| ZGBriefs December 23, 2010
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FEATURED ARTICLE
They have faced arrest, torture and death for their faith. But more than 40 years after the Cultural Revolution, Chinese Christians are getting bolder about sharing their faith in public. One of the largest underground churches in Beijing has decided to go public. Recently, CBN News gained exclusive access to their leaders and meetings. |
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GOVERNMENT / POLITICS / FOREIGN AFFAIRS
China Pressed to Account for Uighurs' Fate (December18, 2010, The New York Times) A human rights organization has called on the Chinese government to publicly account for the fate of 20 ethnic Uighurs who were deported to China from Cambodia one year ago as they awaited a determination on their asylum applications with the United Nations. Until now Beijing has refused to provide any information about the Uighurs - men, boys, a woman and two infants - who were sent back to China on Dec. 19 over the objections of the United States, the European Union and United Nations officials. They were forcibly returned the day before Chinese Vice President Xi Jinpin arrived in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, for a visit that yielded a package of loans and grants worth $1.2 billion.
Wen Moves Pakistan Closer to China with US$35 Billion Deal (December 21, 2010, China Briefing) Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has signed US$35 billion worth of deals with Pakistan, much of it in infrastructure deals designed to better connect the country with Xinjiang Province. China has a border with Northeast Pakistan at Taxkorgan, with trade crossing the Karokoram Highway through from Kashgar to Gilgit and beyond. Roughly US$20 billion was signed in government-to-government contracts and a further US$15 billion in private sector deals. The amounts outstrip those signed a few days earlier with India by some US$19 billion.
Obama to welcome China's Hu Jintao January 19 (December 22, 2010, AFP) The United States said Wednesday that it welcome Chinese President Hu Jintao for a state visit on January 19, as the two sides seek to ease economic spats and tensions on the Korean peninsula. Hu will be the guest of honor for President Barack Obama's third state dinner on the night of January 19, as the US leader reciprocates following his own state visit to China last year.
China speeds plans to launch aircraft carrier: sources (December 23, 2010, Reuters) China may be ready to launch its first aircraft carrier in 2011, Chinese military and political sources said on Thursday, a year ahead of U.S. military analysts' expectations. Analysts expect China to use its first operational aircraft carrier to ensure the security of its oil supply route through the Indian Ocean and near the disputed Spratly Islands, but full capability is still some years away. "The period around July 1 next year to celebrate the (Chinese Communist) Party's birthday is one window (for launch)," one source with ties to the leadership told Reuters, requesting anonymity because the carrier programme is one of China's most closely guarded secrets. The Defense Ministry spokesman's office declined to comment.
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HEALTH
China jails 8 for selling fake rabies vaccine (December 20, 2010, AP) China's state news agency says eight people have been sentenced to prison terms of up to two-and-a-half years for selling fake rabies vaccines that contributed to the death of one boy. The official Xinhua News Agency said Monday a court in southwestern Guangxi region sentenced Zhang Dazhi to 30 months' jail while seven others were handed one-year prison terms. Xinhua says the eight defendants sold more than 530 doses of fake rabies vaccines between August and December last year. It says the vaccines were made of mostly just water.
China and Taiwan sign drug development pact (December 21, 2010, AP) Senior envoys from China and Taiwan signed an agreement Tuesday to cooperate in the development of new drugs, as the two economies continue to move closer...The new medical agreement will facilitate cross-strait exchanges of information on epidemics in each other's territories and cooperation in the development of vaccines to counter any outbreak. The deal also will allow the two sides to work together on the clinical trial of new drugs. Taiwan's budding biotechnology industry has been limited by the island's small market, and the new pact is expected to help accelerate the entry of Taiwanese products into the lucrative mainland market.
Over 45 million migrant workers join China's urban workers' medical insurance system (December 22, 2010, China Daily) A total of 45.73 million migrant workers have joined China's urban workers' medical insurance system, the country's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said in a report Wednesday. The medical insurance system in cities and towns now covers 424 million Chinese residents as of the end of October, NDRC director Zhang Ping said in the report on health care reform.
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RELIGION
Taiwanese Christian Music Ministry to Officially Distribute Albums in China (December 21, 2010, The Gospel Herald) Taiwan-based Christian music ministry Heavenly Melody is now able to sell and distribute their gospel albums in China through the publishers of national Three-Self Patriotic Movement and China Christian Council (TSPM/CCC), according to the ministry. From now, Christians in China are able to purchase Heavenly Melody's products in the nearest subsidiary bookstores of the national TSPM/CCC. The publishers of National TSPM/CCC will be distributing three of HM's most popular albums: "Wild Flowers", "Hope around the Corner", and "Give Me the Real Freedom". TSPM/CCC publishers expressed their hopes to see God greatly use these products, allowing the songs of HM to travel across the straits, echoing Christian's praises to God.
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EDUCATION / CULTURE
Beijing-based China Daily debuts in Houston (December 17, 2010, China Daily) China Daily, a Beijing-based national English-language newspaper, on Friday began printing its U.S. edition in Houston, marking the paper's sixth publishing base in the United States. In a congratulatory letter, former U.S. president George H. W. Bush hailed the paper for making the decision to start publishing in Houston, Texas, according to a statement released Friday by the China Daily. Launched in February 2009, the China Daily U.S. edition is now printed in six American cities: New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston.
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SOCIETY / LIFE
China's lottery sales for November up 37% (December 20, 2010, Shanghai Daily) China's lottery sales for November rose 36.9 percent year on year to 16.02 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced today. The November figure took sales of lottery tickets in the first 11 months of the year to 149.06 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.1 percent, the MOF said in a statement on its website.
6 Are Held in Attack on Chinese Investigative Journalist (December 21, 2010, The New York Times) The police detained six men as suspects in the beating of a Chinese journalist who now lies brain-dead in a hospital in the far west of the country, an employee of his newspaper said Tuesday. The assault was the worst on a journalist in China in recent memory. The injured man, Sun Hongjie, was based in the remote town of Kuitin for the Beijiang Morning Post, known in English as the Northern Xinjiang Morning Post. He was attacked late Friday night and has been in a coma since, according to the employee and reports on Tuesday in Beijing News and Xinhua, the state news agency. The report in Beijing News said the six suspects were detained 40 hours after the beating. Citing police officials, the report said a man named Mr. Liu was among the attackers and hit Mr. Sun twice in the head with clods of earth. The report also said the attackers destroyed Mr. Sun's cellphone.
Authorities ban mixed English words in publications (December 21, 2010, People's Daily) Arbitrary use of English words and acronyms is now prohibited and coined terms that are not intelligible to everyone are not allowed to be used, according to a notice released by the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) recently. The administration issued the notice to further regulate language in Chinese language publications. The notice said that with economic and social development, foreign languages are increasingly being used in all types of publications in China, including in newspapers, periodicals, books, audio-visual products, e-books and on the Internet. Abuse of foreign languages, including arbitrary use of English words; acronym mixing in Mandarin and coined half-English, half-Chinese terms that are intelligible to nobody, are commonly seen. All these have seriously damaged to the purity of the Chinese language and resulted in adverse social impacts to the harmonious and healthy cultural environment.
Police free 360 from human traffickers (December 23, 2010, Shanghai Daily) Police have rescued 151 children and 209 women from crime rings in southwest China's Guizhou Province over the past two years in a campaign against human trafficking, local authorities said yesterday. Guizhou police had broken up 47 human trafficking rings, detained 81 suspects and punished 450 people since the campaign began in May 2008, officials said.
Chinese head to US for Christmas (December 23, 2010, China Daily) Thousands of Chinese tourists will spend the Christmas holiday period in the United States this year. New York City, California, and Hawaii are among the more popular destinations as organizations such as United Airlines, Disneyland Park in California, the California Travel and Tourism Commission and the Hawaii Tourism Authority have been begun promoting luxury tours. "The American tours for the coming holidays are the most luxurious and comfortable ones since the US opened as a tourist destination for Chinese citizens in 2008," said Liu Chuang, manager of the American marketing department of byecity.com, one of the biggest online tourist agencies in China. As a result, the number of Chinese tourists to the US is set to pass the 1 million mark by the end of this year, the National Tourism Administration of China said. And the 2 million mark is likely to be passed in 2015, the State agency said.
Ethnic minorities remain besieged by poverty (December 23, 2010, China Daily) More than 6 million people of ethnic minority groups need to be relocated to provide them with basic living facilities of an adequate standard, a top official said on Wednesday, adding that ethnic minority regions in China are still confronted by poverty and a lack of infrastructure. The construction of infrastructure in ethnic minority regions remains "weak" and the country faces a "significant and ever-widening" gap between inland ethnic minority places and developed areas, Yang Jing, minister of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission (SEAC), said in a report to the country's top legislature on Wednesday.
Jammed Beijing to cut new car registration by 2/3 (December 23, 2010, AP) China's capital announced Thursday that it will sharply limit new vehicle registrations to try to ease massive traffic jams that are rapidly turning Beijing's streets into parking lots. The city will only allow 240,000 vehicles to be registered next year, said Zhou Zhengyu, vice secretary general of the Beijing city government. The figure is equal to a little more than one-third of the total number of new cars put on the capital's streets this year. Traffic jams in Beijing have worsened recently, with the city dithering over how to clear up the smoggy congestion while still allowing the Communist country's burgeoning middle class the automobiles they crave. The capital now has 4.76 million vehicles, compared to 2.6 million in 2005.
Crazy laowai gets hammered on the Guangzhou subway (December 23, 2010, Shanghaiist) A male foreigner received a beating from bystanders on the Guangzhou subway recently for his obnoxious behaviour. Before he boarded the train, said eyewitnesses, the man had had a knife confiscated at security checkpoint. On the train, he began yelling at other passengers, calling them prostitutes, and flipping the bird at them. Later on in the altercation, a young Chinese woman who speaks English stepped in to try to talk some sense into the young man, but he would not listen, flipping her cell phone out of her hands, at which point a male passenger totally lost it -- and began attacking him. The incident ended at the next station when the foreigner took his belongings and got off the train.
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ENVIRONMENT / SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY
China celebrates launch of Chang'e-2 (December 20, 2010, China Daily) China on Monday held a celebration rally to mark the successful launch of the nation's 2nd lunar probe Chang'e-2.....Chang'e-2 was blast off on October 1 and entered its long-term lunar orbit on November3. It has begun to catch images of the moon's Sinus Iridum, or Bay of Rainbows, which marks the success of China's second lunar probe mission.
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BUSINESS / ECONOMICS / TRADE
Chinese endure power shortages as coal runs short (December 20, 2010, AP) Communities in central and northern China are facing power cuts and rationing as winter coal supplies fall short of surging demand. Cold weather and transport disruptions typically cause shortages most years, but the problem has been complicated by coal producers' unhappiness over price controls that are crimping their profits. China's State Grid, the government power provider, said in reports seen Monday on its websites that recent winter storms had pushed demand higher while worsening traffic bottlenecks, hindering coal deliveries.
US wants trade talks on China wind power 'subsidies' (December 22, 2010, BBC News) The US says China is illegally subsidising the production of wind power equipment and has asked the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for talks. It estimates China has given several hundred million dollars in questionable government grants to its companies which has distorted trade and made it tougher for American exporters. It is the latest in a series of trade disputes between the two countries.
China says Africa trade up 43.5% in Jan-Nov period (December 23, 2010, AFP) Trade between China and Africa surged 43.5 percent year on year in the first 11 months of 2010, Beijing said on Thursday as it pledged to further strengthen ties with the continent. The value of two-way trade reached 114.8 billion dollars from January to November, the State Council, or Cabinet, said in a report on economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa. The world's second-largest economy has steadily been beefing up ties with Africa, which is rich in the energy resources and raw materials that China needs to fuel its breakneck growth.
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LINKS TO DETAILED ARTICLES AND ANALYSIS
The Boxer Uprising means different things to different people in China
Amid the frenzy of China's expanding economy, not everyone has been a winner in the rush to modernise, writes Peter Day.
F Hu Xijin is not the most influential editor in China, then he is certainly the most maligned. Hu is editor-in-chief of a fiercely nationalistic state-owned tabloid called the Global Times, which sells 1.5 million copies a day.
Indeed, while most farming households in China now have mobile phones, very few have internet. So their main source for information was via television - that is, if they could be bothered to watch serious programming after a day out in the fields. So, China Mobile created Nongxintong to deliver information and news directly to the farmer via their mobiles.
Women from the Mosuo tribe do not marry, take as many lovers as they wish and have no word for "father" or "husband". But the arrival of tourism and the sex industry is changing their culture
In a series of exceptional photographs, Italian photographer Luca Locatelli documents the lives of the Mosuo tribe, often described as one of the last matriarchal societies in the world.
Yang Jisheng is an editor of Annals of the Yellow Emperor, one of the few reform-oriented political magazines in China. Before that, the 70-year-old native of Hubei province was a national correspondent with the government-run Xinhua news service for over thirty years. But he is best known now as the author of Tombstone (Mubei), a groundbreaking new book on the Great Famine (1958-1961), which, though imprecisely known in the West, ranks as one of worst human disasters in history. I spoke with Yang in Beijing in late November about his book, the political atmosphere in Beijing, and the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo.
In China earlier this year a spate of violent attacks by intruders who targeted schoolchildren shocked the country. China's response was to step up security around schools. But one academic in Shanghai believes the attacks may have been a symptom of a more serious issue.
Western executives flying into China for a week of back-to-back meetings but getting nowhere with their Chinese business partners? They may be investing money in the trip, but not something just as vital: time. Rushed schedules leave no time for skillful negotiation and can offend Chinese, who want to build trust and develop relationships, or guanxi, often by socializing over dinners and drinks.
China fired back at the Vatican on Wednesday after the Holy See's recent criticism of Beijing's religious appointments, calling such a move "dangerous" and harmful to the Catholic church's development in China.
As of December, Beijing counted 4.7 million registered vehicles, with 2,000 new ones joining the clog each day. That is more than 700,000 new vehicles this year, which was up from 550,000 new vehicles last year, 376,000 in the preceding year and 252,000 the year before that.
About 3 million people in China underwent plastic surgery last year, according to an official estimate. China ranks third in the world behind the United States and Brazil for the number of plastic surgeries performed, according to industry officials.
"Children are celebrating Christmas. As parents we have to buy gifts for them so they won't feel neglected." So says Qian Liu, who is buying Holy Apples for her son from a street stall in Beijing. Only an estimated 2% of China's population are practicing Christians so, for people such as Ms Liu, there are no religious reasons whatsoever for celebrating Christmas. Yet in recent years, there has been an increased focus on Christmas in China, particularly among young people who regard it as an important and fashionable day to celebrate.
Zuckerberg's schedule has sparked widespread speculation that he has come to China, home to the world's largest internet population, with business in mind. Facebook is blocked by government censors in China, and Zuckerberg's stated goal of "making the world more open and connected" will be hard to realize if one quarter of the world's population cannot get onto his site.
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LINKS TO BLOGS
The name for China - "Middle Kingdom" - forever enshrines in the hearts of the Chinese people the memory of the great poet, musician, freer of slaves, the Moses-like figure of King Wen of Zhou, the first emperor of the Zhou dynasty...."The Middle" came to represent the ultimate standard, the principle of moderation, and the values that we recognize as typical of the Chinese way of seeing the world. It also came to represent the pride of the Chinese people during their dynastic days of peace and prosperity, for China was the center of attention and ground zero for early technology and innovation.
For all the talk about Han Han being the voice of a generation and being too big to be silenced by the government, it sure seems like he's been, well...silenced. There is no way to prove it's the government silencing him, of course, but who else would it be?
The Chinese are playing grandmaster chess against an amateur America that can't see beyond the second move.
A collection of photos entitled, "The History of Forced Demolition in China", has been published on one of China's leading intent portals Netease. (December 21, 2010, Shanghaiist) The list, according to the all-authoritative Xinhua:
As a Chinese magazine editor told me bluntly, "The Chinese Dream is a copy of the American Dream."
Very interesting report in Yiddish with English subtitles from Ross Perlin, correspondent with Forverts, a New York-based Jewish newspaper.
Fang Binxing, known as the "father of China's Great Firewall," recently created a user account on one of China's most vibrant online public forums, microblogging service Sina Weibo, but Chinese Internet users hardly greeted the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications president with a welcome mat. Instead, they flooded his account with a stream of often vicious comments and curses that effectively chased him off the service. With a list of candidates for the "Top Ten Domestic Stories of the Year", an online survey feature released over the weekend and shared on most major news portals, People's Daily Online packaged a politically tidy version of China's headlines in 2010. Missing from the list of options to be selected from web users between December 17 and December 27 - with the winners announced afterwards - were not just odd favorites, but critical and defining stories, such as the ongoing burden of housing prices and a series of violent attacks on school children in April and May.
One of the most influential books to come out in China in 2009 was "Ant Tribe," a study of the difficulties faced by recent graduates of "second-tier" universities forced by poor job prospects to live together in teeming squalor on the outskirts of Beijing. The Taiping Rebellion was revolutionary movement against the Qing Dynasty government that lasted from 1850 to 1864. The uprising and the ruling regime's suppression of it killed millions despite the rebels' name for the country they established: the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Taiping's controlled large parts of southern China from their capital in Nanjing. Their leader was Hong Xiuquan, a Christian convert. This article about the Taiping's and their hymns is by Peter Micic, who blogs at An Imperfect Pen and has previously written for Danwei about music and language (see links at bottom of article).
China gained 36 million additional internet users last year meaning there are now over 440 million internet users in the country. English has long been the most widely used language on the internet but with Chinese Internet growth rising at the rate it is, it could be less than five years before Chinese becomes the dominant language on the internet.
This year will likely go down in history as a year when the Chinese government showed its mastery of crisis management.....So, what does next year hold? Here are 4 major trends to watch.
As Southeast Asia enters this new round of growth and modernization, perceptions of China and tendencies toward regional integration will become increasingly relevant to the effectiveness of Beijing's 'charm offensive', and its capacity to consolidate power.
Boosting supply won't solve Beijing's chronic water shortage unless the government also tackles the careless habits of city dwellers, Yin Mingwan tells Jiang Hongtao.
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LINKS FOR RESEARCHERS
Vice-President Xi Jinping's brief visit to the western-China metropolis of Chongqing earlier this month has given important clues about the "crown prince's" political orientations and his relations with key Chinese Communist Party (CCP) factions. |
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