Shanghai girl: 4 to 15
National Geographic has published a finely written tale of a middle class Shanghai girl's childhood by Factory Girls author Leslie T. Chang.
« April 5, 2009 - April 11, 2009 | Main | April 19, 2009 - April 25, 2009 »
April 18, 2009
April 17, 2009
Tan Zuoren, the "good man of Sichuan"
China Media Project features an article by Ai Xiaoming on Tan Zuoren, the grass-roots earthquake investigator who was detained by police late last month.
He is not the kind of person who, when they consider expressing themselves freely, plays a game of "cat and mouse: (躲猫猫). This is no ordinary show of courage, but its demonstration and striving. It demonstrates that these are my rights, this is my commitment, my responsibility. This is my home, my nation, and these are my people. In his wife's own words, "He is the kind of person whose love for his own country is terrifying." Zuoren's love is about action, and about sacrifice. In this materially acquisitive world of ours, sacrifice long ago ceased to be a word that Chinese put into practice in their everyday living.
First half-African national volleyball player
Ding Hui (丁慧) is from Hangzhou and speaks fluent putonghua. Allegedly he will play for China in the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Anti-government t-shirts in Chongqing
Netizens in Chongqing wear t-shirts protesting a bus fare increase. Police say: "Raising bus fares is a government matter, so opposing fare hikes is opposing the government."
Dreaming of China as a knowledge producer
Hu Yong (胡泳), associate professor at PKU's School of Journalism and Communication, talks to Danwei about the news media, Internet culture, and how the development of Chinese culture ought to be observed.
New Hong Kong Catholic Head not as political
From the AFP:
Bishop John Tong said he would not take part in the annual June 4 vigil to commemorate those killed after pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square 20 years ago, a key issue for his predecessor Cardinal Joseph Zen.
Unhappy misunderstanding
The Beijing Review looks at the Unhappy China phenomenon:
Xu told Beijing Review that he does not believe in the rise of a new round of nationalism among Chinese youth, as was deduced by the Western media after the release of this book. "Mounting pressure from life and fierce competition in the labor market are not enough to spur a round of nationalism. I personally believe that 'rising nationalism' is only an illusion on the Internet," Xu said.
Shang Rong, a 20-year-old university photography student, gave the book a five-star rating on Douban.com. He told Beijing Review that although he dislikes the authors' paranoid tone and doubts the validity of their arguments, he believes such voices are necessary in any society.
The magazine also interviews Song Qiang, one of the book's authors.
Chinese ringers win World Middle School Soccer Tournament
Big Brother Chang at Seagull Reference summarizes a Netease Sports report on a victorious Chinese team in a world middle school tournament that happened to be made up of professional players.
Players participated the game 'individually', disguised themselves as students of the Chongqing Daping Middle School. Two real students of the Chongqing Daping Middle School indeed travelled with the team to Turkey, but they were never called on to play on the field.
The Netease post has since been taken down, but the article 中国足球靠造假得世界冠军 is still available elsewhere on the web. Also found in the Chinese Business Morning View and Modern Express.
Netizen jailed for 8 days for mocking local government
At Global Voices Advocacy, Oiwan Lam describes the case of Wang Shi, a 24-year-old who was jailed for eight days after posting photos clear-cut trees and other things he said were intended by the local government to be drought fighting techniques.
Update (2009.04.18): China Daily reports that following the outburst of online criticism, the local government dropped the case against Wang and apologized:
"One can only be charged for defamation when the accusation is completely made-up and is intended to harm the public," said Qin. "Wang's action doesn't match any of the criteria."
April 16, 2009
A crisis of superiority and inferiority complexes
At MCLC, Howard Choy discusses environmentalism, binary ethnic identity, and the choices involved in translation in an interesting review of Jiang Rong's Wolf Totem:
Indeed, Jiang Rong's extremism echoes Stalin's social Darwinist statement about "the jungle law of capitalism" in his 1931 speech to industrial managers: "You are backward, you are weak--therefore you are wrong; hence, you can be beaten and enslaved. You are mighty--therefore you are right; hence, we must be wary of you."[7] In the wolf's worldview, one either hunts or is hunted. Eulogizing European imperialism and Japanese militarism, Jiang Rong's radicalism reveals ironically his misunderstanding of democracy as mobocracy. His cruel fantasy of territorialization through terrorization has been labeled by Chinese and Western critics alike as "fascism."[8] If "crypto-fascist" still sounds too harsh, it is at least fair to contextualize Wolf Totem in the dominant discourse of new nationalism that searches for national pride and power.
单位网胡泳问答： 数码时代， 奥威尔的 "Newspeak" 和中国的媒体
2009年4月：
单位网胡泳问答： 数码时代， 奥威尔的 "Newspeak" 和中国的媒体
单位网：看您在中国媒体圈做了这么久，以前是《三联生活周刊》主笔、《环球管理》总编、中央电视台《经济信息联播》主编、《对话》总策划，对中国媒体一定有很深的了解。您是为什么从媒体转行到大学里教书的？有什么特殊的原因吗？
胡泳：我可能是中国少数的既经历过政治性媒体向商业性媒体转变、又见证过传统媒体被新媒体挤压的过程的媒体人。我念新闻的时候是在上个世纪80年代的《人民日报》，那是新闻改革最美好的一段时光，其实以后中国的新闻业在很多地方比起80年代来是大大地退步了。
90年代早期非官方的商业媒体崛起，我参与创立《三联生活周刊》，立志三五年内把它办成中国的《时代》。今天中国的一些严肃媒体，比如《财经》和《三联生活周刊》，在商业上很成功。我至今认为商业化是中国媒体的一种解放性力量，因为当媒体更多地依赖广告和发行而不是国家财政支持的时候，它们就会更多地对读者和观众做出回应。当然，商业化最近几年的负面影响我们也需警惕。
到了90年代中期，新媒体来了，我自己就是一个鼓吹者之一。报纸、杂志业现在很辛苦，电视可能稍微好一点，因为电视还是当之无愧的老大，但从媒体从业者的角度来讲，如果今天你不知道新媒体的运作方式，你就很难在新闻行业里做。在可以预见的将来，或者也可以说就是眼下，如果你新媒体技能不够的话，会遇到非常严峻的挑战。
我经历了这些，从媒体转到大学里教书，原因首先在于我个人觉得媒体行业是一个年轻人的行业，不排除说有大量有经验的人在里面工作，但是总体来说它的基本构成是年轻人。当我说媒体是年轻人的行业的时候，我其实是说越是年轻人掌握这些新技术的能力就越强。
如果我们讨论媒体从业人员的职业生涯的话，我个人的观点是出路只有两个：一个出路就是由于你在媒体行业中积攒了足够多的经验，你可以试图去领导一个媒体或者是创办一个媒体，换句话说你指挥更年轻的人从事媒体工作，成为一个媒体的领袖、总编、制片人等等这样一些角色；另外一些人会走一条专业化的道路，他一定要成为某一领域的专家型记者，或者叫专家型的编辑也好，就是说他必须使自己的定位和自己的知识的专长集中在一些领域，在这种地方他也能获得很大的职业成就。我们知道专栏作家几乎都是从年轻的什么都做的阶段开始，最后找到自己的一个方向，某种程度上他完成了一个转变。这两条路对于好的记者都是非常好的归宿。除了这两条路之外，基本上媒体应该有一个更新换代的过程。
单位网： 在您的工作经历当中，可否想到一个让您得到启发的一个报道或是沮丧的一个案件？
胡泳： 我的新闻生涯中最沮丧的要算在央视做新闻的几年吧，我们常常接到很多的指令，有层出不穷、事无巨细的报道禁区，有的时候要抢在指令未下发之前先把新闻做出来，有的时候在边缘地带的艰苦尝试被轻易的一句话就毙掉了，或者是在抢新闻的过程中被各省的"公关"人士拦截掉，其中的甘苦是外人很难想象到的。
5·12地震后我在香港大学见到钱钢老师，他说，我们首先要肯定主流媒体有很多令人尊敬的亡命之徒，要向他们表示敬意，央视、新华社都有，你知道这个非常非常重要啊，主流媒体有这样的人，向着新闻的核心价值大大靠拢，尽管他们使用了垄断资源，但是这种大大的靠拢不是很好嘛。
在主流媒体中有亡命之徒，不仅勇敢，而且尽可能地用专业组织态度去做灾难报道。有多少人知道，央视"新闻调查"做的北川中学被毙掉？我和钱钢老师在一点上是一致的，有人说"做人不能太CCTV"，这话我们说不出来，因为CCTV里面的东西太不同了，CCTV的总的判断不能囊括所有的事情。
去年底在北大举行的《我所珍惜的----30位北大传媒人访谈录》新书发布会上，央视主持人也是北大校友张泉灵在最后的发言中略带激动地说，你要知道我们是在怎样高压的环境下求生存，一个送审的节目哪怕只要有一个老同志摇摇头就得被毙掉，我们送审的节目中，有三分之一的节目交上去就是为了被毙的。所以，我常为主流媒体里的一批优秀的新闻人感到悲哀，在特殊的环境下他们费了很大的努力，但在外人看来他们的努力却是轻飘飘的。
得寸进寸，得尺进尺，是胡适先生的名言。在看似铁板一块的现实面前，其实还存在很多向前掘进的方式。不奢望，不幻想，不抛弃，不放弃，一步一个脚印，进得一寸是一寸，这才是真正的中国媒体人的精神。
单位网： 对于中国文化的发展，您认为网络是一个好工具吗？会不会因为网络而丢失了大家对保留中国传统文化的意识？
胡泳： 在技术以外，互联网对中国有什么意义？互联网是新的科学技术，是新的生产力，但我们还应看到它更为深刻的内涵。推动互联网迅猛发展的一个因素，是它的基层结构。传统的计算机系统是分级的并且为人私有；这种金字塔型结构赋予高高在上的系统操作者以专制权力。与之相反，互联网是开放的、民主的，它没有所有者或控制者。同样的分权心态如今正逐渐弥漫于整个社会之中，传统的中央集权的生活观念势将成为明日黄花。
中国社会一向缺乏那些确立了某种独立地位的因子。儒家的经典学说要求人们"修身、齐家、治国、平天下"，从古至今，中国社会的组织体系在国家和家庭这两极之间没有强有力的组织因素。自主性的中间组织的发展受到抑制，这在计划经济时代达到了极致：在一种特殊的、强大的整合力量之下，几乎是每一个人和每一个合法组织都被纳入序列，在整个社会形成一种类似军队建制的同时，社会的中间层消失了。只是在实行市场经济以后，国家与社会才开始分离。从互联网的历史来看，它主要是在民间力量的推动下迅速崛起的，因此，毫无疑问，它必将在中国极大地激发起民间的创造性和组织能力，从而建设一个更为健康、宽容和成熟的社会。
就文化而言，可以相信，正如我们今天努力保存生物的多样性一样，有一天我们也许要决定保存文化的多样性。互联网应该被用来最大限度地显示人类文化的多样性。对中国这样一个文明古国来说，面对互联网，除了要最大可能地通过它借鉴利用他族文化，还应抓住机会，利用它发扬光大中华民族的文化。知识的生产，过去一直是西方流向东方，未来，它可能由东方流向西方。我梦想的中国将不仅是一个知识消费者， 还是一个知识生产者。有一天，每一个中国人都会认识到，文化属性比国民生产总值更重要。
单位网： 对于"山寨"这样的流行现象，您有什么看法？
胡泳： "山寨"作为一种技术现象，揭示了一种中国式创新，即企业的发展并不完全在于核心技术的掌握，更重要的在于对市场的感应和这种感应之后的反应速度。山寨机的兴盛，不是托福政府高高在上的计划，也非拜洋人的衮衮天威，而完完全全是市场选择的。
作为一种文化现象的"山寨"，其内涵则要沉重得多。中国的公共生活假面化盛行，导致了一种"公开的谎言"与"私下的真实"并行不悖的怪诞现象，"山寨"正是这种现象的典型体现。这当然是由于权力控制了公共领域，强权规定真理，同时以压力确保人们即使不相信它，也必须在公开场合做出相信的样子。后极权主义有一整套自己的"官话"，它如同奥威尔（George Orwell）笔下的"新话"（Newspeak）， 是一套自我指认的语言，它无所不在，但又令人奇怪地缺场。当人们想要表达人与人之间的真实感受的时候，没有人使用"官话"，而当他们欲求模糊性和混乱性的时候，"官话"就大行其道。"官话"由于与现实生活的脱节及矛盾极为明显， 成了民间公然嘲笑的对象，手机段子和网络小品的流行就是明证。
然而，政治与语言的这种结合对日常生活的影响并不能够小觑。奥威尔曾经精辟地指出，"新话"使我们损失的不仅仅是语言的典雅和清晰，而是把语言的混乱化作了政治控制的核心工具，使系统的统治得以合法化。它的恶果是犬儒主义，表现为对政治的冷漠和对现实的失望和无可奈何的接受；以及"双重思想"（doublethink），在表演的同时嘲笑表演，怀着轻蔑投入机会主义。"山寨文化"无疑是对主流话语的一种反抗，但仅有这种语言的反抗是不够的。
单位网： 您对中国媒体2009年发展的趋势是怎么看待？开放度以及新闻透明性质会如何演变（若有mass incident的话）？
胡泳： 2008年是中国互联网标志年：网民到一定规模后，紧急事件中网络力量爆发出来。艳照门登上八卦顶峰，西藏事件令网络民族主义达到新阶段，汶川地震废墟中才现出公民社会的曙光，瓮安事件又开始拷问政府与民众的互动能力。
就互联网对中国现实的影响来看,从2008年的情况来分析2009年，有三个变化是极其值得注意的:
第一,信息证实的危机越来越明显。网络发布的信息难以找到当事人或公正的第三方来加以证实,即便出现证实,证实的效果也取决于所证实之事的意涵,证实过程对模糊性的策略建构,以及信息接受者诠释这种证实的特定意愿。互联网舆论场成为各方利益必争之地,在中国,政治利益和商业利益对新闻和舆论的操控和冒充行为,已多到操纵方不加遮掩、接收者熟视无睹的地步。
第二,当不同的消息源散发彼此矛盾的信息时,整个社会的焦虑和恐惧会加深。这可以解释为什么在2008年的许多事件中,都游荡着谣言的身影。谣言不是别的, 是我们自身的回响,它反映的是一个社会的欲望、恐惧和痴迷。在这种情况下,建立民意表达机制,以及各种利益的博弈机制,就不仅仅是一种向善治的推进,也是在推动整个社会的健康与福祉。如果一个社会不允许甚至从未想到设立"出口",那么,民众的焦虑与不稳心态对整个社会的安定都会构成重大威胁。
第三,在一个高度媒介化和网络化的社会中,媒体呈现一种崭新的"融合文化",在这种文化之中的信息成为了"信息炸弹 "。在互联网上产生的信息能够影响以其他形式出现的媒介内容生产；新媒体技术及其背后的商业价值都强调速度第一,核实信息的时间大大缩减,进入信息传播网络的人数以倍数激增；新闻的娱乐化,公众对八卦新闻的追求,都在帮助制造着各类"新媒体事件"。毋需进行多少受众研究就可以知道,这种"信息炸弹"的影响是惊人的。在中国,当门户网站用可观的篇幅报道某个信息,当知名论坛对某一信息的评论盖起了宏伟的"高楼",当源于网络的谣言登上"旧媒体"的大雅之堂,当某个政界或商界要人被迫花费时间和精力修复被损害的形象和人格,当丑闻把一些人从高高的位置上掀翻下马,我们就可以懂得民众赋予这些信息炸弹以多大的重要性。
单位网： 能否推荐几本关于中国媒体您感觉重要的书？
胡泳： 推荐大家阅读我在2008年出版的《众声喧哗：网络时代的个人表达与公共讨论》（The Rising Cacophony: Personal Expression and Public Discussion in the Internet Age）。
单位网： 对外媒在中国做的工作，您有什么看法呢：您觉得哪里做得可以更好一点？
胡泳： 外媒观察中国的起点必须是中国，而不是西方。所谓"观察的起点在中国"有三个涵义：第一，在观察中国时，把注意力集中在中国社会内部因素，而不是放在外部因素上；第二，产生历史变化的根源来自内部因素；第三，从置于中国语境（Chinese context）中的中国问题着手。尽管中国的情境日益受到西方影响，在网络的问题上则日益受到新技术的影响，但这个社会的内在历史自始至终依然是中国的。
我的意思并不是说，凡是中国以外的人就不可能了解真正的中国，局外的观察时常能够获得"内部研究"所不可能得到的洞见，正如黑格尔所说，熟知就难以真正了解。中国的诗人苏东坡也说，"不识庐山真面目，只缘身在此山中。"不论是记者还是学者，都需要培养一种良好的疏离感，能够"跳出画面看画"。而且，局内人和局外人也需要经常互相交流与砥砺，成为"局外的局内人"和"局内的局外人"。
单位网： 在北京大学教新闻，现在的学生是从哪里得到启发? 您又是怎样启发他们？
胡泳： 我和我的学生的区别，在我看来，是"数字化的土著"（digital natives）和"数字化的移民"（digital immigrants）的分别。我的学生根本就是与科技一起诞生的，也一起长大，通过同化过程，早就视科技为他们生活环境的环节之一，与周遭的其他事物融为一体。一个简单的事实是，对许多孩子而言，使用电脑就好像呼吸一样自然。而像我这样的数字化移民对科技却必须经历截然不同且较为艰难的学习过程，就好像现实世界中新到一地的人，必须想出各种办法来适应面前的崭新数字化环境。
所以，我从我的学生那里得到启发，我向他们学习。
单位网： 在您看来，在中国作为一名好记者，都需要什么特质？
胡泳： 中国有一个贬义的成语，但是这个成语用在记者身上是最合适的，就是"眼高手低"，你眼睛当中应该望到的是天上的星辰，但是你能够脚踏实地地在地上做事情。如果你能做到"眼高手低"的话，一定能成功。
我自己，作为一名老记者，有一段座右铭----
"布尔迪厄（Pierre Bourdieu）说：新闻业是惶惶不安的人、贪得无厌的人、叛逆造反的人或无耻屈服的人最多的行业之一。 经历十余年的新闻生涯，我希望自己丢弃惶恐，克服贪婪，保持叛逆，毫不趋附。智者不惑，勇者不惧，仁者有忧，此之谓也。"
A visit to Science Fiction World in Chengdu
Author Jay Lake visits the Chengdu headquarters of Science Fiction World and speaks to Li Keqin, the editor in charge of translated literature, about the agency's magazines and the state of science fiction in China.
Schneider settles fight with CHINT
From Financial Times:
France's Schneider Electric has agreed to pay a Chinese company $23m to settle a patent lawsuit - the largest recorded settlement in an intellectual property case in China.
Chinese IP lawyers said the settlement was a "wake-up call" to foreign companies about the growing risk of lawsuits from China groups asserting IP rights.
Traditionally, damage awards in Chinese IP lawsuits have been small, and the plaintiffs have usually been foreigners suing Chinese companies claiming infringement of IP rights.
But the Schneider case caught the attention of foreign companies in China because it turned that paradigm on its head: the plaintiff was Chinese and the damages substantial.
The Chinese company in the case is Zhejiang-based CHINT, which claims to be CHINT is "leading player in the low-voltage electrical, power transmission and distribution industries in China" on it's own website.
Why do local governments interfere with village elections?
Jennifer Haskell at China Elections and Governance writes about research done by Guo Xianghuo in Punan, a region in Shanxi Province:
He found that interference by higher levels of government as well as vote-buying and other forms of corruption are some of the most detrimental forces affecting local elections. Of the villages he surveyed, 70% had experienced some type of interference by higher levels of government, with 30% saying that the higher levels decided the results of elections. Most candidates - especially those that want to be elected village head or village party secretary - need at least the approval of upper levels of government, otherwise it is difficult or impossible to be elected. It is a factor that cannot be ignored in village elections.
China building copper stockpiles?
From The Daily Telegraph:
A 'Copper Standard' for the world's currency system?
Hard money enthusiasts have long watched for signs that China is switching its foreign reserves from US Treasury bonds into gold bullion. They may have been eyeing the wrong metal.
Update (2009.04.17): Adam Minter at Shanghai Scrap explains that the Telegraph article is misleading:
The metals stockpiling program - publicly announced and explained in December - was and is designed specifically to prop up China's ailing, employment-intensive metals industries. In late January, Caijing published an extensive (English language) article explaining that the central government was not directly buying the reserves, but was instead licensing and subsidizing the purchase of stockpiles by private and state-owned metal companies:
April 15, 2009
China looks to hemp for poverty alleviation
Gokunming alerts us to a new way for farmers to make money (note: hemp is cousin to the psychoactive marijuana):
China will build multiple hemp cultivation bases in Yunnan, Heilongjiang, Gansu and Anhui provinces as well as the autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia by 2020, a project that is expected to bring three million people out of poverty, according to a Shanghai Daily report citing an official from the People's Liberation Army's General Logistics Department.
A fitting reflection of Xinjiang
At the Far West China blog, Josh Summers describes Kashgar's giant statue of Mao Zedong, which was completed in 1969:
I can't help but visit Kashgar and see embodied in this statue the signs of the times. Mao, with his back facing Kashgar's Old City and many of it's minority inhabitants, lifts his arm to the south towards the area where all the new Han Chinese have taken up residence. Less than 2 kilometers away is the Id Kah Mosque, the true heart of Kashgar that may be out of the statue's line of sight but not far from its peripheral vision.
Sino-Swiss sustainable water agreement
From Xinhua:
Switzerland and China will soon sign a formal agreement on enhancing their cooperation in the field of sustainable water management and hazard prevention, the Swiss government said on Tuesday.
Federal Councilor and Environment Minister Moritz Leuenberger will make his first official visit to China on April 16 to sign this agreement, according to a government statement.
Boys who want to be girls
Little Red Book draws our attention to a Rednet.cn post about two men who held signs in public declaring their wish to have a sex-change.
What it's like to be a yuppie in the People's Republic
From John Pomfret's Washington Post blog, the factoids from McKinsey's recent report on China's rich:
The report notes that because China's rich are so young, firms have changed the way they market. Lancome, for example, has won the top spot in cosmetics by emphasizing the need to take early action to fight aging. Because there is less brand-awareness, firms emphasize their workmanship. When Zegna opens up a new store, for example, it gives demos on how its ties are made.
April 14, 2009
Some Chinese netizens react to online video regulations
From China.org.cn:
Xiao Jing, a 27-year-old translator, has been feeling closely connected to the characters of "Lost," the American TV series she has been following.
What bothers her so much is a regulation issued on March 31 by the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (SARFT), China's top industry regulator.
It ordered that all domestic and foreign films, TV series, animation pictures and documentaries transmitted online must be licensed by the media regulator. For many young Chinese Internet users, this means they may lose their free lunch of foreign TV series.
Cracking a college murder case
Jeff Keller translates a report on the murder of two students at North China Electric Power University in Beijing. It's a tidy picture of police work that tracked the killers to an Internet cafe Haicheng, Liaoning, nine hours after the crime was committed.
First human rights plan announced and analyzed
The first human rights action plan was hailed by officials yesterday. The New York Times reports:
The civil liberties mentioned in the action plan are already guaranteed by Chinese laws or the Constitution. Human rights groups say many are nonetheless ignored or suppressed by the authorities at their own discretion, without any practicable grounds for appeal through the Communist Party-controlled judiciary.
April 13, 2009
American Expo pavilion could be made in China
Adam Minter writes about the 2010 Shanghai Expo for The Atlantic:
Amidst all the uncertainty, one thing is assured: somebody is going to build a pavilion on that prime piece of riverbank real estate reserved for the U.S. The Chinese prefer that it be an American pavilion, and they'll likely extend the participation deadline in the hope of securing it. But if, for whatever reason, the State Department's authorized team can't raise the money, the U.S. will be faced with two unpalatable, and equally symbolic choices: a Chinese-funded pavilion, or no pavilion at all.
Bilingual teaching for a set amount of time
From Xinhua, which reports on the plan to introduce compulsory nine-year education to ethnic minorities:
The state will promote boarding education in the vast rural and pastoral areas, and establish Tibetan junior high schools and Xinjiang senior high classes in the hinterland.
PKU students react to Sun Dongdong
Alec Ash at Think Six talks to two Peking University students about Sun Dongdong's comments on mentally-disturbed petitioners and the protest they generated:
But there could be other incentives for Sun to say those stupid things. As soon as I heard the news, what directly came to my mind is Sun, just like many other PKU professors, was making use of the media and public debate to make himself famous (or notorious, as it turned out). chao zuo ...... these things DO happen around us. Many teachers in the university are respectable. But there are some professors who dream to be popular overnight. And the rising of mass media in China provides them with a great opportunity.
Chinese-run supermarkets in Argentina
Nancy H. Liu explains why Taiwanese author Zhang Zhen Rong would write a bilingual manual for running a supermarket.
China moves to modernize
For The Australian newspaper, Michael Sainsbury sums up the three signs of reform towards modernization: health care reform, internationalizing the currency and investment in its neighbors:
The new plan has promised to have basic healthcare services for 90 per cent of the population and $US814billion ($1.6trillion) has already been committed - although much more is needed....
Three decades after the Sino-Vietnamese War
Phoenix Weekly describes the experiences of soldiers and civilians from both sides of the border in the 1979 conflict, the following decade of skirmishes, and reconstruction in the 1990s.
China establishes $10 billion aid fun for ASEAN
From The China Daily:
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Sunday unveiled a multi-billion-dollar package of aid and credit to enhance China-ASEAN cooperation.
Yang met with envoys of the 10 ASEAN countries in Beijing Sunday, fresh from his return from Thailand late Saturday where scheduled Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meetings were postponed due to unrest in Thailand.