The following link is to a piece in the current issue of the Weekly Standard. It’s written by John Tkacik, a former foreign service officer in China who’s now at the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank in D.C. This piece is a little thinly sourced–much seems to come from a single White House source–but its thesis is a …
Asia
It’s Olympics `08 minus 1–and the CW on China Human Rights looks weak
We’re just a year away from the Olympics now, and one aspect of the conventional expectation—that we’d see a charm offensive from Beijing on the human rights front—hasn’t happened. At least according to this latest report from Human Rights Watch. Anyone out there have any thoughts as to why not (if you agree with the thrust of …
Hazy Shade of Summer
Like Hong Kong, Beijing’s skies today were remarkably clear, or clearer than normal at least. More often they’re like what Jerry Guo, an intern at TIME in Beijing, experienced on a recent trip to the Beijing National Stadium. Here’s his report:
Last Friday should have been a nice breezy, even sunny day. But since it’s Beijing, the dust …
More on Creative Destruction
A commenter by the handle of Last asks about the whereabouts of the campus and the former Uighur neighborhood I mentioned yesterday. The location is Ganjiakou, and the Uighur neighborhood is gone. It took some asking, but finally one old man pointed out where it once stood. It doesn’t look anything like I remembered. I don’t know of any …
Skylarking
When you’ve spent year upon year living beneath the dark, noxious mists that pass for air in Hong Kong, a single day of blue sky is a stunning meteorological event. A week of them is a scarcely believable, lifetime fluke. But we’ve just come through two months of uninterrupted, dazzling days of the deepest azure. Our people, long …
Yes, Sex Please, We’re Chinese…
The China Daily on an interesting survey on changing attitudes toward sex in China.
*Expert: Chinese more open to sex* By Guo Qiang (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2007-07-24 17:10
Sex, a centuries-old taboo considered by most of Chinese, is creating a buzz in this conservative country. Claims that approximately 25 percent
…
Talk About Bad Timing
Mattel execs barely had time enjoy the story in the New York Times last week about how their product safety and worker protection practices were, though not perfect, a model for companies manufacturing in China. William Moss, a China-based PR professional, wrote on his Imagethief blog about how the story gave Mattel the sort of boost …
Creative Destruction
In a recent post Liam discussed the debate in Hong Kong over the planned demolition of Queen’s Pier. It made me think of some destruction I recently encountered in Beijing. Since coming here a month ago I’ve attempted to revisit spots I remember from my time as an exchange student over a decade ago. I studied in the northern city of …
Why China’s an Environmental Disaster Area–and Why that Won’t Change Anytime Soon
Two prominent economists, Zheng Yisheng and Qian Yihong, have written a piece that, as straightforwardly as anything I’ve seen written by academics or policy wonks here in China, gets at exactly why it’s so tough to make any progress reconciling economic growth with the environmental catastrophe unfolding in this country. I’m going to …
That’s Nice, Let’s Tear it Down
One wishes that Hong Kong’s heritage movement would pick its battles with greater discrimination. Its current cause célèbre—at least for another few hours, until bulldozers come and sweep it into the sea—is Queen’s Pier. I was there last night, to bid farewell to the equally doomed protestors who have been camped there for …
Great Moments in Intellectual Property Protection, part 394a
The other evening I was at the local shopping mall out here in suburban Shanghai and after buying some groceries I stopped to see what new titles a local DVD peddler had. He was flipping through his selection of English language movies and when I appeared puzzled when looking at one of them (the title wasn’t on the cover and I didn’t …
Spielberg Rethinks Beijing 08–part II
Per Simon’s previous post on Steven Spielberg possibly resigning as an unpaid “artistic adviser” (whatever that may be) to the Beijing Olympics: I’d be fascinated to learn what it was that prompted Spielberg to sign on in the first place. No doubt it was at some level a commercial calculation–Dreamworks gets more films approved to show …
Steven Spielberg to Quit as Beijing Olympics Adviser over Darfur?
So, Steven Spielberg may quit his position as artistic adviser to the 2008 Beijing Olympics if China does not take a harder line against Sudan over Darfur. So far this possibility is based on comments by a Spielberg spokesman that “Steven” will determine his position in a few weeks but “Our main interest is ending the genocide.,” etc etc …