Plenty will be written and broadcast about the 60th 70th anniversary today of the start of the Nanking massacre, during which victorious Japanese troops killed hundreds of thousands of civilians, raped tens of thousands of women and girls and basically destroyed most of the city. I have little to add except to say that of all the …

Those familiar with American jurisprudence will know about the “Twinkie defense,”* the idea that a defendant can, through a flimsy or preposterous argument, avoid the full punishment of the law.

China’s legal system now seems to be toying with its own Twinkie defense. When a tour guide stabbed 20 people in southwest China this spring, …

Now, mind you, it’s important to remember that China under almost any circumstances was not going to step away from doing energy deals with Iran, even if their business partners in Tehran were drinking toasts to the imminent arrival of the Twelfth Imam with highly enriched uranium and threatening to nuke Israel the day after tomorrow. …

Here’s a piece on the OP ED page of today’s Wall Street Journal by the always astute Michael Pettis. The nut graf sums it up:

China’s financial authorities face two contradictory policy demands. They need to rein in out-of-control growth before it sparks rampant inflation. They also need to maximize job creation to avert social unrest

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For those of you curious to find out what’s really going on in the world of Chinese hackers after all those conflicting news reports in recent months, see our story here.

Further to Austin’s post, the excellent fellows at HK University’s China Media Project have a story that links Nick Young’s case with that of Chinese journalist Zhai Minglei and his own publication, Mingjian. which also focused on the NGO sector in China. It’s another vivid if depressing insight into the deteriorating state of official …

In July we and several other media outlets reported on the closure of the China Development Brief, a non-profit newsletter based in Beijing that focused on NGOs, development and civil society. At the time the government’s move to shut down the publication–officially due to a violation of a law on conducting surveys–was seen as a result …

It’s been a bumpy two-year ride for Hong Kong Disneyland. Visitors are shunning the $37-$45 admission tickets and pouring through the turnstiles at Ocean Park, which is enjoying the highest attendance in its 30-year history. And it’s about to get worse for HK Disneyland, where nearly half of all visitors come from the mainland. …

An excellent post over at black and white cat blog (the reference is to former supreme leader Deng Xiaoping’s groundbreaking dictum that it “doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white so long as it catches mice,” a revolutionary idea in late seventies china). It’s about how corrupt local officials in the notorious province of Henan …

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It’s always a good idea to pay attention to pork, and I say that not just because it’s so tasty. In China pork is a leading economic indicator. It’s the most consumed meat, especially among the poor, and when prices have gone up over the past year consumers have squealed. The biggest complaint among foreigners and …

Ok. Quick. What are the least likely awards you can think of? People are too easy. “And the Nobel Peace Prize goes to…..George W.Bush!” How about cities? Civic Politeness to Hong Kong? Best food to Glasgow (where deep fried candy bars are a specialty)….Anyway, here’s a real one:
At the third Air Quality Conference (the …

For those who have a bottomless appetite, here’s our final word–I hope–on the wretched Kitty Hawk affair.

Guangdong province is about to reach another milestone. The GDP of the world’s factory surpassed that of Singapore in 1998, Hong Kong in 2003, and, by the end of this year, is expected to edge out Taiwan as well (though it still lags far behind South Korea). Since 1990, Guangdong’s growth has averaged 14.4% annually, according to a …