From the Guardian: The safety of passengers on the world’s highest – and newest – railway is threatened by cracks, yaks and shifting sands, the Chinese government admitted yesterday. Less than a month after the opening of the line across the Himalayas to Tibet, it has become unstable in places because the foundations are sinking […]
Read MoreFrom Guardian Unlimited: Chinese police investigating the alleged beating of a land rights activist have concluded that he broke his own neck, prompting accusations of a whitewash from the paralysed man’s family and human rights organisations. Fu Xiancai – a vocal opponent of the Three Gorges Dam – says he was attacked by an unknown […]
Read MoreFrom Guardian Unlimited: Tibet will be soldered to the rest of China tomorrow with the launch of a railway service across the Himalayan roof of the world.But the controversy surrounding this engineering marvel was highlighted at...
Read MoreFrom Guardian Unlimited: One of the most vocal opponents of the Three Gorges dam has been left reportedly paralysed by a savage beating after he ignored police warnings not to speak to foreign journalists. Fu Xiancai, a land-rights activist, was attacked by unknown assailants on his way home from the Zigui public security bureau in […]
Read MoreFrom The Guardian: Flashing red neon tubes light up the way to the karaoke bar in Shangri-la’s Paradise hotel, where guests are invited to buy the company of hostesses: 100 yuan (¬£7) to sing for an hour, 200 yuan for a shared dance. Five minutes further on is the Shangri-la “Old Town”, built from scratch […]
Read MoreFrom Guardian Unlimited (link): It is going to come as a shock to tens of millions of lungs, but the Chinese government is planning a tobacco-free Olympics when the world’s heaviest smoking nation hosts the event in 2008. “Let a smokeless games provide healthy competition, a healthy environment and a healthy lifestyle,” the health ministry […]
Read MoreFrom Guardian Unlimited (link): When China’s economic miracle caught up with Mrs Wang’s cabbage patch, she was having her hair done in a neighbouring village – too far away to hear the township official’s bellowed orders, “You have one hour to harvest your crops and then the bulldozers move in.” So by the time she […]
Read MoreFrom Guardian Unlimited (link): The Bank of China has been among the worst affected by corruption. This March, five executives were arrested on suspicion of defrauding the institution of $20m. Last year, a former vice president, Liu Jinbao, was given a suspended death sentence for embezzling 14m yuan (¬£927,000). Wang Xuebing, the bank’s president from […]
Read MoreFrom the Guardian (link): The last of 16 million tonnes of concrete will be poured in today, making Chairman Mao’s dream of a reality, and giving China’s current generation of engineers-turned-leaders the chance to proclaim another colossal step forward in the country’s “harmonious development”. But the completion of the Three Gorges dam has been anything […]
Read MoreFrom Guardian Unlimited (link): It is an anniversary that China wants to forget. Today marks 40 years since the start of the cultural revolution, one of the most insane episodes of the 20th century when children turned on parents, pupils tyrannised teachers and hundreds of thousands died in the name of class war. The government […]
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