• WSJ's Japan Real Time Report covers why Japan's new Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, is boring at home and controversial abroad, especially in regards to the touchy subject of Japanese war criminals. Also amusing is the seeming list of demands issued by Xinhua in English at the new leadership.
• WSJ goes over a paper by Harvard University's Dani Rodrik explaining why despite anxiety over the issue, he believes developing countries like China aren't going to overtake the US and Europe any time soon. Rodrik argues that they must first overcome the "convergence gap”, or the gap in productivity levels often determined by their ability to absorb new technologies.
• Andy Hoffman writes a fascinating 5-page portrait in The Globe and Mail of Andrew Dawrant, the Canadian largely considered to be the top English-Chinese interpreter in China today. He is the only Native English speaker ever to be accepted as a Chinese language interpreter in the UN. He started learning at age 8 on his own volition, and by 15 he was couch crashing his way through Hong Kong. What a badass.
more ›

A friend in the state apparatus told me, “You’re all too greedy. Forty years ago, writers like you would’ve been shot. So you tell me, have things gotten better, or have they gotten worse?” I said, “No, you’re all too greedy. Ninety years ago, that kind of thinking would have gotten you laughed out of the room. So you tell me: after all that, have things gotten better, or have they gotten worse?” more ›

In the next episode of the Hu's-in-Washington story, well, the story according to the folks from Next Media Animation anyway, President Hu Jintao continues to enjoy all the perks of a visiting dignitary after having a bit too much fun at Hooters. He meets up with business executives Steve Ballmer of Microsoft and Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, then complains about having to meet "Jokie Chan" and "Bang Bang" at the state dinner. Also, at a joint press conference, a question about the state of human rights in China got lost in translation. more ›

How screwed up is the demolition system in China? So bad that it's possible every tear down in the last three years was actually technically illegal. That's one of many eye-opening findings in a recent 30,000 character report forwarded to ChinaGeeks. more ›

In our ongoing Threesday feature, Shanghaiist takes the time to count out three of....well, whatever catches our fancy that week. Right now, we're feeling inspired to brush up on our Chinese skills. Yeah, we know we live in China's most "western" city, but that's still no excuse not to try. Whether you're on a quest to master the language or just want to converse with the cabbie, make life easier on yourself and allow these sites to help you out. more ›

China takes a lot of crap for failing to get a second opinion on the English they throw into circulation, often leading to amusing f*ck ups like this and this. It turns out, however, that this knife cuts both ways. more ›

Earlier reports that Shanghai may axe its loss-making Formula One Grand Prix once its contract runs out in 2010 have now been negated by a spokesperson for one of the organisers. Qiu Weichang, deputy director of the Shanghai Administration of Sports, was previously reported to have said:

We're doing the assessment. By next year we should be able to give you an answer," he said in an interview late on Thursday. China's biggest city spent 240 million dollars on the state-of-the-art Shanghai International Circuit and hosted its first Formula One race in 2004. But the event has been plagued by poor ticket sales and Qiu said its fate was in the balance. more ›

Just in case you were looking for it. more ›

... then please, at least make sure it works!
more ›

EastSouthWestNorth has translated an excellent story on the translation crisis in China that first appeared in Phoenix Weekly. It talks about the more than 1,000 foreign literary works that are translated and published in China each year (and we assume that number is still growing). The story laments over the "awfulness of the translations, the crudeness of the translators and the absence of critical reflection on what is happening". It then looks into why translation... more ›