Celebrating National Day, 1984
Interviews with one of the creators of the famous "Hello, Xiaoping" banner from the 1984 National Day parade, and the photographer who snapped the iconic picture.
« September 21, 2008 - September 27, 2008 | Main | October 5, 2008 - October 11, 2008 »
October 4, 2008
October 3, 2008
Marks & Spencer's opens in Shanghai
By Tania Branigan in The Guardian:
Hundreds of Shanghai shoppers flooded to the opening of Marks & Spencer's first store in mainland China, as the UK high street retailer tries to shrug off problems at home.
At one point the store had to briefly close its doors as crowds poured in to inspect the 40,000 square foot store, which includes three floors of clothing, a large food section and a small range of homewares and a cafe. Many left with bulging bags.
October 2, 2008
Tom-branded Skype stores copies of 'sensitive' messages
Researchers have discovered that the version of the Skype messaging program provided to the Chinese mainland by the Tom Group does not keep users' private conversations private. From the New York Times:
By observing the data generated by the program, he determined that each time he typed a particular swear word into the text messaging program an encrypted message was sent to an unidentified Internet address.
To his surprise, the coded messages were being stored on Tom Online computers. When he examined the machines over the Internet, he discovered that they had been misconfigured and that the computer directories were readable with a simple Web browser.
4th Chinese Blogger Conference Nov. 15-16 in Guangzhou
The Fourth Chinese Blogger Conference will be held on November 15th and 16th in Guangzhou. Last year's event was in Beijing.
October 1, 2008
Young schoolgirl thrown to her death by teacher
From ChinaSmack:
A Chinese schoolgirl was beaten with a metal reinforcement bar in front of her class by her history teacher before he threw her out the window of her fourth-story classroom. Her name was Zhang Yaoyin, she was 11-years-old, and she died.
Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales meets China's censors
From Rebecca MacKinnon's blog:
Last week, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales had a meeting with Cai Mingzhao, Vice Director of China's State Council Information Office - the government body whose 'Internet Management Division' is in charge of censoring online content. They discussed Jimmy's concerns about censorship. No deals or agreements were made, but Jimmy tells me that the meeting has opened a channel of communication and dialogue between the Wikipedia community and the Chinese government.
China to launch 8 ton space lab
From The China Daily:
China plans to launch an 8-ton space laboratory within four years as a stepping-stone to grander space feats such as an eventual lunar landing, top scientists said Tuesday.
Today, let us remember the value of being a "Chinese"
Nimrod at Fool's Mountain translates a National Day editorial from The Beijing News.
Women's gymnastics team members not underage
An investigation by the International Gymnastics Federation has determined that all members of China's women's gymanstics team were old enough to compete in the 2008 Olympics, reports the AP:
The FIG's announcement that it was closing the investigation on the 2008 team was hardly a surprise. China had insisted -- heatedly and repeatedly -- that all the girls were old enough to compete, and that it had the documents to prove it.
China provided passports, ID cards and family registers for He Kexin, Yang Yilin, Jiang Yuyuan, Deng Linlin and Li Shanshan, all showing the girls were 16 or would turn 16 this year.
Humorists of the world, unite!
September 30, 2008
A very Chinese film festival
At the Cup of Cha blog, Richard describes a trip to attend the Qing Hai International Mountain Documentary Film Festival:
One country crossed; one lake swum; banquet, opening, closing and awards ceremonies endured; much beer, whine, whiskey and baijiu consumed; many contemporary and classic pop songs, English and Chinese, murdered; many questionable dance moves attempted; vistas of incomparable beauty cemented in the memory; never more than one hours warning regarding any event and not one film viewed - one very enjoyable, very Chinese, Film Festival attended.
Zhao Wei: "My interests are my motivation"
Chinese Mirror translates an interview with Zhao Wei, who's currently appearing in the new movie Painted Skin.
Milk lawyers muzzled
By Mure Dickie in The Financial Times:
Officials in a number of Chinese provinces are pressuring lawyers to pull out of a volunteer legal advice group set up to help the families of thousands of children who were poisoned by contaminated milk powder, according to people involved in the group.
September 29, 2008
22 detained for making and selling melamine
Xinhua reports:
Police in north China's Hebei Province have detained 22 people involved in a network connected with making, selling melamine and tainting milk with the chemical.
Among the detained, 19 people were managers of 17 pastures, breeding farms and milk purchasing stations. The local procuratorate has issued arrest warrants for 13 of them, according to the investigation panel of the Sanlu Group tainted milk case.
September 28, 2008
The right to breastfeed
bezdomny ex patria translates a report on a lawsuit involving a woman who's suing for the right to breastfeed her 6-month-old son. Her husband, whose application for divorce was denied because their son is still nursing, refuses to let his wife see the child until she grants him a divorce.
Sanlu's public relations pawns: a relay of lies in China's media
At the China Media Project, David Bandurski details how a blurred line between reporters and corporate spokespersons who peddle soft news undermines the integrity of the news media, particularly when it comes time to break negative news that involves their advertisers.
Fighting the China Business Post suspension
The Financial Times reports that the media group that owns China Business Post is protesting a three-month suspension handed down for the Inner Mongolia-based paper's cross-province reporting on corruption in the Agriculture Bank of China:
However, in what appears a sign of confidence that central authorities would not approve of the suspension, Mr Wu said the newspaper would not reopen until the order was revoked.
"Our position is very clear. Unless they withdraw the original three months suspension, we will not consider reopening the operations," he said, adding that Inner Mongolia must also agree to allow the paper to move its registration elsewhere.