Afternoon Links: Antiques, swimmers, and civic indices

• For profit and patriotism, Chinese flock to antique auctions in Japan, where they buy a lot of old Chinese items.
• Chinese swimmers are going to take on Cook Strait, and then the Bering Strait, Red Sea, Panama Canal, and Strait of Gibraltar.
• South Korea braces for another toxic sandstorm from China.
• You mean Tibet wasn't always part of China? A Chinese scholar says different.
• US veep Dick Cheney, in Australia, criticizes China's arms build-up.
• The ghost of Spring Festival past—celebrating the new year in 1961; translated interviews from Geremie Barmé via Danwei.
• We didn't know that there was a way to measure civility, but that's what they're doing in Beijing:

  A "civic index" -- measuring compliance with health and social rules, attitudes towards strangers, etiquette in watching sports events and willingness to contribute to the Olympics -- is improving, the study said.

  The index stood at 69.06 last year, up 3.85 points from 2005 but still well done on the goal set of 72-78 for August 2008, when the world will focus on Beijing for the
  Olympic Games.

• A meteorologist says that it wasn't the mist from firecrackers and fireworks that caused the cancellation of 190 flights at the Beijing airport.
• Shanghai residents don't mind celebrating Chinese New Year with "foreign foods" such as pizza and hamburgers.
• (Useless) factoid: In January 2007, Shanghai imported an average of 3.2 billion USD worth of foreigns goods per day.
• The Washington Post on China's internet addiction treatment centers.

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Photo by meckleychina found via the Shanghaiist Contribute page.