Send Jackie Chan to North Korea
In protest against kung fu film star Jackie Chan's recent remarks that "Chinese people need to be controlled", someone has started a Facebook group called '100,000 for Sending Jackie Chan to North Korea!'
« April 12, 2009 - April 18, 2009 | Main | April 26, 2009 - May 2, 2009 »
April 25, 2009
The book is dead. Long live the e-book!
The Daily Telegraph's Malcolm Moore blogs on books and e-books in China:
One thing I've noticed, in my short time in China, is that it's rare to see people reading books on the metro, buses or trains...
But the future looks electronic. It turns out the kids on public transport with their portable Playstations or mobile phones are using them to read.
A way out of Tibet's morass
The Guatamala Times (funnily enough) has published an article by Tibet scholar Robert Barnett. Well worth a read: Barnett is one of the few sober voices on China's most painful political problem.
April 24, 2009
Give Global Times a chance
David Wolf writes:
Frankly, I'm not interested in another paper that looks, sounds, and smells like China Daily. I reckon one is enough. I would love to see Global Times International build a bit of character and start adopting the attitude - if not the exact editorial line - of its sister Chinese publication. I may not agree with everything I read, but at least it will be entertainment.
Your caonima for a visa
Gady Epstein in Forbes reports:
If the e-mail had come from some other distant country, Wayne England might have dismissed it as a scam. But this one, an inquiry last November about buying his alpacas, was from China, so the 74-year-old Tennessee farmer went for it. "Since all the money's in China, I thought it wouldn't hurt," says England. Thus began an elaborate visa ploy that successfully gained two Chinese men entry into the U.S. last month.
"New Generation Artists" and Yin Jinan
Sinopop reviews Yin Jinan's Knocking on the door alone and posts a translation of one of the essays inside, "New Generation and Close Up Artists":
The cultural backdrop in the early Nineties directly constitutes an important condition for the emergence of New Generation. This is not in so much as to say that these artists choose the Nineties, rather, the Nineties chose them. Owing to the general spiritual fatigue caused by an overheated economy and culture, "conceptual things already make people weary, artists want to return to their own specifically unassuming lives" (to quote Wang Huaxiang). Particularly in their appreciation of ordinary states, quiet and refined experiences replaced these artists' patience for provocative turmoil. This kind of Close Up art and the reciprocal choice the painter shares with each specific subject is also expressed in the fact that New Generation artists objectively avoid the trends of new wave art.
The "petitioners' dilemma" and the way out
At China Elections and Governance, Jennifer Haskell translates a Window of the South article on the petition system by Yu Jianrong:
I call the origin of the systemic difficulties that China's current petition activities face the "petitioners dilemma," and I look at petition activities from many aspects to understand and elucidate the dilemma. In my opinion, whether it is in terms of goals or tactics, petitioners', petition office officials', grassroots governments', and the central government's understanding of and use of the petition system are not entirely the same. In many ways, petitioning means taking part in a game of using different aspects of state power and realizing interests. It is each party pursuing the maximization of his or her own interest on the system's platform.
A property giant takes on the Xinjiang media
A property manager in Urumqi blocks all Morning Post paper carriers from entering its communities. The newspaper retaliates with a three-page feature.
"Human rights" is no longer a sensitive term
Southern Weekly interviews Li Yunlong, who participated in drafting China's new Human Rights Action Plan.
A practical handbook for beating street vendors
In the ongoing debate over how to regulate city enforcement squads, chengguan () are often depicted as uneducated brutes who don't know any better. But a textbook that has surfaced online suggests that violence is policy.
Heilongjiang's secret list of polluters
Jocelyn at The Wu Way writes about a press conference held in Heilongjiang by environmental protection officials who refused to give journalists a list of polluting companies, in violation of transparency laws.
Deal may come for Coke and Huiyuan after all
Coca-Cola may buy a minority stake in Huiyuan after having its takeover bid blocked on anti-trust grounds earlier this year, Reuters reports, without going into much more detail.
A retrenchment of simplified characters
At Language Log, Victor Mair rounds up some of the recent arguments over character simplification, including an Economist piece, a recent article in China Heritage Quarterly, and an op-ed in the Shanghai Daily.
See also: Simple arguments for character standards on Danwei (2009.03.08)
Schools for scandal: another sports scam
At Newsweek's China Calling blog, Melinda Liu digs into the School World Cup scandal, in which a high-school girls' soccer team won a world championship using professional players:
The biggest surprise-surprise came when the media turned up to speak with the victors. For some reason, school security personnel were under strict instructions to bar entry to journalists. The Chongqing press were later issued with an edict: no reporting on the school's soccer story.
Now, in a country that goes totally overboard when any athlete is victorious against foreign opposition, this is really weird! By this time, reporters from around the country were also curious.
Full length PBS videos online
PBS has launched a video website containing hundreds of full length PBS documentaries an other video clips. This links to a list of videos about China.
April 23, 2009
Granite Studio blogger in English Global Times
Jeremiah Jenne, the blogger behind Granite Studio, has a column in the new English language paper Global Times. The first one is titled 'Logic behind foreign news coverage in China'.
Anti smoking laws for Shanghai in 2010
Could it be the beginning of the end for the People's Republic of Smoking? The Shanghai Daily reports:
The city's first smoking-control law is expected to be issued in January at the annual meeting of the Shanghai People's Congress, the director of Shanghai Smoking Control Office told a conference yesterday, banning smoking from public places in time for next year's Expo.
J.G. Ballard in Shanghai
James Fallows reflects on the death of novelist J.G. Ballard, who spent his boyhood in wartime Shanghai.
At the bottom of the blog post is a link to a great resource for Ballard fans and Shanghai history buffs.
April 22, 2009
New Chengdu website in English
Gochengdoo.com is a new website, a joint effort by the GoKunming.com team and the editors of CHENGDOO citylife print magazine.
Social unrest because of recession? Nah
Arthur Koreber and Tom Miller in The Financial Times:
A couple of months ago, a number of excitable reports predicted that mass job losses in China's export heartlands could spell social chaos. Twenty million angry migrant workers had lost their jobs and revolt was in the air, we were told.So just how bad is the labour situation? Not nearly as bad as many people feared.
Deciphering Xinjiang and the Uyghurs
Bruce Humes introduces a book on Xinjiang by Wang Lixiong and translates three sets of regulations that Wang reproduces in his text:
After a tough time in detention during which he almost killed himself, and at one point agreed to work as an informer in exchange for his freedom, Wang left jail and resolved to research Xinjiang and write a book about what he saw on the ground, as well as record his political discussions with Mokhtar, his former cellmate and an articulate spokesperson for Uyghur intellectuals.
The Chinese government's smart media move
The Telegraph's Malcolm Moore thinks the new English-language Global Times is pretty clever:
It is early days and these are small steps. But it is already clear that the Global Times English is playing a different game to the Chinese version, and an equally smart one.
20 new dams for the Yangtze
The AP reports that China will build twenty new hydroelectric dams on the Yangtze River in the next decade:
China plans to build more than 20 dams along the country's longest river by 2020 as part of a plan to further develop the Yangtze River's hydropower, an official said Tuesday.
The river already has the world's largest hydroelectric project, the Three Gorges Dam. China is looking to hydropower as an important alternative to help it move away from coal, which provides more than 70 percent of the country's energy supply.
Crazy petitioners and a broken system
Aaron Jeske and Alyssa Farrelly at the China Elections and Governance sum up the issues surrounding the petition system.
April 21, 2009
Individual passions in China
Jennifer Ying Lan at The Beijinger interviews Atlantic correspondent James Fallows about reporting on China, living in Beijing, and working in politics and other fields.
Wu Baoquan vs. Ordos, Inner Mongolia
ESWN translates a Southern Metropolis Daily report about online discussion concerning Wu Baoquan, sentenced to two years in prison for libel against the government.
Wu Baoquan is not the first netizen to have been convicted of a crime for making comments on the Internet. But he is the first netizen who is reported to have his sentence increased after a re-trial. Significantly, the story about the Henan provincial government apologizing publicly to Wang Shuai had just been a hot news story just before this.
Global Voices Advocacy has a summary of the case as well.
On the impact of new media
Liu Jianqiang, Zhang Ping, and Wang Lixiong speak at a UC Berkeley roundtable. China Digital Times presents excerpts of their remarks:
Zhang Ping: About five years ago, newspaper editors often received notices from departments that certain Internet messages should not be published. However, that has changed.
Now, most of my commentary of current events can be published in newspapers but restricted on the Internet. The editor of mainstream websites are informed that they should not publish or reduce or comment on my articles.
Why is this the case? I attribute this to the breakthrough in the past five years of public opinion. The Internet can create a lot of topics that newspapers cannot.
Update (2009.04.24): CDT has posted a second roundtable involving Isaac Mao, Hu Yong, and Liu Xiaobiao.
China drives sales for global autosellers
From the China Daily:
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers forecasts full-year vehicle sales to reach 10.2 million units, up almost 9 percent from last year.
Passenger car sales in the country will grow 7 percent to 6.1 million units, Yale Zhang, director of Greater China Vehicle Forecasts for US consultancy CSM Worldwide Corp, said on Monday.
His predictions are backed by auto majors.
"China's overall auto market may grow by 6 percent this year while the luxury segment will be double the growth," said Dieter Zetsche, chairman of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz.
China to start investigation of "unnatural" prisoner deaths
The Shanghaiist quotes the government's announcement of a 5-month investigation into prison deaths -- 15 this year alone:
Seven inmates have been beaten to death, three have committed suicide, two died in accidents, and three other deaths are still under investigation, according to Xinhua. The total number was confirmed by a Supreme People's Protectorate official on Monday. It was a surprisingly open move for the government authorities, who were reporting just five deaths a few weeks ago according to the BBC.
April 20, 2009
The Great Wall actually much longer
From the AFP:
The most comprehensive and technologically advanced survey of China's Great Wall has discovered the ancient monument is much longer than previously estimated, state media reported Monday.
However the project has also shown the World Heritage-listed site is in danger of disappearing in many places due to road construction and other forms of development, as well as extreme weather, the China Daily said.
The wall, built over centuries to keep foreigners out of China, stretches for 8,851.8 kilometres (5,488.1 miles), much further than common estimates of 5,000 kilometres, according to the findings of the survey.
Three ways to talk to strangers online
Gangsters in the government
C. Custer at ChinaGeeks translates an Ai Weiwei blog post which discusses the "laws" that officials make up on the spot to until confronted with facts, at which point they find other ways to justify their actions:
Seeking a living within the system is like seeking a living in the gangland world, you must always follow the orders of the "higher-ups" and "elders", the more you are obedient the more you are well-received; the more you are loyal the more you are favored. If you have independent thoughts and the sprit of a critical thinker, I fear it will be difficult for you to find a place. Even if you aren't thrown out, you can only feel wronged and seek to protect yourself through not working too hard. When I come in contact with them, I can often sense the rope that binds them, and the hand that's holding the rope on the other end.
For China's New Left, old values
Ariana Eunjung Cha writes for the Washington Post about Zuo Dapei, Wang Hui, Wang Xiaodong, and other leftist intellectuals who are dissatisfied with corruption and crony capitalism that has grown alongside economic reforms.
April 19, 2009
"The China I knew had all but disappeared"
Froog compares the China of today with what he experienced when he arrived 15 years ago.
The badlands of Panzhihua
Chubb at Cold China, has been posting fascinating entries about a March trip to various parts of China, writes about travelling from Lijiang to Panzhihua and on to Chengdu:
The next day the brushes with Chinese mass philosophy continued. When i arrived at Emei town it was raining any foggy and i very decisively abandoned the hiking idea in favour of a day on the internet. My next train, this time to Chengdu, was at 3am. Being just a 4-hour ride i was happy to go on a hard seat (25RMB, the equivalent of $5), and somehow i unwittingly set off a hardcore anti-Cultural Revolution, anti-Mao struggle session. These guys, two middle-aged and one quite old, were all of the opinion that Mao's only good point was that he united the country.
Jackie Chan on control and shoddy Chinese products
At a panel discussion on "Tapping into Asia's Creative Industry Potential," Jackie Chan spoke about stability and chaos:
"I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not," Chan said. "I'm really confused now. If you're too free, you're like the way Hong Kong is now. It's very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic."
Chan added: "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want."
Quality control was on his mind, too:
Speaking fast with his voice rising, Chan said, "If I need to buy a TV, I'll definitely buy a Japanese TV. A Chinese TV might explode."
Update (2009.04.20): Sam Crane has an interesting discussion of how Jackie Chan is echoing the argument made about China by early 20th Century imperialists:
One more thing. Here is a test. When we encounter this kind of statement, let's ask ourselves: what would be the political implications had a foreigner said it? Would it be seen as an essentialist racist distorition? Or would it be welcome as a wise and deep understanding of "Chinese culture"?
Personally, I think Chan is wrong. I think the average Chinese person knows his or her own personal interests and, given the chance, would advocate for those interests in non-violent ways that could be productively channeled into new and less repressive political institutions. I have more faith in the average Chinese person than does Chan. But, then again, I am not trying to sell movies to the the Party leadership...