March 10th is the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s flight from Lhasa to India to escape advancing Chinese troops sent to crush an uprising in the Tibetan capital against Beijing’s rule. (Actually, it is the anniversary of the day throngs of Tibetans surrounded his Potala palace to protect him; he actually fled on march 17 and arrived …
Asia Braces for Spike in Suicides
Here‘s our piece on suicide in Asia in the wake of the current global economic crisis. A new study examines the dramatic jump in suicides following the Asian financial crisis a decade ago. Compared to 1997, suicide rates among men in 1998 rose by 44% in Hong Kong, 39% in Japan and 45% in South Korea. Governments need to come up with
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Cars, Bears and Satellites
There are a few stories on time.com today that may be of interest to China Blog readers: Bruce Crumley writes from Paris about China’s growing role in the satellite launch business; Michael Schuman has a piece from Hong Kong about why the expectations of a quick economic recovery in China are mostly hype; and I’ve got a story on why …
Heads Up: Dalai Lama Agonistes
From this week’s dead tree edition, here’s my take on what the Dalai lama should do to break the deadlock. Hint: it wouldn’t be fun for him.
Those Bronze Heads: Truth and Fiction
I had planned to write another follow up to Ling’s post belwo about the sale of the bronze heads, which seemed to me likely a case of a shrewd bidding up of prices on a couple of rather ugly bronze taps by a seller playing on Chinese nationalist feelings. Having happened to have had lunch yesterday with the author and journalist Jasper …
Bronze heads sell for $36 million
Despite China’s efforts to stop the sale of the bronze rat and rabbit heads, looted in 1860 from Beijing’s Old Summer Palace, unidentified phone bidders purchased the sculptures for $18 million each Wednesday night, far exceeding earlier estimates of $10-13 million each. Yves Saint Laurent’s art auction set a record for a private …
Gary Locke and China
President Obama nominated former Washington governor Gary Locke to head the Department of Commerce yesterday. The process has been dominated by the withdrawal of two previous candidates. While Locke, the former governor of Washington, has had fund-raising problems that will undoubtedly be examined during the confirmation process, there …
State Press: Self-Immolation in Central Beijing
Three men in a vehicle lit themselves on fire in downtown Beijing this afternoon, the state-run Xinhua news service reported. The incident occurred just before 3 p.m. in a central shopping area not far from Tian’anmen Square. The highly public location of the fire, coupled with the sensitive date–today is the beginning of Losar, the …
A Chinese Outpost for Robert Mugabe?
Hong Kong has a history of being a refuge for exiled political leaders. Sun Yat-sen attended school there made it a base from which to agitate for the eventual fall of the Qing dynasty. Filipino independence leader Emilio Aguinaldo was sent to Hong Kong by Spain in the late 1800s before returning to fight against colonial rule. Now there …
You Can Have Those Heads Back, If….
Further to Ling’s post below is the news that the auction went off without a hitch (actually that’s an understatement: it pulled in $260 milllion) after a judge threw out the appeal to stop the sale of the heads. Pierre Berge, Saint-Laurent’s former partner who is conducting the sale seems like a scrappy fellow. Here’s exactly what he …
Controversial YSL Auction Kicks Off
Christie’s sale of the late designer Yves Saint Laurent’s massive art collection begins today and lasts through Wednesday (see photos of the items here). Expected to bring in more than $250 million (most of which will be donated to AIDS research), the auction is being touted as the “sale of the century”—and one that may …
More Optimism on China’s Economy
Here’s a tidbit from the China Daily to follow up on the Merrill Lynch post below:
Lian Ping, chief economist of Bank of Communications, China’s fifth largest commercial lender, said Sunday that the Chinese economy is expected to pick up speed starting from the second quarter this year.
The Shanghai-based bank predicted China could
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In Beijing, Clinton’s Own Straight Talk Express
For a diplomatic meet-and-greet, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s weekend visit to Beijing produced a surprising number of developments. They all seemed to fall in the category of things which are known but not usually said, especially by diplomats. As I wrote on Saturday, Clinton signaled ahead of her arrival that she wasn’t …