Today's Links: Courtyard homes, Beijing bookworms, and dating sites

• 12 Chinese Dating Sites Under Fire?
  These sites have been accused of promoting prostitution.
• Beijing claims Tibetan relics
  All religious artifacts in places of worship in Tibet belong to the Chinese state, the official Xinhua news agency said yesterday, in Beijing's latest attempt to exert control over religion in the restive Himalayan region.
• Hill arrives in Beijing to discuss nuclear issue
  Top U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill arrived Wednesday morning in Beijing, saying it is time to resolve the dispute over the frozen funds of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
• A Uighur activist speaks about her time in Chinese jail
  An op-ed about the situation in Xinjiang and human rights in China in general.
• New policy on Chinese cultural relics
  The old policy: nothing made or created before 1795 could leave Chinese borders, and now that date has been changed to 1911.
• Over 60% of Shenzhen smokers want to quit
  The study also takes a look at other statistics, like the gender and education distribution of smokers.(report in Chinese).
• 2010: average life-span of Chinese person will reach 72.5
  This is a whopping half a year more than in 2005. (In Chinese).
• Foreign investors revive Beijing's historic courtyard homes
  Foreigners just can't get enough of the siheyuan 四合院 homes in Beijing.
• Beijing students lead Asia's bookworms
  Basically, Beijing primary school kids spend a lot more time reading and doing homework than their peers in Tokyo and Seoul.
• Xi Jinping: Shanghai must step up the face of reform and opening up
  The newly elected Party Chief of Shanghai, Xi Jinping (习近平) made these generic remarks on May 29.
• Chinese Environmental Situation Continues to Deteriorate
  SEPA reports that while there were less pollutants (because sand storms swept them away), China's environment is still going to pot.
• Gates foundation focuses on China's HIV prevention
  The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest charitable foundation has opened an office in Beijing and hired a former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to head the program.
• 'Death Note' days numbered
  China is trying to weed out illegal Death Note-style notebooks and scary magazines based on popular Japanese stories, officials said on Friday.
• iTopia In RM15 Mln Deal To Develop China's First Wireless Digital City
  iTopia Services Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian ICT firm, has secured a RM15 million deal to develop Suifenhe -- China's north-eastern port city and gateway to eastern Russia, into the country's first direct wireless palm top digital city by the year-end.

For more del.icio.us links, visit the Shanghaiist Contribute page, which is updated throughout the day.


Photo by Slow Boat to China taken from the Shanghaiist Contribute page.