"The Chinese government has never really learnt how to 'speak.' You see a lot of politically correct language, and too little self-criticism. Subjects like Wang Lijun are deemed too sensitive to even be touched upon. China is generally a country that does not too bad on the whole, and the hard results are out there. If something has happened, we should talk about. The more you refuse to talk about it, the more you shroud the matter in mystery. But when you choose to talk about it, people think, oh, it's just that. Society needs criticism all the time. The more the government criticizes itself, the less the public will criticize it. The more good news there is on official media, the more bad news and rumors there will be on Weibo. That's just how things balance up."
Hu Xijin on the Chinese government's (lack of) communication skills
Photos: What Chinese democracy looks like in Wukan
On Wednesday in the coastal Guangdong village of Wukan (乌坎), nearly 7,700 villagers voted in open elections to select an independent election committee that will oversee the election of new village leaders in March. Many villagers are voting for the first time in their lives.
Hu Jintao: Hostile powers are trying to Westernize and divide China
Chinese President Hu Jintao expressed his concerns on Monday about the Westernization of the Chinese culture, and called for greater efforts to strengthen China's cultural influence worldwide. The remarks are the latest in a growing series of attempts by the Communist Party to control promote Chinese culture.
Another day, another school bus accident
A kindergarten school bus collided with a truck in Puyang, Henan province this afternoon. All 10 children and 2 adults were saved and only suffered from slight injuries.
Photos: 970,000 sit for the 2012 China civil service exam
On November 27, nearly one million students sat for the 2012 Chinese civil service exam at 31 different test sites simultaneously.
The one-child policy loosens up in China
Henan, China's most populous province, has passed new legislation to allow couples to have a second child, provided that both husband and wife are from one-child families. With this move, all of China's 22 provinces, 4 municipalities, 5 autonomous regions now allow couples made up of single children on both sides to have a second child.
After recent school bus tragedy, China donates school buses to Macedonia
China has donated school buses to Macedonia, and these buses were handed over to the south-eastern European country yesterday.
Students in Fujian made to line the streets to welcome provincial leaders
On Nov. 23rd, in Gutian County, Ningde City of Fujian Province, some 200 students were forced to leave their classes, hold bunches of flowers and stand along the roadside to "welcome" provincial leaders and media who were coming to attend a meeting.
Number of weibo users hits 300 million
The number of weibo users has now reached 300mln, according to the 11th China Cybermedia Forum.
Wenzhou bullet train accident report still nowhere in sight
The State Administration of Work Safety has informed the press that the probe report will be released soon on the website of the official Xinhua News Agency. However, the safety watchdog did not tell the exact date of the report's release, only saying that it won't be "long".
Over 10,000 workers besiege shoe factory in massive strike in Dongguan
Thousands of workers in Dongguan, Guangdong Province staged a massive strike against new regulations imposed by their factory management on Thursday. Thousands of workers besieged their factory in Dongguan's Huangjiang Township and blockaded the town's main road. At one point, protesters were said to have numbered over 10,000. Conflicts broke out between riot police and protesting workers as the police tried to prevent workers from approaching the government building. Dozens of workers reportedly suffered head wounds after they were beaten by riot police.
Gansu residents mourn children killed in school bus tragedy
Residents of Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu, gathered spontaneously to mourn those who were killed in the school bus tragedy, in which a severely overloaded school bus collided with a truck, leaving more than 20 killed and dozens more injured.
Fury rises over Gansu school bus tragedy
We told you yesterday about a school bus tragedy in Zhengning (正宁) County of Qingyang (庆阳) City in Western China's Gansu province in which a minibus overcrowded with preschoolers crashed with a truck, killing 20 and injuring dozens. Public anger is now rising over the incident, which today topped the list of trending topics on Sina Weibo, China's most popular microblogging platform.
Portraits of government buildings in China
Baixiaoci (白小刺), whose real name is Shen Xiaoming (沈晓明) is a photographer from Zhejiang who has made a name for himself in the last year for his portraits of government buildings around China. From 2005 to 2006, China witnessed the biggest surge in the construction of government building, many of which are located in the new development zones. Such buildings have become the key strategy for the new zones to draw economy and draw investments, he says. The political symbolism comes of these buildings come in the second place.
Statistics bureau's proofreading exposed online
Netizens found that a report was put on the official website of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) with proofreading changes. While no statistics were changed, a total of 42 corrections was made to the report of around 3,000 characters. Most of the changes were made to correct grammatical problems and improve the accuracy of the report.
Names of 15-member subway crash investigation panel announced
The Shanghai government has announced the names of the 15-member investigation panel which it has assembled to look into Tuesday's subway collision. The panel is made up of two teams -- an 11-member incident investigation team, headed by Qi Jun, bureau chief of the Shanghai Work Safety Administration, and assisted by Shen Weizhong, his assistant bureau chief, as well as a four-member team of expert consultants headed by Liu Ruichang, formerly deputy chief engineer at the Shanghai Railway Bureau.
Wang Shuo: For each day that they can f*ck you, they will f*ck you
"Suppose a man tells you night and day that he loves you, yet disappears the moment you mention marriage, and then goes on to keep borrowing money from you. That just really means he's not that into you. For each day that he can continue fucking you, he will fuck you. And if you get pregnant, he'll be gone immediately. Suppose a government goes on and on about how much they want to fight corruption and love the people, yet disappears the moment you talk about justice and transparency, and then goes on to raise the taxes and prices of everything under the sun. That just really means they're playing with you. For each day that they can continue fucking you, they will fuck you."
Video: Hu Jintao happily hugging foreigners!
Look Hu's excited! After his visit to Chicago schools during his state visit to America in January, Hu Jintao invited 20 students from Walter Payton College Prep High School to visit his residence at Zhongnanhai in Beijing.
Censors pull the plug off Shandong provincial news outlet as rumours of Jiang Zemin's death remain rife
Internet censors have pulled the plug off the state-owned Shandong provincial news portal SDnews.com.cn (山东新闻网) after a screengrab of a banner commemorating the death of former president Jiang Zemin (江泽民) began circulating on Sina Weibo, China's number one microblogging platform. It is unclear if the banner was published live on the homepage of the news portal, or if the screengrab was taken from a tribute mini-site that had been prepared for the event.
Chinese government to meet with Libyan rebel leader this week
It's not you, Muammar, it's us. We just feel like we should start seeing other leaders: "China said Monday that Libya’s opposition leader [Mahmoud Jibril] will visit this week, further increasing Beijing’s engagement in the Libyan conflict and dealing another setback to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. Mr. Jibril is the chairman of the executive board of the Transitional National Council, the umbrella organization of rebel groups trying to unseat Colonel Qaddafi. Chinese diplomats in Qatar met this month with the rebel council chairman, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil. A few days later, the Libyan foreign minister, Abdulati al-Obeidi, was sent to Beijing in an apparent attempt to reassert the Libyan government’s influence. China has pointedly avoided joining international calls for Colonel Qaddafi to step down, saying it is a matter for the Libyan people to decide. It also abstained in the vote by the United Nations Security Council authorizing the use of force against the Libyan government and has repeatedly criticized the NATO bombing campaign in support of the rebels." [New York Times]
Politburo member dreams of One ID Card to rule them all
Apparently, the current ID system for China's citizens is broke, and thus it must be fixed. The Global Times' tells us of a new ID information system that would strengthen and streamline the system currently in place. Writing in the political theory magazine Qiushi (求实), the 9th highest-ranked Politburo member Zhou Yongkang argues for the necessity of an improved ID database:
State Council to government portals: Provide timely, accurate info or else!
"Government websites in China will be shut down if they fail to respond to public concerns or update information, according to a circular issued by China's State Council, or cabinet. Government websites are required to provide up-to-date and accurate information, especially on sectors such as government budgets, public resources allocation and major construction projects. The move is believed to aim at improving the credibility of government websites, many of which have been accused of lacking adequate information, offering delayed updates and constantly having hyper-link errors." [Xinhua]
Say hi to Shanghai's new Vice Mayor, Jiang Ping
Local legislators have elected Jiang Ping (姜平), secretary-general of the Shanghai municipal government and director of the government's general office, as vice mayor in a meeting yesterday morning.
John Garnaut of the Sydney Morning Herald on cronyism in Chongqing
If there is one article you must read this weekend, it's this article by John Garnaut of the Sydney Morning Herald, entitled "Show them the money, old China". The article offers fascinating insight into what's going on today in Chongqing, one of China's four direct-controlled municipalities, and the economic hub of the western region. Here is an excerpt:
Quote of the Day: Yunnan transport chief Yang Guangcheng on vehicles for civil servants
"As the transport chief, a third of my time is spent on the ground at construction sites and projects. As you may know, 94% of Yunnan is comprised of hills especially around Nujiang and Diqing. Transport is not very convenient, and if there isn't enough horsepower, you can't even get around. Hence, it's best to equip ourselves with good vehicles, so as to ensure safety. It's unrealistic to have public servants to go down to the villages in vehicles that cost less than RMB250,000."
Photos: Paparazzi-style media frenzy at the Chinese legislative sessions
When sent to cover possibly the driest, most pre-scripted nightmare of a political session in the world, what role does the Chinese reporter play? Coverage on the sessions is pre-drafted for mass consumption already, and unless they're looking to capture flashy minority outfits or an assemblage of hard-faced old men, there's not much else to see. So instead, young, ambitious journalists descend on the sessions in a mass of frenzied star-chasing (追星, Zhuīxīng). CPPCC members attract the lion's share of attention, as the larger legislative body pulls people from every industry including entertainment, sports, and music. Above you'll find a taste of the stars of the show this year so far (captions translated from Netease, for the most part.)
Chinese mayor sacked for ignoring kneeling villagers
How times have changed! 21 years ago, when a couple of students decided to kneel on the steps of the Great Hall of the People with a petition to the government, nobody would give them the time of day. Well, we all know what happened subsequently. These days, if you're a mayor and you have people kneeling outside your door, you'd better pay attention because not doing so could cost you your job,
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