Don't blame China for Myanmar [LA Times] These are supposed to be humbling times for foreign policy analysts -- chaos in Iraq having made it harder to cast the United States as omnipotent, omniscient and self-actualizing. But judging by the reactions to the recent protests in Myanmar, also known as Burma, the commentariat hasn't stopped ascribing otherworldly powers to ambitious governments. 'Made in India' rising to challenge China: report [AFP] "Made in India" could be......

China rejects pork imports from U.S., Canada [Reuters] China has rejected shipments of pork kidney from the United States and of spare ribs from Canada after finding traces of a banned growth agent in them, in the latest volley of cross-border accusations over product quality. China's kung fu peace-keepers head for Darfur [The Telegraph] With kung fu, automatic rifles and armoured personnel carriers, China showed off its new-found power this weekend, and how it says......

OK, we all know about the Great Wall, the Great Firewall and the Great Green Wall. All that is old news now. Get this: China is now building a 6 million yuan, 40-kilometer (25-mile) long, 1 meter (3.3 feet) high wall around Dongting Lake in Hunan Province to guard against the 2 billion field mice that have been on the run from the flooded Yangtse River. Already, the mice have destroyed about 520,000 hectares (1.3......

Not so long after its crackdown on foreign-language only signs in Xintiandi, the language police are now on to their next target -- the Shanghai Metro! They have objected to plans by the subway operator to train its staff to learn basic phrases in five major Chinese dialects -- a plan that is not without controversy -- so as to help domestic tourists and visitors when they ask for fares and directions. As can be......

In a story that reminded us of the Andrew Speaker incident, two Taiwanese tuberculosis patients have defied a travel ban and flown to Nanjing from Kaohsiung (via Hong Kong). They have since been "located" by Chinese officials (we wonder how they did that!) and "are now receiving treatment". A maximum fine of 300,000 New Taiwan dollars (US$10,000) awaits the Taiwanese jetsetters. A 49 year old Shenzhen man has contracted the pig-borne disease Streptococcus suis......

From Shanghai Daily:Central China's Hunan Province is planning to make HIV tests compulsory for people working at recreation venues to monitor the rise in HIV/AIDS cases. Hunan had reported a total of 4,379 HIV/AIDS cases by June 30, ranking eighth among the country's provinces or regions. Officials said 57.8 percent of HIV infections in Hunan were caused by drug users sharing needles, but that cases of sexually-transmitted diseases have been rising. Photo from Kat.H:......

Anhui Television has uncovered the story of Tao Xing (陶星), a 16-year-old student from Yueyang, Hunan Province, who has recently come under the spotlight for his loving care of his mother. It all started when the owner of the store next to Tao Xing's school told his teacher-in-charge that the boy was buying sanitary napkins on a monthly basis. She had thought that the boy was "up to no good" and told him that he......

Students top pregnancy hotline list Nearly half the women calling the city's first hotline for unexpected pregnancies are students. Hotline officials released the figures yesterday in a move to promote young people's sexual awareness ahead of World Population Day on Wednesday. Prostate awareness drive goes national Ten Chinese hospitals will kick off the nation's first coordinated research into chronic prostatitis, or inflammation of the prostate gland. Beijing opens first counseling clinic for prisoners A special......

There's been lots of explosions around China this week it seems, all kinds of explosions. The video here, sent in by a netizen to 56.com, shows a fire which broke out in a cinema in Hunan Province's Hengyang city. Only one person was killed, the cinema's on-duty manager. Meanwhile Reuters tells us of a nightclub blast which killed 25 and injured 33 in Benxi, Liaoning. In yet another freak accident, a 22-year-old Chinese man died......

The New York Times Magazine has an interesting story about General Tso's Chicken, probably the most famous "Hunanese" dish that most people from Hunan Province (or anywhere else in Mainland China, for that matter) have never heard of: General Tso’s chicken is named for Tso Tsung-t’ang (now usually transliterated as Zuo Zongtang), a formidable 19th-century general who is said to have enjoyed eating it. The Hunanese have a strong military tradition, and Tso is one......

What was your reaction when Chen Hui, the 28 year old boss of several major Chinese porn sites, was sentenced to life in prison recently? Our favorite sexologist, Li Yinhe (李银河) wrote about this in her blog, where she said that the sentence was way too heavy, that China was stuck in the sexual "dark ages," and that porn itself is a form a speech, rather than a sexual "action" (such as prostitution), and that......

Imagine Team America fights with Team China -- what would that be like? This Sino-America Police Sanshou Championship (中美警察自由搏击大赛) may offer us some answers. (Sanshou is a kind of hand-to-hand combat developed by the People's Liberation Army in the 1960s. For more info, go here.) According to the website of The Ministry of Public Security of People’s Republic of China (in Chinese), this championship, organized byMinistry of Public Security and Public Security Office of Hunan......

Geely Holding Corporation hopes to unveil its first hybrid car on December 26 of this year in honor of Boxing Day Chairman Mao's birthday. Geely's production center for the hybrids is in Xiangtan County in Hunan Province ... so is Shaoshan, Mao's birthplace. The Xiangtan factory can produce 50,000 hybrids a year. Just don't expect to see any of them -- or any other Chinese cars -- outside of China anytime soon. USA Today reports......

The Shanghai Daily recently ran a report after authorities, acting on information provided by a whistle-blower, busted a human trafficking ring in Hunan Province. The report stated: More than two dozen suspects have been arrested so far, according to the Sanxiang Metropolis News. The paper said an alleged baby trader arrested in Hunan's Qidong County told police he has been selling babies to orphanages and social welfare institutions for years, making 800 yuan (US$99) to......

Following the sensational success of Super Voice Girls (Chaoji Nu Sheng or 超级女声), Hunan Province Satellite Television Station planned to organize another American Idol-style TV program called -- surprise, surprise -- Super Voice Boys (Chaoji Nan Sheng or 超级男声), the TV station announced the news to media cheerfully in early September. However, Xinhua reports (in Chinese) the plan was called off by The Central Propaganda Department and The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.......

Chao Nu, the abbreviation of Chao Ji Nu Sheng (超级女声 or Super Voice Girls), has entered the Chinese vocabulary. It's the name of a televised singing competition similar to American Idol, produced and broadcast by the state-owned Hunan Province Satellite Television Station. The program's full name is Mengniu Yoghurt Super Voice Girls -- Mengniu being one of China's leading dairy product brands. The TV program has sparked a nationwide mania. According to the August 20......