82 Percent People, 82 Percent

With the kind of sort of, sometimes just blatant China bashing, it's nice to see a little news like this for some reason (and isn't she just a cutie?):

Satisfied with the direction your country is headed? The Chinese sure are. The rising nation tops the list of optimistic countries with a glass much more full than those of trailing countries. Eighty-six percent of the Chinese are content with China's direction, compared to 61 percent in second place Australia, according to the Pew Research Center. Eighty-two percent of the Chinese are also happy with their economy.

McCain just wishes he had a half of that percentage of people who believed in him.

Shanghai Super Girl

I haven't seen the Super, Girls! documentary, but VBS.TV has been running a series called Shanghai Super Girl which follows around past finalist Yang Lei (a 24 year-old school teacher) from the now defunct Super Girl contest which is like China's version of American Idol.

Here's the first episode:



Check out more at VBS.TV.

Devastation in China and surrounding areas

This is bad - and things keep on getting worse. To everyone that has family out in the affected areas - I hope you got in contact with them and that everyone is safe:

A powerful earthquake toppled buildings, schools and chemical plants Monday in central China, killing more than 8,700 people and trapping untold numbers in mounds of concrete, steel and earth in the country's worst quake in three decades.

The 7.9-magnitude quake devastated a region of small cities and towns set amid steep hills north of Sichuan's provincial capital of Chengdu. Striking in midafternoon, it emptied office buildings across the country in Beijing and could be felt as far away as Vietnam.

Snippets from state media and photos posted on the Internet underscored the immense scale of the devastation. In the town of Juyuan, south of the epicenter, a three-story high school collapsed, burying as many as 900 students and killing at least 50, the official Xinhua news agency said. Photos showed people using cranes, mechanical hoists and their hands to remove slabs of concrete and steel.

Read more coverage here.

Internet proves powerful tool for Chinese protests

Good article over at the Tibetan Times on how Web technology is playing a key role in political protests and the dissemination of information:

It may be decades before China gets democracy, but for many Chinese, political participation of sorts is only a mouse click away.

In the past few weeks, the Chinese have been anything but silent, faced with what they feel is an onslaught of unfair criticism from the West about their country's policy toward Tibet and the Olympic Games.

Chinese people began by using blog posts and websites to condemn foreign journalists for what they saw as biased coverage of China's crackdown on unrest in Tibet, following riots in the region's capital Lhasa on March 14.

Read more here.

$1 for every person in China

I'm all up for free enterprise and litigation, but this is going nowhere:

A Chinese primary school teacher and a beautician have filed a suit against CNN in New York over remarks they say insulted the Chinese people and are seeking $1.3 billion in compensation -- $1 per person in China, a Hong Kong newspaper reported.

If I had a dollar for every time someone from another country said something about Americans - I might vacation in Europe more.

EU, China, Piracy

Better people can explain this than me:

Violations of intellectual property rights, trademarks and patents held by EU companies and researchers will be high on the agenda when European Commission President Manuel Barroso leads a large delegation into two days of economic and trade talks in Beijing starting Thursday.

The EU estimates pirated goods cost EU businesses €21 billion (US$33.3 billion) in lost trade annually — about a third of current EU exports to China. But unlike the United States, it has to date not pursued any Chinese piracy cases in the World Trade Organization.

Still, the EU has put China in the category of worst violators of intellectual property. It is the only country in that category because its anti-piracy efforts are so weak that 80 percent of counterfeit goods imported into the 27-nation bloc are Chinese-made.

More: While upset about piracy, EU is more serene about China than US

YouTube: Chinese Protest in front of CNN Los Angeles office

This is part 1 of someone's video of the CNN protest:



Go to this YouTube link for the other parts of the video.

China: No Child Left Behind?

With a population that is getting older, and economists warning that soon there may be too many older citizens and not enough younger workers who can support them - China may be relaxing their one-child policy. From the IHT:

China is studying how to move away from its controversial one-child policy, but any changes would come gradually and would not mean an elimination of family-planning policies, a senior official said Thursday [...] Some of the biggest cities, like Shanghai, have tried to make small tweaks in the policy to spur more births. Nationally, the policy now allows urban couples to have two children if both spouses are themselves from one-child families [...] Experts have warned that China is steadily moving toward a demographic crisis with too many old people in need of expensive services and too few young workers paying taxes to meet those bills. China is often regarded as having a limitless pool of young, cheap labor, but the country's biggest manufacturing centers have faced labor shortages in recent years.

Read the full article here.

China Unplugged

MTV will be having their first Unplugged series in China in December. Among the first to be featured are Pu Shu and Yu Quan.

Check out the video Radio In My Head by Pu Shu

Shanghai: Get ready for the Paris Hilton "debut"

Will the horror never stop?

Is Shanghai ready for hotel heiress turned porno star/party all night/show her naked coochie/postpone that trip to Rwanda but have time to judge the Miss Universe Japan contest (because we knew you weren't going to Rwanda anyway)-Paris Hilton?

Apparently she is:

“I am very excited to be associated with the MTV Style Gala in Shanghai, not only because of my own personal interest and passion in influencing the style and trends of today’s youth, but it makes more sense now, more than ever, with the rising influence of China in the fashion world. I look forward to coming to Shanghai to experience this first hand,” Hilton said in a statement.

The multi-hyphenate will make her Chinese debut at the 2007 MTV Style Gala on November 23 at Shanghai’s Grand Stage. Event is jointly run by MTV Networks China, Shanghai Media Group (SMG) and CCTV 6 and will include notables from all over mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, including Liu Ye, Shin, S.H.E., Anthony Wong, Sammi Cheng, and Vicki Zhao.

Paris Hilton stepping on the same stage as Vicki Zhao and Sammi Cheng? Something just seems very wrong with that...let's hope everyone has gotten their vaccinations.

The musical instrument Manwuyan

If you wondered what exactly a Manwuyan was, you weren't alone - not by a long shot - but apparently it is the oldest (or claims to be) playable instrument in the world and is permitted by the Chinese Cultural Heritage Administration to be played only five times a year, with its first, last, and only tour of Seoul to be held from Nov. 11-15 of this year before it gets designated as a national treasure:

Here's a snippet from The Korea Times on the instrument as well as the Seoul tour:

Those interested in a novel musical ― and historical ― experience will have a chance to hear the Nanzhao Classical Music Ensemble revive an ancient sound at Coste Hall in Myeong-dong Cathedral's Cultural Center, central Seoul. This is a truly unprecedented occasion, for the relic has rarely traveled within China.

When it was unearthed in 1998 in Yinnan Province, the manwuyan was in almost immaculate condition, being immediately playable despite minor damages by rodents. Several string instruments have been excavated so far, but none of them functioned. Verified as originating from the late 12th century, the manwuyan is the world's oldest playable instrument.

Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian two of the stories to watch for in the NBA this season

As the official start of the NBA season approaches, ESPN and their analysts are predicting all the stories, the drama, the teams, and the players to watch out for - and two of them are Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian.

John Hollinger - ESPN’s resident stats man and forecaster - is predicting Yao Ming will have the best Player Efficiency Rating (PER) in the league this year above players like Dwane Wade, Lebron James, and Kobe Bryant. For those of you that don’t follow basketball too much (or the stats) - that just means Yao is predicted to be one of the best players in the league this year.

Pretty cool.

Yi Jianlian, while not as impressive, is still being mentioned in the top 10 of first year players who may be in the running for the Rookie Of The Year award (although mostly due to more guaranteed playing time than anything else). Whether or not he’ll wither from the cold weather in Milwaukee versus LA where he was training for six months, and garnering a base of rabid female fans, might end up being more of the story.

Shorts: Racist Nobel Winner?, Bombing in Manilla, Teacher Nabbed, China Olympics 2008

• Apparently you can be really really smart - as in winning the Nobel prize in 1962 for deciphering the double-helix of DNA - but still be really dumb as well. Case in point is Dr. James D. Watson winner of the aforementioned prize who also apparently likes to infer that black people aren’t as smart as white people - and are problem workers too. Hmmm….so much for those museum appearances. But he is trying to apologize and says his comments were not read as he intended them to be. It seems even Nobel winners can get tongue tied..


• The news coming out of the capital Manilla isn’t looking any better with police saying that they’ve found traces of plastic explosives tied to the mall explosions. As of right now there are eight confirmed deaths along with seventy wounded and general alerts have been issued for the rest of the city as well as the international airport.


• Christopher Paul Neil, a Canadian teacher was just picked up for sexually abusing underage Southeast Asian children (he posted some of the pictures on the Internet which helped with his arrest). Hopefully this will be a wakeup call to other people like Neil that Southeast Asia isn’t a place you can go and get away with molesting underage children and treat them like disposable paper plates and get away with it.


• You knew this was going to start sooner or later - the politicizing of the Olympics in China ‘08 - and it’s already starting to get heated with warnings being thrown out on both sides including organizations like the Human Rights Watch. This is going to be one of the most interesting Olympics in years.

Typhoon Lekima threatens Chinese and Vietnamese coasts

Some news on the emerging typhoon:

Reuters UK

China and Vietnam evacuated hundreds of thousands of people from low-lying coastal areas on Wednesday as Typhoon Lekima lashed the region with torrential rains and heavy winds.

The storm passed over the central Vietnam province of Quang Binh on Wednesday night and blew westward toward Laos, officials said. They said the storm hit relatively under-populated areas but they would not know the extent of damage until Thursday.

The typhoon made landfall late on Tuesday near China’s beach resort of Sanya, on the southern tip of tropical Hainan island, trapping tourists and forcing the evacuation of 225,000 people

Fox News

Disaster officials began evacuating 400,000 people on Wednesday as a typhoon approached Vietnam’s central coast, packing winds up to 83 mph.

Typhoon Lekima, which was upgraded from a tropical storm earlier in the day, was expected to make landfall in the central provinces of Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh later Wednesday, according to the national weather forecast center.

More News:

• Thousands flee as typhoon nears China (USA Today)


• Typhoon Lekima threatens central region(VietNamNet)


• Government issues Lekima storm warnings(Viet Nam News)
  

Take that: Jackie Chan finally disses the Rush Hour films

You knew it was coming

According to Associated Press reports Jackie Chan is speaking out AGAINST the Rush Hour films:

Chan said when he made the first installment of the “Rush Hour” series in 1998 he only wanted to test the U.S. market and didn’t have high hopes.

“When we finished filming, I felt very disappointed because it was a movie I didn’t appreciate and I did not like the action scenes involved. I felt the style of action was too Americanized and I didn’t understand the American humor,” Chan said in a blog entry on his Web site seen Sunday.

The actor said he made the sequel because he was offered an “irresistible” amount of money to do it and made the recently released third installment to satisfy fans of the series.

Chan said “Rush Hour 3″ was no different from the first two installments for him.

“Nothing particularly exciting stood out that made this movie special for me … I spent four months making this film and I still don’t fully understand the humor,” he said, adding the comedic scenes may be lost on Asian audiences.

While it would have been nice to see this comment earlier - better late than never on this one. Read some more news down at cinemablend.com and contactmusic.com.

Burma/Myanmar watch: 9 dead 11 wounded

While the current protests have been going on peacefully for the most part in the Burma/Myanmar region, they have recently turned violent with the government's use of force now with a reported 9 dead and 11 wounded from shots fired into the peaceful protests.

• Myanmar soldiers kill 9 anti-government protesters (Edmunton Sun)


• SNAPSHOT-Latest developments in Myanmar protests (Reuters)


• China Pleads for Calm in Myanmar (Associated Press)


• US freezes assets of 14 top Myanmar officials (Associated Press)
  

Mid-Autumn Festival and the super sized mooncake

Image from CCTV's coverage

Today is the official day of the Mid-Autumn Festival - or Moon Festival - or Lantern Festival - or Children's Festival. Much like the Thanksgiving holiday with its roots deep in agriculture, it has become a time more for family and giving thanks for those around you, and while different types of celebrations happen in different parts of the world, one of the main staples is the mooncake filled with anything and everything.

But a 13 ton mooncake?

Citizens in a dozen of Chinese cities had opportunities to taste super moon cakes while the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching. In Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province, hundreds of people ate up a 40-kilogram moon cake within one hour on Wednesday. It took the chefs nearly six hours to make the cake, which is 2.8 meters in diameter.

One month ago, a super large moon cake weighing nearly 13 tons, was made in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province. Referred to as the "No. 1 of Chinese Moon Cakes," this cake is 8.15 meters in diameter and 20 centimeters in height, and has a coating weighing one ton, and filling weighing 12 tons.

It took ten chefs more than 10 hours to make the king cake.

More Festival News

CCTV 2007 Festival Coverage

Mid-Autumn Festival kicks off today in China. People across the country are preparing to celebrate in many different ways. In Fuzhou, east China, the Mid-Autumn Festival means building towers of tiles. People do this so their lives and fortunes will grow just as high. Overseas Chinese and those living in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan are heading to their hometown, Fujian, to spend the festival with their families. The local airport witnessed a 40 percent surge of passengers

Mid-Autumn for disadvantaged and blind children

In the festival called "The festive night of full moon" organized for the eighth year, the children had a fun day participating in the lantern and banquet decorating and karaoke contests, as well as watching lion dances, and music and circus performances. On this occasion, State President Nguyen Minh Triet and other leaders of the city's government joined the children to celebrate the festival.

Giving gifts down, barbecues up during festival, poll shows

The gift giving culture among office workers is on the decline, but the practice of having barbecues during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday is rising unabated, the results of an online survey released yesterday showed.

Mattel apologizes for toy recalls - to China and the Chinese people

We knew this wasn't what it was made out to be a long time ago - now however - it's been actually confirmed by Mattel THEMSELVES:

U.S.-based toy giant Mattel Inc. issued an extraordinary apology to China on Friday over the recall of Chinese-made toys, taking the blame for design flaws and saying it had recalled more lead-tainted toys than justified.

The gesture by Thomas A. Debrowski, Mattel's executive vice president for worldwide operations, came in a meeting with Chinese product safety chief Li Changjiang, at which Li upbraided the company for maintaining weak safety controls.

"Our reputation has been damaged lately by these recalls," Debrowski told Li in a meeting at Li's office at which reporters were allowed to be present.

"And Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologizes personally to you, the Chinese people, and all of our customers who received the toys," Debrowski said.

Mattel ordered three high-profile recalls this summer involving more than 21 million Chinese-made toys, including Barbie doll accessories and toy cars because of concerns about lead paint and tiny magnets that could be swallowed.

The recalls have prompted complaints from China that manufacturers were being blamed for design faults introduced by Mattel.

On Friday, Debrowski acknowledged that "vast majority of those products that were recalled were the result of a design flaw in Mattel's design, not through a manufacturing flaw in China's manufacturers."

What's funny though about this post is how EVERYONE from China seems to get lumped into the toy scandal - there's no difference whatsoever between Chinese workers who actually work at plants that make Mattel toys, and Chinese workers who never touched a Mattel toy in their lives.

An Asian is an Asian is an Asian is an Asian - and that goes double for everyone in China it seems.

At least there won't be any more smack talk about how everything from China is tainted - at least for a while.

Typhoon Wipha and Shanghai Watch

A clip from the full story at Bloomberg on Typhoon Wipha:

Typhoon Wipha slammed into the east coast of China with winds of 185 kilometers per hour (116 miles per hour), causing almost $400 million in damage as it headed toward Shanghai. About 2 million people were evacuated.

Wipha’s eye crossed the coast in eastern Zhejiang province after 2 a.m. today with winds gusting to 232 kilometers per hour, according to the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Winds later decreased to 90 kilometers an hour, meaning Wipha was downgraded to a tropical storm. No deaths have been reported, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said.

More links and information:

• Typhoon Wipha batters China (LA Times)


• Typhoon Wipha threatens northern Taiwan (The Times of India)


• Typhoon Wipha slams into coast near Shanghai (MSNBC)

More Lust, Caution

Here are some more roundups of recent articles on the Ang Lee movie Lust, Caution, including reviews, China versus Taiwan, censors, and Venice:

• Taiwanese-born director Ang Lee gets caught by political tensions
• Will Ang Lee Give China More Caution, Less Lust?
• All’s fair in love and war
• Lee aims at second Venice victory