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• What Cui Yongyuan Didn’t Learn in School – China Digital Times (CDT) – Cui Yongyuan is a prominent Chinese TV personality, producer, film buff and author. He is currently the host of Talk to Little Cui (小崔说事) [zh] on CCTV-1. Cui has established himself one of China’s favorite social commentators, and is known for being vocally critical of CCP policy at the annual “Two Sessions,” where he sits as a CPPCC member. In  a post translating recent Weibo comments about China’s wealth inequality,
• In China, once-thriving Apple scalpers are struggling – latimes.com – Smugglers and unofficial resellers of iPhones prospered when supplies were tight, but now, with the smartphone in abundance, they find fewer takers and lower profits.
• The Useless Tree: Confucius is Politically Bolder than Wen Jiabao – t's too bad Wen doesn't push harder.  Let's assume he want some kind of genuine political reform.  Let's say he is sympathetic to what seems be a more accomodating approach to dealing with political problems that emerged in Wukan, Guangdong province.  Let's say he really is concerned about countering the corruption that corrodes public institutions.  Why hasn't he used his position to press harder for such goals? 

  He would find some support in Confucius, who is often presented as a defender of authority and hierarchy but who actually was quite will to challenge the powers that be if they were pressing society in the wrong direction, as here in Analects 11.17:

  The head of the Ji family was richer than the duke of Zhou had been, and yet Qiu collected his imposts for him, and increased his wealth. The Master said, "He [Qiu] is no disciple of mine. My little children, beat the drum and assail him."

  季氏富於周公，而求也為之聚斂而附益之。子曰：「非吾徒也。小子鳴鼓而攻之，可也。」

• IMF-De-monopolization Toward Long-Term Prosperity in China – pdf
• An Economic Argument To Tackle China’s Vested Interests | China Bystander – Economists at the International Monetary Fund have added their voices to those calling for China to lessen state control over its economy as the necessary path to reform. A new IMF Working Paper edited by Ashvin Ahuja, De-monopolization Toward Long-Term Prosperity in China, argues that the inefficiency of China’s monopolistic domestic services industries and agriculture in particular means the average Chinese worker has earned roughly nine times less over the past decade and been 10 times less productive than their American counterpart (measured on purchasing power parity). Weakening the state protection of vested interest groups and industry insiders, the paper says, could increase long-term per capita income by a factor of 10. With growth trending slower for structural reasons, every possible boost to the incomes of Chinese households becomes more valuable.
• Goldman’s capitalistic monoculture | The Great Debate – When were these good times Smith wishes would return? Who were the gentlemen partners running investment banks by strictly adhering to the Latin mottos on their family crests? They never existed. Overly self-interested behavior by banks at the expense of their clients is as old as modern banking itself.

  To believe that the culture of Goldman Sachs, or any other bank, is about “so much more” than making money misses a point that’s right in front of you. It’s not about more than making money. It’s about making money, full stop.

  The rhetoric about teamwork, integrity, humility and client focus? Those are the gauzy drapes that conceal and decorate the view.

• 奢侈品抗议电商连锁反应：百亿市场拷问盈利模式 – 产经 – 21世纪网 –
• 视频网站越烧越亏 深套数十亿风投 – 上市公司调查 – 21世纪网 –
• Delay in orders from China could cost Airbus 1,000 jobs｜Economy｜News｜WantChinaTimes.com – China has delayed placing its order for 35 A330 and 10 A380 aircraft from Airbus, Louis Gallois, CEO of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company which owns the European aerospace manufacturer, said on March 12. The orders are worth US$12 billion.

  The 21st Century Business Herald in Guangzhou quoted Dong Yan, a transport official with China's National Development and Reform Commission, as saying that the delay is a form of protest by Beijing against the carbon tax implemented by the European Union and levied on airlines flying to and from European destinations.

• 总理记者会：中国进步的名片 – 新京报网 –
• British man murdered in Thailand ‘for £40’ – Telegraph – was in hua hin for christmas. not a very nice place
• The ballad of Greg Smith | Felix Salmon – So let’s not pretend to be shocked that the most successful bankers are the ones who make the most money off their clients. And let’s not try to imply that the solution to this problem lies at the Goldman Sachs board level. It doesn’t. The real muppets, in this story, are Goldman’s board members, who have never had any real control over how the company is run. And, frankly, never will. The most remunerative skill, at Goldman, is the ability to flatter someone into believing that they’re incredibly important and clever and sophisticated, even as you’re getting that person to do exactly what’s in your own best interest. No one rises to lead Goldman Sachs who doesn’t have that skill. And you can be sure that Lloyd Blankfein uses it on the board every time he meets with them.
• China’s Tencent says fourth quarter profit rises 15 percent | Reuters –
• During Sunshine Week, Justice Department urges changes to guard new category of gov’t secrets – The Washington Post – In the middle of Sunshine Week, when news organizations and advocacy groups promote government transparency, the Obama administration urged Congress on Tuesday to keep secret a whole new category of information even under the Freedom of Information Act.

  A few miles away, the White House organized a conference call with two senior administration officials to preview an announcement by President Barack Obama about an important China trade issue but told reporters that no one could be quoted by name. The officials were U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and the deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, Michael Froman.

• Inside Story – Debating China’s security apparatus – YouTube –
• Asian Buyers Buoy New Homes in California’s Orange County – Bloomberg – “In Asian-focused communities, prices have held up phenomenally well,” said Eric Sussman, a senior lecturer at the Ziman Center for Real Estate at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Culturally speaking, Asians tend to have a much longer-term view than Americans do. They look at real estate as multigenerational, not short-term focused. That’s why they are making purchases during times when others may shy away.”
• Miniskirted model shows off NPC delegate sugar daddy on Weibo: Shanghaiist – A model has gone viral and may become another "Guo Meimei", after she weibbed photos online of her rich NPC delegate "godfather" and her mesmerizing "B-Cover Miniskirt" (齐B小短裙).
• War Is Boring » Big Sticks: China’s and America’s Global Strike Weapons –
• Response to Daily Mail Article-我爱狩猎俱乐部-打猎文章,狩猎游记,狩猎团,卢彬打猎,卢彬狩猎,南非打猎,打猎,狩猎 – – On March 5th, 2012 I received a phone call from a Daily Mail reporter calling himself Peter.  He chatted me up, calling himself a fellow "sportsman" to earn my trust, and wanted to know about my polar bear hunts.  I told him that I have never been on a polar bear hunt, and to my knowledge, neither has a single Chinese person.  Nevertheless, he wanted to know more and I discussed polar bear hunting in general with him — specifically the history, ecology and management of polar bear hunting.
   
  To my surprise, Peter took what I said and twisted it to create a sensational story where I was portrayed as a cruel and ruthless profiteer who regularly guides Chinese on such hunts.  In order to sell papers and make big profits, he created a story about something that doesn't even exist (Chinese hunting polar bears) and even attributed statements to me that I didn't make (for example, I never mentioned anything about "smuggled" bear rugs.)
• 乐视指百度影音存在大量盗版 停止与其合作 _ _i美股 –
• Apple Calls Proview Stance ‘Misleading’ – WSJ.com – Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu said Proview International Holding Ltd. and its subsidiaries tricked Apple into signing a 2009 agreement in such a way that opens ownership of the Chinese trademarks to questions. She said Proview, which is based in Hong Kong, now is trying unfairly to extract more money for the same transaction.
• Jake Siewert, former Geithner aide, heads to Goldman – POLITICO.com – Jake Siewert, former counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and press secretary at the end of the second Clinton administration, has landed at Goldman Sachs, where he will be a managing director and head of global corporate communications.
• Amazon.com: An American Spy (Milo Weaver) eBook: Olen Steinhauer: Kindle Store – In Olen Steinhauer’s bestseller The Tourist, reluctant CIA agent Milo Weaver uncovered a conspiracy linking the Chinese government to the highest reaches of the American intelligence community, including his own Department of Tourism—the most clandestine department in the Company. The shocking blowback arrived in the Hammett Award–winning The Nearest Exit when the Department of Tourism was almost completely wiped out as the result of an even more insidious plot.

  Following on the heels of these two spectacular novels comes An American Spy, Olen Steinhauer’s most stunning thriller yet. With only a handful of “tourists”—CIA-trained assassins—left, Weaver would like to move on and use this as an opportunity to regain a normal life, a life focused on his family. His former boss in the CIA, Alan Drummond, can’t let it go. When Alan uses one of Milo’s compromised aliases to travel to London and then disappears, calling all kinds of attention to his actions, Milo can’t help but go in search of him

• 并购前两日土豆连涨24.41% 被疑消息提前泄露 – 上市公司调查 – 21世纪网 – 21cbh on suspicious tudou trading in 2 days b4 youku deal announced $tudo $yoku
• 温家宝答记者问_腾讯新闻_腾讯网 –
• Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs – NYTimes.com – was greg smith departnered? or never partnered?//

  TODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.

• Politics push China’s property tax toward Beijing | Reuters – highly unlikely in beijing
• CIA divorces: The secrecy when spies split – The Washington Post – The Fredericksburg woman divorcing her husband laid out all the messy details, including the most secret of them all. Her husband, she wrote in now-sealed court documents, is a covert operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency. His CIA job, she said, poisoned their five-year-old marriage.

  “[He] used me and our daughter . . . to run cover for his undercover operations . . . I never felt safe, never knew who people were or why they were interested in us or why they were photographing us,” wrote the woman, who is in her 30s, in December. “As a result of [his] different assignments I never had a good support network of people I could trust or rely on to help out.” And, she claimed, her spy-husband had little interest in household chores. “[He] never so much as washed or folded a load of laundry, swept or mopped one floor, or changed one dirty diaper.”

• Daniel Snyder pays price for making enemies, then flouting them – The Washington Post – only consolation to redskins sucking is that dan snyder doesn't get to hold up the super bowl trophy
• Rare Earth Trade Case Against China May Be Too Late – NYTimes.com – Even as the United States, the European Union and Japan jointly filed a trade case Tuesday against China over its export restrictions on strategic rare earth metals, many specialists could not help wondering whether it was too little and too late for Western and Japanese manufacturers.
• 重庆市人大的微博 新浪微博-随时随地分享身边的新鲜事儿 – interesting weibo messge from Chongqing NPC account after Wen's comments
• Joseph Kony 2012: growing outrage in Uganda over film – Telegraph – There is growing outrage in Uganda over a viral internet film viewed by more than 32 million people in four days that suggests Africa’s longest-running conflict is still raging in the country’s north.
• Tibetans to Facebook: Give Us Our Hometown Back – The non-profit network Tibettruth has launched an online campaign to make Facebook specify Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, as a part of Tibet — rather than China.