As if the floods weren't enough, this year's torrential rains have caused the worst incident of landslides this year to happen in Gansu province. Official estimates released this morning put the death toll of the slides at 137, with 1,348 people still missing. more ›

Best selling author and fierce CCP critic Yu Jie has been detained by the police over his new book criticizing Wen Jiabao, according to the Straits Times. The book, which would have been published in Hong Kong in the next few months, rips apart Grandpa Wen's economic, cultural and education policies. Said Yu, "The state security people said Wen Jiabao isn't a normal citizen, he's the premier, so criticising him hurts the nation's interests and security... (They said) I could be given a heavy sentence like Liu Xiaobo." more ›

The torrential rains that hit China's southern provinces over a week ago have killed 199 people, with 123 still missing as of Tuesday, as flooding continues to destroy homes and crops and disrupt traffic and communication. more ›

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• "In recent months, protests over the severe illnesses caused by China's heavy industries have resulted in a crackdown on polluters. Leading the charge has been the state-run media, which the central government is now using to gain control over corrupt local authorities and powerful commercial enterprises." [Environment 360]
• The family of a 69-year-old grandmother who was buried alive by demolition crews has won compensation: five houses and 600,000RMB. The grandmother had tried to stop an excavator with her own body. She somehow fell into a ditch, but the excavator continued shoveling, burying her with a load of earth. [China Hush]
• Wen Jiabao has dismissed claims that Chinese foreign policy is becoming more assertive, saying, "There are already views about China’s arrogance, China’s toughness, and China’s inevitable triumph. You have given me an opportunity for me to explain how China conducts itself" in a defensive speech at a press conference. [Economist]

While Hu Jintao still hasn't officially signed up for his own microblog, it seems Wen Jiabao's at least continuing to use chatrooms. The Premier signed on over the weekend to discuss matters such as hefty housing prics and unemployment, where he vowed to crackdown on speculation and boost the amount of low-cost apartments. If this sounds familiar, its because this is not the first time the unwashed masses have had their chance to talk to Grandpa Wen online. Last year, Wen also logged on to the www.gov.cn chatroom, and also right before the annual session of the National People's Congress. more ›

Earlier this month, while all eyes were on what was to be China's first ever Mr Gay China pageant, we totally overlooked a trip made by Germany's openly gay Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. This was Westerwelle's first trip to Asia in his new role since he led the pro-business Free Democratic Party to its best election result ever late last year. What made this trip newsworthy, in our opinion, was that the world's only openly gay foreign minister was bringing his partner, Michael Mronz (a marketing executive working in the private sector) along on an official visit to Asia. This is unheard of. more ›

The more we hear about China's housing market, the more outrageous it seems. China's real estate investment grew by 75% last year: in total, 4.4 trillion yuan was spent last year, a large part of which was fueled by 9.5 trillion in new loans. If you need a physical gauge for just how much that is, chew on this: over the course of the year, China sold 937 million square meters of space, nearly twice as much as in 2008. In order to curb housing market mania, Wen Jiabao announced new curbs on lending to manage credit growth, but with the enormous contribution that housing makes to the national GDP, we'd be surprised if anything but a crash will stop people from buying new houses. more ›

It's been a full week since the UN's climate conference in Copenhagen started, and nothing ground shaking has come out of the meetings so far (beyond protesting, and an interesting scandal). Of course, gathering leaders from around the world to discuss tangible restrictions on carbon emissions seems to have only brought tension over the past decade, despite increasing evidence of global warming. Yet in the buildup to this year's talks in Copenhagen, there was a general agreement that the major players in climate change discussions would undoubtedly be America and China: the biggest polluting powers have the most at stake, yet finding a suitable agreement on reduction would undoubtedly be difficult. Tensions have already risen between the two powers, and with only two days before Premier Wen Jiabao and President Obama go to Copenhagen (and only four more days of conference), time is running out. more ›

Hey, guess who paid a visit over the weekend? Wen Jiabao, who came to Shanghai as part of an inspection tour of east China. The Premier took the opportunity to call for a more balanced and energy-efficient economic development model, especially important considering China's plans to cut CO2 emissions per unit of GDP by 40 to 45% by 2020. How? Through the magic of better technology. While we've never been quite convinced that tech would be the easy button on our environmental problems, we're always happy for a chance to see Grandpa Wen! more ›

• China's class ceiling [LA Times] "China is the only ancient civilization in human history to have reemerged as a major force in the world. And Chinese are rightly proud of this. So why rock the boat? It is better to be ruled by boring technocrats like Hu who will keep things nice and steady. This is not the story one might hear from unemployed workers in the rust belts of northeastern China, or from rioting farmers in Guangdong province who have been pushed off the land by greedy developers working in tandem with corrupt party officials. Nor is this view necessarily shared by the brave lawyers willing to take on some of those corrupt officials, or intellectual dissidents who still get arrested for arguing that Chinese should be entitled to basic democratic rights. But it is the common line taken by people who benefit most from the current wave of fun, fashion and prosperity — the new urban elite, some of whom are pampered children of Communist Party bosses."
• What If China Had a Second Political Party Tomorrow? [The New Yorker] "On the prospects for multi-party democracy: If you had a second party alternative in China now, I think it would be an anti-foreign party. What else could you see as a platform to challenge the Communist Party, but to oppose the foreigners who are “buying up Chinese resources”?… There has to be a period of generally unfolding democracy. Not bang, all at once. And I think that will happen. I think it’s happening much too slowly."
• Editorial Dispute Threatens Caijing, a Chinese Magazine [NYTimes] "The owners of the magazine have recently come under pressure from some within the government to tone down or drastically alter Caijing’s aggressive journalism, people at the magazine say. Caijing’s managers have told staff members that they have been fighting to maintain the magazine’s editorial integrity. Caijing’s managers have been seeking to create a more independent publication by changing the magazine’s shareholding structure, seeking outside investors and pressing the owners to allow some employees to own a stake in the magazine. They also want a larger share of the magazine’s profits to be invested in new operations, including an English-language Web site."

A picture says a thousand diplomatic niceties. Apparently, so did Wen Jiabao when he met with Henry Kissinger yesterday for the inaugural China-US Track Two High Level Dialogue in Beijing. We're not sure what that means either, but here's a sound bite for you: more ›