Danwei Picks is a daily digest of the "From the Web" links found on the Danwei homepage. A feed for the links as they are posted throughout the day is available at Feedsky (in China) or Feedburner (outside China).

Go China! (ESWN)

The jingoistic genie: Occasional online commentator and veteran hack Me Old China wonders what rough beast now slouches towards Beijing to be born.

China bashing: it's back: John Pomfret describes the western media's abrupt turnaround on the China issue:

A few years ago, the Western media enthused about how Chinese were freer than at any time in their history. Remember the stories about how the Internet was going to set China free? Or village elections? Not anymore. These days the glass is definitely half-empty. Beijing obviously hasn't helped. Its human rights policies have taken a decided turn for the worse since President Hu Jintao took power in 2001.

And on foreign policy, a few years ago, even a few months ago, Western media outlets had a load of nice things to say about China; Beijing was downright pro-American. China was aiding the U.S. in North Korea and Afghanistan; it had helped convince Sudan to accept U.N. forces. A New York Times piece in October (with the great headline: Look Who's Mr. Fixit for a Fraught Age) concluded that China had suddenly become a key to the resolution of trouble around the world.

Media control is key condition for political reform: David Bandurski at the China Media Project looks at a book called Gongjian: A Report on Political Reform in China After the 17th Party Congress.

Apparently reflecting the views of Hu Jintao, the book says that keeping tight control of the media is a key condition for political reform to avoid chaos and color revolution.

China's story: putting the PR into the PRC: At Open Democracy, James A Millward presents six things China can do to spruce up its international image:

It does no one any good if China and the rest of the world are separated by this chasm of mutual misunderstanding, the effects of which could linger well after the Olympics are over. It avails little simply to enjoin the Chinese government to tear down its information firewall or teach Chinese schoolchildren a fuller version of Chinese history. Like most criticism at this juncture, this will only seem like piling on the anti-China attacks.

Oddly enough, however, much could be gained if China only learned how to do a better job talking to outsiders about China. China has a plausible rationale for its actions, and need neither look like a bully nor feel beleaguered. But when it comes to public relations, the Chinese authorities - and some increasingly angry Chinese students studying abroad - are their own worst enemy.

via Imagethief

Clinton adviser quits over China rhetoric: From Politico:

A top expert on China has resigned as an informal adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign in the wake of the candidate's increasingly harsh anti-China rhetoric.

Richard Baum, a political science professor at the Center for Chinese Studies at UCLA, resigned in light of what he called 'grossly misguided accusations' made by Clinton about China.

Xinjiang 2021 Watch: From The Opposite End of China:

Back in 2006, the folks over at neweurasia asked me to write up a possible political/military scenario for Xinjiang in 2021. Ever since then, there has been a steady erosion in the perceived — and perhaps actual — stability of the region. What seemed like wild speculation at the time doesn't seem quite so outrageous now.

A letter from Grace Wang: The Chinese girl who has been vilified for getting on the wrong side of Tibet independence demonstrators and Chinese students at Duke university has published a letter in the Washington Post.

Help! We can’t go to China: FEER's Traveller's Tales blog reports that the American Chamber of Commerce is seeking visa anecdotes from members:

You can see the problem: Amcham exists to represent its members, but it is hesitant to call the Foreign Ministry a bunch of liars. It’s patently obvious what is going on from our Wanchai window — the line of angry laowais outside the visa office is curling around the China Resources Building. Americans can count themselves lucky that they can still get single-entry visas after filling in a form documenting their entire life story, genealogy and exactly where they will be during their stay in the people’s paradise — other nationalities have apparently been completely banished.

Shrink what?: Marc van der Chijs has posted a picture of a rather amazing Chinese feminine health product that is used to 'kill spermatozoom' and several other remarkable things.

Beijing - Shanghai high speed rail breaks ground: From Xinhua:

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao attends the ground-breaking ceremony of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway in Beijing, April 18, 2008. The railway, which will be completed in five years and run at 300km/hr to 350 km/hr, would cut travel time between the Chinese capital and the country's leading financial hub from around 10 hours at present to about five hours.