2016 Wade China Tour will conclude in Beijing on July 25.

The post NBA Star Dwayne Wade Duped by Fake Shaolin Monks appeared first on The Nanfang.

Pokemon fans in China have reported a number of issues with the game, which relies on Google map servers to point out locations, something that is largely inaccessible to most of the Chinese public due to Chinese internet blocking protocols. Sixth Tone reports that some Chinese players have installed the game but have yet to see a single Pokemon.

Players in northeast Liaoning and northwest Xinjiang have said they are able to play without any issues, while others are reporting success through the use of a “decrypted” version of the game.

Based on the long-running Japanese franchise, in Pokemon Go players act as monster trainers out to catch their elusive prey. Players search out real-world locations, and find the pocket monsters by following map directions to then capture them using their mobile phone cameras.

As a result of the issues with Pokemon Go, many fans are downloading City Spirit Go, a game which shares so many similarities with Pokemon, that many are under the mistaken belief it is a “Chinese version” of the Pokemon game. City Spirit Go is also a mobile phone game where players scout real-world locations to find and capture their prey.

City Spirit Go launched just prior to release of Pokemon Go. The Chinese knock-off is currently the top-ranked free download in China’s Apple App store.

Here’s more photos of what City Spirit Go looks like:

The post Pokemon Replaced With Top-Selling Chinese Knock-Off appeared first on The Nanfang.

Xiaoyu thought the two pregnancies couldn’t just be a coincidence. She first suspected her boyfriend’s parents of tampering with the condoms in order for the couple to give birth to grandchildren. But her boyfriend, Xiaodong, tested the leftover condoms they had purchased from a nearby convenience store by filling them up with water, he found that 10 out of 12 of them leaked.

The couple contacted the media, which replicated the test with the couple’s remaining “Sixth Sense” brand 3C condoms, with similar results. The reporter spent another RMB 40 for two more boxes of condoms of the same brand, only to find that 7 out of 12 condoms leaked — one even had five holes in it.

The reporter determined the condoms were counterfeit after contacting the manufacturer and comparing serial numbers.

There have been multiple news stories regarding the sale of counterfeit condoms in China. Police seized fakes in Shanghai in April 2015 and in Guangzhou in January 2015. There were even 600,000 counterfeit condoms seized in Italy in July that year.

Xiaoyu said she wants to have children, but her current circumstances are preventing her from starting a family. She said the unwanted pregnancies have been a source of shame for her: “All of our neighbors and friends know about this and have been critical towards me. Some of them even say that I am shameless.”

“Our only option is to move, but we don’t know where we can move to.”

The post Fake Condoms On Sale in China, Leave Woman Pregnant Twice in 3 Months appeared first on The Nanfang.

“At least 14 million straight women in China are currently in, or found themselves in marriages with gay men,” said Zhang.

Zhang said society’s awareness of tongqi (同妻), meaning “wives of gay men”, has grown considerably in the last two years as victims continue to speak out. “Tongqi‘s cries of marriage misery represent the development of society and women’s awareness of equal rights; it also reaches the physical and mental limit that wives of gay men can tolerate,” Zhang said.

Zhang believes that, “it’s seriously immoral to intentionally and rashly deceive an innocent woman into a sham marriage”. But, he said, such women often remain trapped in these marriages because Chinese law does not adequately protect women during divorce proceedings. Some women alternatively agree to maintain the charade when they learn the truth in order to provide their children with a stable family environment.

Chinese media has recently highlighted the plight of tongqi, offering a sympathetic perspective of these women while portraying gay men as “cheats” that dupe their partners. A recent QQ picture showed tongqi as a woman literally crying in the shadows, mourning that she would never be loved by her gay husband.

The gay community has tried to address the pressure to conform to social norms, particularly with respect to marriage.  A recent pledge involves not entering marriages with straight people. In the wake of a recent Chinese court dismissing a case on same-sex marriage, an internet campaign has seen members of China’s gay community post pictures of themselves with the hashtag #I’mGayAndWon’tMarryAStraightPerson.

A growing trend has seen Chinese gays and lesbians seek each other out for sham marriages. Apps, such as Queers, have been created to match gay men and lesbians. A website called Chinagayles.com provides a platform for those seeking sham marriages; it has more than 390,000 registered users, and claims that 50,000 of its users found their “wedding partners” online.

Homosexuality was illegal in China until 1997, and was only removed as a mental disorder in 2001.

The post 14 Million Chinese Women “Trapped” In Marriages To Gay Men appeared first on The Nanfang.

Shanghai police say they have arrested three ringleaders of the gang. One of the suspects confessed to police that he pretended to be a senior Disney executive.

A taxi driver named Li said he quit his job and paid 13,000 yuan to the fake agency, only to discover the management position that was being offered actually turned out to be a job for a cleaning position.

The June 16 opening of Shanghai Disneyland has been met with a lot of anticipation in China. Online ticket sales has been huge, while some Chinese think they are too expensive. The Disneyland opening is expected to bring an economic boom to the area, and has already attracted retailers like LEGO to open stores in the area. Meanwhile, Disney has opened its own flagship retail store the year before.

The post Fake Disneyland Recruitment Scam Targeted Hopeful Employees appeared first on The Nanfang.

The US Department of Homeland Security had set up a fake university to act as a sting to catch agencies that help foreign nationals extend their US visas. In all, 20 agencies were implicated along with more than a thousand foreign exchange students, mostly from China and India.

The fake school was named the “University of Northern New Jersey”. A federal prosecutor said the counterfeit school had no teaching or administrative staff, and no educational activities had ever taken place there. However, agencies continued to name this fake school as an institution at which foreign exchange students are enrolled.

Deng Hong, a lawyer hired by some Chinese students to deal with the incident, told CCTV that a number of students who wanted to remain in the US after the expiration of their legal student visa were implicated in the sting.

Deng told CCTV that Chinese students with expiring visas had no choice but to hire an agency to find “schools” to enroll in. Chinese students with expiring visas that failed to get an extension had no choice but to hire an agency to find “schools” to enroll in, thereby allowing them to remain in the US.

The fee for hiring an agency for this service costs around 10,000 yuan ($1,500).

As China Daily reports, although there are no classes associated with a fake school like “University of Northern New Jersey”, it is possible to be awarded a diploma from certain agencies.

The post US to Deport Hundreds of Chinese Students for Enrolling at Fake University appeared first on The Nanfang.

Around 88,000 counterfeit Viagra pills, and another 95,000 fake pills of other brands, were seized after a counterfeit ring was busted last year, worth an estimated 37 million yuan ($5.65 million).

The seizure included 1.42 million unfinished medicinal products, said Huang Shouying, Director of the Economic Crime Investigation Bureau, with the Guangdong Provincial Department of Public Security.

The announcement did not specify when the seizure was made, although it reported another successful, contemporaneous crackdown in Dongguan. In total, 23 arrests were made last year on counterfeiting medicine rings.

In November, the Dongguan Public Security Bureau announced that it had confiscated 1.8 million fake erectile dysfunction pills. The result of a five month-long investigation, the seizure included 440,000 finished pills and 1.4 million unfinished pills still in production (pictured above).

Guangdong has been a hotspot for counterfeit goods, particularly erectile dysfunction products such as Viagra.

In August 2014, some 140,000 counterfeit condoms and male performance enhancers worth RMB 3 million were seized from Guangdong factories in Chaozhou and Zhongshan, and three arrests were made. Another 140,000 fake Viagra pills were seized from a Qianhai residence in Shenzhen, Guangdong in February 2014. In 2012, a pharmacy in the City’s Luohu District was busted for selling fake pills.

In 2013, Medpage Today reported that almost 77 percent of male performance enhancement drugs purchased online were fake. In their study, they found that the fake pills tended to be a darker blue colour, and were heavier and thicker than the real pill.

The post Guangdong a Hotspot for Fake Pills as Phony Viagra Seized in Dongguan appeared first on The Nanfang.

The Pentagon World Trade and Commerce Mall was originally built to attract tourists; but, it was largely ignored because of its remote location and confusing interior layout.

The structure has the dubious distinction of being China’s largest vacant building, at 500,000 square meters. As each side of the Chinese Pentagon measures 320 meters long, it is even larger than the original.

The shopping mall currently has only one tenant, an importing business that operates out of the northeast corner of the five-sided structure. The building’s owner has been trying to increase interest from prospective tenants.

The landlord may have some help because 2016 will see the opening of its new neighbor, the Shanghai Disney Resort, when it opens on June 16.

Between Disney,  the fake louvre, and the fake Tian’anmen Square, it appears Shanghai visitors can go from one magical kingdom to another in the same day.

An aerial drone shot footage of the Shanghai Pentagonal Mart:

The post Fake “Pentagon” Mall Abandoned on Outskirts of Shanghai appeared first on The Nanfang.

After initially investigating the case back in May, local police finally raided the Suqian plant on November 30. Seven workers were arrested, four of whom were later released.

The beef-like substance was “made” through a process which combines pork, sodium nitrite, and various artificial flavors and seasonings. It is estimated that the plant had sold upwards of 10 million yuan of the meat.

Sodium nitrite is commonly used as a food preservative in processed and cured meats, but excessive amounts can be hazardous to humans. Amines, a class of compounds found in meat, can react with sodium nitrite to form nitrosamines, a cancer-causing agent in humans. The producers were allegedly using such preservatives at levels 30 times higher than safety standards.

In September 2013, Shaanxi police confiscated 20,000 kilograms of fake beef from a meat counterfeiting ring. Throughout the year, a total of 904 suspects were arrested in “meat-related offences” in which some 20,000 tons of illegal products were seized.

Related:

• Markets caught selling fake mutton to street vendors in Shenzhen
• Raid on Illegal Dongguan Abattoir Reveals Tampering with Beef
• China’s Shrink-Wrapped Eating Utensils Are Not As Clean As You Think

The post Where’s the Beef? Not in the Beef at Meat Counterfeiting Plant in China appeared first on The Nanfang.

Shenzhen-based Vienna Hotels Group was fined 100,000 yuan ($15,600) for illegally using the name “Disney” in several of its Shanghai hotels without permission, said the Shanghai Administration of Industry and Commerce. News of the punishment comes as the intellectual property rights watchdog announced a new campaign that specifically targets counterfeiters who illegally use Disney brands and trademarks.

Around 150 law enforcement officers are involved in the campaign to protect Disney from any copyright infringement. China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce even said “emergency teams” will be deployed online to find cases of counterfeiting in order to “basically terminate large-scale infringement of Disney trademarks”.

These campaigns are the latest in a number of measures taken to aid and protect the new Shanghai Disney Resorts, 57 percent of which is owned by Shanghai Shendi, a group of companies controlled by the Shanghai city government.

More than 150 companies located in the vicinity of the new Disney theme park, with some as near as five kilometers away, will be shut down for having “heavily polluted” the area as part of the “city government’s industrial restructuring.” As well, an subway extension is being built to allow Shanghai residents to take the metro directly to the theme park.

Other foreign companies and individuals haven’t been so lucky in protecting their intellectual properties. Last July, NBA superstar Michael Jordan lost his legal battle against Qiaodan, a sporting goods company that literally means “Jordan” in Chinese.

The post Shanghai Launches Large-scale Crackdown on Fake Disney Stuff Ahead of Theme Park Opening appeared first on The Nanfang.