That was quite the collective experience, Beijing. An hour ago, a dam in the sky broke. Rain turned into pellets of ice, the sound of its steady assault only interrupted by thunderclap that set off car alarms. One imagines Qu Yuan sitting somewhere with his feet propped up, enjoying the show. As quickly as the storm came, it departed -- but not before the sun shone out of a hole while the clouds were wrung ...

It's raining everywhere, and not the good kind, under which one might twirl around a lamppost. In Liuzhou, Guangxi, rains have caused flooding and prompted local blogger Liuzhou Laowai to exclaim, "It’s a holiday. It has to rain!" Here are more pictures of afflicted Guangxi towns via Xinhua. ...

This happened in Tianjin recently, probably Wednesday. Questions: How did this man get the jet ski into the street? Over shallow water, does the jet ski not get damaged? Why does he have a jet ski? Is he too good for swimming? What happens when the water recedes? How did this video get 1.12 million views in 14 hours on Youku? After the jump for those in China. ...

Discounting a little drizzle, projected doomsday rains missed most of Beijing proper last night, though other parts of northeast China were not so lucky. Tianjin, which I tend to think of as Beijing's unkempt armpit about 100 kilometers to the southeast, was hit hard yesterday, and the aftermath on one unfortunate stretch of road is visible above. ...

Our favorite government mouthpiece has flubbed again with the headline on its latest story (four-plus hours after its posting, it has yet to be changed). Ostensibly about a new round of rainstorms scheduled to hit this afternoon, Xinhua inadvertently draws our attention to the waves of negative reaction to the municipal government's disaster response, a sampling of which can be found on China Digital Times  ...

Within Beijing proper on Saturday, Guangqumen Bridge on southeast Second Ring Road was among the most affected by the rain, and resulted in one of the earliest reported deaths. (Incidentally, Guangqumen is about a kilometer and a half from Shuangjing Bridge, where some foreigners were having a good time, surely unaware of the trouble that was just down the street.) In this video, you see rescuers attempt to ...

The publicized death toll for Saturday's Beijing rainstorm was three, then four, then 10... and now 37 -- and might will rise in the coming days. According China Daily, 25 drowned during the 20-hour storm, while others died of related causes. The municipal government estimates losses of at least 10 billion yuan. More than 50,000 people have been relocated, according to Xinhua, and at least 80,000 travelers ...

The day after; picture by The Good Doctor Yesterday, Beijing saw its heaviest rainstorm since 1951, receiving on average 163.7 mm of precipitation as of 10 pm. Inevitably, there's some bad news, which we'll let China Daily deliver: The heaviest rain in 61 years that lashed Beijing Saturday have left at least four people dead and six others injured, local authorities said. Two people were killed and six othe ...

We'll be learning, very soon, about the damages caused by the biggest torrential downpour Beijing has seen in several decades. There will be time to sift through the fallout and figure out how we pick up the pieces, i.e. drain and dry the whole damn city and find some of the many vehicles that were washed away in the storm. (By the way, today is another reason I'm glad I don't own a car in this city.) But f ...

Just a half-naked foreigner directing traffic. Whatever. He appears to belong to the soon-to-be famous party of four laowai at Shuangjing Bridge. Hmm... Party of Four Laowai. That has a certain ring to it, doesn't it? What's another way of saying "party of four"? Band of Four? Gathering of Four? Gaggle of Four? Gang... More pictures of these guys (and girl) will be trickling in, I'm sure, so I'll just keep ...

Look at this. Cowboy hat. Beer bottles. Swim tube. A couple making out. Rain? More, please. For a picture in contrast, check after the jump. And in case you were wondering: it is currently raining. ...

The heavy rains found their way inside Fourth Ring Round around 1 pm today, and it's been sporadically pouring ever since: some deity simply dumping bucket after bucket of water over the city. I was outside around 1:30 pm to witness the sky and everything underneath it go eerily dark; 10 minutes later, a dazzling white mist rose out of nowhere, like the ash of a mythical sky creature. It was unbelievable. I ...

Heavy, heavy rains have again left Beijing's streets flooded, but that hasn't stopped tonight's Chinese Super League match between the hometown Guo'an and Hangzhou Greentown FC. Above, the first goal of the night, putting Hangzhou up 1-0. That remains the score in Workers Stadium as the two teams slog it out in the 77th minute. After the jump, another video of the rain, plus pictures of fans. By the way, th ...

Update: there's now a video after the jump. The storm that wrecked Shandong, Tianjin, etc. has apparently found its way to Beijing. Today, water got dumped on our collective heads. Lots and lots of water.  As the Beijinger's Josh Ong tweeted, "Right about now I'm wishing I had this inflatable boat." Kris Pickett, who found himself caught in this vertical river, watched a man put plastic bags on his feet, wa ...