A new study by GfK Automotive has asked Americans of all ages about there automobile buying preferences, and it turns out that not only are the Gen Y (i.e. Harry Potter Generation) kids willing to buy foreign, they're willing to buy Chinese. While only 38% of Americans in general were open to the idea, "looking at younger consumers, 52 percent of Gen Y car shoppers say they would be willing to take a look at a Chinese automobile, and 41 percent would consider an Indian-made vehicle." Whoa, just hold on a second kids. Maybe you're thinking sure, Chinese cars are cheaper and some even come with a built-in karaoke system! But they might want to first take a look at a few videos like this one, or this one. more ›

Or at least that's what we can deduce from the recent crash test performed on Chinese automaker Geely's CK1 saloon by Latin American NCAP crash tests. They received a zero out of five stars, and driver protection was labeled as "poor for most body regions." The car has no airbags, as is "standard" for the region apparently, and the NCAP discouraged Geely from simply adding them, stating that the structural weakness of the car was such that they wouldn't do any good anyway. more ›

Chinese automaker Geely will soon usurp Tata Motors' crown as producer of the world’s cheapest car. Geely is developing its own mini car, called the Gleagle IG, that will be even more affordable than Tata’s Nano. With a $2,250 price tag, it beats the Nano by almost a grand. more ›

Zhejiang car maker Geely is in the headlines this week for its acquisition of the loss-making Swedish auto manufacturer Volvo. The deal could turn out to be a win-win situation -- Geely could turn around the Swedish premium brand on the back of rising demand from a strong Chinese market, and Volvo, with its reputation for safety could help lift Geely's brand in global markets.
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• Here's a 4-year-old girl who loves her beer [People's Daily Online] "A 4-year-old girl in Penglai, Shandong province, loves beer so much that she wants to have a glass of the alcoholic beverage with each meal. The toddler first tasted beer about a year back, and has since refused to eat if there wasn't a glassful beside her plate. Her careless parents are now desperately seeking help to get their daughter give up the habit."
• Kids Put The Heat On Police Exam Cheaters In China [CBS News] "Police officers contemplating cheating on promotion exams met their match this week in northwestern China _ 18 serious-faced fifth-graders walking the beat. The students were decked in blue and white school uniforms, and photos on the local government Web site showed them standing behind podiums and sauntering up and down aisles of various classrooms to monitor 265 police test-takers in Liangzhou county in Gansu province."
• Xu Zhiyong: Destined To Fight For Social Justice [China Digital Times] "It is very unusual for a human rights activist to be profiled by official media in China. The Economic Observer recently published a profile of Xu Zhiyong, a legal scholar and activist who relentlessly seeks social justice. Excerpts translated by CDT’s Linjun Fan."

• NKorea's Kim Jong Il looks OK in new photographs [AP] "North Korea released new photographs of Kim Jong Il touring a factory following reports earlier this week that the 67-year-old leader has pancreatic cancer and less than five years to live. Wearing sunglasses and a short-sleeved shirt, Kim appeared generally OK in the images released Tuesday night — thin but no worse than in other recent photographs. He has grown frailer over the past year after reportedly suffering a stroke last summer."
• How China Wins and Loses Xinjiang [Foreign Policy] "The government's crackdown on the Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority group that has long chafed under Beijing's rule, was nasty, brutish, and short. Overnight curfews were imposed. Thousands of police officers dispersed. President Hu Jintao left the G-8 summit in Europe to focus on putting out fires at home. But not all aspects of China's policies toward Uighurs and other minorities are characterized by such precision."
• Something’s Rotten in Chinese Steel Industry [NYT Dealbook] "Long before four employees of the Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto were detained in Shanghai last week on suspicion of stealing state secrets, people working in China’s steel industry were complaining about bribery, deceit and a system turned rotten, The New York Times’s David Barboza writes."

Londoners living in major Chinese cities may find themselves feeling a little more at home in the near future. Geely Automobile Holdings, a Hangzhou-based budget car maker, plans to manufacture and sell about 1,000 of London's iconic black cabs throughout China by the end of the year. more ›