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).

Cooperatives: Once diminished, twice powerful: The Economic Observer examines the revival of cooperatives in Ningbo:

When being questioned if SMCs were monopolizing the rural market through administrative means, Zheng replied that the government redefined SMCs [supply and marketing cooperatives] as public entities in order to guarantee farmers' interests to the greatest extent. "Companies work to maximize profits, and therefore can't guarantee farmers' interests, especially when there're conflicts between different groups of people," he explained.

To Zheng's understanding, there wasn't a monopoly there. SMCs were just organizing individual entities together and supplying the same goods to them in the form of chain operations, he said, adding that not only was this saving money and labor, but also guaranteeing the quality of goods sold.

Developing the sarcastic quotation-mark thing: Beijing Newspeak comments on the cognitive dissonance involved in writing a Xinhua commentary piece:

The Dalaı Lama critiques are of course highly entertaining for the readers, who marvel at how little has changed since the Cultural Revolution. For the journalist writing/translating, it must be a bizarre experience being told to shut down the part of the brain that houses rational thinking and then sign your name to the article. I once asked a colleague how he felt about putting his name to a State Council rant about the Dalaı Lama. "I know I’m brainwashed but I still believe 80 percent of it," was the reply.

A big gay crackdown in Beijing?: Shanghaiist reproduces a notice from Beijing-based AIDS activist Wan Yanhai (万延海) that records six incidents of police actions against gay-frequented establishments.

Adidas workers on £11 a week in China: The Sunday Times investigates conditions in Adidas factories in Fuzhou, which are operated by a Taiwan-based firm:

Workers at the factories in Fuzhou accuse the management of cheating on pay, discriminating against young men and stifling a pioneering attempt to set up a trade union....

After a strike in 2006 led by young male workers, the Taiwanese management took a decisive step. "They were all kicked out," said an administration clerk.

Now the factory appears to discriminate illegally against men.The evidence was a prominent notice outside the gate. It said any men applying for jobs must produce a certificate from the public security bureau in their home towns proving they did not have a criminal record. No such rule applied to women.

News from Tibet - 1959: The Far Eastern Economic Review has republished three articles from its archive, about the Tibetan insurrection of 1959.

Price of rice skyrockets: Daniel Ten Kate of The Financial Times reports:

Governments across Asia were rushing to secure rice stocks on Friday in the wake of a 30 per cent price jump in international markets.