Must-read China news by Danwei

The Global Times reports on a female reporter's ways to get interviews with top ministerial officials:

Instead of waiting in the reporters' zone in front of the microphone stand, the video reporter stands beside the officials as if she is their assistant. On some occasions, she has even held an official's arm.

Reporters from other media organizations don't seem to resent the long-haired reporter using her feminine wiles to coax high-ranking officials into interviews. They actually support her use of "physical contact" to drag senior officials in front of the TV cameras. Once the officials are cornered, the entire press corps of news-hounds can call out questions.

The China Daily also has a gallery of reporters at the Two Legislative Meetings who are making the news.

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

Neocha EDGE speaks with Beijing-based photographer Little Bird about her work:

Sometimes people’s vision and memory can play tricks on them. There isn’t any special story about this photo. I just placed a plate on the carpet, and when I finished eating the grapes I thought it looked nice, so I shot it.

To me, it doesn’t look like an ink and wash painting, rather more like a decorative plate hung on the wall.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 11:27 AM | Permalink

Adam Minter at Shanghai Scrap writes about advertising for the Expo in New York:

Some of the blame for that ignorance falls squarely on Americans being Americans – we simply don’t take much interest in international events like Expos, World Cups, and UN Security Council meetings; but some of it, I think, falls on whoever the Expo organizers hired to promote their multi-billion dollar urban coming out party to Americans. Put differently, if you’ve never heard of the Expo, does that dour Times Square billboard make you want to learn more? Or as one friend in the US media emailed: “It looks like a billboard for a tourism industry expo focused on travel in your Golden Years.” That is to say – Shanghai isn’t going to attract much US media to Expo 2010 if this is the approach they’re committed to taking.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:01 AM | Permalink

A newspaper's meme-chasing report on a homeless man who is a regular at a local bookstore is redeemed by a more sensitive follow-up investigation that reunites the man with his family.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:58 AM | Permalink

Waffles and Steel snaps a photo of a heavily-laden bicycle:

This looks like a circus act. But it’s just another guy making a living on a bike in Guangzhou. Maybe two or three times a year, I’ll see one of these scrap collectors pedaling down the road hauling a couple air conditioners, a computer monitor or two, three or four processors – all precariously strapped on the back of the bike.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:04 AM | Permalink

Wen Tao in The Global Times:

A group of citizens led by renowned artist Ai Weiwei sent a letter Tuesday to all 35 delegations attending the annual session of the NPC, calling for transparency regarding the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

This letter says that last year the so-called "citizen investigators" had sent 113 letters to government departments at all levels, requesting the disclosure of information. But "none of the departments directly answered a single question raised by us," the new letter said.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:26 PM | Permalink

Dan Washburn writes about China's "golf police" for Slate magazine:

Ironically, it was the Chinese government's reluctance to embrace golf—or at least come up with a set of regulations intended to standardize its inevitable growth—that allowed things to get out of control. China doesn't even know how many golf courses exist within its borders. At the press conference in November, officials at the Ministry of Land and Resources said they were using satellite imagery to get a handle on the number. Back in 2004, when the moratorium was announced, state media reported that only 10 of China's then 176 known courses had received proper approvals from Beijing.

There is also a photo slide-show of a course that got bulldozed at Dan Washburn's site, PAR for China.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 12:22 PM | Permalink

From The China Daily:

The Great Wall ruins of the ancient Chu state are seen in Yexian county, Pingdingshan, Central China's Henan province. The province's cultural heritage bureau said ... the ruins of Chu Great Wall mostly belong to the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC to 476 BC) while some were built during the Warring States period (403 BC-221 BC), and they mainly lie in the province's southern cities of Pingdingshan, Nanyang, Zhumadian and Xinyang.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:17 PM | Permalink

Adam Cathcart translates Chinese responses to Portland's decision to allow a Tibetan Awareness Day over the objections of local consular officials:

The big story, however, is that the Global Times in Beijing has picked up on the incident and has thrown it like a dry log on the narrative pyre whereby China is all things reasonable and the United States is all things aggressive.

Here is the heart of the Huanqiu Shibao/Global Times article entitled 美国一城市为“藏独”设纪念日 遭中美民众谴责, or, roughly, “One American City’s Plan to Commemorate ‘Tibetan Independence’ Provokes Condemnation from the Chinese and American People” [ed.: and by "the American people," the headline presumably refers to this person, the author of the above dissenting comment on the Oregonian website!]

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 11:42 AM | Permalink

The Chinese Mirror looks back at the career of character actor Liu Jiqun.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 11:37 AM | Permalink

On Asia Times Online:

An agreement between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and China in 2008 to swap 10 million tonnes of copper ore for US$9 billion worth of mine and civic infrastructure looked like a genuine win-win.

But ever since the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demanded renegotiation of the deal in May 2009, China and the DRC have been on a roller-coaster ride of risk. Today, Beijing anxiously eyes a growing list of major dysfunctional problems - and a $100 million adverse judgment in a Hong Kong court - that could derail the "deal of the century".

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:41 AM | Permalink

On CNBC.com:

Google and China will resolve their differences over censorship and an alleged attack on Google's service "soon", Eric Schmidt, the Chief Executive of Google, told reporters in Abu Dhabi where he takes part in the emirate's first ever Media Summit.

Schmidt did not give details of the nature of the talks or an exact timetable.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 9:03 AM | Permalink

At The China Beat, Peter Hessler shares some photos from his travels through China and describes how they were involved in the writing of his new book, Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory:

From my perspective, the digital camera is most significant in how it’s changed the way I organize and use my notes. Digital voice recorders have never played the same role — it might be great in other places and other situations, but recording an interview in China makes people nervous. I learned that they’re far more comfortable if I’m taking handwritten notes, so that’s what I’ve always done.

But a digital camera is quick, unobtrusive, and easy to keep in a pocket. It’s great for signs and notices — infinitely faster than my terrible Chinese handwriting. Sometimes a picture captures a key moment, and later, when I’m ready to write about the scene, I’ll put the image alongside my notes.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 1:57 PM | Permalink

The Wall Street Journal Real Time blog prints the English version of "I'm a Moderate Advisor," an editorial by Zhang Hong, who was one of the parties behind the joint-editorial calling for the abolition of the household registration system:

After the joint editorial was published, the reactions to it went far beyond what we initially anticipated, so to speak. We expected it would get some response, but we didn’t think it would be so great. It actually echoes an old Chinese saying, “In a world without heroes, ordinary people can make a name for themselves.” I don’t dare to take credit for the work of others, but at the same time I am not willing to put the blame on someone else, so I removed all the names of both media and individuals who participated in the editorial, leaving only the name of myself who has nothing to lose. As a matter of fact, every reader understands that the reason why this joint editorial has attracted such widespread attention is not because the media is so powerful, but because it shows the fervent anxiety of the people’s expectations!

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 10:01 PM | Permalink

Malcolm Moore reports at the Telegraph blog:

China is in negotiations to build a high-speed rail network to India and Europe with trains that capable of running at over 200mph within the next ten years.

The network would eventually carry passengers from London to Beijing and then to Singapore. It would also run to India and Pakistan, according to Wang Mengshu, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a senior consultant on China's domestic high-speed rail project.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:37 AM | Permalink

The Lost Laowai Blog writes about toilets all over China, from a woman's perspective:

Why are there urinals in the women’s bathroom?

I’ve come across this a couple of times and had to do a double take to make sure I went through the right door. Yes, there are sometimes male urinals in the women’s bathrooms in China. I’ve asked around and they are for women who have to take their sons to the bathroom. I guess it makes sense.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 11:22 AM | Permalink

The China Study Group seeks out responses to the joint editorial calling for a reform of the urban/rural household registration system:

It’s unfortunate that discussions of such issues tend to become polarized between the left and right in China, so that if the right advocates something the left feels compelled to simply oppose it – rather than supporting a modified version of the proposal, for example. If you ask Chinese leftists their views about the hukou system, many will say they also feel that it’s unjust and should be abolished or at least reformed, but before that can be done, rural residents’ access to farmland needs to be secured in some other way.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 11:13 AM | Permalink

Liuzhou Laowai finds a possible "coffee brothel" currently under construction in the city.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:31 PM | Permalink

Chinayouren looks at today's Shanghai papers:

Finally, after a long week of intense NPC-CPPCC coverage, the first signs of the spring are starting to bloom in the press of Shanghai. The Oriental Morning Post opens with a picture of the large billboards promoting the EXPO on New York’s Times square, while its archrival, the more conservative Shanghai Morning Post, shows the two Big Bosses of the city speaking to a congress of Haibaos.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 6:03 PM | Permalink

The Washington Post reports on Bo Xilai:

Named "Man of the Year" by a People's Daily online poll, the subject of an adoring home video being circulated on the Internet and revered in countless blogs, Bo is in contention to be named to one of the top jobs in China in 2012, when many of the country's current leaders are expected to retire.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 12:42 PM | Permalink

Xinhua reports:

Eleven highways in north China were closed early Monday, as overnight snow became heavier, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Guo Hu, director of the Beijing Meteorological Station, said the urban area of Beijing had received 4.2 millimeters of snow Monday. The snow is expected to stop in the evening.

The station issued an icy road warning early Monday. The city government also sent text messages warning the public of the snow and the cold snap.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 12:38 PM | Permalink

From The China Daily:

A second bridge linking China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will be built in Dandong, Liaoning province, a local official has said.

Zhao Liansheng, mayor of Dandong, said construction work on the bridge linking Sinuiju in the DPRK will begin in October and take three years to complete...

...The existing bridge was built in the 1930s and cannot meet the traffic demand as a result of rising commercial exchanges between the two countries, said Lu Chao, a researcher at the Liaoning Academy of Social Science...

...Ma Xiaohong, director of the Dandong Hongxiang Development Co Ltd, a leading Sino-DPRK trade company, welcomed the project...

...In 2008, two-way trade reached a record $2.79 billion, up 41.7 percent from 2007.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:24 AM | Permalink

Xinjiang, the PRC, and Egypt come together at Chuck Kraus's blog.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:03 AM | Permalink