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).

Beijing's first private restaurant: An oral history: Eddie Cheng translates an interesting China Youth Daily profile of Liu Guixian and her restaurant at No. 43 Cuihua Hutong, north of Wangfujing:

I remember back then, the Business Bureau was very far from my home. I didn't have a bicycle, so I had to walk. I got there, and told them I would like to open a restaurant. They asked me if I had room for it. I said yes, I could use the room we were sleeping in. "Where would your family sleep then?" they asked. I said, "On the roof. We could sleep on the roof." Everyone in the room laughed so hard. Finally, they told me to go back. They said I could go ask for assistance from my old man's work unit (工作单位) because I had many kids and hardship. They could not help me here. There was no such policy.

China's great migration: "Little America": At Slate, Patrick Radden Keefe writes about overseas Fujianese who send money back from the US:

As we stroll through an ornate gate (erected with money sent from America) and wander along a stone alley that winds through the village, we notice something else: There's no one here. All the adults of working age have left, Dr. Tang explains. They call these towns "widow's villages." Half the houses are vacant and shuttered. The others are home only to grandparents—and to American-born babies.

Nanjing experiments yet again with new method of promoting officials: Ning Song at China Elections & Governance discusses Nanjing's recent televised debates involving candidates for positions in the Labor Bureau:

This live broadcast of an official election debate has generated significant media coverage across the nation. "Although Nanjing residents didn't vote directly for the candidates, they had an opportunity to express their opinions and report any illegal behavior on the part of the candidates. It is one way for residents to participate in the election," a Nanjing local newspaper commented.

Beijing smoking ban not for restaurants and bars: From The China Daily:

Beijing restaurants, bars and Internet cafes have been exempted from a proposed smoking ban at public venues in response to concerns expressed by business owners.

China's loyal youth: From an op-ed piece by Matthew Forney in The New York Times:

Educated young Chinese, far from being embarrassed or upset by their government’s human-rights record, rank among the most patriotic, establishment-supporting people you’ll meet.

Fallout from the Free Tıbet protests: John Kennedy and Global Voices Online translates some of the invective hurled at a Chinese student in the US who was on the wrong side of the Tıbet demonstrations

How fair is reporting on China's environment?: At treehugger, Alex Pasternak considers the way that the western media reports on China's pollution problem and its efforts to go green:

To China's chagrin, this won't stop journalists from reporting on China's dire eco situation (or its human rights record, or its food safety, etc.), and it shouldn't. Western media may even have a greater responsibility to keep the heat on given the limitations that the Chinese government imposes on domestic media. Smartly, the New York Times included Mandarin text and audio along with their Choking on Growth series.

But there can still be something unbalanced and even sensational about foreign environmental coverage of China. That China has 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities is a widely reported fact, but that it has the world beat on solar hot water heaters is clearly not as sexy a story.