Beijing environmental officials announced today that the past six months have seen the clearest air since 2000. They cited less frequent sandstorms and sustained emissions control efforts as the major causes for the improvement in the city’s notoriously smoggy skies. By taking 55,000 of the city’s most polluting cars off the streets, …
Asia
The China Blog remembers Michael Jackson
It’s taken me a week, but I’ve finally found my 2002 Halloween photos. Yes, that’s me in a Beat It costume cobbled together with my dad’s old sunglasses (I refuse to believe he actually wore these), a wig purchased years earlier in Beijing (I knew it would come in handy), a bedazzled glove courtesy of my sister, and that jacket–the …
China Speeds Up Water Quality Reporting
The China Environmental Law blog, run by Shanghai-based attorney Charlie McElwee, has praise today for a Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection site that updates water quality data every four hours. Great news of course, but as the post notes, the timely water pollution information isn’t as immediately important as air quality …
Is the Clock Winding Down for Yao Ming?
My colleague Jessie Jiang and I have a story on time.com today about the grim diagnosis of Yao Ming’s broken foot, and what some Chinese fans think about the possibility of a career-ending injury for one of the country’s biggest sporting heroes.
Gene Yang’s The Eternal Smile
I’ve been meaning to post this review for some time!
In 2006, Chinese-American cartoonist Gene Luen Yang told us what it’s like to grow up as a minority in the United States with such arresting, uncomfortable candor that his American Born Chinese became the first graphic novel named as a finalist for the National Book Award. Roughly …
Green Dam: They Told You So
Sometimes you have to let people simply say, “I told you so…” The announcement yesterday that the government would be “delaying” its ruling requiring all computers sold in China after July 1 to have the allegedly anti-porn software pre-installed is just such an occassion. The gentlemen at the China law blog did indeed write an …
Beijing and New Media: Is the Eye of Sauron Turning to Twitter?
There have been a wide range of comments in various media making comparisons between Tiananmen in 1989 and Teheran today, including one of our own posts, which wondered about the authorities reactions in China. Over at the China Media Project, David Bandurski highlighted a Guangming Daily article which blamed western media forces for …
Who You Calling Protectionist?
China scolds the U.S. The U.S. scolds China. It’s sort of like the China Blog’s comments section! But the back and forth between Washington and Beijing over protectionism risks touching off a dangerous trade war. My story on the prospects of that is here.
Iran, China, Tiananmen
I have thus far resisted the temptation to write about what’s happening in Iran and what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989. The differences are so huge (an election for one thing, however flawed, along with a completely different ruling structure, not to mention history, society etc, all very different), it seems to me, to make …
Fung Shui Is Evil
As someone born in Hong Kong of partly Chinese parentage, I used to proudly claim fung shui as a part of my culture. When rational people questioned how the layout of hills and water, or furniture or mirrors, could affect the energy of a place, I would smirk and give a look that meant “How little you know.” Long after I gave up other …
Ai Weiwei Update
Danwei notes that the everready bunny of dissenting voices in China, artists Ai Weiwei (see numerous past posts) is at it again, this time calling for a boycott of the internet on July 1st the protest the Green Dam ruling. (See also past posts below), Reuters story here.
China vs. Google: Heads Up
Our story on this here. In a slightly creepy related note, the official outfit that started the ball rolling by acccusing Google of being porn merchants in China, the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center (thrill a minute website here) is getting proactive. I got an email yesterday saying that they had signed up to follow …
“The People of Shishou Are Angry!”
Another mass incident involving tens of thousands in Hubei Province. And once again it was sparked by what would normally be a relatively minor dispute over an alleged suicide. The speed of the reaction (and numbers) by townspeople to the rumors that police/officials may have been involved in the death is testament to the extraordinary …