At Chicago, a Chinese boy was brutally beaten by seven teens, including a girl who lured him into an alley where the beating took place. An article filed by NYDailyNews.com said, “Cops don’t believe the attack was racially motivated.” I will update this post as I learn more. WARNING: video is violent. Read more…
Ma Ying Jieu has won what has been a tough and closely watched election in Taiwan. Emphasizing close relations with the mainland, Ma celebrated the victory as a victory for the people of Taiwan. The DPP, with charismatic (and “native Taiwanese”) Tsai, gave stoic (and “外省人”) Ma a much bigger challenge this time (characterization by my deep-green family-in-laws), losing to Ma by what looks like a 51.6 to 45.63 margin (compared to the 58% to 42% margin in 2008). While the issue of independence has been much toned down this time, relations with the Mainland still dominated the election, with issues of the economy also a major issue.
(On January 5, 2012, I sat down with Shaun Rein, founder and Managing Director of the China Market Research Group, to talk about China. He gave us his insights into major events of 2011. You may listen to the podcast or read the transcript below. Click on the play button or right-click on the link to save the podcast for local listening: link. In this hour-long interview, we touched on many topics: pollution, CNN and Christian Bale’s recent run-in with Chinese police, food safety, Weibo, and so on.)
DeWang:2011 was another eventful year for China. Just when her bullet train seems unstoppable, a fatal collision left the whole country in doubt. China achieved space docking, something only the U.S. and Russia have managed. Then there was Tiger Mom.
I have invited a real China expert to weigh in on these events and other events that mattered to China. What were the Chinese narratives? How did the Chinese feel about them? I couldn’t have found a better person to do this with. Read more…
Around 2:15pm this afternoon, a ‘human rights’ protester fired a number of shots at the Chinese Consulate aiming for a security guard, according the the AP. Below is a brief AP report relayed on the Huffington Post:
“Shots fired at Chinese Consulate in LA, 1 arrested”
December 16, 2011 12:31 AM EST |LOS ANGELES — Police said they have arrested a man in relation to a Thursday afternoon shooting outside the Chinese Consulate building in downtown Los Angeles. Read more…
An interesting analysis in TIME magazine, to the extent that it tries to be an analysis:
And don’t forget to check out these two accompanying arguments, one for India and one for China:
The TED interview below (video at the end of the post) was conducted in July 2010 with Julian Assange talking about the need for the public to keep an eye out for government conduct. Americans cherish freedom of the press, and by that, it is generally understood that the media’s job is to be the watchdog of the government and any other organization of power.
Do Americans have freedom of the press? I don’t think so. Or definitely not in function as how Americans understand their purpose to be. Assange is about to release a new documentary film criticizing the Western media. Referring to the New York Times, he said: Read more…
Former U.S. Ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, in a televised Republican primary debate told Americans he would reach out to the 500 million Chinese Internet users; to lead them towards change which would ultimately “take China down.” Video below has been circulating in China. It contains what Huntsman said captioned in Chinese. I want to share reader silentchinese‘s response.
Former CIA agent of 20 years, turned historian, Dr. Michael Scheuer, recently discussed his views with Russia Today about America and the Muslim world. U.S. political leaders should absolutely heed what he had to say. The only disagreement I have with Scheuer is his view that the U.S. is inextricable in her feud with the Middle East. The U.S. and the West have the might to help strengthen the U.N., and to sincerely uphold international law. When that happens, the world at large will be much more willing to stand behind U.N. in whatever steps it takes to resolve the feud between the West and the Muslim world. That is the way out of the feud.
China Daily opinion column comic on IAEA report
Now, fast forward to 2011. I get the sinking feeling we are witnessing the repeat of that. Remember the supposed plot by Iran to hire some Mexicans to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. just few weeks ago? And now the IAEA report? Given the headlines in the NATO countries, does it really matter what the real truth is? Patrick Hayes from spiked summed up the sentiment, as expressed in this China Daily opinion column comic, rather well: Read more…
Video below is a gruesome hit-and-run of a two year-old toddler by two vans in Foshan, Guangdong Province. What is worse is the more than a dozen passers-by simply letting her lying on the street bleeding and not calling for help. This tragedy has gripped the nation; it is all over the news. The two drivers have been arrested. Prior to that, one of the drivers was reported thinking about offering money and not turning himself in. A Chinese netizen lamented:
当一个幼小的生命被明码标价的时候，人性就变得一文不值了
When you put a price tag on a young person’s life, then human nature has become worthless.
Video below is a highlight of the Chinese men at the 2011 Gymnastics Worlds in Tokyo where they have just won the team title. I was recently at a friend’s daughters gymnastics tournament. There were teams of five year-olds and up. At that age, 10 hours training each week is considered the norm. I was impressed with the commitment the athletes and their families put in. (It sounds weird calling five year-olds athletes, but they are.) Read more…
The “$35 laptop” commissioned by the Indian government is becoming real. On October 5, 2011, the laptop was officially launched under the name, Aakash, which means sky. India has ordered 100,000 units at $50 a piece. The manufacturer (DataWind) has said at 2 million units, it could achieve the $35 price point. This is a remarkable achievement, because the One Laptop Per Child program has for many years been trying to achieve $100. Given the buzz already generated by the OLPC, devices like the Aakash is likely to be embraced around the world. Read more…
Many people will see Steve Jobs in his more recent successes in Pixar, iMac, iPod, iPad, and the iPhone. With the original Napster and other peer-to-peer music sharing, Apple dared and even became successful in selling music which people thought impossible. These successes (and I am sure there are dozens of others) encapsulates Steve Jobs. He and his company, Apple, is adored around the world. With his passing today, the world is saddened. For me, Steve Jobs embodies perseverance. For being ousted from Apple in the 80s. For struggling to make Pixar work as a graphics hardware company. For unable to get Next Computer to wide adoption. For the failed Newton. With every struggle, he persevered and triumphed. He guided Pixar into a premier computer animation studio. The Next Computer became the foundation for the OS X. The Newton would be scrapped to be replaced by the iPods/iPads. He came back and took a struggling Apple and made it one of the most successful companies on this planet. Rest in peace, Steve Jobs.
The recent Occupy Wall Street movement across the U.S. may be weighing in your minds. I couldn’t help but draw the parallel to the 1989 Tiananmen protest. With the unemployment in America stuck at 9.1%, pressure on society is gradually mounting. Many young Americans are starting to doubt their future. This sentiment is not that different than the students in China when they went out to Tiananmen uncertain what a decade-long privatization would bring them – as the iron rice bowl was apparently no longer guaranteed. Read more…
Tiangong-1 Module launches
Zhang Shancong, deputy chief designer of the Tiangong-1, told Xinhua that the module carries special cameras which will take hyperspectral images of China’s vast farmlands to detect heavy metal pollution and pesticide residue as well as plant disease.
Moreover, scientists on the ground will also conduct experiments on photonic crystal, a new material expected to revolutionize information technology, in the low-gravity environment inside the Tiangong-1 as these experiements would be extremely difficult to conduct on Earth’s surface.
The Shenzhou-8 will be used to conduct docking experiments with the module in one month’s time. If successful, China will be the third nation behind U.S. and Russia to have achieved this milestone. Read more…
A panel of experts from China University of Political Science and Law have proposed establishing an independent human rights commission in a recent forum attended by both Chinese and foreign human rights experts. (China Daily has more details.) If this proposal becomes enshrined in China’s constitution, that’d be a really interesting development. Below are couple of key passages from the China Daily report: Read more…
(Update Sept 21, 2011, courtesy of Ray. Click to see Chinese characters outside the cockpit. Update Oct. 2, 2011; Turns out this picture was photoshopped. See comment #52 onward.))
The last time the U.S. sold weapons to Taiwan ($6.4 billion worth in January 2010) led to China suspending military-to-military contacts with the U.S.. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who also chairs Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence, has subsequently said in public the weapons sale was a mistake. In the news again, looks like Obama is approving the sales of upgrades to Taiwan’s fleet of F-16 jet fighters. As expected, China is warning strong reaction if any sort of deal going through. (See “Backlash expected if US seals arms deal.”) Read more…
Georgetown University’s Hoyas (乔治城大学) basketball team is currently in China playing against various Chinese teams on a friendship tour. In an exhibition game against the Bayi Rockets (八一火箭队) yesterday, a brawl broke out between the two. This took place at about ten minutes left in the fourth quarter and the game tied at 63.
(Update: see Ray’s comments below. I originally had ‘sacked’ in the title which is probably too harsh given he is reassigned to another post.)
Out of the recent bullet train crash near Wenzhou, I think one of the biggest lessons for the Ministry of Rail is the importance of good PR. Spokesperson Wang Yongping (王勇平) has created many controversies and was subject of a lot of public anger and criticisms. (See here and here.) According to Caixing, Wang Yongping has now been dismissed from his post. Read more…
BEIJING (AFP) — China’s Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday pledged 353.2 million yuan ($55.3 million) in food aid to African countries suffering their worst drought in years.
After first reading this article from the Associated Press (echoed by the NPR), I thought, well, it seems to be all facts based. Over the years, I have come to realize critical thinking is required when consuming Western press. Read the left column through first before reading my comments on the right. Try to ignore my highlighting. Let me know if you think I am being too critical. Did my points of contention jump out at you during your initial reading? Read more…
A group of security forces patrol central Kashi, Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on Tuesday. (Global Times)
Global Times carried some really good coverage of the recent attacks in Kashgar, shedding light on the tension in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Rest of this post is really just the Global Times article itself. That one idea I feel deserves still extra mentioning is the fact that people when feeling there is nothing to loose, will tend to engage in more extremist behavior. Thus, I feel China must continue her path of economic progress. Integrating young ethnic Uyghurs and helping them gain employment is a great idea. Perhaps America will learn to do that with Black youths from inner cities and Natives from Indian reservations across the country too.
Read more…
The economic reform of the 1980s brought many benefits but also meant that the health care sector was changed from the previous “universal coverage” to paid only service. This means that many of the poorer people was unable to afford health care. It is one of the biggest source of grief for the society. One component of affordable health care is the price of the medicine. By allowing the various provinces to experiment with various system, it seems the central government has decided to go with this system. There are still many reforms ahead be it in education, health care or governance but at least this is what I consider a big step ahead.
News of the uncovering of the “biggest-ever” series of cyber attacks by McAfee seems to be spreading through the media like wildfire. In thisWashington Post article, it is reported:
A leading computer security firm has used logs produced by a single server to trace the hacking of more than 70 corporations and government organizations over many months, and experts familiar with the analysis say the snooping probably originated in China.
Among the targets were the Hong Kong and New York offices of the Associated Press, where unsuspecting reporters working on China issues clicked on infected links in e-mail, the experts said. Read more…
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