Xinhua News Agency tells us of a celebration held by the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) in London for the 59th anniversary of The People's Republic of China. The party's head Harpal Brar was quoted as saying "China has achieved the basic human rights. It's a living example of socialism". This is also the first time we've heard of the "Hands off China" campaign organised by the British commies to support China against the......

Jeremy Goldkorn of Danwei speaks to Zhang Lijia, journalist and author of the new book Socialism is Great. Zhang worked as a teenager in a Nanjing factory which produced missiles designed to reach North America, participated in the Tiananmen Square protests and subsequently became a journalist. To read a sample chapter of the book, click here. Related links The China Beat: Interview with Zhang Lijia The Guardian: Time to stop criticising China - we've already......

This latest piece of excellent work from Tony Cheng of Al-Jazeera has some eye-opening footage of what life looks like in Nanjie village (南街) in Henan province, supposedly the last place in China that is run along Maoist lines, where everything has been renationalised and collectivised. The clip reveals that the "village" is really a town that doesn't look all too bad at all, but it also does leave us with a few questions in......

Standing a foot taller and six inches broader than anyone else on HuaiHai Lu, the young man who calls himself Red Laowai (George to his Mother) is easy to spot. Although this is his first trip to mainland China, George has already gathered a large following by recording video clips singing (mostly Communist) Chinese songs and releasing them on the internet. "I love the passion of those songs. They're just so much fun." Clips of......

"The Communist Party is like the parent to the Tibetan people, and it is always considerate about what the children need.The Central Party Committee is the real Buddha for Tibetans."- Zhang Qingli 张庆黎, Member of the 17th CPC Central Committee, Secretary of the CPC Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee - [Source: IHT, h/t Inaction Hero]......

... not Santa Claus! We wonder if the Chairman would be rolling in his grave Mao-soleum if he knew he was on the cover of the latest issue of The Economist, looking all festive with a santa hat. Well, according to them, Mao is a role model of sorts for top Chinese executives even today. The four key ingredients of the Chairman's art of management are: a powerful, mendacious slogan; ruthless media manipulation; sacrifice of......

From Reuters:A group of lawyers and human rights campaigners are objecting to China's "re-education through labour" system which allows China citizens to be sent to prison-like camps without trial. The government calls the system a humane corrective alternative to jail. But in practice, police use it to hold tens of thousands of people including protesters, thieves and addicts. In another parallel universe, there is the Internal Security Act inherited from the British by countries......