A Most Immoral Woman
Excerpt of Linda Jaivin's new historical novel about George "Chinese" Morrison and his romance with Mae Perkins.
« February 22, 2009 - February 28, 2009 | Main | March 8, 2009 - March 14, 2009 »
March 6, 2009
Every story is an education
The New Yorker's Evan Osnos answers Danwei's questions about journalism, writing from China, and his feelings concerning this year's anniversaries.
Three suggestions for NPC delegates
Bao Tong addresses a letter to the NPC in which he makes three suggestions: to work to channel funds to rural residents, to disclose the details of the stimulus plan, and to repeal the Resolution on 1989. (Translated by AsiaNews.)
Year of the Gorilla
The China Beat reposts a short story by Jonathan Tel from the forthcoming The Beijing of Possibilities:
It's been a while since the Monkey King set out on his Journey to the West. With his Fiery-Gazing Golden-Eyes he infallibly recognized Evil, and vowed to combat it in every form. He changed shape at will and leaped from cloud to cloud. It was in the spring of 2008 that the Gorillagram appeared in mainland China. (One of those fads, we believe, that sneaked in from America or Europe.) A Taiwanese-owned company introduced the concept; they were in the business of couriering documents around Beijing, and they diversified, or call it a promotional gimmick.
An increase of 20% in agricultural production
From The Guardian:
Prime minister Wen Jiabao's announcement of an extra 121 billion yuan (£13bn) to boost farm yields and raise rural incomes was a central part of his annual budget speech at the Great Hall of the People...
The short-term aim is to ease the impact of the economic crisis on rural dwellers, who account for more than half of the 1.3bn population. This group is considered a potential source of social instability because the average rural income is just a third that of the city.
March 5, 2009
Lei Feng heritage for the whole world
March 5 is Lei Feng Day! A legislator wants to apply for Intangible Cultural Heritage status for the Lei Feng Spirit. We wonder what the Fengster would think of that?
A modest increase of 14.9%
Tania Branigan summarizes for The Guardian's China bureau what the figures given by Li Zhaoxing on planned military spending really mean:
A Japanese foreign ministry deputy spokesman, Takeshi Akamatsu, said there were "untransparent points" in the defence budget. Last year a Pentagon report suggested China's true budget was two to three times the official figure.
The fairy tale of the Internet
At China Elections & Governance, Heather Saul translates Xiao Shu's reaction to Premier Wen Jiabao's online chat:
There is obviously no need for everyone to become a policeman, but rather for people to adopt common sense when it comes to safety. Likewise, since we have the National People's Congress and People's representatives, there is no harm in letting our representatives pose questions to the Premier. Of course, there must be preparations and this means People's representatives that are fully competent and committed. This in turn requires that the People's representatives follow the necessary principle of protecting popular choice and accepting public oversight. Also, they must be replaceable by the people at any time, as [Marx] said. Only in this way can one faithfully entrust responsibility to the People's representatives so that they may carry out their duties effectively.
The plight of China's xiaojies
Leigh at China Crossroads introduces and translates an interview with professor Zhao Jun about sex workers in China:
China Newsweek: Why are xiaojies more likely to become the target group of violence and crimes?
Zhao Jun: First of all, women are physically disadvantaged and are less capable of protecting themselves; secondly, their nature of work makes them more easily approachable while their customer group is highly mobile and unspecific; thirdly, sex workers or their bosses, compared to common migrant workers, earn more financial resources; fourthly, sex workers never work in groups; fifthly, they won't call the police after being assaulted.
March 4, 2009
China's legislature at work
The Wall Street Journal's China Journal blog describes some of the more interesting proposals that CPPCC and NPC representatives have come up with for this year's sessions:
Moving a China step closer to France, CPPCC delegate Zhang Xiaomei would like to see a four and a half day work week to improve efficiency on the job and encourage more consumption by giving people more free time to shop.
Danwei looked at interesting proposals from Beijing's municipal 2009 sessions, and the national sessions in 2005 and 2006.
The Chinese: such incorrigible stamp collectors
An article from Slate Magazine about China's philatelists.
Party elders press for checks on China's Stimulus Plan
For The New York Times, Jonathan Ansfield reports on a letter sent to the top leadership from "a cluster of liberal Communist Party elders" concerning the perhaps sketchy stimulus package:
"We very much endorse the central authorities' investment of 4 trillion renminbi" -- $584 billion -- "to drive the economy," they explained in the letter, dated Jan. 20, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times.
"At the same time, we are extremely worried that the privileged and the corrupt will seize this opportunity to fatten themselves, damage the relationship between the party and the people, and intensify social conflict."
Woman hacks preschoolers to death in Guangdong
From Xinhua via China.org:
Xu Ximei, a resident of the Mazhan Village in the Dengfang Township of Nanxiong City, committed the killings with a kitchen knife between 1:45 p.m. and 1:55 p.m. at the village's stackyard, at the gate of the village primary school and inside the school, respectively, a police spokesman said, citing witnesses.
A warning about the industrial areas of Shenzhen
From the Silk Road International blog:
I've seen fights, I've seen people get robbed and beaten, I've seen a woman and child get run over by large dump trucks, I've even seen a dead body on the street (at least I think it was dead), I've had family tell me about kidnappings they've seen, I've had family robbed at knife point and I've been pick-pocketed numerous times myself.
The Oasis interview that won't be used
that's Shanghai's interview with Noel and Liam Gallagher of Brit rock band Oasis, whose April performances in Beijing and Shanghai have just been canceled.
March 3, 2009
Hutong renovations 2009
Sexy Beijing's blog posts some photos of a quick demolition project going on in Dongcheng District, Beijing. Part of the economic stimulus plan?
And no falling in love
The Economic Observer Online publishes an article by Wei Liping about "the commander of migrant workers":
At present, Zhang said he preferred to recruit female workers around aged 18 and 19, as they were more popular among employers.
Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven
At Shanghaiist, Ada Fredelius reviews Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven, Susan Jane Gilman's memoir of a 1986 trip to China.
Did Bjork go unreported in the Chinese media?
djod.co.uk notices that the BBC's report on the cancelled Oasis concert contains the lines
Last year, Icelandic star Bjork shouted "Free Tıbet!" after a song about independence performed during a Shanghai concert, which went unreported in the state-controlled Chinese media.
when in fact the state-controlled Chinese media was all over the story.
Update: It's been changed.
Zhao "left crescent" needs a new name
A man named Zhao C agrees to change his name after 22 years of use when the PSB complains that the letter "C" won't work in their new computer system.
Shrinking glaciers and plan to build 59 reservoirs
Jonathan Watts writes for The Guardian's environment section about Xinjiang's melting glacier, together with video:
The far western province of Xinjiang, home to many of the planet's highest peaks and widest ice fields, will carry out the 10-year engineering project, which aims to catch and store glacier run-off that might otherwise trickle away into the desert.
Another wild leopard in Beijing?
Michael Rank writes about a strange animal attack in Beigou Village. People suspect a leopard as the culprit.
China's space station plan
From the China Daily, in the wake of the successful lunar probe:
China's future space station will comprise a core module, two experimental modules, a manned spaceship and a cargo spaceship, a top scientist said Monday.
Human search engines for gov't use
Two journalists with the Economic Information Daily have been targeted by the "human flesh search engine," a crowd-sourced technique that Chinese netizens use to dig up enough personal information to locate someone offline.
March 2, 2009
Social unrest vs. societal breakdown
Xujun Eberlein translates an essay by sociology professor Sun Liping which argues that China is threatened by societal breakdown more than social unrest:
Crying over Shenyang's big fire, people felt "our own" buildings had burned. In the CCTV big fire, some said, even if tens of billions of yuan were not burned, they would be eaten anyway. Here the eating and drinking of course means using public money. Others worried how much water would be used to put out the fire when there was a drought going on. Behind those talks is psychological distance, that is, those things are "theirs," not "ours." Psychological distance is reflection of structural distance.
Part 2 is here.
Peijin Chen translated an earlier essay by Sun Liping for Shanghaiist, as well as a critique of his argument by Fan Gui.
What's so special about "online democracy"?
The China Media Project translates a Southern Metropolis Daily editorial that wishes to see real, tangible democracy underpinning the flashy "online democracy" represented by Premier Wen Jiabao's online Q&A and the recent Internet investigation of a prisoner's death:
Take for example the recent "hide and seek" affair. While the investigation conducted by Web users was unable to reveal the truth, we are confident that online opinion led in this case to the greater efficiency and transparency of the investigation by law enforcement. But what is regrettable is that the victories of Web users in cases like this one always stop with the particular event itself. It is always difficult to ensure that they promote institutional improvements.
Some Arab traders call China home
Tom Spender is correspondent for The National. He writes about the town of Yiwu, which is becoming the center for Arabs in China:
"Yiwu has everything - good, medium and cheap quality," said Mr Shqerat, who travels here six times a year.
Said Mohammed, 23, from Addis Ababa, said he could make profits of about 40 per cent by finding goods in Yiwu. "Some items are twice as cheap here than places like Dubai; that's why I come."
Caijing will launch online English business news service with PWCC
From Financial Times, available to subscribers:
Richard Li, chairman of Hong Kong's PCCW telecoms group, and Caijing, the authoritative Chinese magazine, are planning to launch an online business information service possibly by end of this year.
The news provider, which will be in English, intends to focus on business information in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, according to people close to the situation. Mr Li could invest "substantial resources" in the business, they said.
On the Internet, nobody knows you're a cadre
Imagethief critiques the Yunnan Internet investigation PR stunt:
In fairness, everyone cherry picks media, bloggers and other influencers to engage with when possible, selecting people who are influential, supportive or, ideally, both. But if you're going to position something as an unprecedented step toward openness, you'd better make sure it isn't arranged in a way that will bite you on the ass. One of the things a few tens-of-thousands of Internet users can be really good at is ferreting out the real story behind something.
Capitalism with Chinese characteristics
uln at Chinayouren muses on some of the points made in Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics by Huang Yasheng.
The book opens with a statement that is sure to catch the eye of many living in China: there is something wrong with Shanghai.
Yes, no less than Shanghai, the city that has been fooling us for years with its aura of dynamism and openness. Huang Yasheng arguments, with precise data in hand, that entrepreneurship has long been eliminated from the city. Shanghai's wealth is made of SOEs, FDIs and transfer of resources from other parts of China. It is in fact a city of CPC members and risk averse "iron bowls".
Looted animal heads bought by Chinese collector
But will he pay? From the AFP:
Cai Mingchao, a well-known antique collector, identified himself as the mystery bidder in a statement released in Beijing by the National Treasures Fund...
"I believe that any Chinese person would stand up at this time... I am making an effort to fulfill my own responsibilities," Cai said.
"But I must stress that this money I cannot pay."
The statement did not specify whether Cai could not pay for the relics because he did not have the money, or whether his inability to pay was for other reasons...