From the Web

Danwei Picks: 2007-11-12

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).

Who harmonized us?: CDT translates an account by Liu Xiaoyuan of visitors who advised him not to go to Bao Zunxin's funeral, and the connection of that episode with losing his lease:

The three men went into Li's room and started a conversation with him. They started off by saying that it's so difficult for a non-Beijinger to work in Beijing and that other lawyers from elsewhere had had difficult experiences. They also offered to befriend us, and to be "helpful" to us. Slowly, they cut to the chase, educating us with words of persuasion. Don't bother to be involved with "trivial matters" in the society, they said. The world is what it is, how can you lawyers change it? Then, they directly asked him not to attend the funeral for Bao, who was not his relative, they said.


Exhibiting Chinese oddness: Josh at Cup of Cha writes about his visit to the Second China (Beijing) International Cultural & Creative Industry Expo:

One booth featured a laser tag-like shooting range, except it looked more like a military recruiting event. Instead of toy-looking guns you might see elsewhere, these looked like something that might intimidate the Taliban. Old folks, children, and women alike all took turns firing what can only be described as a plastic bazooka at a water cooler fitted with sensors.


New AIDS numbers: 218,107 reported cases in China: From The China Daily:

China reported 218,107 AIDS cases by the end of August this year, with an increase of 3,807 cases in August, said Dai Zhicheng, director of the Chinese Association of STD (sexually transmitted disease) & AIDS Prevention and Control.
In central Henan and southwestern Yunnan provinces, the reported infected cases exceeded 30,000, Dai said at a recent seminar to raise people's awareness of AIDS in Liaoning Province.


China's new labor law - it's a huge deal: The China Law Blog looks at what changes to expect from the new labor law, set to go into effect on the first of the year:

The new labor law is going to apply to all employers, no matter how few employees (even one!) they might have. It is going to require all labor contracts be in writing and it will impose significant penalties on employers for failing to comply with this. Employees can claim double salary for months worked without a contract for up to 12 months' salary. This rule is absolutely going to apply to "informal" employment relationships common to so many foreign businesses doing business in China. Expect a whole slew of lawsuits to be filed on January 1, 2008, by employees seeking double damages for the 12 months they just completed without a contract.


Jiang Rong's Wolf Totem wins Man Asian Prize: From the IHT:

"Wolf Totem," a Chinese novel that has attracted critical and popular acclaim for its thought-provoking reflections on Chinese culture and society by Jiang Rong, a publicity-shy first-time author who writes under a pen name, has won the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize.

There are currently 3 Comments for Danwei Picks: 2007-11-12.

Comments on Danwei Picks: 2007-11-12

Wow, so Fascism just won the Man Asia Prize.

Plus, with the panel's exegesis; it utterly reminds me of a commentary in the New York Times Magazine article on the Chinese art movement in 1994; in Nanjing dialect, I love you means pass the oil. Westerners like myself think that the Chinese are expressing affection when they're really having a conversation about cooking.

Inst: You're the second person in the space of a week who I've seen call Wolf Totem fascist. What's the story there? Is there anything beyond an offhand remark by Kubin in that interview that stirred up so much trouble?

No, the notion and speaking the notion just amused me. It's absolutely after reading Kubin from ESWN.

Post a comment

All comments are moderated and subject to review by Danwei contributors and editors, but well-grounded and articulate comments will be published regardless of which way they lean. Because comments published on any website ultimately contribute to the character of that website, we may decline to publish comments that are irrelevant, redundant, or that do not adhere to generally accepted standards of courtesy; if you are looking for a fight, there are plenty of other venues available online.


Some useful html: <b>bold</b>, <i>italic</i>,
<a href="http://www.danwei.org">link</a>

Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
090609guardian2.png 090609CNN3.png
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
laomo2008fpA.jpg
Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
Diamond Hill by Feng Chi-shun: Feng's memoir Diamond Hill describes an era of gambling and gangsters, Suzie Wong and squatter villages, fires and food stalls, and the Kowloon Walled City and its white powder. "A time when people were poor, but life was rich," he says. The world that he grew up in no longer exists, but his book - the first ever on the Diamond Hill refugee settlement, in either Chinese or English - offers a candid picture of what life was like for most Hong Kong residents in the 1950s.
William A. Callahan's China: The Pessoptimist Nation: China: The Pessoptimist Nation shows how the heart of Chinese foreign policy is not a security dilemma, but an identity dilemma. Through a careful analysis of how Chinese people understand their new place in the world, the book charts how Chinese identity emerges through the interplay of positive and negative feelings in a dynamic that intertwines China's domestic and international politics.
The WTO ruling: a half victory at best: In August 2009, a World Trade Organization panel ruled against China's system of monopoly control over entertainment products. Was this the victory supporters hailed as the dawn of a new day for American and global entertainment companies in the China market?
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ Street hawker cries of Beijing (2006.12): Yang Changhe demonstrates hawker's cries in a video shot by Muzimei.
+ New Weekly: Do Chinese kids know anything about traditonal Chinese culture? (2004.06): Q: Do you know what China's four great inventions are? Paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder 49.3% know all four, 37.3% get one or more wrong, 13.3% don't know at all (2004.06.12)
+ Some questions about SARFT's full-stop for Red Question Mark (2007.09): SARFT axes Red Question Mark (红问号). He Dong (何东) responds.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky rsschiclet2.png (on the mainland)
or Feedburner rsschiclet.gif (blocked in China)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Top Links: Links from the top bar
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Jobs: Want ads
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30