Danwei Noon Report is a daily roundup of new and old media coverage about China from Chinese and English sources.

Can't stop the steamed buns
- image from LifeMage

August 10
A conference was organized by the conservative Guangming Daily in Beijing to discuss and condemn the e gao (恶搞) phenomenon, i.e. mocking online video clips and photoshopped stills. (See this Danwei post for more.)

August 14
SARFT publishes new regulations to control Internet short video clips. The new rules are widely interpreted as being a reaction to the spoofing pheomenon. However, some commentators believe the rules are intended to preserve SARFT's hegemony over movies and TV programs as these cultural products move online and therefore start to fall under the rules of the government ministry that regulates the Internet MII (see Danwei post).

August 19
In the popular tabloid newspaper The Mirror, China National School of Administration Law professor Yang Xiaojun says SARFT's new rules are not legal (see Danwei post).

August 24
Scores of Chinese bloggers, including some influential writers heap scorn on the new SARFT rules (see Global Voices roundup).

Today, August 28
The top story on Tianya, one of China's most popular BBS or forum websites, is Spoofing: chicken soup for the modern soul? (link). The post argues that it is not reasonable to have a blanket ban on spoofs. The number of Chinese blog posts about the SARFT rules continues to increase by the day.

The image above shows a bunch of steameded buns, a reference to the spoofing case that first caught China's attention. For more about this, read ESWN: The Bloody Case That Started From A Steamed Bun, or watch the steamed bun spoof movie on Youtube (in Chinese).

High Chinese populations make countries rich
Found via Hong blog Simon World, the Far Eastern Economic Review's blog examines the correlation between the ethnic Chinese population of East Asian countries and their per capita GDP: "So it’s not a perfect correlation, but it would appear to be significant" (link).

Philanthropy: the new must have habit for the super rich
Asia's richest man, the Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing (李嘉诚) who started out in business making plastic flowers, is following in the footsteps of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. The China Daily reports:

Li Ka-shing, 78, will bequeathe at least a third of his fortune - which is estimated at $18.8bn and rising fast - to his eponymous charitable foundation...

..."The [Li Ka-Shing] Foundation is my third son. Its size will not be less than one-third of my fortune," Mr. Li, a widower with two sons, said on Thursday at a results briefing for his two corporate flagships, Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa. (Link)

Beijing to Kathmandu by train?
From The People's Daily:

China's newly-built railway to Tibet will be extended to the border between China and Nepal, a local official said on Sunday.

Meeting with visiting Nepali Deputy Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region, said Tibet is a remote place that is looking forward to being connected to south Asia. The railway extension will promote business exchanges, he said. (Link)

Media reaction to jail sentence for NY Times researcher
The conclusion of the trial of New York Times researcher Zhao Yan provides an interesting case study in how different media report the same event. The charge against Zhao of "leaking State secrets" was dismissed, but he was given a three year jail term for fraud.

The China Daily: Journalist imprisoned for fraud, see also The People's Daily: Former Chinese reporter Zhao Yan sentenced to three years in prison
The New York Times: Appeal Likely for Journalist at The Times
The Financial Times: China verdict on NYT researcher criticised

Lots of China in The Financial Times
The FT has published three meaty China pieces in the last few days:

• A review by Geremie Barmé of of the Cultural Revolution history Mao’s Last Revolution by Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals (link; see related piece by Barmé on Danwei - Beijing's Bloody August.)
• A review by Richard McGregor of the English translation of A survey of China's peasants by Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao, recently publish in English as Will the Boat Sink the Water? (link - sub required; see these 2004 Danwei posts for more about the book's reception in China: 1, 2).
• Richard McGregor writes about his lunch with media figure Hung Huang (洪晃), during which they discuss China's emerging paparazzi culture among other things (link, see these Danwei TV interviews with Hung about blogging, and her acting debut in a movie about Chinese women).

Motivating Chinese staff
Via China Law Blog, a post on the China Solved blog about differences in Western and Chinese HR practices:

Just remember, Western managers wait to see performance, then they give the raise and the promotion. Chinese staffers want to see the raise and promotion, then they'll deliver the performance. It's up to you to figure this one out. (Link)