« August 12, 2007 - August 18, 2007 | Main | August 26, 2007 - September 1, 2007 »

August 25, 2007

Party leaders target government retribution against Web users

From David Bandurski at CMP:

In a rare show of tolerance in Internet policy, top party and government leaders in the prefecture-level city of Luoyang released a notice recently prohibiting subordinate offices from employing technical means to dig up information on individual Internet users with an eye for retaliation....The policy comes as ordinary Internet users are increasingly being targeted by local authorities in China for posting content regarded as damaging to local government reputations.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 11:11 AM |

August 24, 2007

Nine seconds with the Chairman and a pop star

Xiao Qiang at CDT translates imagined conversations between Hu and Andy Lau during their 9-second handshake at a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's return:

Hu: I know you. (Lau cries)
Hu continues: Isn't your name Jacky Cheung (Lau cries again.)
Lau - shaking Hu's hand hard: Thank you Chairman Jiang. (Hu cries.)

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 12:17 PM |

Ho to sell the bank

The Financial Times reports:

Stanley Ho, the Macao gaming tycoon, is in advanced talks to sell a majority stake in his empire’s banking arm to China’s largest lender, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China...

...Although a minnow compared with ICBC, Seng Heng is Macao's second-largest locally incorporated bank with assets of 25.4bn patacas ($3.2bn), profits of 312m patacas last year and nine branches in the special administrative region.

Seng Heng was acquired in 1989 by Sociedade de Tourismo e Diversoes de Macao, Mr Ho’s flagship gaming, transport and infrastructure conglomerate. Mr Ho is Seng Heng’s chairman and managing director.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:25 AM |

August 23, 2007

17 million people in Beijing

From the Associated Press, quoting Xinhua:

[T]he population included 12.04 million permanent residents holding Beijing 'hukou,' or household registration certificates, along with 5.1 million migrants, citing figures released by the Public Security Ministry at a workshop Monday on the country's managing of the migrant population.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 11:38 AM |

705 foreign correspondents in China

In an article titled 'China welcomes foreign journalists - FM spokesman', Xinhua gives some figures for the number of accredited foreign correspondents in China:

There has been a sharp increase from 606 resident foreign correspondents from 315 organization based in 49 countries in China since the year's start to 705 from 351 media organizations based in 53 countries, while 2,060 foreign journalists came to China on reporting tours.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 11:33 AM |

Stamps from Manchukuo

A guest post by Alexander Akin at Frog in a Well that a number of Manchukuo stamps, with an eye toward how they were intended to promote the legitimacy of the country.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 9:04 AM |

How government waste threatens conservation

Tang Hao at China Dialogue examines the causes of fiscal irresponsibility:

Recent increases in property and land prices have meant rocketing incomes - far in excess of GDP growth - for local governments, who have a monopoly on land resources. This has meant more and more waste, and in other countries the government could not act so freely. Excessive government spending betrays a lack of political awareness - and a lack of respect for the taxpayers and their money. Government officials believe the only way they can benefit from the money is to spend it, and act as if there were no point in saving it. The motto seems to be: as long as the money doesn't actually end up in your pocket, spend it as you will. This attitude damages both social and political morals.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 8:31 AM |

Shandong to dead workers: blame yourselves

Adam Minter at Shanghai Scrap picks apart several state news reports on a disaster at an aluminum plant in Shandong:

Large, modern aluminum plants don't explode because someone failed to replace a liner. If worker error was responsible for the accident, that error could only have occurred if there was a fatal design or safety flaw in the plant itself.

It's no surprise that the Shandong safety authorities would quickly act to protect a large (partly state-owned) employer from having to take responsibility for a large industrial accident (see: Xintai mining disaster). What is surprising - or at least, novel - is the approach that they take in this case, tacitly suggesting that one of the China's largest aluminum producers was actually operating like a wildcatter.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 8:28 AM |

August 22, 2007

Natural and human disasters

The Black and White Cat blog looks at reactions from three SMD commentators to the mine disaster. The writers wonder whether institutionalized procedures turned a preventable accident into a catastrophe.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 5:31 PM |

How to tarnish your China image (or not)

China Law Blog annotates a post from Wu Way on five ways to shoot your business in its metaphorical foot:

1. Open a store at the Great Wall. In light of China's history, its reaction to Starbucks at the Great Wall is "not surprising." The lesson here is that "if a Chinese official gives you the green light to open up at the Great Wall - or any other iconic cultural location in China - think twice."

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:14 AM |

After the scandal comes the totally illogical explanation

ESWN translates an SMD opinion piece by Cao Lin regarding media reports that cadres staged a "disaster relief show" of aid dispersal, only to demand that villagers return the money once the journalists left:

Yet, what are the 'facts' as produced by the Gaoling people? The village cadres were "careless" and gave the "disaster relief funds" to the wrong people and the reporters "misunderstood" this action. Wow! Brothers and sisters, never mind whether the general public believes that! Would you believe such an explanation yourself? Can you convince yourself in terms of logic and experience? How can you give these very important sums of money to the wrong people? Why was this discovered just after the superiors and television crews left? Why do you admit the mistake only after the media reported on the case? The public may not be able to see the facts. But relatively speaking, the media reports about the "disaster relief show" is more consistent with the logic, knowledge and reality of China today.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:08 AM |

August 21, 2007

Lonely Planet Ch na

FEER's Traveller's Tales blog finds a strangely-edited copy of Lonely Planet Shanghai for sale at a Xinhua Bookstore.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 5:39 PM |

Bad air or bad journalism?

An article in The Daily Telegraph that was not written by its Beijing correspondent reveals the dangers of ex situ journalism. As the Olympics approach, we can expect more of this.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 2:52 PM |

Google buys stake in top Chinese BBS

Google has bought an undisclosed stake in Tianya.cn, one of China's leading online discussion forums that has become a main distribution point for breaking news from citizen journalists.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 2:14 PM |

China's rising generation of worship leaders

Hudson Tsuei at the Christian Post writes about a religious music instructor:

In 2000, he started his music school, which could only provide barely-usable electric keyboards for students to practice music. Three years later, the first class of graduates was being dispatched to house churches throughout China.

Since then, the school grew to include several classrooms, new pianos, an ornate music hall, a practice room and a library....The students at the school come from virtually every corner of China - from Yunnan Province in China's southwest to the northeastern province of Heilongjiang. Though most students are of Han-Chinese origins, a few are from the Miao ethnic minority.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 1:15 PM |

The Chinese novel finds new life online

Aventurina King at Wired News looks at the lucrative world of online fiction:

more and more internet authors now prefer web to print publishing. To promote sales, publishing companies often require the author to keep a novel's ending exclusive to its print version. In the past, this had resulted in the online organized demonstrations of angry readers who felt cheated into spending money on the print version. Now, according to Li, the web gives online authors enough confidence and financial support to refuse print-exclusive endings.

Related: Trendspotting in online fiction.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 1:10 PM |

Hardest-working editor in Chinese media

Xiao Qiang at CDT presents five nearly-identical front pages from 19 August:

For all official newspapers, what appears on the front page and even at which position using which fonts, have been instructed by the Central Propaganda Department for decades. This is not news. But it is still rare that five newspapers, including four nationally published ones such as People's Daily, Guangming Daily, Economic Daily and PLA Daily, ran almost identical front page layouts on the same day, including the headlines and placement of photos and articles. This is one sign that recent media control has been tightened to an unusual degree.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 1:03 PM |

August 20, 2007

The squeeze on print on demand websites

print_on_demand.jpg
'Print on demand' websites that offer custom book publishing services face regulatory obstacles in China because book publishing is an activity that requires special permits from the government. But is once-off publishing really a threat to the harmonious society?

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 5:55 PM |

Talent show banned for vulgarity

China's TV regulators have been complaining about the vulgarity of talent shows for more than a year; now they are starting to act, with the banning of Chongqing TV's program "Shock to the Heart".

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 4:48 PM |

Bye bye baiji dolphin

A guest post from Me Old China: R.I.P. baiji dolphin, one of the world's few fresh water dolphins and former resident of the Yangtze River.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 4:44 PM |

WPP grows 29% in China

The Wall Street Journalreports that advertising and communications behemoth WPP is growing strongly in the Asian-Pacific region, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. The article gives some figures from head adman Martin Sorrell:

Sir Martin said in addition to WPP making numerous acquisitions in China and India in the past year, the group saw organic growth of 29% in China and 20% in India, excluding acquisitions.

Direct marketing and digital-related activities accounted for about 23% of the group's revenue. In May, WPP said it planned to buy Internet-advertising firm 24/7 Real Media for $649 million.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 1:46 PM |

Chinese entrepreneurs in Africa

An article by Howard French and Lydia Polgreen in The New York Times looks at Chinese entrepreneurs in African countries like Malawi, Chad, Zambia and Ethiopia.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:51 PM |

Mortgage slaves

This is a post by Roland Soong about 171 new Chinese words recently recognized by the Chinese Ministry of Education, including words like 吊瓶族 -- (the tribe with the dripping bottles) — pushy people who enter the hospital and immediately demand IV feed regardless of their cause for being there, 2时歇业令 — the regulation for entertainment facilities to half business at 2am, and 房奴 — (house slave) people who work to pay off their home mortgage loan. Soong concludes:

There is a debate whether a middle class exists in China. You look at this list of words. What are they about? It is the middle class.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:35 PM |

Sex overtakes drugs as China's main HIV problem

The China Daily reports:

Unsafe sex has for the first time overtaken drug abuse through injections as the main cause of new HIV infections in the country, according to the latest annual report released by the Ministry of Health (MOH).

The finding suggests the virus is spreading from high-risk groups to the general public.

Of the 70,000 new HIV infections recorded in 2005, 49.8 percent were through sexual contact, said a report released jointly by the MOH and the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Figures for 2006 are not available.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:17 PM |