freedoms coverage by - shanghaiist

Extra! Extra! Top real estate mogul acknowledges bubble, China and Africa are BFF and journalism is a ladies' game

We don't know what's worse: listening to one of China's richest women bitch about the impending burst of the bubble who made her that way, or her escalating her hustle of overvalued real estate the midst of said burst. Actually, we're voting for the picture of her smiling and standing like Shirley Temple next to statue of a cartoon Deng Xiaoping.[Forbes]
The USA's annual Human Rights Report has, as expected, taken aim at China's admittedly less-than-stellar record in the arena. But we were more taken by the eighth line of the report: "Widespread violent crimes in the United States posed threats to the lives, properties and personal security of its people. [The Wall Street Journal's China RealTime Report]

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NewsRobert Schrader 2 Comments

Apparently, China's in the midst of a "golf boom," despite the percentage of our population who plays the game being negligible - and the fact that course construction has been officially banned since 2004, according to a story written by Shanghaiist founding editor Dan Washburn. Surprisingly, more than 400 new courses have popped up since then. Not so surprisingly, the government doesn't think twice about bulldozing multimillion dollar investments that are illegally built. [Slate]
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority has owned up to its bad RE: forced internment of Chinese immigrants by erecting a memorial to honor them. The chairman of the organization said he was "sorry the early immigrants [...] were denied their civil rights and denied a decent burial" but that he's "glad we're finally honoring them by righting the wrong." Well, half of the wrong, anyway. [The Los Angeles Times]
In a surprising twist, it seems that China may end up the champion in one leg of its green energy marathon against the US: developing a "smart" power grid. China's advantages include a less-developed existing grid which is easier to modify without service interruptions and a strategery - less cute polar bears, more energy security - more aimed at winning the race than public support.[Solve Climate]

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NewsRobert Schrader 1 Comment

Oh look, it's like the Chinese media just discovered the 5 mao army for itself and it wants to assure people that, for the most part, they don't exist. Go to the last page for a hilarious list of Dos and Don'ts for internet commentators. [Global Times]
As Google stands shoulder to shoulder with China's citizens to gain more rights and freedoms, the government pushes back even harder to smother would-be social progress. [WSJ]
Chinese internet authorities blame the U.S. for its' porn problems, and use this as an excuse to tighten online controls. [Forbes]

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NewsG.M. Giacomelli 0 Comments