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"Is this how you will treat journalists when China hosts the Olympics?" I ask one of them. "Oh, everything will be different then," he says.
Penguin gets big money for Victoria Beckham's new style book from a Chinese publisher.[The Bookseller]
HarperCollins will distribute a travel guide published by China's military just in time for the 2008 Olympics. [Forbes]
Macmillan hooks up with Chinese publisher FLTRP (Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press) for Chinese course guides. [The Bookseller]
America is the "developed" market, China the "derivative" one. So the gimmicky phrases we at first adopt to describe cultural currents end up doing much more to drive the trends once exported to China. So it is with LOHAS in the booming metropolises. There the appeal is obvious right now, given the glaring ills of the country at large....
The Party is not blind to this. It's no coincidence that Beijing has been talking LOHAS in its own right for quite a few years now.
This is the Hot 100 list that appeared in the September 2007 issue of Maxim (风度). There's more information here.
Hollywood Division
《风度》进驻全球美色前线，在各民族美女大熔炉的好莱坞，为你铺陈无边的风光。
50 玛丽·伊丽莎白·文斯蒂德 Mary Elizabeth Winstead
49 凯瑟琳·海格尔 Katherine Heigl
48 妮可·斯彻金格 Nicole Scherzinger
47 凯特·温斯莱特 Kate Winslet
46 阿什丽·泰斯代尔 Ashley Tisdale
45 艾丽·拉特 Ali Larter
44 小甜甜布莱妮 Britney Spears
43 克里斯蒂娜·杜米特努 Cristina Dumitru
42 巴尔莱法利 Bar Refaeli
41 蕾哈娜 Rihanna
40 齐亚拉 Ciara
39 凯萨琳·麦克菲 Katharine McPhee
38 卡门·伊莱特拉 Carmen Electra
37 凯特·贝金赛 Kate Beckinsale
36 罗塞莉·桑切斯 Roselyn Sanchez
35 希拉里·达芙 Hilary Duff
34 安妮·海瑟薇 Anne Hathaway
33 埃尔莎·帕塔奇 Elsa Pataky
32 索菲娅·布什 Sophia Bush
31 凯特·摩丝 Kate Moss
30 阿什莉·辛普森 Ashlee Simpson
29 杰西卡·辛普森 Jessica Simpson
28 杰西卡·贝尔 Jessica Biel
27 妮莉·费塔朵 Nelly Furtado
26 艾薇尔 Avril Lavigne
25 伊丽莎·库斯伯特 Elisha Cuthbert
24 珍妮弗·洛佩兹 Jennifer Lopez
23 米拉·乔沃维奇 Milla Jovovich
22 哈里·贝瑞 Halle Berry
21 菲姬 Fergie
20 凯拉·奈特丽 Keira Knightley
19 德鲁·巴里摩尔 Drew Barrymore
18 查理兹·塞隆 Charlize Theron
17 夏奇拉 Shakira
16 卡梅隆·迪娅兹 Cameron Diaz
15 莫妮卡·贝鲁奇 Monica Bellucci
14 帕蒂斯·希尔顿 Paris Hilton
13 碧昂丝 Beyonce
12 莎拉波娃 Maria Sharapova
11 伊娃·格林 Eva Green
10 梅根福克斯 Megan Fox
9 娜塔丽·波特曼 Natalie Portman
8 安吉丽娜·朱莉 Angelina Jolie
7 罗斯·麦高恩 Rose Mcgowan
6 伊娃·朗格丽娅 Eva Longoria
5 伊娃·门德斯 Eva Mendes
4 克里斯蒂娜·阿奎莱拉 Christina Aguiiera
3 林赛·罗韩 Lindsay Lohan
2 杰西卡·阿尔芭 Jessica Alba
1 斯嘉丽·约翰逊 Scarlett Johansson
Asian Division
亚洲火上浇油，热浪滚滚，50个姑娘彻底掀翻屋顶掀翻天灵盖，狂欢派对昼夜无休，几多鼻血付诸东流。
50 金允珍 Yunjin Kim
49 赵琳 Zhao Lin
48 郑希怡 Yumiko Cheng
47 林可彤 Juliet Lin
46 全度研 Jeon Do-yeon
45 刘亦菲 Liu Yifei
44 梁洛施 Isabella Leung
43 罗海琼 Luo Haiqiong
42 李曼 Li Man
41 温岚 Landy Wen
40 爱戴 Edell
39 赵薇 Vicki Zhao
38 萧淑慎 Suzanne Hsiao
37 小宋佳 Song Jia
36 莫文蔚 Karen Mok
35 李玟 Coco Lee
34 白歆惠 Bianca Bai
33 阿朵 A Duo
32 邬君梅 Vivian Wu
31 李笼怡 Tiffany Li
30 苗圃 Miao Pu
29 蔡依林 Jolin Tsai
28 胡可 Hu Ke
27 霍思燕 Huo Siyan
26 乐基儿 Gaile Lok
25 林爽 Lin Shuang
24 张雨绮 Kitty Zhang
23 吴佩慈 Pace Wu
22 朱茵 Athena Chu
21 徐怀钰 Yuku Hsu
20 李孝利 Lee Hyo-lee
19 小S Xiao S
18 于娜 Yu Na
17 李小璐 Li Xiaolu
16 汤唯 Tang Wei
15 曾黎 Zeng Li
14 宁静 Ning Jing
13 张静初 Zhang Jingchu
12 黄圣依 Eva Huang
11 林熙蕾 Kelly Lin
10 周樵 Zhou Qiao
9 徐若暄 Vivian Hsu
8 林嘉绮 Patina Lim
7 钟丽缇 Christy Cheung
6 范冰冰 Fan Bingbing
5 周迅 Zhou Xun
4 Maggie Q
3 章子怡 Zhang Ziyi
2 舒淇 Hsu Chi
1 林志玲 Lin ChilingHOT 100+1 巩俐 Gong Li
It is not surprising that, in the highly bureaucratized world of Chinese Communist Party politics, the guys who make it to the top level are careful, conservative, yes-men, who have made a career out of sensing which way the political wind is blowing and bending accordingly. We should not expect bold, individualistic leadership styles to emerge from such an institutional milieu. The era of powerful singular leaders (powerful in the sense of having the capacity to individually turn public policy quickly in new directions) is gone. There are no more Maos or Dengs. And that may be a good thing. Remember what happened under Mao's personalist rule (Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution) and how Deng turned out the army when things got rough in 1989.
But how different is the life of a rural Indian farmer 1,000 miles from Delhi with a vote, and a rural Chinese farmer 1,000 miles from Beijing without a vote? Probably not much. China has never been a democracy, even before Chairman Mao it was ruled by an Emporer and further back split by feuding warlords. Democracy has only become a consideration as the country engages with Western democracies.
Surely if we reject China for some of its values, we are rejecting the opportunity to engage in cultural and social debate about those differences, and to encourage the country to embrace democracy as we have in the West? After all, 25 years ago we would scarcely have considered China to be the economic powerhouse it has become. It has shown a willingness to change - that is a good starting point.
What's most important is that upon knowing that the UA had smashed someone's push stall, I believe that Chongqingers have seen it so often that it doesn't even strike them as unusual now; at the time I also didn't expect the incident to keep escalating to as large as it did. The UA don't just smash people's rice bowls [means of living], but their dinner tables too...not letting people eat, not even letting them earn a living...
From just after seven straight until midnight, the "upstairs" officials took their sweet time getting there, I really don't know what good they thought dawdling around would do....It was around eleven when I heard the first bang, and I thought the police had fired a warning shot, so I took out my camera; but then a flame shot out, then smoke, and the crowd went chaotic...you couldn't see anymore who was a cop and who was a civilian...
Beijing is providing funding for the country’s first home-grown venture capital funds in an attempt to foster a local industry to rival foreign funds operating in China and kickstart a new development zone.
As many as 10 funds with a combined total of more than Rmb20bn ($2.6bn) to invest, including joint ventures with foreign funds, will be approved for the Tianjin Binhai New Area, a new special economic zone, according to a senior government official.
Beijings’s state-led approach to fostering a domestic private equity and venture capital industry has raised eyebrows among managers of foreign funds in China.
After reporting yesterday that Chinese military hackers had compromised Pentagon computers, today The Financial Times reports:
China strongly denied reports on Tuesday that its military was behind a successful hacking attack on the Pentagon computer network earlier this year.
Jiang Yu, a foreign ministry spokeswoman, said at a regular news briefing on Tuesday the accusations against China were 'absurd'.
In a government-sponsored survey on spirituality in China that was conducted earlier this year, officials were shocked to find that 31.4 percent of Chinese 16 or older are religious, putting the number of religious believers in China at approximately 400 million -- way higher than initially thought....
But the Chinese are not just coming to Jesus en masse, they are also turning to Allah, Buddha, and to many other religions (and cults). More schools in China are now opening their doors to religion, and China is also becoming the most unlikely birthplace of progressive Islam, with the establishment of female mosques (unheard of elsewhere) and one of the largest numbers of ordained female imams.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has agreed to declare and disable all its nuclear programs by the end of this year, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said here on Sunday...
Kim Gye Gwan, head of the DPRK's delegation, confirmed that his country had shown 'clear willingness' in the talks to fully declare and disable its nuclear programs...
... 'We are happy with the way the peace talks went ... And we reached agreement on a lot of things,' he said in Korean.
... But Kim did not mention the end-of-2007 timeline for its nuclear declaration and disablement actions.
From The Wall Street Journal:
China will give the U.N. secretary-general 'basic data of its military expenditures for the latest fiscal year,' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said yesterday in a statement posted on the ministry's Web site.
China stopped providing data for the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms -- which details imports and exports of seven categories of conventional arms -- in 1996, after a 'certain country' gave the register details about its arms sales to Taiwan, Ms. Jiang said in the statement. The country wasn't named.
China will resume giving data on its arms deals because that country has stopped providing information on Taiwan, Ms. Jiang said. The Foreign Ministry statement said China will provide information starting this year, but didn't give a specific date.
According to the U.N. register, the U.S. first reported exporting arms to Taiwan in 1995. It last listed arms exports to Taiwan on the 2004 register.
...the donor organization to require the students to write reports on their schooling lives is completely justified. The donor has the right, prior to granting the funds, to put forth a few requirements, such as where the money is to be spent, or what level of performance the students are to attain - basically donors and charity organizations must all make use of these sorts of approaches to ensure that their money doesn't get abused, and to see the fruition of their original intention.
....Writing letters directly to the donors implies they will be faced with an extremely unequal relationship, with what seems would be a forced, mandatory expression of feelings of appreciation. The later situation proves that this coerciveness is not just psychological pressure, but that it's part and parcel of the whole engagement. This would leave one with an extreme desire to get out, not perhaps of giving thanks itself, but of the forced requirement to do so.
Like other fundees, Duan also went through a "mentally tortuous" process, singing "heart of gratitude" and dancing on stage along with the generous donors....
Many students like Duan went through the fancy ceremony to receive their financial assistance. But many later chose not to show up at a second such event, and didn't even write a letter of thanks to the donors, according to the Xiangfan's workers union, which organized the donation extravaganzas on behalf of the women entrepreneur-philanthropists.
Related: Should students decide whether their classmates are poor?.This isn't the Cold War anymore. China was cozy with Zimbabwe and sold them all the neat internet filtering and radio jamming technologies its own government so enthusiastically employs. But it was never about ideology. It was about strategic interest. And for whatever reason, China's decided it's no longer in its interest to throw its weight behind Robert Mugabe.