N. Korea complains, Chinese book banned
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September 12, 2008
5.5 earthquake in Sichuan: no casualties
From Xinhua:
An aftershock measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale hit western China at 1:38 a.m. Friday, the National Seismograph Network Center said.
The quake struck an area at 32.9 degrees north latitude and 105.6 degrees east longitude. The depth of the epicenter is about 6 km.
The area joins Qingchuan County of Guangyuan City in southwestern Sichuan Province, Wudu District of Longnan City of northwestern Gansu Province, and Ningqiang County of Hanzhong City of northwestern Shaanxi Province.
No casualties have been reported.
September 11, 2008
128 dead in mudslide
AP reports the death toll from the mudslide in Shanxi province's Xiangfen County:
At least 128 people were killed and many more were feared dead in north China after a huge reservoir of iron ore waste, illegally maintained and turned to sludge by heavy rain, buried a bustling marketplace in tons of suffocating mud.
September 10, 2008
A few thoughts on China's new "e-waste" law
Adam Minter of Shanghai Scrap comments on the new e-scrap regulations approved by the State Council last month:
If the subsidy is paid out uniformly, then - theoretically - the illegal workshops will slowly close in favor of the legal ones, if only because they no longer can compete for domestically generated e-waste. Of course, there's quite a bit of "theoretically" in there (theoretically: the money will be enough; there's enough political backing to continue paying it out for years; corruption won't seep into the distribution; local governments will finally abide, etc.). But what's encouraging here - what's really, truly encouraging - is that the central government is going to commit serious money to combating this very serious problem - and not just talk.
Tang Wei goes Hong Kong
Tang Wei, the Lust, Caution star who was blacklisted on the mainland by state regulators, has resurfaced in Hong Kong with a new passport and a new film role, Kaiju Shakedown reports.
Free market economists urge post-Olympics social and political reforms
Is China's political and economic system the best in human history? Some well-known economists made that claim recently; John Kennedy at Global Voices Online translates a refutation circulating online.
Blade Runner wins Paralympics 100m sprint
South African athlete Oscar Pistorius, nick named the 'Blade Runner' won the Paralympics 100 meter sprint yesterday in 11.7 seconds, beating Jerome Singleton of the United States.
September 9, 2008
"I prefer to write stories that no one else is writing"
China Digital Times talks to Philip Pan, author of the new book Out of Mao's Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China:
As a foreign journalist working in China, it can often be difficult to get people to open up to you. I met most of the characters in the book through the course of my reporting for the Washington Post, and as I spent time with them, they came to trust me. It's the way good journalism works anywhere. In the end, most of the individuals I chose to write about in the book were eager to share their stories, sometimes at great risk to themselves, and usually for a simple reason -- they wanted the world to understand their country better.
How to report Hong Kong's election
Black and White Cat shows how CCTV's Network News reported on the Hong Kong Legco elections: all the details you could ask for about the vote itself, but nothing about the candidates or the results.
September 8, 2008
Starting up a school in China
At the MKL blog, Ken Hayes presents a multi-part guide for foreigners seeking to open up schools in China. From Part II, "Choosing a Partner":
The first years are a money pit and the school requires constant nursing and attention. Many Chinese businessmen don't have the patience for a school as an investment. And why would they? Money spent on a school could be put into a "Crazy Money from the Sky" venture with near-immediate potential returns. So, in an irrational market, their rational decision is to focus on investments with rapid returns.
Part I is here; future installments to come. via China Law Blog, which adds some interesting commentary.China's first spacewalk set for September
Xinhua reports:
China's manned spacecraft Shenzhou-7 will be launched at an appropriate time between Sept. 25 and 30 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu Province, a spokesman said here on Saturday...
...When Shenzhou-7 enters its orbit, one of the three taikonauts will conduct a space walk, said Zhao Changxi, a senior scientist with the project, earlier.
September 7, 2008
Not fit to print in Tianjin
Joel at China Hope Live shows what he had to cut out of a column for the city's English-language expat magazine.
Sleeping Chinese
Napping in China - a photo gallery.
This has apparently been around for a while, but we just noticed it in a link from Chinglish.de.
Paralympics open in Beijing
The Guardian reports on last night's colorful opening ceremony:
A rainbow army of figures in full head-and-body rubber suits swept in, waving and smiling, to launch a lower key, but more human, show than the spectacle - overseen by renowned Chinese film director Zhang Yimou - which opened the Olympics last month. The crowd roared its approval at the lavish performance, also staged by Zhang, which featured the incorporation of sign language into dance.