Must-read China news by Danwei

The site is regarded as too expensive and the housing the leaders have built themselves too luxurious. Some houses are valued at over ¥740000 and have an area of 340 m2. This exceeds the figure of 90 - 100 m2 stipulated in the regulations set by national and provincial governments and is generally felt to be verging on corruption and something the city certainly cannot afford.

In a rare development, the national authorities seem to be taking the people's side. Beijing has been highly critical and a scathing article in the party's mouthpiece, The People's Daily, has been picked up and reprinted by regional newspapers all over China (and abroad). The article criticises the local leadership and compares Liuzhou's government to that of the Soviet Union and points out that it was abuse of privilege such as this which led to the downfall of the communist party there.

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The Dalaı Lama critiques are of course highly entertaining for the readers, who marvel at how little has changed since the Cultural Revolution. For the journalist writing/translating, it must be a bizarre experience being told to shut down the part of the brain that houses rational thinking and then sign your name to the article. I once asked a colleague how he felt about putting his name to a State Council rant about the Dalaı Lama. "I know I’m brainwashed but I still believe 80 percent of it," was the reply.

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Workers at the factories in Fuzhou accuse the management of cheating on pay, discriminating against young men and stifling a pioneering attempt to set up a trade union....

After a strike in 2006 led by young male workers, the Taiwanese management took a decisive step. "They were all kicked out," said an administration clerk.

Now the factory appears to discriminate illegally against men.The evidence was a prominent notice outside the gate. It said any men applying for jobs must produce a certificate from the public security bureau in their home towns proving they did not have a criminal record. No such rule applied to women.

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When being questioned if SMCs were monopolizing the rural market through administrative means, Zheng replied that the government redefined SMCs [supply and marketing cooperatives] as public entities in order to guarantee farmers' interests to the greatest extent. "Companies work to maximize profits, and therefore can't guarantee farmers' interests, especially when there're conflicts between different groups of people," he explained.

To Zheng's understanding, there wasn't a monopoly there. SMCs were just organizing individual entities together and supplying the same goods to them in the form of chain operations, he said, adding that not only was this saving money and labor, but also guaranteeing the quality of goods sold.

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Governments across Asia were rushing to secure rice stocks on Friday in the wake of a 30 per cent price jump in international markets.

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China is doing a great job perpetuating the domination of the Western media. Two of its most popular newspapers, the Global Times and Information Reference, derive most of their content from foreign media reports. How can you complain about Western media bias when it is one of your main sources of information? I think Chinese journalists spend most of their time hiding behind the words of the Western media, e.g. so and so said this about the PLA and this US professor said that China has many economic problems. The problem with the Chinese media is that hardly anybody voices their own personal opinion about anything, so the whole world relies on foreign reports.

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What I find a bit reprehensible is the tendency of certain Western voices to … raising concerns about China’s attempt to get into the African market because it is a bit hypocritical for Western states to be concerned about how China is approaching Africa when they have had centuries of relations with Africa, starting with slavery and continuing to the present day with exploitation and cheating.

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With an historian’s subtle grasp of China’s 5,000-year history (the author holds an M.A. in Asian Studies from the University of Southwestern Kentucky), Mr. Chestnut gives us a clear understanding of those timeless cultural forces that continue to shape the Chinese way in business. "Business is warfare," he says, "and the Chinese literally wrote the book." In just six chapters, Chestnut succeeds in distilling the ancient wisdom of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, and the classic works of just about every other notable Tzu not into nebulous platitudes, but rather into actionable insights that you can put to work at the negotiating table, in your marketing plan, or in managing your Chinese staff.

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The trial of Shanghai's former Communist Party chief, who was ousted in a sweeping corruption cleanup that began nearly two years ago, has begun in the northeastern city of Tianjin, reports said Thursday.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Chen Liangyu, the highest party official to be ousted in more than a decade, is being tried in the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court.

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The Chinese began experimental weather engineering in 1958 to irrigate the country's north, where average yearly rainfall compares with that during the American Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and sudden windstorms blasting down from the Gobi desert have made drought and famine constant possibilities. Today, the People's Republic budgets $60 to $90 million annually for its national Weather Modification Office. As for the return on this investment, the state-run news agency Xinhua claims that between 1999 and 2007, the office rendered 470,000 square kilometers of land hail-free and created more than 250 billion tons of rain--an amount sufficient to fill the Yellow River, China's second largest, four times over.

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One story that is not being reported, though it is one with a great deal of tooth, is that Tibetan boarding schools – from middle schools to universities – have been under lockdown for the last two weeks....Tibetan students are not allowed outside the gates of their schools, and their families are not allowed in to see them. Parents who visit the school must stay outside the iron-barred gate, and their interactions are monitored. In at least one school students are not allowed to be alone in a classroom without a teacher present from 6 AM to 9:30 PM, and the campus dorms are patrolled by teachers throughout the night. That there are plainclothes police around the perimeter is understood.

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Chinese President Hu Jintao expressed his views on the Taiwan and Tibet issues to his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush during talks over the telephone held Wednesday...

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We’re not sure whether to treat this as credible, but Sina.com and Xinhuanet are reporting that the Oxford English Dictionary has added one of our favorite Chinese words, 嗲 or dia, as an import to the English language.

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Fang, who had been treated in hospital for colon cancer since 2006, had been visited by a number of senior leaders, including Hu Jintao...who praised him for his "significant contribution to the Party, the Army and the People."

Hu urged all people in China to learn from Fang, who kept studying and publicizing his innovative political theories and displayed the firm faith, staunch will and lofty spirit of a Communist.

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Four U.S. soldiers died Sunday night in a roadside bombing in Iraq, bringing the American toll in the five-year war to 4,000...

...The grim milestone comes less than a week after the fifth anniversary of the U.S-led invasion of Iraq...

...Estimates of the Iraqi death toll since the war began range from about 80,000 to hundreds of thousands.

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It's interesting to compare China to Bollywood, since both film industries have a lot of similarities - government regulation of the import market, restricted content, demographically similar audience - but whereas Bollywood has become the only country capable of competing with Hollywood on the world stage, China seems to be binding the feet of its industry in the cradle.

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Ma Ying-jeou won Taiwan's presidential election, vowing to improve ties with China after eight years of pro-independence rule by Chen Shui-bian.

Ma, of the opposition Kuomintang, beat the Democratic Progressive Party's Frank Hsieh 58 percent to 42 percent, according to the Central Election Commission. About 75 percent of Taiwan's eligible voters cast ballots.

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Every once in a blue moon the local government is kind enough to open the doors of the Ohel Rachel synagogue and let Shanghai's ever-growing (or, more accurately, re-emerging) Jewish community celebrate their holidays in a proper temple. Tomorrow Shanghai residents will once again have the chance to step inside the more elegant of the city's two remaining synagogues and celebrate the Purim holiday.

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'I am closely watching and feel deeply worried about the global economic situation, especially the US economy,' Wen said. 'What concerns me is the continuous depreciation of the US dollar and when the dollar will hit bottom.'

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The oldest person in Tibet celebrated her 117th birthday in Lhåsa on Sunday...

...With economic development and improved medical care in Tibet, the lifespan becomes longer. Linzhou County has four centenarians. The average age in Tibet has risen from 35.5 in 1969 to 67, according to official statistics.

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I am writing to express my deep concern over the apparent blocking by Chinese authorities of international news websites, including that of the Guardian, www.guardian.co.uk.

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China's hunger for natural resources has set off a global commodity boom. Developed countries worry about being left high and dry, but the biggest effects will be felt in China itself, says Edward McBride...

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Early yesterday morning, a two-minute-long video clip began to be circulated on the Internet. The clip is divided into three segments. The first clip was taken inside a Heng Seng bank branch office with female workers dressed in uniforms. This served to identify the principal female character as a worker there. The second clip was taken in a hourly-rate motel room, in which the principal female character appeared in a nurse's uniform. The third clip was an act of sexual intercourse in a bedroom.

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So far their response is, "Well, our contract is with Fasco who hires the staff according to Chinese terms." That is pathetic.

And at least one of the attendants was a New Zealand resident hired from New Zealand under the impression she would be working for Air New Zealand but suddenly found herself signing a contract with this Fasco outfit earning a mere fraction of what her Kiwi colleagues got.

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Fujian officials have been caught in a bind: between, on the one hand, continued external pressures to allay public fears and, on the other, sources contend, internal criticism for bungling the blowback there and helping spur a rash of protests over other projects elsewhere. As such they hedged conservatively. They sounded shifty and abrasive. They made it seem only natural and self-evident that while the project was sound, its present location in Xiamen no longer was. They soft-pedaled on the media and popular dissent that forced them to adopt that posture and skipped entirely over the misguided planning in the area that played into the controversy to start. And most ominously, they defended the Gulei site in practically the same passive-aggressive manner they once had Xiamen.

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The outbreak of violence died down in Lhasa Friday night, after a tumultuous day that saw windows smashed, shops robbed, mosque burnt down and reportedly many casualties.

Witnesses said the unrest started around 1:10 pm on Friday, several people clashed with and stoned the local police around the Ramogia Monastery in downtown Lhasa.

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What's more, added protection means "workers are no longer acting as obedient as they were before", says the chairman of Jiangsu Huarui, a garment-maker with 8,000 staff. One reason is better protection from dismissal; another is that companies can no longer ask new hires to pay a fee that's forfeited if they leave.

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Shops were set on fire in violence in Tibet's capital of Lhasa on Friday, China's Xinhua news agency reported after days of rare street protests in the contested region.

Witnesses said a number of shops were burnt, the report said.

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Potatoes:

To provide you all with better service, we are migrating and expanding Tudou's central servers.

Our service will be suspended from 0:00 to 24:00 on 14 March.

At 0:00 on 15 March, our migration will be complete and Tudou will promptly return home.

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So I must say I was more than a little surprised when my beloved Shanghai Daily ran a story - this morning - containing this jaw-dropping revelation:

HALF the steel material sold at wholesale markets and now being used in construction has failed quality tests.

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Four government departments... announc[ed] that they will suspend construction in bad weather such as strong gales and sandstorms between March 20 and July 20 to prevent dust pollution, and a complete construction ban between July 21 and September 20.

The municipal meteorological observatory forecast earlier this month that the capital city is likely to see about 10 days of sandy weather this spring, close to the annual average but six more than last spring, citing the reason of warm and dry weather in sandy areas in the north China region.

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However, every story involving Wen Jiabao has to be approved directly by the Premier’s office and the journalist was told by the secretary that he couldn’t write his new story, even if it did reflect favourably on the government. Much better to stick to the November visit he was told. Safer. There was much annoyance in Xinhua of course as no news agency, albeit a highly dodgy one, likes to report three-month-old news, particularly if there is new information. Clearly another case of govermental stubbornness making everyone look stupid.

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It’s not easy to develop a responsible press, but it’s better to make the attempt to have one than not. It all eventually comes down to this: if you’re going to be stuck in a small room, better that it’d be with few frenzied Chihuahuas covering their turf than a hungry bear sitting in the corner. You can bat a few dogs away, but that bear’s in a whole different league, and, like it or not, he gets to make all the rules. And, like it or not, you’re probably going to let him. When the bear’s in charge, equality in any form is never part of the relationship. You either dance the dance or you get eaten. It’s pretty simple. Simpler than it ought to be. So much simpler than it ought to be that it can only be considered, at best, as low-browed.

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tbjblog: Is being a journalist in China as frightening and dangerous as it is made out to be?

ML: Being a foreign correspondent in China isn't that dangerous. My experience witnessing the 'shock and awe' bombing of Baghdad, from the inside, was dangerous. Getting shot in the leg in Manila was dangerous. Guns and other weapons aren't prevalent at the grassroots in China, so some of the 'normal' things that make a story dangerous aren't here. What's dangerous here is driving...

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Military spending, inflation and terrorist conspiracies may be dominating the China headlines in the West, but the big news on the home court this week is China’s push for reform of its numerous government ministries to create more streamlined super-ministries — a process known in Chinese as da bu zhi gaige (大部制改革). And as the National People’s Congress proposal for widespread ministry reform tops the official agenda, one of the most pleasant surprises is the way a number of mainland commentators are either downplaying or analyzing seriously what others are simply ballyhooing as a grand vision for change.

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This week I tried to visit Zeng Jinyan, Chinese blogger, wife of the detained dissident Hu Jia and mother of an infant daughter. I did not get far.

Near the door of Ms Zeng’s apartment block in the paradoxically named Bobo Freedom City compound near Beijing, I was stopped by a police officer and half a dozen plain-clothes security agents. The officer politely explained that I could not meet Ms Zeng without her prior permission. He was unmoved by my objection that authorities had made such permission difficult to obtain by cutting off Ms Zeng’s home telephone line and her access to the internet.

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China will set up five new 'super ministries'... the ministry of industry and information, the ministry of human resources and social security, the ministry of environmental protection, the ministry of housing and urban-rural construction, and the ministry of transport.

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We have to stop pointing fingers at other nations, making symbolic and hurtful gestures, while not looking first at our own governments, our own policies and our own national ethos. We cannot continue to judge without the expectation of being judged back, or in this case, to further alienate China from engagement in meaningful multilateral peace talks for the region.

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The Oscar-winning film director Ang Lee has written a letter of protest after a young protégé, whose sexually explicit scenes in his last movie turned her into a star, was deemed a 'non-person' by China's state censor.

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'We must aim at improving the capability to win high-tech regional wars and keep enhancing the ability of the military to respond to security threats and accomplish a diverse array of military tasks,' the president said.

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There is little way of garnering independent evidence, so you put in a balance.

But my story today was more difficult. I thought it was pretty weird that the claims about the Olympics terror attack just disappeared overnight. The China Daily version had the terror claims but nothing about the Olympics; the story that carried them originally - a Xinhua English-language report - was taken down from the website; and there was no mention in Beijing Chinese-language state media at all. (There was some in provincial newspapers).

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COVERING the latest session of the National People's Congress this week, your correspondent has been assailed and buttonholed and generally inconvenienced by countless Chinese journalists anxious to hear us confirm how "open and transparent" the "media environment" had become in the run-up to the Beijing Olympic Games, thereby bolstering the uplifting narrative of progress, enrichment and enlightenment that the central government has sought to foist on the local press.

...After a while, of course, cordoned off from the delegates by the organizers and surrounded by sweating deadline-wary hacks anxious to be let loose, I began to tire of all the attention, and told at least one local journalist that things were much better when the proceedings were held behind closed doors, because at least in that case we wouldn't be expected to report on them. But then I received an unexpected phone call.

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Little more than two months after the announcement that Tiger Leaping Gorge will not be dammed, plans for damming the Nu River (怒江) in western Yunnan near the border with Myanmar may become the focus of the next battle between Yunnan officials and environmentalists and scientists.

A plan to dam the upper reaches of the Nu, known as the Salween River after flowing out of Yunnan into Myanmar, was originally suspended in 2004 by Premier Wen Jiabao.

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[I]n 1942 he became headmaster of a CIC school in the remote mountain town of Shuang-shipu.

Here, at the crossroads of the Tsin-gling mountains in Shanxi province, he found his destiny.

At 27, Hogg was the head of a school that, even by the chaotic standards of China at that time, presented huge problems. Three brick classrooms stood on a steep and bleak hillside. There had been seven headmasters in 18 months. There were no books or writing materials. The kitchen was bare. There were no beds. The boys were covered in scabies, malnourished and lice-infested.

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Because of the environmental hazard, polysilicon companies in the developed world recycle the compound, putting it back into the production process. But the high investment costs and time, not to mention the enormous energy consumption required for heating the substance to more than 1800 degrees Fahrenheit for the recycling, have discouraged many factories in China from doing the same. Like Luoyang Zhonggui, other solar plants in China have not installed technology to prevent pollutants from getting into the environment or have not brought those systems fully online, industry sources say.

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Chinese beverage giant Wahaha Group has rejected a new cooperation plan put forward by French food group Danone, saying the ongoing peace negotiation is hard to continue, Wahaha said on Sunday.

Danone proposed the two companies merge all their businesses toform a new company that will eventually be listed on the A-share market. Danone and Wahaha will each hold 40 percent of shares in the new company, leaving the remaining 20 percent as public shares.

Danone wants to ensure at least 50 billion yuan (6.9 billion U.S. dollars) in market value if its shares in the new company are lower than 40 percent, said Zong Qinghou, board chairman of the Hangzhou-based Wahaha Group.

'But those proposals and conditions are groundless, and we cannot possibly accept them,' he said on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament.

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Flash game theft is nothing new. I’m actually quite used to having my games taken without my permission, and without receiving compensation. The difference here is that this is not some crappy no-name portal. This is The Olympics.

...they downloaded the swf file from my site, decompiled it, swapped out the little guy for the Fuwa characters, took my name off of it and republished it as their own. I can tell this is what happened because they are still using some of my original art from Snow Day (the clouds and the ice cube are exactly the same). I also took the liberty of decompiling their game and actually found it still contains the sound files from Snow Day, even though they aren’t being used in the Olympic version. It even still has the splash sound effect from The Lake (I used the engine from The Lake to make Snow Day and must have forgot to delete this file).

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Nanjie Village, the last “Animal Farm” in China, has been known by the Chinese as the ‘red billionaire village’ and ‘communism village’ until the recent revealment by newspapers that it has arrears around 1 billion yuan although it gradually changed its economic system years ago in light of some ‘capitalistic elements’. In a relevant review, Blogger Xiong Peiyun thought it indicates the failure of ‘communism myth’.

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[W]hat if the Manchu unification had been successfully challenged? In the 1770s and 1780s, the Tay Son brothers led a great rebellion which destroyed the old regimes in the north and south of what is now Vietnam by mobilizing the populace into mass armies. The Qian Long Emperor dispatched troops to support the old regime, which had been loyal to Beijing, but in the "First Tet offensive of 1789" the Vietnamese sent them packing. Tay Son dynamic rule replaced Chinese model government with a more indigenous style. Vietnamese brag that the Quang Trung Emperor thought seriously of incorporating the south of present day China, which had been ruled by Vietnamese towards the end of the Han Dynasty. There were to be two capitals, one Hanoi, the other Guangzhou.

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China's Ministry of Culture said Friday it will investigate into Icelandic singer Bjork's Shanghai concert during which she sho