« October 14, 2007 - October 20, 2007 | Main | October 28, 2007 - November 3, 2007 »

October 27, 2007

Fly on the hall

At Spot-On, Jonathan Ansfield writes on the 17th Party Congress, how journalists reported on it, how journalists reporting on it were handled, and what everyone else thought:

To really get the populace riled up about a Party Congress nowadays, Beijing has to screw up their lives. That was the net effect, in any case, of the routine traffic stoppages to make way for the convoys of delegates, the added blocks on thousands of web sites and pre-Congress beatings of several dissidents. Beijing even ended up rerouting the annual international marathon. At Capital Airport, domestic airlines began closing their gates fifty minutes ahead of time, instead of the normal thirty.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 5:03 PM |

The 500-meter wheeze

At Slate, Michelle Tsai explains how pollution at the Beijing Olympics could affect athletes:

It is possible to develop a tolerance to ozone over just a few days, but that doesn't mean athletes should spend extra time training in Beijing. In fact, Olympics coaches advise competitors against arriving too early and recommend wearing activated carbon filtration masks. That's partly because inhaling the tiny particulates in the air can have a cumulative negative effect on your physical performance.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 12:31 PM |

October 26, 2007

The joyous return of a delegate-hero

CDT presents a gallery of photos of party secretary Li Lianyu's return to Pizhou after participating in the 17th Party Congress in Beijing. People line the streets as Li marches at the head of a grand procession. Li intends to turn Pizhou, Jiangsu Province, into a world-renowned tourist city and manufacturer of environmentally-sound furniture. Non-widgetized gallery with translated BBS commentary at Global Voices Online.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 1:21 PM |

ICBC to take 20% stake in South Africa's largest commercial bank

The Financial Times broke the story but now even Xinhua has a report:

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's biggest lender, announced on Thursday it has reached an agreement to acquire a 20-percent stake in South Africa's Standard Bank for 5.46 billion U.S. dollars.

ICBC will become the top shareholder of the Johannesburg-listed Standard Bank, the largest commercial bank in Africa. The deal is expected to be completed at the beginning of next year...

...The Standard Bank has 1,501 branches and has a presence in 18 African countries and major financial centers in Europe, North America and Asia.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 11:00 AM |

Maggie Cheung ♥ Beijing-based architect

The That's Beijing blog has a post about the progress of the new CCTV building in Beijing. The post is also about Rem Koolhaas protégé Ole Scheeren (36), who is the Beijing-based architect supervising the project, and now dating Hong Kong screen idol Maggie Cheung (43).

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:41 AM |

The Book Gods of contemporary Chinese art

Book Patrol takes a look at book-related artwork by Xu Bing and Huang Yong Ping, whose work is showing at the Seattle Asian Art Museum through the beginning of December.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:14 AM |

Translating democracy

Richard McGregor at the Financial Times points a cynical eye at how China is putting Hu Jintao's ideals into practice:

What does the theory of the "scientific outlook on development" have to do with the creative spark that produces great novels and uplifting theatre? I should have known better than to ask this of Tie Ning, head of the official Chinese Writers Association, on the sidelines of the Communist party congress....

Naturally, as head of a group under "the guidance" of the party, Ms Tie believes Mr Hu's theory is essential for fiction writers. "'Scientific development' is, of course, highly relevant, because one of its important meanings is to 'put people first'," Ms Tie told me. (The latter slogan is another one of Mr Hu's favourites.)

Via China Digital Times

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 9:55 AM |

October 25, 2007

Non-Youtube videos about China

John at Sinosplice collects a number of China-related videos available on the (currently) unblocked Stage6 website.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 9:35 AM |

October 24, 2007

The most famous junk collector in China

JDM071024gaoxing.jpg
Gaoxing, the new novel by Shaanxi writer Jia Pingwa, is based on the life of Liu Gaoxing, a real migrant worker in Xi'an. Liu grew up with Jia and has told the Chinese media his story.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:34 PM |

Chang'e on her way to the moon

Xinhua and China Daily report that China's first lunar probe lifted off at 6:05 this evening.

The local television station has reported that at least 1,000 journalists have flocked to the town. "Journalists can be seen everywhere, carrying video cameras or long lens. You can't miss them," said a local TV reporter.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 6:36 PM |

To the moon today

From The China Daily:

The nation's first moon orbiter is scheduled to blast off at around 6 pm [today] from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

'It will be launched between October 24 and 26 and our first choice is around 6 pm on October 24,' Li Guoping, spokesman for the China National Space Administration, said Monday...

...The lunar orbiter is expected to enter the Earth-moon transfer orbit on October 31; and the moon's orbit, 380,000 km from Earth, on November 5.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:55 PM |

Irrationally exuberant: is Alibaba really worth US$7.8bn?

Paul Midler at 'the china game' runs some numbers and asks whether Alibaba is useful to serious businesses:

Alibaba.com is a website that provides information on China manufacturers (Yahoo! owns a 39% stake). The website serves as a kind of directory. Consider it a Yellow Page for prospective importers. Those who say that website is a great business model emphasize the company's first-mover advantage. Many also get excited about this being a 'B2B play'- the phrase is so '2000', but never mind that part. My lack of enthusiasm for the IPO has more to do with many uninspired experiences with the company's website. To be frank, I just don't get it. Aren't the best China supplier relationships those where the supplier and buyer are known to each other, where the two have an on-going work relationship?

via China Law Blog.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 12:34 PM |

More voices of reform in China

Richard Spencer talks to Beijing-based lawyer Li Heping about surveillance and harassment:

One of the great statistics of reform is that there were 3,000 lawyers in 1980, but 150,000 now, just a quarter of a century later.

But the status of those lawyers who take on the government I find curious. Some, like Gao Zhisheng, get into trouble after being particularly outspoken. Others seem to veer in rather an unpredictable way between a respected position and being targets of thuggery.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 12:29 PM |

The Three Gorges: a wiser approach

At ChinaDialogue, Jianqiang Liu writes about the changes in China's public attitude toward the Three Gorges Dam project:

Despite almost 20 years of debate and criticism of the dam - and the fact that its negative effects are already being felt - there had, until that moment, never been an official admission of its problems. This sudden admission from the Three Gorges Construction Committee is a sign that the central government is starting to look objectively at the dam's negative consequences - and will try to do something about them.

For the past 20 years, the public impression of the dam project in China has been shaped by an endless stream of glowing propaganda. Finding out the truth about the project (and not only about its environmental effects) has not been easy, including for journalists like me.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:13 AM |

October 23, 2007

Citic vs China Daily

The Traveller's Tale blog comments on a recent China Daily opinion piece congratulating CITIC, a state-owned investment company, for not putting money into Bear Stearns. Today, CITIC announced a billion dollar deal with the American securities firm.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 4:17 PM |

Blue skies, lackluster scenery at the Beijing Marathon

Oliver Robinson recaps the recent Beijing Marathon for tbjblog:

...the promotional material promised participants the best of the capital's "modern and historical" aspects but, in reality, runners were treated to little more than the best of Beijing's wastelands.

It'd be unfair, however, to blame the organizers for the marathon's uninspiring route, which had to be changed last minute owing to the happenings at this month's National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 12:27 PM |

Hong Kong's Olympic racism

The Asia Sentinel looks at how recent rule changes have essentially made ethnicity a condition for participation on Hong Kong's Olympic delegation:

Until recently, qualification to represent Hong Kong at the Olympics was determined by length of residence, in keeping with the territory's dependent status and the multi-ethnic origins of a significant part of its population. But now the Hong Kong government, perhaps abetted by Beijing, is changing the rules in a move that borders on outright racism.

Although qualification by length of residence remains the case with other dependent territories, such as Bermuda, it is being made a condition of joining a Hong Kong Olympic team that individuals have a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport, which requires that the person be of Chinese nationality. This is contrary to practice across the whole Olympic movement.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 12:02 PM |

Theme park opens in Anhui

Xinhua reports that a "Disneyland-type amusement park" has opened in Wuhu, Anhui Province:

The FantaWild Adventure Theme Park is almost the same size as the Hong Kong Disneyland, but has more emphasis on water features with 720,000 square meters of water surfaces. The park's "high-tech" facilities are at the forefront of its promotion, and its 300 features include "Mysterious River Valley", "Volcano Vesuvius" and "Dinosaur Island".

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 11:54 AM |

October 22, 2007

The new Politburo lineup

The new members of the Standing Committe of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party have been announced. They are:

Hu Jintao, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang.

This link leads to an IHT article that reviews the new Committee.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 6:37 PM |

Ali Baba to announce IPO today

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Today, Alibaba Group, its parent company, which is 39%-owned by Yahoo Inc., is expected to officially announce the initial public offering of Alibaba.com to Hong Kong retail investors. The IPO is expected to be the biggest ever by a Chinese Internet company, raising as much as $1.3 billion, with trading in Hong Kong set to begin early next month.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 9:49 AM |

Cop catches suspect using Google Earth

John Kennedy at GVO translates a post from GSeeker:

GSeeker reader "jiang shuai" recommended a XinhuaNet story today, of Li Xiangchun of the Changbing village, Maweitingjiang township police station in Fuzhou, who has been using Google Earth to create satellite maps of his jurisdiction. Roughly, the story goes, Lin Xiangchun spent a month inputting the key spots of his jurisdiction onto a Google Earth image. This took place over January and February of this year. From this, we observe the following few points:

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 9:27 AM |