• The China Daily reports enthusiastically that Li Yuanjiang, the former editor of the Guangzhou Daily is now editing a prison newspaper in the jail where he is currently serving a 12 year term for corruption (link). The article has no byline, which is common for China Daily stories written by senior editors, and the article is rather fawning considering that Li was convicted of bribery. Could it be that Li has some supporters at the China Daily? Or is just because editors and journalists in China are always at risk of ending up in jail, and it good to know that their media careers won't end there?

• Xinhua (Chinese) reports that special forces police officers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Haerbin and Lanzhou will be the first to wear new uniforms (pictured above; link)

• The Wall Street Journal has published an article titled For Sponsors, China's 2008 Olympics Have Already Begun (link, subscription required). Noteworthy:

China's market is so immense that the 2008 Games are drawing a larger-than-usual field of corporate competitors. The Olympics traditionally are home to one official brand of credit card, one computer, one wristwatch. But the 2008 Games already boast three official beers: Tsingtao, Yanjing and Budweiser.

"One beer cannot cover all China," says Liu Jun, deputy director of marketing of the Beijing Organizing Committee

More like, no previous Olympic organizers have ever had the chutzpah and the business acumen to convince three competing brands to hand over the cash!

• Xinhua News Agency's top story on their English website this morning is titled Dalai Lama unworthy of religious leader: Tibet official (link). On Xinhua's Chinese website, the top story is titled Five economists debate: is it possible to reduce the wealth gap? (link). Newsworthy stuff.

• Sina has a story (in Chinese) about painter An Di (安迪) whose works are satirical representations of celebrities (link). The Sina article focuses on his painting of 2005 Super Girl winner Li Yuchun (李宇春) and 2006 Super Boy winner Xiang Ding (向鼎) both of whom are androgynous in appearance. The Sina article discusses about the current fashion for girls to look boyish and boys to look feminine. The article quotes An Di:

I am like a dog, sniffing everywhere for interesting things, trying to cure the modern malaise of overly hectic living by exaggeration.

An Di's blog, containing many of his paintings, is here.

• In a short news bite, the China Daily reports "Beijing Olympic organizers reiterated on Tuesday their commitment to offering media the same freedom they have enjoyed at previous Games". The article ends with this sentence But all the reporters will have to abide by China's laws. Whatever that means (link). Yahoo has a story about the same issue:

BEIJING (AFP) - China will televise the 2008 Beijing Olympics live to the world without the brief delay normally used in Chinese broadcasting, an official said. (Link)