Danwei Picks is a daily digest of the "From the Web" links found on the Danwei homepage. A feed for the links as they are posted throughout the day is available at Feedsky (in China) or Feedburner (outside China).

Avoid tall buildings: From Adam Minter:

So I must say I was more than a little surprised when my beloved Shanghai Daily ran a story - this morning - containing this jaw-dropping revelation:

HALF the steel material sold at wholesale markets and now being used in construction has failed quality tests.

Beijing construction ban: July to September: Details of the pre-Olympic construction ban from The People's Daily:

Four government departments... announc[ed] that they will suspend construction in bad weather such as strong gales and sandstorms between March 20 and July 20 to prevent dust pollution, and a complete construction ban between July 21 and September 20.

The municipal meteorological observatory forecast earlier this month that the capital city is likely to see about 10 days of sandy weather this spring, close to the annual average but six more than last spring, citing the reason of warm and dry weather in sandy areas in the north China region.

Liberation, mystery in Henan and irony-loving foreign ministers: Beijing Newspeak addresses a few recent stories, including the AFP claim (later retracted) of a staged Wen Jiabao interview that was rebutted by a 3-month-old Xinhua story:

However, every story involving Wen Jiabao has to be approved directly by the Premier’s office and the journalist was told by the secretary that he couldn’t write his new story, even if it did reflect favourably on the government. Much better to stick to the November visit he was told. Safer. There was much annoyance in Xinhua of course as no news agency, albeit a highly dodgy one, likes to report three-month-old news, particularly if there is new information. Clearly another case of govermental stubbornness making everyone look stupid.

Talk about anything...except the South China Tiger!: ESWN translates a Southern Metropolis Daily report that reveals how BBS commenters at major online forums are being barred from talking about the South China Tiger case.