If you think your job sucks, be thankful you don’t work in this Chinese factory…

Hundreds factory workers held their Japanese and Chinese managers hostage for a day and a half over strictly timed bathroom breaks. About 1,000 workers at Shanghai Shinmei Electric Company kept the 18 managers inside the factory in Shanghai starting Friday morning until just before midnight Saturday. The managers were released uninjured after 300 police officers were called to the factory.

A security guard at the plant explained that the workers “demanded the scrapping of the ridiculously strict requirements stipulating that workers only have two minutes to go to the toilet and workers will be fined [$8] if they are late once and fired if they are late twice.”

The managers apparently agreed to reconsider the rules.

Are you planning a trip to China? Then make sure to stay away from ‘Mala’ soup.

A 26-year-old man in China burned a hole in his stomach after ingesting the traditional Chinese hot pot, which translates to “numbing hot.” It gets its name from the numbing sensation produced by its ingredients, which usually include Sichuan pepper, local spices and chili pepper.

After consuming it, the unnamed man — who had no history of gastrointestinal disorders — began experiencing sharp pains and vomiting blood. He was rushed to a hospital in Wuhan, where doctors discovered a hole in the wall of his stomach.

Bon appetit!

Hu Jintao is out.

Former Vice President Xi Jinping was presented to China today as general secretary of the Communist Party as part of the leadership change the country sees every 10 years.

Jinping will also take over as head of the military commission.

Xi’s ascent has been expected since he joined the country’s Standing Committee five years ago. Xi and his six fellow leaders were the focus of a transitional ceremony today. “We shall do everything we can to live up to your trust and fulfill our mission,” Xi said, noting “many pressing problems within the party that need to be resolved, particularly corruption.”

There are no surprises among the new Standing Committee members, notes the BBC. But the leadership’s makeup demonstrates the continuing sway of former leader Jiang Zemin; while several of the men are Jiang allies, none of Hu’s three allies are on the committee. Now it’s up to Xi to lead a country on the rise as it addresses internal scandals and bids for reform.

China has been rocked by a gossip scandal has erupted around 24-year-old pop star Zhang Muyi and his declared love for  Canadian model Akama Miki… who’s 12 years old.

Muyi and Akama have been flaunting their romance all over popular Chinese social media site Weibo, posting pictures and sending each other public messages:

“Wait until I’m old enough to marry you, and then I’m going to say ‘I do.’” He replied with: “simply can’t wait for these next four birthdays of yours to pass, I’m counting down each one.”

Thousands of  fans have weighed in on the romance, some deriding it as “unnatural” and others declaring their support. Still others think the whole thing is nothing more than a publicity stunt, and it could well be: The two are collaborating on a few music projects at the moment.

China launched its most ambitious space mission yet on Saturday, carrying its first female astronaut and two male colleagues in an attempt to dock with an orbiting module and work on board for more than a week.

The Shenzhou 9 capsule lifted off as scheduled at 6:37 p.m. (1037 GMT) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert. All systems functioned normally and, just over 10 minutes later, it opened its solar panels and entered orbit.

The launch was declared a success by space program chief Chang Wanquan, a People’s Liberation Army general who sits on the ruling Communist Party’s powerful central military commission – underscoring the program’s close military ties.

Female astronaut Liu Yang, 33, and two male crew members – mission commander and veteran astronaut Jing Haipeng, 45, and newcomer Liu Wang, 43 – are to dock the spacecraft with a prototype space lab launched last year in a key step toward building a permanent space station. All three are experienced pilots and officers in the Chinese air force.

Two of the astronauts will live and work inside the module to test its life-support systems while the third will remain in the capsule to deal with any unexpected emergencies.

China is hoping to join the United States and Russia as the only countries to send independently maintained space stations into orbit. It is already one of just three nations to have launched manned spacecraft on their own.

China suspended three officials and apologized to a woman who was forced to undergo an abortion seven months into her pregnancy in a case that sparked a public uproar after graphic photos of the mother and her dead baby were circulated online.

The case has renewed criticism of China’s widely hated one-child limit, which, while designed to control the country’s exploding population, has led to often violently imposed forced abortions and sterilizations as local authorities pursue birth quotas set by Beijing.

Feng Jianmei, 27, was beaten by officials and forced to abort the baby at seven months on June 2 because her family could not afford a 40,000 yuan ($6,300) fine for having a second child, Chinese media reported this week.

Photos of her and the reportedly stillborn baby lying on a hospital bed were posted online and spread widely, triggering a public outpouring of sympathy and outrage.

The government of Ankang city, where Feng lives in northwest China’s Shaanxi province, said a deputy mayor visited Feng and her husband in the hospital, apologized to them and said officials would be suspended amid an investigation.

“Today, I am here on behalf of the municipal government to see you and express our sincere apology to you. I hope to get your understanding,” Deputy Mayor Du Shouping said, according to a statement on the city government’s website Friday.

The official Xinhua News Agency says three officials would be relieved of their duties: two top local family planning officials and the head of the township government.

Xinhua said Feng was not legally entitled to a second child under China’s one-child limit, but added that late-term abortions are prohibited.

Critics of the one-child policy point out that it also leads to a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio. Families abort girls out of a traditional preference for male heirs.

The government says the controls have prevented an additional 400 million births in the world’s most populous country of 1.3 billion.

Were you planning a trip to Tibet this year? Better change your plans: Tibet is once again a forbidden zone for foreign tourists.

Travel agents say Chinese authorities have told them that foreign tourists are no longer being allowed into the region, and it’s not clear how long the ban will last, reports MSNBC.

The ban comes at the start of Saga Dawa, a month-long Tibetan Buddhist festival that usually draws thousands of tourists. More than 30 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since March of last year to protest Chinese rule, and the first self-immolations in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, happened last week.

Chinese audiences will not get the full Titanic 3D effect: Kate Winslet’s bare breasts in the 3D version of the movie are being censored in the censorship happy country.

“Considering the vivid 3D effects, we fear that viewers may reach out their hands for a touch, and thus interrupt other people’s viewing,” explained a widely cited statement from China’s State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television.

Kudos for the explanation, although, as Gawker points out, the quote could be a fake.

Nevertheless, the decision to dull the Winslet flash isn’t popular, notes MSNBC. “I’ve been waiting almost 15 years, and not for the 3D icebergs,” grumbled a Chinese fan on an Internet forum.

I feel your pain man.