China

About Renee Hartmann Renee Hartmann, CFA. Renee is a co-founder of eno (http://www.eno.cn), and eno’s COO. Renee came to China in 2000 to start up Ogilvy and Mather’s Mainland China investor...

From stunning Olympic architecture to the life of the middle class to environmental concerns in a village in Guizhou, May's issue of National Geographic Magazine (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/featurehub)features 10 stories on...

Janet Carmosky, CEO and co-founder of The China Business Network talks to Christine Lu (http://christinelu.com)about a debate that erupted over at Thomas Crampton's blog (http://thomascrampton.com) between Paul French...

Paul Denlinger, CEO, China Business Strategy and tech blogger behind China Vortex (http://chinavortex.com) responds to the Economist's Angry China (http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=11293645) article. Paul's article Whats Wrong With The Economist's...

About Ogilvy China To be the agency most valued by those who most value brands. This is the mission of the Ogilvy Mather Group worldwide and it...

At least two chemical plants in the city of Shifang in Sichuan province have been destroyed in the quake. Hundreds are buried in the rubble at both sites. And ---ominously?--- from at least one of the plants liquid nitrogen has been released into the atmosphere because of the destruction, according to Xinhua.net. The overall death toll, according to the Chinese government, is now at least 7600 and headed higher, possibly much higher. Remember that Chengdu, a provincial capital that not many foreigners have even heard of, has a population of 10.5 million. The population of New York,…

Remember that the Kobe earthquake in 1995 registered 7.2, and killed 5100 people. The urban infrastructure there, I'd wager, even in 1995, was vastly more "earthquake proof" than the buildings, highways etc. in Chengdu. US geological survey, according to its website, saying this was a 7.8 But the epicenter is about 90 to 100 kilometers northwest of Chengdu, whereas the epicenter of the Kobe quake was as I recall only about 20 or 25 kls from the city. Here are some images, from Sohu.com, of the school that was wrecked by the quake, apparently with anywhere from 900 to 1800 people possibly…

It's early days yet but it looks as though the damage from the Sichuan earthquake that hit this afternoon isn't too bad. (Later note: numbers azre rising as they always do. I guess I was being optimistic in a triumph of hope over experience: I recall the first reports out of Aceh only had a few dozen dead) The size of the quake and the fact that it was felt so far away (the 1970s building that houses our bureau in Beijing swayed giddily for thirty or forty seconds) had led me to fear the worst. It now seems that there was a small (3.9 Richter) quake quake only a few minutes after the Sichuan…

There are few more egregious examples of corporate lip service to the environment than HSBC’s green credit card, advertisements for which have been plastered all over Hong Kong. According to the bank, the card enables its holders to “contribute to protecting the environment.” What this means is that each time the card is used, HSBC will donate a sum equivalent to 0.1% of the transaction value to a program that arranges for the planting of lawns on the rooftops of local schools. These areas of grass are meant to act as insulation, to “increase green space,” and to “improve air…

A demonstration one week ago in Chengdu drew attention not because of its size but because of what it symbolized. A few hundred residents of the capitol of Sichuan province marched to protest a planned chemical factory. In a country with as many environmental problems as China, a single protest doesn’t make a movement. But the Chengdu organizers spoke openly about the inspiration they took from protests last year in Xiamen, which halted the construction of a chemical plant in that eastern Chinese city. Shanghai also had a similar protest in January by residents worried about the extension…

A groundswell of information is being shared and produced about the devastating Sichuan earthquake yesterday that hit south-west China near Chengdu, Sichuan. Coverage all over the place but check IfGogo.com, Shanghaiist, Danwei, GlobalVoices. If you are on Twitter, you can follow the people that account ChinaList follows and that’s a start at tapping into some of the people in China. Or you can use Summize to search Twitter for the term: 地震 or earthquake.  People’s Daily coverage here and reports Premier Wen heading out to the affected region. CNN reports 3,000 dead, 900…

Just read a nicely-written article with interesting statistics about China at The Independent (via Dan over at China Law Blog).  Though China’s market reforms and subsequent economic growth started 30 years ago, it has only been the recent decade where an appreciable amount of the masses are finally grasping just how profound it is. I say “grasping” because even so, the vast majority of them have yet to appreciate or truly understand just what China’s rise to global economic and political prominence will mean, burdened as they are–understandably–by…

I tend to give special days special names, like David Day for a certain day in January (when yours truly was “created” aka born), Honey Day (for St Valentine’s Day), and now, Mom Day and Dad Day. It’s a David Feng tradition — what more can I say? David Feng naming innovation… or something like that. Onwards. This Mom Day special of our famous Mind the Gap series is here because — well, today’s Mom Day! Happy Mom Day first of all to my mom — a one and only mom who made my 26 years all that bit more special. In this special, I’d like…

On 4/29 I attended a Asia American MultiTechnology Association dinner called “Silicon Valley-Style” Startups in China: The Next Wave. The panel was moderated by Evan Ng, of Dorsey & Whitney, a Silicon Valley law firm. Flickr photo set for the event is here. Panelists were: Dr. Min Cui | Investment Professional, Bay City Capital Eric Chen | Partner, WI Harper Group Michael Chin | Partner, Dorsey & Whitney (Shanghai) Dr. Winnie H. Wan | Serial Entrepreneur and former CEO, ForteBio The panel was pitched at Chinese (either from mainland China or Taiwan) in Silicon Valley…

Summary Virtually every trip to Beijing, I’m confronted with the question: should I stay in Zhongguancun, CBD, or somewhere in between? This post outlines three strategies and specific hotels to consider in each strategy. But first, some context for first-time visitors to Beijing Beijing is extremely spread out. To put it in terms that Americans can understand, Beijing is like Los Angeles and Orange County in scale. You would not stay in downtown LA, drive to a morning meeting in Irvine, then drive to meet someone for lunch in Santa Monica! But in fact, if you don’t plan properly,…

Guy Kawasaki (http://twitter.com/guykawasaki)kicks ass. No really, he does...and not for the reasons you may think he already kicks...

Thanks to @michelleoshen (http://twitter.com/michelleoshen) for sharing this video first on her blog (http://www.michelleoshen.com/facebook-in-reality/). The fact that I've watched it ten...

CHINICT 08 (http://www.eventbrite.com/myevent?eid=110296901) conference or the Asia VC Journal (http://www.avcjchina.com/conference/59/_introduction.aspx?cf=NTk=) conference and holding a cocktail would be a great opportunity...

It's official. My undiagnosed Adult ADD has found a great channel for firing off my CSR charged brain cells. It's...

While in China later this month, I am definitely taking some time out to check out the crazy cool new...

Life NewsMay 12, 2008 Today's Life News, a Yunnan newspaper, reported on its front page about a Yunnan lawyer who has launched a lawsuit against CNN and its commentator Jack Cafferty. This is latest of a string of similar legal actions both in China and abroad. The lawyer, Wu Kaiguo, filed a lawsuit with the Kunming Intermediate Court demanding a public apology by CNN on the “international mainstream media”, and one yuan in damages. In an interview with the newspaper, the lawyer denied that self-promotion played any part in his motivation. Beijing Youth Daily today ran an article about a…

The Beijing News, May 12, 2008 According to today's Beijing News, four persons involved in the May 4 protest in Chengdu were detained under charges of "fabricating and spreading rumors, distortion (炒作), incitement to riot and illegal demonstration." Chen Daojun, the man who allegedly masterminded the protest is so far the only one who has been formally arrested. He is facing charges of "inciting subversion of state power". Another two suspects sought by the police are still at large. The above information was released at a press conference by Chengdu police. The mainstream media has…

Danwei Picks is a daily digest of the "From the Web" links found on the Danwei homepage. A feed for the links as they are posted throughout the day is available at Feedsky (in China) or Feedburner (outside China). Skin-deep translation may mislead: Does Guo Jingming deserve to be hailed as "the most successful writer in China"? Raymond Zhou clears up a misunderstanding in Chinese reports on a recent New York Times feature that offered four other book reviews alongside a profile of Guo:None of the Chinese commentators mentioned any of the four book reviews. Through endless copying…

Instant earthquake news on Twitter A 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in eastern Sichuan Province at 2:28pm earlier today, according to this report on the U.S. government's earthquake site. According to information from Twitter.com users in China, the quake has been felt in many places across the country (see screenshot), including Beijing. Many office buildings in Beijing's central business district have just been evacuated. The Beijing Earthquake Bureau's website is not currently loading. Comments with further information are welcome. LG Towers in Beijing's CBD, evacuated - 15:03 Update:…

When the new terminal of Beijing Airport first opened at the end of March, the general impression from visitors was that it was absolutely huge. But maybe it's not big enough: author Han Song posted a photo-essay to his blog in which he compares the "T3" to a local train station: overcrowded and chaotic with not enough seating space and lines that go on forever. He's also got some interesting observations on the new terminal's anti-terrorist techniques. The capital airport's new terminal is like county train station by Han Song The capital airport's new terminal (T3), constructed for the…

CHENGDU, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from Monday's ...

BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhua) -- A chronology of major ...

KATHMANDU, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to Nepal ...

DUJIANGYAN, Sichuan, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Major ...

ULAN BATOR, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Some 294 suspected ...

A strong earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale has rocked Wenchuan in Sichuan province, some 92km northwest of Chengdu. The earthquake took place at 14:48 Beijing Time and tremors were felt (by our MSN friends) as far as Wuhan, Shanghai and Beijing. This picture on the right shows the aftermath of the IT department of the Sichuan Bureau of the Xinhua News Agency. Former Shanghaiist contributor Fergus Ryan tells us he felt the earthquake on the 12th floor of his workplace in Beijing. Here in Shanghai, a friend of a friend who works in office tower of MetroCity (Meiluocheng) at Xujiahui…

The total number of reported HFMD cases has risen to 27,500 and the death toll has edged up only slightly to 34. 22 of the deaths were reported took place in Anhui.The situation in Fuyang, Anhui Province, which was the first city to experience a major outbreak of HFMD, says the Ministry of Health. For the first time, patients discharged in Fuyang has outnumbered those checking in to hospitals.Meanwhile, the number of reported cases in Zhejiang Province has risen from nearly 4,000 to 5,132 in just five days. Local health officials say though that the rise in the number of cases reported…

Photograph of the Reverend Al Sharpton by Armchair Messiah on Flickr Gothamist watched a series of civil disobedience events, protesting the Sean Bell shooting verdict, unfold across the city--over 200 people, including the Reverend Al Sharpton, were arrested. Somewhat related, on behalf of a black freelance reporter for the NY Post, the NYCLU sued the city and NYPD for racial profiling.Phillyist took a look at how city employees are bankrupting Philadelphia. Not that they need more cops on the streets there or anything.Seattlest wondered what it means when we see shoes flung over power…

The huge African community in Guangzhou is starting to feel the heat as many of them are being forced to leave the country because of new visa policies, reports Bloomberg citing the South China Morning Post:Nearly half of the 10,000 Africans in the city have already been forced to leave because their visa-renewal applications have been denied and at least 100 people are stranded in Macau without enough money to return home, the newspaper reported. African nationals in the city have been running small businesses on flexible, six-month ``F'' visas and are now being given only tourist visas of…

The worrisome rise of pro-China youth [LA Times] " As human rights protesters dogged the Beijing Olympics torch relay, as supporters of Tibet condemned the violent crackdown in Lhasa, and as Darfur activists demanded change in China's Sudan policy, Chinese young people worked themselves into a different form of righteous anger."China’s Religious Character May Be Deeper Than Thought [Reuters] "Now a window has been opened on faith and religion in a country where six decades of Communist philosophy and rule might seem to have pushed those subjects into obscurity."The angel and the demon…

Not that those of you with productivity-killing Twitter habits need any more reason to waste time, but if you haven’t seen this excellent list put together here on the Lo-Fi Librarian blog you should definitely check it out. Take some time to check out the blog itself, too, which I’ve put on the “Incredibly Useful Tools” list on the ol’ blog roll because that’s really what this individual’s blog is all about — incredibly useful tools. Some other lists of Twitter tools — there’s some overlap, as one might expect — can be found…

Business Week has a couple of articles out about virtual worlds — one on the pioneering, once-feted and now oft-maligned Second Life, written by virtual world evangelist Wagner James Au, and the other by Beijing-based Chi-Chu Tschang about China’s SL “clones,” HiPiHi, Novoking, and UOneNet. I’ve written about the first two here and here. UOneNet’s still unfamiliar to me but I’ll certainly check it out. So far, despite some publicity, HiPiHi doesn’t seem to have gained a whole lot of traction. One San Francisco based virtual world enthusiast named…

Microsoft has rescinded its buyout offer of Yahoo, reports TechCrunch, after the two parties failed to agree on an acquisition price. They were about $4 apart, with Microsoft going as high as $37 per share — up by about $5 billion from its original offer — but Yahoo still holding out for $37 per share. Read the press release from Microsoft here, hot off the presses. It includes the text of a letter from Steve Ballmer to Jerry Yang. Of particular interest is Ballmer’s concern that Yahoo will now pursue a strategy of outsourcing its paid search business to Google.

On the heels of Tudou.com’s big round comes news that Oak Pacific Interactive has raised the gargantuan sum of $43o million in a round led by Masayoshi Son’s Softbank Corp. Oak Pacific Interactive (OPI) runs entertainment-focused community portal Mop.com, IT blog site Donews, the (probably moribund) video sharing site UUMe and — in light of all the buzz around SNS in the last year — their jewel-in-the-crown, campus-based social network Xiaonei.com. Xiaonei, not surprisingly, is the business unit that’s expected to see be the biggest beneficiary of this…

I just saw this in Marbridge Daily (which, maddeningly, I have to fish out of my over-aggressive spam filter every freakin’ day). If you don’t subscribe to Marbridge, you ought at least sign up for their free daily newsletter, which will at least give you headlines from a broad daily scan of the Chinese tech press. Alimama Releases User Statistics Oriental Morning Post, 4/28/08 Alibaba’s advertising trading platform Alimama has announced it now covers 370,000 small and medium-sized websites and 180,000 personal weblogs, reaching an average of 70 mln people per day. Alimama…

Breaking news coming across wires is that a scale 7.8 earthquake has hit Sichuan, and a 3.9 quake has hit Beijing, and 5.7 in Taiwan. There are reports that some buildings shook in Shanghai, Guangdong, Hanoi, and even Bangkok Buidlings in Shanghai have been evacuated (CITIC, Plaza 66, and others in Pudong) and Wenjiabao is already on a plane to the Sichuan affected site. For anyone interested in following the news, go to Shangahiist. They are updating on a frequent basis. As reports of damage come in, I will post more on how to help on Crossroads. I have sent emails to NGOs in the area to see…

Under normal circumstances, I would post an environmentally related post like this only on Crossroads, but this is no normal post. For regular readers, you will know that one of the things that I follow closely, and one of the things that I worry about more frequently, is sustainability of resources in China… particularly water (see previous posts: China is RUNNING OUT OF WATERPeople May Think I am OverreactingWhy China’s Recent Drought Matters to YOUWater: What if, What Else, & What are the Odds Recently, PBS has been running a series called China from the Inside that covers a…

The US China Business Council has just put up (Maybe I just found it) one of the most useful maps I have seen when it comes to trade between the US and China called the Congressional District Exports to China: 2000-07 With the ability to make a cut at the state level, and at the congressional level, the USCBC has done a great job of providing a useful interface for people interested in learning more about exports of goods made in the United States. As an example, take a look at Missouri (my home state): Missouri’s Congressional Districts MO-01 MO-02 MO-03 MO-04 MO-05 MO-06 MO-07 MO-08…

Current TV has just released their newest installment City on Steroids, and it should not be missed. Shot in Chongqing, this segment is broken into three parts, Day 1 -Bang Bang Men (porters), rampant construction and individual home ownership (every young couples dream), Day 2 - life of a bang bang man, migrant appreciation day,a trip to the market Day 3 - a trip to Lifan’s car production facility, a look at the shadow that is Chongqing’s skyline, a trip to an English school to discuss the price of progress, and a last stop to visit Mr Rong’s apartment.. under the bridge.

Just found the article Special Delivery: UPS Moving Ancient Terracotta Army, and had to write a quick post as I think this a great example of how some firms are able to get themselves into the middle of some interesting things. For those who have yet to visit Xi’an, these warriors are simply an amazing site, and they rank up there with the Great Wall and Forbidden City in terms of cultural significance. According to the ariticle: UPS (NYSE:UPS) today unloaded an exhibit of the 2,200-year-old Chinese terra cotta warriors, horses and other artifacts at its West coast air hub in Ontario,…

Wen Jiabao, now on his wayvia WikipediaEarlier today I got a worried message from a friend in Shanghai who reported that at Nanjing street an office building had been evacuated because of a tremor. He had not yet heard about the 7.6 scale of Richter earthquake 60 miles north of Chengdu, Sichuan's provincial capital, that has been felt all over the country and where Shanghai was relatively unscratched, compared to cities like Chengdu and Chongqing.He updated me fast on the social networks he was using, and it appeared he relied mostly on Facebook, after having dumped twitter. For me, Twitter…

Image via WikipediaThe Dutch website De Gele Draak has found a confirmation of the rumor that was already hoovering around for a while: when student visas expire, and most will at the end of the academic year, they can only get a new visa after the Olymnpics are over. They will have to leave the country for two months.The source is pretty reliable: the website of the Dutch embassy in Beijing. The message is (translated from Dutch into English)Also the Dutch Embassy has found out that visa of foreign students who are already in China for study and whose visa will expire shortly, are not being…

Good old daysvia WikipediaI just received through my rss-reader a link to a good story by Paul Midler at the China Game where he explains that profitability is not the only way for companies in China to survive. You can read that yourself, but I was intrigued by his opening:Far Eastern Economic Review published an article of mine in March 2008, wanted to introduce the piece here. For those less familiar with Far Eastern Economic Review, it is one of Asia’s leading business publications, and it shares an association with the Wall Street Journal.Why did I not pick the story up in March, when…

Give me your datavia WikipediaAre you really desperately in need of some proprietary information of your competitor? Is there an organization you despise so much, you do not mind taking their online operation off the air? Hire a Chinese hacker! This weblog on Korea tells the story on South-Korea's largest auction site "Auction" after the Chinese police arrested the Chinese hacker and on of his Korean accomplices. From the article:KBS also talked to Chinese hackers who claim there is something of a black market for Korean personal information in China. They say Koreans hire Chinese hackers to…

They also need a permitvia WikipediaStories abundant about foreigners who have problems in entering China, or trying to extent their F-visas in China. Marc van der Chijs just twittered about his visit to the Public Security Office at Wusong Lu in Shanghai to extend his Z-visa. That was in itself no problem, but he had to wait for five hours partly because of the large number of foreigners pleading to get an extention of their F-visas.But it is not only foreigners who have difficulties in getting their residence permits doen, alsoChinese are facing similar problems, reports Danwei. China has a…

Cn Reviews, has a very informative post entitled, "AAMA Panel on 'Silicon Valley-Style' Startups in China: The Next Wave," on getting a startup going in China. The post is on a recent Asia American MultiTechnology Association dinner where a number of clearly qualified people spoke on China startup information. I really liked the following advice by Eric Chen, on whether to use or avoid government: There really are two schools of thought. The first school is to avoid, and stay under the radar screen of the government. For some areas, like internet and wireless, you can start out small enough…

Uber reporter Tim Johnson over at his perennially superb China Rises Blog has a post up entitled, "China By The Numbers," which consists nearly entirely of a list of interesting numbers from this Independent article highlighting China's rapid change. Both the post and the full article are well worth a read, particularly if you are a numbers geek like me. What's the deal with The Independent anyway? I don't remember noticing it until a year or so ago and now I am finding all kinds of interesting China and non-China articles in it?

Excellent post up by my friend Jeremy Gordon over at China Business Services. Post is entitled, "Statistics That Don't Add Up," and it is on the notorious unreliability of Chinese economic statistics. Where it excels is in breaking down and recalculating the numbers and in giving us a Goldman Sachs roadmap on determining reliability. The post is based on an Economist article, entitled, "An aberrant Abacus," which posits that China has actually been underestimating its economic growth over the last few years. The article also puts forth the following "guide (developed by Goldman Sachs) to the…

US Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) did a pretty good (though somewhat bombastic as is PBS's wont) series a while back, entitled, "China From the Inside." For those of you who did not have access to it or missed it, All Roads Lead to China just put up (via YouTube) the episode on China's environment. Nothing terribly new or earth shattering in it, but it does do a really good job in bringing China's environment to life, in a way television can and should. Go here to watch it.

Well, not quite, but the Shanghai to Ningbo bridge is the world's longest cross-sea span and it cuts the drive from Shanghai to Ningbo from 400 km to 80km. CLB's own Steve Dickinson just returned from Ningbo, having travelled there from Shanghai to meet with a client who is setting up a manufacturing plant there. I asked Steve what he thought of it and here is his response: The bridge was truly amazing. It is not like a bridge. It is like a very long, straight road. Just like the Beijing airport: the impossible, done quickly and well. Query: why can they do these things and then not be able…

Was passing by Heathrow and picked up a pamphlet about… And I checked the website, which said they were co-hosting “over 800 events nationwide spanning art, design, cuisine, culture, science, business, technology, education and sport [that] will capture the imagination and advance the UK public’s understanding of China.” Their lineup seems pretty impressive, and includes these works: Above by Chen Shaohua, 1992 Above by Ji Ji, 2006. There is, in addition, an educational component: Lastly, they even conjured up a clever marketing ploy: To put paper pigeons in Leicaster…

This happened several months ago, but I think it’s still worth capturing. From PFSK: “While single-use chopsticks may be a convenient option for restaurant owners and patrons alike, there is a small group of Chinese DIY designers and young environmentalists who are taking initiative to counter their use. One such group called ‘Unigreen’ has made an open offer online to hand-stitch a free chopstick / soup spoon holder for anyone who pledges to only carry reusable chopsticks. Original post on PSFK. More pictures of chopstick bags from Unigreen’s blog.

According to a quote from nerve.com on the artists’ website: “The ecstatically romantic story of Madi Ju and Patrick Tsai (Pat Pat) tells you everything you need to know about the inspiration behind their gleeful photography. Taiwanese-American Pat Pat was raised in California and schooled in New York. Jolted by the Iraq War, he packed up and moved to Taipei to seriously pursue photography. Three years later, he met Madi, who lived in China, on the internet. They rendezvoused in Hong Kong, fell in love, quit their jobs and struck out on a pan-Asian adventure together…”…

Spotted on the streets of Hong Kong: “Wifi available here,” it says Unfortunately, it’s just a convenient place for the telecom company to advertise that they are offering wifi… for a fee. Correction: From a comment by Alex: “Actually this is not true.  PCCW had been offering paid Wifi access at more than 400 access points across the city, a majority of those are from PCCW phone booths! (including all the ones with this wifi label) They actually have AP built into the phone booths like this one which the company owns.”

It’s one of the wonderful things about blogs.  You can find really smart people who are blogging their thoughts rather than writing super long, boring reports.  And if those people are economists, how great is that?  If you are NOT someone who likes to spend much time on economic reading, you might enjoy the WorldBank’s East Asia and Pacific Newsletter, which comes every now and then to your email Inbox and delivers the contents of the bank’s’ East Asia and Pacific blog. Today there’s a piece from the World Bank’s Country Director for China and Mongolia,…

On April 25th, 2008, China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) released the Research Report of China Youth Internet Behaviors. The report studies the online behaviors of 107 million China’s netizens under the age of 25. (Download the report in PDF format here) According to the report, China’s youth netizens are more inclined to entertainment demand. The most used online serves for youth are IM(91.3%), online music(91.1%), online movie/video(82.9%), search engine(73.4%), online games(68.2%), online news(63.4%) and email(58%). If compared with the average usage level of all…

In my post about Softbank’s huge investment on Oak Pacific Interactive, or say Xiaonei.com, I believed that the investment will inspire more people in China to try to build another similar Facebook-wannabe. Actually, Comsenz, the leading developer social software in China, has rolled out a software called “UCenter Home” in late April, which can enable you to build your own Facebook. You can download UCenter Home and install it on your own server, which requires php and mysql. Now on UCenter Home, you can add friends, write blogs and miniblogs, share photos and create and…

BusinessWeek published a special report on virtual world on Monday, with one article on virtual World in China which featured Hipihi, Novoking and UOneNet (a.k.a. uWorld). On April 21st, Hipihi announced the beginning of its public beta testing phase, after over a year private test. The private test was much longer than they previously expected. By today, Hipihi’s homepage shows it has just over 50k registered users. uWorld, another virtual world on BusinessWeek’s article which we first profiled in October 2007, finally started its close test in March. As Hipihi, uWorld also…

Beijing based StumbleUpon like service Quzhai has sent out an email to all its users that the service will be shut down very soon. Quzhai learns users’ interest by asking them to click like or dislike button on its toolbar. Then it will show more webpages to the users according to their interests. Basically it’s a social recommendation service. To attract more entry level users, Quzhai focused its content on entertainment news. A trick I have learned from the founder is that readers of this kind of news have no strong preference. If they like one of them, they will like them all.

Lots of discussion on the news that Masayoshi Son’s Softbank will lead an investment totaling $430 million for approximately 35% stake of Oak Pacific Interactive (OPI), whose main asset currently is Xiaonei.com, a Facebook clone, can be found on the blogosphere already, such as on Techcrunch, VentureBeat and DigitalWatch. Honestly, I was surprised by the news when I first heard it on Twitter, though there was rumor in early this year already. What does the investment mean to China’s web sector? At first, what will happen to Xiaonei.com? According to Communication Information, Xiaonei…

Chang-Won Kim, who publishes the Web 2.0 Asia blog, recently commented on my article about China’s BBSes, and questioned whether the BBS would indeed become the future of social media in China. Here is what Mr. Kim says: In short, the article said: Much of Chinese internet = BBS Often the Chinese “group thoughts/activities”, such as the recent (rather unfortunate) “Angry Chinese” incidents, get organized on these BBSes Chinese’ love of BBS might have come from distrust of traditional media Outsiders have not figured this out But the very last part of the…

When the western media and some outside observers talk about “Angry China”, they really miss out on the real story, and even the real questions which need to be asked. For instance, how do very large groups of people, who at least on the surface, have nothing to do with each other, organize in large numbers so quickly in a society which many westerners see as authoritarian? Are they government-led or influenced, or do they do it themselves? How do they come to believe some of the wild rumors which come up, such as for instance, the belief that Carrefour sends a portion of its…

One of the great challenges in any relationship is about establishing the right tone of dialogue. Should it be friendly, adversarial, competitive, or something else? Can the two parties be constructively critical, or will they just be critical? Can they listen to each other without becoming overly offensive and/or defensive? Just about the only thing more difficult than setting the right tone of dialogue, is setting a new tone for a new conversation when the old tone of dialogue no longer works, if only because the underlying dynamics has changed. If there was one thing which came clear…

16 Ways to Keep A Razor- Sharp Focus at Work | Zen Habits

I just read The Economist’s lead article this week titled “Angry China”. I came away from it disappointed, and I would like to explain why. The main gist of the article is that the Chinese government should be worried about the rising tide of Chinese nationalism because a great deal of the anger now directed at western policies and interests are in fact, anger at Chinese government policy. Handled the wrong way, this tide of Chinese nationalism could very well turn against the Chinese government, leading to unpredictable consequences. Here are the money quotes: China’s…

Olympic documentary Boomtown Beijing to be shown in Guangzhou as part of its Olympic countdown screenings On March 14th at 8pm, the Blog of Dreams will present a screening of award-winning film director Siok Siok Tan's new movie, Boomtown Beijing. The film, a documentary about several individuals whose lives ...

Here are three more photos from our friends at the China Photo Contest: This photo from Ricardo Duarte comes from Xian in Shaanxi Province. This photo from Robert DaBoss was taken in Guangzhou. And this photo from Joew Huang was taken in Guangdong Province. We'll announce more photos and contest winners in the next ...

One of the things I love and admire most about the Library Project is the huge amount of good that can be done with such a small amount of money. Take a close look at the resources available in this rural community, the dedication of the children and the looks ...

The Top Business Schools in the US for Chinese Students After a year of interviews and research we have started to compile our lists of top business schools and Executive MBA (E-MBA) programs for Chinese students looking for study opportunities in America, Australia, Canada, UK, Singapore and New Zealand. We will be ...

One of my favorite spots in Guangzhou (and a place that's unusually quiet in a city known for its loud, delicious restaurants) is The Temple of the Six Banyan Trees. [youtube cBuKfGDWTO4] An ancient Buddhist holy site built in 537 AD, during the Liang Dynasty in Guangzhou, the Temple of the ...

By Victoria Ho, ZDNet Asia SingTel and three of its telco associates have confirmed they will bring Apple's iPhone to Singapore, India, the Philippines and Australia. SingTel in Singapore, India's Bharti Airtel, the Philippines' Globe Telecom and Australia's Optus said they will bring the popular device to their respective countries "later this year", although SingTel could not [...]

Shanghai No. 1 Secondary People's Court has sentenced Toudu.com, one of the many online video service providers in China, to pay RMB50000 in compensation to NuCom Online (Beijing) for the violation of the NuCom's copyright by offering the film of "Crazy Stone" online. "Crazy Stone" is a film co-produced by Sifang Yuanchuang International Film and Television [...]

To better regulate online transactions in China, the Ministry of Commerce has drafted and is soliciting comments from the public on two new rules: the E-commerce Pattern Regulation and Online Shopping Service Regulation. The two regulations have set standards for each area of e-commerce businesses, ranging from legal qualifications and registration licenses to operation behavior, payment [...]

Chinese software company Kingsoft has begun a shift to a full Internet business with the release of Google Kingsoft Powerword, a web-based dictionary co-developed with search engine company Google (GOOG). The new Google Kingsoft Powerword features some improvement on Kingsoft's original Powerword. Google has added a webpage translation for the software and added Google network paraphrase [...]

China Electronics Corporation has put the 45% of its stake that it holds in China Digital Cable TV Co., Ltd on sale at the Beijing Equity Exchange with a reference price of RMB450 million, which is the same as its initial investment in the company. However, CEC has set a high threshold for the buyer: it [...]

That's a good question, and it was posed in an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal by Geoffrey Fowler. As the article notes, the answer is "yes", depending on who you ask:Was China's Olympic-torch relay around the world a miserable failure or a surprising success? Yes.To observers in the U.S. and Europe, Beijing's international spectacle was a public-relations disaster as protesters in both those regions tried to snatch or snuff the torch. Outside China, the relay seemed to symbolize the divisiveness of issues such as China's treatment of its Tibetan population. At home, it…

First of all, a quick apology. My posts this month have been about zilch as a result of work and parenting demands. There are some things I'd like to write, as always, and with any luck in the next week or so I'll get one or two things up.Also, I've added a Twitter feed at upper right. I've been having a pretty good time with Twitter, but it is not to blame to falloff in posting.Finally, I've heard from a couple of people who use BlackBerries to read Imagethief that the formatting means about a zillion scrolls to get to content. Now, my first blush reaction to this is to tell Research In…

Facebook communication has been in something of a precipitous decline over the past couple of months. This hasn't bothered me much, since it cut down on the number of invitations to naff applications. Barring those from the occasional late adopter, stumbling in energetically like someone arriving at a party just as dawn breaks, after the keg is empty and the remaining guests are either passed out on the floor, being sick in the bathroom or making out in the host's parents' bedroom.So where did everyone go? They went to Twitter, it seems. I had to work myself up to join, since it seems like…

Nationalist outrage succumbs to low, low prices. And lowering of the control rods by the government. From the New York Times: On Thursday, the first day of a planned boycott against Carrefour, a French department store chain here, there were a few low-key protests around the country but most Carrefour outlets did a brisk business in peanut oil, petit fours and family packs of lychee juice.The boycott call, publicized through text messages and popular websites, has been urging Chinese consumers to avoid the stores as a way to punish France for what China considers its shabby reception of the…

This advisory was just sent to us by CITS, the local travel service:民航总局严格手提行李规定 New Regulation of Carry-on Luggage 根据中国民航总局的规定，５月１日开始，在国内航班上持头等舱客票的旅客，每人可随身携带两件物品；持公务舱或经济舱客票的旅，每人只能随身携带1件物品。每件物品的体积均不得超过20×40×55厘米，上述两项总重量均不得超过5公斤。 According to CAAC , new regulation of carry-on luggage will be launched effective from 01May. Base on this regulation, on domestic flights,…

I was happy to come across today's China Daily article reporting some immediate health benefits from the May 1 smoking ban that I mentioned in my prior post . Though perhaps not the type that immediately comes to mind, we'll take what we can get. [6 Vote(s)]

I was just sitting here ready to write a post when our whole building started to sway, I thought it was a case of vertigo until the pictures started to sway. Outside what I found most strange was that some construction workers remained on the cranes and continued working. [6 Vote(s)]

Beijing is calling upon its citizens to report Olympic logo infringements paying the tattle tail part of the fine. Most unauthorized vendors will not likely be able to afford the fine. The incentive will work much better if the reward is paid regardless of whether the fine is actually collected. [5 Vote(s)]

That's right, Tencent publicly notes its expertise in… whistle blowing. [4 Vote(s)]

Although the title is a little misleading (I would state that it is about international assumptions made on both sides), I still think this is a must view to really understand the situation over Olympic protests. [5 Vote(s)]

From Reuters: An earthquake measuring 7.5 rocked China’s Sichuan province on Monday, less than 100 km (60 miles) from the provincial capital of Chengdu, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties or damage from the tremor which the USGS earlier put at 7.8. The tremor, centered 92 km northwest of Chengdu, was felt as far away as Beijing and Shanghai and the Thai capital Bangkok, where office buildings swayed with the impact. UPDATE: The latest reports say the death now more than 7000. Wikipedia’s special link is here.

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AP’s Joe McDonald reports from Beijing: China’s inflation rebounded in April to near decade-high levels, adding to pressure on Beijing to cool rapid price rises and avert possible unrest ahead of the Summer Olympics, according to official data reported Monday. Consumer prices in April were up 8.5 percent compared with the same month last year, the National Statistics Bureau reported. That was up from March’s 8.3 percent rate and just short of February’s 8.7 percent, the highest inflation rate in nearly 12 years. Prices have jumped since mid-2007, driven by rises in…

From CBS: Grace Wang, a Chinese student at Duke University in the CBS story above also wrote the following essay: The Old Man Who Lost His Horse By Grace Wang There is a Chinese proverb: 塞翁失馬焉知非福 (Saiweng Shima, Yanzhi Feifu). It is the story of “The Old Man Who Lost His Horse” and all Chinese know it. During the Han Dynasty—in the third century B.C.—an old man living on China’s border one day lost his horse. His neighbors all said what terrible luck that was, and sympathized with the old man. But Sai Weng said: “Maybe losing my horse is not a bad thing after…

From AFP, via Taipei Times: China’s response to the suffering of cyclone survivors in Myanmar has exposed the limits of its ability — and arguably its willingness — to press even close allies to change set habits, analysts say. With the junta in Myamnar refusing to admit foreign aid workers and curbing the distribution of emergency supplies, UN and other agencies warn the death toll could rise far higher than the official 60,000 dead or missing. Only a quarter of the victims have received any help at all, triggering a race against time to reach more than a million critically short of…

An earthquake struck Wenchuan in the eastern part of Sichuan province this afternoon, hitting 7.6 on the Richter scale. This report indicates it registered as a 3.9 quake as far away as Beijing. The Guardian picks it up from here: The quake hit 57 miles (92km) north-west of Sichhuan, the capital of Chengdu province, at 2.28pm (7.28am BST), the US Geological Survey said on its website. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties or damage in the provincial capital. "We felt continuous shaking for about two or three minutes. All the people in our office are rushing downstairs.

New Sounds of China （中国新声) is an (*ahem*) new bilingual Chinese-English radio show presented in collaboration between Resonance FM and London Chinese Radio. Their first episode features a solid cross section of studio and live recordings; some of the latter come from a recent experimental music festival in Beijing. Adding to the appeal is an interview, in Chinese, with Glorious Pharmacy's Li Tieqiao. Well worth a listen. You can hear their first show here. Oh, and, surprise! You'll likely need a proxy or VPN to access this if you're in mainland China. London Chinese Radio offers the…

I wish I came up with that column title myself, but alas, it was one of the creative editors at the Times Colonist. This week's column takes a look at the explosive growth of China's luxury goods industry: Aside from fashion shows, high-end cosmetics and fancy Fujitsu tablet laptops, the fair also showcased a private Sikorsky helicopter valued at US$200,000. "This is much more reasonable than buying the Ferrari," the sales agent told me. Sikorsky is one of the companies that has launched a joint venture with a Shanghai firm to market its private helicopters. They've sold more than a dozen so…

BEIJING - QQ News is reporting that two foreigners beat a Chinese man in Shenzhen who asked them not to urinate in public on the evening of May 7. The website says the two men relieved themselves in the middle of Shangbu and Sugang roads in the city's Futian area. A Chinese citizen surnamed Zhang asked the foreigners not to relieve themselves in public, and noted the street had just been cleaned. The website says the foreigners responded by beating Mr. Zhang, leaving his face bloodied. The two foreigners, whom local police say were intoxicated, were taken into custody. They refused to…

BEIJING - As if going through airport security isn't enough (although it seems much easier in China than it does in the still panicky United States), now Beijing's subway security will be stepped up prior to the Olympic Games in August. China portal NetEase (163.com) is reporting that security at all of Beijing's subway stations - including Lines 1, 2, 5, 10 (as yet unopened), 13, and the Batong Line - will see security guards, sniffer dogs, and x-ray machines in place by the end of June. Passengers will be checked prior to boarding the trains, including personal checks of liquids, such as…

This afternoon, I returned to my office from an Amcham luncheon to find everyone preparing to evacuate our offices on the fourth floor of Parkview Center near the Holiday Inn Lido Hotel in Beijing. Moments before, my colleagues reported, our building shook and there were already reports of buildings throughout Beijing being evacuated. Believe it or [...]

“Of all the industries you could have picked,” I am frequently asked, “Why automotive components? It’s a mature industry.” And that’s true. In developed economies like the United States, automotive is a mature industry. But in developing economies like China, it can be a growth industry. Ever since it joined the World Trade Organization in December, [...]

Several months ago, Joni Evans, a good friend of mine, began a new Web site www.wowowow.com (“The Women on the Web”) that is oriented to women, 40 years of age and over. Joni, a veritable powerhouse in the publishing industry whose career includes serving as president and publisher of Simon & Schuster and publisher at [...]

In my recent post, “Industry Week: China’s Different Cost Perspective” and in the related article I wrote for the magazine, I discuss the fact that Chinese managers have a different, and much lower, cost perspective than managers from more developed countries. Briefly stated, when Americans look at a 100 yuan bill, their immediate reaction is [...]

We had a nasty virus attack our site that did not affect Mozilla users, but which Internet Explorer was quick to download. Our technical experts have provided the necessary fix, however, and we are happy to see that you have returned. Please spread the word that all is well once more at Managing the Dragon.

Horrible news of a massive earthquake in Sichuan province today. For anyone who's searching for the very latest news coming out of the Chengdu area, Twitter is a good source of ...

I don't go out to see movies too often here in China, but when Ironman was released here last week I had to go check it out. It was an ...

The crew over at seesmic have put together another great little piece on the whole Tibet China conversation. I make an appearance at around the 5:45 mark, and in retrospect, ...

The Great Firewall is a phenomenon that many Internet users in China have been repeatedly beating their heads on for quite some time now. That was especially true for many of ...

I can't seem to access CNN right now. And on Twitter, there are a bunch of people reporting the same thing, though it seems intermittent.

http://www.seeisee.com/index.php/sam/2008/05/04/p530In the last IWOM watch, we talked about how the launch of SNS sites based on particular cities rides the trend of BBS communities which already serve such a need. In this issue, we take a closer look at KDS (宽带山), a sub-forum of PChome, which is one such "local" BBS based in Shanghai. KDS is filled with Shanghai residents talking about the latest gossip, news and generally playing around. It even has its own “KDS” net language such as "5pp54"(Ignore the topic if no photo). Recently, KDS had an FB 腐败 (offline meet up) which…

http://www.seeisee.com/index.php/sam/2008/04/30/p528Next week we are planning to launch our white paper on Sports IWOM. This paper will follow in the footsteps of our previous white papers on auto, mobile phone, health topics, and notebook computers all of which can be found here. Netizens are extremely passionate about sports, sports teams, players and sports apparel. As we have seen in other aspects of Internet culture, netizens are proactive in creating original content around these topics and interests. For example, China has a rich DIY sneaker head culture. (see below, taken from the…

http://www.seeisee.com/index.php/sam/2008/04/30/p526Net Language VS National Matriculation Test (April 3rd） （网络语言 VS 中国高考） High school students in China are entering tense times with the upcoming college entrance exams. Most of the students scheduled to take the exam this year were born in the early 90s and are essentially the first generation of “net natives” in China. Interestingly, the authority behind the National Matriculation Test has ruled that Net language cannot be used on the test. This post discusses people’s arguments as to whether or not Net language…

http://www.seeisee.com/index.php/sam/2008/04/22/p521I've been busy trying to create buzz for IWOM in the last week. Here's a quick recap. Wednesday, April 23 2008: "Marketing strategies in China: In cooperation with Louvain School of Management" I spoke at the breakfast meeting hosted by the Benelux Chamber of Commerce in China, BenCham, combination of the Dutch Business Association and the Belgian Luxembourg Business Association and the Louvain School of Management. Jan Van den Bergh from i-merge invited me to come along to speak about IWOM after he warmed up the audience talking about his…

http://www.seeisee.com/index.php/sam/2008/04/21/p520For those like myself who grew up before the Internet went mainstream, it is natural to dichotomize our lives into “online” and “offline.” For the “80’s eggs” in China, however, these “worlds” are more like extensions of each other. Meeting and making real friends online and then organizing offline “meetups” in China is an integral part of strong BBS communities as we can see in the practice of Fubai (see here). In this issue of IWOM watch, we see that there are emerging SNS sites such as Tonglou which facilitate this…

There is no doubt that Maxthon is still the No.1 Chinese browser in the market, but we can see that the competition is getting more intense. Tencent has its so called TT browser bundled with QQ for a long time, Firefox is more and more accepted by high educated Internet users; If you search [...]

We always need more stages to help on the communication between the Chinese IT companies and the west. CHINICT is a quite high level annual event doing this job. Taking place for the 3rd consecutive year, CHINICT 2008 - the largest event in ICT entrepreneurship in Asia – will reward the rising stars in [...]

Jimdo, a Germany-based online website editor has just launched its private beta version of Blog feature. Like Jimdo’s existing service, the blog feature is very cool. Ajax-based, highly customizable editor, easy-to-use multimedia content publishing system, for me Jimdo just proves one thing, Blog Service can be technique driven too. In China, it seems that we have [...]

It has been a while since I wrote my first post on this blog about international expansion of Chinese Internet companies. I wrote the post during a train ride from Guangzhou to Shanghai. As I am now traveling to Beijing in an olympic themed train, I will summarize some of the findings I did in [...]

Microsoft bought 1.6 percent stake of Facebook for $240 millions, which valued Facebook at $15 billion. It has just been confirmed that Xiaonei.com, the Chinese clone of Facebook owned by Oak Pacific Interactive (OPI) sold its approximately 35% share to Softbank for $430 millions, which values OPI at over $1 billion. So the Chinese social [...]

New Strategies in Digital PR CultureFish Media’s CEO Lonnie Hodge and and Sam Flemming, founder of CIC, China’s first Internet Word of Mouth research and consulting firm, are the featured speakers at the New Trends in Digital Media Conference in Shenzhen, China. Topics to be discussed include: Benefits of Online News Releases, Myths and Realities of Digitization, Trends in Digital Online Ads, applications of Internet word of Mouth and Online Reputation Management methods. The event will give attendees a competitive advantage over the competition by revealing information needed to…

My friend Siok Siok Tan is the multi-lingual marvel who, during her tenure with Discovery Channel, racked up a dozen Asian TV Awards as a documentary film director, and producer. Her latest work, done in concert with students from classes she taught at the Beijing film Academy, is a fascinating pastiche of people obliquely impacted by the economic, political and athletic rush for gold in the 2008 Games. Siok Siok renders her perspective on the games by examining the lives of Beijingers, so far from the torch run, that neither the western or Chinese media would even bother to distort or…

This post was written exactly a year ago and I opted to reprrint it as some things never seem to change….. In today’s news: Club.cn.yahoo.co is a new blogging network for Chinese netizens. According to Reuters and Wired magazine the new service designed to give bloggers a place to exchange ideas and photos. Wired posited that this seemed pretty dangerous in light of Yahoo’s admitted role as a snitch for folks who might advocate such atrocities as democracy and human rights. While I like that they took a shot at Yahoo! for its ongoing hypocrisy, it seems typically naive and…

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This is a don’t miss event for anyone looking for  the best talent anywhere for movie, flash, or digital animation. Suzhou, a gorgeous “water town” near Shanghai, is playing host to the event: Take a look at the media industries and you’ll find animation everywhere. In TV, film, education and training, games, mobile, advertising, and online. It’s also one of the strongest youth market categories in digital media. X|Media|Lab Suzhou concentrates on this “wealth of animation” bringing together a stellar range of animation experts from all over the world. The Keynote…

Richard Meng has travelled to over 96 countries and shares what it means to be a World Traveller, also the name of his very own travel magazine.

Premier underscores innovation in jumbo aircraft manufacture China's top political advisor arrives in Slovenia for official visit President's 'warm spring' visit to Japan a complete success Magnitude 5.6 earthquake strikes off Taiwan's east coast Fire engulfs east China factory, casualties unknown China's Inner Mongolia undertakes most ambitious Great Wall survey, repair Cutting inflation to remain top goal Pudong Bank not in talks on sale of more shares FedEx takes a hit from rising fuel costs China signs Orinoco oil supply JV China's smartphone market booms in Q1, sales up 4.8%

China, Japan sign joint statement on promoting strategic, mutually beneficial ties Chinese museums, heritage sites tighten security after gasoline scare Olympic flame atop Mt. Qomolangma China to allocate 26 bln yuan this year to reduce unemployment Computer server with client data missing at HSBC Hong Kong Chinese shares rebound led by strong telecommunications Chinese shares open 1.12% lower Number of newly incorporated companies in Macao down 8.2% in Q1 2008 China regulation on speculative capital faces test amid inflow surge China's agricultural trade deficit hits $3.66 bln in Q1 Chinese…

Olympic flame lit on Everest peak China shares end 4.13% lower on profit-taking Tibet economic sees 1st Quarter Growth Olympic Stocks Tumble in China on Profit Concerns China's vocational institutions enrollment hit 8.1 mln last year Hint of new measures to prevent overheating

How would you like to spend your next holiday? The majesty of Imperial China? The natural beauties of rainforest-covered Yunnan? The rugged, imposing mountains of Tibet, or the stunning desert landscapes of the old Silk Road? Follow your bliss with Sojourner Travel.

I am in Singapore this week. Today I have company-related meetings followed by a few days at a Merrill Lynch conference. ML is having a corporate social responsibility conference tomorrow, at which I will be an attendee, and then they are having a regular investor conference at which I will be a panelist on their retail marketing/opportunities panel on Wednesday. More information on those things later in the week, but in the meantime read about Chinese retail news at our ChinaRetailNews.com. Speaking of CSR, I see this morning our ChinaCSR.com posted a Q&A with Justin Guo, the new GM at…

When it rains, it pours: in the last 7 days we have been contacted by two different groups for information on email append services in China. It's serendipitous, especially since I think the last request we received was over half a year ago. Most people have realized email append is awfully difficult and with little return. Plus, laws in many places around the world now require that a user have double confirmation when they first join an email list. Both email append and reverse email append are ways companies help to fill in the gaps in their consumer marketing databases. In the former, a…

There's been lots of talk lately about visas for foreigners working in China. The most recent edict is that now foreigners need to register at the Public Security Bureau within 24 hours of each of their entries into China, regardless of their visa situation (e.g. travel, business, working). Two women came to my apartment last week to check-up on me — eleven years ago I would have worried but now I'm numb to these situations. This rule is actually very old, but it's only now being enforced a bit more. Those of you living in Beijing's Maizidian area will remember the "1999 Public Security…

Just returned to the office from a 4-day national break for China's May 1 Labor Day. This holiday is a good time to reflect on the short-term impact China's new Labor Law has had on businesses in China. China-based DLA Piper lawyers Kevin Jones and Stan Abrams wrote a piece today for our ChinaCSR.com about the initial impact the law has had on domestic and international firms. (Chinese version of their piece is found here and Stan's own personal blog is here.)

Great news here about a re-defined concept surrounding high-tech certified businesses in China. We knew this was going to happen this quarter, so I'm happy the news arrived so soon. One of our entities in China is a high-tech certified business, so this provides us a much better tax rate (15%) than the new Enterprise Income Tax law (25%) which started on January 1, 2008. We've been a high-tech certified business for almost 4 years. Without the certification, our business would just have a standard high-tech license; but with the special "certification" we gained great tax breaks the last few…

By Mr. Hiranyalal Shrestha Via telegraphnepal.com Nepal and China are close neighboring countries linked together by common rivers and mountains. They also have relationship at people’s level from prehistoric times. Both the countries share common concern about ecology of the Himalayas, glacial lakes and river, which are located between Nepal and China’s Autonomous Region of Tibet. China has been

By Edward Wong Via IHT.COMMonday, May 5, 2008 Protesters wear masks as a symbolic gesture against the construction of a polyethylene chemical factory in Chengdu, in southwestern China's Sichuan province, on Sunday. (The Associated Press) Hundreds of people marched in a western provincial capital over the weekend to protest environmental risks they say are associated

The Associated Press Via IHT.com Sunday, May 4, 2008 CHAOHU LAKE, China: This sprawling, jade-hued lake in eastern China is pleasant enough on a cool spring day. But when spring warms into sultry summer, Chaohu turns slimy and stinky as algae fed by sewage, farm and factory runoff bloom, leaving it toxic and undrinkable. China's pollution busters, banking on a rather unorthodox