Results tagged “chinesegovernment”

Don't spit on the traffic police!

This may be obvious to anyone who's ever seen cop beat down videos in the U.S., but you probably shouldn't spit on the police. That advice holds true in China.

Today's Links: Kashgar to be demolished, diabetes on the rise for youth in Asia, and China addresses climate change

  • To Protect an Ancient City, China Moves to Raze It [NYT] "Over the next few years, city officials say, they will demolish at least 85 percent of this warren of picturesque, if run-down homes and shops. Many of its 13,000 families, Muslims from a Turkic ethnic group called the Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gurs), will be moved."
  • Diabetes more likely to strike the young in Asia [AP] "Without strong government policy, education and good clinical care, Asia's escalating epidemic could "erase economic gains made in recent decades," said Hu, one of the authors. Trends of diabetes in the region are influenced by everything from genetic makeup and cultural differences to smoking and degrees of urbanization, the JAMA study showed. But the most startling findings — which tended to vary from country to country — related to body mass and age."
  • China Said to Harass Rights Lawyers [NYT] "Many of the lawyers have taken on cases, involving issues like Tibetan political activism and police brutality, that gained national and even international attention. The advocacy groups, Human Rights Watch and Chinese Human Rights Defenders, called the actions by the legal authorities part of an effort to intimidate the lawyers and their law firms into avoiding sensitive cases."

Guess Hu!

Which one of these adorable little High School kids went on to become the leader of China?

Devoted parents don't give up on lost children

Hundreds of parents set to the streets on April 15th in a peaceful march, begging for help in finding their missing children. Originally reported by the New Express (translated by Danwei), the parents claim that about 1,000 children have gone missing from the Dongguan area since 2007. At their wits end, they've set out to draw more attention to the apparent, widespread abduction problem.

Protesters and police clash in Tibet over identity checkpoint

Protesters have clashed with the police in a Tibetan-populated prefecture of Qinghai province. According to state media, dozens of angry people threw small explosive devices at police after a resident was stopped on the road for an identity check. Tensions in the area are running high, since tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising. The state report did not say whether the protesters were Tibetan. Source: AFP

Chinese government calls 2009 "the toughest year"

The CCP warned that 2009 will be "possibly the toughest year" to secure economic and agricultural development since the beginning of the century. A document issued jointly by the State Council and the Central Committee said that the world economy's slowdown would have an increasingly negative impact on the Chinese economy. The best solution for keeping growth up would be boosting rural areas using social security schemes and rural land and employment rights protections. Will 2009 be the year migrant workers actually choose to stay home? Source: Xinhua

Last weekend, we told you that Yahoo! is now apologizing for not telling the full truth to Congress at the February 2006 hearing where Yahoo! was taken to task for its role in the conviction of Chinese journalist Shi Tao. Now both Republicans and Democrats have launched scathing attacks on Yahoo. San Mateo Democrat Tom Lantos has called Yahoo "moral pygmies", and New Jersey Republican Chris Smith compared Yahoo’s cooperation with the Chinese government to companies that cooperated with Nazi Germany during World War II.

What’s with all the Wangs? That is the question that is stumping the Chinese Government. For well over a billion Chinese people, only 100 surnames are used by some 85 percent of the population, not to mention the fact that many of these names are homonyms. What’s the solution? Well, according to a proposed law, two surnames.

The industry is trying to make 3G services available in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics so that half a billion cell phone subscribers and millions of visitors can stream and download small screen clips of Yao Ming slam dunking his way to gold medal glory.



  • Started in 2005, the new project is slated for completion in 2009 and will account for for approximately 30% of Chongqing's total installed capacity.




  • This happened on the 19th, around 12pm. The train stopped in the middle of the tunnel, and then began to slowly move again, only to stop and start a few more times.




  • "Wouldn't it be simpler just to leave advertising out of elevators? Fewer bureaucratic headaches, and we'd all be 6 to 8 degrees cooler."




  • "I mean, how many different ways can Jack Bauer save the Republic from terrorists in 24 hours? Well, one way is to have China, the rising superpower, play a sinister role in this season’s back story."




  • "These government officials believe in fengshui, gods and ghosts, but not Marxism-Leninism."




  • "Shanghai Xingbake Cafe Corp. has changed its name to 'Fangyun,' the official Xinhua News Agency said Friday."




  • "China's showcase east coast city, Shanghai, will soon be home to MGM Studio World, a massive new indoor entertainment complex featuring dining, shopping, nightclubs and extensive entertainment facilities, including a cinema."




  • "A city photographer has demanded 460,000 yuan (US$59,740) compensation from a decoration company he says flooded his studio, damaging 60,000 photographic plates and the 'priceless' images on them."




  • "[T]he Chinese province of Zhejiang has taken matters into its own hands. Bars and hotels in the Zhejiang province must provide customers with access to condoms and other contraceptives, or face a $650 fine for non-compliance."




  • "Wozone 我族网 is a free online social networking service that can also be used on your cell phone."


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

    Photo by meckleychina found via the Shanghaiist Contribute page.

    In spite of the benefit of being ruled by a "living Buddha," decades of planning and a cost of billions of dollars, parts of the Beijing-Lhasa railway, China's "engineering miracle," are sinking. Specifically, those sections where the project attempts to maintain stability atop the seasonal thawing and refreezing of the permafrost, according to Answers.com, engineers built "elevated tracks with foundations sunk deep into the ground, inserting vertical pipes that circulate liquid nitrogen and cold nitrogen gas into the ground, building hollow concrete pipes beneath the tracks to keep the rail bed frozen, and using metal sun shades."



  • "The city will ensure the construction of Line 6, Line 8 and the first phase of Line 9 by the end of 2007, the Shanghai Construction and Transport Commission announced." We'll see.




  • "Shanghai issued a batch of special 'tourist passports' yesterday to provide discounts, ranging from 10 percent to 50 percent, on tickets to the city's tourist attractions."




  • "A team of 30 officers will patrol suburban streets and downtown entertainment areas at least twice a week during the Spring Festival period on the lookout for drunk drivers. Offenders will face a fine of up to 2,000 yuan (US$250) and 15 days in detention."




  • "China Central Television (CCTV) that CCTV has purchased the China broadcast rights to the ABC show Grey's Anatomy, reports Nanfang City Daily quoting an inside source. The report said that CCTV has not decided when to broadcast the show."




  • "Baidu sued its former partnerships manager, who joined Google in 2006, for revealing business secrets to Google. Hearings have already been held for the case on December 14, 2006 and January 15, 2007, said the insider."




  • "When train is approaching, there are broadcast to notify people about the number of train carts in the coming train, so people don't need to wait before the rest of the gates, where there will be no train carts."




  • "If the Chinese Government is angry or displeased with the Japanese film being released this year called ‘The Truth about Nanjing”, then they are hiding it very well. ... [D]irector Satoru Mizushima ... announced that was going to produce the ... film to as he says, 'Correct the errors of history'."




  • "GAPP's deputy director Wu Shulin produced a list of banned books from 2006 and threatened to slap publishers who defy the ban with stiff financial penalties. Of the eight books on the list, seven were blackballed because their contents 'stepped over the line.'"




  • "GAPP has responded to reports that it banned eight books in January. Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao quotes a representative of the Administration's Department of Books and Publishing: 'The issue of banning is nonexistent; this time we have not banned a single book.'"




  • "Rape of Nanking - Nanjing Massacre. Japanse Atrocities in Asia. Part I of 2. This documentary is based on 20 years research and consists entirely of archival photos and film-clips."




  • "Chinese authorities are considering setting up a non-bank money exchange outlet in Shanghai, as China pushes for free conversion of renminbi into foreign currencies, a government source said yesterday."




  • "Many couples just come to get the certificate with casual dress on, and no friends or family members in attendance. We'd like to remind people that actually getting the marriage certificate is divine and solemn."




  • "The Dalai Lama accused Beijing today of using a new railway link to flood Tibet with beggars, prostitutes and the unemployed, destroying its culture and traditions."




  • "Omega have signed a contract to be the title sponsor for the tournament's move to Mission Hills in China through to 2018 and it is hoped that with a powerful backer of this magnitude, the event will regain some of its flagging prestige. "




  • "Your source for Xinjiang Info"




  • "Shanghai's three best brewers of coffee were chosen at a competition in the city yesterday, based on their ability to brew up a good cup of espresso, cappuccino and their own signature blend."




  • "The city had nine Grade 3, or 'slightly polluted, days in January, three times last year's monthly average, the environmental bureau said yesterday."


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

    Photo by morena7 found via the Shanghaiist Contribute page.

    Late last month, we told you about the Shanghai Wild Animal Olympics, and we probably didn't infuse the post with the proper amount of outrage. Thankfully, some commenters picked up our slack and even directed readers to the animalsasia.org website, which includes information on how you can help put an end to such disgusting displays. We will now quote that information here:

    Monsters and Critics has broken our hearts with the news that M:I:3 is being blocked by official Chinese Blocking People, those chaps who have the nation's proudest and holiest of jobs -- to stop all that evil foreign stuff coming in and ruining everything.

    The majority of Chinese parents are well-versed to the phrase "when in doubt, beat it out", choosing to physically discipline their children, and the poor little tykes are also not getting enough sleep.

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