News: August 2009 Archives

• On the Rarity of Foreign Women and Chinese Boyfriends/Chinese Husbands [Speaking of China] "When I’m in China, I tend to turn a lot of heads, especially in the countryside — and that’s not just because I’m a foreigner. It’s because I’m often seen holding hands with my Chinese husband. It’s true — the sight of a foreign woman and Chinese boyfriend or Chinese husband is much rarer than its counterpart, the foreign man and Chinese woman."
• Tim’s Texas Roadhouse, R.I.P. [WSJ] "Roadhouse proprietor Tim Hilbert, who arrived before 9 a.m., was barred from entering, forced to watch the preparations from outside. Since the Journal’s article on Hilbert Aug. 24, he’d been forced to cancel his planned “beer, barbeque, and blues” party - which he billed as a good-will gesture to local officials - because police were afraid it would turn into a mass protest. Hilbert received several inquiries from Chinese reporters about his predicament since the Journal article ran, and articles were published, but he continued to be frustrated in his efforts to seek more compensation from local courts and other government offices."
• China's newest lead poisoning investigation underway in Kunming [Go Kunming] "More than 200 children in Kunming's Dongchuan district have been found to have unsafe levels of lead in their blood, the third major case of child lead poisoning in China this month. During routine blood testing in Dongchuan's Tongdu county, more than 200 out of 1,000 children tested were found to have blood lead levels of more than 100 micrograms per liter."

What's black, crude, and older than even China? Oil! Everyone's favorite spoil of war has a glitzy new pavilion inspired by Beijing's water cube, and funded by China National Petroleum Corp, China Petrochemical Corp and China National Offshore Oil Corp. Highlighting the history, functions, and even odors of the natural resource, the "Oil Cube" is sure to be a major attraction for tourists from oil rich and poor countries alike.

• Someone has taken issue with the thug guards at Xintiandi, which allegedly harassed not only a poor kuadi delivery guy who had his bike stolen, but also a group of Taiwanese kids just looking for a place to sit. [Access Asia]
• Lost Heaven just had the grand opening for their massive four-story Bund location. Urbanatomy's I Love Shanghai blog was there to check it out. [Urbanatomy]
• Shanghai has started selling World Expo-themed welfare lottery tickets, with a top prize of 300,000RMB. All profits will be donated to the earthquake-affected areas of Sichuan. [Xinhua]

• Taiwan to Allow Dalai Lama Visit [NY Times] "The president of Taiwan said Thursday that he would allow the Dalai Lama to visit the island next week, a move likely to infuriate China and jeopardize rapidly improving relations between Taipei and Beijing. The Tibetan spiritual leader is expected to arrive Monday for a six-day tour of southern Taiwan, which was ravaged by a typhoon three weeks ago that left at least 650 dead."
• Thousands of Myanmar refugees flowing into Yunnan [Go Kunming] "An attempt by Myanmar's ruling military junta to bring rebel ethnic fighters under its control has led to escalating tensions, reports of fighting and a looming specter of war, with thousands of refugees fleeing into southwestern Yunnan, according to a Reuters report. China- and Thailand-based media outlets have reported that on August 8 the Myanmar army sent hundreds of troops to the region of Kokang in the country's northeastern Shan State. Kokong, which has held to a 20-year ceasefire with the Myanmar government in Yangon, is home to many ethnic Chinese as well as other ethnic groups."
• Conrad Black: Much ado about China [National Post] "Overblown announcements heralding the supposed coming of the Age of China have become a staple of journalistic futurism in recent years. When Maclean's magazine banners across the top of its cover "When China Rules the World," as it did last month -- and it is not a Monty Python send-up of swarms of incomprehensible people in Mao suits -- I know it is time to raise a peep of dissent."

For those looking to join the Mile High Club in a real Chinese plane, mark your calendar for 2016. This will be the year of China’s first foray into commercial aircraft; at present, the country only produces military aircraft engines.

Organs are hard to come by in China these days: a million people a year need transplants, but less than one percent actually receive one. Getting on the coveted organ list is easier if you're famous - the late Fu Biao had two liver transplants within a few months - but generally, the need for organs far exceeds the number of possible donors.

• Puer Tea: China's Next Hot Commodity? [Time] "There is Champagne, France; Tequila, Mexico; and Parma, Italy — all places turned trade names known for their unique, high-quality foods. Now, if China has its way, there could be another: Puer. This lush corner of Yunnan province in China's south is home to one of the world's hottest teas. Puer tea may not look like much — it is typically sold in heaps resembling cow patties — but one mug of these aged leaves can fetch up to $1,000."
• China's Hu visits Xinjiang, no riot trials this week [Reuters] "Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the restive region of Xinjiang this week for the first time since the July 5 riots, urging officials to maintain stability, state television said on Tuesday. The report about Hu's Aug. 22-25 visit to the frontier region came as a press official in Xinjiang denied a state media report that trials of people suspected to be involved in the riots would begin this week."

So Shanghai may have found a ridiculous amount of drunk drivers during the most recent ten day crackdown on drunk driving (1200 people!), but it didn't even make it into the top nine worst offenders.

When one thinks of scandalous lifestyles, university professors probably don't come to mind. But little did you know that once those books and thick-lensed glasses are put away, the real fun begins. In the past few weeks, Beijing University has been hit with two scandals involving both real and not-so-real professors.

• Shanghai is going to be the next stop for A Nice Set, a traveling exhibition of customized slipmats designed by leading artsts from around the world. The exhibition will open at 7:30pm on September 12 at SOURCE. [Neocha Edge]
• The Wall Street Journal has a great piece on Zhaohang village, which contains land that would've been razed to build Shanghai Disneyland. As is the way in China, many villagers didn't get the compensation they were hoping for. [WSJ]
• Bad news for all those trying to make a quick buck on their foreign faces, apparently Shanghai is cracking down on foreign people modeling firms. [Shanghai Daily]

• Jet Li returns to Chinese film after 3 US movies [AP] "Jet Li is returning to Chinese film with a reportedly non-kung fu movie after three Hollywood productions, a publicist said Tuesday. Li is due to start shooting the movie — tentatively called "Ocean Paradise" in Chinese — Edko Film publicist Zhang Hongyan told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday. The film, due to be released next year, will be directed by a newcomer, Zhang said, declining to give further detail before the official announcement at a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday."
• China Premier Rejects 'Blindly Optimistic' View of Economy [WSJ] "China's Premier Wen Jiabao expressed caution about the country's economic recovery, saying the effects of some short-term policies may fade while longer-term policies will take time to have an impact. Ending a three-day visit to the eastern province of Zhejiang, Mr. Wen warned against being "blindly optimistic," according to a statement by the State Council."
• China Mobile chief pushes e-book potential [BusinessWeek] "China Mobile Ltd., the world's largest mobile carrier, is pushing e-reading, seeing it as its next big mobile business, the company's chief executive has said. Wang Jianzhou, also China Mobile's chairman, called e-reading a "new culture" and said he expects such services to grow in China because of the rising popularity of smart phones, which can download content faster than conventional cell phones."

True, the government has been quite busy in the preparations surrounding the 60th Anniversary of the People's Republic of China: crackdowns on illegal firearms and explosives, tighter security than at the olympics for the National Day celebrations, and the classic visa clampdowns that come with every important holiday. But what about the celebration?

Organ trafficking stirs concern [Global Times] "The number of organ transplants from deceased donors in China is only 130 since the first case in 2003, one of the country's leading transplant experts said at a seminar yesterday. About 11,000 transplant operations are performed each year in China, including both living- and all deceased-donor transplantations, including executed prisoners, making the country the second-largest in the world to the US in total number. But that number it is far from enough to meet demand, Chen Zhonghua, the Chinese Medical Association's deputy director for transplanting, said…"

• China's founding legend may not be true [USA TODAY] "China's founding dynasty may just be a myth, say archaeologists. In a news report in the current Science, writer Andrew Lawler surveys a decade's worth of discoveries suggesting ancient China sprang from distinct regions, rather than possessing a single national culture some 4,300 years ago. "How China became China is no mere academic topic; it goes to the very heart of how the world’s most populous and economically vibrant nation sees itself and its role in the world," Lawler writes."
• Beijing puts giant media marriage on the rocks [Reuters] "China's leading Internet portal, Sina Corp is likely to call off its planned $1.4 billion purchase of Focus Media's core assets if the government fails to bless the marriage by a September deadline. Since Sina unveiled the deal in December — the largest in China's opaque media sector — China's commerce ministry has repeatedly put off reviewing the deal, asking for additional documents, frustrating both Nasdaq-listed companies."
• China: U.S. and Chinese Generals Clash [NYT] "A meeting on Thursday in Beijing between a Chinese military leader and a visiting American army general turned rancorous as the Chinese leader gave a sharp lecture on the failure of the United States to respect China’s interests, according to a witness at the meeting and a report by Xinhua, the state news agency. The argument took place when Gen. Ge Zhenfeng, deputy chief of the general staff of the People’s Liberation Army, met with Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the chief of staff of the United States Army. "

• This is pretty damn cool: Two Iranians are reshuffling scenes from Persepolis, a black comedy cartoon by Iranian-French emigre Marjane Satrapi, into a story about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed victory. Where are they working from? GOOD OLD SHANGHAI. Check out the comic here. [AFP]
• The average price of commercial residential houses in Shanghai reached 19,603 yuan per square meter last week. Anybody got a house to sell? Now seems like the time. [People's Daily]
• The Book Fair was wildly successful this week - about 240,000 people visited, buying 28 million yuan worth of books. [Shanghai Daily]

• China's secretive military launches Web site [AP] "China's Defense Ministry launched its first official Web site Thursday, part of an effort by the normally secretive military to be more transparent. The launch of the site — including an English version — comes as the U.S. Army's top general visits Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterparts. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey was to visit the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army on Thursday and meet PLA Chief of the General Staff Chen Bingde."
• More parents protest against lead poisoning in China [Reuters] "The number of Chinese children found with excess lead in their blood near a metal plant in central China has reached 1,354, state media said on Thursday, with new clashes between police and parents over pollution. The rise in initial diagnoses of poisoning around the Wugang Manganese Smelting Plant in Hunan province adds to a recent rash of such cases, which have exposed growing tensions between local governments and residents over pollution, often by poorly regulated plants and factories with ties to local government."
• China bans petitioners in Beijing [BBC News] "The Chinese government has issued a new regulation to stop petitioners from travelling to the capital, Beijing. Legal officials from Beijing will now visit people with complaints in the provinces in order to hear their cases. Petitions can also be filed online and a response or solution is to be given within 60 days."

• Chinese sex toy market explodes [Sydney Morning Herald] "VIDEO: Chinese sex toy manufacturer, Sweet Secret, trains sales staff ahead of the opening of its first Beijing store."
• More Chinese Astronauts Prefer Volvos [Wired] "Four pioneers in Chinese space exploration have made it their mission to purchase Volvo S80L sedans. That’s one small step for man, one giant sedan for the garage. After returning safely from the Shenzhou 7 space mission, taikonauts Yang Liwei, Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng purchased matching luxury cars. According to Volvo Cars China, the quartet decided on the Chinese-exclusive S80L for three reasons: the car is safe, built locally, and the “brand image expresses premiumness and is not ostentatious.”"
• Don't Mess With China's Kids [Forbes] "Given China's habit of punishing individuals who protest against the government, it takes a lot of courage-or rage-for comrades to come forward. What gets Chinese people out in the streets demonstrating every time? Forcing parents to abide by a one-child policy, and then letting someone kill the one child to save a buck."

Wow, what is it with China Eastern Airlines? First their passengers staged a sit-in at the LAX in Los Angeles and now they actually started throwing fists at Beijing International Airport... all gloriously documented by security cams.

• Oop! Que Jingde, a high-level town government official who was a major shareholder in the Minhang building that collapsed, has now been arrested for corruption. [Shanghai Daily]
• The United Nations Environment Programme has taken stock of Shanghai's environmental efforts and said that the city has actually made strides in "greening" itself. [UN News]
• Morgan Stanley has sold The Exchange, a 52-story office and retail tower in Jing'an, to SOHO China Ltd. for $358.5 million. For those of you who are interested, only 30% of the building's space is currently rented. [AP

• Chinese mainland to hold television fundraiser for Taiwan typhoon relief [Xinhua] "Five TV stations in the Chinese mainland are organizing a televised fundraiser on the coming Thursday to raise money for victims of Taiwan's deadliest typhoon in half a century. A number of the country's biggest names in the entertainment industry will be invited, such as directors Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang, actors Jackie Chan and Jet Li, actresses Zhang Ziyi and Zhou Xun, as well as sports stars Yao Ming and Guo JingJing. The close-to-four-hour fundraiser are organized by the Shanghai-based Dragon TV, Jiangsu Satellite TV, Zhejiang Satellite TV, Hunan Satellite TV, and Shenzhen Satellite TV. The event will be broadcast live beginning 7:35 p.m. Thursday."
• Chinese Espionage: Britain's MI5 reports epidemic in spying [Examiner] "The almost legendary MI5 British counterintelligence service is said to be deeply concerned over an increase in spying by Chinese operatives in the United Kingdom. Although intelligence experts aren't certain how widespread the problem is, they believe the espionage is rampant and a serious consequence of the global economy."
• Rainwater collection projects gather 24.5 million m3 of rainwater in Beijing [CCTV] "One rainfall may create a new “Kunming Lake” in Beijing. Although rainfall for 2009 has been relatively less than that of prior years, rainwater collection projects across urban and rural areas have been playing a big role. According to statistics from Beijing Water Authority, until August 13, 24.5 million cubic meters of rainwater, equivalent to 21 “Kunming Lakes” had been stored in Beijing. Rivers and lakes in urban areas also stored 18.04 million cubic meters of rainwater, creating a fresh and beautiful sight in Beijing."

The saying goes that things have got to get worse before they'll get better. Apparently, that applies to greenhouse gasses in China, since China Daily's just informed us that the country's emissions will peak at 2030.

• Rape and beatings in a Beijing “black jail” hotel [Black and White Cat] "Last week’s edition of Southern Weekly (Aug. 6) carried an extraordinarily rare article on a subject that is usually off-limits for the mainstream media in China: the “black jails” that operate outside of the law in Beijing, detaining people who have committed no crime and have simply come to the capital to exercise their legal right to petition the central government. The report avoids the term “black jail” and does not discuss the widespread use of these illegal places of detention. Nevertheless, it gives a graphic account of life inside one of them. The spark for this article was the rape of a girl from Anhui province in the middle of the night, six hours after she arrived, by one of the thugs employed by a Henan local official to guard the petitioners in storeroom in the Juyuan Hotel near Beijing South Station."
• U.S. Helicopters to Join Taiwan Typhoon Relief Effort [Bloomberg] "Four U.S. helicopters that can airlift earth-moving equipment may help with relief efforts from tomorrow in Taiwan, where hundreds of people are believed buried under mudslides caused by Typhoon Morakot. A U.S. team is due in Taiwan today with two CH53 heavy-lift helicopters and two SH60 medium-lift models en route, said Chris Kavanagh, a spokesman for the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei."
• China Halts Steel-Firm Sale Amid Worker Protest [WSJ] " Protesting steelworkers in China have forced the government to abandon privatization plans for the second time in a month, in a sign of increasing labor activism. Officials in Henan province on Sunday called off the sale of state-owned Linzhou Iron & Steel Co. after some 3,000 workers, demonstrating since Tuesday, briefly blocked a government mediator from leaving the plant, according to the state-controlled Xinhua news agency."

• Should You Look For Work In China? [Forbes] "The New York Times recently ran an article about young Americans flocking to China for job opportunities because job prospects are so bleak in the U.S. The article made it sound as if it's easy to find a good job there even if you don't speak Mandarin or know much about Chinese culture. Is it really that easy? The answer quite simply is no."
• Lead poisoning sickens 600 kids in China [Salon] "The number of children sickened from lead poisoning has risen to more than 600 in a northern Chinese province where authorities shut a smelter earlier this week thought to have caused the contamination, state media reported. More than 80 percent of the 731 children living in the two villages near the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co. in Shaanxi province have tested positive for lead poisoning, nearly double the number reported earlier this week."
• InMusic Festival review - checkit! [China Music Radar] "In China, most events of this scale are announced and then never happen. We expected this would be the same, particularly given that InMusic can barely publish a monthly magazine, no matter organize a multi-day, multi-stage festival with international caliber acts. Yet, being a supporter of the need for more successful festival events in China we were hopeful. As the days approached it became clear that the festival was actually going forward and so with curious anticipation we secured our tickets, packed our tent and headed out of Beijing…"

• Denis McMahon searches for green in Shanghai... and ends up in Chongming Island. [WSJ]
• Guess who's coming to town? San Francisco! Well, at least the Bay Area Council part of San Francisco, which is looking for an office space in Shanghai. [SF Gate]
• The BBC explores the difficulties of selling Stilton cheese in Shanghai, despite its similar "big" smell. Price and lactose intolerance are big factors. [BBC]

• Trade Group Rules Against China’s Limits on Media Imports [NY Times] "A World Trade Organization panel ruled on Wednesday that China had violated international free trade rules by limiting imports of books and movies, in a decision that buttresses growing complaints from the United States and Europe about Chinese trade policies. The W.T.O. decision in Geneva is a victory for the United States at a time when a growing number of business executives and politicians perceive China as becoming increasingly nationalistic in its trade policies."
• Heavy Metal Warfare [Caijing] "Seven-year-old Liu Bingqing died in December 2008, two years after he was diagnosed with cadmium poisoning. In Xinma Village, Majiahe Township, Zhuzhou City, in central China's Hunan Province. Liu was not the first to die from contact with this toxic, bluish-white metal, a by-product of zinc production. In early 2006, the sudden death of his fellow villager, Luo Shaokun, had already sparked cadmium-related health and environmental concerns. A government-administered physical test found excessive levels of cadmium in the urine of more than 1,100 Xinma villagers, with severely excessive levels in 200 residents. "
• China's Cancer-Causing Factories [CBS News] "Deng Dingfu is living out his final days wracked with the pain of lung cancer - lung cancer blamed on toxic pollution, reports CBS News Correspondent Celia Hatton. "My doctor asked me if I live near a chemical plant," he said. In fact, he lives very close to one. The Red Butterfly Chemical Factory lies right in the heart of central China's Yong Xi village. Since 2002, the plant has processed strontium carbonate, a powerful substance used in color TV screens. Dozens of people describe how the factory's waste is making them sick. Many say they've developed painful rashes from the village water. Several people have been arrested for speaking out. But locals showed no fear when a plainclothes police officer confronted a CBS news crew. The angry crowd eventually drove him away. "

She delighted audiences in Ang Lee's first film, The Wedding Banquet, but despite her Independent Spirit Award-nominated turn as the sassy artist from Shanghai who marries her gay landlord, May Chin (高金素梅) didn't pursue much of an acting career in the years following.

• China earthquake activist on trial [AFP] "A Chinese activist who was investigating whether shoddy construction caused school collapses in last year's massive Sichuan earthquake went on trial for subversion, his lawyer said. Environmental activist and writer Tan Zuoren, who was charged with "inciting subversion of state power," is accused of defaming the ruling Communist Party and the government over their handling of the Tiananmen crackdown on pro-democracy protestors in 1989. Mr Tan's brief trial in Chengdu, capital of southwest Sichuan province, ended without a verdict, Pu Zhiqiang, one of his two lawyers, said."
• Chinese police detain supporters of quake critic [AP] "A high-profile Chinese government critic said he and 11 others were detained by police in a hotel Wednesday to prevent them from attending the trial of an activist who investigated the deaths of thousands of schoolchildren in last year's earthquake. Avant-garde artist Ai Weiwei said police in the southwestern city of Chengdu also roughed up him and one of the other supporters who had traveled to the city to try to attend the trial of Tan Zuoren, an activist charged with subversion. The charges Tan faces appear to be linked to his quake investigation as well as essays he wrote about the 1989 student-led demonstrations in Tiananmen Square that ended in a deadly military crackdown. Beijing routinely uses the charge of subversion to imprison dissidents for years."
• Murder at the 'reboot' camps [China Daily] "Deng Senshan had never skipped school, never been diagnosed with a mental illness and, according to his family, surfed the Web only on weekends. Yet on Aug 1, the 15-year-old was admitted to a rehab camp for Internet addiction (IA), where, after being ordered to run 5 km as part of his "treatment", he was beaten to death by counselors."

Giving its admittedly lame smoking law some more teeth, city legislators have served up a new draft legislation called the "Shanghai public tobacco control law" that would actually begin fining individuals for taking drags in prohibited locations.

• Yes, we told you about it before, but we wanted to remind you: Cherie Blair, wife of former-British PM Tony Blair, will be visiting Shanghai to talk about important things on August 16. The seminar will be from 3:30pm to 5:30pm and the wine salon will be from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. 380RMB pre-order and 480RMB at the door. [Urbanatomy]
• Blogger Jenn Wong has some great pictures up of the Nike Human Race, which happened over the weekend. Over 10,000 people participated. [Our Way to Fall]
• Shanghaiist contributor Rebekah Pothaar checked out the Dali exhibit, making sure to pose hilariously next to as many Dali masterpieces as she could. [Chinatravel.net]

• Protest at China TV tower [The Straits Times] "Demonstrators gathered outside a fire-gutted tower near the new China Central Television (CCTV) headquarters in Beijing on Tuesday, protesting against what they called forced eviction, state press said. About 30 residents accused the state-run television station of trying to get them to move from the area to make way for the massive and nearly completed construction project, Xinhua news agency said. After about an hour, police persuaded the protesters to put away their banners and leave, the report said. "
• China Backs Off Latest Rio Tinto Claims [WSJ] "Chinese officials distanced the government from allegations on a state-backed Web site that employees of mining giant Rio Tinto PLC had used years of "deceit" to obtain state secrets that cost China's steel industry more than $100 billion — spotlighting the murky and often confusing way China handles such secrecy cases. The allegations, published over the weekend, had quickly gained widespread attention, as they appeared to represent the government ratcheting up pressure over the case of four Rio Tinto employees, including an Australian citizen, who were detained last month by the Shanghai State Security Bureau on vague accusations of using bribery to obtain secrets that harmed China's national interests."
• Another suspect dies in Kunming police custody [GoKunming] "A man being held in detention in Kunming died in a hospital on Saturday with no clear cause of death, according to a Xinhua report. According to a police spokesperson speaking to reporters on Sunday, 43-year-old Wang Shukun (王树坤) had been held in the Guandu District Detention Center since July 19 before being checked into a hospital by police on August 6. After undergoing emergency procedures to save his life, Wang died early Saturday, the spokesperson said."

Despite weather reports that Typhoon Morakot would swing by our way (which triggered a rush of preparation for floods and damage) it... simply didn't. Yesterday was rainy and gross, but not any rainier and grosser than Shanghai weather normally tends to be. The same could not be said for other areas around Asia.

The gig is up! All Huffington Post readers have now realized that Shanghai and Beijing are the land of opportunity and we'll soon see an influx of smug, knee-jerk left wingers trying to find their place in China's "surging" economy. Yes, we know it's just a link to a New York Times article, but that link has already garnered over 2,000 3,000 comments, most of which are smug, knee-jerk and left wingy. We counted a couple references to Bu$h, some attempts at jokes about Palin in a cheongsam, and one kind of acute observation that this maybe makes Americans China's Mexicans.

• Online Market Flourishes in China [NYTimes] "Taobao fever has swept the school Mr. Yang attends, Yiwu Industrial and Commercial College, where administrators say that a quarter of the 8,800 students enrolled operate Taobao shops, often from dormitory rooms. And across China, millions of other ordinary people — recent college graduates, shopkeepers and retirees — are also using Taobao to sell clothes, mobile phones, toys and just about anything else they can find at neighborhood stores and wholesale markets or even smuggle out of factories."
• China turns back Xinjiang plane [BBC News] "An Afghan aircraft bound for Urumqi in China's restive Xinjiang region has been turned back, reports from both countries say. Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported first that the plane had been hijacked, then that it had been the subject of a bomb threat. An Afghan diplomat said the plane's operators had not been told about a threat, just ordered to turn it back. "
• 3,000 China mobsters sentenced since 2006 [UPI] "Chinese officials say more than 3,000 reputed gang members have been locked up or executed for organized crime activities since January 2006. The tally was announced Sunday by the Supreme People's Court and was part of a continuing effort to curb violent crimes and the organizations behind them, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported."

In a modern day version of Sophie's Choice, an American couple must leave their newly adopted Chinese daughter or risk losing their jobs in the U.S. should they remain with their daughter.

• Former Beijing airport boss executed in China [AP] "The former head of Beijing airport's management company was executed Friday following his conviction on corruption charges, state media reported. An intermediate court found 60-year-old Li Peiying guilty in February of accepting almost $4 million in bribes and embezzling about $12 million in public funds over the past 14 years, the Xinhua News Agency said."
• Australia Plans to Make Arrangements for Second Hu China Visit [Bloomberg] "Australia will soon be making arrangements for a second consular visit with Rio Tinto Group executive Stern Hu, detained in China for allegedly stealing state secrets, a government spokeswoman said. 'According to the consular agreement, visits must take place at least once per month,' a spokeswoman for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who asked not to be named, said today in an e-mailed statement."
• Uighur unrest shows China's failures - Dalai Lama [Reuters] "Ethnic riots in northwest China have exposed the failings of Beijing's minority policies, and a more "realistic" stance toward Tibetans and others could emerge within a decade, the Dalai Lama said on Thursday. The Tibetan spiritual leader said the Uighur unrest in Xinjiang province in July, in which 197 people died according to the official death toll, showed the need for the Chinese Communist Party to rethink its approach."

Man the sails, Typhoon Morakot is heading our way! It hit Taiwan this morning and should be in China by Saturday, according to Reuters. Across the strait, Morakot is a category 2 storm (from a scale of 1-5), meaning it's medium strength, but whether it will stay that way before hitting China still seems to be unclear.

• Despite Banning Twitter, 92% of China Netizens Use Social Media [Read Write Web] "According to a recent report, Chinese netizens are twice as likely to use chat and three times more likely to micro-blog, blog and use video conference than American users. The Netpop Research study shows that mainland Chinese citizens are "more likely to share information broadly and openly." This comes as a surprise as the country's censorship has been such a topic of contention. Nevertheless, the study estimates that up to 92% of Chinese netizens use social media, meanwhile, only 76% of US netizens do the same."
• Xinjiang Crackdown and Changing Perceptions of China in the Islamic World? [The Jamestown Foundation] "While it is clearly in China’s interest to resolve the crisis in Xinjiang on terms that promote long-term reconciliation and stability and address the legitimate grievances of the Uighur community, the recent violence will have little impact on Beijing’s relations with the Middle East and wider Islamic world. Turkish and Iranian criticism of China, which at this point has amounted to little more than rhetoric in the first place, will likely prove to be an exception rather than a precursor of future trends. In the long run, China’s diplomatic and economic clout is too important to ignore."
• Beijing Softens Stand on Emissions Cap [Wall Street Journal] "China and the U.S. are still miles apart. China, driven by a historically unprecedented wave of urbanization and industrialization, has recently surpassed the U.S. as the top emitter of greenhouse gasses. But Beijing insists that rich industrialized countries have a responsibility to clean up first. On the other side, countries like the U.S. say big countries like China and India are growing so fast that, unless they accept absolute limits on their greenhouse gasses, the extra pollution from all of their new factories obliterate gains made elsewhere, gutting the value of any deal."

Remember when we told you about the city-wide dog cull? It's getting more serious - the municipal government is currently drafting more stringent laws regarding dog ownership.

It's been over a month since the infamous Minhang building collapse and construction crews are finally coming in to clean up the site. Yesterday around noon, six bulldozers drove into the Lotus Riverside apartment complex to begin the removal work, according to Shanghai Daily.

• China's Alibaba Adds Social Networking to E-commerce [PC World] "China's Alibaba Group has started mixing social-networking functions into its leading e-commerce platforms, a move it hopes will convince users to spend more time and money on Alibaba Web sites. Alibaba is crafting social-networking platforms specifically to complement two of its core operations. The beta version of a Web site with Facebook-style applications and a Twitter-style feed is being grafted onto Taobao.com."
• China, the world's factory--a photo tour [CNET Asia Blogs: The Tech Dynasty] "These images are from WethicA, a company that audits factories with an eye toward child labor, workers rights, health & safety, and wages. From the WethicA newsletter: "We are posting real untouched photos of factory working conditions from about one year ago. We have decided this summer to show you an important part of the job we do during audits by telling you why these pictures have been taken. Actually, an audit is much more investigative than ticking boxes off a questionaire. One has to walk in with an open mind ready to question everything in these situations and not only ask a list of predefined questions.""
• China's turning children against me: Kadeer [ABC News] "The children of exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer have gone on Chinese television criticising their mother. Two of Ms Kadeer's children and her brother were at first reported as having written letters blaming their mother for orchestrating recent violence in far western China. Now the two children, along with another son, have recorded interviews with Chinese television for a special program."

We all know that the Apple heads at Silicon Valley are responsible for the iconic aesthetic presentation and minimalist technical specifications of the iPod, but we think much less about where its low price comes from. Recently, however, we've been pretty startlingly reminded that there are laborers actually responsible for assembling these iPods, sometimes in substandard working conditions that might help cut costs, despite the compromise in ethics.

• Ever wanted a ranking of the five sexiest pavilions for the World Expo? Well now you've got it. [Chinatravel.net]
• Speaking of pavilions, Germany's pavilion will guide visitors through its many exhibits with a storyline involving a Chinese woman and her German friend and end with a live performance by the story's characters [China Briefing]
• If you thought that the all the rain this week had something to do with the eclipse, you are wrong [China Daily]

• HTC Releasing Three Android Phones In China [InformationWeek] "The company will have to remove Google Maps and tailor the operating system on the Hero, Magic, and Click to gain Chinese government approval. HTC will be bringing out three custom-tailored Android handsets for China by the end of the year, the smartphone maker said."
• Official says China's jobless situation 'very grave' despite improving economy [Los Angeles Times] "China's jobless situation is "very grave," with millions out of work due to the global crisis and the threat that unemployment might rise despite recent improvements in the economy, the government said Tuesday. Beijing is trying to create jobs for laid-off workers, new college graduates, migrants and others, said Wang Yadong, deputy director of job promotion at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security."
• Bret Stephens: China’s Pollution Problems Are a Result of Government Economic Control [WSJ] "A funny thing happened on the way to saving the world’s poor from the ravages of global warming. The poor told the warming alarmists to get lost. This spring, the Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum, led by former U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan, issued a report warning that “mass starvation, mass migration, and mass sickness” would ensue if the world did not agree to “the most ambitious international agreement ever negotiated” on global warming at a forthcoming conference in Copenhagen. But never mind about that. The more interesting kiss-off took place in New Delhi late last month, when Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told visiting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that there was no way India would sign on to any global scheme to cap carbon emissions."

Oh rich ladies - we love hearing about your problems! Xinhua reports that over 20 Jiangsu taitais were stopped at Hongqiao International Airport's customs a few days ago after arriving from South Korea. The reason: all of them had gone to the peninsula to get plastic surgery and had come back so unrecognizable that customs officers couldn't use their existing passport pictures to place them.

• Chinese Army opens (small) window on operations [CSMonitor] "Foreign reporters this week got a rare peek inside an infantry base of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). At the same time, officials were reportedly putting the final touches to a bilingual PLA website that is due to go live on Aug. 1, the 82nd anniversary of its foundation. Taken together, these efforts are designed to signal greater transparency by a 2.3 million-strong military whose rapid expansion has stirred unease among other foreign powers, including Japan and the United States. But these baby steps seem unlikely to silence the debate over China's military capacity and how it intends to use it in future."
• Hidden Gobi Desert relics found [BBC] "Rare Buddhist treasures, not seen for more than 70 years, have been unearthed in the Gobi Desert. The historic artefacts were buried in the 1930s during Mongolia's Communist purge, when hundreds of monasteries were looted and destroyed."
• The last tattooed women of the Dulong people [China News Wrap] "The Xinhua News Agency website has a headline photo story about the the last women of the Dulong people in China’s Yunnan province - one of China’s smallest and remote ethnic groups - to have traditional facial tattoos. According to the news story, the custom of facial-tattooing amongst China’s Dulong ethnic group is first described in historical records from the Tang Dynasty (7th to 10th centuries C.E.)."

According to Netease, a junior high school graduate, Deng, who hadn't yet turned 16 was beaten into death around 3AM yesterday in Nanning city of Guangxi province, as part of his training to build confidence and correct bad habits.