Dear Slate, yes there are chocolate bars in China
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Interview: Kerry Ann Lee, culture shock = inspiration
- Child sex scandal involves teachers, officials [Shanghai Daily] "Eight people, including six government officials and teachers, will go on trial for their involvement in a child prostitution scandal affecting a dozen primary and middle school students in southwest China. The Guizhou police launched an investigation after receiving a complaint on August 15 last year from a mother who said her 13-year-old daughter, Li Yu, had been raped after being duped by a classmate, Wang Qing, in Xishui County. The investigation then uncovered a conspiracy which saw girl students being forced into prostitution."
- Mainland tourist apologizes for graffiti in Taiwan under public pressure [Xinhua] "A Chinese mainland tourist who has been lambasted on the Internet for carving his name on a rock face in a Taiwan scenic area apologized to the public on Thursday for his misbehavior. Zhao Genda, a 63-year-old pensioner from Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, gained instant notoriety after Taiwan TV reported that he carved his name and that of his hometown on the rock face at Taipei Yeliu Geopark on Friday."
- Can China be green by 2020? [BBC] "China's unprecedented economic growth over the past 30 years has come at a huge cost to the environment. The damage has not only been to the air the Chinese breath or the water in their rivers, but also to its reputation across the world. But there are signs that China may now be serious about tackling pollution to prove to the world that it can develop while causing less damage to the environment."
- China Vies to Be Leader in Electric Vehicles [NYTimes] "Chinese leaders have adopted a plan aimed at turning the country into one of the leading producers of hybrid and all-electric vehicles within three years, and making it the world leader in electric cars and buses after that."
- Paul Krugman: China’s Dollar Trap [NYTimes.com] "Two years ago, we lived in a world in which China could save much more than it invested and dispose of the excess savings in America. That world is gone. Yet the day after his new-reserve-currency speech, Mr. Zhou gave another speech in which he seemed to assert that China’s extremely high savings rate is immutable, a result of Confucianism, which values 'anti-extravagance.' Meanwhile, 'it is not the right time' for the United States to save more. In other words, let’s go on as we were." Dear Mr. Krugman: That’s also not going to happen.
- G20: Stop taking the China Kool-Aid [Richard Spencer] "We should all stop drinking the Kool-Aid on China, and that includes China itself. China's arrival at the top table of nations is overdue, and its relationship with the United States crucial, but there is as yet no evidence that China has some magic bullet whose firing will rectify either the international economy or - as some are beginning to say - the way that our increasingly complex world is run."
- Anti-China Tensions on the Rise in Australia [China Digital Times] "Australia’s Mandarin-speaking Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is having to fend off criticism that he’s too soft on China as anti-China sentiment grows at home."
- China hi-tech exam cheats jailed [BBC]"Eight parents and teachers who used hi-tech equipment to help children cheat in Chinese college entrance exams have been sent to prison. They were given sentences of six months to three years after being found guilty of obtaining state secrets. Three groups were found operating in just one school in Zhejiang province."
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green by 2020? if you count some of the rivers i've seen, we're well on our way.
Child sex, tourist graffiti, environment damage, anti-China in Australia, exam cheats... what a horrible country we smart expats are desperate to get a visa to.