From The New York Times (link): By some estimates, there are more than 30,000 people patrolling the Web in China, helping to form one of the world’s far-reaching Internet filtering systems. But while China’s huge Internet police force is busy deleting annoying phrases like “free speech” and “human rights” from online bulletin boards, specialists say […]
Read MoreFrom the Financial Express (link) Amid China’s efforts to bridge the widening chasm between the rich and poor, the government has thrown agriculture tax into the dustbin of history, rescinding the 2,600-year-long practice which could improve the lot of some 800 million peasants. “We will completely rescind the agricultural tax throughout the country, throwing it […]
Read MoreFrom Asashi.com (link): In a compromise of sorts, China proposed a new joint development plan Tuesday during talks on gas reserves in the East China Sea. The proposal included the possibility for joint development on the Chinese side of the median line between Japan and China. “There were many points that have to be considered” […]
Read MoreFrom Reuters (link): Some police have been detained for not following orders properly after shooting protesters to death in China’s southern Guangdong province in December, the provincial governor said on Tuesday. At least three people died and eight were wounded in Guangdong’s Dongzhou village when police shot villagers protesting against a lack of compensation for […]
Read MoreFrom Reuters (link): Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday it had no involvement in the case of a Chinese journalist charged with sending subversive e-mails abroad under a pseudonym using a Hotmail account. The indictment of Li Yuanlong, a 45-year-old reporter, follows accusations that Internet giant Yahoo Inc. provided evidence to Chinese authorities that led to […]
Read MoreFrom Reuters, via A Glimpse of the World blog: China’s economic progress is being threatened by ideological rifts and bureaucratic profiteering, a senior official economist said, as China’s parliament began discussing a national development plan. Members of the government-vetted National People’s Congress on Monday mostly extolled the blueprint for continued economic growth while spreading more […]
Read MoreFrom Bangkok Post (link): Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing on Tuesday defended China’s rising military budget, claiming that China’s rapid development would pose no threat to other nations. Li said China had “transparent” military policies and that the strengthening of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was “completely defensive in nature”. “The Chinese people are unswervingly […]
Read Morefrom People’s Daily Online (link) Wu Bingbing, a poor rural middle school student in east China’s Jiangxi Province, was overjoyed at the good news that he wouldn’t need to worry about tuition any more. He heard the news from the principal of his school, as he is ill-informed about events at the ongoing annual parliamentary […]
Read MoreFrom Harvard International Law Journal, via SSRN (link): Abstract: This article examines 223 recent defamation cases in China. Empirical analysis of claims and outcomes reveals that defamation litigation is developing on two tracks. Track-one cases are brought by public officials, government and Communist Party entities, and corporations to restrict and silence the increasingly autonomous Chinese […]
Read MoreFrom China Confidential blog (link): The annual session of China’s rubber stamp parliament started Sunday, and a new reform plan for the troubled countryside was at the top of the agenda. The plan, which aims to create “a socialist countryside,” is the centerpiece of China’s next five-year plan, which the so-called parliament–officially known as the […]
Read MoreFrom AP, via the Washinton Post (link): Liang Guihong is a goodhearted 56-year-old woman who finds homes for abandoned infants. Or she’s a leader of a gang that sold abducted babies, some of whom were adopted abroad. A court in southern China sentenced Liang last month to 15 years in prison after she was convicted, […]
Read MoreFrom the Financial Times (link): Wagging his finger like a stern headmaster, Zhang Dejiang glares at passers-by from posters plastered along the alleyways of Nanting village, warning local party bosses not to cross “three red lines” in handling land disputes. Mr Zhang, the party secretary of Guangdong, issued his province-wide “red lines” directive after a […]
Read MoreFrom AP, via Forbes (link): China’s government is trying to boost public interest in its figurehead parliament and its companion advisory body by setting up Web logs for members as they meet this week. Called “bo ke” in Chinese, blogs are popular with young people despite strict censorship rules. In one posting, National People’s Congress […]
Read MoreFrom the Financial Times (link) China is abandoning most numerical economic targets from its decades-old planning system as part of an effort to change the country’s obsession with growth at the expense of social programmes and the environment. The National Development and Reform Commission, the chief planning agency, said economic targets in the country’s latest […]
Read MoreAn old woman dancing traditional Yangge in the Spring Festival, via Xitek.com
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