Worldcrunch
Analysis: After getting elected to a third term, Russian President Vladimir Putin skipped last month’s G8 in the US, and spent three long days in China this week. You do the math.
Worldcrunch SINGPAO.COM (China) ZHEJIANG – Earlier this week, a nursing student used her blog to post some photos she’d taken in a neo-natal ward in Zhejiang Province. The young woman had made paper cut-outs of blue eyebrows and pig ears and noses, and attached them to two sleeping babies. She then picked up each child […]
CHINA TIMES, ECONOMIC OBSERVER (China) BEIJING – “Chinese people should tolerate a certain degree of corruption, because nowhere in the world is any country able to solve this problem completely. The importance is just to limit the corruption so people can tolerate it…” This commentary appeared three days ago in the Global Times, a branch […]
Worldcrunch EL PAIS, REUTERS, BLOOMBERG, IL SOLE 24 ORE TOKYO, LONDON, MADRID – Markets rallied in Asia and Europe on Thursday, with all eyes on the response to a gathering financial crisis in Spain. The Spanish Central Bank successfully auctioned more than 2 billion euros in medium and long-term bonds, El Pais reported, adding a […]
More than a quarter million people have already signed a petition asking for the show to apologize for the way it bullies its contestants.
AP, CNTV (China) BEIJING – Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on his first visit to his country’s vast neighbor since resuming the Russian presidency earlier this month. He later sat down for talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao that are expected to touch on the crisis in Syria as well as on Iran, […]
Authorities in Shenzen, China are offering a slew of free services such as shoe shining and haircuts. But this is not most citizens’ idea of urgent public reform.
CHINA TIMES (Taiwan) BEIJING – Sina Weibo, one of China’s most popular microblogging websites, announced last week the launch of the Sina Microblogging Community Convention in order “to defend the order of microblogging.” That was the claim, at least, the reality is that it was just a ploy for giving the administrator the right to […]
Countless products are manufactured in China and then sold in the West under European or U.S. brand names. A new clothing venture is looking to turn that model inside out, hiring Italian tailors to make top-end suits for sale in China – under a Chinese br
Feng Shui is making a come back in China – and its experts are more than happy to cash in on the boom.
ECONOMIC OBSERVER/SHANGHAI ONLINE NEWS (China) Song Wenchao has become an unlikely hero in China. The 50-year-old man lives in the only remaining house on a building site in Hunan Province. All the others have been torn down by the Changsha City Government. Song’s home is still standing — but only because he refuses to leave. […]
Food-related news in China in recent years has been mostly about toxins and scandals. A new documentary is a pleasant reminder of the richness of Chinese culinary culture.
BOXUN.COM (United States) Now disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai, at the center of a scandal shaking China’s ruling elite, is alleged to have paid large sums of money to have sex with celebrated Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, according to Boxun.com, a U.S.-based Chinese website. Boxun, which had previously broken news about Bo’s demise and been […]
Four years after the idea of a free trade agreement between China, Japan and South Korea was put forward, the three countries are stuck in a tense diplomatic game of words and horse-trading.
SINA NEWS (China) BEIJING – The capital of China wants you! (Or at least, may not kick you out quite so fast…) Making that point, at least with a gesture, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau has announced plans to allow foreigners to enter without a visa for 72 hours, Sina News is reporting. The […]
A deadly car crash in Singapore by a wealthy driver from China has sparked a new round of national resentment toward the Chinese. And Singapore is not alone.
Op-Ed: In China, the government has long been deciding who does what, where and when, even jailing people for moving without a “permit.” Now, its “Building The Socialist Countryside” policy has been relocating farmers i
Op-Ed: The trial of accused corrupt businessman Lai, who’d been extradited from Canada, leaves some in China more than a bit unsatisfied — life sentence notwithstanding.
YANGCHENG EVENING NEWS (China) GUANGZHOU – Eleven anonymous multi-millionaire Chinese entrepreneurs, all multi-millionaires, have posted ads in ten cities in a new public search for wives. The chance to marry one of the men, each with a net worth of at least 100 million RMB ($15 million), found no shortage of eager applicants, reports the […]
Essay: As the “Culture Wars” heat up again in the race for the White House, a Chinese commentator makes some key distinctions between private and public morality. And suggests China take notes.
BEIJING DAILY, cyYES.com (China) SHANGHAI – The Americans are stirring trouble again. This time it’s the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai. Following the American Embassy in Beijing, the Shanghai consulate announced two days ago that it’s going to publish the air quality index every hour using the PM 2.5 measurement that tallies micro-particles. For the first […]
Chinese have set out en masse in recent years to find their fortune as immigrants in Europe. Lately, though, more than usual are returning home in the face of Europe’s economic crisis and opportunities in their booming native land. In Wenzhou, th
CHINA TIMES (Taiwan) BEIJING – The U.S. ambassador to Beijing, Gary Locke, has become a lightning rod for online debate in China about the ethics (and wealth) of political leaders — both American and Chinese. In contrast to the high-spending lifestyle of many top Chinese politicians, the 62-year-old ambassador has been known to purchase cups […]
China’s modern legal system has thousands of laws governing every aspect of life. But instead of using this system to further democracy, Chinese officials increasingly use it to harass and intimidate the civil rights lawyers fighting for justice.
Analysis: In Menglian County, a remote area of China’s Yunnan province, young women’s passport applications are being rejected. Local officials say it’s because too many have gone abroad to become prostitutes, and come back with
Collecting stamps (like gold) used to be banned in China. No longer — and Chinese collectors and investors may be creating a postage-stamp bubble.
The fourth U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue yielded an important reform: Chinese state-owned firms must turn over a bigger chunk of their profits to the government to help finance public spending. U.S. companies are pleased — and ordinary Chine
XINHUA NET, FENGHUANG NET (China) BEIJING – The Beijing Police have just announced a “Hundred Days Special Action” from May 15th to the end of August, aiming to “clean up” the foreigners who have entered, stayed, and worked in the capital illegally. This action includes conducting a census of various communities, assaulting various key sites, […]
The Chinese people are fed up with their justice system which is rife with corruption and lack of due process. There have been too many cases of wrongful convictions and confessions obtained through torture.
Analysis: The Obama administration has made its intentions clear in shifting US foreign policy attention toward Asia. Why has Beijing failed to understand the importance of strong diplomacy in its own backyard?
CHINA TIMES (Taiwan) SEOUL – In 35 separate drug raids, South Korean customs officials say they have confiscated 17,000 “capsules of human flesh” originating in China. These capsules are allegedly made from the corpses of dead babies or fetuses, according to information first reported in JoongAng Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper. This so-called “medicine” is […]
Is this what happens when Tiger Moms (and dads and schools…) go berserk? They turn their children into livestock? A photo is circulating in China of a classroom of children preparing for a key exam with intravenous drip tubes, apparently feeding them am
Analysis: Implemented in the late 1970’s in the face of overpopulation risks, China’s one-child policy stands today as an outdated, perverse system that fosters corruption and social injustice.
Chinese web giant Tencent set up its dedicated Olympic Team more than three years ago and has been preparing for the London Olympics ever since, hoping to grab a big chunk of the cake.
Red Cross officials in China are in the middle of a scandal, yet again. After being caught paying for restaurant bills and luxury cars with public donations, the latest alleged faux philanthropy employed a bicycle scam to take people for a ride.
Mercedes, BMW, Porsche and other top automakers know that the Chinese market is huge – and the potential is even bigger. All the best wares are on display in Beijing.
Twelve sudden deaths have sounded the alarm in the past few weeks for the rare — and 25 million-year-old — freshwater species of porpoise that inhabits the Yangtze River. Referred to as the “Panda of the Water,” the beloved mammal risk
Analysis: As China, in a show of force, “leaks” pictures of its new J-22 fighter jet, one wonders if the future of tomorrow’s skies will be ruled by stealth jets or rather by unmanned combat drones.
Fine Art and Antique Fairs all around the world are adapting their catalogues to appeal to a new generation of Chinese art collectors. Deep pockets and an appetite for expensive antiques make them the ideal client.
In China, nothing says sexy like Maggie Cheung in a tight-fitting mandarin gown. But few people know the real story behind this dress, and how it became so popular in 1920s Shanghai, before disappearing after the revolution — and finding new life today.