From our colleague Michael Schuman in Hong Kong, a look at what Asian countries are doing to minimize layoffs during the economic crisis. He writes:

In no country is the effort to save jobs more widespread than in China. The government recently estimated that 20 million migrant workers have lost their jobs as the global slowdown forces

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When I first saw the icon for today’s weather forecast–a yellow sun covered by a cloud and tiny dark spots–I thought the illustrator had gotten a little carried away with a visual depiction of air pollution. But as I rode to work in a light but steady drizzle, I recalled what that cloud over the sun is usually meant to designate: rain. …

Some stunning pictures of the fire here at Cnreview.com Commetary on the site also points to what appears o be orders to th Chinese press to tone down coverge of the fire. On the night of the accident (if that’s the right word) local radio went to town with breathless coverage. The nothing the next day. The popular Xinjingbao tabloid …

Story here, from the Associated Press.

Below are a few photos from the fire that gutted a building in the new China Central Television complex in Beijing tonight. I rode my bike in from the north, and it appeared that the entire complex was aflame, including the famous twisting towers that are the new CCTV headquarters. But upon closer inspection the fire appears to be …

Part of the iconic CCTV (China Central Television) complex, about which we have written often, is on fire. It’s early and reports aren’t clear but the building next to what Beijingers call the “big underpants” is pouring out great gouts of flame and some 20 stories could be aflame, according to eye witnesses. This is the last night of …

Since China announced last week that it is facing the most severe drought in half a century, there are signs the situation is becoming more desperate. The government has drastically upped its emergency funding for stricken farmers to nearly $13 billion and has begun employing cloud seeding to induce rain over parched croplands. Premier …

The China-India naval showdown is all hype, but the Sino-Indian toy trade war is most definitely on. Our colleague Madhur Singh in New Delhi reports:

…India is being accused of raising trade tensions between the world’s two largest emerging economies by imposing a temporary ban on imports of Chinese-made toys. The six-month ban was

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Evan Osnos, who last appeared here when he was traipsing across Sichuan for the Chicago Tribune, has a new blog on China for the New Yorker. I told him recently that it will only be a true China blog once he starts larding posts with photos of the view from his window (examples of the form here, here and here.) Today Evan complied, …

A rash of optimism –or maybe forlorn hope–has been breaking out among some economists who are taking a variety of recent economic signals as a sign that China’s economy may have hit bottom– or even begun a rebound. This seems a clear case of hope triumphing over experience considering the state of the rest of the world, but is worth a …

It had the makings of a pretty good story. Three Chinese warships patrolling against pirates in the Gulf of Aden–an unusually remote mission for the Chinese navy–were stalked by an Indian submarine. The Indian interloper is discovered, pursued and eventually forced to surface by the Chinese convoy. You have two rising powers squaring …

Some economist see reason for optimism in an officially-backed survey released here today. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) is a measure of orders and output expectations from officers of Chinese companies. The latest number was still in negative territory, indicating that a continued slowdown is likely. But it was higher than last …