Must-read China news by Danwei

From The Economist

But [China's] message of harmony will ring hollow abroad if it is secured by muzzling voices at home. Besides, there is now less goodwill to go around. A smile is fresh at first, but loses its charm if held for too long. One problem with China’s smile diplomacy, says the man who coined the phrase, Shi Yinhong of Renmin University in Beijing, is that China’s global impact—its demand for resources, its capacity to pollute—is so much greater than a decade ago. “For all we may smile, you can still smell us,” he says.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:12 PM | Permalink

Xinhua and China Daily both report. From the China Daily:

China yesterday urged the United States to cancel a massive arms deal to Taiwan, warning of severe consequences if it does not heed the call.

The US defense department announced the contract late on Wednesday, allowing US company Lockheed Martin Corp to sell an unspecified number of Patriot air defense missiles to the island.

The hardware, some of the best in its class, could shoot down the Chinese mainland's short-range and mid-range missiles, Reuters quoted defense analysts as saying.

"This is the last piece that Taiwan has been waiting on," Wendell Minnick, Asia bureau chief of Defense Weekly, said...

The Foreign Ministry yesterday urged the US "to clearly recognize the severe consequences of arms sales to Taiwan" and protested to Washington, spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a news briefing.

The Xinhua report is here.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:56 AM | Permalink

Tania Branigan at The Guardian reports:

A Chinese court has jailed a Tibetan filmmaker for six years after he made a documentary critical of Beijing's policies, friends and campaigners said today.

Dhongdup Wangchen and his friend Golog Jigme, a monk, were detained shortly after completing Leaving Fear Behind, which highlighted Tibetan anger with Chinese policies before the Olympics. The tapes had already been smuggled out of the country.

The films featured interviews with ordinary Tibetans who expressed their love for the Dalai Lama, their exiled spiritual leader, and said the Olympics would do little to improve their lives. "The Chinese say they have made improvements in Tibet. But we don't see any improvement at all," Wangchen said in the documentary. "The truth is that Tibetans are not free to speak of their suffering."

Boing Boing embeds a part of the documentary.

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

The Wall Street Journal Real Time report has a piece on the renaissance of News Magazine:

The new magazine appears to target a different kind of reader, with ads for big name luxury watches, car makers and financial institutions replacing lesser known domestic brands such as Guangzhou Dragon’s Journey Winery, Beauty Sky Tea Products and Showmax Mulitplex Cinemas. Likewise, the cover price is 25% higher, up from 8 yuan to 10 yuan, and the magazine will publish weekly.

Ms. Hu has also shifted the publication schedule to a weekly format from its former 10-day cycle. Next week, the relaunch will be made official, with the Jan. 11 issue going on sale at newsstands across the country.

China Daily also reported on Century Weekly a couple of days ago: Journalists fight for pay after Hu Shuli takes reins.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 10:55 AM | Permalink

On Sinosplice, about the craze for 3D science fiction movie Avatar in Shanghai:

A friend of my wife offered to buy tickets for us. She showed up at 7:30am to get in line. The theater opens at 9am. When she arrived, there were already 200-300 people in line, some of whom had been there since 4am.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 4:18 PM | Permalink

Global Times has an in-depth report on poor journalists taking cash bribes:

"We have no subsidies to pay for these health hazard stories," she said in a telephone interview after the workshop. Liu's salary is 2,000 yuan a month after tax. The average GDP per head of Lanzhou residents is 2,130 yuan per month last year.

"I have to work extremely hard to support myself. I also need to use my own money to maintain good relations with my sources for exclusive stories," she said.

"If a company wants to offer me a red envelope with a couple of hundred yuan in cash for me to write a promotional story, I don't see why I should refuse it."

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 12:51 PM | Permalink

Xinhua runs the following report:

China's tourism industry reaped an revenue of 1.26 trillion yuan (185 billion U.S. dollars) in 2009, up 9 percent year on year, on the back of booming domestic travel.

Domestic tourists made 1.9 billion trips last year, a rise of 11 percent, which generated 1 trillion yuan of revenue for the industry, up 15 percent from a year ago, the National Tourism Administration said on Wednesday.

The number of inbound trips shrank 3 percent to 126 million, as the global financial crisis and the widespread flu epidemic dampened consumer's passion to travel abroad.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:59 AM | Permalink

AP via New York Times:

Li Junqi is thought to be the first of 10 journalists sentenced in the scandal. At least 48 officials, including policemen, work safety officers and the head of the county government, also face charges of paying or taking bribes, the official China Daily has reported, citing the results of an investigation ordered by the State Council, China's Cabinet.

Li's lawyer said Wednesday that the Zhangjiakou Intermediate People's Court upheld a lower court's verdict from last week that said Li, the Hebei bureau chief of Farmers' Daily, asked the county government for 200,000 yuan ($29,000) for not reporting the mine accident.

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

The Wall Street Journal Real Time report writes:

“There won’t be racetracks. There won’t be casinos”, said Wei Liucheng, the party secretary for Hainan province. He indicated that soccer-related gambling isn’t an option either, because, as he said, there have been no major international soccer matches scheduled on the island.

“Even sports lotteries will have to be subject to careful planning”, he added.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 10:58 AM | Permalink

In The Guardian, Jonathan Watts writes about Copenhagen negotiator He Yafei's move from vice foreign minister to a post at the United Nations:

Although the premier, Wen Jiabao, was the most senior figure in the Chinese delegation, he refused to attend most of the negotiating sessions with other leaders. This was a defensive move rather than a snub. The premier did not want to be strongarmed into a deal he could not guarantee at home.

In his place, he dispatched He, an experienced multilateral negotiator who previously served in senior posts at the United Nations and arms control talks, as well as running the North American department of the foreign ministry.

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

The Diplomat has published 'Asia Pacific 2020', looking at the prospects for the region over the next decade.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 3:55 PM | Permalink

AP reports (via ABC) on the Cybersitter theft for the making of the Green Dam software:

Cybersitter LLC, whose software is designed to help parents filter content seen by children, seeks $2.2 billion in damages in the federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles.

The company alleges that the Chinese copied its codes and incorporated them into software used to block Chinese citizens' access to sites deemed politically undesirable by the government. Seven computer manufacturers, including Sony, Lenovo, and Toshiba, also were sued for distributing the Chinese program with PCs sold in the country.

"I don't think I have ever seen such clear-cut stealing," said attorney Gregory Fayer, who represents Santa Barbara-based Cybersitter.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 1:44 PM | Permalink

Global Voices Online writes about the contemporary urban dilemma:

Perhaps ‘naked marriage’ is common in Western countries, as couples in love will not care too much about having no flat, car or a big fat bank account. However, it is different in China, as housing is a very important symbolic guarantee. Few unmarried young women (or their parents) would agree to marry to unsuccessful men. And one important criteria of success is whether you have a flat.

This seems to be confirmed by an online survey last month conducted by Sohu. In a survey named ‘In this new era, will you accept naked marriage?’, 43% say they will and 47% say they will not. However, when the result is classified by sex, it reveals a more interesting pattern: 80% of male will accept while 70% of female will not.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 1:22 PM | Permalink

An opinion piece by Gideon Rachman in The Financial Times:

Ever since 1945, the US has regarded itself as the leader of the “free world”. But the Obama administration is facing an unexpected and unwelcome development in global politics.

Four of the biggest and most strategically important democracies in the developing world – Brazil, India, South Africa and Turkey – are increasingly at odds with American foreign policy. Rather than siding with the US on the big international issues, they are just as likely to line up with authoritarian powers such as China and Iran.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 1:01 PM | Permalink

John Garnaut in The Sydney Morning Herald takes a tour of a small Anhui town with Graeme Smith author of 'Political Machinations in a Rural County' recently published in The China Journal:

A fortnight ago President Hu Jintao called his Politburo together to discuss maintaining the Communist Party's "superior morality" and "establishing a clean government by eliminating corruption", according to Xinhua.

Meanwhile, at Sauna City, a short walk from "Benghai" County government headquarters, the top cadres are dividing up the taxpayer spoils over hot pot, gambling, saunas and prostitutes, usually in that order. It's not just carnal pleasures that are up for sale, but investment projects, procurement contracts and almost every key position in the bureaucracy.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:15 PM | Permalink

Global Times interviews Mo Yan and focuses on his new book, which explores the experiences of a family planning doctor:

Frog delves into Gu Gu's state of mind, revealing her inner struggle between answering the political call of the time and the pregnant families, abortions and deaths as a result of her actions.

"She experienced many memorable moments throughout her 50 years as a local doctor," Mo was quoted by Sina.com as saying. "It sparked my interest and thinking and has spurred me to present the character to readers through literature."

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:28 AM | Permalink

Xinhua reports:

The death toll has climbed to 18 in Tuesday's coal mine fire in central China's Hunan Province, with nine more bodies retrieved early Wednesday.

Rescue work continued Wednesday to search for survivors, as at least nine more miners were believed to be trapped at the Lisheng Coal Mine in Tanjiashan Town of Xiangtan County.

Underground cables caught fire in the mine pit at around 2 p.m. Tuesday, while about 70 miners were working in the shaft. Forty-three of them managed to escape the shaft.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:09 AM | Permalink

By Alexa Olson of AP, a profile of Ilham Tohti, the UIghur economics professor who's a Party member but who has often been arrested and censored:

Young men climb a railing at the back for a better view, while a woman in a Muslim head scarf snaps photos on her cell phone.

Every Friday afternoon, students pack a college classroom in Beijing to catch a glimpse of the sharply dressed professor punching the air as he speaks with surprising candor about the travails of his ethnic group, the Uighurs.

"We are not descendants of the dragon but of the wolf," Ilham Tohti shouts, drawing a clear line between the creation myths of the Han Chinese and the Uighur minority.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 7:18 AM | Permalink

Shaun rein in Forbes:

Are you scared of the Made in China label? So am I. So are most Chinese. One of the top concerns Chinese consumers have is product safety...

...They're buying brands like DuPont ( DD - news - people ) and American Dairy whose marketing programs emphasize their safe production processes...

...The second trend is that consumers are greatly increasing their use of computers and mobile phones to shop

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 7:03 AM | Permalink

The Global Times looks at Russian Orthodox Christianity in Beijing:

With a flowing brown beard and black robes, the Orthodox churchman cuts a curious shape striding past strip-lit convenience stores and real estate sales rooms in noisy Dongzhimen.

It makes sense, however, that Father Denis Pozdnyaev would be walking this way, given that the Russian embassy is around the corner. On the grounds of the sprawling diplomatic compound – Beijing's largest – Pozdnyaev preaches to his flock in the newly reappointed and re-consecrated Church of the Repose of Holy Virgin...

... Local Orthodox believers hope China will recognize their church among its list of officially sanctioned faiths (Catholicism and Protestantism are both currently among the five officially approved faiths, along with Buddhism, Islam and Taoism).

There has been inchoate progress, partly thanks to the efforts of Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, who has aligned himself with the Orthodox Church, and with China.

In November 2009 a high-level delegation of Russian Orthodox clerics travelled to Beijing for talks with the Chinese State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) which oversees religions in China.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 6:57 AM | Permalink

Excepts from Urban China: Work in Progress, an English book based on work from Urban China, the groundbreaking Chinese-language periodical about cities, architecture and urban issues.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 5:28 PM | Permalink

The New York Times reports about the delayed report:

A large oil spill in northwest China has heavily polluted a tributary of the Yellow River, and threatens to reach one of the country’s longest and most important sources of water.

China’s state-run news media said late Saturday that a “large amount” of diesel oil had leaked out of a pipeline last Thursday in Shaanxi Province.

The government has not explained why the report of the spill was not released until late Saturday. But Xinhua, the official state news agency, said the leak was caused by construction work and that a crew of 700 people was struggling to contain the damage from what Shaanxi officials said was about 150,000 liters, or about 40,000 gallons, of diesel oil.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 2:28 PM | Permalink

Dan Washburn reports for the Financial Times Weekend Magazine:

If you are flying into Haikou from the west, you can see it. Sit on the right-hand side of the aircraft and look out of your window. It’s there. Viewed from above, this vast swathe of land may not look like much – fuzzy green vegetation, shadowy pockets of volcanic rock, incongruous veins of reddish brown soil – but in a couple of years it will make history. Locals refer to this area by its code name: Project 791. Soon, most people will know it as Mission Hills Hainan, the ­largest collection of golf courses in the world.

The Weekend Magazine cover is here.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 1:37 PM | Permalink

Beijing has been blanketed by snow, disrupting traffic and activities such as going to school. Yesterday the Central Meteorological Station released an orange alert, the second-highest level. The China Daily reports:

The snow forced cars to less than 40 km-per-hour on the usually bustling freeway from the airport into town. Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow.

Many of the expressways connecting Beijing with other cities were shut down or had restricted access, with several centimeters of snow blanketing roads.

Long-distance bus travel in North China was hampered by the weather, but the nation's rail system was operating normally, reports said.

Sun Hongtao, a teacher at Beijing Wanshousi Primary School, said: "I was quite surprised to hear classes will be suspended because it is very rare. As far as I remember, we only did it during the SARS outbreak in 2003."

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:45 AM | Permalink

ESWN has translated a Southern Metropolis Daily article on Deng Yujiao's new life:

It is cruel to drag Deng Yujiao out again. This is a family dormitory building that is at least 10 years old. Even the neighbors don't know who she is. The stairwell is pasted with small advertising posters. The people here live small and trivial lives. Two nights before Christmas Eve at around 7pm, she opened the door. The light-sensitive lamp illuminated the stairwell.

"I am not Deng Yujiao." She turned her face towards the wall and used her hair and hand to shield herself like a frightened small animal who is afraid of her own name.

From early summer through the rest of the year, this name represented the completely opposite images of frailty and strength. On the Chinese Internet, it created reverberations.

...Deng Yujiao said that she was going to pick up her new identity card on this evening.

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

Wen Tao at the Global Times reports:

The New Year's slaughter in Jiugong township is the third murder spree inDaxing district since November 23. Thethree cases have claimed 13 lives altogether.

On November 23, a restaurant owner, Li Lei, killed his parents, sister, wife andtwo children in the Qingchengmingyuan residential compound. One monthlater, Zhang Wuli killed his wife and10-year-old son in the same residential compound.

Li Meijin, a criminologist with the Chinese People's Public Security University said that her research in 2008and 2009 revealed that such crimes aremore likely to occur in winter.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 10:55 AM | Permalink