China

• 
  WSJ.com: China Real Time Report

• U.S. Currency Belligerence May Be Counterproductive

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:46 pm

  It may seem like the stars are aligning for China to let its currency rise, but recent tough talk from the U.S. may make such a move less, rather than more, likely. Bloomberg News U.S. President Barack Obama’s talk last week of monitoring exchange-rate policies may be welcome in Washington, but counterproductive in Beijing. Rather than encourage China to let the yuan, or renminbi, rise against the U.S. dollar, Obama’s tough stance may discourage China from budging, especially when ties with the U.S. are worsening over Google, Taiwan and Tibet. As Credit Suisse economist Tao Dong put it…

• Fed’s Yellen: U.S. Rates Too Hot for China

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:25 pm

  From the WSJ’s Real Time Economics blog: Yellen A top Federal Reserve official said Monday U.S. monetary policy is too hot for China and Hong Kong and explained any trouble those nations ultimately face because of this situation arises from their own foreign exchange policies. “Because both the Chinese and Hong Kong economies are further along in their recovery phases than the U.S. economy, current U.S. monetary policy is likely to be excessively stimulatory for them,” Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Janet Yellen said. “However, as both Hong Kong and the mainland…

• Video: The Life of Chinese Merchants in Moscow

  8 Feb 2010 | 4:17 pm

• CIC Plays It Safe

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:41 am

  For some, China’s sovereign wealth fund the China Investment Corp. is the big bad wolf of global finance. Its disclosure of its U.S. equity holdings suggests it’s more like Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, says Heard on the Street.

• Survey Sees Rise in China January Export Growth

  8 Feb 2010 | 2:50 am

  According to forecasts of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, growth in China’s exports and imports likely accelerated sharply in January due to growing global demand and a low base of comparison, while inflationary pressures mounted as banks rushed to lend massively at the start of the year ahead of credit tightening by Beijing. Economists said the January data due this week will be distorted by the timing of the Lunar New Year, which fell in January last year and falls in February this year, but the strong momentum of China’s economic recovery should carry on into the…

• 
  CNReviews

• Acosta: The Desert Spring

  C. Custer

  31 Jan 2010 | 9:02 pm

  The following is a translation of this post by popular Chinese blogger acosta. While it isn’t explicitly about China, it does offer us some valuable insight into the way one of China’s most influential bloggers thinks about sacrifice and the way to achieve success. Given that acosta’s posts generally get read by tens of thousands of people and often attract thousands of comments, it’s fair to say that a number of netizens of his generation see things the same way. Translation In the film Infernal Affairs [a 2002 Hong Kong action film that was adapted into 2006's The…

• Hong Huang: Zhang Ziyi and “China’s Soft Power Army”

  C. Custer

  25 Jan 2010 | 8:06 pm

  Elliott:  This is the first post of a series of new translations by C. Custer of the now ubiquitous ChinaGeeks.  To paraphrase a famous leader, revolution is not a dinner party, not an essay, nor a painting, nor a piece of embroidery; it cannot be advanced softly, gradually, carefully, considerately, respectfully, politely, plainly and modestly…but only through incisive blogging, critical commentary, and sharp, selective translations of Chinese-language content. (OK, I added the last part, but that’s where Custer and we are fellow travelers). The following is a translation of…

• Google Leaving China Will Not Be A Revolution, Televised Or Not

  Kai Pan

  23 Jan 2010 | 10:20 pm

  Richard of The Peking Duck left a comment (and a blog post) responding to my previous post about the Google affair, “Google In China Is Better Than No Google In China“. In his blog post, Richard comforts me before ceremoniously declaring Uln the winner: Kudos to Kai Pan for all the work he did in laying out his argument. The winner, however, is Chinayouren. Bastard! *shakes fist* Richard also summarizes: “Freedom of choice” sounds wonderful. It sounds a little less wonderful when it’s “freedom of manipulated choice.” …except the thrust of my argument is that…

• Google In China Is Better Than No Google In China

  Kai Pan

  22 Jan 2010 | 4:07 am

  Uln of CHINAYOUREN has yet another well-written post surrounding the recent Google debacle. Richard of The Peking Duck praised it especially for doing a good job explaining why Chinese internet users in general don’t feel compelled to hop over the Great Firewall that controls what they can or cannot see on the internet. Richard also claims Uln “shatters – to his own satisfaction, at least – the widely held belief (shall we call it a “meme”?) of many English-language China bloggers that a censored google.cn was far better than no google.cn.” From Uln’s…

• Google China photos: because I’m without words

  Elliott Ng

  13 Jan 2010 | 7:23 am

  Honestly, I’m speechless in the face of the news that Google will likely abandon the Chinese market.  First some photos, and then a few thoughts from me below.  I feel such sadness and disappointment for the Chinese people.  They deserve to have access to the same resources and information that most people in the world have…so as to pursue their individual hopes and dreams. Set from Flickr user Junyu Wang (王俊煜): Flowers on the sign: Candlelight vigil: Photographers and people gathering around: Google headquarters at night: Aeriel view from the building earlier in the day:…

• 
  Silicon Hutong

• It Is Not Just Toyota

  David

  8 Feb 2010 | 11:44 pm

  Jingmi Road, InboundThe Calm before the Snow0919 hrs.In an excellent piece of Wall Street Journal analysis on Toyota's mishandling of its quality recall, Jeff Kingston points out a host of problems that routinely turn otherwise outstanding Japanese companies into headlight-bedazzled deer in the face of crisis.We'd Rather Not Talk About ItKingston notices that there is something in the Japanese corporate culture that causes companies in crisis to go into communications paralysis. The real story behind the Toyota recall is that even this most admired of Japanese companies is utterly…

• Learning to Love Shanzhai Marketing

  David

  27 Jan 2010 | 11:20 pm

  Peter's Tex-MexEx-Post Hospital 1331 hrs.In my column in Media magazine in December I forswore the practice of knocking the unsophisticated way in which many Chinese companies conduct marketing. Shanzhai Marketing, I noted, was for many companies better than no marketing, and that the better and more earnest of these companies was at least building their craft in a Chinese context.As both a participant in and an observer of the marketing craft in China, part of me wants to see Chinese companies adopt world-class marketing practices before they leap overseas. At the same time, I nurture a…

• Does Geely Care About Volvo Owners?

  David

  26 Jan 2010 | 11:23 pm

  In the HutongDo Marketers Dream of Sheepvertising?1553 hrs.When I wrote in Media in October about Tengzhong acquiring Hummer, GM's suburban assault vehicle marque, I noted that in addition to the challenge of developing new vehicles and upgrading its lackluster marketing program, Tengzhong would need to completely rehabilitate a brand that had become the poster child of environmental nihilism. As we enter the home-stretch of Zhejiang Geely Holding's purchase of Volvo from the Ford Motor Company, Geely faces many of the same problems as Tengzhong, but with one more very important…

• Marketing Monday: The Prospects for Asian Brands

  David

  24 Jan 2010 | 5:31 pm

  In the HutongSitting on the heater0935 hrs.Benjamin Li starts the year off with a quick look at the prospects for Asian brands in a thought-provoking piece in Media Asia. (Tip of the Silicon hat to Casper Oppenhuis de Jong)."A major prediction this year has been that the next globally-recognized brands would come out of Asia's emerging markets, reflecting the shift in global economic power from the West. But over a year since the Western economies crashed, where are these brands?"Where indeed. Reading through my comments and those Benjamin gleaned from others in the business,…

• Holding Fire on Google vs. China

  David

  17 Jan 2010 | 8:56 pm

  In the HutongThe Semi-Sabbatical Beings1243 hrs.A lot of excellent thinking - and a lot of polemic tripe - has been written in response to Google uberkounsel David Drummond's blog post last week announcing Google's intention to stop filtering Google.cn content and possibly leave China altogether. There is much in the way of speculation and precious little in the way of information bubbling to the surface right now, and rather than simply add to the froth, I'm going to spend some time doing some homework before discussing them.In the meantime, my thoughts are with the people at…

• 
  Danwei Media

• Global Times declares victory over color revolutions

  9 Feb 2010 | 1:35 am

  Global TimesFebruary 9, 2010 Today's Chinese language Global Times (环球时报) has the results of the election in Ukraine as front page headline and story. The victory of pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovich over pro-western Yulia Tymoshenko, the hero of the 2004 "orange revolution" is greeted with delight in the headline: Model democrats don't last even six years, pro-Russian party wins election again UKRAINE'S "ORANGE REVOLUTION" COLLAPSES Links and Sources The Global Times (Chinese): Ukraine's "Orange Revolution" Collapses Tags: Global Times This article is from Danwei.org. tweet facebook…

• Send a postcard to the future

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:29 pm

  Beijing Morning PostFebruary 9, 2010 Today's Beijing Morning Post reports on a new service from Beijing Post where slow delivery is not a cause for complaint: At the Post Office, Send a Letter to the Future 15 yuan storage fee per year by He Yan / BMP Imagine, twenty years in the future, what it would feel like to receive a letter you mailed today. Beijing Post announced yesterday that it has launched a "future letter" service at nineteen post office locations in the city that will let citizens select a date several years or decades in the future for delivery to the addressee. This special…

• Tan Zuoren sentenced for report into earthquake

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:26 pm

  Reuters reports (via The New York Times): A Chinese activist who sought to document shoddy construction that he contended had contributed to deaths in China’s devastating 2008 earthquake has been sentenced to five years in prison for subversion, his lawyer said Tuesday. The charges against the activist, Tan Zuoren, had nothing directly to do with his efforts on behalf of those killed in the earthquake. Instead he was accused of inciting subversion of state power because of comments he made in e-mail messages about the crackdown on June 4, 1989, on pro-democracy demonstrators around…

• State enterprises and outward investment options

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:09 pm

  John Garnaut writes for The Age, via Sydney Morning Herald: China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are more competitive with each other and less beholden to central command than outsiders often think. But there's another web of incentives that can override those corporate interests: the private interests of officials who control them. Here's a real life micro-example of how it can work. You can imagine larger mutations of this story as Chinese government enterprises go out into the world. A close contact of mine has been getting into business with someone who I'll call Lee. Lee has two…

• Google, Disney to buy Bus Online shares?

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:20 pm

  George Chen and Melanie Lee report at Reuters: Google Inc, the world's No.1 Internet search company, which threatened to quit China last month over censorship and hacking concerns, was among investors in the Disney-led consortium, the sources said on Monday. The consortium planned to buy a stake of between 30 and 40 percent in Bus Online for more than $100 million via a purchase of old and new shares to be issued by the company in private placements, said the sources. "Disney wants to be a strategic partner not just a financial investor in Bus Online as Disney is going to do many things in…

• 
  XINHUA NEWS

• Iran informs IAEA about 20 pct uranium enrichment plan

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:28 pm

  Iran announced on Monday it has informed the IAEA about its plan to produce higher-grade uranium enrichment, provoking fresh warnings by Western countries of new sanctions.

• China's top legislator urges economic mode transformation in Shanghai

  1 Feb 2010 | 4:15 pm

  Wu Bangguo (C), chairman of the Standing ...

• Haitians' resilience faces severe test

  30 Jan 2010 | 4:28 am

  by Alexander Manda PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- ...

• Diseases on the rise, amputees long-term challenge for Haitian gov't

  30 Jan 2010 | 4:09 am

  A child sits inside a tent in a makeshift ...

• Haitian homeless in need of toilets, showers

  30 Jan 2010 | 4:06 am

  PORT AU PRINCE, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Organizers of a camp ...

• 
  EastSouthWestNorth

• Li Zhuang's Second Trial

  2 Feb 2010 | 8:00 am

  Whereas you might expect lawyer Li Zhuang to talk about freedom, democracy, human rights and rule of law in China, he said something quite unexpected.

• Chinese Reporters Jailed For Taking Bribes

  1 Feb 2010 | 8:00 am

  Interactions between local government officials and reporters to negotiate "shut-up" fees for non-coverage of mining disaster.

• The Cover-Up Of The Weixian Mining Disaster

  31 Jan 2010 | 8:00 am

  A China Youth Daily story about the mental thinking processes of local government officials who want to cover up a mining disaster.

• Those Worried Young People

  24 Jan 2010 | 8:00 am

  Interviews with the CEO's of Blogbus.com, Fanfou, BTChina and Yeeyan.com all of which were blocked in China in 2009.

• Two Deaths In Guizhou

  17 Jan 2010 | 8:00 am

  A policeman shot two farmers dead. Was it execution? Or was it self-defense? The answer depends on which newspaper you read.

• 
  Shanghaiist

• Extra! Extra! China's work in Africa, credit risk and water pollution levels

  Elaine Chow

  9 Feb 2010 | 5:30 am

  Photo from Andrew Juderajanathan A lot of China's work in Africa has been called everything from "rogue donating" that "hurts ordinary system," but there are a lot of myths and half-truths that need to be addressed before we can accurately assess what they're actually doing there. [Aidwatch] China apparently has 8,000 or so credit risks, since it holds billions of dollars in off-balance-sheet debt that would vastly undermine its 9% growth rate. [WSJ] More than 300 villagers attacked a Guangdong government building on Sunday to protest a project that would've diverted some of its water to a…

• Malone's insane burger deal: 50RMB for burger + pint

  Elaine Chow

  9 Feb 2010 | 4:30 am

  When Blue Frog moved away from its Tongren Lu location, we shed a single tear for the Jing'an district's best burger bargain. Little did we know that three months later, an even better deal would pop up... at Malone's of all places. Right now, Monday nights means that any of the 30 some burgers off the Malone's menu plus a Tiger pint is 50RMB. Considering pints normally go for around 40 there, and the burgers can be priced up to the 100s, we're finding it hard to find an excuse not to go there on Mondays. In fact, it was the thing that actually brought us back to Malone's for food for the…

• Upcoming movies: Shanghai, I Love You

  Elaine Chow

  9 Feb 2010 | 2:00 am

  Despite generally middling to low reviews for its latest film, the team behind New York, I Love You and Paris Je t'aime is now allegedly bringing its romantic short story collection making antics to Shanghai. Shanghai, I Love You (maybe Shanghai, wo ai ni?) will supposedly start shooting in October and details will be announced around April, says City Weekend. We're curious about the love stories they'll feature - and desperately hoping this one will be closer in kind to Paris than New York.

• Presented By:

  9 Feb 2010 | 2:00 am

• Cinematheque: Going berserk in Las Vegas (and other film news)

  Kirsti Jönson

  9 Feb 2010 | 1:00 am

  Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - the film version of legendary journalist Hunter S. Thompson´s novel. If Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas isn't checked off your list of classic must-see movies, Vienna Café will help you sort this out on Thursday! Johnny Depp styled to the point of impossibility of recognition, an immensely decadent ride through Las Vegas casinos and hotel rooms, one of the most vivid depictions of a psychedelic drug rush and in the same time a crucial part of journalistic history. Legendary reporter Hunter S. Thompson made the journey that became a book that became a movie...

• 
  Imagethief

• Two posts you won't read

  will

  7 Feb 2010 | 1:02 am

  Imagethief spent the weekend writing two posts about current PR issues (well, one of them was only relatively current). However, after some reflection I've decided to kill them both. While they don't touch directly on work I or my firm is doing in China, they're both close enough to some areas we are involved in that I felt they risked violating my prohibition on writing about my firm's clients in this blog.So why mention this here, other than burnishing my halo and reassuring my boss that I still think about these things?Because I know I've been pretty scarce following the big Google post of…

• A bad case of giant sign gremlins

  will

  7 Feb 2010 | 12:57 am

  Honestly, sometimes I think this country is a giant juggernaut that simply can't be stopped, and other times, well, to keep things polite, I don't. Yesterday I moaned about the giant sign going up outside my apartment windows. Today, the fates have delivered me some manner of rough justice. After a displaying an obviously tortured attempt at "111" for most of the day, and then a series of random patterns, this is all that is left of the giant countdown display: Yes, there is still one tiny, little patch of red at the very lower left of the sign. Pardon the poor quality of the photo, it's…

• Imagine my joy at this...

  will

  6 Feb 2010 | 1:48 am

  A few days ago, on the construction site across the main boulevard from where I live, a set of huge characters went up, exhorting the workers to "close the gap, finish the building". OK, twenty-foot characters seemed a bit excessive, but exhortations hung on the side of construction sites are pretty common in this town.Then it turned out that the characters lit up at night. Great. Two rows of twenty foot, illuminated characters pointed more or less straight at our bedroom and living room windows.And then they hung an enormous screen in a conspicuous gap in the characters, and this is the…

• Clearing the fog around Google China reports

  will

  15 Jan 2010 | 2:49 am

  A quick pointer to an excellent post at the Wall Street Journal's China Real Time blog, which busts several myths concerning Google in China that have been widely repeated in the past few days, including those concerning the health of Google's business in China, whether or not they already uncensored search results here, and more. From Beijing-based correspondent Sky Canaves (@skycita), showing once again that, if you want to know what's going on in China, talk to someone who's here. 

• Google detonates the China corporate communications script

  will

  12 Jan 2010 | 6:31 pm

  Imagethief stumbled blearily to his computer this morning expecting a relaxed scan of the news but found the Chinese Twittersphere ablaze with the news of Google's bombshell blog post, which went up in the middle of the night early this morning our time. Titled "A new approach to China", the post, by Google's Senior Vice President for Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond, was essentially a public threat to withdraw from China. As such, it was as direct a challenge to the Chinese authorities as I have ever seen in a piece of public corporate communication. The first…

• 
  China Law Blog

• Clean Energy Trade Mission To China. May 15-25.

  8 Feb 2010 | 2:28 pm

  US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke will be leading a clean energy business development mission to China from May 15 to May 21 (h/t AmCham China News). According to the Department of Commerce's website regarding this trip, the cost will be as follows: After a company has been selected to participate on the mission, a payment to the Department of Commerce in the form of a participation fee is required. Large Companies Principal Participant fee: $10,000.00 Small & Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Principal Participant fee: $8,500.00 Additional firm representative (both Large companies & SMEs):…

• On The Deeper Meaning Of China And International Lawyers. And The Training Required.

  8 Feb 2010 | 4:28 am

  I hate it when I have to get all philosophical, but since China Tax Insights has thrown down the gauntlet, I feel I must. What is an international lawyer and what exactly do international lawyers do and what exactly should international lawyers do. Please bear with me here as I swear this post is going to be very relevant to more than just navel gazers and lawyers. Here goes. Matthew McKee over at China Tax Insights did a post, entitled, "What is an International Tax Lawyer?" His post was actually a riff on a post I did about a year ago where I stated the following about international tax:…

• China Product Quality. What It's Gonna Take.

  7 Feb 2010 | 10:28 am

  Every so often a US start-up company will contact me with a plan to manufacture in China that involves the Chinese manufacturer producing at a reduced rate until the product can really get off the ground. My response to those plans is always the same: I am not going to tell you that what you are proposing is impossible, because for all I know, it may be possible. But I am going to tell you that I have never heard of a Chinese manufacturer agreeing to such an arrangement with a start-up company and based on what I know of how Chinese manufacturers are structured and how they typically conduct…

• Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Travelling To China. Well Almost.

  7 Feb 2010 | 7:48 am

  I know some countries will not allow entry to people whose passports are within six months of expiring. I know this because it once happened to me, but I cannot remember whether it was Korea or China, or maybe some place else. It was no big deal at the time because I learned of the six month rule before I left the United States and I was able to renew my passport in plenty of time. Today though I was checking to see if China has the six month rule and my Google search first led me to this excellent and fairly comprehensive US State Department site on travel to China. This site is chock full…

• On Not "Antagonizing" China. Or How Many Enemies Does The US Need?

  6 Feb 2010 | 4:48 pm

  Every once in a while, I get an email accusing me of costing Americans their jobs and going on and on about how China is terrible and anyone who has anything to do with China is terrible, presumably including me. I usually respond by talking about how China is a reality and how countries should be judged not only on where they are now, but also on where they came from and where they are going, and on how under those criteria, there are plenty of countries far far worse with whom the United States deals every day. I will then usually link over to the most recent story of US ally Saudi Arabia…

• 
  RConversation

• Events on Google, China and Internet freedom - two videos

  Rebecca MacKinnon

  4 Feb 2010 | 10:11 am

  After Hillary Clinton's Internet Freedom speech on January 21st, I participated in a follow-up panel discussion. While the panel video does not appear to have been posted on the State Dept. website, somebody has pointed out that it was posted here on CNet. (UPDATE: Thanks to Graham for pointing out it's on the State Dept. YouTube channel.) While I'm at it, here is the video of a panel discussion held at the New America Foundation the day before:

• Clinton speaks on Internet freedom

  Rebecca MacKinnon

  21 Jan 2010 | 3:58 pm

  The cartoonist-blogger "Guaiguai" posted this photoshopped picture to express his feelings about Secretary Clinton's Internet freedom speech. He titled it: "Hillary leads the people."It appears that quite a lot of people in China watched the live video stream. The links to the text, video, and an ad-hoc Chinese translation - published through Google Docs, no less - are also circulating widely.Beijing is 12 hours ahead of Washignton and people are just getting up over there. Once more people have had time to read, watch and react, it will be interesting indeed to see…

• How not to save the Internet...

  Rebecca MacKinnon

  19 Jan 2010 | 4:23 pm

  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to give a big speech about Internet freedom on Thursday. People are calling on her to speak loudly against Chinese censorship and stand firm for free speech on the Chinese Internet - and elsewhere like Iran. I've been invited to attend and I'm also going to be on a post-game analysis panel.  But before the fun and games begin, I might as well add my two cents to the suggestion pile. The wrong message for Clinton to give on Thursday would be something to the effect of: "Never fear, netizens of China, America is here to free…

• Google, China, and the future of freedom on the global Internet

  Rebecca MacKinnon

  17 Jan 2010 | 4:34 am

  Maybe it's because I was schooled in political science, not computer science. But frankly I've been surprised by the extent to which some respected commentators have focused on trashing Google for lacking purity of motive. As if that were some kind of brilliant revelation. Of course Google's actions are motivated by self-interest. Self-interest is a complicated thing, and isn't only financial. I personally know quite a number of Googlers working in various locations around the world, some at fairly high levels. I get the sense that the emotional well-being of Google's…

• Google puts its foot down.

  Rebecca MacKinnon

  12 Jan 2010 | 10:19 pm

  This is a picture of people laying flowers and making a traditional bow of mourning in front of the Google sign outside Google's Beijing headquarters. Google's announcement that it will "review" its business operations in China and is no longer willing to censor its Chinese search engine, Google.cn, is generating a range of reaction in China. Conversation over at the #googlecn hashtag on Twitter - created shortly after the announcement - has been raging fast and furious. The Chinese Twittersphere - comprised exclusively of people who are tech savvy enough to know how to…

• 
  All Roads Lead to China

• Labor Compliance in China. Did Anyone Learn Anything from Nike?

  Rich

  5 Feb 2010 | 6:23 pm

  Over the last few weeks, I have been spedning a lot of timethings about the risks of China.  More specifically the risks that either are not thought through, are thought to be too low to consider, or are believed to be removed by a third party relationship.  It is a sitution that, as the interview below will show, is almost systematic in the outsourced manufacturing game, and was highlighted by the recent strike at one of Apple’s Suzhou based suppliers two weeks. It was a strike that particularly frustrated me because Apple has had 3 or 4 other incidents in the past two years, and had…

• Is The “China Dream” Real? Or Did Western Businesses Get Suckered?

  Rich

  24 Jan 2010 | 7:16 am

  A lot of conversation over the last few weeks about what China is for many firms. and what it is not. It is a conversation that, while recently catalyzed by Google’s announcement that they were looking at pulling the plug, is a conversation that I would say is had on a basis that is more frequent than many would like to admit to at time. Typically preceded by an event of some sort, commercial or political, and can be defensive, self defeating, or well analysed depending on the person, and one of the more interesting analysis I have seen lately comes from James McGregor in his recent…

• Can Hipster Youth Reinvigorate Bike Culture in China?

  Rich

  22 Jan 2010 | 12:42 am

  Guest Post from John Solomon, Director of enoVate The fixed gear bike movement has hit the streets of China. Just three years ago, you could count the number of fixed gear bikes here on your fingers (and maybe toes). But spend an afternoon strolling Shanghai’s French Concession, and your sure to see various youth — Chinese and Foreign — riding fixies. What’s more, this movement is not limited to the Big Two (Shanghai and Beijing). Tyler Bowa, founder of People’s Bike, states China’s biggest fixed gear scenes are actually in Shenzhen and Dalian, where 7…

• Apple’s Recent Strike in Suzhou is Sign of Continued Bad Labor and CSR Practices in China

  Rich

  20 Jan 2010 | 11:53 pm

  This afternoon I was asked by someone why I am involved in CSR and sustainability.  It is a question that I seem to asked frequently, but one that I am not sure I ever answer with any measure of clarity as I have worked in a very wide range of issues related to these big topics, and my interests for each issue hit me in different spots. But, if there is one common thread that I feel binds each of the issues I work on (see a recent list of 35 projects I am managing through my class at CEIBS), it is that of responsibility… or the lack there of. That, regardless of the issue under the…

• Exports May Be Down, But China is STILL Short on Energy.

  Rich

  20 Jan 2010 | 6:48 am

  In what may be the biggest sign of the problems that China’s energy infrastructure faces, a recent Alibaba article China’s spreading power shortage by province listed out the provinces that are going through shortages (Henan, Hubei, Chongqing, Zhejiang, Shandong, Shanxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou), and by how much (5-20% short), and it is clear that something is gonna give.  and soon. Go back 2 years when China was hit by a blizzard the knocked out many of China’s North to South rail lines, which resulted in 17 provinces losing power, and fast forward to today (in a time where…

• 
  China Herald

• Internet crackdown caused by more freedoms - Jeremy Goldkorn

  Fons Tuinstra

  8 Feb 2010 | 1:49 am

  Jeremy Goldkorn by Fantake via FlickrGetting it right when it concerns China and the internet is not easy, but media-watcher Jeremy Goldkorn of Danwei gives it a good shot. Yes, there are unprecedented constraints on the internet in China, but they were triggered of when the close to 400 million internet users in the country took equally unprecedented freedom, he tells Sfgate.  "In the last year ... the liberal elements, the forces for change on the Internet have become more vocal and better at using tools like Twitter than they ever were," said Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of…

• More reasons why China will not collapse - Shaun Rein

  Fons Tuinstra

  4 Feb 2010 | 12:49 am

  Shaun Rein by Fantake via FlickrThe story that China will collapse sells books and magazines, but according to Shaun Rein the bubble in the real estate is not going to be that trigger. In Forbes he tells why some of the doomsday sayers are wrong:Why? Because China's underground economy is far bigger than the 10% to 20% of the total economy that most economists estimate when they do their calculations. Politically the government can't admit that. A decade ago the U.S. Treasury estimated that 50% of Russia's economy stayed underground, evading onerous taxes. China's underground economy as a…

• 'A Changing China' now available

  Fons Tuinstra

  3 Feb 2010 | 12:20 am

  The book 'A Changing China', written by a selection of the speakers at the China Speakers Bureau is now available for purchase. Not yet in a bookstore nearby, but most certainly at Amazon. In the book more than a dozen China veterans tell how they have seen China change. With contributions of Kaiser Kuo, Shaun Rein, Janet Carmosky, Zhang Lijia and many others. A historical overview from many different angles.

• Zhang Lijia, touring Europe

  Fons Tuinstra

  31 Jan 2010 | 4:50 am

  Image by Fantake via FlickrBest-selling author Zhang Lijia of the book "Socialism Is Great!": A Worker's Memoir of the New China has been touring Europe, including Italy, France and the first reports on her book tour are coming in. Here Zhang Lijia is in Milan, explaining Italian media how China is changing, how it needs stability for the entrepreneurial drive to flourish.CommercialZhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.Related articles by ZemantaMost-sought speakers for December 2009: (chinaherald.net)Tips on…

• Protectionism in China not rising - Shaun Rein

  Fons Tuinstra

  28 Jan 2010 | 2:02 am

  Image by Getty Images via DaylifeGoogle threatened to leave China, Goldman Sachs is having its own affair with a state-owned company and the European Chamber of Commerce in China challenged in September the country's trade barriers. Is protectionism rising in China, wonders Shaun Rein in his latest column in Forbes. While acknowledging some of the problems, Rein asks for a reality check:Is the situation really that bad? Overall, China's economy remains fairly open for most sectors. The government fears that a trade war could collapse the export sector and is going out of its way to be more…

• 
  China Web Radar

• Announcing ChinaMode Winners

  Tangos

  2 Feb 2010 | 6:41 am

  After two weeks of public vote, ChinaMode Awards 2009 have received 121446 votes. We are now happy to announce the winners of the first ChinaMode Awards in each 7 categories. Best Internet Applications: Taobao, Google, Baidu; Best User-Experience Applications: Google Chinese search service, Sogou Pinyin Chinese Input Method, Alipay; Most Promising Applications: Google Music, Sina Microblogging, Douban FM; Best Mobile Applications: Mobile QQ, UCWeb, Fetion; Best Overseas Internet Applications: Twitter, GMail, Youtube; (a detailed analysis on this results on Mobinode） Tech Person of the Year:…

• Douban Raised $10M in Series B

  Tangos

  25 Jan 2010 | 6:54 am

  Douban, a symbol of web 2.0 services in China, announced its $10 million series B financing today. The new round is led by Trustbridge Partners, and co-invested by its existing investor Ceyuan Ventures, who invested in $2 million in 2006. Douban started from a social networking sites for book lovers, movie lovers and music lovers in 2005, when hype of web 2.0 just began. When people talked about web 2.0 in China, they will talk Douban. Since its inception, Douban is always one of my most favoriate Chinese websites, and I’m also an active user of Douban. Douban’s newest major…

• [Event] Third Digital Future Symposium Beijing

  Tangos

  21 Jan 2010 | 6:36 am

  The post is to introduce an event which our readers might be interested in. The post is drafted by the event organizer. The Digital Future Symposium (DFS) is a highly successful event first launched in 2007 by the CENTRE FOR CONTENT PROTECTION (CCP). It has conducted successful events in Japan, Singapore, India and Malaysia. Every year, it attracts hundreds of key industry players in the field of content distribution and content protection. Established in 2007, CCP is a consortium committed to shaping Asia Pacific’s digital future through innovative technologies that provide secure ways…

• 5 Predictions for China Social Games in 2010

  Tangos

  14 Jan 2010 | 3:22 am

  （This is a guest post by Kai Lukoff. Kai Lukoff is an analyst at BloggerInsight and an editor on China Social Games. Follow Kai on Twitter @klukoff. You can find more information on China Social Game at the end of this post. ) The social game market is still in its infancy, but growing up fast. The first smash hits, Friends for Sale! Parking Wars, and Happy Farm are just over a year old in China. Here are 5 predictions for 2010: 1. Social Games Displace Web Games Social games are reaching unprecedented demographics, including females and middle-aged users. These users are open to casual…

• Four Years of Google In China

  Tangos

  13 Jan 2010 | 7:49 pm

  No matter Google will finally withdraw all business from China or not, I think it is time to review Google’s four-year operations in China. So I made the following list, if I omitted anything important or made any mistake, feel free to leave your comments. July 19, 2005, Kaifu Lee joined Google, which was also a big thing in tech sector at that time January 26, 2006, Google launched Google.cn in China, which filtered search results to obey China’s law and regulations March 2, 2006, Tencent launched its search engine service Soso.com, which was powered by Google’s technology.

• 
  ChinaTechNews.com

• McAfee Issues Internet Security Report As China Closes Hacker Gang

  ChinaTechNews.com Editor

  9 Feb 2010 | 3:39 am

  McAfee's "Q4 Threats Report", issued today, shows that China is not the sole origin formore....

• China Anti-Malware Alliance Set Up In Tianjin

  ChinaTechNews.com Editor

  8 Feb 2010 | 2:00 pm

  Initiated by China's National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center, the China Anti-Malware Alliance has beenmore....

• Top 5 Chinese Technology Trends For The Year Of The Tiger

  ChinaTechNews.com Editor

  7 Feb 2010 | 3:30 pm

  Another Chinese New Year is upon us, and this year we transition into the Yearmore....

• Chinese TD-SCDMA Alliance Welcomes Foreign Members For The First Time

  ChinaTechNews.com Editor

  7 Feb 2010 | 11:02 am

  During the recent "TD-SCDMA Innovation Festival", Lv Yan, CEO and president of Lenovo Mobile andmore....

• China's UUCall Reopens Under Overseas Domain

  ChinaTechNews.com Editor

  7 Feb 2010 | 11:01 am

  According to reports in local media, the domain name system of China's leading VoIP servicemore....

• 
  Hao Hao Report

• "Road to Heaven": the killing training course of the taiwanes marines

  cinaoggi

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:25 pm

  Taiwanese recruits have just finished their test. Young soldiers must end the "Road to Heaven" before becoming qualified marines.

• China sentences quake activist to 5 years' jail

  wdbox

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:42 pm

  A Chinese court Tuesday sentenced an activist who investigated the deaths of thousands of schoolchildren in the country's massive 2008 earthquake to five years in jail for inciting subversion of state power, the man's lawyer said. Attorney Pu Zhiqiang said activist Tan Zuoren was convicted of the charge Tuesday by the Chengdu Intermediate Court. read more

• US panel examines Kingdom’s China ties

  Heiney

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:17 pm

  EXPERTS testifying before a US government panel on Thursday described China’s relationship with Cambodia as part of a broader effort to deepen its influence in mainland Southeast Asia, and cited the December deportation of 20 Uighur asylum seekers – which came two days before the two countries signed aid agreements worth US$1.2 billion – as proof that the effort was working.

• Chinese spy gets more than 15 years in prison

  Heiney

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:13 pm

  A Chinese-born engineer convicted in the United States' first economic espionage trial was sentenced Monday to more than 15 years in prison for stealing sensitive information on the U.S. space program with the intent of passing it to China.

• Sotheby’s sues Chinese buyers for ‘non-payment’

  Heiney

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:46 pm

  Sotheby’s is suing two mainland Chinese buyers for HK$2.1m ($270,000) in Hong Kong after they allegedly failed to pay for five Chinese paintings and an antique incense burner that they won at auctions last October. read more

• 
  China Digital Times (CDT)

• Photo: Winter swimming in Beijing, by Zhao Hua Xi Shi

  Sophie Beach

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:15 pm

  Winter swimming in Beijing, by Zhao Hua Xi Shi© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

• China CIC to Manage More of its Funds in House

  Sophie Beach

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:55 pm

  Reuters reports on the China Investment Corp, the $300 billion sovereign wealth fund: Lou Jiwei, the chairman of CIC, said the fund would steadily accelerate its overseas investments in 2010, the China Securities Journal reported, citing an article he published on Monday. It did not say where the article appeared.“As of now, most of CIC’s overseas funds are managed by outside portfolio managers, but we will gradually increase in-house investment in more efficient developed markets in the future,” the newspaper paraphrased Lou as saying.His comments follow a regulatory filing…

• China May Ban Dog Meat from Menus

  Sophie Beach

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:30 pm

  Al Jazeera reports on the proposed ban on eating dog meat:The Chinese government is considering taking meat from pet animals off menus across the country, raising concerns among dog farmers who have relied on the industry for generations.The draft proposal to ban dog and cat meat has drawn an angry outcry from regions where the dish is popular.Opponents say the ban would destroy local culinary traditions.© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: dog meat, food Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

• Chinese-born Engineer Gets 15 Years in Spying for China

  Sophie Beach

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:54 pm

  The Los Angeles Times reports on the sentencing of a Chinese-born aerospace engineer who worked in Southern California on charges of spying for China: U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney in Santa Ana imposed a 188-month prison term on Dongfan “Greg” Chung, 73, a naturalized U.S. citizen who lives in Orange.Carney declared that he could not “put a price tag” on national security and sought to send a signal to China to “stop sending your spies here,” according to the U.S. attorney’s office.Chung, who worked at Boeing’s Huntington Beach plant,…

• China Sentences Quake Activist to 5 Years’ Jail

  Sophie Beach

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:30 pm

  Activist Tan Zuoren, who had been investigating the deaths of schoolchildren in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, has been sentenced to five years in prison after being tried in August. From AP: Attorney Pu Zhiqiang said activist Tan Zuoren was convicted of the charge Tuesday by the Chengdu Intermediate Court. Tan’s trial in August had concluded with no ruling, while police detained and threatened the man’s supporters.Tan’s supporters say they believe the authorities were trying to silence him for his investigation into the collapse of schools in the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that…

• 
  Zhongnanhai Blog

• Shanghai metro hires people to shove commuters into trains

  4 Feb 2010 | 8:30 pm

  The China Daily says: SHANGHAI: Ever since the 37.5-km Shanghai subway line was opened two years ago, the only real problem commuters complain about is overcrowding. So much so that subway stations have now started hiring people to shove passengers into coaches.Read more at the link.

• The Chinese 'get it' on climate change

  2 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am

  The American Thinker blog comments:The blogsite IceCap includes a fascinating article by a Mr. Li Xing published in China Daily under the headline "Do three errors mean breaking point for IPCC?".  Mr. Li recounts his attendance at the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.  He writes of attending a panel featuring various skeptics concerning work done by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He came away particularly impressed by a talk given by Dr Fred Singer, atmospheric physicist and founding director of the US Weather Satellite Service,…

• Don't Panic About China

  29 Jan 2010 | 5:00 pm

  Robert Kaplan writes in the Atlantic: China is unnerving a lot of people. Its hackers have been launching cyber-attacks on companies, institutions, and web sites. It is refusing to be a responsible stakeholder in the international political system, cultivating, as it has been, good relations with some of the world’s most odious regimes. And, as I have been reporting for several years now, its military—particularly its navy—has been growing by leaps and bounds. Should we be worried about China? We should be concerned, but not hysterical.Read more at the link.

• Did Western Businesses Get Suckered?

  24 Jan 2010 | 8:00 pm

  Richard Burbaker writes: A lot of conversation over the last few weeks about what China is for many firms. and what it is not. It is a conversation that, while recently catalyzed by Google’s announcement that they were looking at pulling the plug, is a conversation that I would say is had on a basis that is more frequent than many would like to admit to at time. Typically preceded by an event of some sort, commercial or political, and can be defensive, self defeating, or well analysed depending on the person, and one of the more interesting analysis I have seen lately comes from James…

• East Asian Pollution Driving Western North America Ozone

  21 Jan 2010 | 4:00 pm

  FuturePundit says: The planet is so small and Asian economic development so big that the north American west coast ozone surges from Asian pollution. Too many people industrializing and too much dirty energy technology. Springtime ozone levels above western North America are rising primarily due to air flowing eastward from the Pacific Ocean, a trend that is largest when the air originates in Asia. These increases in ozone could make it more difficult for the United States to meet Clean Air Act standards for ozone pollution at ground level, according to a new international study. Published…

• 
  Sinosplice » Life

• The new Sinosplice Design is up!

  I’d like to say thanks again to Ryan of Dao by Design for all his hard work in this Sinosplice redesign. Much of the work that went into the new site was “under the hood,” as Ryan worked out ways for me to move my “WordPress + static file hybrid” site into a modern, fully CMS-managed website. Now I can do everything (all sorts of updates) through the WordPress admin panel, which is enormously convenient. Furthermore, Ryan was…

• Website Upgrade in Progress

  Comments are now temporarily suspended on all blog posts as I prepare to move Sinosplice completely off DreamHost and onto WebFaction, my new host [more info]. On the new host Sinosplice will be sporting a new look (although much will remain the same… especially for you RSS readers!). Still simple and minimalist, but more professional and up-to-date, executed by Ryan of Dao By Design, the China blogosphere’s designer of choice. Ryan and…

• The 3-2 Tone Swap Error

  This post identifies a type of tonal production error which many students of Mandarin Chinese make, not only in the beginner and elementary stages, but often well into the intermediate stage. While neither years of personal observation nor the multiple appearances in the audio data for my master’s thesis experiment constitute definitive evidence, it’s my belief that the phenomenon is real, and examining it can yield useful results for both students and teachers of Mandarin Chinese. I’m dubbing the error…

• A Peek at Shanghai's Suzhou Creek Art District

  I’ve recently made two trips to Shanghai’s Suzhou Creek Art District (more info). It’s in the Moganshan Road area (Google map), and it’s probably easiest reached by taking the subway (Line 1) to the Shanghai Train Station, then Changshou Road west over Suzhou Creek, then making a right, following the creek north. The road there deadends into a complex of buildings which make up the art district. You’ll see a bunch of graffiti as you head…

• Hongbao Fantasy

  I originally found this video introduced by a Chinese friend on Kaixin Wang as “a Chinese film way more fantastic than Avatar”: Transcript for the students: 老师：你的孩子又考了全班第一。 家长：谢谢谢谢。（递红包） 老师：你在伤害我。 医生：好了，病人终于脱离危险了。 家属：谢谢谢谢。（递红包） 医生：你在侮辱我。 官员：你的审批手续全办好了。 商人：谢谢谢谢。（递红包） 官员：你在藐视我。 警官：恭喜你啊，考试通过了。 司机：谢谢谢谢。（递红包）…

• 
  China IWOM Blog- Making Sense of the Buzz

• IWOM Mark 20100203 Vol.17

  CIC

  5 Feb 2010 | 12:26 am

  About IWOM mark: IWOM mark is a column on the Seeisee Chinese blog. Every week, our marketing team puts the hottest news/happenings from the IWOM industry, net culture or brands.  We launched it October and have received good feedback from the Chinese language Internet Community. The Chinese column version publishes every Wednesday, aiming to provide a quick overview and guide for Social media managers and industry friends. We also publish this on our IWOM blog on Sohu. If any suggestions, send a mail to info@cicdata.com Below are some snippet translations of this past week’s IWOM mark.

• EXPOSAY: Making sense of World Expo buzz with CIC + Ogilvy PR

  Sam

  4 Feb 2010 | 8:20 pm

  Exposay: Shanghai Expo tickets are the focus of inense buzz in China’s Social Media (Edition_1 201002) View more documents from CIC . We are pretty psyched about the new “ExpoSay” white paper we released with Ogilvy Public Relations yesterday which covers all the buzz around the upcoming World Expo 2010 Shanghai. The first of a monthly series. this report found 128,854 Expo-related comments taken from 13,994 blogs, BBS, news and SNS sites in the Chinese Internet space for the month December. The hottest discussed topics included tickets, sponsors, pavilions, countries and cities.

• IWOM watch December: Sina microblog beats out traditional media to report news first

  CIC

  1 Feb 2010 | 11:12 pm

  IWOM watch summary:  Following the opening of United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on Dec.7th 2009, a new awareness ‘green’, also called low-carbon life was generated. In this issue, we took a look at how netizens discussed environmental protection and contributed ideas spontaneously. We also monitored the reaction of a recent subway accident in which social media played an important role. The popularity of “I love Shanghai” icons show us that netizens also have their own local culture expressed on the Internet Community. In addition, we looked at the Youku…

• IWOM Mark 20100127 Vol.16

  CIC

  29 Jan 2010 | 3:31 am

  About IWOM mark: IWOM mark is a column on the Seeisee Chinese blog. Every week, our marketing team puts the hottest news/happenings from the IWOM industry, net culture or brands.  We launched it October and have received good feedback from the Chinese language Internet Community. The Chinese column version publishes every Wednesday, aiming to provide a quick overview and guide for Social media managers and industry friends. We also publish this on our IWOM blog on Sohu. If any suggestions, send a mail to info@cicdata.com Below are some snippet translations of this past week’s IWOM mark.

• Video: What China marketing leaders have to say about Chinese social media (updated January 25, 2010)

  Sam

  24 Jan 2010 | 10:46 pm

  Since 2008, I have been interviewing China marketing thought leaders about social media since early 2008 for my regular show Interactive China for ITV-Asia. I am fortunate to have a network of such smart, informed people. This article serves as an archive of these interviews and will be updated as we have new ones. Seth Grossman, Managing Director, Carat China  November 2009 (Link) Seth talks about social media from the media agency perspective, including the concept of earned, owned and bought media. Seth has been working in the China agency space since the mid 1990’s. Jake Drake,…

• 
  China Esquire

• techsoup looking for deferred 2010 first year associates from biglaw

  Thomas Chow

  29 Jan 2010 | 1:18 pm

  Yes, it’s that time of the year again.  TechSoup Global (“TSG”), where I work, is actually looking to add a couple of Staff Attorney Fellows this year.  Above the Law and other news outlets have been covering the news for 2010 law school graduates, and it looks a lot like 2009: deferred start dates and stipends of $60,000 to $75,000 to volunteer at a public interest organization. Our selling point: how many non-profit orgs can offer you a chance to work on cutting edge international legal issues, in-house counsel corporate style experience, and a good environment in a…

• xin nian kuai le (happy new year!)

  Thomas Chow

  1 Jan 2010 | 4:15 am

  I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year in 2010! May this year prove to be exciting and joyful for all of you. (especially for my regular readers!) And here’s to hoping that readership at China Esquire: Law and Business Blog will continue to grow in the coming year. I want to become more active again, though it’s difficult with Baby China Esquire around–and either way, I don’t think I can match the rapid pace of my blogging activity in 2008. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. Best wishes to you and your family & friends in 2010!

• examining china’s expert defense of the uk execution

  Thomas Chow

  30 Dec 2009 | 2:31 am

  Looks like Xinhua published its defense of the execution of a British mentally ill man in an article entitled “Experts defend China’s execution of British drug smuggler”. I’m actually glad they did–it makes it a lot easier to dissect. And for the poor professors (Mingliang Wang and Jinzhan Xue), I’m sorry, you lose and that’s just how the game is played. Again, caveat: I normally don’t just go into attack mode like this anymore. (I don’t litigate on a regular basis anymore and I try to turn off this gear that’s internal to my brain)…

• execution of mentally ill man is two steps back for china

  Thomas Chow

  29 Dec 2009 | 1:56 am

  CNN just published an article, “China executes British citizen for drug smuggling”. I normally don’t try to weigh in and blatantly criticize the Chinese justice system despite certain corrupt documented incidents and obvious issues because it’s been improving over the years, and I have been hopeful that the rule of law has a chance to survive there. I am, however, severely disturbed about the recent execution of the mentally ill British man when there were obvious due process issues, despite The Global Times insisting that “the trial process was extremely…

• a belated merry christmas to all

  Thomas Chow

  26 Dec 2009 | 12:57 pm

  Yes, a little late, but I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas. (Sheng Dan Kuai Le) We just got back from Macau/Hong Kong a few days ago and remain very badly jetlagged. Baby China Esquire still doesn’t want to sleep at a bedtime in any U.S. timezone, making our holidays this year a little different. Still, just wanted to wish everyone the best this holiday season and looking forward to 2010.

• 
  The Mobinode

• MOBINODE Is In Paris For Forum NetExplorateur 2010

  Gang Lu

  3 Feb 2010 | 8:38 am

  Landed at 5am this morning, still feel a little bit jet-lag, I am happy to say, MOBINODE is now in Paris and if you want to meet China web, please just give me a shout (gang.lu at mobinode.com or tweet @ganglu). Last year, I was also in NetExplorateur 09 and moderated the panel “The Ubiquitous Society – Towards a Hyperconnected World” which featured Korean web. This year, it is great to see some Chinese face showing up, such as the entrepreneur, Henry Han (Co-founder, China Netcom , CEO, VivaMe) who will talk about “The future of Mobile Service in China“, and Tao…

• 2009 ChinaMode Report (Part I) – Twitter Voted Most Recognized International Service in China

  Gang Lu

  31 Jan 2010 | 10:16 am

  [Background: ChinaMode Awards 2009, initiated and operated by the 14 most influential Chinese tech bloggers, including: Appin, Williamlong, Web20share, Kenengba, Jandan, MobiNode, Webleon, Showeb20, Vista2.o, Yunkeji, Riku, Herock, China Web2.0 Review and MobiNode.TV, is the first open and independent award focus on Chinese web industry. The open nomination started at 15th Dec 2009 and closed at 2nd Jan 2010; with the supervision of local and international experts, 10 candidates in 7 categories each are open for public vote started at 11st Jan 2010 and closed at 25th Jan 2010. Please read the…

• Yahoo China, Might Be The Next To Say Goodbye

  Gang Lu

  17 Jan 2010 | 8:01 pm

  Google is thinking of leaving China, but it might not be the first or only one planning on this. Different resources told us lately, they suspected another famous international brand, Yahoo! is going to stop Yahoo China’s locally operating too. Five-Year Contract? In August 2005, Yahoo! announced that it purchased a 40% stake in Alibaba Group for US$1bn plus Yahoo!’s Chinese assets. Alibaba Group then took charge of China Yahoo!, and Alibaba Group’s founder Jack Ma remained in charge of Alibaba Group. This is the official annoucement everyone knows, but there might be one…

• P1 Wants To Be The Highest Quality Social Network in China

  Gang Lu

  12 Jan 2010 | 1:32 am

  Probably only a very few people expected the amazing growth of Kaixin001 at the beginning of 2009. Now 2010 is here, can you predict any startup will rock the China web? An angle investor I know was in touch with a new SNS which I thought has some innovative ideas implemented. But he finally said No to the founder a day before the contract day because a famous veteran told him investing social networks is wasting the money. Well, yes and no. Most likely, we would see more expansion of existing social networks or rising of mobile SNSs, and would not see another lucky one like Kaixin001 simply…

• Chinese Online Video Sharing, Where Is The Way Out?

  Gang Lu

  28 Dec 2009 | 7:33 pm

  In the VC panel of Paypal X China event a few days ago, we were discussing the monetization of web service with four famous VC panelists from Qiming, Gobi, RedPoint and Lightspeed. As the moderator I threw the question to four VCs: How do you think of Chinese online video-sharing market? Some are optimistic, some are a bit not. Looking back this market in 2009, a completely different story compared with several years ago when +200 similar sites co-existed. Acquisition – the happy ending You have to say sometime it’s better not to be the No.1. Ku6, the leading video-sharing site…

• 
  Onemanbandwidth

• Cooperation and adaptation – a solution to central-south Asian water woes?

  9 Feb 2010 | 6:10 am

  In some Asian countries clean water is an increasingly scarce and politically charged resource – and climate change will only make things worse. Pakistan and India, both reliant on the shared waters of Indus River for irrigation and hydroelectric power, face problems including floods, water shortages, chronically high levels of unsafe drinking water as well as conflicts between and within both nations. The countries of the Amu Darya basin – Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmen...

• Yellowtail in a whole mess of trouble

  9 Feb 2010 | 4:45 am

  Yellowtail wines is an Australian export phenomenon which, in a short period of time, has become the most popular brand imported into the United States. It now accounts for more than 15 per cent of Australia’s multi-billion dollar export wine industry. ...

• Thanong: It is treason to set up a people's army

  9 Feb 2010 | 4:00 am

  Thanong, of you know which publication, states in reference to the statement by Gen. Panlop, now aligned with the red shirt's, on the setting up of a people's army: The People's Army sounds like an overlapping army with the Royal Thai Army. Setting up the People's Army amounts to treason. BP: Really? In November 2008, the ...

• Nintendo pirate to pay huge damages

  9 Feb 2010 | 1:09 am

  New Super Mario Bros, a $100 Nintendo game, has cost a game pirate dearly: A Queensland man will have to pay Nintendo $1.5 million in damages after illegally copying and uploading one of its new games to the internet ahead of its release, the gaming giant says.James Burt, 24, of Sinnamon Park in Queensland will pay Nintendo $1.5 million after an out-of-c...

• Ford flexes its American muscle

  9 Feb 2010 | 12:53 am

  The Shelby GT 500 Mustang, already a testosterone-drenched, kick-ass car, looks to be even better in 2011, with a more powerful yet lighter engine. There is no substitute for cubic inches....

• 
  China Environmental News Digest

• 2 Feb 2010 | 10:10 pm

  2 Feb 2010 | 10:10 pm

  The international expansion of Chinese dam builders Select ratingPoorOkayGoodGreatAwesome Jacqui Dixon CSR Adia Wednesday, January 13, 2010 Historically, Western countries have provided the technology for the bulk of China's hydropower dams. The first turbines to be installed on a river in China was under the Qing Dynasty in 1909, by German company Siemens.

• 26 Jan 2010 | 10:13 pm

  26 Jan 2010 | 10:13 pm

  January 27, 2010 On New Environmental Scoreboard, U.S. and China Plummet While Iceland Leads By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL via Nytimes.com A new ranking of the world's nations by environmental performance puts some of the globe's largest economies far down the list, with the United States sinking to 61st and China to 121st. In the previous version of the Environmental Performance Index,

• 22 Dec 2009 | 9:16 pm

  22 Dec 2009 | 9:16 pm

  Major environmental events in 2009 in China Source: Global Times [16:44 December 22 2009]Comments The environment was a hot topic in China in 2009. Here is a roundup of major events that happened. 1. Corruption in water pollution treatment project Seven provinces embezzled 403 million yuan ($59 million) from the funds for water pollution treatment project involving 13 provinces,

• 15 Dec 2009 | 10:01 pm

  15 Dec 2009 | 10:01 pm

  It had to go somewhere: (some) Chinese E-waste flowing into North Korea. posted by Adam on December 16, 2009 @ 10:04 am As I've argued elsewhere on this blog, climate change – despite its popularity as an environmental cause in the developed world – really doesn't have much of a constituency in China. And among the most important reasons for that lack of popular interest is the persistence

• 8 Dec 2009 | 11:12 pm

  8 Dec 2009 | 11:12 pm

  Why the Best Legacy of Copenhagen Could Be a Stronger China by Alex Pasternack, New York, NY on 12. 8.09 Via Treehugger.com The slight prospects for a deal at Copenhagen are already being pinned largely on the US and China. But with Obama's hands tied behind his back partly by the US Congress, with China already demonstrating leadership on renewable energy and energy efficiency efforts, and

• 
  The Peking Duck

• Xinjiang Internet reforming and opening up?

  Richard

  7 Feb 2010 | 4:12 pm

  According to our usual source out west, it just might be: As of midnight last Friday, February 5th, it was announced that 27 more “outside Xinjiang” websites have been opened in addition to the four sites that were already accessible. After spending this past weekend searching over all these sites I can tell you that progress has been made, although each of them loads quite slowly. What’s more…one of them doesn’t load at all (the China Rail site received a “Connection Interrupted”)…. A Look at What’s New The sites can be divided into about 9 different categories…

• Han Han: Why China cannot be a “grand culture”

  Richard

  4 Feb 2010 | 3:23 pm

  Still busy, but wanted to get this on the record. When will this guy get a knock on the door in the middle of the night? You have to admire his chutzpah: Do you know why China cannot become a grand cultural nation? It is because most of the time when we speak, we say “Dear leaders” first and those leaders are uncultured. Not only that, for they are also afraid of culture, they censor culture and they control culture. So how can such a nation become a grand cultural nation? Dear leaders, what do you say? Actually, China has tremendous potential of becoming a grand cultural nation. Let me…

• Project

  Richard

  1 Feb 2010 | 8:31 pm

  Apologies, it’s deadline time and I can’t post. The pressure should lift in a day or two. For your amusement: Chinese brands.

• Confucius on SARFT

  Richard

  26 Jan 2010 | 8:51 pm

  We haven’t heard from this blogger for a long time. His new post reminds us what he’s been depriving us of. A taste: A number of Western media outlets — including many that should really know better – have speculated that the decision was motivated by “fears of unrest,” pointing to a few people online who have compared the plight of the furries in Avatar to that of Chinese being forcibly evicted from their homes. This is unlikely, if only because SARFT is just not all that clued-in: they approved District 9 last year even though it was obviously all about Kashgar, and it…

• How will local Chinese governments react to a decline in real asset price?

  Richard

  26 Jan 2010 | 2:19 pm

  This is a guest post from former commenter t-co - a name that in all likelihood only the earliest readers will remember. T-co is Chinese, has lived and worked in China and will be working for a strategy consulting firm later this fall. This post does not necessarily reflect the opinions of TPD. ——————– Both empirically and intuitively, rising bank credit in China causes rising real estate prices. The relationship is quite orderly and even somewhat predictable, with bank credit and real estate prices accelerating, stagnating, and accelerating again…

• 
  China Hearsay

• Tis the Season

  Stan

  9 Feb 2010 | 4:56 am

  I took the day off from blogging yesterday for unusual reasons. A weekday absence usually means that I’m busy with other things, but yesterday was special. I wasn’t able to catch the Super Bowl when it aired in the U.S., so I had to see a copy this afternoon. So from yesterday morning to this morning, I imposed a news moratorium on myself. No sneaking peaks at my RSS feeds, no going online, nothing. If you find out who won before you watch the game, it’s just not worth it. So my Inbox is overflowing. Saw the game earlier today — not bad, by the way. Best part was…

• China’s Porn Crackdown: The Greater Sin

  Stan

  6 Feb 2010 | 12:00 pm

  Ah, back to one of my favorite topics. I don’t want to get all Safire on your ass or anything, but another reason to really hate the anti-porn campaign here in China is that it allows reporters to further mangle the English language, solidifying some very poor lexical choices. For example, the latest announcement from the Supreme People’s Court: An official from the Supreme People’s Court clarified Friday that the crackdown on pornography on mobile phones targets those who “sext” to the public, not to each other. OK, good to know. But do we really have to use the…

• GM Food, the Answer to US-China Tensions

  Stan

  6 Feb 2010 | 7:03 am

  OK, be patient with me on this one. It’ll take a minute for this argument to develop. First, a new report on genetically modified food: Chinese food and agricultural experts said no evidence has proved genetically-modified crops are unsafe for people and the environment. Huang Dafang, director of Biotechnology Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said Friday that the genetically-modified crops are of great significance to the sustainable development of agriculture and China’s competitiveness in global arena. “It could help increase the…

• The Perplexed Beijing Tourist

  Stan

  6 Feb 2010 | 3:02 am

  So I’m sitting here reading story after story about giant pandas coming back to China from the U.S. and lamenting (for the first time, I think) the PRC’s strict laws against owning firearms. I’m about ready to eat a bullet, folks. It’s not that I hate pandas. I recall going to see the little panda cub at the D.C. zoo a few years ago. Cute little bastard. (Note: I use the term “bastard” in the strict sense as I do not believe that the cub’s parents were, in fact, married at the time he was born. Despite the fears of American conservatives, panda…

• George Will Loves Him Some China Bogeyman

  Stan

  4 Feb 2010 | 10:00 am

  As usual, Washington Post columnist George Will strings together a bunch of statistics in his latest column, hoping that no one will notice that he fails to connect the dots. It’s like a cryptographic puzzle — take these 47 numbers and try to figure out what their relationship is to one another. Gives me a headache every time. In the latest edition, which is ostensibly a diatribe against the U.S. government’s budget (a productive discussion during a recession, huh?), Will stumbles upon the facts that: Americans are living longer, and health care for old people costs more.

• 
  The China Sourcing Blog

• Increasing Living Standards, Transport, and Cabbage

  Charles

  4 Feb 2010 | 5:42 pm

  This blog posting was inspired by the cold Beijing winter and a recent conversation with my roommate. After having lunch together, my roommate, a native of Shenyang in China’s northeast, described what she and her family ate during the winters of her childhood. Fresh fruit and vegetables were scarce to nonexistent; large quantities of Chinese cabbage and pears were bought in late autumn and had to last all winter. The pears were frozen, which caused them to turn black. The cabbage was either dried or put in jars to make “sour cabbage”. Meat was a luxury. Having only two food choices…

• The Effects of Trade Sanctions on China's Steel Mills

  Diana

  26 Jan 2010 | 11:49 pm

  Trade sanctions have clearly strained China’s steel industry. Seamless steel tubes, Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG), drill pipes, steel mesh panels, wire shelves... the list of newly sanctioned Chinese steel products goes on. Among the numerous made-in-China products impacted by international trade frictions, China’s steel industry has been hit the hardest, and given the severity of these trade disputes, the consequences for China’s steel enterprises are substantial. Price and quantity decreases Proposed last April, the oil well pipe anti-dumping and anti-subsidies action undertaken by…

• GUEST POSTING: 'Green' Production Making Inroads in China

  Global Sources

  26 Jan 2010 | 10:49 pm

  A new shade of green is gradually sweeping across China's export manufacturing industry, one that took a while to take root, and companies are riding the environment-friendly wave. Pressure from the national government and tightening regulations in overseas markets are compelling a growing number of suppliers to modify their business strategies and incorporate ecologically safe processes. The transition is neither extreme nor desperate, but the impact could be widespread as many midsize and small companies are also taking "green" initiatives. Due to the sheer number of these suppliers, they…

• China and India: A Comparison in Sourcing Potential

  Charles

  25 Jan 2010 | 10:52 pm

  There are many similarities between China and India in today's global-economic climate. Both have over one billion citizens, both have experienced resilient growth in output, and both have greatly expanded their roles in international trade. The relatively inexpensive yet well educated workforces of these two countries have made them key prospects for the sourcing of manufactured goods. Yet differences remain in their supplier and logistical capabilities which must be taken into account by the sourcing professional. Both India and China are capable of world class manufacturing processes. A…

• EVENTS: 7th China International Offshore Oil & Gas Exhibition

  Mandy

  21 Jan 2010 | 7:43 pm

  The 7th China International Offshore Oil & Gas ExhibitionVenue:         New China International Exhibition Center, Beijing Date:           22 - 24 March 2010Organiser:    Beijing Zhenwei Exhibition Co., Ltd.Tel:              +86 10 5823 6588Briefing:As one of the largest annual petroleum exhibitions in Asia and one of the top four expos within the industry in the world, this event is intended to provide a platform for enterprises…

• 
  Silk Road International Blog

• Even if it’s not your fault…

  David Dayton

  2 Feb 2010 | 10:06 pm

  On of the things that I’ve learned, the hard way, about doing business in China is that as a (foreign) buyer when there are problems, even if they’re not my fault, I’m going to be asked to pay for them. For me, this is the single most exasperating thing about working in China (and Vietnam and Thailand and Taiwan and India too).   Bad quality we can monitor and keep to a minimum.  Ditto late deliveries.  Changes in the prices and terms after we sign contracts really sucks, but the changes usually are not killing deals.  But mistakes, even (or especially?) factory-acknowledged errors…

• Famous Chinese Brands and other things you’ve never heard of

  David Dayton

  28 Jan 2010 | 6:10 pm

  This article started a discussion on the China Law Blog LinkedIn group.  Since I participated a bit (and I thought I summed it up nicely, “if I do say so my damn self“) I thought I’d share my comments here. Interesting article.  Convoluted point.  My ten cents: 1. He’s right that Chinese brands aren’t famous in the West yet. But while ubiquitous elsewhere in the 3rd world, they are not “famous” in other countries either. I do a lot of business in Vietnam and Thailand–Chinese brands of soap, motorcycles, noodles and other household items are…

• Yea, but I’m not a Billion Dollar Global Giant

  David Dayton

  25 Jan 2010 | 3:36 pm

  While the Google controversy is truly fascinating, unless it’s directly impacting your ability to do business it really doesn’t matter exactly why Google says they might be leaving China.  For most people it doesn’t even matter if they leave China or not.  (For the rest of us in China, the new uber-slow, ultra-filtered internet is almost worthless, and probably not getting better any time soon—time to move the Shenzhen office to Shangshui.) One thing that most people should take from the Google mess is this: no matter how big you are, no matter how much money you throw at China, no…

• Foreign Mental Blocks

  David Dayton

  18 Jan 2010 | 9:35 pm

  While working in China is a completely new experience for most foreigners—and a completely foreign experience at that—there are some things that are, well, pretty easy to understand, I think, but that many new-to-China foreigners just don’t seem to get.  I’ve put together a list of issues that have stumped more than one foreign client in the past few years—and I made the list because all of these issues came up within the last month working with clients in the US during the current run-up to Chinese New Year. 1. Order your 2Q products in the 4Q of the previous year NOT in the 1Q,…

• Another day, another interesting conversation (headache) with a factory.

  David Dayton

  11 Jan 2010 | 3:45 pm

  We’ve been working on samples for a large order of clothes for over a year now.  The clothes are cool, new, fun.  But it’s been a very difficult process getting to the end of the road—the start of actual production. We’ve got the PO signed, the deposit paid and what happens?  Factory tells us: “We don’t think that we can do this order.  We’re really busy now.”  This, of course, was the response to the payment of the deposit.  No indications prior to the placing of the order that there would be anything problems.  We’ve talked EVERY day in the two weeks preceding the…

• 
  China Venture News

• Seen that? - Intel Capital and China Policy Roadmap

  4 Feb 2010 | 6:18 pm

  Intel Capital and China Policy Roadmap China Venture News With no Abatement in the gold rush of US VCs into China, I continue my conversation with author and researcher, Jonsson Yinya Li, on his observations in his new book, Investing in ...

• Venture Capital Coming of Age in China

  25 Jan 2010 | 8:26 pm

  © kalleboo Entrepreneur Corner shares an optimistic perspective on venture captial in China.During the past several years, China has gradually become one of the most attractive investment markets in the world, largely due to the diversification of industries, the relative cost base and the tremendously increased domestic market...But the article goes on to point out that China's not immune from the financial crisis. The question for VCs is really the same question that most of the world is asking: Can China maintain its growth? ...

• China's Economy is Heating Back Up

  23 Jan 2010 | 12:52 pm

  © Emile Bremmer Chna made economic news this past week by announcing that its gross domestic product grew 10.7% in the fourth quarter of 2009, and that as far as China was concerned the recession was now over. The Chinese are more worried about inflation than recession and they plan to take steps to bring their growth under control. Growth had been projected at around 9% for the quarter. So the growth rate of almost 11% was a bit of a surprise. Many analysis ...

• Wish You Could Invest in Shanghai's Stock Exchange? Think About Mumbai...

  16 Jan 2010 | 8:16 am

  © As the economies of India and China become more and more intertwined, and as the two countries focus more and more on competing with each other, a little context can create some perspective. I found a piece of that context recently in a blog post at 2point6billion, and I found it mildly surprising...Mumbai may be on the way to overtaking Shanghai as a financial hub in the coming years based on data revealed by the Financial Times which shows that the Bombay Stock ...

• Seen that? - Advance New Book on China Venture Capital

  9 Jan 2010 | 6:19 pm

  Advance New Book on China Venture Capital China Venture News A number of leading private equity and venture players continue to float their funds through the South China Seas, most with offices not only in Hong Kong but now also in ...

• 
  Dan Washburn

• Attention

  Dan Washburn

  6 Oct 2018 | 10:28 pm

  I won't be updating this blog anymore. Please access my new blog (with all the same content) here.

• Temporary membership has its privileges.

  Dan Washburn

  9 Oct 2009 | 10:21 am

• $800,000 in five months? I really should have studied iTunes App development in high school.

  Dan Washburn

  14 Apr 2009 | 1:15 am

  http://www.macrumors.com/2009/04/13/all-time-top-iphone-app-sales-figures-and-estimates/

• Brazilian President Blames White People For The Economic Crisis

  Dan Washburn

  27 Mar 2009 | 2:30 am

  Sorry, everyone. My bad. http://www.businessinsider.com/brazilian-president-blames-blue-eyed-white-people-for-the-crisis-2009-3

• Death link to too much red meat [BBC]

  Dan Washburn

  24 Mar 2009 | 12:30 am

  For the most part, I stopped eating meat early last year (except when I visit the Bloomsburg Fair). So I probably won't die. Ever. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7959128.stm

• 
  Responsible China

• TheCityFix.com: Back to Bicycling Basics in Beijing

  Erica Schlaikjer

  25 Jan 2010 | 7:40 am

  Written by Angel Hsu. Originally posted on TheCityFix.com To address continued air pollution and traffic congestion woes, Beijing is harkening back to its days as the "bicycle kingdom" and introducing policies to encourage more cycling. Photo by Dave-Gray. According to The Guardian, 20 years ago, four out of five Beijing residents pedaled around China’s capital in some of the world’s best bike lanes.  However, this number has decreased as private car ownership has gone up. From 1995 to 2005, China’s bike fleet declined by 35 percent while private car ownership…

• “Greening the Beige 3″ Comes to Beijing

  Mark Hiew

  22 Nov 2009 | 7:30 pm

  Attention all Beijing residents (and those who happen to be around): Greening the Beige 3 is currently running for a week from November 21-28! This year’s festival is based around the theme “Re-energize Beijing” and features an eclectic variety of events, live performances, film screenings and community activities. The festival kicked off yesterday with an elegant performance by Beijing Dance group LTDX and plenty of rapid-fire humor from Beijing Improv. Proceeds went to Hua-Dan, an NGO that empowers China’s migrant and rural populations through community theater…

• How Did RespChi Represent on 350 Day of Climate Action?

  Erica Schlaikjer

  27 Oct 2009 | 9:36 pm

  Photo courtesy of Alex Pasternack. Our man Mark Hiew and friends John Romankiewicz (of China’s Green Beat) and Alex Pasternack (of Treehugger) called awareness to climate change on 350.org’s International Day of Climate Action on October 24 by rapping at the Roots & Shoots China Summit and Climate Action Carnival in Beijing. From Treehugger: …dropping green knowledge was legendary Beijing green rapper Sustainable John, of China’s Green Beat (see an old video here), accompanied by beatbox extraordinaire Huan Bao Panda (huan bao means environmental protection) and…

• Environmental Virtue: What Can We Learn From China?

  CC Huang

  27 Oct 2009 | 8:01 pm

  Lu Guang (??) from won the $30,000 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography for his documentary project “Pollution in China.” Image via ChinaHush.com. Previously, I’ve blogged about environmental justice as a framework of looking at environmental protection and why we should act. In the past few years, a new form of environmental ethics has been gaining momentum - environmental virtue ethics (EVE). Aristotle saw moral virtue as a reflection of a certain state of character, rather than our passions or our faculties and it is this kind of virtue - a consistent, repeated,…

• The Rise of Environmental NGOs

  CC Huang

  4 Aug 2009 | 8:41 pm

  Baihua Lake, China. Image via the International Wushu Federation. I’ve recently found two stories about environmental NGOs in China directly taking a stance against the government to improve environmental policy. The first is a landmark case in which a court accepted a lawsuit brought on by a charitable organization, The All-China Environment Federation. They are suing the government for allowing the construction of a ice cream workshop in Baihua Lake, a beautiful scenic area. This article is reported in both English and Chinese. Also, the China Environmental Law Blog has a good…

• 
  Global Voices Online » China

• China: Let Feng Zhenghu come home, to jail time

  John Kennedy

  9 Feb 2010 | 2:56 am

  Feng Zhenghu's 92-day protest in Narita airport has ended and he now has a flight back to Shanghai booked for this Friday, just in time for Chinese New Year, but updates [zh] to his Twitter account over the past weekend suggest that Feng remains unsure over whether he'll be let back into China. This Friday at noon will be his ninth consecutive attempt to return home. Why hasn't Feng, with his valid passport, been allowed to return to China, a right supposedly afforded to all Chinese citizens? In the absence of an explanation from Beijing, many have looked to Shanghai and see…

• China: #Tanzuoren - to be human

  Oiwan Lam

  9 Feb 2010 | 2:01 am

  Chinese activist Tan Zuoren was sentenced to 5 year imprisonment and 3 year deprivation of political rights this morning (Feb 9) under the charge of inciting subversion of state power. Tan was involved in the investigation of the relation between bean dregs school buildings and the death of school children in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake by interviewing the parents and compiling a victim list. He was arrested last year and the investigation was stopped accordingly. In his first trial, the evident that the prosecutor presented was mainly about his interviews with overseas media about the…

• China: Education, critical thinking and creativity

  Oiwan Lam

  7 Feb 2010 | 10:01 pm

  C. Custer from ChinaGeek looks into the China education system and discusses its impact on young people.

• China: Guilty or not guilty, that's the question

  Oiwan Lam

  7 Feb 2010 | 9:57 pm

  Xujun Eberlein from Inside-out China explains the reason behind Beijing lawyer Li Zhuang's decision to admit the crime of fabricating evidence in the China court.

• China: Liu Xiaobo's final statement

  Oiwan Lam

  7 Feb 2010 | 9:42 pm

  China Law Prof blog posts Prof. David Kelly's translation of Chinese human rights dissident, Liu Xiabo's final statement: I have no enemies in his blog.

• 
  China Dialogue

• Asian water wrangles

  Michael Renner

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:04 am

  Pollution and water scarcity threaten livelihoods in central-south Asia. But, argues Michael Renner, international efforts could help to forge a solution.The quantity and quality of available water play a crucial role in the politics of central-south Asia. Access to clean drinking water is a major, though largely unmet, objective and poor management lies at the heart of many problems. Many areas are already experiencing physical water shortages – recent studies estimate per capita water availability in the densely-populated Indus basin at around 1,000 cubic metres per year – and…

• Charting unknown waters

  Navin Singh Khadka

  5 Feb 2010 | 6:44 am

  The behaviour of Himalayan glaciers is beset with uncertainty but the region’s water availability remains a critical issue. Navin Singh Khadka reports.In the wake of the recent controversy over the retreat of Himalayan glaciers, in which the United Nations' climate-science body admitted that it was an error to assert that they would disappear by 2035, water availability has emerged as a key issue with even more uncertainty. Receding Himalayan glaciers grabbed headlines because they feed major rivers in south Asia and some parts of south-east Asia, which is home to a sizeable proportion…

• Time for a plan

  Qin Xuan

  4 Feb 2010 | 7:56 am

  Months of friendly discussion between China and the west went up in smoke at Copenhagen. Qin Xuan argues that a new diplomacy is needed to avoid a repeat performance.The most valuable lesson to be learned from the climate change conference in Copenhagen is this: the aims of global governance are unlikely to be met while the diplomatic strategies of China and emerging economies remain unsettled. Unlike World Trade Organisation talks, the aim of climate negotiations is not only bilateral or multilateral deals between individual governments, but also direct participation in global action. The…

• Understanding glacier changes (1)

  Kenneth Hewitt

  1 Feb 2010 | 3:25 am

  Reports about the melting – and advancing – of Himalayan glaciers have sparked heated debate. In the first section of a three-part article, Kenneth Hewitt warns against oversimplification.[Download Kenneth Hewitt's full report here] Glaciers are quite sensitive to climate change and, recently, there have been many reports of major changes in the Himalaya and other parts of High Asia; mostly of glaciers retreating fast. Impacts of a range of glacier hazards, and on the reliability of water resources, are of concern at local, national and transnational scales. However, there is also…

• Understanding glacier changes (2)

  Kenneth Hewitt

  1 Feb 2010 | 3:04 am

  How are glaciers affected by climate change? In the second segment of a three-part article, Kenneth Hewitt explains regional variance.[Download Kenneth Hewitt's full report here] As we saw in part one, climate change is obviously having different consequences in different mountain areas of Asia. The situation in the Karakoram must represent some distinctive conditions. Three features of the regional environment seem critical. The first two relate to snowfall and the nourishment of these glaciers. They are intermediate in type between the summer accumulation (snowfall) glaciers of the greater…

• 
  China Economic Review - Daily Briefs

• CIC discloses US equity holdings worth $9.63b

  China Investment Corp (CIC), the country’s sovereign wealth fund, has disclosed that it owned equity stakes worth a combined US$9.63 billion in more than 60 US-listed companies at the end of last year. Information on the fund’s holdings appeared in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange

• ICBC plans to restrict lending to property developers

  Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) said Monday that it will stop lending to property developers that hoard land and may even call in some loans to ease credit risks, Reuters reported. The bank, which extended

• China may have become Iran’s largest trading partner

  China has supplanted the EU to become Iran’s largest trading partner, the Financial Times reported. According to official figures, trade between the EU and Iran stood at US$35 billion in

• Huaneng Group linked to $1b wind power IPO

  China Huaneng Group intends to raise at least US$1 billion by listing its wind power unit in Hong Kong this year, Bloomberg reported, citing four people familiar with the plan. The company, China’s

• Chinese firms boost share of international patents

  Patents filed by Chinese companies rose 29.7% last year as the global economic crisis saw total international patent filings fall by 4.5%, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

• 
  Shanghaied Weblog

• Spil Games Asia Annual Dinner 2010

  marcvanderchijs

  6 Feb 2010 | 8:06 am

  On Friday evening Spil Games Asia had its annual dinner for all employees, my 5th dinner with this company already. Like most companies in China we always organize a dinner in the last days before Chinese New Year, and during the dinner there are speeches, a lot of drinking, and people play games. In my speech I talked about the changes at Spil Games Asia over the past year, both the good things and the bad. Some key people left last year, but that allowed us to finally build a top management team that is ready to reach some ambitious targets (the targets for January were already met, so…

• Scott & Elaine are more and more fun

  marcvanderchijs

  6 Feb 2010 | 7:27 am

  Now that Scott is over 2 years old and Elaine is 8 months old it gets nice and nicer to interact with them. Scott really started talking now, he switches without any problems from Chinese to Dutch, and even occasionally says some thing in English. Chinese he learns at home from my wife and the nannies, Dutch from me and my parents when they are visiting, and English from the teachers and kids in school. Because his pronunciation is not yet perfect we sometimes have to guess what language he is speaking, or he mixes two languages (e.g. sometimes he says “拖拉机 kijken”, a mix of…

• Ho-Pin Tung makes it into Formula 1!

  marcvanderchijs

  1 Feb 2010 | 4:27 am

  This morning when I opened my inbox the first message that I saw was a press release with the title: Ho-Pin Tung in Formula 1. Ho-Pin will be the 3rd driver for the Renault F1 team in the upcoming 2010 season! That’s extremely good news for the talented Dutch-Chinese race car driver, something he fully deserves after working hard for this opportunity for many years. This means that he will be the reserve driver and will be fully integrated into the team and travel to all the races. He will also be part of the Renault F1 team young driver program, which gives young drivers the…

• Some more iPad thoughts

  marcvanderchijs

  31 Jan 2010 | 7:48 am

  During this weekend I had some time to think about the Apple iPad a bit more. I still believe that the current product is not right for me yet and that I will have to wait for version 2.0 or 3.0 before buying one. But after talking to some other people I realize the iPad now already fills a niche. For example, this weekend my parents visited us in Shanghai and I talked to them about the iPad. I explained them the functions and its weaknesses, but for them these weaknesses are not such a big problem. For example multitasking (a MAJOR problem for me), if they write an email that’s all…

• Underwhelmed

  marcvanderchijs

  28 Jan 2010 | 12:22 am

  Yesterday Steve Jobs launched the Apple tablet in San Francisco which he called the iPad. As usual Apple had only leaked a little bit of information about the tablet to keep people guessing about it, causing a huge free viral marketing campaign even before anybody knew for sure what the product would be like. Apple is the only company in the world that manages to do this, and they manage it time and time again. Of course I was very excited about the upcoming launch, especially when I heard that Steve Jobs thought that this was the most important product that he had ever worked on. If this…

• 
  Cal Poly MBA Trip

• I Had An Affair With A Chinese And Indian Spy

  Chris Carr

  3 Feb 2010 | 9:10 pm

  Not really.  But a title like this always grabs the reader’s attention.  Worked on you, didn’t it? American’s can be pretty naive, overly trusting and even downright lazy in their due diligence when doing business in an emerging market like China and India and in addressing some of the commercial/corporate espionage risks involved. See/read this China Law Blog post, China: Do The Walls Have Ears? See also this Times of India article, Corporate Espionage: India Inc. Means Businessand this Asia Times article, India’s Growing Corporate Spy Threat. Your thoughts? Did you…

• Where are all the Indian business students going?

  Hemanth

  31 Jan 2010 | 12:15 am

  While American enrollment in business schools in America seems to be very healthy given the poor state of the economy, it is not necessarily the case in India.  As seen in the Wall Street Journal article titled “Student Scarcity Is a Major Concern for India’s Business Schools Click Here,” the B-school attendance in India is dropping.  However, the question is more centered on whether supply has greatly increased, or if demand is actually dropping.  It seems that there has been a shift in the mentality of the government recently as they are quickly recognizing the need to…

• Expanding Abroad? Avoid Cultural Gaffes

  Chris Carr

  21 Jan 2010 | 12:58 pm

  Professor Carr post: I hope each of you as a graduate student regularly read business news in outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Economist, etc.  If I owned a company and you interviewed with me, one of the first questions I would ask you to verify if you were truly interested and passionate about business in general would be a current events type of a question along the lines of, “It’s great to be able to interview you.  What have you been reading about in the Wall Street Journal or Financial Times or other that has peeked your interest?  How does…

• On the Origins of Consumerism

  Hemanth

  15 Jan 2010 | 1:26 pm

  “‘In my parents’ generation, they ended up buying a house in their forties and a car even later, Mr. Kadepurkar said. When we were in college, I don’t think anyone dreamed we would be doing it so early in life. His salary rose to a princely $20,000 a year, then $40,000, and he marveled as those who joined (his employer) Infosys just a few years after him exuberantly cashed in their first paychecks to buy the latest cell phones. They are unhesitatingly buying things like cars and motorbikes, and taking out loans to do it, he said. They’ve not seen a lean period (Meredith…

• How America Can Rise Again, by James Fallows

  Chris Carr

  6 Jan 2010 | 9:22 am

  Greetings and a check in from Professor Carr, the fellow who launched this blog 5 years ago.  China and India are a big part of the future, in my view, and for you to see India this year with Dr. Singh is very important.   Your experience in India is an important investment in your education and future.  I have been following with interest some of your blog posts and insights this year.  I am a big fan of James Fallows, who now writes for The Atlantic.  Fallows has written some great stuff on China over the years (e.g., “Postcards from Tomorrow’s Square”), but his…

• 
  China Business Blog

• Briefly…Top Ten Tweets (From Iron Ore, Common Errors & IPR, To Adult Arbitration, Panda Huggers & Dragon Slayers)

  Administrator

  9 Feb 2010 | 12:49 am

  Chinese New Year may be approaching, but Chinese business news is still flowing. This week’s pick of the ChinaBlogTweets news includes some updates on long-running corporate stories we have been following (Rio Tinto and Hummer), some economic projections (and contentions), our constant favourite (risk and due diligence), as well as some good news on the direction of IPR enforcement. Be sure to read to the end for Gady Eepstein’s entertaining “Panda Hugger & Dragon Slayer” piece. More on ore RT @ChinaRealTime: New post: Much Missed in Iron-Ore Talks: Last…

• Don’t Quote Me…On Working The System

  Administrator

  2 Feb 2010 | 12:52 am

  A very nice post, entitled “Floating Houses, Conflicting Laws, And Really Nice Governmental Officials. China Law Practice Writ Large” from Dan Harris over at China Law Blog, who picked up on a piece from Stan Abrams’ China Hearsay. The concluding message is the focus for the purposes of our “Don’t Quote Me” series: “Bottom Line: If you are a foreigner in China, you cannot expect to work the system. Instead, you should assume the system will work you.” So very true! Many people try to use (often weak / temporary) “guanxi”, rely on…

• Briefly…Top Ten Tweets (From Rapid Urbanisation, Rich Consumers & The 2nd Tier, To Woes for Water, Barbie Dolls & Google…& More)

  Administrator

  2 Feb 2010 | 12:45 am

  Consumers: RT @MasterCardNews: MC A/P Economist: Rapid urbanization in China boosts consumption-led growth http://bit.ly/ahbPTU 4:53 AM Jan 28th from Echofon A question of appreciation: CNY 4 RMB?? RT @TheLexColumn: When it comes to the renminbi…what would you do? http://tinyurl.com/ydgx8gb 2:14 PM Jan 27th from Echofon [Others have their own suggestions…RT @UKTI_JGordon: 5%?...RT @BullishChina: China May Consider One-Off Yuan Gain, Goldman’s O’Neill Says – BusinessWeek http://ow.ly/16pa8J 8:50 PM Jan 23rd] Environment: Diverting issue for CN! RT @TheEconomist:…

• The (Chinese) Holidays Are Coming, Again Already

  Administrator

  29 Jan 2010 | 12:38 am

  China’s public holiday schedule always used to be a bit of a mystery, until the last minute. Now things are more simple and transparent, and we already know the schedule (subject to local variations?) for holidays in 2010 (thanks to CNReviews). Here is the list. February 13-19: Chinese New Year (+ working weekend 20-21) *Falls on the 14th April 3-5: Qing Ming May 1-3: Labor Day June 14-16: Dragon Boat Festival (working weekend 12-13) September 22-24: Mid Autumn Festival (Working weekend 19+25) October 1-7: National Day (working weekend 29/9 + 9/10) Chinese New Year is (already) not far…

• China The Biggest…Double Bill Edition (Autos & Exports)

  Administrator

  25 Jan 2010 | 9:46 am

  We have seen a lot of China as the biggest in may areas, recently in gold. It has also been pushing for the top exporter (as reported here). Now it has hit the top spot on autos and exports: Autos…China is big, and bits of it are getting ever bigger…- China the biggest… RT @billrusso: Business Week: China Ends U.S.’s Reign as Largest Auto Market http://tinyurl.com/yj9a93j 12:32 PM Jan 11th Bloomberg: “China’s 2009 vehicle sales rose 46 percent making it the world’s largest auto market, a title held by the U.S. since the Model T Ford went into…

• 
  Smart China Sourcing

• China suppliers up ante on product safety

  12 Jan 2010 | 9:52 pm

  By Global Sources editorial team Following a series of tighter consumer protection laws, makers are emphasizing product safety while contending with the high cost of compliance.Faced with stricter safety regulations in key export destinations, companies in China are allocating more resources to product testing and emphasizing high-quality materials despite the pressure these are putting on manufacturing outlay.

• The Challenge of After-sales Service in Sourcing from China

  1 Dec 2009 | 11:06 pm

  By Diana in 'The China Sourcing Blog' During the past 3 months, I traveled with a few clients to visit some Chinese suppliers of motors, pumps, valves and other industry supplies. As usual, we recommended the best local Chinese producers – their pricing levels were normally between Chinese-foreign joint ventures and local middle-sized and smaller producers, but their quality was acceptable for our clients.

• 'Green' production making inroads in China

  1 Dec 2009 | 10:32 pm

  by Global Sources (www.globalsources.com) Editorial Team A new shade of green is gradually sweeping across China's export manufacturing industry, one that took a while to take root. Companies are riding the environment-friendly wave. Pressure from the national government and tightening regulations in overseas markets are compelling a growing number of suppliers to modify their business strategies and incorporate ecologically safe processes. The transition is neither extreme nor desperate, but the impact could be widespread as many midsize and small companies are also taking "green"…

• Traveling to factories in China

  1 Dec 2009 | 5:20 pm

  By Renaud Anjoran in 'Quality Inspection Blog' I spend about half of my time traveling, most of the time to industrial areas in China. These days I am a city I had never heard of, in Guangxi province. There was no airport close to my destination point, so I came with a night bus and I am staying in a local hotel (it is quite okay, for rmb100/night). While most foreign business travelers don't make such choices for their transportation in China, many of them wonder how to save a few hundred dollars every time they come. So I thought I might as well share a few tips.

• How to use supplier audits to ensure effective China sourcing

  3 Nov 2009 | 5:11 pm

  By Mike Bellamy Among the biggest risks of outsourcing is ensuring that your supplier delivers according to your requirements. Overseas trading companies can disappear overnight or, after signing a contract with one factory, your goods may end up being produced at an unknown subcontractor. Fortunately, supplier audits can help to mitigate many of these problems. This week, Smart China Sourcing spoke with Mike Bellamy from PassageMaker (http://www.psschina.com) on the benefits of supplier audits in reducing risk in your global supply chain.

• 
  Top News

• Hainan may resume approval of land grants

  Hainan may resume examination and approval of land grant and new property projects in March, according to Luo Baoming, provincial governor of Hainan.

• Chinese, German scientists restore ancient headgear

  Chinese archeologists have restored a dainty headgear unearthed from the tomb of a princess who lived about 1,200 years ago in today's northwestern Shaanxi Province.

• China issues 1st national census of pollution sources

  China on Tuesday issued its first national census of pollution sources, with datas showing that agricultural sources had notable influence on the country's water environment.

• HK animation studio goes into liquidation

  On Feb 5, HK-based Imagi Animation Studios announced liquidation of the company and layoff of employees at an internal meeting.

• Construction of China Pavilion at World Expo completed

  Construction was completed Monday on the China Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, with fireworks, floating balloons, red lanterns and ribbons, and deafening gongs and drums to celebrate the occasion.

• 
  Wangjianshuo's blog

• 8.8 mm

  5 Feb 2010 | 6:45 am

  This is a show of the annual dinner at the beginning of this week. Here is the transcript in Chinese. For people who don't understand Chinese, it is an exaggerated show imitating whose on the TV commercial selling things in Chinese TV stations. 8.8毫米…

• Yifan's Latest Picture

  3 Feb 2010 | 6:31 am

  Yifan grows fast. Recently, he started to ask hard-to-answer questions. Once he pointed to a No-Smoking sign, and asked me what it is. I said it means no smoking. Yifan asked me what is smoking. I said to have cigarettes, and he continued to ask why people have cigarettes.... Yifan loves train. His favorite entertainment is to ride Metro with us. He will stand and wave to every train and say "Byebye!" Wendy bought him a small rolling suite case - like the one people take at airport. He loved it so much that he take it with him where ever he goes, and even put it in his bed at nights. Related…

• People are Basically Good

  1 Feb 2010 | 8:19 am

  What is the true meaning of this sentence: People are basically good That is the founding principle eBay was founded. Someone said it was John Locke (a person I am having strong interest in today) said that, although I suspect that. It is the base of many faith. My naive question is: what is the true meaning of it? What is the philosophical meaning of it? Anyone wants to point me to a good book about this? Related Entries: Art People are Basically Good February 2, 2010 Shi Shi Shi Shi - Chinese Pinyin June 7, 2009 Another Drawing - Zhangsanfeng's Milk Tea Shop April 24, 2009 Another Drawing…

• Spring Festival 2009

  31 Jan 2010 | 5:17 am

  This is the holiday schedule for China: Holiday starts from: February 13 ends at: February 19 February 20 (Saturday), and 21 (Sunday) are working days! P.S. Started to exercise in the gym downstairs. My food IS recovered. 11:04 PM Related Entries: Chinese Holidays Spring Festival 2009 January 31, 2010 Nice Weather this Holiday October 9, 2009 2009 National Holiday Schedule September 29, 2009 Happy Dragon Boat Festival May 28, 2009 Fireworks and Yifan February 9, 2009 End of Long Spring Festival Holiday January 31, 2009 Chinese Zodiac January 25, 2009 Happy Niu Year January 25, 2009 Lantern…

• Long Lines for Avatar 3D IMAX

  30 Jan 2010 | 7:04 am

  I was in the Raffles City today, and saw the long lines for Avatar 3D IMAX in the Peace Theater. Peace Theater is the only cinema with IMAX in Shanghai that shows Avatar. There is another IMAX cinema in the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, but they would rather keep showing the 3D Moon Walker and other tech movie, despite the fact that IMAX is in huge demand in Shanghai because of Avatar. That line is at least 10 times longer than the line before a train ticket window near my home. The line starts from outside the box office, winds all the way around the Raffles tower, and winds back…

• 
  Lost Laowai China Blog

• Photo: Kunming side-street fashion show

  Ryan

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:00 am

  Lost Laowai blogger Matt Muller is traveling around Kunming and working his way south to Laos for the Golden Week (smart guy getting out of China for the week). He grabbed this shot in Kunming. From Matt: “It is a random ‘lingerie show’ showcased by a Chinese model on a side street in Kunming and away from the touristic center. The clientele seems to consist solely of taxi drivers and other men taking a rest break during the pre-lunch rush hour. This is one of many I snapped, but the most interesting one: Note the old lady with the hump back on right side of pic. Is she the…

• Laowai Girls like Asian Boys

  Ericka

  5 Feb 2010 | 4:31 pm

  Bruce Lee, Rain and Jay ChouWhen people think of “Rice Chasers” the common thought is of non-Asian men chasing Asian women. In fact, it’s often believed that Asian men are the most discriminated against by white women (dating wise). No one ever really thinks about crazed non-asian girls chasing after Asian men. I guess those people have never been to an Anime (multimedia) convention. While it’s not very common now to see a laowai girl with a Chinese guy in China, it’s becoming more common and all those old stereotypes about Asian men seem to be disappearing and fangirls…

• The ‘State Network Information Center’ wants to spy on you. Here’s how to stop them…

  Steven

  4 Feb 2010 | 7:26 pm

  This is a bit sinister: the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) has been dropping digital certificates into the computers of everyone in China, which could potentially allow them to snoop on your normally secure ‘https’ web-surfing, such as your online banking and email. CNNIC’s digital certificate, which is probably in your computer right now, has not been proved to be maliciously spying, but it’s a matter of trust. Do you really trust CNNIC, the overlords of the ‘Great Firewall’, to not be potentially peeking into your email, Facebook,…

• Two knives, a whole lot of Red Bull and one messed up dude

  Ryan

  27 Jan 2010 | 6:05 pm

  Upset that his boss was living a luxurious life and he couldn’t even afford cigarettes, 30-year-old Lai Yanwang slammed back a bunch of Red Bull, grabbed two (ominously, if not appropriately named) pig killing knives and headed for the office in Dongguan. Is a Bo Staff standard issue in the Guangdong police arsenal? Things ended reasonably peacefully, with Lai being put to the ground and carted off to jail. Just a little bit of crazy for your morning coffee. Update [01/29/10]: Just wanted to add a bit of a translation of the text from ChinaGeeks: Main Title: Double Swordsman in Crowded…

• There’s something happening here…

  Ryan

  24 Jan 2010 | 11:57 pm

  Hey all, pardon the mess. Am in the process of getting Lost Laowai 3.0 up and running, and am bound to be breaking stuff repeatedly while I do so. Apologies ahead of time if you come to the site and get a dastardly PHP function error, or 404 not found notice. A lot of things are still askew at the moment, but largely the new design is here. Please bear with me as I finish tweaking some of the smaller points, and turning on some of the larger ones. I’ll give a better update on all the new features once I’ve had a chance to actually get all the new features working.

• 
  bezdomny ex patria

• simple pleasures

  wangbo

  9 Feb 2010 | 2:54 am

  There’s a simple, tactile, olfactory pleasure in spending a morning in bed with a good book unaware of the passage of time except by the turning of pages. There’s a comforting surprise in seeing just how many hours have slipped by. Equally to strolling with no greater aim than to burn off a little energy and get a little exercise and fresh air. And to the exploration of things new, even if it’s nothing more new than the new quarters of a long-standing neighbourhood market. I’ve watched that new market being built from our loungeroom window and balcony for the last…

• waitangi day

  wangbo

  5 Feb 2010 | 10:25 pm

  I was going to write this a few hours earlier, but I suddenly lost all internet contact with New Zealand… again. Today is Waitangi Day, the anniversary of the signing between Britain and most Maori iwi and hapu of the Treaty of Waitangi, making New Zealand a British colony. The Treaty is traditionally seen as New Zealand’s founding document. We don’t have an independence day, we have a dependence day. And next weekend my wife and I will be boarding a jet plane and flying to New Zealand. It’ll be her first trip ever outside China and my first time back to New Zealand in…

• settle down, people

  wangbo

  16 Jan 2010 | 4:12 am

  Well, I was almost tempted to weigh in on the Great Google Melodrama, but Mr Bamboo saved me the trouble by writing pretty much what I wanted to write in this concise paragraph: Another entry raises a question about Google censoring certain search terms and functioning within the law. If Google.cn ceases to censor search terms, then isn’t it breaking the law? Thus Google can’t negotiate because it can’t somehow be exempt from the same laws which apply to everyone else. Like any other government, the boys in Zhongnanhai aren’t about to concede anything. Exactly. And will everybody…

• a good decision

  wangbo

  2 Jan 2010 | 6:25 am

  This evening is one of those evenings I’m glad it was my wife who made the decision. Had it been up to me or my father in law, we’d still be in Yanqing watching the snow fall and wondering if we’d make it back to Beijing in time for lzh to get to work the day after tomorrow. But she insisted we leave this afternoon, pointing out that the last bus leaves at 6pm (actually, 7pm, if by “last bus” she was referring to the last 919 from the county town into Beijing. Of course, 6pm may well be the time the last bus leaves either our village or the terminus further up…

• three guns

  wangbo

  19 Dec 2009 | 2:10 am

  Or perhaps that should be Three Shots. I certainly think Three Shots would be a better English title than the official one. Still, I guess the official English title contains a reference to the films inspiration. I was standing on the corner of that big, fancy mall on the northwest corner of the Shuangjing intersection waiting for my wife to finish sifting through overpriced clothes so we could go watch the film. I knew which of the buildings around me were old and which new- indeed, I remember when the spot I was standing on was a fancyarse lawn scarred with pathways leading into the sales…

• 
  China Post Online - Taiwan , News , Taiwan newspaper

• Uncertainty in search after deadly Conn. blast

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:36 pm

  (ChinaPost.com.tw) - A power plant explosion that killed at least five people left a section of the building too unstable for rescue crews to determine whether everyone was accounted for, a fire official said Monday.

• Two more lanes open to west-bound traffic to airport

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:35 pm

  (ChinaPost.com.tw) - Starting 12:00 p.m. today, two more lanes will be open to vehicles driving on the section between the Dazhu Interchange and the Dayuan Interchange of the No.2 national expressway leading to Taoyuan International Airport.

• Museum recruiting agency in gender discrimination scandal

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:35 pm

  (ChinaPost.com.tw) - The recruiting agency responsible for hiring and managing staff at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMFA) in Taichung was forced to stop asking female applicants to show proof that they were not pregnant after a lengthy dispute with the unions and the Council of Labor Affairs.

• Female workers suffer serious salary discrimination: survey

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:35 pm

  (ChinaPost.com.tw) - The average starting salary for female workers in Taiwan is about 18 percent lower than the average for their male counterparts, according to the results of a survey released yesterday.

• Yanukovich presses Ukraine rival to concede defeat

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:30 pm

  (ChinaPost.com.tw) - Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich on Monday pressed rival Yulia Tymoshenko to concede defeat after his slender victory in a presidential election that could tilt the ex-Soviet state back toward Moscow.

• 
  3Q2U

• Would you buy an e-bike?

  17 Jan 2010 | 2:08 am

  I did something I haven't had a chance to do in a long time - I took a nice long bike ride with friends along the Keelung River in Taipei. I used to practically live on my bike, from my first red Stingray with a banana seat and flats, to my first Nishiki 10 speed, to the Schwinn paper bike, up to the first edition Specialized Stumpjumper which wheeled me up the East Coast for 3-months in college and took me all over Yangmingshan when I got to Taiwan, to my current old school rickity Flying Pidgeon that gets a flat every week in Shanghai - but there's always a guy squatting along the road that…

• Forget it, you're still a laowai

  31 Dec 2009 | 9:46 pm

  I noticed the other day that I was not thinking like a laowai. In Shanghai I have a lot of laowai friends, so we interact, think, joke in laowai ways, even though we have Chinese wives and Chinese friends and speak Chinese. But here in Taipei, my friends are pretty much all Taiwanese, so we do things and interact in non laowai ways. This realization occurred to me while chatting with an old friend when a laowai he knew walks in and the conversation switches over to English. The guy, a Brit, had some important things to say about the state of international airport security - which apparently…

• Bless you with inner peace and tranquility of life

  31 Dec 2009 | 7:48 pm

  It just seemed cool to get a New Year's card from the Shaolin Temple. Not what you really expected, so I wanted to share it. (I was there a few weeks ago to visit with Shi Yongxin and his crew.) He's gotten a lot of negative press for their plans to IPO, but I think it's just realizing that they need a lot more attention and money to get their message across. The Vatican has been actively accumulating wealth for 2000 years, why not the Shaolin?

• Behind the Scenes of Shanghai's Express Deliveries

  16 Dec 2009 | 2:11 pm

  I always sort of wondered what those people were doing hanging out near the turnstiles on the Shanghai subway. Now someone actually went through the process of finding out - and it's fascinating. http://www.allroadsleadtochina.com/

• Open your xmas

  3 Dec 2009 | 5:05 am

  I was sitting on bus 262 in Taipei looking out the window at this new bright Christmas display. It sure seemed like a lot of money to spend and not make sense in English.

• 
  Thomas Crampton

• Job: China Correspondent for NPR

  thomas@crampton.com (Thomas Crampton)

  9 Feb 2010 | 1:22 am

  Looks like a great job! Love the final line: “Occasional exposure to prevalent weather conditions.” xx To apply, email a resume and cover letter to careers@americanpublicmedia.org. Indicate position #154-10, China Correspondent. Please see job description attached for more details. Job Title: China Correspondent Date Written/revised: December 2009 Grade Level: LC FLSA Status: Full-time, exempt Reports to: Foreign editor Department: American Public Media, Marketplace Location: Shanghai, China Position Summary: The China correspondent develops, reports, writes and produces news…

• Facebook Repeatedly Deleting Hong Kong Opposition Groups

  thomas@crampton.com (Thomas Crampton)

  6 Feb 2010 | 7:57 am

  Today’s South China Morning Post reports how Hong Kong’s political opposition has faced repeated deletion of their Facebook groups. Read the article here (behind paywall), but some key points raised: A Facebook group with 84,298 members formed to oppose the pro-establishment DAB was deleted Kelvin Sit Tak-O, who runs a discussion group that opposes the pro-establishment party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), said his group’s Facebook page was shut down without notice on Thursday. The group had 84,298 members and was aiming for…

• Europe’s Sharpened Stance on China

  thomas@crampton.com (Thomas Crampton)

  4 Feb 2010 | 6:17 pm

  China can expect some pushback from Europe in coming months, warns Mark Leonard of the European Council of Foreign Relations in this video. His data points leading to the coming sharp shift in the EU-China relations: 1- French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s meeting the Dalai Lama caused China to cancel the EU Summit. 2- At the Climate Summit in Copenhagen, both Europe and China blamed each other for the absence of a deal. 3- The Google vs. China conflict. 4- The execution of the British citizen Akmal Shaikh in China. The Economist this week has a similar take: There is, however, a new…

• Job: Hong Kong-based Editor at International Herald Tribune

  thomas@crampton.com (Thomas Crampton)

  4 Feb 2010 | 8:56 am

  The newspaper where I worked and for whom I can vouch as a great employer, is looking for copy editors in Hong Kong: The International Herald Tribune is looking for experienced copy editors to work in Hong Kong for its Asian edition. You will work with a team of dedicated, hard-working editors and correspondents from The New York Times-Herald Tribune family to offer our readers a well-edited, must-read newspaper six mornings a week and a 24-hour Web report. We expect you to know how to smooth copy, write inviting heads and make solid news judgments about international developments. We value…

• How To: Choose speaking engagements

  thomas@crampton.com (Thomas Crampton)

  2 Feb 2010 | 11:02 pm

  My colleague John Bell compiled this handy checklist to help decide whether to speak at an event or not. The core criteria apply to any profession. Selecting speaking engagements has become more and more difficult for those of us working in Social Media. There are more and more great events that deal with Social Media. Here’s John’s criteria (slightly edited): Core Criteria * Will I likely learn something substantial that I can apply to my business within the next 90 days (I learn something no matter how poor a conference event and I am talking about “substantial…

• 
  Simpson's Paradox

• Of Other Days

  Meg

  3 Feb 2010 | 7:07 pm

  In the novel The Light Of Other Days, sci-fi great Arthur C. Clarke posits a future where a new technology means anyone can see what anyone else is doing. Any past antics are available for review by any future employers, future spouses, and, when a former kegstander or topless party girl achieves a respectable career, [...]From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:Of Other Days

• This Is Just How Caesar’s Legions Got Started

  Meg

  28 Jan 2010 | 7:06 pm

  My morning before class started with sleeping through the alarm, and as always, rushing set off a series of other minor catastrophes. When I saw the No Left Turn – Train sign by Chapel Hill Road, I realized I’d have to teleport to make it on time, and my usual pre-class coffee was completely out of the [...]From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:This Is Just How Caesar’s Legions Got Started

• Game Review: Sims 2: Castaway

  Meg

  21 Jan 2010 | 6:24 am

  One day, you’re standing on the dock, waving goodbye to a friend, when you slip and fall and land in a crate, which is sealed and loaded onto a cargo ship, which is caught up in a storm and your Sim is shipwrecked on a deserted island! Your poor shipwrecked Sim must survive on this [...]From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:Game Review: Sims 2: Castaway

• Newark Airport Singalong

  Meg

  18 Jan 2010 | 6:41 am

  I’m kind of jealous that with all the time I’ve spent waiting at Newark Airport (For Christmas 2006, I flew in on AirIndia, Stick came in on British Airways and we both lost our luggage), I’ve never seen a singalong. From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:Newark Airport Singalong From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:Newark Airport Singalong

• Wisegal

  Meg

  15 Jan 2010 | 5:54 am

  Wisegal is actually the second time I’ve contributed to a Lifetime casual game. I also helped to test Lifetime / Large Animal Game’s Fashion Solitaire in 2008, although I didn’t make it into the credits. Maybe I shouldn’t make fun of Lifetime TV anymore…  Maybe. This game also marks the second time Amanda d’Adesky and I [...]From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:Wisegal

• 
  Absurdity, Allegory and China

• What everyone “should know”

  Jim Gourley

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:25 pm

  China vs. the University of Calgary (UC), the latest chapter in the Chinese passion play, is a Chinese foreign policy trial balloon let loose (prematurely?) on the western Canadian plains. This began last week when it was reported that China had removed UC from its list of accredited universities a move school officials are concerned is connected to the Dalai Lama’s visit last fall. The odd thing is that no one officially knows why it happened and what it might possibly mean, since the Chinese are not saying. The Vancouver Sun ran the following story on February 6, 2009: University of…

• Sunday Night PBO

  Jim Gourley

  7 Feb 2010 | 5:31 am

  Sometimes you just need to post a poem. This one is from Philip Whalen’s Decompressions, Selected Poems, 1969 Hymnus Ad Patrem Sinensis I praise those ancient Chinamen Who left me a few words, Usually a pointless joke or a silly question A line of poetry drunkenly scrawled on the margin of a quick splashed picture—bug, leaf, caricature of Teacher on paper held together now by little more than ink & their own strength brushed momentarily over it Their world & several others since Gone to hell in a handbasket, they knew it— Cheered as it whizzed by— & conked out among…

• China’s Censorship: Providing Fuel for International Campus Protest

  Jim Gourley

  4 Feb 2010 | 2:58 pm

  Here is one that just came to me through Twitter (h/t niubi): China snubs U of C over Dalai Lama: Accreditation lost after honour for spiritual leader The Chinese government has removed the University of Calgary from its list of accredited institutions — a move school officials fear is linked to the Dalai Lama’s visit last fall. The university hosted the Tibetan spiritual leader and awarded him an honorary degree when he visited the city last September. In December, university officials learned that China’s education ministry had removed the school from its website. Now the…

• Grasslands and Resettlement

  Jim Gourley

  27 Jan 2010 | 12:40 pm

  There is a very good review by Emily Yeh, assistant professor of geography at the University of Colorado, Boulder, at China Dialogue entitled Restoring the grasslands? concerning the Chinese program “retire livestock and restore grassland” (tuimu huancao). Introduced in 2003 the program called for “grazing removal in order to halt and reverse severe grassland degradation.” I have written here and here about the resettlement of nomadic pastoralists on the Qinghai Tibetans Plateau, so it is a subject that I am somewhat familiar with. Ms. Yeh’s review of the program is a…

• TVCC: Still a Hotel?

  Jim Gourley

  25 Jan 2010 | 1:14 am

  Curious article in the Shanghai Daily today (h/t @niubi on Twitter), reporting on a Beijing News article regarding repairs to the TVCC building, the burned and lesser brother/neighbor of the iconic CCTV Bldg. This has been expected since Rem Koolhaas stated in a WSJ piece The Sky’s No Longer the Limit back in May 2009 that “they are simply rebuilding it as it was, because there was no structural damage.” I also wondered about this a few days after the fire, and wrote about it here and, later, here. Three days after the fire I suggested that There is now an odd mojo-y smoky…

• 
  China Bystander

• Melting Glaciers: A View From Mt. Everest

  chinabystander

  8 Feb 2010 | 4:38 pm

  Our man on Mt. Everest — actually that is a bald-faced lie, it is the Asia Society’s man on Everest, mountaineer and filmmaker David Breashears — provides some beautiful and disturbing shots of the melting glaciers of the Himalayas. We’ve noted before the environmental threat to China’s rivers, but on the basis of a picture [...]

• Melamine-Tainted Infant Formula Reappears

  chinabystander

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:11 am

  Someone always tries to make a buck out of misery. Melamine-tainted infant formula that was meant to have been destroyed following the food-safety scandal of 2008 that killed six children has been turning up in dairy products across the country. Examples have been found in at least six provinces and in Shanghai. In one of the [...]

• China’s Ballooning Bad Bank Loans

  chinabystander

  7 Feb 2010 | 5:55 am

  China’s banks have been on such a stimulus-fueled lending binge since the beginning of last year, it is impossible that there are not some bad loans sitting on their books. The questions of how many and for how much have been exercising analysts for a while. The pessimists say the numbers are large and that [...]

• $60B Australian Coal Deal Is Good Business For China

  chinabystander

  6 Feb 2010 | 5:14 am

  It is being billed as Australia’s biggest export contract, but by any measure it is a whopping deal. China Power International Development, an arm of China Power Investment, owner of Hong Kong-listed China Power, has contracted to buy $60 billion-worth of coal over 20 years from privately held Resourcehouse, starting in 2014. Resourcehouse will be suppling [...]

• U.S.-China Relations In A New World

  chinabystander

  4 Feb 2010 | 4:29 am

  China’s relations with the U.S. are going through a nervous-making patch. Beijing has warned that any meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama would be taken as damaging the bilateral relationship. The two are planning to hold the meeting postponed last year so the U.S. president could first visit President Hu Jintao [...]

• 
  Mutant Palm

• Happy China Internet Maintenance Day!

  中国网站维护日快乐! Truly, my new favorite Chinese holiday. The traditional way of celebrating offline involves umbrellas. It's as if they've been watching Simpsons reruns in ZNH. And they've probably seen it in the dorms of Beida, or the equivalent, but it just doesn't pack that same wallop it does for the overseas ...

• CIRC 2009

  I'll be speaking, listening and blogging the 7th Annual Chinese Internet Research Conference in Philadelphia this Wednesday and Thursday (evenings in Beijing) over at the nested domains of http://2009.circ.asia/, which resolves to http://www.global.asc.upenn.edu/circ, where the blog is a wrapper around http://www.lokman.org/. In other words, you'll find me, Lokman, Weiyu, Anne ...

• Chinese Al Jazeera? No Chance.

  Reading David Bandurski's ever keen observations over at China Media Project in "As China shout its line on Tibet, is anybody listening?", I got struck by deja vu all over again. Three times. First, there's the endless drumbeat of the official line in Chinese media Bandurski illustrates thusly: In People’s Daily: “Treasuring ...

• Teacup Feet

  by otisarchives3 World War I era photo of Chinese woman's feet from the Otis Historical Archives at the National Museum of Health & Medicine in Washington, D.C.

• China Strange Maps: Cannibals, Frenchmen & Mu

  Cleaning out the aggregator. Here are several China-related maps from the Strange Maps blog. MAPS OF CHINA Populations of China Compared to Countries China as an Island (from "The Geopolitics of China" at Investors Insight) CHINA IN THE WORLD The Cannibal Map of the World (Tibetan literature apparently does talk about eating human body parts) The ...

• 
  China Economics Blog

• Manipulation or revovery

  Economist

  15 Jan 2010 | 1:36 am

  Interesting article in China Briefing about the China recovery. H/T: blog comment.There is nothing new here but the concerns are real and mirror my own. Things are not always what they seem in China.China’s Exports More to do with Manipulation than Recovery [Chin Briefing]The news that China’s exports increased by 17.7 percent in December year-on year is impressive. So too, the statistic that China has now overtaken Germany as the world’s largest exporter. In turn, this has lead to commentary about the position of the RMB against other globally traded currencies such as the Euro and the…

• Humorous article warning: "Google v China"

  Economist

  14 Jan 2010 | 6:54 am

  The Daily Mash take a humorous look at the recent Google v China fight. The impact of Google's new tough stance will be interesting to watch. I suspect Google were not making much money anyway so this is not such a large loss although it is evidence that globalisation is not always a one way street.Limited tex provided due to bad language and subversive nature of the text.GOOGLE AND CHINA IN BATTLE TO ENSLAVE YOU [Daily Mash]THE last great battle of our time was underway last night as Google and China began fighting for control of every living thing on the face of the Earth.A fragile truce…

• Economic CRASH in China coming soon

  Economist

  10 Jan 2010 | 11:43 am

  As an economist one never likes to dwell on "good news" stories. The previous post on the 56% exporting rebound gave the wrong impression.There remain a number of issues with the Chinese growth miracle that simply do not add up. The stockmarket and house prices are significantly overvalued.At least James Chanos has got China's card marked. Good coverage from the New York Times. In this case he may lose his money - he must make sure not to underestimate the Chinese governments ability to plough on regardless.I am sure China is cooking the books and house prices are out of the range of the vast…

• The 56% rebound - Is China back?

  Economist

  10 Jan 2010 | 11:38 am

  The China export crash was expected. The recovery is better than I thought it would be but after something has fallen so far it is relatively simple to achieve large rebounds but this is impressive.Will it last? Doubtful. The stimulus package is in the front line again. It has a lot to answer for. My posts on the metal stocks and the empty city are also relevant here.China’s economy rebounds with 56% annual rise in imports [Times Online]China’s economic juggernaut showed the strength of its recovery with exports rising for the first time in 14 months and imports soaring by a staggering 56…

• China's empty city of Ordos

  Economist

  10 Jan 2010 | 11:23 am

  Where does China's 8% growth really come from?Having just read the Genghis Khan trilogy I am a big fan of inner Mongolia and the fall of the Chin empire. The unwashed Mongol hordes operated an impressive and ruthless military machines. Although not intellectual these books are an easy read. Took me a week to read all three (see below).Back to the empty city - Genghis was never a "city man" showing a strong preference for the open plains. Perhaps this explains the empty city of Ordos.There are some simple supply and demand issues with the "empty city". This is another example of the waste from…

• 
  The China Teaching Web

• Why English Should Be the Greatest Weapon Against Censorship in China

  Robert Vance

  24 Jan 2010 | 8:48 pm

  What’s on my menu for most days of the week? How about the New York Times for breakfast, NPR for lunch, Drudge for dinner, and CSPAN for a bedtime snack – just in time to hear the opening gavel in the House and Senate? Just because I live in China doesn’t mean that I can’t still feed the political junkie within me. All of these news services – and more – are available to anyone in China who has a computer, or in my case, an Iphone. Yes, Facebook and Twitter are still blocked in China.  Although, if I really want to spend hours and hours perusing my…

• Vote Fraud in China?

  Robert Vance

  24 Jan 2010 | 2:52 am

  In a country where a democratic form of government seems light years away, voting fraud is the last thing you expect to hear about. This past week, the China Daily website, the largest English portal in China, reported that “an online poll to solicit public opinion on a date for ‘national tourism day’ has received a staggering 4.2 billion votes.” Staggering? How about impossible. The entire population of China is only 1.3 billion people and as the newspaper points out, only 300 million people use the internet. So unless there are another 4 billion people worldwide who…

• Why Google Won’t Pull Out of China

  Robert Vance

  14 Jan 2010 | 5:25 am

  I’m not one to make many predictions. Especially when we are talking about any issues related to China. Everything changes way too fast here. I will, however, confidently make a prediction about Google.cn. It’s not going anywhere. I know it, you know it, Google knows it, heck…the Chinese government even knows it. Which is exactly why  the news about Google’s threatened pullout has been censored here in China. Beijing knows it’s an empty threat and they want to act as if nothing happened when everything quiets down. Ironic, isn’t it? The Chinese government…

• August 2009 China Visa Update

  Robert Vance

  20 Aug 2009 | 9:05 am

  It has been a while since we last updated our China visa section. One reason for this is that TeachAbroadChina.com has not received the deluge of questions and concerns about Chinese visas that we did last year. This indicates that one year after the Olympics in China, the visa situation is not nearly as crazy and confusing. However, we have been hearing from some of our viewers that the Chinese government may be tightening its grip on some aspects of obtaining a work visa. We are hearing that: It is much harder now to obtain a work visa from a public institution if you do not have a…

• Ask Vance about China

  Robert Vance

  18 Aug 2009 | 9:35 am

  Welcome to Ask Vance about China, a new feature on TeachAbroadChina.com.  Site founder Robert Vance will do his best to answer any questions that you may have about China within 24 hours. This service is completely free and is intended to help educate people who are thinking about coming here. All posts are moderated on this website so please wait patiently if your post does not show up right away. Please do not use this service to ask us for a teaching job in China. TeachAbroadChina.com does not directly offer any teaching jobs here. Please head to our ESL Job Board to view the latest job…

• 
  The Green Leap Forward 绿跃进

• The National Energy Commission: Myth-busting the “New Energy Super Ministry”

  Julian

  3 Feb 2010 | 9:33 pm

  The “new energy super ministry” announced last week is neither new, nor a super ministry.  Let’s discuss. First, the raw facts. On January 22, the State Council announced the formation of the National Energy Commission, whose purpose would be to: To study and formulate national energy development strategy, to consider the major issues of energy security and energy development, to coordinate domestic energy development and important matters of international cooperation.

• Solar Hops: US-China Cooperation; Provinces Get Going; Suntech Shining Strong

  Julian

  21 Jan 2010 | 3:19 pm

  Its been a while since we’ve had an extensive discussion of China’s solar market.   Here, we catch up with some of the major the developments in this space over the past half year or so.  A new US-China dynamic highlighted by two-large scale projects, policy action by provincial-level governments, and lots of activity by Chinese solar poster child Suntech, and more! Let’s kick off with this pretty cool video created by ClimateWorks: Now, onto recent developments: Going Big with the Stars and Stripes Google-backed eSolar, a three-year old Californian solar start-up, has…

• Assessing China’s 11th Five-Year Plan Energy Conservation Programs

  Julian

  18 Jan 2010 | 5:06 pm

  A look at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s analysis on the energy conservation programs in China’s current five-year plan.  For those of you in Beijing on Jan 20, you may listen to Dr. Mark Levine present these very findings at the Beijing Energy & Environment Roundtable (open free to public!). Details here. Last month, I had the unique opportunity to gather with some of the top U.S-based thinkers on Chinese energy and climate policy.  Participants hailed from World Resources Institute’s ChinaFAQs group of experts.  Since it was a closed door session, I…

• Charting China’s Water Future: Closing China’s water availbility gap results in $21 billion in net savings

  Julian

  6 Jan 2010 | 7:43 pm

  A look at a new report by McKinsey that analyzes the economics of water solutions in developing countries.  It finds that in China, 55 different solutions exist to close its imminent water availability gap that actually results in a net savings, rather than expenditure, of $21 billion by 2020. There has been a wave of water price hikes across various cities and regions across China over the past year.  Most recently, Beijing raised residential water rates by 8 percent, as we blogged about yesterday.  But there have also been proposed or implemented water price increases earlier this year…

• Green Hops: Cold Snap, Renewables Boost, Water Woes

  Julian

  5 Jan 2010 | 8:53 pm

  A news round up of energy and environment news in China over the past 4 weeks or so, sans analysis. Avalanche Northern China was swept with a harsh cold snap that over northern China over the weekend.  Beijing, for its part, experienced its largest snowfall in six decades, a lowest temperatures in four decades (at minus 16 degrees Centigrade!!!).  The cold surge has created an unwelcome spike in energy demand at a time where energy demand is already taking on an upward trend as the national economy shows signs of recovering lost ground.  The heavy snow has also disrupted food…

• 
  www.web2asia.com Blog Feed

• Chinese Internet users hit 384 Million in 2009

  17 Jan 2010 | 11:53 pm

  According to the China Internet Network Information Center China's population of Internet users reached 384 million at the end of 2009. The report can be downloaded here (Chinese only).   In 2009, the number of Chinese netizens grew by 86 million (28.9% yoy) . In total 29% of China's 1.3 billion population are now online.  Access through mobile phones has risen by 120 million to in total 233 million, which represents approx. 61% of all Internet users.  The most popular destinations online are still music sites (83,5%), news portals (80,1%) and search engines (73,3%). Business…

• Chinese eCommerce Platform Taobao Launches App Store

  17 Jan 2010 | 5:10 pm

  Taobao, the largest online shopping destination in China, has today announced the launch of the Taobao App Store and will invest RMB10 million (US$1.46 million) to foster promising independent software developers via the Taobao Open Platform (TOP) fund every year. The move comes less than 6 months after eBay opened up its market place for third-party applications last August.   The Taobao App Store (http://app.taobao.com) will offer solutions created by independent developers through TOP for Taobao merchants and consumers including tools for sellers and buyers; extensions for Taobao…

• Google likely to retreat from China (update)

  12 Jan 2010 | 3:06 pm

  Please note: the original commentary was moved to the personal blog of the author here.   Google posted an article on its offical blog today stating that it will no longer censor its Chinese language search results even if this means that the company will "have to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China." The company lists recent hacker attacks from China in order to monitor China based activists as a reason.    This move doesnt come entirely surprising to us, after all we've heard from sources very close to Google's China operations and also after the…

• ChinaMode Awards: Vote for your favorite Chinese Internet companies!

  10 Jan 2010 | 6:41 pm

  Similar to the The People's Voice Award (as part of the The Webby Award) China now has his own award honoring excellence on the Internet: The ChinaMode Awards. Initiated by Gang Lu and the OpenWeb.Asia Workgroup and supported by the 14 most influential Chinese tech bloggers, including: Appin, Williamlong, Web20share, Kenengba, Jandan, MobiNode, Webleon, Showeb20, Vista2.o, Yunkeji, Riku, Herock, China Web2.0 Review and MobiNode.TV the award aims to determine Chinas most important Internet companies in 8 categories such as most talked about website, best user experience & product design,…

• PayPal China Developer Conferences: BJ Dec 14, SH Dec 15

  1 Dec 2009 | 4:56 pm

  This November PayPal opened its software platform to outside developers in a move designed to unleash a flood of creative uses for the online financial transaction service. With the new open software, called Paypal X (great domain btw: www.x.com), users won't have to type their username and password into a separate PayPal Web site in order to complete a payment. Instead, people will be able to sign into PayPal and make purchases, such as for example virtual goods, right inside a gaming application. The PayPal VP of this new product will be stopping by in China this month for preview showings…

• 
  Asia Sentinel: Alice Poon Blog

• Freedom of Expression Too Precious to Throw Away

  4 Feb 2010 | 12:08 am

  In a free society, there will always be more than one single opinion. In a free society, it is accepted that everyone should have an equal right to express his/her opinion without fearing retaliation or persecution.

• Google's Other Battle

  29 Jan 2010 | 4:47 am

  An internet giant has been flexing its financial muscle in aiming to turn the sacrosanct copyright principle on its head and infringe on countless authors’ and publishers’ right to survival.

• Uncovering Values in "Dwelling Narrowness"

  21 Jan 2010 | 6:34 pm

  The nightly ritual of sitting in front of the TV set watching the mainland TV series DVD “Dwelling Narrowness” (蝸居) is finally over. I’m not writing a full review of the film, as there are already plenty out there, such as this one. I just wanted to share a few thoughts on the values embedded in the story.

• Voices of Hong Kongers Thus Analysed

  14 Jan 2010 | 7:59 pm

  Views of Hong Kong- and China-based commentator and writer Leung Man To 梁文道 and of Hong Kong writer Tung Kai Cheung 董啟章 on (1) the relation between the express rail link and the community; (2) interpretation of the “post-80s” and (3) what has caused the marginalization of Hong Kong.

• The Post-80s from Another Angle

  10 Jan 2010 | 11:10 pm

  Translation of an open letter by Chan King Fai (陳景輝), a writer for Inmediahk.net, addressed to Financial Secretary John Tsang regarding the “post-80s generation” (or the 4th generation).

• 
  Fool's Mountain: Blogging for China

• Happy New Year, Chen Shui-Bian?

  Allen

  7 Feb 2010 | 11:34 pm

  As the Chinese New Year approaches, I think I should write some lighter posts.  So here is something funny I stumbled across on WSJ’s China Realtime Report: With the Lunar New Year approaching, Chinese from the around the world are hoping to head home and spend time with their family. That’s true even of Taiwan’s former president, Chen Shui-bian, even though he’s in jail on charges of embezzling state funds. So Chen has started a letter-writing campaign asking the public to lobby his successor, Ma Ying-jeou, for a chance to go home. Chen, who was Taiwan’s president from 2000 to…

• High-Speed Rails in China

  jxie

  3 Feb 2010 | 5:43 pm

  High-speed rails (HSR) have been built in China at a fanatic pace. Figure this will be an entry to get the debate started. The first HSR, the Shanghai Maglev Train, was completed in late 2003. It was a technical trial and showcase. After its completion and initial operation, the Maglev technology was deemed too expensive to build and maintain. China decided to roll out its national HSR system with the wheel-based technology. Here is a map of China’s HSR system in 2020: Those HSRs are an engineering marvel to behold. For example, 2/3 of the Guangzhou – Wuhan line is either on elevated…

• Uln on Google.cn – “Why it’s Good that Google.cn Leaves”

  Raj

  30 Jan 2010 | 2:10 am

  Uln posted a great piece on the Google matter on his blog. Go there to read the whole thing – a selection follows. ….. Advanced SEM for Dummies (Search Engine Manipulation) The most amusing thing in the Google crisis is all the commentators crying about the loss of Google.cn and its negative consequences for the freedom of the Chinese. In fact, I maintain that Google.cn is the most evil product to ever have existed in the Chinese internet, and the World will be a better place without it. That is because, unlike the Chinese official sites that practice censorship, what the search…

• Google vs. China – Good vs. Evil?

  Allen

  25 Jan 2010 | 3:42 pm

  Google’s recent drama in China has endeared itself to some human rights activists, democracy advocates, even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  Many have applauded Google for taking a “principled stance” against the evil empire of China.  I find such rhetoric comical. Google first announced its so-called “new approach to China” after its servers were apparently attacked.  Rumors began flying that Google may be leaving China altogether. Pundits, politicians, and Secretary of State Hillary began making proclamations or prognostications on who is wrong and who…

• “茉莉花 (Molihua)” / “Jasmine Flower,” a piece of Chinese culture that has taken root around the world

  dewang

  18 Jan 2010 | 10:16 pm

  Chinese culture is rich and amazing. Did you know that the main melody at the 2008 Beijing Olympics medal ceremonies were composed using only musical instruments that were made 2,450 years ago? That melody was a version of “茉莉花” or “Jasmine Flower.” It was adapted by famous Chinese composer Tan Dun and Wang Hesheng (of the Chinese Army orchestra) using the ancient instruments for the 2008 Olympics medal ceremonies. According to this China Daily article, “Classical piece will ring in ears of winners“: “The main melody, which Tan described as…

• 
  Biz China Update - News, Reports

• Resourcehouse: Named Wrong Company in China Deal - Wall Street Journal

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:41 pm

  Resourcehouse Wins 'Australia's Largest' Export Deal (Correct) (http://news.google.com/news/url?fd=R sa=T url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessweek.com%2Fnews%2F2010-02-08%2Fresourcehouse-wins-australia-s-largest-export-deal-correct-.html usg=AFQjCNEbQ21p5A36kroVWmobt1HkY18sYg)BusinessWeekall 458 news articles »

• Rio Tinto names new chief for China business - China Knowledge Online

  4 Feb 2010 | 10:49 pm

  BigPond NewsRio Tinto names new chief for China businessChina Knowledge Online5, 2010 (China Knowledge) - Rio Tinto, the third-largest mining firm in the world, has named Ian Bauert as its managing director for China business, ...Rio Tinto names new chief for China businessLondon South EastTIMELINE-Rio names new China head to...

• Beijing feels Washington's mounting anger - Financial Times

  3 Feb 2010 | 3:49 pm

  BBC NewsBeijing feels Washington's mounting angerFinancial TimesMr Durbin said he expected the responses to include information on the companies' business in China and any efforts to ensure their products and services ...China Won't Be a 'Responsible Stakeholder'Wall Street JournalObama vows to be tougher on trade with ChinaEconomic TimesObama Urges Pressure...

• China's mobile 'grey market' adopts Android - Financial Times

  3 Feb 2010 | 6:35 am

  China's mobile 'grey market' adopts AndroidFinancial TimesBut in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, the hub of Chinese phone manufacturing, a very different business dynamic is driving small phone manufacturers ...and more »

• Milpark co-operates with Chinese business school - The Skills Portal

  3 Feb 2010 | 5:40 am

  Milpark co-operates with Chinese business schoolThe Skills PortalLikewise, South African students of business in or banking may go to China to learn about Chinese social and economic structures. ...

• 
  Silicon Dragon

• Silicon Dragon Meets Bangalore

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:47 pm

  We're having a Silicon Dragon Social in Bangalore! Drop by and say hello, if you're in town for Entrepreneur Week. Talking tech, signing books & feasting @ KaatiZone, for Entrepreneur Week. Sign up here: http://silicondragon-bangalore.eventbrite.com

• Silicon Dragon: Here come the Viet Gamers

  5 Feb 2010 | 12:34 am

  Silicon Dragon: Here come the Viet Gamers

• Here come the Viet Gamers

  5 Feb 2010 | 12:19 am

  Here Come the Viet GamersRebecca FanninForbes Asia Magazine dated February 08, 2010 Can IDG add its Tencent magic to a mini-Shanda?Perched above a Big C supermarket on a street jammed with bipeds dodging mopeds, the Ho Chi Minh City headquarters of VinaGame is easy to miss. But inside, amid funky warehouse decor and lots of young staff (see photo) glued to big computer screens, sits Vietnam's leader in online gaming and social networking services. VinaGame aims to be one of the first homegrown Internet successes in its would-be tiger economy, a Vietnamese counterpart to China's huge hits,…

• Silicon Dragon: IDG's Scores

  5 Feb 2010 | 12:13 am

  Silicon Dragon: IDG's Scores

• IDG's Scores

  5 Feb 2010 | 12:04 am

  Patrick McGovern recalls when people told him he was crazy to invest in China. That was back in 1993, when International Data Group set up IDG Venture Investment Fund. But he knew something they didn't grasp at first--through its technology, media and research business, IDG had an up-close look at which promising startups might turn into tomorrow's winners.Since then there's been a gold rush to China, no doubt spurred by the handsome gains that IDG made from early calls. Besides a score on Tencent, IDG sold its holdings in search engine Baidu for $100 a share after buying them for $2.IDG…

• 
  Lost Laowai China Blog

• Photo: Kunming side-street fashion show

  Ryan

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:00 am

  Lost Laowai blogger Matt Muller is traveling around Kunming and working his way south to Laos for the Golden Week (smart guy getting out of China for the week). He grabbed this shot in Kunming. From Matt: “It is a random ‘lingerie show’ showcased by a Chinese model on a side street in Kunming and away from the touristic center. The clientele seems to consist solely of taxi drivers and other men taking a rest break during the pre-lunch rush hour. This is one of many I snapped, but the most interesting one: Note the old lady with the hump back on right side of pic. Is she the…

• Laowai Girls like Asian Boys

  Ericka

  5 Feb 2010 | 4:31 pm

  Bruce Lee, Rain and Jay ChouWhen people think of “Rice Chasers” the common thought is of non-Asian men chasing Asian women. In fact, it’s often believed that Asian men are the most discriminated against by white women (dating wise). No one ever really thinks about crazed non-asian girls chasing after Asian men. I guess those people have never been to an Anime (multimedia) convention. While it’s not very common now to see a laowai girl with a Chinese guy in China, it’s becoming more common and all those old stereotypes about Asian men seem to be disappearing and fangirls…

• The ‘State Network Information Center’ wants to spy on you. Here’s how to stop them…

  Steven

  4 Feb 2010 | 7:26 pm

  This is a bit sinister: the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) has been dropping digital certificates into the computers of everyone in China, which could potentially allow them to snoop on your normally secure ‘https’ web-surfing, such as your online banking and email. CNNIC’s digital certificate, which is probably in your computer right now, has not been proved to be maliciously spying, but it’s a matter of trust. Do you really trust CNNIC, the overlords of the ‘Great Firewall’, to not be potentially peeking into your email, Facebook,…

• Two knives, a whole lot of Red Bull and one messed up dude

  Ryan

  27 Jan 2010 | 6:05 pm

  Upset that his boss was living a luxurious life and he couldn’t even afford cigarettes, 30-year-old Lai Yanwang slammed back a bunch of Red Bull, grabbed two (ominously, if not appropriately named) pig killing knives and headed for the office in Dongguan. Is a Bo Staff standard issue in the Guangdong police arsenal? Things ended reasonably peacefully, with Lai being put to the ground and carted off to jail. Just a little bit of crazy for your morning coffee. Update [01/29/10]: Just wanted to add a bit of a translation of the text from ChinaGeeks: Main Title: Double Swordsman in Crowded…

• There’s something happening here…

  Ryan

  24 Jan 2010 | 11:57 pm

  Hey all, pardon the mess. Am in the process of getting Lost Laowai 3.0 up and running, and am bound to be breaking stuff repeatedly while I do so. Apologies ahead of time if you come to the site and get a dastardly PHP function error, or 404 not found notice. A lot of things are still askew at the moment, but largely the new design is here. Please bear with me as I finish tweaking some of the smaller points, and turning on some of the larger ones. I’ll give a better update on all the new features once I’ve had a chance to actually get all the new features working.

• 
  chinaSMACK

• Beautiful Girls…Or Amazing Asian Pretty Boys?

  Fauna

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:54 am

  From Mop:All of the beautiful girls in the above photographs are actually men.Comments from Mop:I admit I am hard~~I have to say I am a little envious of them. Tell me, how are they so pretty? Sigh, yet still men!s2215959:I can’t go on anymore…if I keep looking at them I will no longer have any interest towards women…All pretty girls, how many women would feel ashamed after looking at them. Haha.Actually, women should look at Brother Chun. With such a powerful Brother Chun, how can they be ashamed~I keep hovering between hard and not hard?Dammit, I hate it when people say I…

• White Bugatti Veyron Spotted In Downtown Shanghai

  Fauna

  7 Feb 2010 | 8:43 am

  From Kaixin001 & KDS:Comments from KDS:If those driving ordinary VW Santanas were to hit it, they would definitely be financially ruined.The taxi driver is smart, staying far far away. Too IB.miYaGi:Such a crowded street and yet such a distance between the cars [surrounding the Bugatti), the drivers behind are definitely thinking very clearly [to avoid getting too close].J M:Park 10 minutes in front of a bar/nightclub and all of the XS [girls] inside will run out~wayio:Go drive once around the Shanghai World Expo construction site and he can take it back to Europe for major repairs.

• Fujian Man Held Wedding At His Wife’s Funeral

  Joe

  6 Feb 2010 | 7:16 am

  From NetEase:26-year-old Zhuang Huagui and 21-year-old Hu Zhao’e originally planned to get married today on February 4th, but on January 28th, Hu Zhao’e was stabbed to death by two break-in thieves. The deeply passionate groom held a special wedding at a funeral parlor for his deceased wife.February 4th, 2010, at a funeral parlor in Zhangzhou, Fujian, Zhuang Huagui tightly held his wife’s hand.February 4th, 2010, at a funeral parlor in Zhangzhou, Fujian, at the front door to the funeral parlor, parked long lines of wedding motorcade. This new couple picked up their wedding…

• Bobby Gaga: ‘Poker Face’ (Chinese New Year Version)

  Joe

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:35 am

  Well…Chinese New Year is almost here, and what better to celebrate than with wealth, fame and glamour. In this Malaysian boy’s cover of Lady Gaga’s hit song “Poker Face“, we can already get a sense of what Chinese New Year is all about – money, money, and more money. I mean, how can you not make a fortune with those sweet “發” [fa, "get rich"] shades?On YouTube: (faster for visitors outside of China)We use Freedur VPN to access YouTube from China. They are an advertising sponsor of chinaSMACK. On Youku: (faster for visitors in China)Here is a…

• Husband To Die From Cancer, Wife Aborts His Baby

  Fauna

  4 Feb 2010 | 7:36 am

  From Liba:A poll I saw on Kaixin001: Husband has stomach cancer, only has two months to live!! Wife determined to abort their child…Husband has stomach cancer, only has two months to live!! And the wife does this!!!!! (Maximum 3 choices) A husband has been diagnosed with stomach cancer, only has two months to live. Upon learning of this, the wife aborted the 5-month old child in her belly, preparing to remarry.At the time, the husband’s father and mother had already begged on their knees, asking her to have the child, and guaranteeing that they will take care of all the issues of…

• 
  China Briefing News

• Sanya Residential Property Skyrockets

  China Briefing

  9 Feb 2010 | 12:44 am

  Feb. 9 – Crispins Property Investment Management (CPIM) has released a bulletin examining the property market in the tropical South China Sea island of Hainan and the resort city of Sanya. Sanya has long been regarded as “China’s Hawaii” and with its beaches, coconut palms and great sea food it has developed into a popular destination [...]

• Hunchun: China’s Gateway to Eastern Russia and North Korea

  China Briefing

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:30 pm

  Feb. 9 – As investment costs begin to increase in China, the need for new markets have also risen leading to interesting cities to develop as strategic  trading hubs. One such example is the Chinese city of Hunchun lying in Eastern Jilin Province, a few miles from the Russian and North Korean border. The Hunchun investment [...]

• UNDP Survey on China, Regional Trade Barriers

  China Briefing

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:06 pm

  Feb. 9 – The United Nations Development Program’s Greater Tumen Initiative has requested the kind assistance of China Briefing readers in participating in a regional survey on trade barriers. The survey covering China, Russia, Mongolia, North Korea and South Korea is needed for government analysis and discussion later in the year. Participation will it possible for [...]

• New Issue of China Briefing Magazine: Closing Down Representative Offices and Liquidating Businesses in China

  China Briefing

  8 Feb 2010 | 1:46 am

  Feb. 8 – In this new issue of China Briefing, we take a look at the procedures for closing down representative offices and liquidating businesses in China. With the global financial crisis slowly beginning to ease and China’s economic growth in steady recovery, many foreign investors are again considering China. However, the chaos of the last [...]

• China Briefing Magazine Moves to Pay For View

  China Briefing

  8 Feb 2010 | 1:25 am

  BEIJING, Feb. 8 – Following ten years of providing China Briefing Magazine on a complimentary basis – including printing of some 50,000 copies a month – the magazine along with the India Briefing and Vietnam Briefing magazines in the Asia Briefing roster is moving to a pay for view basis. The move is explained by publisher [...]

• 
  2point6billion.com - Foreign Direct Investment in Asia

• India Seeks Back Up for Chinese Power Equipment

  2point6billion.com

  9 Feb 2010 | 12:17 am

  Fe. 9 – The Indian Prime Minister’s Office has ordered the Power Ministry to propose a back-up plan to guarantee an adequate support mechanism for Chinese power generation equipment sold to India. India will be using Chinese power equipment to generate 21,519 MW of capacity while orders for another batch of 14,000 MW  capacity equipment have been placed for future projects. There have been questions raised on the reliability and quality of Chinese-made power generation equipment. The Indian tenders for power generation equipment were won by Chinese state-owned equipment companies…

• India’s Car Sales Jump 32 Percent

  2point6billion.com

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:29 pm

  Feb. 9 – Indian domestic passenger car sales increased 32.28 percent to reach 145,905 units in January from 110,300 units during the same period last year, based on figures provided by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Motorcycle sales in January also increased by 43.69 percent to 650,633 units, compared with 452,809 units in the corresponding month last year. Two-wheeler sales also increased by 43.43 percent to 834,383 units from 581,729 units in January last year. According to SIAM, the sales of commercial vehicles increased by more than two-fold during last month…

• China’s Pension Fund to Invest in India

  2point6billion.com

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:32 pm

  Feb. 9 – China’s National Social Security Fund may invest some of its more than US$100 billion worth of funds in India, according to its chairman. Chinese National Council for Social Security Fund Chairman Dai Xianglong said during the DSP Merrill Lynch India Investor Conference held in New Delhi: “By the end of 2009, the total amount of China’s National Social Security Fund has exceeded US$100 billion and a part of it may also be invested overseas, including in India.”Press Trust of India quoted him as saying: “In the next one to two years, if we can work…

• Taiwan to Build US$178 Million Bridge to Mainland

  2point6billion.com

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:51 pm

  Feb. 9 – Taiwan has approved plans to build a bridge from the Taiwan-held Kinmen group of islands to the mainland reflecting improving relations between the two. The 5.3 kilometer bridge will begin in Kinmen proper spanning to neighboring Little Kinmen and the mainland at a total cost of US$178 million when it is finished in 2016. The area was once the site of the Battle of the Taiwan Strait which left 439 Taiwanese soldiers dead and 1,870 injured when Chinese military heavily bombarded the islands 60 years ago. “The bridge that has now been approved can be seen as a part of the…

• India, Pakistan to Hold High Level Talks

  2point6billion.com

  7 Feb 2010 | 11:22 pm

  Feb. 8 – India has offered to hold high level talks in all outstanding issues with Pakistan, the latest one since the Mumbai attacks in 2008. The venue, agenda and time of the talks are still pending negotiations between the two. The meeting is expected ease tension in the region and particularly help American efforts to stabilize Afghanistan. “A lot of people in the United States believe that peace in Afghanistan runs through Kashmir so it’s very important for the United States and the whole international community to see that India and Pakistan are talking,”…

• 
  ChinaTravel.net Features

• ChinaTravel.net Interview: Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong GM Jonas Schuermann

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:40 pm

  A veteran hotelier with over 25 years of worldwide hospitality-industry experience, Jonas Schuermann was officially introduced as the General Manager of the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong on September 1st, 2009. >>> With more than 15 years in senior management positions at luxury hotels in Hong Kong, Beijing, Macau, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, Mr. Schuermann recently visited Shanghai to offer ...

• Where to watch Super Bowl XLIV in China: Beijing's best sports bars

  2 Feb 2010 | 1:08 pm

  Last week we brought you a list of Shanghai's best sports bars, and, in eager anticipation of next week's Super Bowl XLIV, we're heading north, to offer you a list of the top places to watch sports in Beijing. Much like Shanghai, Beijing is home to a number of expat-friendly sports bars and pubs, and, similarly, you can catch all the big events: Hong Kong Sevens, NBA Playoffs and the French ...

• Super Bowl, World Cup, 2010 Winter Olympics: Shanghai's best sports bars

  26 Jan 2010 | 5:31 pm

  With Super Bowl XLIV and the Australian Open finals just around the corner, Shanghai ex-pat sports fans are bummin' hard, forced to cope with the reality that China just isn't the most convenient place to get your sport on, save for the NBA Houston Rockets games on rotation on CCTV. 2010 will hit die-hard sports fans extra hard, given that the Vancouver Winter Olympics and the World Cup ...

• Sightseeing by satellite: China through a Google lens

  13 Jan 2010 | 11:53 am

  Whether you use Google Earth to explore places you know you’ll never get to, or simply to whet your appetite before a trip, anyone with access to the internet can now don their explorer’s hat and go a-hunting. Yet the most amazing thing isn’t so much the technology, as the weird and wonderful things you can find therein. In China that means secret submarines, bird's eye views of ...

• China's World Heritage Sites: Beijing, from the Forbidden City to the Great Wall

  11 Dec 2009 | 4:02 pm

  China's long list of World Heritage Sites delivers everything from spectacular natural scenery to historic (and prehistoric) wonders going back to the Middle Pleistocene. In this four-part series, we explore the best of China, starting with Beijing's World Heritage Sites. We'll follow up with China's holy mountains, historical sites beyond Beijing, and the best of China's natural parks and scenery ...

• 
  China Expat - China Expat City Guide blogs

• Maleonn's Kingdom of Illusions

  Ernie

  7 Feb 2010 | 7:20 pm

   from Maleonn's What Love Is       You can still make magic with photography. Of course, you need more than Photoshop. Some hereditary talent never hurts. Maleonn's father was the head of the Shanghai Opera, his mother a famous actress. More importantly, a magician must maintain the imagination of a child. When his parents were sent to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution, Ma Liang stayed behind, alone, and became Maleonn, child-mage, lord of a private universe. The words accompanying his work are his own.  read more

• The Lost Souls of Amoy

  Ernie

  4 Feb 2010 | 5:42 pm

              From Forty Years in South China, by Reverend John Fagg, an account of the Reverend John Van Nest Talmage, a missionary in Xiamen from 1847 to 1890. "This will account in part for the barbarous custom of infanticide which prevails to so lamentable an extent among these heathen.  Only female infants are destroyed.  While the parents are living the son may be of pecuniary advantage to them, and after their death, he can attend to the rites of their souls, and even after his death, through him the parents may have descendants to perform the…

• Chikan: Two Worlds in One

  Ernie

  3 Feb 2010 | 5:01 am

        "This isn't China," you might well say, should someone lead you off a plane in a blindfold, then remove it after bringing you to Chikan. "A Mediterranean town gone to seed, perhaps." Then you'd sniff the humidity, note a svelte Asian chap rocket by on a scooter. "Vietnam? These buildings could be French colonial." But Chikan is two hours and a world away from Guangzhou, leading to the next question, "Who on earth built this place?" read more

• The Green Hornet: A Pre-Review

  Ernie

  31 Jan 2010 | 11:37 pm

        We get the movies we deserve. Information has replaced imagination, and worldwide Spiderman receipts guarantee we'll get superhero remakes until the archives have been exhausted. But the upcoming remake of The Green Hornet, due out this December, is a double outrage.  That the original show bored in all but one aspect is forgivable; a recycled superhero script is a better bet than an original script, according to obscene Hollywood calculus. That this remake will trample the legacy of Bruce Lee, and his remarkable achievement as Kato, is not. read more

• The Death of a Living Buddha

  Ernie

  27 Jan 2010 | 7:16 pm

          From the banned book Stick Out Your Tongue, by Ma Jian.     The Ceremony of Empowerment was to be conducted as usual by Labrang Chantso. Sangsang Tashi felt short of breath at the thought that tomorrow she would have to perform the Union of the Two Bodies Ritual with him. She sensed that Labrang Chantso disliked her, and that he hated the thought that his elder brother, Tenzin Wangdu, had been reincarnated in her body. But Labrang Chantso was well versed in the secret doctrines. It was he who had instructed her on the Five Major Treatises, and who had…

• 
  2point6billion.com - Foreign Direct Investment in Asia

• India Seeks Back Up for Chinese Power Equipment

  2point6billion.com

  9 Feb 2010 | 12:17 am

  Fe. 9 – The Indian Prime Minister’s Office has ordered the Power Ministry to propose a back-up plan to guarantee an adequate support mechanism for Chinese power generation equipment sold to India. India will be using Chinese power equipment to generate 21,519 MW of capacity while orders for another batch of 14,000 MW  capacity equipment have been placed for future projects. There have been questions raised on the reliability and quality of Chinese-made power generation equipment. The Indian tenders for power generation equipment were won by Chinese state-owned equipment companies…

• India’s Car Sales Jump 32 Percent

  2point6billion.com

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:29 pm

  Feb. 9 – Indian domestic passenger car sales increased 32.28 percent to reach 145,905 units in January from 110,300 units during the same period last year, based on figures provided by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Motorcycle sales in January also increased by 43.69 percent to 650,633 units, compared with 452,809 units in the corresponding month last year. Two-wheeler sales also increased by 43.43 percent to 834,383 units from 581,729 units in January last year. According to SIAM, the sales of commercial vehicles increased by more than two-fold during last month…

• China’s Pension Fund to Invest in India

  2point6billion.com

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:32 pm

  Feb. 9 – China’s National Social Security Fund may invest some of its more than US$100 billion worth of funds in India, according to its chairman. Chinese National Council for Social Security Fund Chairman Dai Xianglong said during the DSP Merrill Lynch India Investor Conference held in New Delhi: “By the end of 2009, the total amount of China’s National Social Security Fund has exceeded US$100 billion and a part of it may also be invested overseas, including in India.”Press Trust of India quoted him as saying: “In the next one to two years, if we can work…

• Taiwan to Build US$178 Million Bridge to Mainland

  2point6billion.com

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:51 pm

  Feb. 9 – Taiwan has approved plans to build a bridge from the Taiwan-held Kinmen group of islands to the mainland reflecting improving relations between the two. The 5.3 kilometer bridge will begin in Kinmen proper spanning to neighboring Little Kinmen and the mainland at a total cost of US$178 million when it is finished in 2016. The area was once the site of the Battle of the Taiwan Strait which left 439 Taiwanese soldiers dead and 1,870 injured when Chinese military heavily bombarded the islands 60 years ago. “The bridge that has now been approved can be seen as a part of the…

• India, Pakistan to Hold High Level Talks

  2point6billion.com

  7 Feb 2010 | 11:22 pm

  Feb. 8 – India has offered to hold high level talks in all outstanding issues with Pakistan, the latest one since the Mumbai attacks in 2008. The venue, agenda and time of the talks are still pending negotiations between the two. The meeting is expected ease tension in the region and particularly help American efforts to stabilize Afghanistan. “A lot of people in the United States believe that peace in Afghanistan runs through Kashmir so it’s very important for the United States and the whole international community to see that India and Pakistan are talking,”…

• 
  Xinjiang: Far West China

• Still Counting? 27 More Websites Opened in Xinjiang

  6 Feb 2010 | 8:08 pm

  As of midnight last Friday, February 5th, it was announced that 27 more “outside Xinjiang” websites have been opened in addition to the four sites that were already accessible. After spending this past weekend searching over all these sites I can tell you that progress has been made, although each of them loads quite slowly. What’s more…one of them doesn’t load at all (the China Rail site received a "Connection Interrupted"). Excuse me, folks. That would be 26 more websites open, not 27. A Look at What’s New The sites can be divided into about 9 different categories and although a…

• An Article for the BBC

  4 Feb 2010 | 7:30 am

  Yesterday the BBC posted a short piece I wrote for them about the current situation here in Xinjiang. If you’re interested to check it out, you can look at the Asia-Pacific page of the BBC where you’ll find - at least for now - a picture of my wife and I, or you can just read the entire article here. Most of the information isn’t new to those who are regular readers of FarWestChina. It was a wonderful opportunity and I feel honored that they contacted me to write even though it was an eye-opening experience. For example, the 500-word article they requested was slashed to a mere 300…

• Picture of the Week: Oil, Oil Everywhere

  3 Feb 2010 | 3:30 pm

  Oil, oil, everywhere Along the road between Karamay and Urhe in northern Xinjiang there is a stretch of desert landscape that stretches as far as the eye can see and is dotted with innumerable oil rigs. In Chinese they call them “Christmas Trees” (is that what we call it in English?) and most of them toil day and night pumping oil from the ground to be refined and piped all the way to Shanghai. Follow me on Twitter

• Native Americans vs. Uyghurs & Tibetans

  2 Feb 2010 | 1:20 am

  The similarities are so obvious I’m surprised I don’t see this kind of news article more often. Xinhua, China’s largest news organization and an acknowledged government mouthpiece, ran a short story today about the American Indian tribes in New Mexico and Arizona. Why, you ask? Good question. The story ran in both English and Chinese, and has obviously been sitting in a file waiting for the right moment to be published. I believe, prompted by all this news about the Dalai Lama and an arms deal with Taiwan, somebody decided that moment should be now. Why the American Indians? The story…

• Picture of the Week: Skiing in the Desert

  27 Jan 2010 | 3:30 pm

   Skiing in the Desert It may come as a shock to some of you that there’s very little to do in a desert during the middle of winter. One of the few outdoor activities, believe it or not, is skiing. The city of Karamay is an oil city and despite its desolate location it has the excess cash to paint a desert with snow. For most people accustomed to real skiing in the mountains, the hills here would be described as bunny slopes. Still, I can’t deny the fun factor. Equipped with a “chairlift” that is actually a rope and a disc you fit between your legs, you can slowly climb the hill…

• 
  Gruvr.com: China Concerts

• Thursday 11th: Michel Altmayer at GUANGZHOU GUANGZHOU

  9 Feb 2010 | 6:39 am

  at GUANGZHOU GUANGZHOU on 2010-02-11

• Friday 12th: Ali Mac Drummer Percussionist at Sedbergh CCF Band - Tour of Hong Kong Hong Kong

  9 Feb 2010 | 6:36 am

  at Sedbergh CCF Band - Tour of Hong Kong Hong Kong on 2010-02-12

• Friday 12th: Michel Altmayer at GUANGZHOU GUANGZHOU

  9 Feb 2010 | 6:33 am

  at GUANGZHOU GUANGZHOU on 2010-02-12

• Saturday 13th: DJ ZEGON at Hong Kong T.B.A Hong Kong

  9 Feb 2010 | 6:29 am

  at Hong Kong T.B.A Hong Kong on 2010-02-13

• Tuesday Feb 16th: JEFFREE STAR at 2 new songs quot;BLUSHquot; quot;INJECT ME SWEETLYquot; on iTUNES!!! world wide

  9 Feb 2010 | 6:26 am

  at 2 new songs quot;BLUSHquot; quot;INJECT ME SWEETLYquot; on iTUNES!!! world wide on 2010-02-16

• 
  The China Observer

• Top 5 Chinese Technology Trends For The Year Of The Tiger

  Joel

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:13 am

  ChinaTechNews Another Chinese New Year is upon us, and this year we transition into the Year of the Tiger. As Chinese businesses begin to shut down until the beginning of March 2010, we’ve stared at the eye of the tiger and risen to the challenge of figuring out the trends for this coming year… Read More

• Here Come the Viet Gamers

  Joel

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:42 am

  Forbes Perched above a Big C supermarket on a street jammed with bipeds dodging mopeds, the Ho Chi Minh City headquarters of VinaGame is easy to miss. But inside, amid funky warehouse decor and lots of young staff glued to big computer screens, sits Vietnam’s leader in online gaming and social networking services. VinaGame aims to be one of the first homegrown Internet successes in its would-be tiger economy, a Vietnamese counterpart to China’s huge hits, Shanda Interactive Entertainment ( SNDA - news - people ) and Tencent. With stated 2009 revenues of $50 million on the back…

• The China Observer: Ranked One of the Top 50 China Blogs

  Joel

  4 Feb 2010 | 5:42 am

  “Over the past few decades China has risen to be one of the world’s biggest economic and political powers. Yet even as it has gained increasing recognition on the world stage, many people know little about Chinese culture, day-to-day life and politics. For those who can’t afford to fly around the world to explore in person, these blogs offer a chance to learn more about this ancient culture, modern country and diverse population without ever having to leave home.” Check out the top 50 blogs here

• Smart Cities - A $30 Billion Opportunity For Cisco, But Will Local Citizens Be Ready?

  Joel

  1 Feb 2010 | 5:07 am

  The following post is about two former colleagues – Asa from New York City and Lifen from Changsha, China.They have never met one another, but their lives are bizarrely linked together because of an emerging trend that’s being spearheaded by a US-based real estate development firm and technology giants like Cisco Systems. About five years ago my former colleague Asa found himself caught in a dilemma about his career advancement. He had just received a job offer from an up-and-coming advertising firm in New York City. Should he keep his job at Gale International, an established…

• Chinese Companies Can’t Build Brands? Think Again

  Joel

  30 Jan 2010 | 7:00 pm

  BusinessWeek How many Chinese brands can you name? Probably fewer than the fingers on your hand. Atlantic Monthly journalist James Fallows believes China’s lack of global brands is proof it is not an economic superpower. As he wrote last month, 44% of Americans think that the world’s leading economic power is China. “People who think this are crazy,” Fallows wrote on his blog. “Name 20 large American corporations that do business worldwide. Without trying, you can probably name 50. Try to name even 10 from China.” Most people can’t. In part,…

• 
  Tai Shan

• Some Nice Panda Pictures

  sbryant

  9 Feb 2010 | 12:37 am

  I came across some nice shots of the panda reserve in Sichuan, with 16 panda cubs newly introduced at the facilities there. Pretty cute stuff!

• Suzhou Overload… is it possible?

  sbryant

  6 Feb 2010 | 7:04 am

  I’ve recently finished writing the complete text of my first draft of the Suzhou travel guide I’ve been engaged to write.  It took me a while to get into a groove with it, but once I did, I spent long hours at a time thinking of nothing but Suzhou and how best to present it to first-time visitors to that wonderful ancient city.  Somewhere around the 25,000th word or so that I wrote, I began to wonder when Suzhou-overload would set in.  In the midst of editing and rewriting now, I think I have an answer — it won’t.  There is just so much to this city.  It is so…

• PORTAL Focus on China

  sbryant

  3 Feb 2010 | 12:11 am

  The recent issue of PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies (Vol 6, No 2) focuses on China.  The issue, guest edited by Yi Zheng and Stephanie Hemelryk Donald, is full of fantastic insight into contemporary life in China.  It is scholarly and insightful, and I am really glad to have read it. With the recent discussion here and elsewhere about the China-Google relationship, I’ve been thinking a lot about the boycotts of Carrefour by Chinese consumers a few years ago.  I enjoyed reading Pál Nyíri’s article about boycotts by Chinese consumers in this issue.

• The Forbidden Kingdom

  sbryant

  30 Jan 2010 | 12:12 am

  The Forbidden Kingdom is a fun, light-hearted film for people interested in Chinese culture and its representation in popular culture in the West.  The movie features big names in Chinese cinema, including Jacky Chan and Jet Li, and both make the movie lots of fun. The movie centers around a boy, Jason, who is something of a misfit because of his interest in kungfu movies and other geeky sorts of entertainments.  He gets sucked into his fantasy world via a DVD he finds in a pawn shop, the classic kungfu film The Ten Tigers of Guangdong.  It is fun to watch him try to make his way through…

• Art and Poetry

  sbryant

  27 Jan 2010 | 7:27 am

  Besides the excellent works of prose featured in the back issue (Winter 2008) of Asia Literary Review I recently read, there are on its pages some really nice works of poetry and art. I am no expert on the visual arts (far from it), but I really enjoyed Karen CL Cheung’s photo essay covering Chen Guang Ming’s series of paintings entitled Miners. The oil on canvas pieces do a fantastic job of capturing a glimpse into the lives of a segment of China’s society that is often overlooked — living a life practically buried under the earth of that huge nation — the coal miners…

• 
  Middle Kingdom Life

• Do You Speak English?

  It’s a question I find myself asking every time I need to call the Bank of China about my secured “international” credit card, Great Wall Credit Card.

• Sam’s Club in Guangzhou, China

  In summary, and with few exceptions, you won’t find merchandise or prices at the Sam’s Club in Guangzhou that you can’t find elsewhere but the one-stop-shopping warehouse milieu will appeal to many and walking around Sam’s Club, even in mainland China, is a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

• How Hard Do Foreign English Teachers in China Actually Work?

  While foreign teachers employed by Chinese colleges and universities do work the fewest number of hours, the average number of base contract hours was reported as 17.33, SD = 5.2, suggesting that the days of receiving university contracts requiring only 12 to 14 class periods per week of work are rapidly coming to an end. Related, teachers working at private English language schools reported working an average of 26.91 hours per week, SD = 9.93, which is also in excess of what used to commonly be the 16- to 22-hour workweek required by the majority of private English language schools in…

• Pros and Cons of Being Married to a Chinese Woman

  Although my wife is an associate professor of English in a vocational school and her English is far superior to that of most Chinese teachers, she occasionally has trouble grasping the more subtle qualities of our language. Also, I have a pretty large vocabulary but I can't use it to its fullest because otherwise she would simply not understand me.

• Analysis of the Statistical Differences between StatCounter and Google Analytics

  This article examines the quantitative differences between StatCounter and Google Analytics across two statistics, page views and visits, for one website over a two month period.

• 
  CHINAYOUREN

• Google Documents and Groups Open in China!

  Uln

  1 Feb 2010 | 5:49 pm

  Holy Smokes! Something is moving in Google China. I have been working for the last 12 hours with Google docs, and I just realize I was using Yi’s computer, the one that doesn’t have the VPN installed. This means that Google Documents is unblocked since  yesterday evening at least.  And so is Google Groups! Both sites were blocked by the Chinese GFW until recently. Now I don’t know what to make of this. Is the GFW tinkering with the censorship algorithms as it prepares to include the whole of Google.com in the block and turn off the lights for ever? Or are the…

• Startups: Technology for the gentleman

  Uln

  25 Jan 2010 | 6:08 am

  All this G talk of the last days has brought me a lot of readers from the tech world, and I feel a responsibility towards them now to report the latest innovations. That is why yesterday during my Sunday walk I decided to stroll into the local public lavatory, where the latest developments are always cooking in the field of signese. A bit of background: signese is the Chinese humour contained in public signs before they are translated to English. It is not Chinglish, it goes much deeper into our cultural differences, and it is funny because it shows an unexpected approach to life. Look at…

• Why it’s Good that Google.cn Leaves + SEM (2)

  Uln

  21 Jan 2010 | 10:14 am

  Back on the job. On re-read, I have the feeling that I might have been too optimistic yesterday. Sure, the style of Google’s announcement betrayed personal involvement, and once at the negotiation table it is to be expected that a more businesslike atmosphere will prevail. But even if G shuts up, it is not sure that the CCP will let them get away with it. Depending on who they have at the table, the outcome will be anything between the two extremes we have considered. But let’s leave our bipolar guesswork aside for a while, so we can concentrate on a more interesting issue.

• Google: Good News + Advanced Study of SEM (1)

  Uln

  20 Jan 2010 | 11:39 am

  You might be wondering why this story of Google is taking up so much space in this otherwise low-tech blog. I am as well. I think what fascinates me is the almost complete absence of first hand news after the G bomb. The time is for speculation, and for China bloggers and tea leave readers like me, it feels like we are right in our element. To the rest, welcome to China. Yesterday I imagined a worst case scenario where Google let ugly international politics get mixed into this affair. That was just a scenario of doom, and not the outcome I consider most likely. In fact, I believe the G…

• Google: Don’t Make that Mistake

  Uln

  18 Jan 2010 | 11:15 pm

  Looking back to what I wrote last week I realize that, in my effort to keep a cool head and analyze the events, I forgot to say a very important thing: I Respect Google. I have never had any doubt of the non-business nature of their decision, and, in spite of our poll’s results, I am convinced it was based on the personal, ethical and political convictions of the company’s leaders. I do not like the way it has been done, but it sure takes some guts for a CEO to defy the World order, whatever the company’s IPO said. My own site has been victim of censorship, and I was quick…

• 
  ChinaBizGov

• The Cost of a Camaro in China

  G. E. Anderson ---

  5 Feb 2010 | 12:13 pm

  The guys at China Car Times posted this entry about the biggest auto discounts in China. Topping the list is the Chevrolet Camaro with a stunning 160,000 RMB (US$23,500) discount from list. The Camaro's base price in the US is only $22,995, which is even smaller than the amount by which it is being discounted in China!Frankly, I'm not surprised that the Camaro would need to be discounted so much. While it appeals to me as an American who remembers the '68 Camaro, it is hardly suitable for the rough streets of China or for China's fuel-conscious drivers. (Gasoline is more expensive in China…

• In Lieu of an Actual Blog Post (II)

  G. E. Anderson ---

  28 Jan 2010 | 6:20 pm

  As I near the end of my current data-gathering trip in China (which has lasted longer than I expected), I anticipate another year or so of analysis and writing. Needless to say, I have neglected my blog in recent months, but I hope to remedy that after my return to the States. My last couple of months have been a mad dash to complete as many interviews as possible, and get out of China before Spring Festival.In the meantime, here's a link to a short interview I did with Michael McCune of the China Business Network. The content of the intro paragraph doesn't entirely reflect my views (I…

• Private Chinese Firms Don't Get Bank Loans? Think Again.

  G. E. Anderson ---

  6 Dec 2009 | 5:39 pm

  Just when you think you have it all figured out.The Bank of China, one of China's Big Four state-owned banks, has been busy funding auto companies this week.The Bank announced this week that it has approved a 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) line of credit for Beijing Auto Industry Holding Corp (BAIC). Some are speculating that this money may be used by BAIC in its continued pursuit of an overseas purchase, most likely Saab, or at least some of its assets.BAIC is owned by the local Beijing government, so the fact that Bank of China is providing funds should not come as a big surprise. Bank of…

• China Continues to Ride the Tiger

  G. E. Anderson ---

  30 Nov 2009 | 7:10 pm

  Analysts are predicting a significant drop in European auto sales in 2010, possibly by as much as 10.4 percent according to J.D. Power. The drop, however, will not come because Europeans have lost interest in cars, or because the economy is expected to further worsen. It will come because of incentive schemes that pumped up 2009 sales. (Financial Times, "Carmakers Plan for Slow Year as Incentives End".)While we can debate the merits of incentivizing major consumer purchases as a tool for jumpstarting an economy in recession, many auto analysts feel that such tools only amount to a shell game…

• As the World Turns: Geely and Volvo

  G. E. Anderson ---

  11 Nov 2009 | 9:54 pm

  Plenty of ink has been spilled and pixels lighted covering the potential purchase of Volvo from Ford by Geely. A quick Google search will turn up more than enough material about this merger that simply refuses to be consummated, so I won't even attempt to link them.Today, however, there was finally a fresh piece of news on this story in the Wall Street Journal's "China Real Time Report". WSJ's China auto journalist, Norihiko Shirouzu reports that a "knowledgeable person" close to Geely is expressing doubts that the merger will ever happen -- at least not in the way it has been presented over…

• 
  Asian Ramblings

• Hong Kong Photo: Getting Ready

  Stevo

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:23 pm

  Getting Ready: Morning on Victoria Harbor I haven’t gone to Hong Kong very much since last July. Five trips in seven months: That won’t do. My Chinese resident permit will be ready tomorrow, I will be a resident of the Middle Kingdom (again) and be able to leave and return without worrying about visas and other government mumbo-jumbo. Once upon a time I loathed Hong Kong. I would have proclaimed “I hate Hong Kong,” from the top of Victoria peak if I’d had the chance. But, we all mellow. I still believe Hong Kong is the place useless and bitter expats go to die,…

• China Travel: A bus quiz

  Stevo

  7 Feb 2010 | 3:47 pm

  Imagine: You’re waiting for your bus, standing at the side of a Chinese street at 6:30 am. The bus, the first of a day to another city, is 30 minutes late. The bus could be late because (pick the correct answer): The bus was the leave the station at 6:00 am. The driver thought getting up and leaving home at 5:59 am would be good enough. The driver’s watch has only three times: Breakfast time, Lunch Time, and Dinner Time. The driver waited because a rider said his mother, brother, friend, or lover was on their way and would there  “soon.” The driver stopped the bus to get gas. The…

• Visaless and undergeared in China

  Stevo

  3 Feb 2010 | 2:50 pm

  I’ve been playing with lights, when time has allowed. Softboxes, umbrellas, flashes, triggers: The whole strobist thing. Alas, much of my photography lately has been product shots, nothing too exciting. The above was shot a while back. As I was setting up for some product shots – with models – a colleague walked on to the set and busted out a move that would make Zoolander proud. A little post production with Nik EFX and voila. My beloved 40D is being healed by the doctors at Canon Hong Kong. It’s been repaired – at 1/3 of the price I paid for it. Let his be a…

• Recalled to Life

  Stevo

  27 Jan 2010 | 11:37 pm

  Sunrise in Hong Kong What it’s been? A couple of months? I’m back. Sort of. Where have I been? Here and there. Everywhere and nowhere. After 3.5 years of blogging I was a little tired. Seeing what some bloggers had done in the name of making a buck made me sad. Tired and sad, I opted for a little time away from Asian Ramblings and the travel blog scene. That and I’ve turned a page or two in the book that is my life. A whole new chapter, you might say. A new job, as I mentioned previously. Out of the classroom and into the boardroom. We (Mrs. Stevo and I) bought a condo. I…

• Swan Song

  Stevo

  3 Nov 2009 | 3:12 am

  Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Hamlet, William Shakespeare For the Love of Money is The Root of All Evil Timothy 6:10 Let be be finale of seem. The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream. The Emperor of Ice Cream, Wallace Stevens From a fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty “Hi-yo Silver,” I say Peace Out.

• 
  Digital China Guide

• China’s Digital Ecosystem is Booming!

  The Sina news portal has a headline news story reporting that the total number of internet users in China has reached 338 million, and that the total number of people in China who access the internet by means of their mobile phones has reached 155 million. “At 13:30 in the afternoon on ...

• China’s Mobile Internet Update

  This post was spurred by a question about the state of the mobile ad market in China. The short answer is I couldn't find any reliable, vendor independent statistics relating to total marketing spend on m0bile in China, nor any reliable data relating to % spend by mobile marketing activity. If ...

• China Mobile Internet is Heating Up!

  China's 3G Rollout Fuelling a Globally Retracting Market. The mobile space is going to heat up this year in China with the rollout of 3G services. According to Digitimes.com This rollout is actually the main motor fueling growth in an otherwise global market which showed 9% revenue contractions. China Telecom Focus China Telecom's ...

• Sorry for the break …

  Hi: Just a quick update to appologise for the lack of posts lately. I have started a new role at Starcom and have been quite busy however I will  start posting again this weekend!!! Thanks for your patience and support ;) cheers /tim

• Latest Report on Internet Development in China

  I have just finished reading the latest report from CNNIC titled 23rd Statistical Report on the Internet Development in China [pdf]. Here's a quick summary of the salient points as released by CNNIC. Internet Penetration Rate in China Surpassed the Global Average Level for the First Time According to the report, by the ...

• 
  Digital China Guide

• China’s Digital Ecosystem is Booming!

  The Sina news portal has a headline news story reporting that the total number of internet users in China has reached 338 million, and that the total number of people in China who access the internet by means of their mobile phones has reached 155 million. “At 13:30 in the afternoon on ...

• China’s Mobile Internet Update

  This post was spurred by a question about the state of the mobile ad market in China. The short answer is I couldn't find any reliable, vendor independent statistics relating to total marketing spend on m0bile in China, nor any reliable data relating to % spend by mobile marketing activity. If ...

• China Mobile Internet is Heating Up!

  China's 3G Rollout Fuelling a Globally Retracting Market. The mobile space is going to heat up this year in China with the rollout of 3G services. According to Digitimes.com This rollout is actually the main motor fueling growth in an otherwise global market which showed 9% revenue contractions. China Telecom Focus China Telecom's ...

• Sorry for the break …

  Hi: Just a quick update to appologise for the lack of posts lately. I have started a new role at Starcom and have been quite busy however I will  start posting again this weekend!!! Thanks for your patience and support ;) cheers /tim

• Latest Report on Internet Development in China

  I have just finished reading the latest report from CNNIC titled 23rd Statistical Report on the Internet Development in China [pdf]. Here's a quick summary of the salient points as released by CNNIC. Internet Penetration Rate in China Surpassed the Global Average Level for the First Time According to the report, by the ...

• 
  China Private Equity

• Is This China’s Worst New Brand? Cambridge University Clothing

  admin

  9 Feb 2010 | 5:07 am

  In a recent blog post I discussed how and why Chinese brands are not just holding their own in China, but winning against global titans like P&G, Nike, Unilever, Coca-Cola. A big reason is that there are Chinese entrepreneurs with a great feeling for what kind of brand messaging works best in China.  But, of course, success is not automatic. China can also produce its share of Edsel brands, clunkers that seem from the start preordained to fail. One such case has some special resonance for me. There’s a new retail clothing brand in China called “University of Cambridge”. It was just…

• Sino-American Relations – Some Overblown Analysis from the USA

  admin

  3 Feb 2010 | 3:51 pm

  Is China’s reaction to last week’s announced US arms sale to Taiwan really all that more strident than in the past? Should America be worried? To read some of the recent American news reporting, citing the usual ragbag of US-based “China experts”, you might conclude so. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/30/AR2010013002443.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/world/asia/01china.html?scp=1&sq=helene%20cooper&st=cse I don’t buy it. China is not set, contrary to such reports, firmly on a course to antagonize America. It is, however, a great power…

• China’s Brand New Brand Names

  admin

  30 Jan 2010 | 6:18 pm

  1837. That’s when the first and still grandest of all consumer brand companies got its start.  Procter & Gamble started off selling soap and candles, then in 1879, introduced its first major branded product, Ivory soap, which quickly became the leading soap brand in the US. P&G then gradually, over the next 130 years, added other brands that became market leaders, including Tide, Crest, Pampers, Gillette, Olay, Head & Shoulders This same slow-and-steady pace characterizes most other well-known consumer brand companies, including: Unilever, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Mercedes-Benz,…

• New CFC Report on Assessing Risk in PE Investment in China

  admin

  25 Jan 2010 | 6:54 am

  “Risk and Reward.  They are the yin and yang of investing.” So begins the latest of CFC’s Chinese-language research reports on risk and reward in private equity investment in China. The 18-page report (titled in Chinese)  has just been published, and is downloadable via the CFC website by clicking this link:  http://www.chinafirstcapital.com/Riskandreward.pdf The report’s goal, as stated in the introduction, is to “summarize the ways PE firms evaluate the risks of an investment opportunity so that entrepreneurs will better understand the decision-making process of PE firms, and…

• PE-backed firms in China make huge contribution to Chinese economy and development

  admin

  20 Jan 2010 | 6:03 am

  Here’s an excellent article from AltAssetson the contributions of PE-backed companies in China. According to the study, Chinese firms receiving at least $20 million in private equity are leaders in contributing to job creation and economic growth in China.   Chinese PE-backed companies have more positive social impact than listed firms The study compared 100 companies that received at least $20m US private equity investments between 2002 and 2006 with 2,424 publicly listed companies having major operations in China to determine their social impact. The results of the study show that…

• 
  Konaxis: Business and Industry News in China

• ASEAN And China CloseTo Deals To Open Up Asia-Pacific Air Travel

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:00 am

  China and the Association of South East Asian Nations are nearing agreement on two air service pacts that would mark a big move towards open skies across a vast area of the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore's transport minister said Monday, reported Financial Times.

• China Pledges New EffortsTo Boost Rural Development

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:00 am

  China will put more investment, subsidies, fiscal and policy supports into vast rural areas this year. The aim is to better coordinate urban and rural development, the central government said on Sunday, reported China Daily.

• China’s Comac Seeks 100 C919 Plane Orders By Year End

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:00 am

  Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, maker of the nation’s first narrow-body passenger plane, aims to win around 100 orders for the aircraft by year-end as it challenges Boeing Co. and Airbus SAS, reported Bloomberg.

• M.Stanley To Sell China Property To Keppel Unit

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:00 am

  The property investment arm of Morgan Stanley is in final talks to sell a Chinese apartment complex to a unit of Singapore's Keppel Land, sources close to the deal said on Tuesday, reported Bloomberg.

• Investment Contributes Over 90% To China's GDP Growth: NBS

  7 Feb 2010 | 7:00 am

  Investment accounted for 92.3 percent of China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2009, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

• 
  Jing Daily

• 10 For ‘10: Expert Opinions On The Year Ahead (Part 1 of 2)

  Jing Daily

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:18 am

  For our two-part series, “10 for ‘10,” Jing Daily asked experts to weigh in about what we could see developing in a range of industries in China over the course of 2010. From arts and culture to the luxury business, from technology and current events to marketing and economics, Part One of “10 for ‘10″ includes something for everybody. Technology/Internet Kaiser Kuo Kaiser Kuo, Author, Speaker, Journalist, Musician I suspect that 2010 will see an even greater acceleration of a trend we’ve seen emerge over the last two or three years, and that is that…

• Chinese Luxury Jewelry Designer Wan BaoBao: “No Emotion Is Meaningless” (Interview)

  Jing Daily

  5 Feb 2010 | 9:33 am

  Designer Incorporates Chinese Cultural, Historical Designs Into Jewelry "La Coquetterie" collection (Courtesy Bao Bao Wan Fine Jewelry) Although the top Western luxury jewelry brands still dominate in China, we’re starting to see more Chinese companies entering the premium jewelry segment. From the French-Chinese fusion style of Qeelin to more traditional Hong Kong brands like Chow Tai Fook, Chinese luxury jewelry has increasingly developed a distinctive, culture-infused style, and though most of China’s wealthy elite still puts a premium on famous imported brands,…

• BMW Commissions Jeff Koons For 2010 Art Car: Will A Chinese Artist Be Next?

  Jing Daily

  5 Feb 2010 | 8:24 am

  China Already World’s Largest Auto Market, Set To Be Largest Luxury Market Within 5 Years; As Wealthy Chinese Become More Interested In Culture, Will BMW Bring Together Chinese Art And Automotive Luxury? BMW Art Cars have been designed by artists like Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Jenny Holzer and Roy Lichtenstein This week, BMW announced that this year’s “art car” — a program the luxury automaker has sponsored since 1975 — will be designed by top American conceptual artist Jeff Koons. Koons, who has expressed interest in taking part in the art car…

• Bottega Veneta Opens First Second-Tier Location In Nanjing

  Jing Daily

  4 Feb 2010 | 11:09 am

  Italian Luxury Brand’s First Nanjing Location Is Eighth Retail Outlet In Mainland China Bottega Veneta's new Nanjing store is located in the city's "Eastern Mall" (东方商城) Bottega Veneta recently announced the grand opening of their first Nanjing location, the Italian brand’s eighth store on the Chinese mainland. The new store, designed by creative director Tomas Maier, is specially outfitted to showcase what the company calls its “dedication to artistry and excellence.” Though the opening of a new location generally isn’t terribly…

• Mainlanders Bought Nearly 20% Of All Luxury Apartments Sold In Hong Kong In 2009

  Jing Daily

  4 Feb 2010 | 8:43 am

  Increasing Presence Of Mainland Chinese Buyers Indicates Growing Clout Of This Group In Hong Kong The world's most expensive apartment sold in this Hong Kong building for 57 million US dollars last year. Will we see some wealthy mainlanders splashing out for more multi-million-dollar apartments in 2010? It’s perhaps no big surprise that mainland Chinese property buyers have snapped up real estate in neighboring Hong Kong, since closer economic ties have blurred the border (financially) since 1997. Now, thousands of businesspeople regularly make the Shenzhen/Zhuhai-Hong Kong commute,…

• 
  China Internet Watch

• Tencent Launched English Portal imqq.com for Expats

  Rocky Fu

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:38 pm

  Tencent launched English version instant messenger some time ago and it has recently launched an English portal for expat netizens – imqq.com. Unlike its Chinese portal qq.com, imqq.com currently seems to focus on local content. Right now, it has included Shanghai and Beijing.It also promotes its English version instant messenger – QQ International (in English, French, and Japanese) which includes a light Mac version as well. The content covers local events, listings, group, and video. Related Posts:1/4 Internet Users in China Log in Tencent QQ at the same time Tencent Launched…

• Baidu Map Integrates Real Time Search

  Rocky Fu

  28 Jan 2010 | 1:22 am

  Click on the image above for Complete Screenshot with Annotations Baidu Map has launched a very interesting section to show real time search results on the map. Called “Post Bar Map”, it’s hosted on say.map.baidu.com, latest posts from i Post Bar (Baidu’s twitter like product) related to the search keyword will keep popping up on different locations of the map (user locations). Related Posts:Baidu Post Bar Updated with Twitter Features Baidu Music Search Baidu Launched Baidu Mobile Apps

• 5 Tips on Sourcing Chinese Social Media Monitoring Tools

  Rocky Fu

  26 Jan 2010 | 3:48 am

  I’ve been testing a few social media monitoring software for Chinese market (mainland China) lately and found very few good ones. Let me share some tips on sourcing social media monitoring software or online applications for mainland Chinese market. Language capabilities. If an application does a good job of monitoring online conversations on English keywords, it’s not hard to add in support of double byte characters like Chinese characters. But, it’s important the tool can tell the difference between traditional Chinese (official language in Taiwan, Hong Kong) and…

• China Internet Statistics 2009 Summary

  Rocky Fu

  19 Jan 2010 | 9:12 pm

  The following statistics are based on data released by CNNIC for 2009. China Internet users: 384 million, with a penetration rate of 28.9% Broadband Internet users: 346 million China mobile internet users: 233 million (60.8% of total internet users) Internet users in rural areas: 106.81 million Registered domain names: 16.82 million (80% are .cn domains) Top 3 Internet applications online music online news search engines. Top 3 fast growing online applications Online payment Travel booking Online stock trading Male Internet users v.s. Female: 54.2% v.s. 45.8% 10% of China internet users…

• Baidu to Launch AdWords Editor like PPC Editor Next Tuesday

  Rocky Fu

  18 Jan 2010 | 9:13 pm

  Baidu is going to launch its paid search desktop editor on Jan 26, 2010. Its official name for the editor is “Baidu Promote Assistant“. The Baidu PPC Editor looks a lot like the Google AdWords Editor including the following features: Multiple accounts management Quick navigations with filter and advanced search abilities Mass create, edit, and copy keywords and ad copies Identify duplicate keywords Detailed information about keywords and ad copies status Auto updates Take a closer look at the window of “adding a new campaign” as an example how similar it looks like…

• 
  China Hope Live

• Foreign baby in China essentials: IMPORTED BABY FORMULA

  Joel

  9 Feb 2010 | 5:53 am

  (I told you so!) If you have a infant in China and you’re using baby formula, then this is for you. The Problem After the 2008 melamine milk powder scandal, in which several infants died and... [NOTE: Visit the blog to read the entire entry, see the photos and get the links.]

• “If the family can’t even spend the New Year together life would be pointless.”

  Joel

  7 Feb 2010 | 6:32 am

  See the trailer for a new, critically acclaimed documentary showing the life of Chinese migrant workers and the connection between them and you. Outside China you can visit the official website.... [NOTE: Visit the blog to read the entire entry, see the photos and get the links.]

• How the hypocritical West plays into China’s hands

  Joel

  7 Feb 2010 | 6:32 am

  “The weakness of justice in front of money: …the free world is not afraid of Soviet nuclear bombs, but has no choice but to surrender under China’s sugar-coated bullets.” ©2010... [NOTE: Visit the blog to read the entire entry, see the photos and get the links.]

• Chinese public service announcement: Stop Bribing Everybody!

  Joel

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:12 am

  The public service announcements I grew up with said stuff like wear your bike helmet, don’t do drugs, smoking is bad, etc. But here’s a Chinese one that’s trying to get people to... [NOTE: Visit the blog to read the entire entry, see the photos and get the links.]

• Intro to the cult of Confucius

  Joel

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:12 am

  A handy website devoted to the historical development of the cult of Confucius: Cult of Confucius: images of temple culture ©2010 China Hope Live. All Rights Reserved.. [NOTE: Visit the blog to read the entire entry, see the photos and get the links.]

• 
  ChinaHush

• 12 years of reading of another woman’s love letter wakes her husband up from coma

  Annie Lee

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:10 pm

  From Sina: Liu Hong, a 40-year-old woman in Minquan, Shangqiu City, woke up her husband from a 12-year coma by repeatedly reading her husband’s love letter from his period of puppy love for the entirety of the 12 long years when he was in a coma. Some 13 years ago, a car accident turned Huang Jianjun, Liu Hong’s husband into vegetable patient. Liu stumbled upon Huang’s well-kept secret of a love letter as she turned their house upside down trying to find anything valuable to pay for Huang’s expensive treatment. Though heartbroken, and knowing that Huang had kept his true love buried,…

• “Overseas Chinese driver” in Formula One

  Key

  7 Feb 2010 | 2:44 am

  The following is a guest post by Randy – AlleyCat   “Overseas Chinese driver” in Formula One The Chinese usually identify a person by ethnic origin instead of nationality.’Overseas Chinese’ are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Chinese territories. As long as the person is of Chinese descent, that person is considered Chinese, and if that person lives outside of China, that person is “overseas Chinese”.   Ho-Pin Tung (董荷斌) was born and raised in the Netherlands, but he races with a Chinese license. His dream: to become a…

• Presenting Atm-Art: Chinese artists and photorealism of China

  CC

  5 Feb 2010 | 11:17 am

  Tiananmen Michael Van Den Heuvel is Dutch and Thor Selander is Danish, and they are combining elements of painting and sculpture to depict China – especially China’s present in contrast to its future, and Chinese artists from angles that are not traditionally examined. They wrote to ChinaHush looking for a platform to expose their art to a greater audience. We found their artwork to be engaging and confrontational, truthful and personal. Also, we thought that the sporadic nature of their decision to work together and backgrounds before going into art to be fascinating. Below, you will…

• Qiu Shaoyun and Yao Ming – Icon Vs. Entertainment – What a nation follows as example

  Key

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:40 am

  The following is a guest post by Matt Sawtell   Qiu Shaoyun and Yao Ming – Icon Vs. Entertainment – What a nation follows as example By Matthew A. Sawtell, a.k.a. Uncle Laowai – January 25, 2008 As a laowai, it has been interesting to observe the history of P.R. China from an outside perspective – especially in the terms of icons and entertainment that have come into the national consciousness since the early 1950s to today.  From a personal perspective, a couple of larger than life characters come to mind, Qiu Shaoyun and Yao Ming. For the folks that do not…

• “Desire to go home, difficult to get a ticket”, Chinese Spring Festival travel season

  Key

  4 Feb 2010 | 3:38 am

  From Tianya: The annual Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) travel season officially began on January 30. According to the information disclosed by the Ministry of Railways 2010 Spring Festival travel season is from January 30 to March 10, about 40 days, 15 days before the New Year, and 25 days after the New Year. According to an authoritative forecast, Spring Festival travel season this year expects 2.5 billion passengers.   “Desire to go home, difficult to get a ticket” At 3 pm on January 20, 2010, the Shanghai Railway Station already started to have presale tickets for the first…

• 
  Quality Wars

• Retail Packaging Check – Verifying your China goods pre-shipment

  How your goods are packaged is critical to every shipment, no matter what product you are buying.  Whether it is the specific requests of the retail stores you are supplying (i.e. to have a particular barcode and label on the color box), or ensuring that the shipper cartons are secured ...

• Product Recall of the Week – LED Light Kits by Rockler Companies

  A defect like this is the type of thing we prevent in two ways: 1. Pre-Production - Performing lab testing (electrical) to ensure that the original prototype is manufactured correctly. 2. Post Production - Performing, during the on-site product inspection, proper battery testing, hi-pot testing and also a "product internal check" to ...

• Battery Tests for MP3, MP4 and Consumer Electronics – Battery Life Check

  If you’re purchasing electronics in wholesale quantities from China, battery quality is of critical concern.  We’ve tested thousands of different products, all with different batteries, at different price levels, and with different specifications.  This is one area where Chinese suppliers will always play games with you unless you know exactly ...

• Product Recall of the Week – BBQ Grills by JCPenney Purchasing Corp.,

  Well, we just reviewed a recall like this a few weeks ago (see this link) and found a similar situation - a design flaw in the grill that has led to a serious and very dangerous situation.  This type of thing can be eliminated by working with an experienced 3rd ...

• Product Recall of the Week – “Bobby Chupete” Pacifiers by Grand World Inc.

  This massive recall of over 600,000 pacifiers is a good example of a product that was poorly designed and could easily result in the a baby's death.  This importer could have avoided such a situation by having the product first reviewed by a 3rd party testing laboratory, who ...

• 
  World Bank - China Blog

• China grew faster than its target and most projections in 2009 – what are the key takeaways?

  Louis Kuijs

  2 Feb 2010 | 1:08 pm

  Click image to enlarge. China’s economy grew 8.7 percent in 2009. This was more than the 8 percent target, despite the global recession that caused global output excluding China to fall about 3 percent. China’s growth outcome is substantially higher than projections made in early 2009. For instance, in our  World Bank quarterly economic update (of which I am the lead author) we projected 6.5 percent GDP growth and some other forecasts were even lower (see Figure 1). How did these forecasts come about, and what lessons we can draw from the experience of…

• One year later: China’s policy stimulus results in strong 2009 economic growth, reason for optimism

  Gao Xu

  26 Jan 2010 | 8:07 am

  This time last year, when the dismal 6.8% GDP growth data for China in the 4th quarter of 2008 came out, David Dollar, the former country director of China in the World Bank, asked in his blog whether one should interpret the data positively or negatively. (In other words, was the glass half full or half empty?) Compared with this uncertain situation a year ago, the Chinese economy is now in much better shape. Newly released data shows that the average GDP growth in 2009 is 8.7% – well above the most upbeat forecast made in early 2009. The growth even accelerated to double digits in the…

• State-owned enterprises in China: How big are they?

  Gao Xu

  19 Jan 2010 | 2:03 pm

  In China's industrial sector, the shrinking share of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is evident. This is due in part to the stronger growth of non-government-owned enterprises. When communicating with my friends outside China, their misconception of Chinese State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) always surprises me.  It seems that although Chinese SOEs play a major role in the Chinese economy, they continue to remain mysterious to most outsiders. For some people – even some long-time observers of China – Chinese SOEs are best described as dying dinosaurs that continuously absorb…

• East Asia & Pacific: Risks to economic recovery from the return to business-as-usual in developed countries

  Ivailo Izvorski

  13 Jan 2010 | 7:57 am

  The prediction season is in full swing, and prognosticators have, as usual, appended the warning that economic forecasts at this stage are subject to exceptional uncertainty.  Such exceptional uncertainty is always with us when looking ahead – there is always a fork in the road, no matter what the circumstances are.  The nuance this year is that, while the recovery in East Asia will depend on prospects for the rest of the world, notably in the advanced economies, the outlook for those economies hinges on policies to address the causes of the financial crisis. Thus far,…

• What does a video about a desert region of China have to do with Niger?

  Tony Whitten

  16 Dec 2009 | 11:24 am

  A YouTube map that shows where people are when they view the videos. That the video might be of interest to a dry country like Niger – where herding of goats and other livestock is so important – is not so surprising. A colleague of mine recently sent a link to a group of us showing some photos taken in Inner Mongolia, China, showing the land degradation being suffered there and its impacts.  One of the photos (#16) shows a twisted and broken tree trunk surrounded by sand on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert. The caption says that the trees were “killed by the moving…

• 
  GoChengdoo

• Panda voucher winner

  6 Feb 2010 | 11:00 pm

  Congratulations to new GoChengdoo user paulgo, who is the proud winner of the RMB100 Panda Club voucher. Instructions on how to claim the prize are in your inbox. Thanks to all who played, and see you next week for yet another giveaway!

• China blogs: Museums, national identity, contemporary art

  6 Feb 2010 | 10:35 pm

  China's not often praised for the quality of its museums, but perhaps they are given more of a rough deal than is deserved. While the government plans massive investment in museums all over China, Evan Osnos of the New Yorker blog Letter from China talks to the authors of China: Museums, a book that reviews China's strange (600 horse skeletons, anyone?) and mundane museums. If you want some hardcore and thoughtful reading about national identity in China (who doesn't?), Danwei this week features an academic, "Imagined Communities" take on what it is to be Chinese from University of…

• Annie eats: Oatmeal raisin cookies

  5 Feb 2010 | 6:15 pm

  I don't know whether I should call oatmeal raisin cookies the "national American cookie" or not, but it surely gives me a very "American" feeling (chocolate chip cookies might play the same role though). It makes me think of some country fair in the States, where you can buy these filling snacks: crispy, tasty, big in volume--totally country style. But the history of it might be another story. I somehow remember that it was Scottish people who ate oats, but English people used it to feed their horses, so maybe this cookie actually originates from the UK. Let me know if anyone knows.

• Sichuan links: Foreigner-ville, land rights, child in chains

  3 Feb 2010 | 11:45 pm

  Last Wednesday, Zheng Xiaoming, chief of the planning and construction bureau of the Chengdu National Hi-Tech Zone, announced the development of the first large foreign-only community in western China--a haven in which western families can go to church, shop, and send their children to school without crossing paths with more than a handful of locals. The Tianfu International Community will occupy 250,000 square meters in the Chengdu's Hi-Tech Zone, and will include modern, government subsidized housing for 5,000 residents. The community will be staffed by a cadre of English-speaking locals,…

• Giveaway: Win an RMB100 Panda Club voucher

  3 Feb 2010 | 2:40 am

  This week, Panda Club is offering a lucky GoChengdoo reader one RMB100 voucher. The two-story, loft-style club hosts weekend electronic-music parties and was recently voted "Best Club" by CHENGDOO citylife Magazine's readers. How to enter: 1. Click here to register for GoChengdoo.com (it's free) if you haven't already done so. 2. Rate and review any five venues listed on GoChengdoo.com. 3. Send your name, registered GoChengdoo username, and your mobile phone number with the message "Panda Voucher" no later than 11:30 p.m. on Friday, February 5, 2010. 4. That's it! The winner will be contacted…

• 
  the China Lightroom blog

• Former Chinese Diplomat, Wang Yusheng: “Be warned against songs of the Sirens”

  dewang

  4 Feb 2010 | 3:32 pm

  Former Chinese diplomat, Wang Yusheng has an interesting opinion piece carried on China Daily, titled, “Be warned against songs of the Sirens.” He is essentially saying that while China’s progress made in the last few decades are to be commended, the Chinese people should not rest on their laurels and that China still has [...]

• 【每日歌曲】天路 (Heavenly Road) / 春雷 (Chun Lei)

  dewang

  30 Jan 2010 | 1:03 am

• Tsinghua University Professor, Yan Xuetong: “The Rise of China in Chinese Eyes”

  dewang

  29 Jan 2010 | 12:01 am

  Tsinghua University Professor, Yan Xuetong, published an essay in the Journal of Contemporary China in 2001 entitled, ”The Rise of China in Chinese Eyes.” It is a great read – as the title says – a look at the rise of China through the eyes of the Chinese. Following is an excerpt: The rise [...]

• 【每日歌曲】中华大家庭 (the Big Chinese Family)

  dewang

  28 Jan 2010 | 12:38 am

• U.S. White House: “Internet Freedom: Where the United States Stands” [on her own]

  dewang

  22 Jan 2010 | 10:23 pm

  On January 12, 2010, Google let out a bombshell, “A new approach to China,” threatening to pull out of China essentially if the Chinese government do not allow it to skip China’s censorship laws. Google was in fact in violation of China’s censorship laws according to a December 5, 2008 report by the Chinese Public Security [...]

• 
  Quality Inspection Blog

• How do delays and reinspections affect delivery dates?

  Renaud Anjoran

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:10 pm

  I got an interesting email this morning from a reader from India, working on some kind of thesis for her professional training program: I want to know more about how delays and re-inspection affects delivery dates and how can it be controlled? This is a straightforward question, and I think it might also be of interest to some other readers. So here is my response, in substance. Delays in production, as well as inspection failures that involve re-work & re-inspections, delay the shipment date (ETD). And if the transport arrangement is unchanged, it translates into a delay in arrival date…

• Partnering with a Chinese factory: a sweet dream?

  Renaud Anjoran

  5 Feb 2010 | 8:12 pm

  Most new buyers coming to China want just one thing: to find one or two good manufacturers that they count on. They think “if I were a manufacturer, I would try to find a few stable customers and make their lives easy, and everybody would win”. Unfortunately, they do not understand their suppliers’ point of view. First: why the need for a manufacturing partner? The first contact with a new supplier often gives buyers a good feeling. They place orders, and then the problems begin: misunderstandings and poor quality, delays, price increases, and all sorts of cat-and-mouse…

• When Japan envied China

  Renaud Anjoran

  1 Feb 2010 | 4:49 pm

  Everybody seems to have an opinion. I am of those who thing China will find its own path, as it has done until now, rather than following a specific model. Japan’s example is interesting, but the comparison has its limits. Last week I read Toyota Production System by Taiichi Ohno, who literally gave birth to what we call lean manufacturing. In this book he tries to put his work into perspective, and it gives us some interesting insights: Starting from low quality First, everybody knows that “Made in Japan” meant low quality in the 1950s. Just like China nowadays. No…

• Why is Wal-Mart developing business with Li & Fung?

  Renaud Anjoran

  29 Jan 2010 | 3:30 am

  Two weeks ago Wal-Mart announced a push to more direct sourcing. And I wondered if the trend was still toward direct sourcing (and the elimination of sourcing/trading agents). Then yesterday Li & Fung, the largest sourcing company (who owns zero factory),  announced a new deal to supply Wal-Mart: The arrangement, signed yesterday, may generate an additional $2 billion of sales in the first year, helping Li & Fung meet its $20 billion revenue target for 2010. Walmart will have the option to acquire WSG Pte, the buying agency involved in the arrangement, after Jan. 1, 2016, from Li…

• Getting to the root of a quality problem

  Renaud Anjoran

  28 Jan 2010 | 2:26 am

  I was shocked many times by the unwillingness of supervisors, in Chinese factories, to find the real cause of a problem. Here are just a few real-life quotes: Workmanship is not good? The operator did not pay enough attention, so she will have to repair it. Next time she should be fired. The products are not conform to the blueprints you gave us? But, you know, the customer’s designers don’t really know how production works. We will miss the deadline for shipping? Our factory has bad feng shui! According to Taiichi Ohno, asking why repeatedly is “the scientific basis of the…

• 
  Joop.in China

• Weekly groceries at a Chinese market place

  We visit a local market weekly, based efficiently underneath a highway. You can buy everything here, from kitchen equipment to fish. We usually buy our vegetables (biological!) and eggs here. This week I decided to take some pictures. You can find these markets everywhere across China. This particular market is developing fast. In half a [...] Related posts:Chinese do not pay attention to red traffic lights anyway I decided to buy a simple (20 euro) bike at... Learning Chinese with help of Iphone/iPod Touch A quick post about learning Chinese Mandarin with help of... Related posts brought to…

• Spilgames New Year party

  The crew of Spilgames is growing fast, this party, we had eight round tables full with people. The dinner was accompanied with speeches from management and our Sales assistant and Sound architect being masters of ceremony. There were lot’s of fun games during the dinner, for instance, I had to play a scene from a [...] Related posts:Gamers in Qiandaohu – Spilgames outing at 1000 islands Last week, the entire Spilgames Asia team assembled on a... wk 5: Clear days in Shanghai & Chinese new year Clear days in Shanghai looks like it’s going to... ING Life Korea goodbye…

• Shopgirl Shanghai

  Suna and I ran into Shopgirl Shanghai, Siyan (middle) yesterday. She has an interesting blog, too bad we missed her Barbie birthday party, perhaps next year? Related posts:Pictures of 2009 Shanghai marathon In early August, Marc van der Chijs threw up... Shanghai metro getting overcrowded Traveling by metro today and I notice that its... wk 5: [...] Related posts:Pictures of 2009 Shanghai marathon In early August, Marc van der Chijs threw up... Shanghai metro getting overcrowded Traveling by metro today and I notice that its... wk 5: Clear days in Shanghai & Chinese new year Clear days…

• Shanghai metro getting overcrowded

  Traveling by metro today and I notice that its really crowded. I was waiting at the station and saw the train coming, but got dissapointed when I noticed that there was no space to stand. First I wanted to wait a train, but the train that had arrived just wouldn’t move. I decided to try [...] Related posts:Google ad in the metro Google decided on new ‘no cencorship’ approach on China... wk 5: Clear days in Shanghai & Chinese new year Clear days in Shanghai looks like it’s going to... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

• Holding the new South Korean 50.000 KRW bank-note

  The first 50,000-won notes (Today worth about 30 Euros) were released in 2009. Its yellow color may be confusing with the light brownish 5,000 won note, especially since the face figures don’t feature any comma nor dot : Westerners would write 50,000 (fifty thousand) where Koreans read 5,0000 (five “man” or five “ten thousand”). The project [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

• 
  MyBrownBaby

• I Am a Black Writer

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:01 pm

  EDITOR'S NOTE: I originally wrote this piece for my writer friend, Eisa Eulen, author of the novel, Crystelle Mourning, and the purveyor of EisaUlen.com, where she pens a thoughtful, poignant blog about books and writings by and about people of color. I wasn't in the best place when I wrote this piece, and though today my writing career is going well, there are still days when I feel like this...

• Evil Black Men

  7 Feb 2010 | 9:01 pm

  It was supposed to be a simple assignment -- a little something to remind the kids about their lesson on adjectives. Magazine and newspaper clippings + lots of glue + fancy descriptives = an easy lesson and the perfect student work display for the parent/teacher conference.We all drank in the oversized poster boards, us parents patiently waiting in the hallway for our turn with the teacher. Mari

• Spiked Hot Chocolate

  4 Feb 2010 | 9:21 pm

  Godiva Chocolatinis.Godiva liquer- and rum-infused fudge and caramel brownies.The oh-so-chocolatey Morris Chestnut (The Best Man) and Omar Epps (Love & Basketball).And my girls *waving at Angelou, Akilah, and Selassie*Oh, lawd, yes.These are the things that make for the perfect Spiked Hot Chocolate party.You better go on ahead and get you some!

• Terror on the Pole

  3 Feb 2010 | 9:01 pm

  By MALAKA GYEKYEI’m really hoping to go to Ghana this summer with the girls. I’m in the midst of looking for a Twi teacher to help them assimilate a little bit better, and have been plying them with plantain and stew so that they can appreciate good Ghanaian cooking when it comes across their plates. Their immersion into Ghanaian culture is nearly done, with only one thing alluding me: the money

• Wordful Wednesday: A Beautiful Black Boy

  3 Feb 2010 | 6:25 am

  This is my nephew, Miles. Take a good, hard look at him. What do you see? He's athletic, sure. And a handsome lil' devil, too. And he likes to talk. A lot. What you should also know is that Miles is a smart one. Brilliant, really. And when he grows up and figures out how to use his powers for good, he's going to change the world, for sure. I can feel it. Anyone who spends a half

• 
  enoVate

• Shike: A New Marketing Model Thrives in Beijing

  Nick

  2 Feb 2010 | 7:06 pm

  Beijing trend-spotter, cool-hunter and documentarian, Alessadro De Toni, comes through with an inside look at a new model for online marketing and shopping. Shike (试客) means “testing customer,” and is now a registered trademark and a new business model launched just a few days ago in Beijing. It’s a website, a market research company, and a franchise with 4 shops in Beijing with a plan to expand the network city-wide. For one yuan a day, you join the Shike club and receive 3 product samples a day. You might receive a drink, a box of tissues, and a sample of luxury skincare.

• Post-90’s Chinese youth vote eno as a ‘must have’ brand

  Karen

  2 Feb 2010 | 6:22 am

  On Friday, January 29th, 360quan.com hosted their 90后潮流先锋榜 (post-90’s generation pioneering trends list) awards ceremony in Beijing. Actor Li Chen emceed the event featuring stars such as Jade Liu Li Yang and Yico Zeng, who came to receive their award and perform for the cheering crowd of Chinese teenage fans from all over China. These same cheering teenagers and their peers voted on actresses, actors, artists, bands, brands, musicians, and works of art of various types for their influence and pioneering abilities in their respective industries. In collaboration with Mogo,…

• Hearts and Hard Seats: Traveling During the Chinese New Year

  Beibei

  1 Feb 2010 | 11:45 pm

  This morning, I was talking with enoVate senoir designer Kelvin Jin about his plan for the coming Chinese New Year. He and his wife will be going on a ten day trip to Yunan; visiting cities like Lijiang, Kunming, and Tengchong. This will be Kevin’s first time traveling during the Spring Festival. In the past, he would have stayed home to celebrate with his family. But things are changing. He mentioned that for most Chinese youth living in cities, Spring Festival is no longer the traditional affair he remembers form his childhood. It’s becoming another long break from work – an…

• Show Me the Money! New Years Equals Money For Chinese Children

  Jermaine

  1 Feb 2010 | 10:27 pm

  Chinese New Year is just around the corner. In order to commemorate, and better understand the cultural significance of CNY, enoVate will explore a multitude of themes surrounding this great tradition. With Chinese New Year’s approaching, unemployed Chinese youth are buzzing with excitement. Not only do they get treated to a delicious New Year’s meal and fireworks, they also get a generous “hong bao” (红包). Simply put, a hongbao is a red envelope filled with cash that relatives give to kids. The tradition dates back to days of old, when hongbaos were believed to…

• Repost: 70’s, 80’s, 90’s Generational Differences as Seen By Chinese Blogger

  Nick

  28 Jan 2010 | 1:37 am

  I have a rule: don’t go online for at least an hour before sleeping. As usual, I broke that rule last night. I went straight for the work inbox (always a surefire way to delay sleep for a couple hours), and found this gem from Joey. Kept me laughing the whole way through. A Nciku blogger, Cherrybeckham, posted this in-depth look at generational gaps by applying well-studied stereotypes to 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s generation. Here it is, as posted by Cherrybeckham on her blog. Enjoy. 1.  Work 70后：工作狂基本上都是70后的。 70: Many of them are workaholics.

• 
  Stir Fried China

• Google Decides to Throw Haymaker at China

  Chad Catacchio

  12 Jan 2010 | 5:19 pm

  With their business prospects dwindling by the year – including in search (Google.cn), online video (YouTube), blogging (Blogger) all at best playing second fiddle, Google today announced that they will take off the filters from Google.cn in a “what the hell? we might as well go out swinging with head held high” blog post. Whether you think it’s brilliant, courageous and/or desperate (I think it’s some of all, with the caveat that I also want a completely free and uncensored web for everyone, everywhere), it certainly marks another milestone in this ongoing…

• Was This China’s Decade?

  Chad Catacchio

  27 Dec 2009 | 7:13 pm

  Over the last few weeks, some people have been saying that 2000-2009 was China’s decade, including Fareed Zakaria. China’s acendency was also named the most read news story of the decade. Having spent the majority of this decade in China, all of this got me thinking – was this China’s decade? From a personal standpoint, this was certainly China’s decade for me. I lived, got married and found a career in China this decade. I traveled to over 20 provinces, SARs and autonomous regions. I celebrated the new millennium with a few million other people in Shanghai,…

• Expect China’s Citizenry to Embrace Obama

  Chad Catacchio

  10 Nov 2009 | 10:44 pm

  This is Part 2 of my pre-visit thoughts on President Obama’s visit to China next week. In Part 1 I focused on issues, but here I want to talk about why I think that Obama will get a very warm welcome in China next week (despite some Chinese English publications such as this one trying to tone down his overwhelming worldwide popularity). First of all, lets face it, Obama is cool. Most likely the coolest president ever. He’s a rock-star, etc., etc. China’s citizenry is just as susceptible to coolness as every other citizenry in the world, and if for no other reason than his…

• Obama in China, What to Expect – Part 1

  Chad Catacchio

  9 Nov 2009 | 10:29 pm

  President Barack Obama will make his first trip to China as president on November 16-18, first in Shanghai and then in Beijing. He is the first president to make the trip in his first year in office, and follows on the heels of earlier meetings this year with Hu Jintao in Italy and at the United Nations. Beyond the standard US-China relations issues – human rights, Tibet, Taiwan, currency valuation (which is becoming more internationalized, see below) – Obama will also need to discuss a number of worldwide issues with his Chinese counterpart, and probably to an extent that no…

• China Mobile – Half a Billion Users and Counting

  Chad Catacchio

  21 Oct 2009 | 8:43 pm

  China Mobile announced their third quarter results yesterday, as well as one little, small tidbit of a milestone – they just passed half a billion subscribers. However, even with 508 million users and plans to have 3G networks set up in 238 cities by the end of the year, China Mobile is still facing stiff competition from both China Telecom and China Unicom, the later gearing up to launch the iPhone 3G & 3GS in Q4 (which should be a boom for content providers such as QQ). Bloomberg has more info and analysis on the results. To fight back, China Mobile is going to release a Lenovo…