Obama's half-brother plays Jazz for Shenzhen fundraiser
Thomas Crampton writes on his blog about Mark Ndesandjo's piano performance.
« January 4, 2009 - January 10, 2009 | Main | January 18, 2009 - January 24, 2009 »
January 17, 2009
January 16, 2009
Six foreign novels win Chinese award
The Annual Foreign Novels 21st Century Awards, initiated in 2001, were awarded on Friday, reports the Melbourne Herald Sun. Landscape of Farewell by Australian author Alex Miller was one of the winning books:
The People's Literature Publishing House and Chinese Association of Foreign Literature picked six books to be honoured this year, with the winners' books translated and published in China.
Among this year's other winners were Oe Kenzaburo from Japan for his novel Rotashi Annabel Lee Sokedachitsu Mimakaritsu, Spain's Luis Leante for Mira si yo te querre and Germany's Julia Franck for Die Mittagsfrau.
Bad luck if you're graduating
From China Daily:
According to a survey conducted by Kingfield Management (China), one of the leading headhunting service providers in the country, 65 percent of the enterprises, situated in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region, have no plans to recruit fresh graduates or postgraduates this year.
Tibet may build its first expressway this year
From Xinhua:
Landlocked Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has announced plans to build its first expressway this year.
The 37.9-km expressway will have two lanes each side allowing vehicles to run at 80 to 120 km per hour, said Yao Bohua, an expert of Tibet's institute of road survey and design, the designer of the project.
January 15, 2009
Multiple murder suspect arrested in Wuhan
A man suspected of murdering eight people on January 5th in Suizhou, Hubei Province was seized in Wuhan, Hubei.
Capital of the seedy sauna
The government of Ma'anshan (马鞍山), an industrial city in Anhui Province, is causing controversy with plans to rebrand the city as the capital of China's (non-seedy) "bathing industry".
Chinese workers deported from Saudi Arabia
From China Daily:
Twenty-three Chinese workers have been deported by Saudi Arabia after being arrested earlier this week for going on a strike in protest against "low pay", the Chinese embassy in Riyadh said Wednesday.
A big boom goes 3,500 boxes of fireworks
At The Beijinger blog, Paul Pennay publishes photographs from the Beijing Evening News of a controlled explosion of confiscated illegal fireworks.
Will 6 billion USD solve the Chinese PR problem?
James Fallows blogs about Chinese media's overseas expansion plans .
Sohu's Chinese bloggers roundtable
Global Voices Online translates Sohu's blogger dinner, "where a number of prominent bloggers took off from the official topic 'how blogging has changed our lives' to discuss the role of bloggers and public intellectuals in social and political transformation."
377 illegally working foreigners
People's Daily Online reports that there were 377 illegal working foreigners in China last year, according to the exit-entry administration:
Most of the people simply lacked understanding of China's laws and regulations but some had deliberately tried to get around the system, he said.
January 14, 2009
China Newsweek gets a new boss
China Media Outlook reports on a changeover that will begin after the Spring Festival:
"After the Spring Festival, the new Editor in Chief. Yang Ruichun from Southern Weekly, will step into power." Wang, an editor in China Newsweek said.
Just a month ago, Jin Liping, the former Editor of this 10-year-old magazine just quit, saying goodbye to her 4 years career as a woman who steered this news magazine fighting with the downward situations of print media industry.
The Chinese Diaspora in Latin America
Guest Contributor Nancy H. Liu writes about the Chinese community of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Detailed information about China's Internet users
56minus1 translates some details of CNNIC's (China Internet Information Network Center) report about Chinese Internet users, which has now reached 298 million. In his summary we find out stats such as: "5.5% of netizens (not students) are unemployed, 2.3% are farmers, fisherman, laborers, 2% of netizens are retired..."
China and DPRK prepare to mark 60th anniversary of bilateral ties
From Xinhua:
... Hu visited the DPRK from Jan 9 to 12 and met with DPRK Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun and Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il.
"The visit is a normal exchange between the two foreign ministries," she said.
Jiang said the two sides agreed to use the "Year of China-DPRK Friendship" to expand exchanges, enhance friendship and deepen cooperation for a stronger relationship in this year.
The naivety of Mongolia's Nazis
From the UP Post, published in Ulaanbaatar:
Following the July 1 riots a spate of repetitious graffiti began appearing on the walls of Ulaanbaatar's buildings. Graffiti, either as an art form or used as political slander, is relatively uncommon in Mongolia's capital city, yet this recent trend was spray-painted across buildings, on bus stations, on the walls of monasteries, over the windows of Chinese restaurants, even on national monuments.
The graffiti is the work of one of Mongolia's right-wing organisations, the M.Y.A. (Mongolian National Group). It depicts a swastika accompanied by the party's acronym...
An earlier article on the same topic appears in the Far Eastern Economic Review.
Thanks to ZHDZ for the tip.
China spends 45 billion to extend media's global reach
After the South China Morning Post wrote about the expansion plans, the Zhongnanhai blog elaborates on its flaws.
Chinese Internet users reach 298 million
From the Associated Press:
China's fast-growing population of Internet users has risen to 298 million after passing the United States last year to become the world's largest, a government-sanctioned research group said.
The latest figure is a 41.9 percent increase over the same period last year, the China Internet Network Information Center said in a report Tuesday.
January 13, 2009
Bullog.cn shut down by Net Nanny
Edgy Chinese blog host started by Lao Luo has been closed as part of the recent Internet 'cleanse' by the Net Nanny.
Beijing's water may come from Yangtze in 2014
From China Daily:
The Yangtze River in South China is expected to provide 1 billion cubic meters of water every year to Beijing starting 2014, according to the municipal water authority.
Pokercard news
Chinasmack.com reviews a set of online poker cards detailing mainstream and quirky news, especially ones that spread through the Internet, in 2008.
A new leaf for China
Isaac Stone Fish writes for The National: "Chinese authors today are raking in royalties by selling millions of books to an audience of teenagers and twentysomethings."
Will the Charter 77 effect re-appear In China?
ESWN translates Meng Xuan's article for Duowei Monthly Magazine, which discusses Czechoslovakia's Charter 77, on which the Chаrter 08 is based. Meng talks about the history of the two countries and the effect of their charters.
China's celebrated actor Ying Ruocheng
From the China Beat, Claire Conceison lists the top ten things about an actor who was friends with Arthur Miller and who performed in Bertolucci's The Last Emperor.
January 12, 2009
Correcting CNN
Rebecca MacKinnon corrects some mistakes in a CNN Q&A:
This incident is instructive for the anti-CNN people out there who believe CNN is at the forefront of a vast Western media conspiracy against China. It's not.
IwallChina: popularity contest for Chinese brands
The Wall Street Journal's online China Journal writes about a new website started by Beijing Film Academy graduate Cheng Liang:
IwallChina is something of a virtual product pageant, where netizens vote for their favorite domestic brands to support and encourage the purchase of Chinese-made goods.
Titan's top 20 sports moments of 2008
From China Sports Today: "Titan, China's leading sports newspaper, did a year-end roundup of the top 50 sports stories in 2008. Below are the first 20, with their original headlines and CST's translation."
China could lose 4 million jobs in 2009
From People's Daily Online:
China is likely to lose 3.9 million jobs in 2009 compared with 2007 if GDP growth slows to 8 percent, said Cheng Siwei, a renowned economist in Beijing.
China shuts down 91 websites containing porn in three days
From People's Daily Online:
China has shut down another 50 websites for containing porn and lewd content, bringing the total number of blocked ones to 91 since last Thursday.
Spring festival rush home begins
From The China Daily:
The largest movement of people in the world started in earnest over the weekend with big groups returning home for Spring Festival, which falls on Jan 26.
This Chinese Lunar New Year about 2.32 billion trips will be made in 40 days, or 3.5 percent more than in 2008, and put the public transport system to test till Feb 19, the National Development and Reform Commission said.