Must-read China news by Danwei

Tom Burgis writing from Lagos in The Financial Times:

A Chinese state-owned oil company is in talks with Nigeria to buy large stakes in some of the world’s richest oil blocks in a deal that would eclipse Beijing’s previous efforts to secure crude overseas.

The attempt could pitch the Chinese into competition with western oil groups, including Shell, Chevron, Total and ExxonMobil, which partly or wholly control and operate the 23 blocks under discussion. Sixteen licences are up for renewal.

CNOOC, one of China’s three energy majors, is trying to buy 6bn barrels of oil, equivalent to one in every six barrels of the proven reserves in Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest crude producer and a major supplier to the US.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:03 AM | Permalink

Kirk Semple writes for the New York Times about Ghost Town by Zhao Dayong, an independent film-maker. The film is set to appear at the New York Film Festival:

Over the course of six years Zhao Dayong, an independent filmmaker from Guangzhou, China, spent many months living among the residents of Zhiziluo, an impoverished and forgotten village in the rugged mountains near the Myanmar border, and filming their lives...

Mr. Zhao, 39, said getting the approval of the censors was never a consideration. “It’s like asking to be raped,” he said this month in an interview here. “The government certainly has its own agenda. They want us to stop. But at the same time we know we’re doing something meaningful.”

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 2:21 PM | Permalink

From China Daily:

A new subway line will start operation in Beijing just before China's National Day on October 1. But the exact date remains unannounced.

With a total length of 28.2 kilometers, the Subway Line 4 runs through the city from the northwest to the south.

It will help relieve the pressure of old tube lines by offering an alternative access point to some of the most crowded stations such as XIDAN, which is the center of many shopping malls and is also a rising financial centre.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 2:18 PM | Permalink

In The China Daily:

Tian'anmen closes as countdown begins

The Forbidden City and other popular tourist venues will begin closing to visitors from Tuesday, just two days out from National Day holiday...

...

On Wednesday, the capital's 7,000 traffic police, equipped with GPS devices, will be in charge of clearing a path for thousands of servicemen and women, armed vehicles and 200,000 performers for the parade.

A command center has been set up at the Imperial Ancestral Temple, just east of Tian'anmen Square, to monitor security during the celebrations. From there, military, police and officials will monitor live footage from 40,000 cameras in Beijing.

Major hotels along Chang'an avenue, where the parade will be held, will be closed from Monday until Friday.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 1:54 PM | Permalink

Michael Rank wrote an article for the Asia Times in August about the loneliest grave in North Korea. On his blog he posts more photos, a letter, and additional information on Flight Lieutenant Desmond Hinton, whose aircraft was shot down in the DPRK during the Korean War:

Letter from Desmond’s C.O. who said he believed Desmond had survived. Colonel Mitchell said Desmond was on a strafing run on some trucks a few miles northeast of Pyongyang.

He called that his plane was hit and he would have to bail out. He jettisoned his canopy and two pilots saw the seat was empty which makes me beleive [sic] that Des got clear of the seat.

His parachute was not seen, however, he was wearing an all white shute and the ground was completely covered with snow. This would have made it difficult to see the opened parachute.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 1:43 PM | Permalink

Has Coffee-Mate (咖啡伴侣) become genericized in Chinese? Go Kunming looks at a spat over Nestle's trademarked brand of coffee creamer:

The Yunnan Coffee Industry association is standing behind Hogood, insisting that Nestlé should not continue to "monopolize" the Coffee-Mate trademark and that Nestlé should let Chinese companies use the name on their own products.
...
"Coffee-Mate" has served to describe such a coffee flavor additive for many years. Looking from the perspective of the inherent of the meaning of "Coffee-Mate", the term directly describes this type of product's quality, function and usage, lacking any striking characteristics. But Nestlé uses "Coffee-Mate" as a product name. Objectively speaking, this dilutes the name's striking characteristics when used as a trademark.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 4:26 PM | Permalink

Tania Branigan reports for the Guardian in Beijing:

Xiao Jiansheng spent 20 years researching and writing the book. It was printed on the mainland two years ago after heavy censorship but officials promptly barred the publisher from distributing it.

Bao Pu, of New Century Press in Hong Kong, said he understood that the ministry of state security learned of the Hong Kong edition and put pressure on Xiao through the editor of his newspaper.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 2:38 PM | Permalink

An explosion destroyed a restaurant in Beijing's Xinjiekou neighborhood this morning. From the Wall Street Journal, which has a photo of the aftermath:

The explosion took place at the Xinjiekou district in the old part of the city. According to pictures on Twitter, the restaurant was sandwiched in between two two-story brick buildings. One picture showed a fire truck and a car covered in rubble. Police and fire personnel stood in front of the debris, which spilled into the road.

Links to Maggie Rauch's photos can be found on Global Voices Online.

The short Xinhua report does not give a cause; Qianlong is reporting that a gas canister exploded, injuring three restaurant employees and numerous passers-by.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 12:53 PM | Permalink

For Global Voices Online, John Kennedy looks at some netizen responses to the crackdown on corruption currently going on in Chongqing:

Though some people have this and that to say about Bo Xilai's corruption crackdown, the vast majority of the people have no objection whatsoever. Regardless of whatever ambitions a top-level cadre might have, as long as he is genuinely willing to put his back into it when working for the people and genuinely keep their welfare in mind, then he will be a good leader who will win the heartfelt love, affection and support of the people. If only all officials in China could be like Bo Xilai!

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:49 AM | Permalink

dGenerate Films' CinemaTalk speaks with David Bandurski, familiar to Danwei readers from his translations and analysis at the China Media Project, about his involvement with documentary filmmaker Zhao Dayong and the film Ghost Town:

So he was taken in to the police station to take care of this situation and Dayong just walked in there with the camera with every intention of filming that entire thing. And there was a whole back and forth where they told him don’t film in here, but his first thought not “Can I do it, how can I do it, do I need a tiny little camera?” No, he just walked in there with his camera on his shoulder, so when they make these films they don’t really have any consideration as to whether they’re approved or not, so in that sense they’re very free.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:24 AM | Permalink

The AFP reports:

China kicked off its mass vaccination for the A(H1N1) influenza virus on Monday in Beijing, apparently becoming the first nation in the world to start inoculating its population against the virus.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 4:43 PM | Permalink

Xujun Eberlein at Inside-Out China reviews Jonathan Tel's The Beijing of Possibilities, a collection of stories about the city:

In recent years, there has been no shortage of nonfiction books set in Beijing written by expats, but fiction in the same category remains sparse. Jonathan Tel's new story collection, The Beijing of Possibilities, stands out as a notable exception, its twelve stories displaying a gripping juxtaposition of realism and allegory.

Tel's prose treats serious themes in a romantic, humorous, at times mystical way. He is evidently very familiar with Beijing's settings, geographically and culturally, having lived in the capital city as early as 1988.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 4:39 PM | Permalink

Yang Xianhui's Chronicle of Jiabiangou (夹边沟纪事), a book of stories of a rightist camp in Gansu Province during the 1950s, was recently translated by Wen Huang and published under the title Woman From Shanghai. Why do these fictionalized accounts of memories collected from former inmates come wrapped in a cover showing a rouged woman in a qipao?

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 11:13 AM | Permalink

Yeeyan, a collaborative translation website, is promoting a crowd-sourced Chinese edition of Dan Brown's new novel, The Lost Symbol. But does the project violate the author's intellectual property rights?

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 11:06 AM | Permalink

Rosealea Yao and Tom Miller blog at the Financial Times about subsidies in the real estate market:

Including households that purchased “economic housing” (supposedly affordable housing subsidised by the government for lower-income families) and those living in low-rent subsidised housing, well over half of all urban households enjoy some form of subsidised housing.

In short, a high proportion of households live in apartments purchased at below-market prices or have upgraded to apartments financed by the sale of a property bought at a subsidised price. This means that the vast majority of households do not spend a large proportion of their income on housing.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:45 AM | Permalink

Adam Minter writes for Foreign Policy on China's e-waste processing industry, fueled by domestic cast-offs:

It's a sign of the times: China is simply consuming more and making more of its own trash. The items being processed down south have certainly included some of the handsets replaced by the reported 1.5 million iPhones brought (unofficially) into China over the last two years. Unlike in the United States, where Apple accepts phones for recycling from any manufacturer, in China it only accepts Apple-branded products (and requires its consumers to ship them to, of all places, Hong Kong). They have all but guaranteed that, at some point, millions of Chinese cell phones will contribute to the government-supported disaster in Guiyu as shiny new iPhones fill China's up-and-coming pockets.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:45 AM | Permalink

The Globe and Mail interviews Bob Martin, the Bank of Montreal's "man in Asia":

The Chinese government is trying with IPOs to privatize these companies over time. We shouldn't see these as Crown corporations or state corporations in the full sense. They're in a transition mode.

It is an opportunity to have long-term linkages with what is going to become the major global economy.

If we want to work with China, and influence China over time, this is the way to do it. If we stand back a bit, we miss the opportunity to benefit from it and work with China diplomatically to try to influence the future.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 11:51 AM | Permalink

The Economic Observer reports that Chinese airlines have begun to abandon an unpopular pricing and discount system implemented six months ago:

The difference between the two pricing systems basically comes down to whether a discount is applied to both of the components of the full ticket price (the NDRC-set bench mark + the airline's floating price) or whether, as with the unpopular new system, only the benchmark price is taken in to account when working out the discount on a ticket.

When TravelSky first announced the new system in March, they explained that the largest discount available on an air ticket under the new system would be 76% off the standard price, this was in contrast to the maximum discount of 96% off the original offered under the old system.

"To be honest, under the new pricing system, it's not easy even for our booking agents to work out the price of any given ticket," a ticket seller at Guangzhou's Baiyun Airport admitted to this reporter.

It's predicted that tickets will be between 10 and 20 percent cheaper, now that airlines are returning to the original pricing system.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:18 AM | Permalink

Bloomberg, amongst other media, reports on the missed announcement for Xi Jinping (which could come later):

China’s Vice President Xi Jinping wasn’t named a vice chairman of the ruling Communist Party’s Central Military Commission, signaling President Hu Jintao may want to hold on to some power after his scheduled retirement in 2013.

Victor Shih has some more comments on his Chinese Politics blog.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 2:48 PM | Permalink

Reuters reports on the fishy e-mails that news assistants in Shanghai and Beijing have been receiving:

"There is definitely a pattern of virus attacks in the run-up to important dates on the Chinese political calendar," said Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong. He noted that non-government organizations are also favorite targets.

"Whether the government is behind it, closes its eyes to it, supports it or has nothing to with it is unclear. There are also patriotic hackers, so there is no way to know for sure who is behind it."

See also this blog post by Thomas Crampton.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 2:39 PM | Permalink

John Garnaut at the Sidney Morning Herald writes about Macau's seedy casinos:

The sprawling gaming room floors aren't filled with spivs chatting with cocktail girls around roulette wheels. Instead there are casually-dressed families from mainland China with their bodies hunched over baccarat tables, their sober minds crunching the odds, and fingers squeezing the life out of their cards to bring good luck.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 2:27 PM | Permalink

Bookseller.com reviews clashes at the preliminary discussions of the Frankfurt Book Fair, where China is the Guest of Honor.

FBF came under widespread criticism last week for its decision to revoke invitations sent to Chinese "dissident" authors Bei Ling and Dai Qing to appear at a symposium about the fair's guest of honour China. The organisers later changed their minds and allowed the authors to appear, causing the official Chinese delegation to walk out and demand an apology. But Juergen Boos has said the decision to prevent the authors from appearing "was wrong". He added: "The Frankfurt Book Fair does not compromise to the detriment of freedom of expression. Facilitating dialogue is not easy. We have always been aware of this and the symposium confirmed this. Dialogue is, however, the right way and the only way."

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 2:12 PM | Permalink

FEER is under Dow Jones & Co., which has announced its decision to fold the Asian affairs English-language magazine. Murdoch, the chief of News Corp. that owns Dow Jones & Co., will expand coverage to other Asian countries.

The Review debuted in 1946 as Asia emerged from the war, and became one of the most aggressive news organizations in the region. Its coverage made it the target of lawsuits in places like Singapore, where it was ultimately banned.

FEER distribution was altered once in 2004, which was also the time when it was said that they had gone "soft."

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 1:57 PM | Permalink

IN2marcom presents a gallery of 60 cover images from China Pictorial, starting with its launch issue in 1950, which featured a smiling, waving Chairman Mao.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 1:51 PM | Permalink

Freshly graduated foreigners come to China looking for better jobs. From AP via the San Francisco Chronicle:

Bangyibang.com's founder and CEO, Grant Yu, has five foreign employees in his 35-member work force. Yu plans to add more and said he might hire applicants who cannot speak Chinese if they have other skills.

"I don't believe language is the biggest obstacle in communication, as long as he or she has a strong learning ability," Yu said.

Feng Li, a partner in a Chinese-Canadian private fund in Beijing that invests in the mining industry, said he needs native speakers of foreign languages to read legal documents and communicate with clients abroad. He plans to recruit up to six foreign employees.

Update (2009.09.22): China Daily has republished the story, minus a paragraph about tightened visa restrictions ahead of last year's Olympics.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 4:25 PM | Permalink

Asia Sentinel reports about Richard Li's new venture, Cai Business Indepth Ltd:

This not just another Web site, however. Besides Li's deep pockets, the service is backed by strategic alliances with the Hong Kong Economic Journal, which Li also owns, and Caijing, the highly-respected Shanghai-based business news magazine. The new service, beamed specifically at financial institutions, is to be delivered both across the internet and through proprietary terminals, much as Bloomberg's service is, as well as to handheld devices like the ubiquitous Blackberry.

Li seems to think his timing is right to catch the wave with a service that takes advantage of both a proprietary news model and the Internet.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 2:22 PM | Permalink

The Beijinger blog has photos of this morning's practice run for the air-show portion of the upcoming National Day festivities:

The formations were coming in from the east, flying just south of and parallel to Chang'an Avenue, over Tiananmen and then out to the west. The fly-by lasted for about 15 minutes and climaxed with jets releasing streaks of colored smoke.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 12:53 PM | Permalink

China Media Project finds considerable misunderstanding of the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government Regulations on News Release Work as filtered through a China Daily article:

In the China Daily/AFP/BBC version of the story, Shenzhen media seem to be actively empowered by the new regulations. The BBC suggests that “officials could be sacked or reprimanded if they do not respond quickly to media requests.” China Daily tells us that officials “who fail to provide accurate and proper information to the media will face punishments ranging from public criticism to dismissal from their post.”

But Clause Two of Article One makes it patently clear that these regulations are really about government public relations, and are not a real mandate for official accountability.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 12:45 PM | Permalink

At China Youthology, Zafka Zhang and Helen Yu interview Ray Lei, a young animator:

I don’t do big production any more; instead, I make short ones that can be finished in 15 days, to instantly express whatever feelings I develop. My latest work ‘Magic Cube’ is an echo of a previous work. What I wanted to say is people are just drifting about, not really connected to the society, and that as common citizens and lookers-on, we can do nothing but watch. That is the way of the society. Even if it pisses you off, you don’t have to fight against it, so I keep playing my ping-pong. I am no longer that angry now. Maybe I just don’t want to make a fuss any more.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 12:33 PM | Permalink

Today top headline on The China Daily's website: "President Hu rolls into US".

It's linked to other stories titled "Comment: A responsible China"; "Adhere to Chinese socialism: President Hu"; and "China helps plant seeds of optimism" which reports the following:

China was this morning expected to make a "very big announcement", organizers of a major environmental project told China Daily here ahead of a United Nations summit on climate change.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 8:26 AM | Permalink

China Digital Times translates an article from The Beijing News reporting that kitchen knives have been taken off shelves in major Beijing supermarkets following a recent stabbing deaths and ahead of the 60th Anniversary celebration.

Following Thursday's attack that left 2 dead and 14 injured in Beijing's Qianmen neighborhood, a French woman was stabbed on Saturday near the south end of Tiananmen Square, AFP reports.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 3:56 PM | Permalink

sinopop posts about a six-decade retrospective that recently closed at the National Art Museum of China:

...red not only prevailed in the literal sense, its ideological presence was overpowering. In this exhibition that sprawled out over the entirety of the NAMOC’s exhibition halls, co-sponsors Cultural Ministry of China and NAMOC pulled sixty years of revolutionary masterpieces out of storage from all of Beijing’s major collections, including the Military Museum and the former Revolutionary Museum (soon to reopen as the Museum of Chinese History). It was a mind-blowing show, by scale and quality alone. Also, by their omissions, curators highlighted what isn’t included in the sanctioned visual lexicon that is “fine art” in China today. This became especially apparent when viewers started to wonder on what floor the “contemporary” were being hidden.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 3:21 PM | Permalink

A superb gallery of photos showing rehearsals and preparations for the PRC's 60th anniversary parade, including missiles, marchers, female jet pilots and floats.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 2:20 PM | Permalink

China Law Prof Blog discusses the case of Zhang Haichao, who was awarded 615,000 RMB in worker's compensation only after he had his chest cut open to prove he had contracted black lung disease:

the broader issue for the legal system is why it relies so much on these formal procedures for evidence. This doesn't occur just in worker's compensation cases, although here the rules of evidence go beyond mere formalism and seem almost deliberately designed to discourage claims. It occurs in other areas of law as well, where documents must be properly notarized even though there is not any real doubt as to their authenticity. Some of this obsession for formal authentication can perhaps be traced to civil law influences on China's legal system, but since China has in other parts of its legal system felt free to ignore what's done in continental Europe, I think the real answer to this still lies in Chinese legal culture. And it's a bit puzzling, since most of the time when state officials make decisions, they are not artificially constrained in the types of information they can take into account. Strict rules of evidence make more sense in jury systems, when there is a concern that lay people might misinterpret certain kinds of information.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 5:25 PM | Permalink

Reports Bloomberg:

Jarrett said in a statement she emphasized Obama’s commitment to supporting the Tibetan people and securing their human and civil rights. She also said Obama commended the Dalai Lama for looking for a solution based on autonomy within China.

The Dalai Lama expressed the hope the Tibetans may see progress in the resolution of their differences with China during Obama’s presidency, according to the statement.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:19 AM | Permalink

The China Daily reports:

Abdulrusul Abdukhadi and Ablimit Memet were sentenced to 15 years in prison, Rehman Raziq 12 years and Abdulkeyum Ayup eight years. Abdukhadi and Memet were also deprived of political rights for five years and Raziq for three years.

Abdukhadi, Raziq and Ayup traveled from Kashgar to Urumqi on Aug 31 and started to plot needle attacks the next day with Memet, a business man who is also from Kashgar, the police said.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:15 AM | Permalink

From Xinhua:

A man armed with a knife had stabbed two people to death in Dashilan, a major commercial center in downtown Beijing, the Publicity Department with the Communist Party of China Beijing Municipal Committee confirmed Thursday night.

The tragedy occurred at around 6:54 p.m. on Thursday. The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital and two security guards died later despite medical treatment, police sources said.

Note that is was the Publicity Department, not the police who confirmed the killings. Also noted by Michael Anti:

Xinhua ... drop[ped] its previous more detailed news: numbers and place all deleted.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:16 AM | Permalink

If someone in distress begs you for a ride, it might be a sting operation against illegal taxis. ESWN translates reports and parodies of the latest administrative enforcement scandal: entrapment of unlicensed taxi operators.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 9:09 AM | Permalink

The Founding of a Republic and Tian'anmen are two films made to celebrate the "birthday," but one is made by the CEO of China Film Group, Han Sanping (韩三平). Y Weekend interviews the other director, Ye Daying (叶大鹰).

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 5:15 PM | Permalink

With Shanghai Scrap back from hiatus, Adam Minter contemplates health care:

I’ve never really been able to put my finger on what – precisely – it is that makes Chinese hospitals such culturally foreign experiences for expats (two of my favorite China bloggers might have had more success, here and here). And, conversely, what makes American hospitals so foreign to Chinese.

Part of the problem, I think, is that I’ve always thought about this in terms of health care systems. But what I’ve realized over the last few weeks (due to events I’ll describe) I really should have been thinking about health care cultures.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 3:42 PM | Permalink

ESWN translates a Southern Metropolis Daily report on Wu Baoquan's latest conviction in Ordos for libel, this time with the added crime of impersonating a journalist:

Yesterday Wu Baoquan's elder brother attended the court hearing. He said that compared to the previous trials, this trial introduced the new element of "pretending to be a reporter" because Wu Baoquan wrote as if he were a reporter in the Internet post. As for the libel aspect, the evidence now included the statement from current Inner Mognolia Autonomous Region Political Consultative Conference vice-chairman Yun Feng who said that the posts caused his family to be suspicious of him and netizens to curse him so that he could not concentrate on his work, etc.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 11:13 AM | Permalink

As a flaming bus started to pick up speed on the down-slope of a bridge, a police officer drove at it head-on. Includes an interview with the officer and a video of the rolling inferno.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 2:50 PM | Permalink

You're reading it wrong: Fashion magazine 1626 instructs its audience in the proper pronunciation of LV, Marc Jacobs, and other well-known labels through surreal illustrations.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 2:48 PM | Permalink

Chinese media is reporting today that the ban on flying over the capital, which will be in effect from September 15 through October 8 as part of security preparations for the National Day celebration on October 1, lists kites for the first time. From Xinhua:

Li Runhua, head of the public security squadron of the Beijing municipal public security bureau, said residents were banned from releasing pigeons, and flying kites and balloons even at celebrations and shopping promotions.

Xinhua also has a lengthier report on other security preparations.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:24 AM | Permalink

Evan Osnos of the New Yorker posts a translation of Qian Gang's article in Southern Weekend about being called up to verify his answers to an interview. Link via ESWN:

Professor Zhan Jiang, who has studied U.S. media, told me that there are fewer and fewer media organizations in the U.S. that conduct such procedures. No wonder I felt like I was in the the middle of an ancient ritual while hearing the fact checking call from The New Yorker. Mr. Pulitzer’s motto “Accuracy! Accuracy! Accuracy!” seems to be a vanishing mist at a time when media face fierce competition. Yes, the press that is willing to spend a lot of human capital and money on investigative reporting and fact-checking is dwindling.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 6:54 PM | Permalink

The New York Times reports on the Coca-Cola embezzlement scandals, including the detainment of a second employee in Shanghai:

“We can confirm that two former employees at Shanghai Shenmei Coca-Cola bottling plant have been detained by the police,” Kenth Kaerhoeg, a Coke spokesman said in a statement Tuesday. “This matter does not involve bribery of government officials but instead allegations that the former employees extracted kickbacks from suppliers and embezzled from the bottler.”

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 6:35 PM | Permalink

GoChengdoo summarizes and translates a report about a National Day security drill:

Police in Jintang County (northwest of Chengdu proper) staged a practice drill in preparation for National Day security last Friday. The drill involved a fake explosive that was planted at the local middle school. And to be sure the drill was as authentic as possible, neither the students of the school nor their families were notified that it was just a drill.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 6:27 PM | Permalink

At Open Democracy, Kerry Brown writes up the results of a month-long tour of rural China:

In China's northeast, quasi-mafia groups have made entire rural areas their fiefdoms, which they run according to their extensive business interests. In the southeast province of Fujian, similar elite economic groups have established control of villages via local representatives who ruthlessly pursue the groups' private interests with no regard for broader social goals. In the central provinces of Hunan, Henan and Hebei, most evidence I saw showed a clear battle between party operatives and other increasingly powerful groups (from specific clans in one area, to economic or ethnic or social groups in another). Such tense and uneven situations help put in perspective Hu Jintao's emphasis, in the aftermath of the Xinjiang disturbances, on the need to have "one law for everyone".

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 3:06 PM | Permalink

From The China Daily:

President Hu Jintao will spend next week in the United States to explain his nation's role in tackling the financial crisis, climate change and nuclear disarmament to global leaders.

President Hu will be in New York from Sept 21-24 before heading to Pittsburgh, Pa., for the G20 meeting of world leaders from 19 countries as well as the European Union on Sept 25.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:06 PM | Permalink

Adam Cathcart translates part of an article from the French journal Liberation on demolitions in old Kashgar.

“What would you say if I blew up the Eiffel Tower on the pretext that it might be struck by lightning?” In one gesture, Mahmut (pseudonym), the young Uighur guide, embraces the ocher roofs and the labyrinthine alleyways of Kashgar: “All of this will disappear within three years. They will destroy everything, and they say it is for your security.”

They? The government, the colonizing Han Chinese, and the people who “collaborate” with them.

“It is a cultural war in this neighborhood,” says Mahmut, “and the Uighurs have already lost.”

Earlier on Danwei: Building a new Old City in Kashgar, from Phoenix Weekly.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 4:35 PM | Permalink

Black and White Cat translates a Southern Weekly story on rumors about an AIDS needle scare in Tianjin in 2002, which has echoes in the recent panic in Xinjiang:

However, the “needle-pricking” incidents have probably had an even deeper influence on the city’s residents. A reporter was walking down the street with a friend from Tianjin and discovered this friend had formed a habit of looking all around him. As soon as anyone came close, he would immediately stare at the person vigilantly.

Reporters noticed that many people in Tianjin had developed this conditioned response. Everyone consciously maintained a distance from other people on the street. Violating this distance would often be met with heightened vigilance or even an antagonistic expression. A Ph.D. graduate at Nankai University says, “This is because the rumors have formed a response of tension and anxiety in people’s minds. It has made them feel as if they are surrounded by chaos and danger.”

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 1:53 PM | Permalink

AP via the LA Times:

Demonstrators wearing black rallied outside a police station before marching to local offices of China's central government. Organizers and police estimated the crowd at 650 to 700 people.

"This time the authorities are over the line," Mak Yin-ting, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, told the gathering. "They did not only beat reporters, but blamed them for inciting the public disorder."

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 12:17 PM | Permalink

Ah Bei, CEO of Douban, a community website that has expanded its focus from books and music to all sorts of creative endeavors, speaks to Danwei about online groups, edginess, and the indie music scene.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 11:16 AM | Permalink

From the Financial Times:

A full-blown trade row erupted on Sunday night between the US and China after Beijing accused Washington of “rampant protectionism” for imposing heavy duties on imported Chinese tyres and threatened action against imports of US poultry and vehicles.

Trade relations between two of the world’s biggest economies deteriorated after Barack Obama, US president, signed an order late on Friday to impose a new duty of 35 per cent on Chinese tyre imports on top of an existing 4 per cent tariff.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 10:45 AM | Permalink

At the New York Times, Andrew Jacobs writes about the hawkers and salvagers who haunt Beijing's neighborhoods:

“If you can’t yell loudly, you’ll starve,” said Chen Lin, 37, a bony, animated man who earns about $5 a day salvaging dead appliances and anything else containing metal. “No one really knows what I’m yelling,” he said, “but they remember my song and this brings them out of their house.”

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 8:55 AM | Permalink

ESWN translates a look back at the Yan Xiaoling case from the Strait Metropolis Daily. Rumors about rape and murder got several bloggers detained by police.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 8:42 AM | Permalink

From The Financial Times:

One of South Africa’s biggest financial institutions is borrowing $1bn from a group of Chinese banks, in a move which reflects the scarcity of credit in traditional capital markets and growing links between South Africa and the bigger emerging economies.

Standard Bank, which sold 20 per cent of its equity to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China two years ago, said it was the first time that it had tapped the Asian market. “There is absolutely no way we could raise this kind of money from western banks,” said Jacko Maree, Standard Bank’s chief executive. “You could not do it at any price.”

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 5:02 PM | Permalink

At China Heritage Quarterly, Sang Ye and Geremie R. Barmé look back at some of the momentous National Days of the past as China gears up for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic:

Recalling these National Days and providing an overview of the kinds of military parades and mass marches organized by the Party-state over the years offers a perspective on the changing official priorities of socialist China. As the state marks time with slogans, meetings, political movements and orchestrated expressions of mass will, it is through the National Day celebrations over the past sixty years that one can gauge the unsteady biorhythms of the nation-state. Just as the clamour of celebration indicates the formal nature of state power, silences and absences have other stories to tell, the tenor of which is frequently hard to discern.

More National Day goodies at The China Beat.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 4:42 PM | Permalink

At the White House, replete with photos.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 12:14 PM | Permalink

On Han chauvinism, from John Kennedy at Global Voices Online:

In fact, Han in many places in Xinjiang don't just discriminate against Uighurs, but don't even see them as human. For example, six years ago I was in Xinjiang on a business trip. I was standing on Yan'an Nan Road in Ürümqi trying to get a taxi, and one Uighur girl came up next to me and was trying to get a taxi too. It always takes a long time to get a cab in Ürümqi in the winter. We were freezing and finally when one empty cab did pull up, it went right past that girl and stopped right in front of me. Strange, I thought, and after I got in I asked the driver why he didn't stop for the girl. The (Han) driver said: we don't pick up those leatherhats (Uighurs). I asked why. He said once he picked up an Uighur who gave him fake money, so I asked if he'd ever had Han customers who gave him fake money. He said he had.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:27 AM | Permalink

Dan Chung makes a video about home-made submarines for The Guardian.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 10:50 AM | Permalink

China Digital Times notices that both Austin Ramzy and Evan Osnos have blogged about local shops getting taken over by the sex industry.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 7:38 AM | Permalink

At China Elections, He Ron and Jason Kyriakides look at "My Campaign for Secretary of the Party Committee," an episode of CCTV Focus Interview that examined direct elections in Nanjing.

Before the election, the two candidates conducted interviews with residents, street sweepers and Party members in order to know the specific problems of the community. During the election, both of them first presented a speech. In his speech, Chen emphasized his experience as a Party member for over 20 years, and his rejection of running for "reputation or promotion." Zhao emphasized his youth and energy, his experience working for street-level and community-level organizations, and his education. Following the speeches, there came the Q and A section. Party members posted questions concerning the construction of the community for both of the candidates. Later on, the votes were counted and called out, and the election was a victory for incumbent Chen.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 7:33 AM | Permalink

The lead editorial in the most recent issue of New Weekly takes the Qixian cobalt-60 scare as a starting point for a look at how local governments fail to make use of the Internet as a communication tool.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 11:25 AM | Permalink

A letter signed by an organization called the Global Chinese-Kokang United Alliance calls for Chinese volunteers to follow earlier generations in taking up arms to save Kokang from the brutal rule of Burmese government:

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 11:23 AM | Permalink

From The China Daily:

China and the US will work together on $12.38-billion of agreements and contracts - including the largest solar power project between the two countries - deals that illuminate the healthy state of bilateral trade ties.

The 41 projects ... were signed in the presence of China's National People's Congress Standing Committee Chairman Wu Bangguo while he attended the one-day US-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum in Phoenix on Tuesday.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:28 AM | Permalink

At the China Media Project, David Bandurski introduces and translates a Guangzhou Daily editorial on "public opinion channeling":

The watchdog function of the press may affect the interests of a particular area, office or enterprise in the short term. But in the longer run, this influence of public opinion will be beneficial to overall interests. Regrettably, many people still persist in believing that the responsibility for a poor image lies with the media, and with the news report itself . . .

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 12:50 PM | Permalink

Three Hong Kong reporters say they were beat up in Xinjiang. Hou Hanmin, director of the Xinjiang Autonomous Regional Information Office, responded with accusations that two of them lacked proper press passes, and that "something that everybody doesn't want to see took place." ESWN rounds up reports on the Hong Kong media's indignant response: "this is completely fabricated with trumped up charges."

Update (2009.09.11): ESWN translates a Yazhou Zhoukan article on the press conference, to which the press organizations whose journalists were beaten were not invited.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 12:01 PM | Permalink

Teo Cheng Wee blogs at the Straits Times about political nicknames in the the Malaysian Chinese Association's leadership tussle:

The fiery face-off between MCA's top two leaders has provided much fodder for the Chinese press, which dedicate pages of coverage to the contest daily. It is often serious, but sometimes irreverent - and that is where the cheeky fun comes in.

In fact, as the saga has developed, cooking metaphors seem to be the order of the day. This is, after all, a party which has become synonymous with the "cai dan" (Mandarin for "menu").

The "cai dan" is a list of preferred candidates for different posts, endorsed by an MCA leader or its influential members, during the party's internal elections.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 11:24 AM | Permalink

GoChengdoo.com translates a story from their region about a Chengdu bus-driver who has a reclining easy-chair:

Imagine for a moment, you're in a reclining position, face up, your upper body forming a 125 degree angle with your thighs. Would you dare to drive like this? On September 4, Chengdu resident Mr. Liu was on a public bus when he saw such a driver. "This is irresponsible and is an enormous threat to the safety of passengers." The startled Mr. Liu used his cell phone to record a video of the scene before his eyes.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 12:15 PM | Permalink

Wu Bangguo meets Fidel Castro. From the China Daily.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:39 AM | Permalink

From the Associated Press:

The death toll from an explosion at an illegal coal mine in central China rose to 42 Wednesday with another 37 men still trapped with little hope for survival.

A statement on the State Administration of Work Safety's Web site did not give a reason for the pre-dawn explosion Tuesday in Henan province. It said 14 miners fled to safety. There were 93 men working underground at the time.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:18 AM | Permalink

Black and White Cat explains what those strange blue-shrouded vehicles labeled with a the name of a non-existent industrial conglomerate were doing in Beijing in April: they were testing the integrity of the roadways that tanks and missiles will parade down come October 1.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 9:53 AM | Permalink

deerawn translates a couple of essays posted to the Utopia BBS by young true-believers:

I argued back, not wanting to show any weakness. Another classmate looked up at me, regarding me as if I had just landed from outerspace. "You think you understand history? Try looking outside of a Party history book. How can you believe everything the party says?"

I suddenly realized I was surrounded. I had no allies in the debate. Everyone was forgetting the sacrifices of Party members that had fought against the Japanese, while praising the brave Nationalists. So, this is the new generation, the hope of our nation....

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 9:48 AM | Permalink

For Foreign Policy magazine, April Rabkin writes about her time as an English editor at Caijing magazine, as well as its financial backers and how they affect policy changes:

So when the magazine tightened the breadth of its coverage at the end of July, it was not the editorial side but the purse strings calling for caution. The source of the pressure, Caijing reporters told me, was the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, the party-led organization of businessmen that holds the magazine's publishing license. The change was passed down matter-of-factly at routine weekly meetings in July, sandwiched in along with the news budget. Many desk editors told reporters they wouldn't be running any politically controversial stories — indefinitely.

For more background on Hu Shuli and Caijing, see "The Forbidden Zone," by Evan Osnos in the July 20, 2009 issue of The New Yorker (subscription required).

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:49 AM | Permalink

For the New York Times Jonathan Ansfield reports on new but seemingly ineffective Web regulations that may affect Internet regulations in the future:

But in early August, without notification of a change, news portals like Sina, Netease, Sohu and scores of other sites began asking unregistered users to sign in under their real names and identification numbers, said top editors at two of the major portals affected. A Sina staff member also confirmed the change.

The editors said the sites were putting into effect a confidential directive issued in late July by the State Council Information Office, one of the main government bodies responsible for supervising the Internet in China.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:34 AM | Permalink

Kathrin Hille in the Washington Post on the tension surrounding Wang Lequan (王乐泉) after the syringe attacks in Xinjiang:

When the Zhang family's more than 150 wedding guests gathered at the Phoenix Hall restaurant in Urumqi on Saturday night, there was one main topic of conversation: Will he stay or will he go?

The person in question was not the groom but Wang Lequan, the regional Communist Party chief.

Wang's position as the strongman ruling Xinjiang, a multiethnic region in western China, had been uncontested for 15 years.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:10 AM | Permalink

From the China Daily:

They also vowed to give syringe attackers harsh punishment according to the law, ranging from three years in prison to life sentence or even death penalty.

"The officials will go door to door to explain policies and solve disputes," said Wang Lequan, secretary of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) late Sunday.

The regional government had earlier sent 1,500 such officials and police officers to communities densely populated by Uygurs in wake of a deadly riot on July 5.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 10:50 AM | Permalink

Can Chinese references to "footprints in the sand," attributed to the Bible, be traced back to the American inspirational poem "Footprints"?

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 1:51 PM | Permalink

Cui Jian and his band play four songs for hunger strikers in 1989.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 6:26 PM | Permalink

Internet addicts are no longer to receive shock therapy. But what is Internet addiction? Hu Yong urges against a rush to define a mental health condition.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 6:15 PM | Permalink

The China Daily reports on a request made by foreign military chiefs for China's troops to participate in joint naval and land exercises:

Meanwhile, military cooperation between the US and Australia "has been strengthened" in recent years, and Washington has expected Canberra to play a more important role in the Asia Pacific region, he said.

Senior Colonel Li Jie, a researcher with the Chinese Navy's Military Acadamy, while admitting the invitation was a "sign of goodwill", said the US may want to use the event to better understand China's military and its intentions.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 3:47 PM | Permalink

The Telegraph's Malcolm Moore does a mini Twitter-survey about how Shanghai should be improved, and writes about the 45 billion dollar city beautification plan for the 2010 Expo, as well as its mascot Haibao:

The goal is to wow visitors to the 2010 World Expo, a biennial boondoggle which the rest of the world tends to ignore, but which Shanghai is treating like it is the equivalent of Beijing’s Olympics.

(Anyone remember the 2008 Expo in Zaragoza? Or the 2000 shindig in Hanover?)

Besides the non-stop building works, Shanghai is also ironing out some of its quirks. Residents are being encouraged not to hang laundry on the streets, to wear pajamas in public, or to spit. The employees on the metro are being told to wear uniforms. Bad English, or Chinglish, signs are being corrected.

Like Beijing, Shanghai is also going on an environmental drive, and the corporate pavilion at the Expo is made from used CD cases.

My favourite bit of Expo madness is that Haibao, the blue mascot of the event, has both a Twitter profile and Facebook page despite both website currently being censored by the Chinese government.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 1:01 PM | Permalink

China Hush reports that Vivibear, a Swedish-Chinese author of fantasy romances published predominantly on the Internet, has been caught out for plagiarizing, of all things, other net-lit:

For example Vivibear’s “Search for the Dragon” (寻龙记) had 13 places were plagiarized from famous internet novel “Those Things in Ming Dynasty” (明朝那些事). After this more and more netizens volunteered joining the comparison effort, to search for evidence of Vivibear’s plagiarizing. In less than a month netizens found Vivibear plagiarized 173 authors’ 203 literatures. Even though there were many plagiarizing incidents in China in recent years, plagiarizing in such large scale was the first.

See also: Swedish-Chinese author accused of plagiarism, by Peter Vinthagen Simpson in The Local.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 12:02 PM | Permalink

Bloomberg reports:

Google Inc. said Kai-Fu Lee will step down as president of the company’s operations in China to form a venture in Beijing.

Boon-Lock Yeo, director of Google’s Shanghai engineering office, and John Liu, who heads Google’s sales team in Greater China, will take on Lee’s responsibilities, Mountain View, California-based Google said in an e-mail today.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:53 AM | Permalink

At the New Yorker blog, Evan Osnos embeds a Youtube video showing students practicing for the 60th anniversary celebrations.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:38 AM | Permalink

UPDATE: from the BBC:

A witness told the BBC that as many as 2,000 ethnic Han Chinese had been demonstrating in the capital Urumqi.

A trigger for the protests appears to have been a spate of unexplained stabbings using hypodermic syringes.

Local media said nearly 500 people, almost all Han, had sought treatment for stabbing in the past few weeks.

There has also been an alarming report about HIV-infected needles from the New York Times.

--

Fifteen people have been seized in Xinjiang for stabbing people with syringes, state media reports. From China Daily:

Police have seized 15 people for stabbing members of the public with hypodermic syringe needles in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a senior local official said Wednesday.

Of the 15, four were officially arrested and prosecuted, said Zhu Hailun, head of the political and legal affairs commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) committee in Xinjiang.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 12:07 PM | Permalink

Xinhua reports:

The International Monetary Fund(IMF) said on Wednesday that China has agreed to buy the first bonds issued by the agency for about 50 billion dollars.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Yi Gang, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, have signed the agreement, the IMF said.

According to the agreement, China would purchase up to 32 billion (around 50 billion dollars) SDR, or Special Drawing Rights, in IMF notes.

"The note purchase agreement is the first in the history of the fund, and follows the endorsement by the Executive Board on July 1,2009 of the framework for issuing notes to the official sector," said the 186-nation institution.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 12:01 PM | Permalink

In Ditan Park Greenpeace China demonstrated how 100 ice children could have an effect on people's consciousness about global warming.

There's also a video of this from Greenpeace.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:57 AM | Permalink

Liu Xiang, the hurdler, could return for the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in his home city later this month, reports China Daily.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:54 AM | Permalink

China Hush translates a story from Oriental Outlook magazine about a group of college students from the United States who looked into China's "angry youth" phenomenon and how it is interpreted outside the country.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 9:35 AM | Permalink

Adam Cathcart has another fascinating post about North Korean issues: an examination of the unreliability of information about the real situation along China's border with North Korea:

Does no one care, or find consequential, what China’s attitude would be in such a highly-publicized incident in the event that it were true that KPA troops hunting for foreigners walked into Jilin? In analyzing things should we not be aware of Chinese sensitivities about “territorial integrity” in a chuck of territory (one no less where Koreans in the early 1930s were overwhelmingly seen by Chinese as the spearhead of Japanese imperialism, not guerrilla fighters) which go way deeper than Tibet ever could? What is the functional linkage between KPA border guards and those on the Chinese side? Neglect of the basic issue — China’s response to the idea of KPA on Chinese soil — has, regrettably, been a completely unexamined facet of the whole CurrentTV affair.
...
In fact, Chinese media, which would be on this story like, well, flies on s*** if they thought it would serve their purpose, is studiously ignoring the Ling/Lee divulgence. Instead, China is mending its fences with the DPRK, since North Korea’s foreign minister is landing in Beijing (funny how the timing worked out here) and the two countries need to figure out how, among other things, to play the Japan card. A cute story about North Korean liberalization of the advertising/food service sector is included, and overall things are pretty sweet right now.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 8:37 AM | Permalink

The two Current TV journalists who were captured in March on the North Korean-China border talk about their mission and the stories they were trying to tell. From the LA Times:

We didn't spend more than a minute on North Korean soil before turning back, but it is a minute we deeply regret. To this day, we still don't know if we were lured into a trap. In retrospect, the guide behaved oddly, changing our starting point on the river at the last moment and donning a Chinese police overcoat for the crossing, measures we assumed were security precautions. But it was ultimately our decision to follow him, and we continue to pay for that decision today with dark memories of our captivity.

After we were detained, the two of us made every effort to limit the repercussions of our arrest. In the early days of our confinement, before we were taken to Pyongyang, we were left for a very brief time with our belongings. With guards right outside the room, we furtively destroyed evidence in our possession by swallowing notes and damaging videotapes. During rigorous, daily interrogation sessions, we took care to protect our sources and interview subjects. We were also extremely careful not to reveal the names of our Chinese and Korean contacts, including Chun. People had put their lives at risk by sharing their stories, and we were determined to do everything in our power to safeguard them.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 6:26 PM | Permalink

GoChengdoo.com, a partner of GoKunming.com, has started translating news articles about Chengdu and Sichuan. For example, this one about a hot trash collector:

Recently, the area around Moziqiao at Shenxianshu has been haunted by a young trash-picker, attracting a lot of double-takes from passersby. After his photo appeared on online discussion forums, netizens bestowed upon him an unparalleled nickname: "The Most Handsome Scavenger of All Time."

After some minor setbacks, this reporter finally tracked down this handsome "post-80s" master of the bin. By this time, he had already traveled to more than 10 cities all over the country, just by scavenging recyclables out of the trash. He deftly collects bottles and scraps and when he amasses some money he'll go off to another city for more travels.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 5:50 PM | Permalink

Terence Poon at the Wall Street Journal writes about China's steady manufacturing industry:

The statistics bureau-backed China Information News reported Tuesday that industrial output of small companies in the southern province of Guangdong, a key manufacturing base, rose 3.1% in the first half from a year earlier, up 1.2 percentage point from the first quarter's growth rate.

Still, that rate of growth was lower than large companies' output growth nationwide, according to monthly figures issued by the bureau. Nationwide industrial output by bigger companies rose 7.0% in the first half from a year earlier.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 4:52 PM | Permalink

AFP expands on State media reports about the October 1 National Day and 60th anniversary celebrations:

China will unveil a range of previously unknown missiles during its October 1 National Day parade, including intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles, state media said Wednesday.

The new hardware on display also will include conventional cruise missiles and both short- and medium-range missiles, the Global Times newspaper reported, citing an unnamed People's Liberation Army source...

The weapons have already been distributed to the military and are ready for operation, the source said.

See also: The Global Times reports that it's all for the sake of awareness:

Li Daguang, a senior military expert at the PLA University of National Defense, emphasized that the military parade is not for saber rattling but aims to promote national pride, confidence and awareness of national defense.

"Some countries, observing China's parade with colored glasses, show off their weapons around the world on the battlefield instead," Li said.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 4:47 PM | Permalink

An American woman whose husband was arrested for patronizing prostitutes in a police raid on a massage parlor has started a blog about her experiences trying to get him out and look after him in jail, found via Aimee Barnes.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 3:38 PM | Permalink

The New York Times reports that American filmmakers Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill, whose documentary, China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province, looks into schools that collapsed in last year's Sichuan earthquake, have been denied visas to accompany their film to the Beijing International Film Festival:

“We are extremely disappointed that the Chinese government denied our request for visas and that we will not be permitted to discuss this film with a Chinese audience in Beijing,” Mr. Alpert and Mr. O’Neill said in a joint e-mail message. “The denial of our visas fits in with a pattern of what seems to be a complete commitment on the part of this Chinese government to crush any inquiry into the possibility of wrongful deaths during the earthquake in Sichuan.”

Chen Cong, a vice consul in the press office of the Chinese Consulate in New York, declined to explain the rejection, saying that diplomatic organizations had “the right not to give a reason for why the visa was denied.”

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 12:13 PM | Permalink

From agencies via the China Daily:

Oil prices fell nearly 4 percent to below $70 a barrel on Monday as fear of a curb in Chinese bank lending dented optimism about the pace of economic recovery and a potential rebound in global energy demand.

US crude for October delivery settled down $2.78, or 3.8 percent, at $69.96 a barrel, having fallen as low as $69.13 in intraday trade. In London, Brent crude settled down $3.14 at $69.65 a barrel...

Jitters about the Chinese economy, the world's second largest oil consumer, also weighed on other Asian stock markets.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 12:29 PM | Permalink

In a column for China Newsweek, journalist Chang Ping argues that paradoxically, CCTV Network News without ten minutes of leaders' daily activities is even further from quality journalism than its old formula was.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 9:41 AM | Permalink

At China Elections, Paulina Hartono translates a China Youth Daily report on one Nanjing citizen's attempts to obtain public information from the government:

However, Wang Qing says that he won't think about those issues for the time being. He still hasn't received the answers he was looking for, and has begun to worry about his and his family's safety. Now when he receives calls from government departments, the voices are always menacing. These departments would find him later and say, "Have other units been using our name? Our office's conduct is always disciplined".

Danwei previously translated an interview with Wang Qing.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 9:18 AM | Permalink

The New York Times reports on a Caijing story that suggests that China's Assets Supervision and Administration Commission has informed foreign banks that it will given Chinese companies permission to break money-losing derivatives contracts:

A Hong Kong spokeswoman for the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Donna Chan, said the group was aware of the report, but had not seen any such letter and could not comment further.

While Sasac is a powerful agency whose broad mandate puts it in charge of Chinese government assets and the state-owned enterprises, or S.O.E.s, that manage them, the contracts signed by S.O.E.s to hedge against changes in commodities prices fall under jurisdictions outside of mainland China — notably Hong Kong and Singapore.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 9:13 AM | Permalink