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10 Apr 09
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China Rises! (but without me) All good things come to an end, and that is true today for myself and China Rises. This blog is taking a rest. At some point in the near future, a new McClatchy correspondent will arrive in China and likely... |
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08 Apr 09
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In the gray areas of the economy It doesn’t take long in China to run into someone who toils in the gray areas of the economy – which are neither legal nor illegal. The man in the photo, Zhou Xiaodong, is one such person. He’s a tattoo... |
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07 Apr 09
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Case of the stranded student pilots No matter the nationality, it’s always pitiable when foreigners get taken advantage of in a major way while traveling abroad. Here’s one case involving Chinese in the U.S.: Some 130 Chinese student pilots were stranded for weeks in Florida when... |
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03 Apr 09
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China's other ethnic problem There’s been a lot of noise in the last few days about how China and France have repaired very tattered relations. In a joint statement, France said it “fully understands” the sensitivity of the Tibet issue to China and vowed... |
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02 Apr 09
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The 'new' Sino-U.S. dialogue You may have seen the headlines already. Presidents Obama and Hu met in London during the G-20 summit and agreed to continue a regular high-level dialogue that was begun under former President Bush. The "new" dialogue will only be once... |
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01 Apr 09
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Who is China learning from now? Here’s a little ditty making the rounds about China’s evolution over the decades: Mao Zedong and the first-generation leaders decided to learn from the Soviet Union – and the Soviet Union collapsed. Deng Xiaoping and the second-generation leaders d... |
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30 Mar 09
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A disputed video from Tibet Last week, Tibetan exile groups voiced outrage at a video posted on YouTube that purportedly showed militarized police beating and kicking detained Tibetans during ethnic unrest a year ago. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Qin Gang, was dismissive... |
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26 Mar 09
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The views of Kevin Rudd on China Kevin Rudd, the Australian prime minister, is a man to watch when it comes to observing China’s relations with the world. As everyone probably knows by now, Rudd, a former diplomat, speaks Mandarin well and is seen by China as... |
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25 Mar 09
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Mocking the censors Many Chinese youth are apathetic when it comes to politics. After all, what change could possibly be in the offing? Morever, with China’s sustained economic boom, the youth of today have never known a year which wasn’t better than the... |
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24 Mar 09
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Along the Russian border The above scene looks like it might be along a Russian street. Actually, it’s in the Chinese border city of Manzhouli, where most shop signs are in Cyrillic to attract Russian traders. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post,... |
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22 Mar 09
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Unsavory arrivals in Hong Kong A journalist friend of mine once wrote a magazine article about Panama entitled “Dustbin for Dictators.” This was a decade ago, and at the time the description was apt. Living in Panama City then were ousted Guatemalan strongman Jorge Serrano,... |
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21 Mar 09
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Yes, we have no computers I got a very interesting email from a regular reader of this blog. He lives in Zhengzhou in Henan Province, and recently had an unusual experience trying to buy a computer. I can't vouch that his experience is the same... |
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17 Mar 09
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Amusing, mystifying labels in China I’m in the city of Manzhouli along China’s far northern border with Russia. It’s snowing like crazy outside and I’ve just woken up in my bone-dry hotel room with a terrible thirst. I reach for a plastic bottle of what... |
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13 Mar 09
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What would you ask the premier? It’s not just Americans worried about the stability of the U.S. banking system. China’s “a little bit worried,” too. So says Premier Wen Jiabao. “We have loaned a huge amount of money to the United States,” Premier Wen said at... |
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12 Mar 09
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China goes Miami Vice If the Baha Mar resort in the Bahamas ever gets built the way its designers foresee, it will be the largest resort of any in the Caribbean region. And China will play a huge role. Mammoth is the only way... |
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11 Mar 09
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China's nascent rock n' roll scene Watch more Beijing videos at tripfilms.com Check out this recently released video about rock n’ roll coming to Qingdao, the port city best known for its Tsingtao beer, and the emerging rock scene in Beijing. If you like it, there's... |
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09 Mar 09
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Which Chinese draw most internet hits? I’ve done a very unscientific survey about Chinese places and people to see what kind of presence they have on the internet in the English language. I used Google and a virtual private network so the results are not skewed... |
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05 Mar 09
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Two Chinese up for 'dream job' These two videos are of the two Chinese candidates now among the 50 finalists for the so-called best job in the world. The job pays about $96,000 for half a year to serve as caretaker on Hamilton Island along Australia’s... |
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05 Mar 09
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A spat between Hong Kong and Macau Macau has barred entry in recent days to a number of Hong Kong residents, including a university dean, several politicians and a photojournalist for the South China Morning Post. Now a lawmaker in Hong Kong is suggesting the port city... |
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03 Mar 09
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Oasis gets 'Bjorked' The British rock band Oasis won’t be playing gigs in Beijing and Shanghai next month after all. They’ve been Bjorked, which is a way of saying one of their members didn’t pass ideological muster. Bjork is the Icelandic singer who... |
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02 Mar 09
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Victor Hugo's popularity in China The French writer Victor Hugo has become very fashionable in China rather suddenly. That’s because of what Hugo had to say about the sacking of the Summer Palace at the end of the Second Opium War. At that time in... |
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27 Feb 09
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Adapting to a Chinese workplace OK, so the global economy has tanked and you’re considering going to work for a local company in one of the world’s only safe markets – China. But the reality is that fewer than 50 percent of foreigners who make... |
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27 Feb 09
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Shanghai stocks hold on Markets worldwide are rocky and generally sharply down in recent months. So why is the Shanghai A-share index up 17.4 percent so far this year? The answer might seem obvious: China is holding up well amid global economic recession. But... |
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26 Feb 09
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Self-immolations in Beijing Like many reporters, I rushed down to the Wangfujing pedestrian walkway in Beijing yesterday afternoon when word came out that three people had set their own car afire in what appeared to be self-immolation. The event happened at about 2:50... |
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25 Feb 09
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Holding China up as an example I’m listening to Barack Obama’s speech to Congress and was just struck by his mention of China. It wasn’t about the trade deficit. Nor was it about environmental pollution. It was about energy efficiency. Here’s the excerpt: “We know the... |
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23 Feb 09
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The Art of the Proverb Here’s a lesson on when to use Chinese proverbs and who to use them with. Short answer: It’s probably best for Westerners not to try to out-proverb the Chinese, especially when speaking with Premier Wen Jiabao. Secretary of State Hillary... |
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20 Feb 09
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Hillary and the Dear Leader On her first diplomatic foray abroad, Hillary Clinton is casting aside normal diplomatic caution. And for journalists, that’s newsy development. In the last few hours, Clinton has waded into a public discussion about who will lead North Korea aft... |
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18 Feb 09
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A snow day in Beijing Today is a snow day (I wish). About an inch of snow fell overnight in Beijing. And this morning, workers are out with their big brooms sweeping the sidewalks free. It’s the first significant snowfall of the winter. Xinhua cites... |
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17 Feb 09
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Coming from the 'beautiful country' There are few places that I go as an American where I get an unmitigated welcome mat thrown out for me. As often as not, the “unwelcome mat” is at the door. It seemed to reach an extreme following the... |
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17 Feb 09
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China's 'left behind' children One of the tragedies of China’s economic model is that many children are left behind in villages when their parents go off as migrants to look for jobs. Often, the children are left with grandparents. But sometimes they are left... |
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16 Feb 09
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Harper's Index on China Harper’s Magazine has recently put its famous Index on line. A compendium of curious and interesting statistics, the Index is one of Harper’s hallmarks. Here are statistics related to China in recent years. The month and year are before each... |
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11 Feb 09
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China's many global friends In a big meeting hall in Geneva earlier this week, China’s human rights record came under scrutiny before the U.N. Human Rights Council. You can watch the video of the three-hour session if you like by clicking to this site.... |
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10 Feb 09
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Liar! Liar! 'Pants,' er, 'Boot' on fire! The blaze that consumed the high-rise Mandarin Oriental hotel last night in the new CCTV complex has the internet abuzz. If you didn’t hear news about the fire, click here or here or here. The hotel is part of the... |
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09 Feb 09
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Bird's Nest loses its glamour An interesting article appeared in the Singapore Straits Times newspaper over the weekend about the Bird’s Nest stadium, the iconic venue for the Summer Olympic Games. It’s fallen into disuse, and apparently is looking not-so-shiny. Here’s the ... |
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08 Feb 09
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China's influence in Latin America While the United States is preoccupied with other parts of the world, China is paying ever more attention to Latin America, sending leaders to the region, opening banks and promising investment. At this writing, two Chinese leaders are touring the... |
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06 Feb 09
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Global opinion of China and the U.S. A nearly equal percentage of people around the world think positively of China and the United States. Negative opinion is also nearly the same. That’s what the latest opinion tracking poll of the BBC shows. The results, available here, show... |
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06 Feb 09
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The Tibetan Plateau's melting glaciers This Xinhua story gives a sense of just how fast some of the glaciers are receding. It says that along the east side of the Tanggula Mountain Pass, glaciers are pulling back at a rate of a quarter kilometer a... |
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03 Feb 09
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Note to leaders: Learn to duck shoes As you probably know, a protester hurled a shoe at Premier Wen Jiabao as he gave a talk at Cambridge University. Coming a few weeks after an Iraqi hurled a shoe at former President George W. Bush, the new incident... |
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02 Feb 09
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Gulags for the elderly Actress Bette Davis once famously said, “getting old is not for sissies.” In North Korea, that is especially true. Word comes that the Pyongyang regime is putting barbed wire up around old people’s homes to keep the elderly from wandering... |
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02 Feb 09
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Shanghai gets dolled up Barbie is coming to Shanghai in a big way. U.S. toy manufacturer Mattel is getting ready to open an eight-story Barbie store, the largest in the world, in Shanghai. The store will open early in March to coincide with Barbie’s... |
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30 Jan 09
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Meet Lu Tianna, new U.S. senator She is Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the new Democratic senator from New York State who took Hillary Clinton’s seat, and the word is she speaks Mandarin Chinese. Not only that, she does so with “good, straight tones.” Gillibrand took the Chinese... |
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28 Jan 09
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Temple fairs and bad omens Temple fairs are a big part of Lunar New Year’s celebrations in Beijing. So we walked up to take a look at the celebrations in the Beijing Dongyue Temple, a major Taoist temple. After skirting a bunch of firecrackers on... |
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26 Jan 09
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Happy New Year of the Ox It seemed like World War III was in full swing in Beijing last night, what with all the fireworks around the city. At midnight, the horizon in all directions was bright with colorful explosions to welcome in Chinese New Year.... |
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23 Jan 09
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The Sino-U.S. 'kitsch wars' Sino-U.S. tensions are rising, and it’s not just that Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner declared yesterday that China “manipulates” its currency. It’s worse. It involves souvenirs, or more precisely, little plastic trinkets with ... |
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22 Jan 09
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China's sputtering growth It might not seem surprising, but China’s economy may be performing more poorly than at any time in half a generation. Of course, “poorly” is a relative term. China’s economy is still growing. But its sharp slowdown is certainly noticeable... |
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21 Jan 09
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China censors Obama You can see in the above YouTube clip how quickly the Chinese state news broadcaster reacted during a live broadcast of Barack Obama’s inauguration speech. Right at a key part about communism and fascism, a slightly befuddled announcer cuts in... |
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20 Jan 09
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Honoring 'little grandfather' I just had one of those interesting cultural experiences, both painful and enlightening. I’m spending a few days in Chengdu, the largest city in southwest China, and my hotel is in an utterly urban neighborhood with almost no sign of... |
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17 Jan 09
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The grumpy mood in Taiwan The Taiwanese are not happy campers these days. The economy stinks. And voters are happy with neither the ruling Nationalist party nor the main opposition party. Tensions with the mainland have eased in the past few months, but even that... |
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15 Jan 09
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What Hillary says on China Anybody trying to plumb Hillary Clinton’s thinking on China after the several hours she spent Tuesday at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will surely be disappointed. She said almost nothing about what is arguably t... |
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14 Jan 09
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Rabies 'explodes' in China Beware travelers: There’s an “explosion” of rabies in China. That determination is from the U.S. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, and anybody traveling in rural China, particularly in the south, should take heed. The incidence of human ... |
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