Must-read China news by Danwei

A blog post on The Diplomat by Jiang Xueqin who is "curriculum director at Shenzhen Middle School, China's leading center for progressive education reform":

He looks at what he calls a "fundamental failing in China’s high schools" leading to the following:

Having skipped the tumultuous teenage years, Chinese are forever doomed to live as teenagers all their lives. Whereas Americans may be stubborn, moody, quick to anger, insecure, impetuous, condescending, extreme, and paranoid in their teenage years, Chinese may suffer from these psychological issues all their lives.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 5:27 PM | Permalink

ESWN translates a story from The Beijing News about a court demand that they filed separate lawsuits for each of 7,760 stories an online portal used without permission.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 3:06 PM | Permalink

Claiming to be a licensed nutritionist, Zhang Wuben has been prescribing mung beans and eggplant as cures for everything from listlessness to lupus, all for the low price of 2,000 RMB a consultation!

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 2:22 PM | Permalink

The Global Times reports that Zhang Wuben, the nutritionist who recommends mung beans and eggplant as miraculous cures for everything from listlessness to diabetes and lupus, as reported previously on Danwei, is a fraud:

Officials with the Ministry of Health said Friday that the nutritionist qualification of Zhang Wuben, 47, a retired textile worker from Beijing, had been faked. The announcement came a day after an urgent inspection by health, industrial and commercial watchdogs of Zhang's clinic in the city, leading to the closure of his clinic, Wubentang.

Zhang's rise to fame was engineered by book publishers, The Beijing News revealed last week. ESWN translates a MOP forum summary of the issues involved.

The Shenyang Evening News is reporting that Hunan TV's Encyclopedic Talk (百科全说), which aired a program touting Zhang's medical treatments in February, will be suspended in June. The timing is just coincidental, says a program producer, and is entirely unrelated to Zhang's fall from grace. SARFT is uninvolved.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 12:44 PM | Permalink

Xinhua has the story:

China, who aimed to win back the AFC trophy from holders DPR Korea and qualify for the 2011 World Cup, disappointed the home crowd as they not only failed to reach the Asian Cup final for the first time in nine years, but also failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time.

"We could not qualify for the World Cup and I feel it is quite reasonable for me to leave the team. I feel very sorry for the fans of the Chinese women's football team," said Shang Ruihua, whose two-year tenure as China coach may end after the game.

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

John Garnaut writes about Hu Yaobang's place in the leaders' hearts. From The Age.

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

The actress Fan Bingbing showcases her prowness at Cannes. Via Cfensi.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 8:03 AM | Permalink

Guo Jingming's new epic fantasy novel will appear in Harvest. Is a bastion of serious literature repositioning itself to compete with the pulps?

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 8:26 PM | Permalink

John Sexton looks for "Common sense on Foxconn suicides" at China.org.cn:

Some journalists have been heard to remark that the workers' dormitories are far better than the pigsties they live in back in the villages. This reflects the deep concern of the media for the weaker social classes and belies the idea that they are only interested in compiling rich lists of green technology billionaires.

The local trade union, after an exhaustive and penetrating inquiry, decided the workers who committed suicide each had their own individual reasons for doing so. In line with the union's profound belief in the superiority of collective over individual action, perhaps they should be urging something more along the lines of a Masada-style event.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 3:35 PM | Permalink

CNNGo, the cable network's newish blog website now has a TV show at cnngo.com/tv, or click on this link to go to a video captioned "Shanghai's quirky characters show off the old, new and overlooked in their city".

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 11:21 AM | Permalink

Sinosplice presents imaginative sketches composed of Chinese characters.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:15 AM | Permalink

A story in City Journal by Judith Miller:

When Germ Warfare Happened: Seventy years ago, Japan’s bio-attacks killed hundreds of thousands. The effects linger today.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:14 AM | Permalink

From The Wall Street Journal:

U.S. stocks rose broadly Thursday as investors' concerns about euro-zone debt eased.

The euro climbed following China's statement that it isn't planning to sell its European bond holdings and Spain's passage of additional budget cuts. As fears of stunted global demand eased, investors' appetite for risk increased, fueling a rally in crude and lifting key stock indexes above recent levels of resistance.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 9:02 AM | Permalink

Translation of a post by Li Yinhe commenting on the conviction of Ma Yaohai for group licentiousness.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 5:17 PM | Permalink

Caixin examines the progress of two trial schemes for urbanization:

The municipal government has decided to completely integrate into the urban landscape all of Beijing's so-called villages – communities of compact, low-rise brick homes on fringes and in backward corners of the city. Tens of thousands of people live in hundreds of villages which, despite the quaint name, are more or less slums, and have been slated for demolition.
...
The Dawangjing model is designed to support relocated households with substantial subsidies and shares of the proceeds from government land-leasing. The Beiwu model, on the other hand, encourages villagers to urbanize on their own, while allowing them to share the benefits of urbanization through land collectives.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 1:10 PM | Permalink

The China Daily reports on the country's first link-up of two provincial satellite TV stations:

The first show the new Qinghai TV is strongly promoting is "Blossoming Flowers," a girls' talent contest show. This genre is what Hunan TV is adept in, experts said.
...
Qinghai turned to several partners before Hunan, including Murdoch's Star TV in 2005. Star co-produced some shows and broadcast them in Qinghai TV, but due to the limitations on foreign capital's entry into local TV, the cooperation lasted only several months.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 1:06 PM | Permalink

Here' a promising new blog posting infographics about China: Chinfographic. This link is to a graphic titled 'The long tail – 60 Chinese cities with a population of over 1 million'.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:29 AM | Permalink

The China Media Project:

[T]he news on May 18 that Guangzhou’s corps of “city inspectors,” the camo-clad enforcers of urban order particularly among the rural migrant population in China’s cities (and a key component of “stability preservation”), would likely be getting its own team of internet commentators brought a few interesting comments from China’s media last week.

"City inspectors" aka "chengguan" (城管) or urban management squads are frequent targets of on- and off-line criticism for rough antics in dealing with street vendors, migrant workers and other vulnerable city residents.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:18 AM | Permalink

ESWN translates an account of a presentation given by Xia Lin, deputy chief editor of Xinhua, on how the agency reports during emergency situations, such as the Urumqi riots, the Sichuan earthquake, and the Yang Liwei space mission.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 7:58 PM | Permalink

America's National Endowment for Humanities has published the trascript of a lecture by Jonathan Spence about an unusual meeting of the minds in 17th Century Europe: the scientist Robert Boyle (of Boyle's Law), scholar Thomas Hyde, and scholar cum would-be Catholic priest Shen Fuzong.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:30 PM | Permalink

From Shanghai Eye:

Leading Chinese collector, dealer and gallerist, Zhang Rui, also known as Zhang Hao Ming, has been arrested, along with his wife, caught in the dragnet following the arrest of China Mobile vice president and deputy chairman Zhang Chunjiang. Zhang Rui has been held in custody incommunicado for three months, with no access to lawyers, a source close to the investigation revealed. The couple’s child is said to be with relatives.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:08 PM | Permalink

Tania Branigan of The Guardian profiles Wang Keqin: "Death threats from criminals and official wrath fail to silence zealous watchdog journalists".

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 2:17 PM | Permalink

Cfensi takes a look at the action star's family drama:

After taking a break from movies in May 2008, Jet Li returns to the Chinese film market with his new movie Ocean Heaven (Hai Yang Tian Tang), expected to open at the end of June. The movie tells the story of an autistic twenty-two-year-old named Wang Dafu. Jet Li plays the boy’s terminally ill father, who works in an aquarium and takes care of his son day and night. The boy’s mother died several years ago from drowning, but Dafu himself is quit adept in the water.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 1:08 PM | Permalink

The Associated Press reports:

The latest victim, logistics worker Nan Gang, 21, leapt from a four-story factory building about a half hour after finishing his shift at 4 a.m., reported the Xinhua News Agency, quoting a city police spokesman, Huang Jianwei. Nan, a migrant from central Hubei province, landed on his head and died at the scene, Xinhua said, without providing further details.

A total 11 Foxconn workers have jumped off buildings this year, and two of them survived.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 6:02 AM | Permalink

Micah Sittig translates temporary rules in effect at Shanghai's Metrofans BBS for the duration of the Expo:

4. Beginning today, all posts on the topic of baggage inspections/X-rays must contain only reasonable recommendations and opinions, or reports of insufficient care in inspection work. Posters must not publish on this site any negative information on the topic of security, such as questions, criticism, boycotts, or exposés. Moderators have the right to remove any negative information on security, and will not entertain any complaints.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 5:10 AM | Permalink

The Asia Society's China Green has a new video on the hazards of coal mining.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 3:46 AM | Permalink

At Chinese Box, Bradley Gardner writes about the property bubble and its analyst, Andy Xie (谢国忠).

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 3:27 AM | Permalink

The Local translates an account from the German-language Süddeutsche Zeitung of frustrated tourists hurling abuse at members of the German pavilion's staff.

The skirmishes reportedly began on one of the first days of the expo, which runs from May 1 to October 31. On that day a long line of people, including some in wheelchairs, became enraged with delays and began tearing flowers out of the ground and throwing them at the pavilion.

Some shouted "na cui, na cui," which the paper said was Chinese for “Nazi, Nazi,” Schmitz confirmed.

via Shanghaiist.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 9:07 PM | Permalink

Yuan Tengfei is a Beijing middle school teacher whose charisma and controversial history lessons that circulate as online videos have won him the nickname "most awesome history teacher".

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 4:19 PM | Permalink

Eckart Loewe, volunteer in southern China for over a decade, accepts a CCTV interview. The fame brings him a warning from the local public security agencies: keep a low profile or else.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 4:18 PM | Permalink

The Chinese media have covered the protests rather heavily, with the implicit message frequently being that chaos is the expected outcome when developing countries embrace democracy. Seeing connections being drawn between Thailand and China's own internal democracy dialogue, Southern Weekly's editorial board published a debate, translated below:

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 4:14 PM | Permalink

CCTV stealth-interviews blogger William Long and distorts the size and character of his audience.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 4:12 PM | Permalink

Evan Osnos at The New Yorker:

Can Twitter really tie people together in a country where it is blocked? Before writing a profile of artist Ai Weiwei — published in the magazine this week — I had only a vague sense of Twitter’s presence here. It has been blocked since last June...

...[O]ne night I went to dinner in the central city of Chengdu with Ai Weiwei, who had been using Twitter all afternoon to invite like-minded people to join him for the evening. Most of them were strangers to him and each other, but, as I describe in the piece:

His fans began showing up in twos and threes, a lively crowd of mostly young professionals, including lawyers, Web designers, and journalists. The restaurant eventually ran out of seats, so it set up folding tables and plastic stools out front, and soon Ai’s group stretched along the sidewalk. It was a digital free-for-all...

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:13 PM | Permalink

From The Financial Times:

At Hambantota, a remote fishing town on Sri Lanka’s south coast, Chinese engineers are digging a channel through the region’s pristine beaches, connecting the Indian Ocean with a vast inland pit, whose soaring concrete walls dwarf the earth-moving equipment working below.

Next year, the project managers will fill this man-made crater with water, creating the first phase of a new international harbour that will service the passing ships of the oil trade between east Asia and the Middle East.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 11:48 AM | Permalink

The Beijing Gig blog interviews Jennifer Conrad, Web & Music Editor for Time Out magazine, whose latest issue, a music special, features a Sergeant Pepper-inspired cover by Chairman Ca.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 10:44 AM | Permalink

The Global Times reports on a China-Germany Media Forum held Thursday in Shanghai:

While acknowledging the progress of China and its media industry, Kohler asked the Chinese attendees, "As editors-in-chief, how much freedom do you give to the editors and reporters?"

The question immediately triggered colorful responses from Chinese journalists.

"The German media believe the Communist Party of China has set a red line for all of us," said Chen Xiaochuan, editor-in-chief of China Youth Daily. "That line does not exist."

China has thousands of newspapers, magazines and TV stations, which espouse different views because of their different values. They focus on everything, from environmental protection to civil rights, Chen said.

"However, we may have one red line, which is the common belief that the Dalai Lama is a separatist," he said.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 9:39 AM | Permalink

The Black China Hand visits a police station where some gifts are being presented.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 6:01 PM | Permalink

By G.E. Anderson on Forbes' China Tracker:

BYD, a private, Hong-Kong listed automaker based in Shenzhen, announced May 17 that it had put 40 all-electric taxis into service in the city of Shenzhen.

The taxi is BYD's E6 model, a cross-over vehicle with a lithium-ion battery that, according to BYD, will travel up to 300 kilometers (186 miles) on a single charge.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:53 PM | Permalink

A photo gallery from The China Daily, shot at Simatai.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:52 PM | Permalink

From The Financial Times:

China on Thursday confirmed its biggest investment in South Africa for more than two years, underlining growing commercial ties between the two countries.

Jidong Development Group, China’s second largest cement maker, and the China Africa Development Fund will acquire a majority stake in a new R1.65bn ($221m) cement plant.

Jidong and CADF will invest R382.5m and Chinese banks will provide about R450m, with the rest of the money coming in the form of equity stakes from two South African partners – Continental Cement and Wiphold, a black women’s empowerment group – and loans from NedBank, one of the country’s largest banks.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 9:59 AM | Permalink

Details have emerged about the latest school attack that took place in Hainan. In this case, the students were attacked by a group of young men whereas the previous attacks this year have all involved lone knifemen. From The Daily Telegraph by Peter Foster:

The attack in the small hours of Wednesday morning was the ninth in a series of similar attacks in the last two months...

...The latest incident was aimed at students who were asleep in their dormitory at the Technology Vocational School in Hainan, the southern Chinese island.

According to reports by a local news website, hinews.cn, a group of men broke into the dormitory injuring nine students, including one whose hand was reportedly severed in the attack. The student was taken to the provincial capital Haikou for emergency surgery...

...They reportedly targeted the school hours after arguing with the students at a barbecue. Four were injured in the initial clash.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 9:54 AM | Permalink

In The Economist:

[L]ocal output grew from a few thousand bikes a year less than a decade ago to more than 22m last year, along with millions of kits to turn ordinary bicycles into electric ones. Annual sales have reached about $11 billion...

...The biggest manufacturer, Jiangsu Xinri Electric Vehicle Co, produced 1.8m “e-bikes” last year. Its lead is under threat from at least half a dozen other manufacturers. One rival, Tianjin Aima Science and Technology Co, says it is gearing up to make more than 5m bikes a year; Jiangsu Yadea Technical Development Co hopes to triple its sales to 3m this year.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 2:08 PM | Permalink

Evan Osnos of The New Yorker has an excellent, lengthy profile of Ai Weiwei in the magazine this week (subscription required). He has also compiled a list of great links about Ai in a blog post.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:39 AM | Permalink

From The China Daily:

Those using services to reproduce printed or written material in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet autonomous region, will have to show their ID cards and have their ID numbers registered under a new rule to prevent illegal activities.

The rule was announced at a meeting of the management of the city's reprography sector held on May 10, the Lhasa Evening News reported.

Copy service providers are required to strictly adopt a real-name registration system, the report said.

The name and address of the company or the organization and the name and number of copies, as well as the name of the person who handles such services, should be taken down.

For individual users, the relevant name, address, ID card type and number should be registered, according to the new rule.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:36 AM | Permalink

On Global Voices:

A blogger, A Bad Friend, was summoned by security police for interrogation over tea upon writing an article, 10 sins of EXPO 2010, on his blog. After the tea session, he wrote another article, “La Dernière Classe”, recording the conversation between the security police and himself.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:35 AM | Permalink

In The Boston Herald:

They were members of a modern-day swingers’ club in China, where people met online and then gathered in homes or hotels for group sex parties involving dozens of men and women.

Last month, Ma Yaohai, a 53-year-old college professor and 21 others went on trial in the southeastern city of Nanjing, accused of "group licentiousness" — the first time anyone has been charged under a 1997 law in a case that has snagged huge public interest with its titillating details...

...Entering the court at the start of the two-day trial on April 7, he blurted out, "How can I disturb social order? What happens in my house is a private matter."

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:33 AM | Permalink

Bole bananas! Check them out on Shanghaiist.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:29 AM | Permalink

The "autonomous region" blog presents a KFC "Circumcision Party" promotion.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 4:09 PM | Permalink

This is the entirety of this morning's Xinhua news release about the sentencing of Huang Guangyu:

Former chairman of Chinese electronics retailer giant Gome Huang Guangyu was sentenced to 14 years in prison by a Beijing court Tuesday morning over illegal business dealings, insider trading and bribery.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 11:17 AM | Permalink

The China Daily has a lengthy piece on the return of the Internet to Xinjiang after a 10 month blackout. It includes quotes from a variety of different people including this man, who was not so happy:

"Our income almost doubled after the Internet was cut," said a manager called Zhang at the Bayinhe Karaoke Club in Urumqi, the regional capital. "But our bookings dropped sharply over the weekend because the Internet is back. It seems like our good times are over."

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 9:56 AM | Permalink

By Andrew Osborn and Peter Foster in The Daily Telegraph:

The Soviet Union was on the brink of launching a nuclear attack against China in 1969 and only backed down after the US told Moscow such a move would start World War Three, according to a Chinese historian.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 1:39 PM | Permalink

From The Financial Times:

Legislative by-elections in Hong Kong, pitched by the leading candidates as a “de facto referendum” for faster political reform, appeared to fall victim on Sunday to intervention by Beijing as voters largely shunned the polls...

...The plan ran into trouble when the pro-government parties decided not to contest the by-election after China’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, which usually operates in the shadows, publicly condemned the “so-called referendum” as a “blatant challenge” to China’s authority.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 11:09 AM | Permalink

Feom BusinessWeek:

Nigeria and China agreed to seek funding of $23 billion dollars to build three new oil refineries and a petrochemical complex in the West African country, the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. said.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 6:45 AM | Permalink

From Far West China

After 312 days of heavily restricted internet in Xinjiang – that’s 53 short of an entire year – it appears as if internet access has finally been restored.

Residents of Xinjiang woke up from a 10-month nightmare this morning to find that their computers could finally connect to the world wide web. Previously only a select few websites could be accessed from within the province, mostly news related and all of which were Chinese-operated...

...It’s not exactly clear what, if any, restrictions still apply but programs such as proxies and VPNs which yesterday were ineffective can now be used. Gmail and chat programs are available.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:14 AM | Permalink

Jennifer Conrad reviews three Beijing music festivals held over the Worker's Day weekend on SeeChina.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 9:49 AM | Permalink

Chengdu Living starts a series on the reconstruction efforts that have been going on in the two years since the Wechuan Earthquake.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 6:28 PM | Permalink

On Cinaoggi:

Alessandro De Toni, while he was investigating the market of the wet nurses in China on behalf of a media company, has accidentally stumbled into a reality that we had never heard: wet nurses for adults.

The rest of the post is a chat log with the webmaster of Naimaba, a community site for adults who enjoy human breast milk.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 4:58 PM | Permalink

J.R. Wu in i>The Wall Street Journal:

China's vice commerce minister pushed back against Western criticism of China's activities in Africa, describing Chinese investment as "more market-driven" and defending Beijing's stance on recent flare-ups.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:56 PM | Permalink

On China Hush:

May 6, another Foxconn worker leaped to his death, and this is jump number 7 since January, another suicide, again jumping off a building, again at Foxconn. People call it the “7 consecutive jumps”. I also recall writing about an incident last July, a Chinese worker at Foxconn committed suicide after iPhone prototype went missing. Everyone wants to know why so many Foxconn workers are jumping to their death, 7 of them just this year?

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:52 PM | Permalink

From China.org.cn:

One of Beijing's last remaining traditional neighborhoods could fall under the wrecker's ball as early as next month, China.org.cn has learned.

A local resident told reporters a senior district government official had informed him that demolition of traditional hutongs surrounding the capital's Drum and Bell Towers will begin in June.

The hutongs are to be cleared to make way for a controversial "Beijing Time Cultural City" development announced in January by the Dongcheng district government.

This is tragic.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:48 PM | Permalink

By John Garnaut in The Sydney Morning Herald:

A bold Chinese editor has been removed from his post after his newspaper exposed how shoddy handling of health vaccines may have led to the deaths and serious illnesses of children in Shanxi province.

Wang Keqin, a renowned investigative journalist, reported on March 17 how a gross failure to refrigerate vaccines had led to the deaths of four children and the illness of at least 74 others in Shanxi province...

..."I can give you some new information," said Wang, at the headquarters of China Economic Times in Beijing's northern suburbs at 11am Beijing time.

"We've just had a meeting and our chief editor has been removed," he said.

Chief editor Bao Yuehang was also the publisher and Communist Party secretary of the newspaper, which employs 400 people and is controlled by the State Council's Development Research Centre.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 3:01 PM | Permalink

From The China Daily:

A company of Terracotta Warriors - most painted in rich colors - have been unearthed at the largest pit within the mausoleum complex of the emperor who first unified China.

A total of 114 Terracotta Warriors have been found at No 1 pit, one of three, where excavation started in June last year, said Xu Weihong, head of the excavation team.

"The total area of the excavation was some 200 sq m and we were pleasantly surprised to find rich colors on Terracotta Warriors," he said.

Photos of the new find are expected to be released later this month.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 2:45 PM | Permalink

Malcolm Moore in The Daily Telegraph:

Seven children at a nursery school in north western China have been hacked to death and at least 20 more injured in the ninth attack involving children in just over a month.

The attack took place at eight o'clock in the morning in a kindergarten in Nanzheng county, near Hanzhong city, in Shaanxi province, according to Xinhua, the government news agency.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 1:34 PM | Permalink

andrew Batson in The Wall Street Journal, on the famous "empty city" that China bears see as evidence of a property bubble about to burst:

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch economist Ting Lu decided to pay a visit to Ordos to see for himself, and detailed the result in a fascinating report this week. He did indeed find a city that is, at least on weekends, largely empty.

But rather than the poster child for a national property bubble, Lu sees Ordos’ economic circumstances as mostly unique, and largely caused by the huge wealth it has reaped from its wealth of coal. In fact, he argues, the city is an interesting example of how a resource-rich area has fairly successfully handled the enormous windfall it has seen in recent years, and avoided the “natural resource curse.”

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:03 PM | Permalink

On BusinessWeek:

Zijin Mining Group Co. said the governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo and China will probably approve its joint $284 million bid to buy copper mine developer Platmin Congo once a “misunderstanding” is resolved.

Approval from the Chinese government may come next month, though permission from Congo may be delayed, Vice Chairman Lan Fusheng told reporters today in Shanghai at a mining conference.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 12:00 PM | Permalink

GoKunming interviews Jin Feibao, adventurer:

After starting out exploring his native Yunnan and other parts of western China, he has conquered some of the world's most extreme destinations, including summiting the highest peaks of every continent, trekking to the north and south poles plus crossing Greenland, Xinjiang's Taklamakan Desert and the Sahara.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 8:08 AM | Permalink

Malcolm Moore in The Daily Telegraph:

Three years ago, a group of local fishermen were diving off the side of their boat near Nan’ao island chain, a cluster of small islands which lie close to the south China coast, roughly two-thirds of the way between Hong Kong and Xiamen.

On the sea-floor, one of the fishermen found ten porcelain plates, which he promptly scooped up, stashing a few of them away and taking the others to the market to sell.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 6:49 PM | Permalink

Translation of a debate by the editorial board of Southern Weekly: Should "naked officials" – those who have sent their family to live abroad – be fired?

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 3:09 PM | Permalink

On the China Divide blog, a cri de coeur from Damjan DeNoble who worked for a restaurant named Kro's Nest after its foreign founder Kro Bauer.

The restaurant (and its sister operations) have been seized by the founder's Chinese partner; apparently, the company was not formally owned by Bauer.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 2:10 PM | Permalink

The China Daily:

A knife-wielding villager stabbed two women to death and injured seven other women and children in Northwest China's Shaanxi province on Monday.

The suspect, Song Rong, allegedly barged into houses in Songhiapo village in Wubao county of Yulin city and stabbed each person he came across, cnwest.com, an official provincial news portal, reported on Monday evening.

The youngest of Song's victims was only 2 years old, the report said, citing unnamed sources.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 9:19 AM | Permalink

The China Daily reports:

Twenty people responsible for a deadly fire that gutted a brand new building of State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) last February were sentenced to jail terms ranging from three to seven years on Monday.

Xu Wei, former director of the broadcaster's construction office, was sentenced to seven years in prison, while the remaining 19 offenders received three to six years behind bars.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 8:10 AM | Permalink

Reuters reports:

Premier Wen Jiabao said that China will support actions to help Greece overcome its sovereign debt crisis, state media reported on Monday.

There was no mention of any specific assistance which China will provide, apart from supporting actions taken by the International Monetary Fund and euro-zone countries to aid Greece.

Well, perhaps not a bailout then.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 7:58 AM | Permalink

ChinaHush translates a blog post by TV journalist Chai Jing.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 6:51 PM | Permalink

CC at Basketball in China talks about cons:

He hangs up and says that the guy who answered wants 200 yuan. Goel is to meet him later, with 200 bucks, and then he will get his things back. We extend our honest condolences – really, if could have been our stuff that got jacked – but Goel doesn’t seem too upset about it. He’s taking it in stride.

Goel says that he will need to call the guy back in a few minutes and asks if it’s OK if he uses John’s phone. John doesn’t hesitate – of course he could use it. Goel makes another call and I sit down next to Jonathan, on his left, while Goel paces back and forth a few feet away. Quietly, I say to Jonathan, “Feels like a swindle.”

The story continues

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 5:24 PM | Permalink

The China Daily:

The number of Chinese video websites has dropped from 300 to just over 20 now, a decline of more than 90 percent, reported the Guangzhou Daily.

The paper said a vague profit outlook, high operation costs, copyright disputes and unappealing contents were the biggest problems.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 2:57 PM | Permalink

China Hush translates a story about human organ trading from the Beijing Morning Post:

For 25,000 yuan, for which can only buy you 1 to 2 square meters of housing in Beijing, Yang Nian gave up 60% of his liver.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 2:45 PM | Permalink

From :

A man stabbed to death eight people, including three family members, in eastern China, state media quoted police as saying Sunday, the latest in a spate of attacks that have shocked the nation.

The suspect Zhou Yezhong killed his mother, wife, daughter, four neighbours and one migrant worker with a knife at about 6:00 pm Saturday (1000 GMT) in Chengyuan village, Badu Township, in Jiangxi province, Xinhua news agency said.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 7:53 AM | Permalink

This story, reported and translated on China Hush a few days ago, is still gathering steam on Chinese Internet forums:

“Super Boy” or ”Happy Boy” ... is a national singing contest in China for male contestants as a spin off the popular series “Super Girl” or “Happy Girl”. A 2010 Happy Boy southern division contestant Liu Zhu (刘著) is attracting ... attentions recently because he went on the show looking just like a girl, wearing heavy makeup, pink stockings and high heels...

...Judge Annie Rose (安妮玫瑰) first asked if his hair was real then asked to see his id, and then even asked to examine his gender.

The judge is being on Chinese Internet forums for her aggressive attitude and lack of respect.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 4:37 PM | Permalink

Reports of Kin Jong-il's visit to China were not published by official Chinese language press, but they were widely circulated on the Internet and reported on, quoting foreign sources, in China's state-owned English language media like the China Daily.

Xinhua has finally reported on the visit, quoting the North Korean state news agency:

Kim Jong Il, leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), paid an unofficial visit to China from May 3 to 7, the official KCNA news agency confirmed Friday.

Kim, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the National Defense Commission, visited the northeastern port city of Dalian in Liaoning province and the municipality of Tianjin, also a port city in northern China, KCNA said.

In Dalian, Kim Jong Il had a bird's eye-view of the city and visited several enterprises. In Tianjin, he had a tour of the port area, according to the report.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 11:27 AM | Permalink

From The China Daily:

Many restaurants that feature rat meat dishes are enjoying brisk business in Zhongcun town of Panyu district in this Guangdong provincial capital, though medical experts warn of hidden safety risks.

The rat dishes are so popular that diners sometimes have to book in advance for a meal in some restaurants during peak hours.

A staff member from the Jijiao street restaurant said rat dishes have been a major attraction at his restaurant for decades.

"The restaurant can now sell more than 40 kilograms of rat meat dishes a day," said the employee, who wished to remain anonymous.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 10:22 AM | Permalink

The Chosun Ilbo reports:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il arrived in Beijing on Wednesday and apparently met with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People. It was the third day of Kim's China trip.

A car carrying Kim was seen leaving the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse around 5 p.m. and entering the Great Hall of the People about 20 minutes later.

A diplomatic source in Beijing said, "Since welcome dinners normally start at 7 p.m., it is highly likely that Kim attended the dinner after meeting with Hu for about an hour."

But there is speculation that Hu was not available and the two meet Thursday instead. What is certain is that Kim had dinner with Chinese leaders like Chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress Wu Bangguo, Premier Wen Jiabao, and Vice President Xi Jinping.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 8:10 AM | Permalink

From Adam Cathcart's blog:

Fresh from a session with Bruce Cumings at the University of Washington (more on his speech tomorrow, including photographs), I’m posting a few links to dispel the notion that Kim Jong Il’s visit to the PRC is proceeding, as the LA Times asserted, under “a media blackout.”

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 1:22 PM | Permalink

Matt Cool, a young American, survives a Henan TV "reality" show, and a subsequent media "report".

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 8:39 AM | Permalink

Alec Ash, a British student at Beijing's elite educational institution, examines the news reading habits of his Chinese classmates.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 5:58 PM | Permalink

Sightings of Kim Jong Il in Beijing. From the AP via Fox News:

Reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is expected to meet top Beijing officials Tuesday, a day after he arrived in China for his first journey abroad in years, reports said.

Kim's trip comes amid mounting tension on the divided Korean peninsula over speculation his impoverished communist regime may have torpedoed a South Korean warship.

China's leadership has also been trying — so far unsuccessfully — to persuade North Korea's absolute ruler to come back to the negotiating table in talks to end its nuclear weapons program.

A luxury 17-car train carrying Kim pulled into the Chinese border town of Dandong on Monday morning, according to South Korean and Japanese media reports. Kim then headed to the Chinese port city of Dalian aboard a passenger vehicle and is believed to have spent the night there, they said.

Posted by Alice Xin Liu at 10:59 AM | Permalink

From The China Daily:

Case is the latest in a string of assaults against children

A man was shot dead by police on Monday morning after he kidnapped a 5-year-old girl in downtown Beijing and refused to respond to police persuasion, authorities said.

The kidnapping occurred at 11:20 am at Caiyuan Street of the Xuanwu district and police rushed to the scene after receiving reports at 11:24 am, a statement from the Beijing public security bureau said.

After repeated attempts to talk the man into releasing the girl failed, police shot the man in the head at 12:11 pm to ensure the safety of the child. The man died at the scene.The girl suffered only minor injuries.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 9:23 AM | Permalink

At the New Left Review, Zhang Yongle discusses Wang Hui's four volume work, which appeared in 2004 and has been greeted with "almost universal silence from his political adversaries":

Silence, because this is such a massive and original book that without ample knowledge of the topics with which it deals, covering the evolution of Chinese thought across hundreds of years, no political attack on it could be taken seriously; but also because of the sheer length and complexity of the work, daunting for any ordinary reader. In what follows, I will try to overcome some of the barriers to an understanding of The Rise of Modern Chinese Thought (hereafter abbreviated as Rise), first by situating both its grandeur and its intractability in a comparative historical context, then setting out its principal themes and arguments, and finally offering a critical judgement of the enterprise of the book as a whole, and of its place in Wang Hui’s developing work.

Wang Binbin, a prominent critic of Wang Hui who has been in the media spotlight recently over his allegations of plagiarism in Wang Hui's doctoral thesis, has attacked Rise for the same fault: the work contains copious footnotes that Wang Binbin reads as an attempt to hide actual plagiarism.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 1:38 PM | Permalink