The Olympic flame, by FHM
« March 2008 | Main | May 2008 »
April 30, 2008
Chinese students in U.S. fight view of their home
The New York Times has published an article by Shaila Dewan, with reporting by Michael Anti, about Chinese students in the U.S., and their views of the Olympic torch fiasco etc.
The nationalistic Global Times has published an abridged translation of the piece with the title The West has hurt the feelings of Chinese students.
The nationalistic Global Times has published an abridged translation of the piece with the title The West has hurt the feelings of Chinese students.
French group LVMH postpones vintage car rally in China
From Forbes.com:
French luxury-goods group LVMH has decided to postpone a vintage car rally that it was due to organise in China at the end of May, a company spokesman told Agence France-Presse.
The Louis Vuitton China Run was supposed to take place between May 25 and June 1.
Growing up Han in Xinjiang
The China Beat has published an interview with a Han Chinese man who grew up in Urumqi. He talks about ethnic integration, separatists and Han migration to Xinjiang.
Crisis management at Carrefour
ESWN has translated an article from China Business about how badly Carrefour dealt with the first 13 days of the ongoing PR crisis in which they are being scapegoated for disruptions to the Olympic torch relay in France and other Olympic related French offenses.
Crack down on child labor after newspaper report
On Monday, the Southern Metropolis Daily did an investigative report about children working in factories in the manufacturing base of Dongguan in Guangdong Province.
Now the China Daily reports that the city has been spurred into action:
Now the China Daily reports that the city has been spurred into action:
More than 1,000 children, aged between 9 and 16 from poor families in Liangshan, Sichuan province, have been lured to Dongguan, Shenzhen and Huizhou in the Pearl River Delta area, to work as cheap labor in factories, Southern Metropolis Daily reported.
Liu Zhigeng, Party secretary of Dongguan, has instructed the police and labor departments to rescue all youngsters as soon as possible and punish the people responsible.
The Southern Metropolis Daily is here (in Chinese).Republished old books illuminate China
Graham Earnshaw talks to the Shanghai Daily about his series of republished books about China in the old days:
Another Shanghai book is The Unexpurgated Diary of a Shanghai Baby by Elsie McCormick, a humorous little book that was first published in 1923.
Adopting the "viewpoint" of a one-year-old baby, the author describes the life of an American expat household in Shanghai in the early 1920s. Seeing the old days through the eyes of the baby, you might find the expat lifestyle surprisingly similar to that of today.
As in the old days, many foreign families hire a Chinese ayi who speaks only a little English, if any. At times, they still get confused by how the ayi cleans the house or does the laundry. And the ayi still can't understand when parents let the toddlers run around by themselves.
Such similarities are what Earnshaw considers "fun and significant," and a big reason for republication.
The Green Olympics and an actress as UN eco ambassador
At Global Voices Online, Kelly has a roundup of blog posts on eco issues, including Treehugger and The Seattle Times' Blogging Beijing blog.
Hounded by heparin, protests and CNN
Joyce Lau of the IHT blogs about China's PR crises:
But Beijing may be doubting its backfiring tactics, and secretly shameful of some of its own citizens' behaviour. (You know something is up when you see Chinese guards cracking down on pro-China protests; or when even Communist Party members writing for Mainland newspapers are getting death threats for being too "moderate" towards foreigners.) In the past, when it looked like it was all going wrong, Beijing would call out the tanks. But that iron fist thing is so Soviet-era 20th century. Now, they bring in the PR flacks.
Or at least this is what commentators are suspecting, with a sneer about the Bohemoth Chinese media / propaganda onslaught that will soon (or is already) being let loose on the world.
Does the central government run China?
Josh at the Cup of Cha blog comments on an LA Times op-ed piece by Francis Fukuyama:
China has always been highly decentralized in its power, owing greatly to its enormousness. Yet at a more fundamental level, placing the blame on local officials absolves the central government of much of its responsibility. While it’s true that Beijing does not want rogue local officials terrorizing Chinese citizens, it also has shown little desire to step into disputes unless absolutely forced. In other words, it wants things to be better, it just has little interest in facilitating certain types of change.
April 29, 2008
Talking heads spar over Carrefour boycott
Wang Xiaodong, a well-known nationalist academic and essayist, defended the Carrefour boycotts during a televised discussion last week that erupted into a heated argument.
Holy Hollywood! Welcoming John Cusack to Shanghai
Andrew Field relates his encounters with movie star John Cusack, who was in Shanghai doing research for a role in an upcoming period drama with Gong Li.
Bo Yang, noted Taiwanese essayist, dies at 88
Bo Yang (柏杨), an essayist, novelist, and popular historian famous for his influential book The Ugly Chinaman, passed away from lung disease, the AP reports:
In many of his essays, Bo told Chinese that their culture — a source of pride for centuries — has many shortcomings. He criticized the Chinese as selfish, unconcerned about other people's rights and being too willing to tolerate the abuse of power.
He argued fervently that those qualities hurt democracy and favored authoritarian regimes.
The Ugly Chinaman has just been adapted into a comic book.Is there a Secret Master Plan?
Richard Spencer compares the Chinese government's current behaviour toward the Dalai Lama with its actions toward Japan in the wake of the 2005 protests.
What is "the west"?
At the Zhongnanhai blog, Cam looks at the role of "the west" in the torch relay protests:
There will be conspiracy theorists, probably in this comments section, that will say India, South Korea, Japan, et al have all been influenced by the west, are "slaves of the west", or whatever convenient excuse people choose to create. But the bottom line is the FT movement - and the backlash against the Chinese government (not the people, I'm at pains to add) - is far from a western phenomenon.
China's theory on counterfeits
In Kenya's Daily Nation, Kaburu Mugambi reports on an investigation by ambassador Zhang Ming into imported counterfeit Chinese goods:
Addressing a China-Africa forum at the Nairobi Safari Club, the envoy noted: "We can produce good quality products, and Chinese businesses sell them. Good products are plentiful in China, so why buy low quality?"
...To investigate the claims, the ambassador took a walk along Nairobi's River Road, where he met a trader selling Chinese-made shoes of low quality, at Sh400 a pair.
"When I asked him why he was selling low quality shoes, he told me; 'if I don't sell such shoes people will walk bare foot'. This seller made rethink about this issue. Maybe he has reason to do such business."
A breath of fresh air
Jason at the Over and Out blog translates Han Han's Q&A with a young patriot:
Q 1: If a foreigner came up to you and slapped you across the face would you be nonchalant, not slap back and show yourself as the bigger person?
A: A foreigner has never came up to me and slapped me in the face.
via the Hao Hao Report.April 28, 2008
Weekend Olympic roundup
Imagethief covers stories about human rights, Brand China, detente with the DL, and other Olympics-relates stories that broke this weekend.
Guangdong factory makes Tibet flags
ESWN translates a Ming Pao article about a Guangdong factory that has been making snow lion free Tibet Tibet flags for an overseas Tibetan organization.
Sexy second right brother
Thomas Crampton writes about one member of the Chinese Olympic Torch security team who is becoming a heartthrob in China:
Second Right Brother (右二哥哥) is a member of the torch security detail who for many Chinese (women) has come to embody a new handsome hero standing up to protect China’s pride. Second right refers to his position in the security detail.
Why Bai Yansong opposes the Carrefour boycott
ESWN has translated a Southern Weekly interview With Bai Yansong, a journalist who wrote an essay opposing the Carrefour boycott.
April 27, 2008
The earthen homes of Yongding County
Barbara Koh writes for the New York Times about Hakka rammed-earth homes in Fujian:
Most Hakka view the buildings merely as shelter and their location and functions as outdated, noted Ping Yip, a recent master’s degree graduate in Hong Kong who researched and lived in the tulou. Yet, she said, "if all the residents move out, the tulou loses its cultural significance as a human settlement."
Souvenir of nationalism 2008
Now is not the time for patriotic demonstrations
Novelist and race-car driver Han Han urges China's students to refrain from extreme displays of patriotism.
Swedish broadcaster loses Nobel coverage deal
The AP reports that Sweden's TV4 has lost its contract to broadcast the Nobel Prize ceremonies after it permitted China's CCTV to censor parts of a speech:
The [Nobel] foundation claims TV4 violated its contract by letting China Central Television and Shanghai Media Group cut out parts of a speech by foundation Chairman Marcus Storch.
Foundation spokesman Michael Sohlman said the incident was "very, very serious. Especially if you take the contents of the censored speech into account."
via Absurdity, Allegory and China.Pilgrims progress: Khotan's new game
At Newsweek's Countdown Beijing blog, Jonathan Ansfield investigates the connection between the Haj and Uighur identity:
Though Beijing lacks evidence of organized extremism, there is "increased religious conservatism" in pockets of Uighur society, notes Dru Gladney, an authority on China’s Muslims at Pomona College in California. The religious revival has coincided with growing numbers of well-off Uighurs going on the Haj – considered a rite every Muslim should perform at least once in life. Nationwide, a total of 10,700 Muslims belonging to the Hui and Uighur Musliim minorities made the trip in 2007, 900 more than in 2006 -- though Party authorities have maintained strict caps on the numbers since opening passage to Mecca in the 1980’s....
Officials are careful not to implicate the Hajji in their crackdown on the "three evil forces". But as the ranks of Hajji and their "wannabe's" have mushroomed, Uighurs widely contend, authorities are quietly taking steps to limit movements to Mecca. Passport controls have tightened. In some villages in Khotan, Uighurs from the prefecture say, only one or two passports are being issued a year now, often to the highest bidder.
April 26, 2008
574 million mobile phone users
From The China Daily:
The mobile phone subscribers in China has risen to more than 574 million by March, as more fixed-line users switched to mobile services on lower rates, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information...
The nation's fixed-line operators lost 4.4 million subscribers in the first quarter, reducing the total fixed-line users to 361 million by the end of last month...
...The telecom industry reported revenue of 194.1 billion yuan (27.7 billion U.S. dollars), 10.8 percent higher than a year ago.
April 25, 2008
Hello, Dalai: talking again
Melinda Liu blogs at Newsweek's Countdown Beijing in response to the news that China may start up talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama.
But institutionalized talks between the two sides broke down in 2006. When my colleague Sudip Mazumdar and I interviewed the Dalai Lama in Dharmsala on March 20, he said he'd received private messages of sympathy from ordinary citizens, and even some officials, in China. And he expressed his extreme willingness to talk with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, for whom he professed "great respect".
Back to Our Motherland
The Mutant Palm comments on a website that instructs fed-up Chinese Canadians in how to renounce their citizenship and go back to mainland China.
More at Amoiist and Black and White Cat.
More at Amoiist and Black and White Cat.
Sweatshop report: Nine Dragons Paper a top exploiter
Interlocals reports on an investigation by Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) into working conditions at Nine Dragons Paper, a major corporation whose chair, Zhang Yin, has been quite vocal in her opposition to the new labor law:
Instead of giving proper response to the criticism, Zhang Yin tried to politicize the issue by saying that SACOM has been receiving European fund for badmouthing Chinese corporations. Zhang claimed that "they are targeting at the Olympic!"
Labour Unions in Guangdong and Dongguan have started to investigate the Nine Dragons paper labour condition, and they confirmed that the corporate had had the policy for fining workers who were victims of industrial accidents. However, they supported Zhang Yin’s claim that SACOM is organized to badmouth Chinese corporate and has been contributing to boycott on China product.
Darkness in the "White House"
China tries to reassure France
Xinhua's English website is today full of stories about China's good intentions to France, such as this Xinhua story titled 'President Hu: China values ties with France, unwilling to see events hurting Chinese feelings'.
The art of translation
At Artforum, Lee Ambrozy reflects on a debate between author Jiang Rong and translator Howard Goldblatt over perceived imperfections in the English translation of Wolf Totem:
How is it exactly that we go about viewing and interpreting art at an axiomatically global moment? While the appreciation of fine art does not require knowledge of a vocabulary or grammar (two eyes and visual references will do—perhaps one reason why Chinese art has been so much more widely circulated in the West than Chinese fiction), this candid dialogue between the most respected translator in the field and his subject demonstrated that not even professional eminence and the best of intentions can mitigate utter misunderstanding. One wonders how many similar conversations have unfolded between Chinese artists and the foreign curators and critics of their works.
via SinopopApril 24, 2008
Interview with a bullish environmentalist
Daniel Beekman has interviewed Wu Dengming, a former PLA officer who has dedicated himself to fighting for China's forests and rivers for the last 20 years.
China Daily: Nude photos of supermodels
Special thanks to China Daily for offering us free previews of nude photos of Kate Moss and Gisele Bundchen that will be auctioned off for thousands of dollars.
Rock fest harmonized
At Newsweek's Countdown Beijing blog, Jonathan Ansfield reports on the cancellation of the Midi Festival due to security concerns, and takes a look back at the festival's history:
Even the district government where the park is located was invested in Midi 2008. Despite speculation that clamps on non-Olympic events pre-Olympics would do in the rockfest, the Haidian District was kicking in 500,000 yuan, according to Chinese reports. But it apparently would take a lot more than money right now for Midi to hire police, who are already required to provide heavy security for the fest to get the go-ahead from police. But no security means no permit, either.
The tbjblog also has a report.The best building in Beijing
At the Bejing by Foot blog, Eric Abrahamsen describes the history and current situation of the New World Shopping Center:
This four-story building provided entertainment in the form of music, shows and dining, and all the fanciest people were seen there. It had a rooftop garden and was one of three buildings in Beijing to sport an elevator. Its glory days were short however: a guest committed suicide here in 1918, and shortly after that the walls of another nearby pleasure-palace collapsed, killing yet more partygoers. That killed the local vibe, and marked the end of Xiangchang Lu as the Sunset Boulevard of its day.
The boy in the Black Hole
David Bordwell visits Martin Chappell, the sound designer for Milkyway films like PTU and Sparrow:
It’s important to have a recorder with you all the time. You never know when some drunk is going to burst into song whilst lying in the gutter. In Sparrow, Simon Yam challenges Ka Dung to steal the cop’s handcuffs when they’re outside a bar late at night. So I just pulled the recording I’d made earlier of some drunk guys singing karaoke. It was late one night, I was walking back from the pub, and I heard it echoing out an alleyway.
I feel I’m incredibly lucky. I went out one night to get fresh recordings of a minibus for Linger. I’d scouted the spot, but when I got there the heavens opened and I didn’t have an umbrella. I ran to a nearby bridge—serendipity. I realize it’s next to a tram road, so I recorded buses and trams in the rain, and these sounds feature prominently in Sparrow.
Who to blame for empty search results
ESWN translates an account by a Qianlong reporter who attempted to show western media bias on the Lhasa riot issue by searching for keywords in the online databases of major news wires, and a response by a blogger who critiques the reporter's search skills and points out that "this page cannot be displayed" means that the keywords have tripped China's filters.
Australia, BOCOG tussle over torch security rules
The Herald Sun reports on a press conference that "descended into farce" when capital police got into an argument with the Beijing representative over who gets to guard the torch:
They were "trained security personnel with the ability to cover and evacuate the torch bearer in the case of an emergency", Mr Qu said as he read from the BOCOG relay manual. "Flame attendants are deployed alongside and behind the torchbearer to respond to any immediate threat against the flame or the torchbearer."
It is believed the BOCOG document also contains clauses, not read out by Mr Qu, stating that any security activity by the flame attendants would have to be at the behest of local authorities.
A clearly furious [ACT Chief Minister John Stanhope], sitting metres from Mr Qu, said there were "communication issues& about the Chinese guards' role."
Saving Beijing’s reservoirs
Gaoming Jiang, professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Botany, writes for China Dialogue on how Beijing can ensure an adequate supply of clean water:
Beijing could, at no great cost, change the way upstream agriculture operates and encourage the use of organic fertilisers instead of chemicals; the use of straw to feed livestock; dung to fuel methane power generation; and the by-products used as fertiliser – rather than being dumped into rivers. Beijing’s consumers could enjoy organic products produced upstream, the farmers could have a secure income and the rivers would be cleaner.
April 23, 2008
The retrial of Xu Ting
Two legal experts talk to The Economic Observer about the retrial of Xu Ting, who had his life sentence for ATM theft reduced to five years after a media outcry led the courts to reconsider:
When the case was returned to the lower court, the latter was under the impression that its superior was unhappy with the severe judgment, thus it started reviewing the case by arguing that the nature of "theft" in this case was unique as it was due to ATM malfunctioning. To alter the verdict, the lower court needed a legal ground, and found article 63 (2) of the Criminal Law that allowed the penalty to be mitigated based on unique circumstances of the case and with approval from the Supreme Court.
During the top legislative meets (in March), some higher court officials have openly commented through the media that the penalty on Xu was too harsh, this action is against the principle of judiciary independence, against the independence of the local court and the judge to carry out trial. Judicial proceeding should not blindly succumb to public pressure, however, it should pay attention to public opinion, this has been a practice in many countries.
Crazy English: the national scramble to learn a new language
Evan Osnos writes for the New Yorker about Li Yang's motivational English training program:
Li professes little love for the West. His populist image benefits from the fact that he didn’t learn his skills as a rich student overseas; this makes him a more plausible model for ordinary citizens. In his writings and his speeches, Li often invokes the West as a cautionary tale of a superpower gone awry. "America, England, Japan—they don’t want China to be big and powerful!" a passage on the Crazy English home page declares. "What they want most is for China’s youth to have long hair, wear bizarre clothes, drink soda, listen to Western music, have no fighting spirit, love pleasure and comfort! The more China’s youth degenerates, the happier they are!" Recently, he used a language lesson on his blog to describe American eating habits and highlighted a new vocabulary term: "morbid obesity."
via Pinyin News, which promises a critical study of Li Yang's methods in the near future.China faced with severe botnet problem
IDG News Service reports on recently-released data from China's National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team (CNCERT):
the estimate shows Chinese computers are disproportionately affected by the problem, accounting for 58 percent of all bot-controlled computers around the world. Moreover, the CNCERT numbers imply that 4.6 percent -- nearly 1 in 20 -- of the 78 million Chinese computers capable of accessing the Internet and in use at the end of 2007, based on a survey by the China Internet Network Information Center, were bot-controlled.
Chinese flags go overseas
China Daily reports that national flags donated through online appeals are being sent - sometimes free of charge - to various cities along the torch relay:
"We received 13,000 national flags since last Friday, when the appeal was made online," Jiang Ziniu, Sohu's media relations director, told China Daily Tuesday. Sohu has sent more than 3,500 flags to 24 cities in Australia, South Korea, the United States, Canada, Malaysia, Britain and France, he said.
An official at Beijing's postal authority said the flags are being mailed free of charge - and through express service - to such destinations as Canberra, where the torch relay is tomorrow.
Everybody is forced to take a side
Author and professional auto racer Han Han has been blogging about the Carrefour boycott. China Digital Times translates some excerpts:
Why is our patriotism so fragile and superficial? When others called us a mob, we cursed them and appeared to be aggressive. And then we claimed, "We are not a mob." It’s like when somebody calls you an idiot, you hold up a big sign in front of his girlfriend’s dog, protesting that you are not stupid. Although this message would be received by that person, he would still believe that you are an idiot.
Don’t Mass in Sheshan
Adam Minter of Shanghai Scrap explains why certain highways have restricted access "From 5am-5pm on April 30 and May 1, 4, and 24":
That is to say: It will be next to impossible to reach the church after 5 AM unless you want to walk (like pilgrims of old, I suppose). April 30 is the traditional start to the pilgrimage; the May 1 mass is typically said by Shanghai’s bishop (this year, too) and is always the best-attended; May 4 is the first Sunday of May, so that probably accounts for restrictions on that day; and the May 24 mass should be well-attended since it is - arguably - the most important in the 400 year history of the Shanghai diocese....
That is to say, the authorities have rendered this year’s pilgrimage inaccessible to anyone who wakes after 4 AM. Brilliant.
Adam also presents a vibrating water table in honor of Earth Day.April 22, 2008
Beijing has become the guardian of the Chinese brand
Globe and Mail correspondent Doug Saunders reflects on his current status as the Chinese media's foreign journalist who gets it:
It tells you something about the current dangerous state of events that millions of people inside China are willing to believe that there is a vast Western plot against them, and to congratulate me for "proving" this. But it tells you even more that hundreds of thousands of people living outside China are apparently willing to believe the same thing, despite having full access to free media — in fact, the social-networking sites of Web 2.0 have created a worldwide explosion of ethnic-Chinese nationalism.
Mandela envy
In this article on Slate, Christopher Hitchens looks at the history of Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF and South Africa's PAC, both of which enjoyed Chinese support while the ANC and Mugabe's rival ZAPU led by Joshua Nkomo were supported by the Soviet Union.
He also ponders the possibility that Mugabe's primary motivation may be Mandela envy.
He also ponders the possibility that Mugabe's primary motivation may be Mandela envy.
Bob Mugabe's ship of guns
This Danwei post is tracking the Chinese ship transporting arms for Robert Mugabe's government in Zimbabwe.
Scalping clamp down at Olympic venues
Although live events and performances in Beijing are often 'sold out', you can inevitably get tickets from scalpers outside.
But not at the Olympic venues it seems, not even before the Olympics have even started, at least according to the report linked here.
The link is to China Sports Today, a new website from the comrades at the GoKunming collective.
Publishing China Week: What you will be reading next (II)
From the London Book Fair, Access Asia's Paul French looks at upcoming China titles, ranging from journalist memoirs to business analysis, history to thrillers. Also, bad titles:
There's always a few with really bad titles. A candidate for this year's most over-hyped and unimaginative title is China Fireworks: How to Make Dramatic Wealth from the Fastest-Growing Economy in the World by Robert Hsu and out in May, closely followed by Becoming Your Own China Stock Guru: The Ultimate Investor's Guide to Profiting from China's Economic Boom by Jim Trippon.
See also Gary Bowerman's overview in Publishing China Week: What You Will Be Reading Next, Part IAnti-Carrefour mob attacks American in Hunan
Shanghaiist has published an email from a volunteer teacher in Zhuzhou, Hunan Province: 'a chilling account of an attack on his colleague by an anti-Carrefour mob'.
More sober follow-up here.
More sober follow-up here.
Olympic Torch relay in North Korea to be successful
But you knew that, didn't you. Xinhua reports:
The torch relay in Pyongyang will enhance friendship between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and China, the DPRK's Olympic chief said Monday.
The event will promote the cooperation and exchanges in sports between the two countries, and will show their traditional friendship to the world, said Park Hak Seon, chairman of the National Olympic Committee of the DPRK.
Olympic torch relay in southeast Asia
At Global Voices, Mong Palatino rounds up the views of some southeast Asian bloggers:
Jotman.com liveblogged the torch relay in Bangkok. The China Mogul remarks that the Thai police prepared not only for pro-Tibet protesters:
"In the Thai capital, police prepared not only for pro-Tibet protesters but also for demonstrators who are unhappy with China's support of army generals ruling in neighboring Myanmar."
April 21, 2008
The strange death of Tan Jing
On April 6, the New Express reported that a "half naked woman dropped from thirty-floor of Dongfeng Plaza, three foreigners suspected of throwing her out" Tan was later confirmed to be a model and actress, instead of prostitute as was previously speculated. The cause of her death is still unsettled.
When China learned to say no
Brainwashing in China, then and now
The Mutant Palm looks at the term "brainwash" (洗脑):
In contemporary China, "xinao" is a bit of a curious word. It is often used precisely as we would use it in the West, right now across the Internet in reference to CNN, or more loosely when author Wang Shuo called the 80s generation brainwashed by Hong Kong and Taiwan pop culture. Numerous stories appear talking about pyramid schemes "brainwashing" people into scams. But then there are the political campaigns mentioned online, such as "City and Rural Party Branches Hand in Hand", which says that in tackling rural poverty, material donations are not enough but city and rural party members must go to each others areas to "brainwash" and "liberate their thinking".
C-N-N
ESWN has translated a Wang Xiaofeng blog post about the anti-Western media movement, which also refers to the controversial intentional closure of his Massage Milk (see this Rebecca MacKinnon post) which was reported by Danwei, as well as Reuters and other Western media as censorship.
Zimbabwe arms ship leaves South Africa
The New York Times: has a full report on the Chinese ship An Yue Jiang that was carrying a cargo of arms bound for Zimbabwe.
After the South African government said it could not interfere with the shipment, the local union refused to unpack or move the cargo, and the ship left South African waters, possibly bound for Mozambique.
There is more information about the case on Africa Files.
After the South African government said it could not interfere with the shipment, the local union refused to unpack or move the cargo, and the ship left South African waters, possibly bound for Mozambique.
There is more information about the case on Africa Files.
China Returns to Africa - book review
The Times has published a book review of a 'hefty volume ... [of] essays by 24 academics of a dozen nationalities, who possess exceptional knowledge of China's operations in Africa.'
Successive chapters address such diverse subjects as the social influence of the 750,000-strong Chinese diaspora in the continent; Chinese medicine; the history of the disastrous Tanzanian railway; and, most important, the progress of Beijing's drive to buy into oil and mineral resources the length and breadth of the continent.
Seeking China law blogs
The Black China Hand, a lawyer - blogger himself, is looking for other blogs by lawyers and about law and China.
Richard Quest on speed
Richard Quest, the bellowing CNN presenter, was arrested in Central Park, New York last week with amphetamines in his pocket, and, according to the New York Post, 'a rope around his neck that was tied to his genitals, and a sex toy in his boot'.
Patriotic merchandise
Love China? Wear it on your T-shirt: Shanghaiist has trawled auction site Taobao.com for the best in nationalist T-shirt fashion.
April 20, 2008
The jingoistic genie
Occasional online commentator and veteran hack Me Old China wonders what rough beast now slouches towards Beijing to be born.
Clinton adviser quits over China rhetoric
From Politico:
A top expert on China has resigned as an informal adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign in the wake of the candidate's increasingly harsh anti-China rhetoric.
Richard Baum, a political science professor at the Center for Chinese Studies at UCLA, resigned in light of what he called 'grossly misguided accusations' made by Clinton about China.
Xinjiang 2021 Watch
From The Opposite End of China:
Back in 2006, the folks over at neweurasia asked me to write up a possible political/military scenario for Xinjiang in 2021. Ever since then, there has been a steady erosion in the perceived — and perhaps actual — stability of the region. What seemed like wild speculation at the time doesn't seem quite so outrageous now.
April 19, 2008
A letter from Grace Wang
The Chinese girl who has been vilified for getting on the wrong side of Tibet independence demonstrators and Chinese students at Duke university has published a letter in the Washington Post.
April 18, 2008
Help! We can’t go to China
FEER's Traveller's Tales blog reports that the American Chamber of Commerce is seeking visa anecdotes from members:
You can see the problem: Amcham exists to represent its members, but it is hesitant to call the Foreign Ministry a bunch of liars. It’s patently obvious what is going on from our Wanchai window — the line of angry laowais outside the visa office is curling around the China Resources Building. Americans can count themselves lucky that they can still get single-entry visas after filling in a form documenting their entire life story, genealogy and exactly where they will be during their stay in the people’s paradise — other nationalities have apparently been completely banished.
China's story: putting the PR into the PRC
At Open Democracy, James A Millward presents six things China can do to spruce up its international image:
It does no one any good if China and the rest of the world are separated by this chasm of mutual misunderstanding, the effects of which could linger well after the Olympics are over. It avails little simply to enjoin the Chinese government to tear down its information firewall or teach Chinese schoolchildren a fuller version of Chinese history. Like most criticism at this juncture, this will only seem like piling on the anti-China attacks.
Oddly enough, however, much could be gained if China only learned how to do a better job talking to outsiders about China. China has a plausible rationale for its actions, and need neither look like a bully nor feel beleaguered. But when it comes to public relations, the Chinese authorities - and some increasingly angry Chinese students studying abroad - are their own worst enemy.
via ImagethiefDriving without lights in Peking
Shrink what?
Marc van der Chijs has posted a picture of a rather amazing Chinese feminine health product that is used to 'kill spermatozoom' and several other remarkable things.
Media control is key condition for political reform
David Bandurski at the China Media Project looks at a book called Gongjian: A Report on Political Reform in China After the 17th Party Congress.
Apparently reflecting the views of Hu Jintao, the book says that keeping tight control of the media is a key condition for political reform to avoid chaos and color revolution.
Beijing - Shanghai high speed rail breaks ground
From Xinhua:
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao attends the ground-breaking ceremony of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway in Beijing, April 18, 2008. The railway, which will be completed in five years and run at 300km/hr to 350 km/hr, would cut travel time between the Chinese capital and the country's leading financial hub from around 10 hours at present to about five hours.
China bashing: it's back
John Pomfret describes the western media's abrupt turnaround on the China issue:
A few years ago, the Western media enthused about how Chinese were freer than at any time in their history. Remember the stories about how the Internet was going to set China free? Or village elections? Not anymore. These days the glass is definitely half-empty. Beijing obviously hasn't helped. Its human rights policies have taken a decided turn for the worse since President Hu Jintao took power in 2001.
And on foreign policy, a few years ago, even a few months ago, Western media outlets had a load of nice things to say about China; Beijing was downright pro-American. China was aiding the U.S. in North Korea and Afghanistan; it had helped convince Sudan to accept U.N. forces. A New York Times piece in October (with the great headline: Look Who's Mr. Fixit for a Fraught Age) concluded that China had suddenly become a key to the resolution of trouble around the world.
April 17, 2008
Taiwan's lawyers given green light for mainland
The AFP and Taipei Times report that China will allow lawyers from Taiwan to practice on the mainland following qualifying exams:
Ding Lu (丁露), director of China's National Judicial Examination Center, told Xinhua news agency that many Taiwanese want to take the exam to obtain qualifications to practice law in China.
In recent years, a number of people, including legal professionals, had enquired about China’s judicial exam and expressed a wish to take part, Ding said.
The move would help promote cross-strait exchanges and provide better legal services for "compatriots" living in both areas, Ding said.
The news will be of particular interest to Taiwanese lawyers, who have complained about a lack of access to the Chinese legal system.
The controversial baby books of China’s Dr. Spock
At the Wall Street Journal's Buzzwatch blog, Maya Alexandri writes about Xiao Wu's best-selling child care manuals:
Xiao Wu is against split pants, the Chinese toddler’s traditional togs, saying they contribute to children being toilet trained at too early an age, before the youngsters can control their bodily functions properly. And she counsels Chinese parents not to expect unconditional obedience from their child because doing so interferes with the child’s development as an individual.
What is in the minds of overseas Chinese youths?
At Asia Sentinel, Alice Poon translates Xu Zhiyuan's story of the experiences of a father and his son during their seven-year stay in Italy:
While the father fully appreciates the comfort and opportunities his new place of domicile has to offer and thoroughly enjoys his new experiences, the son struggles to find his true identity and station in life in the strange land, often depressed by unhappy personal experiences which he believes have something to do with his ethnicity.
Lao Wang is described as a typical middle-aged, pragmatic and hard-working Chinese emigrant from Wenzhou, Zhejiang, who is in the food trading business and who now lives with his son in Rome. He set up his own trading company in Rome in 2001 with a staff of about 10 persons, using his hometown as a food exporting base which employs a few hundred workers.
April 16, 2008
All his own work
Peter Neville-Hadley reflects on travel guide writing in the wake of Thomas Kohnstamm's admission that his work for the Lonely Planet guidebook wasn't as professional as it could have been:
Time after time LP books make only the vaguest gestures at useful directions or transport information. Time after time they say there's no public transport when there is. Time after time it's plain from the text that hearsay is being used. I once used to know one of the LP China authors who told me quite frankly that if he found he'd forgotten a phone number he'd just make it up. There wasn't time to go back and they weren't paying him enough to bother. And in effect, since he had not a word of Mandarin, he couldn't have used the telephone or printed references to find out even if he could have been bothered.
Mutual respect? It must be some kind of trap…
The Mutant Palm digs behind the Tibet protests, the mistaken manhunt launched by an online forum, cultural blinders, and anti-Chinese paranoia:
I prefer the term "Red Guard 2.0" for the sort of netizens who have been hounding the guy who isn’t Lobsang Gendun, since they have Google Maps and websites and newfangled technnology. And I especially reserve that title those who have been targeting Wang Qianyuan of Duke University and even more terrifyingly her poor parents in Qingdao, all because she, a Han Chinese girl, crossed the picket line and ended up in a photograph standing on the Pro-Tibet side of one protest. Some people are publishing photos of the building and front door of her parents apartment as part of the campaign to catch the "race traitor". It doesn’t seem much of an exaggeration to compare them to the Red Guard - issue them an armband tomorrow and they’re off to the races.
China to CNN: say sorry
Xinhua English and Chinese websites, The China Daily and most daily newspapers in Beijing are running a version of this as a top story today:
China is shocked by and strongly condemns CNN host Jack Cafferty's remarks, which maliciously attacked the Chinese people, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular press briefing on Tuesday.
Cafferty said in a TV show on April 9 that the Chinese products are 'junk' and the Chinese people 'basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years'.
April 15, 2008
Mmm. . .doughnuts
China Economic Review brings good news for doughnut lovers on the mainland:
While Dunkin' and Mr Donut duke it out in Shanghai, the last member of the global doughnut trifecta, Krispy Kreme, is looking to take its heavily-glazed, deep-fried rings to Shenzhen.
"We are negotiating with the franchisor but nothing has materialized yet," said Jim (Krispy Kreme’s Hong Kong CEO). "Shenzhen is a migrant city, many are from the north, and the people are more receptive to fried products."
See also: Donut Factory doesn't fill Shanghai's big donut hole at ShanghaiistThe real team Darfur
From Khartoum-based journalist and blogger Andrew Heavens:
A world away from the political rows over China and the Olympic Games, a young Darfuri man crouches down at the start of a cracked and pitted running track in the capital of Sudan...
...In a few years, Sudan is going to be on a par with Kenya and Ethiopia as a running nation.
Architect Ma Yansong Sells Out
Luke Mines of Sexy Beijing finds architect Ma Yansong pimping for a kitchen appliance manufacturer.
A Death Note for distribution
Kaiju Shakedown suggests that distributors would be wise to seek other channels for screening Asian films (Bollywood pictures excepted):
It's becoming increasingly rare for an Asian movie to gross over $100,000 at the box office in America, so what do you do? Stop importing them entirely?
...It's time to accept reality: Asian movies can no longer compete against Hollywood at the American multiplex, so maybe it's time distributors stopped acting like they were movies and they became special gatherings where local fans could interact and hang out? Distributors will be nervous about losing imaginary profits, and about slicing the pie up so thin (NCM takes a large cut of the box office I would imagine, as does the local multiplex) but when they look at all the P&A costs they can save I think it becomes a lot more attractive.
Olympic ad sales 'strong'
From SportsBusiness.com:
US Olympic broadcaster, NBC, has sold three-quarters of its 2008 Games advertising space at strong prices, despite recent protests surrounding the torch relay.
Cross straits diplomatic breakthrough
Dexter Roberts writing for BusinessWeek from the Boao forum:
But all of [the important guests were] overshadowed by the presence of 67-year-old Vincent Siew, a Taiwanese politician who hasn't even assumed office yet. Siew, who becomes vice-president under Taiwanese President Ma Ying-Jeou on May 20, got less than half an hour of rushed talks on Apr. 12 with China's President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the Boao Forum. Still, with those 20 minutes Siew stole the show from the many other dignitaries, with crowds of journalists and diplomatic and corporate delegates mobbing him everywhere the career politician went.
That's because the meeting between Siew and Hu (and a follow-up session a day later with China's newly appointed Commerce Minister) was truly a diplomatic breakthrough.
China to build hospital in Sudan
Xinbhua reports:
China is to build a large-scale hospital in the Blue Nile State in southeastern Sudan, a local official announced on Monday.
BBC poll: perceptions of China
Black and White Cat has posted the results of a BBC World Service poll about the way people of different nations perceive the influence on the world of China, the U.S., and their own countries.
An.. interesting thing is the big divide between the developed and the developing world in assessing China’s influence. Europeans and North Americans have a much more negative view of China than Africans, Latin Americans and Asians. Europeans and North Americans might want to bear this in mind when they talk about the 'international community.'
Beijing Olympic air quality measures announced
The China Daily reports:
Work at Beijing construction sites will be suspended in the run-up to, and during, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the municipal government announced Monday.
The suspension - along with a slew of other initiatives - to be effective from July 20 to September 20, aims to ensure better air quality during the Games...
April 14, 2008
Nanjing experiments yet again with new method of promoting officials
Ning Song at China Elections & Governance discusses Nanjing's recent televised debates involving candidates for positions in the Labor Bureau:
This live broadcast of an official election debate has generated significant media coverage across the nation. "Although Nanjing residents didn't vote directly for the candidates, they had an opportunity to express their opinions and report any illegal behavior on the part of the candidates. It is one way for residents to participate in the election," a Nanjing local newspaper commented.
Jia Baoyu! You are the real murderer!
Beijing smoking ban not for restaurants and bars
From The China Daily:
Beijing restaurants, bars and Internet cafes have been exempted from a proposed smoking ban at public venues in response to concerns expressed by business owners.
China's loyal youth
From an op-ed piece by Matthew Forney in The New York Times:
Educated young Chinese, far from being embarrassed or upset by their government’s human-rights record, rank among the most patriotic, establishment-supporting people you’ll meet.
Fallout from the Free Tıbet protests
John Kennedy and Global Voices Online translates some of the invective hurled at a Chinese student in the US who was on the wrong side of the Tıbet demonstrations
April 13, 2008
Beijing's first private restaurant: An oral history
Eddie Cheng translates an interesting China Youth Daily profile of Liu Guixian and her restaurant at No. 43 Cuihua Hutong, north of Wangfujing:
I remember back then, the Business Bureau was very far from my home. I didn't have a bicycle, so I had to walk. I got there, and told them I would like to open a restaurant. They asked me if I had room for it. I said yes, I could use the room we were sleeping in. "Where would your family sleep then?" they asked. I said, "On the roof. We could sleep on the roof." Everyone in the room laughed so hard. Finally, they told me to go back. They said I could go ask for assistance from my old man's work unit (工作单位) because I had many kids and hardship. They could not help me here. There was no such policy.
April 11, 2008
How fair is reporting on China's environment?
At treehugger, Alex Pasternak considers the way that the western media reports on China's pollution problem and its efforts to go green:
To China's chagrin, this won't stop journalists from reporting on China's dire eco situation (or its human rights record, or its food safety, etc.), and it shouldn't. Western media may even have a greater responsibility to keep the heat on given the limitations that the Chinese government imposes on domestic media. Smartly, the New York Times included Mandarin text and audio along with their Choking on Growth series.
But there can still be something unbalanced and even sensational about foreign environmental coverage of China. That China has 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities is a widely reported fact, but that it has the world beat on solar hot water heaters is clearly not as sexy a story.
April 10, 2008
China's great migration: "Little America"
At Slate, Patrick Radden Keefe writes about overseas Fujianese who send money back from the US:
As we stroll through an ornate gate (erected with money sent from America) and wander along a stone alley that winds through the village, we notice something else: There's no one here. All the adults of working age have left, Dr. Tang explains. They call these towns "widow's villages." Half the houses are vacant and shuttered. The others are home only to grandparents—and to American-born babies.
I'm a prisoner. Let me in!
In March, China Daily ran a story about a man who voluntarily returned to prison after 22 years. Liuzhou Laowai fills in the missing pieces with a translation of a Procuratorial Daily story on Feng Junqiang's two-decade odyssey outside the law:
Feng was now rich and frequently visited his mother but was too afraid to spend the night. His mother was in poor health and she began to beg him to hand himself in, finish his sentence and then be free. She wanted him to be a free man before she died.
In 2007, Feng bought his son a computer and accessed the internet for the first time. He found a webpage which had an article about how conditions in the local prison had improved greatly since his escape and began to consider complying with his mother’s wishes.
Yunnan female film series review
On RealTime Arts, Dan Edwards reviews The Case by Wang Fen and The Park by Yin Lichuan, the first two films in Lola Zhang's project to produce ten movies by first time female directors, all shot in Yunnan.
You can see a Danwei TV interview with Lola Zhang and Wang Fen here.
Customs protects Fujian author from his own work
Chen Xiwo's novella collection Book of Offenses was seized by Fujian customs officials, who deemed it "pornography." But all of the stories had been previously published on the mainland, and many had won awards, so Chen fought back.
Quick-publishing the truth about Tibet
Less than three weeks after the Lhаsa riots, Sanlian Bookstore and the China Publishing Group have come out with Lies and the Truth, a compendium of online sources on western media bias and the black hand of the Dаlai clique.
The King of Mean
Peter Guo, the Amoiist, sounds off about corrupt party bureaucracy:
The history is impartial to Cixi's empire and Yuan Shikai's restored dynasty; both of them were overthrown by the people. Therefore, I have said that the CCP will repeat the history again if no political reforms. Currently, almost all the nations surrounding China are implementing democratic system, including two small poor countries Nepal and Bhutan. I cheer that we have been surrounded by democracies except North Korea, the east hell. And how do you predict this nation, will it become the next democracy?
There is an anther question. Are the civil servants elites, even the party members? It's undeniable that most of the civil servants or party members are well educated. However, the system only opens the door to those people who take Marxism theories for granted, or obsessed with Communism, or have illusion on Communist Party, etc. Therefore, nearly all of the civil servants should have one kind of thoughts. This kind of people who show foolish loyalty to the party are always seen as brainwashed by outside world. Actually, I'm always astonished by them because of that they can't even tolerate someone who talks democracy and freedom in front of them; the reason is not that they are one track minded but greatly influenced by educational system.
Why I will carry the Olympic torch
On the website of the San Franscisco Chronicle, Chinese-American Helen Zia explains why she is still proud to be an Olympic torchbearer.
Yuan breaks through 7 to the dollar
From Forbes:
China's National Foreign Exchange Center has set the central parity rate for the yuan at 6.9920 to the dollar, breaching the 7.000 usd level for the first time.
Why Beijing just can't grasp Tibet
Pallavi Aiyar in Asia Times:
In the summer of 2006, I visited Lhasa as part of a journalistic contingent aboard the first Beijing-Lhasa train. Everywhere I went in the city ripples of excitement seemed to spread simply by virtue of my Indian nationality. Roadside sellers of bric-a-brac, monks in the Potala Palace, itinerant city guides, aged pilgrims: what this motley assortment of Lhasa residents had in common was the desire to talk to me about the Dålai Låma.
April 9, 2008
Are you really Tibetan? You’re so clean!
Black and White Cat translates a letter that a Tibetan reader sent in to blogger Lian Yue:
After I graduated, I applied for an office job. One boss asked my to change my Tibetan name to something that Han people could recognize more easily, like Zhuoma or Zhuoga, to give people a strong impression and be more competitive in business.
Later I went to XX for an interview. One manager was extremely interested in knowing whether or not Tibetans only wash twice in their lives. He was very curious to know: "Don't they mind being dirty?" That took up a third of the interview.
India, too, looks to Africa
From The Times:
India has granted Africa radically improved terms of trade in the clearest signal yet that it intends to compete head-to-head with China for access to the continent’s natural resources.
Speaking at the inaugural India-Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi, Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister, said that tariffs would be scrapped on a host of African imports, from diamonds and copper ore to sugar cane and clothes. The abolition of duties will cover 94 per cent of the in-bound goods from 34 African nations.
The summit, which is being attended by the leaders of 14 African states, is widely regarded as India’s riposte to the China-Africa Cooperation Forum of 2006, at which China unveiled $9 billion in preferential loans, export credits and other incentives to reinforce its grip on Africa’s mineral-rich regions.
Where's the news stand?
Imagethief visits Beijing's new Terminal 3:
The whole concession arrangement smacked of having been designed by someone who doesn’t actually travel by air, or who had no vision for Beijing’s potential role as a hub airport. Think about it: Most people will want to deal with the formalities before they relax and shop because on any given day they won’t know how long it will take to get through them. And international transfer passengers, if Beijing ever develops that market, won’t even know that there was something better just beyond their reach.
Black water: coastal China on the brink (I)
China Dialogue presents a translation of a Southern Metropolis Daily report from November, 2007, that details how China's fisheries are dying off:
The fishermen of Shuigou village are washing the dirty water from their legs for the last time and preparing to leave the sea behind.
"I'll probably go and do manual labour," says Hou Baoyou, "the sea is too unreliable." Once-vibrant fishing villages are being deserted as the trend of moving away from the coast spreads. Nowadays, seafood buyers from other regions are nowhere to be seen in Shuigou. Thousands of workers used to arrive from other parts of China, now the locals themselves are leaving for the town.
Pranking the chengguan entry
Micah Sittig translates a Baidupedia entry on chengguan that's pretty perceptive:
① noun: a mafia-type organization devoted to keeping up appearances through violence methods, exclusively bullying those who can't afford to rent a storefront, can't afford to register a business permit, or belong to other disadvantaged groups. ex: the chengguan are on the prowl, everybody scram!
② adjective: violent, gory, horrendous. ex: That's too chengguan, man!
April 8, 2008
Top 25 women in business
Grain stores for anything but grain
The Economic Observer interviews Yuan Longping, the "father of hybrid rice", who says that some of China's official grain stores are being put to other uses because for want of funding:
In Jiangshi, a township in Hongjiang, the EO found the three grain stores there were rented out to a local timber processor and other operations. An official known as Zhou from the Hongjiang Municipal Grain Bureau also admitted that some stores had been converted for business purposes rather than holding grains.
A Kiwi looks at free trade with China
Beijing resident Kiwi blogger Chris Waugh looks at Chinese language coverage of the free trade agreement that New Zealand has signed with China. His translation from Xinhua:
New Zealand was the first country to complete bilateral negotiations for China’s entry into the WTO, the first country to recognise China’s status as a full market economy, the first developed country to open negotiations on a free trade zone with China, and the first developed country to complete a free trade agreement with China. These four “firsts” in the history of economic relations with China are especially eye-catching.
Namibian firms: too many Chinese roads
Africa Files reports from the southwestern African nation of Namibia:
Local contractors in the road maintenance and construction sector accuse the Government of contravening tender procedures by awarding the bulk of tenders to foreign firms especially Chinese companies, who have virtually taken over the industry. Further accusations are that some key officials in the Government team up with Chinese nationals to form companies and thereby obtain tenders on behalf of their companies in the construction sector.
Skinhua: Cameron Diaz
China Eastern to punish striking pilots
From The China Daily
China Eastern Airlines admitted Monday that some pilots at its Yunnan branch last week 'deliberately' turned back midway through their flights - ostensibly because of poor weather - in a rare strike action demanding higher pay.
Two senior officials of the Yunnan branch have been sacked, and a deputy general manager of the parent airline has been appointed as the new branch head to check why 21 flights returned to Kunming last Monday and Tuesday, according to a statement released by China Eastern Monday.
'We will punish those pilots in line with company rules and relevant regulations once the investigation concludes,' it said.
What's a disgruntled Chinese airline pilot supposed to do?
At Shanghai Scrap, Adam Minter explains why the China Eastern pilots are upset:
Now, I’m not making excuses for what the pilots did, but let’s take a look at the situation from their point of view: current ownership is demanding a 99-year unbreakable contract at the same time that their prospective new owner has taken steps to slash already below-market wages; they don’t have a union, and trying to form one will likely land them in the gulag; and even if you could figure out who to sue, it’s unlikely that any Chinese court is going to be interested in groundbreaking class-action lawsuits on behalf of a group of plaintiffs with a grudge against several large state-owned enterprises. And quitting China Eastern for another airline is hopeless - ownership is the same across the industry (at some level), and nobody wants to hire a troublemaker from another carrier
Lhasa in April
Sun Bin comes back from a trip to Tibet:
· Outside Potala is full of Tibetans, almost like a Causeway Bay weekend in HK. Perhaps the closing of the major monasteries have also contributed to driving the people there
· The Jokhang and Ramoche Monasteries are still blocked. PAP (or perhaps soldiers) guard every single alley around the block to check IDs. Only local residents are allowed in (but it is not difficult to get into these alleys, and even into Bakhorn street -- will elaborate). The gates of these 2 monasteries are guarded. However, the smaller monasteries around (there are 2 small temples just outside Johkang) are open
April 7, 2008
A very little speech: Chinese reactions to foreign media
Writer and translator Eric Abrahmsen of Paper Republic:
With all the excitement going on these days, staying home and translating the words of dead authors can feel a little irrelevant, if not actually escapist. I ... won’t stray too far from my comfort zone of language and literature, but I do think there’s something to be said about the Chinese responses of rage to the reporting of the foreign media.
1. The anger of the people: To some extent, this has to be a subconscious train-wreck between several emotions. Anger that the foreign media can spout off whatever they please when they, the regular Chinese people, cannot publicly say what’s on their mind...
The Torchbearer
Pearl Buck interview
A transcript and video of an interview by Mike Wallace with The Good Earth author Pearl S. Buck, recorded in 1958.
George Morrison's vanished library
No one really knows when the building that once housed Dr. George Ernest Morrison's (1862-1920) library on Wangfujing in Beijing was torn down. It was sometime in August or September, 2007.
Shanghai MBA school for Africa
From The Financial Times:
China Europe International Business School, the Shanghai-based business school set up with the European Union, plans to open a campus outside China – in Accra, the capital of Ghana.
In a move that gives a new twist to Sino-African relations, CEIBS has official approval from the Ghana Ministry of Education to offer business management courses, according to Pedro Nueno, Ceibs’ executive president. CEIBS will offer executive short courses and its executive MBA programme in Accra – it already runs the world’s largest EMBA programme.
Isabel Hinton interview
Global Voices has interviewed Isabel Hilton, founder and editor of the bilingual website ChinaDialogue where environmental matters affecting China are discussed.
Sanlitun drugs bust
Beijing Boyce has the details of another clumsy drugs bust in Sanlitun. There's more about it by Richard Spencer of The Daily Telegraph: 'Chinese torturing foreign teens in drugs bust'
Net Nanny to have Olympic holiday
From Earth Times:
The media - and likely the locals as well - will have full internet access during the Beijing Games including information about sensitive issues such as Tibet, Olympic official Kevan Gosper said on Saturday. But Gosper could not guarantee whether the free access would also apply on the days before and after the August 8-24 Games.
Why I won't support Tibet protests
Uri Avnery is a left wing Israeli politician, publisher, former Irgun soldier, one of the first Israelis to meet Yasser Arafat, and famous for the line 'You can’t talk to me about terrorism, I was a terrorist'. This is from an article by him about Tibet:
WHAT, THEN, causes the international media to discriminate between the various liberation struggles that are going on throughout the world?
Here are some of the relevant considerations:
- Do the people seeking independence have an especially exotic culture?
- Are they an attractive people, i.e. 'sexy' in the view of the media?
- Is the struggle headed by a charismatic personality who is liked by the media?
- It the oppressing government disliked by the media?
- Does the oppressing government belong to the pro-American camp?...
Anti-China Chinese media and reckless populism
Southern Metropolis Daily editor Chang Ping suggests that the Chinese government's control over domestic reporting means that there is no "objective reporting" to combat western media bias. For this he is called a traitor. ESWN translates his editorial and a thoughtful analysis by another commentator.
April 5, 2008
WTF, WKW?
Writing for Slate, Grady Hendrix reveals how Wong Kar-wai lost his way:
Wong couldn't move on. He had always been fascinated with his childhood in 1960s Shanghai and Hong Kong, and his post-2000 work has been an extension of Days of Being Wild—replicating its cinematography, sets, costume design, and characters. His latest, My Blueberry Nights, is set in contemporary America and should have been a new direction. But it comes off as desperate, playing like a greatest-hits version of his '90s filmography performed by an all-white cover band. His visual motifs of clocks and countertops, no longer carrying the shock of the new, feel as empty and shopworn as fashion advertisements.
April 4, 2008
A golden time for lovers
April 3, 2008
Chinese History by Fidel Castro
From the Granite Studio blog:
Given his retirement–and a handy staff of ghost writers–Comrade Fidel casts his thoughts to Chinese history with a few digs thrown in on separatism of the Taiwanese and Tibetan varieties. No real shockers here, pretty much boiler-plate Party line/Marxist theoretical reductionism, though for obvious reasons Fidel focuses particular attention on US support for Chiang Kai-shek and the American involvement in Tibetan independence movements of the 1950s. (Apparently the ex-El Presidente and I have the same nightstand reading list as well as taste in cigars–I read Kenneth Conboy’s The CIA’s Secret War in Tibet last spring.)
Wen Jiabao: more money for poor minorities
Xinhua reports:
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has pledged that his government will extend further support to poor areas inhabited by ethnic minority people...
...Wen told farmers in Dai, Jingpo and De'ang villages that his new cabinet has decided to increase rural spending by 25 billion yuan (3.5 billion U.S. dollars)
April 2, 2008
Religion and government in an uneasy mix
Government regulation of the recognition of "living Buddhas", or tulkus, has opened up new avenues for abuse and tempts local officials to sell off their approval to the highest bidder.
Shifting perspectives on South Africa
Dharma Bummin': Into the Void
Jonathan Ansfield writes on Newsweek's "Countdown Beijing" blog of his experiences following the Tibet story from Lanzhou:
Now the security presence in town was steadily mounting. Still, eight foreign reporters together at one Tongren hotel was far too many to bother hiding. So after breakfast we all decided to take a cab over to the monastery, if we still could get in. It turned out we could, though it was obvious we were being watched. Under a photo of the Dalai Lama, a plump acolyte in the central prayer sanctuary did not stop lighting candles and tidying altars as he spoke, swiveling his gaze to and fro over our shoulders. He described to me and another journalist a cresting wave of tensions and controls. "Too many things to explain just like that," he said. "It just gets to the point where you just can't control yourself anymore."
It continues in Part II.Coin of the realm, revisited
At Ogilvy's Digital Watch blog, Kaiser Kuo takes another look at the significance of Tencent's virtual currency, "QQ," in the marketplace and for Tencent itself:
But the story purports to reveal some of the darker secrets of how Tencent keeps its users buying QQ coins — especially if the company doesn’t look like it’ll hit its quarterly numbers....As promised, this time around the meat of the story centers on allegations that Tencent is manipulating its virtual currency so as to impact not the RMB, but rather its stock price.
China confirms protest in Xinjiang
The AP reports that China's foreign ministry has confirmed that a protest, previously reported by RFA, took place on 23 March in Hotan:
Fu Chao, an official with the Hotan Regional Administrative Office, said the protest had nothing to do with the head scarf ban.
"The rioters were mainly Uighurs. The riot was nothing to do with the ban on head scarves, but about responding to the riots in Tibet. We will announce further information shortly," Fu said.
The Hotan government report said a small number of people — including "terrorists," "separatists" and "religious extremists" — "stirred" things up but were stopped by police.
Water woes in Kazakhstan
On China Dialogue, Jack Carino looks at how policy in Beijing is affecting the lives of the inhabitants of Kazakhstan:
On the upstream side is Beijing, an economic behemoth committed to shrinking its growing wealth gap by developing the country's interior. The plan, sometimes known as the Go West policy, hinges in part on access to water for drinking, energy generation, agriculture and industry, especially in arid areas such as Xinjiang.
Downstream are Kazakhstan and Siberian Russia, developing in their own right but a far cry from China's breakneck growth. Rivers that originate in China – mainly the Irtysh, which crosses the Kazakh northeast before entering Russia, and the Ili, which ends in Kazakhstan – are essential to the two states, for the same reasons that Beijing needs them.
There's also a slideshow.Are direct democratic elections unsuitable for China?
China Elections presents an article by Huang Wenxue, translated by Heather Saul, that examines the lessons the mainland ought to learn from the recent elections in Taiwan:
I was interested in the direct and democratic election of the Taiwanese regional leadership this year for two reasons. Firstly, I wanted to get a real picture of the Taiwanese popular election and its political manifestations. Secondly, I felt that the direction of Taiwan’s future depended on which party leader was elected president. Therefore, on the day of March 22, 2008 I paid very close attention to news stories concerning Taiwan’s presidential election. On some websites there were play-by-play updates and pictures depicting the Taiwanese voters at the polls. On portal websites and main media outlets, however, the content and analysis concerning the election were markedly dull. The reporting of the election was watered down and even trivialized.
April 1, 2008
Mount Everest Olympic flame cliffhanger
Xinjiang blogger Opposite End of China investigates China's hush-hush plans to have two climbers and two TV cameramen carry the Olympic flame to the summit of Everest:
So, it started me thinking... unrest in Tibet, a tiny flame carrying the hopes of all China stored at secret base camp high in the mountains, tight security, and government secrecy. Hrmm. Throw in a glass of holy water from some glacial Tibetan lake, Bruce Willis, and a bad-ass monk or two trying to extinguish the flame and you've got an awesome action movie plot.
Deer penis out of favor
Bloomberg reports:
Deer penis, turtle blood and angelica root potions have joined steroids and amphetamines on the list of banned drugs for Chinese Olympians...
...While China's top athletes have long sought a competitive edge by ingesting traditional concoctions, those customs are fading amid stricter doping rules...
...Traditional Chinese medicines may contain banned substances such as the stimulant ephedrine or interact with each other to trigger positive doping tests, said Ai Hua, a doctor for China's gymnastics and weightlifting teams during the 2004 games...
...In the 1990s, Chinese track coach Ma Junren credited a series of world records by unknown runners to high-altitude training and a cocktail of turtle blood and caterpillar fungus. Current head coach Feng Shuyong was skeptical, especially after Ma and six of his athletes were pulled from the 2000 Olympic squad for suspected doping.
Qu Bu Liao! Zou! Zou! Zou!
Jim Gourley attempted to see the Torch ceremony yesterday:
To sum up, the morning was full of "Qu bu liao!" and "Zou! Zou! Zou!" which I liberally translate as "You can’t get there from here," and "Keep moving." I finally gave up in my search for Olympic goodwill, shared dreams and unified world. I headed down into the subway. AP reported later that one subway station was closed. They got it wrong. Two stations were closed: Tian'anmen East and West. And that "noticeable boost in security in downtown Beijing" that they reported was a lot more noticeable if you didn’t have an invitation or a press pass.
See also: Nick Mulvenney's report from the inside: This is normal, it happens in all countries…China: We have enough rice
From The China Daily:
Rising international rice prices are not a cause for major concern in China, Premier Wen Jiabao said Monday.
'Please set your mind at rest because China has abundant supply of rice,' Wen said, adding that the country has stockpiled about 40-50 million tons of rice.
He made the remarks on the sidelines of the Greater Mekong River Subregion Summit.