January: Stampede at the Bund
On December 31, 2014, there was a stampede accident during the New Year countdown at Chenyi Square at the Bund. It killed 36 people and injured 49 people, causing chaos and sadness on New Year’s Day. The government of Shanghai imposed severe punishment to 11 party officials, and decided to make 800,000-yuan compensations to the victims’ families.

February: Koreans Suspected of Drug Trafficking All Released
14 Korean people who were imprisoned in late 2014 for drug trafficking were all acquitted and released on February 4. These men, all members of a baseball club, had been found with more than 20kg of methamphetamine. They claimed that they were only holding some gifts for Australian competition staff members.

March: the Worst Yellow Dust in 13 Years
On March 15, the city of Beijing experienced serious yellow dust. At 6:00 p.m., it was reported that the fine dust level in many regions was over 700~800㎍/㎥, which is 10 times the safety level, and in some places it was over 1000㎍/㎥ and impossible to measure. The first yellow alert of the year for yellow dust was issued.

April: Chinese Government Criticizes Abe
The Chinese government strongly criticized Abe, the prime minister of Japan, for referring to military comfort women in Imperial Japan as victims of human trafficking during a speech in Harvard University. Hong Lei, a Chinese diplomat, stated on April 28 that “having military comfort women during WWII was a serious anti-humanitarian crime to Asian people.”

May: MERS in China
On May 26, a Korean man suspected of MERS infection visited Hong Kong and Guangzhou. He received definite diagnosis of the disease only after leaving Korea; the sanitary administration of Guangzhou hurried to take quarantine measures, and further infection was successfully prevented as the man was cured of the illness.

June: ‘DongFangZhiXing’ Cruise Ship Sinks
On June 1, at about 11 p.m., a cruise ship with 454 passengers sank due to a whirlwind. The ship, traveling to Chongqing from Nanjing, sank near Changjiang Hubeishi. 442 of the passengers died, and only 12 were safely rescued. The majority of the people on the ship were tourists from Shanghai, aged 50~80.

July: Powerful Earthquake in XinJiang
On July 3, an earthquake occurred in PiShan, Xinjiang, in the magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale. A series of aftershock continued for 30 minutes, putting residents in horror. The incident destroyed 12,000 homes, and 66,000 people underwent emergency evacuation procedures. 3 people died, and 214 were injured.

August: Explosion in Tianjin
On August 12, at about 11:30 p.m., there was an explosion of dangerous material in a distribution company in Tianjin. The first explosion was as strong as that of 30t of TNT, and the second, which happened 30 seconds later, was as strong as that of 21t of TNT. With a deafening noise, a huge cloud of smoke went high up in the air. 165 people were afflicted, and 8 disappeared; some glass in nearby buildings and thousands of cars at the sea port were destroyed.

September: 70th Anniversary of China’s Victory against Japan
On September 3, China held a military parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of its victory against Japan and the end of WWII. At Tiananmen in Beijing, Korean President Park Gun-Hye, Russian President Vladmir Putin, UN Secretary General Pan Ki-Moon, Choi Ryong-Hae of North Korea and many more leaders as well as diplomatic representatives were invited. The large scale of the event including 12,000 soldiers, more than 500 types of weapons and over 200 combat aircrafts gained worldwide attention.

October: Two-Child Policy
On October 29, the Chinese government declared the initiation of the two-child policy. China had kept its one-child policy for the last 35 years since the 1980s, requiring a 20~200 thousand-yuan fine for its violation. However, it led to decrease in manpower and population aging, so the government eased the policy in 2013; this year, it finally allowed all families to have two children.

November: Avalanche Due to Flood in Hunan
In mainland China, many residents lost their homes due to an avalanche caused by a flood. For 3 days starting from November 10, it rained more than 60mm a day, affecting 11,000 people in 13 counties. 181 houses collapsed, and 8,600 people escaped from the area. It was the first winter flood in 60 years, and farmers lost large areas of land.

December: Capital Punishment of Fudan Univ. Medical Student
On December 11, Lin, a medical student of Fudan University, received capital punishment for poisoning his roommate to death in 2013. He claimed to have put only a little bit of toxic substance in the drinking fountain in the room as a joke on April Fool’s Day, and that he had not intended the roommate’s death, but the prosecution accused him of murder. The victim’s father stated about the execution that it was a fair judgment made by the law.

Original news from: http://www.shanghaibang.net/shanghai/news.php?code=te06&mode=view&num=46109&page=1&wr=