In case you didn't think the noose was tight enough, The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has even more regulations coming down the line. While you're now allowed to register for new individual websites (they enacted a freeze in December), you have to submit identity cards and a photo of yourself first, and then do a face-to-face with regulators. Websites without these government stamps of approval will lose their domain name by the end of September 2010. All done in the name of stopping porn. Apparently, this has just resulted in websites being registered overseas instead. In slightly better internet news, Google seems to have started hiring again in China, signaling that it probably won't leave the country after all. But considering search results are still censored here, seems like the company really did wuss out on all their big talk two months ago. more ›

• At least one prefecture is now putting the lid on ganbei culture. Kunming's city government has issued a regulation to curb cases of drinking while on duty, drunk driving, making people drink toasts against their will at banquets and getting drunk at any time or under any circumstances. [People's Daily]
• Evan Osnos of The New Yorker answers questions about China's clean energy program and climate change. [New Yorker]
• Experts from all over the world are being called in to bid on helping to remake China's electric system - it's a highly competitive, and possibly incredibly lucrative, time for energy specialists. [Businessweek]

• 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."