Way behind so I know I have missed some stuff, but thinking something better than nothing…

Today’s Links:

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

1. Businessman Linked to Sinopec’s Angola Deals Said to Face Probe-Caixin Hong Kong businessman Sam Pa detained in Beijing, a move apparently linked to an inquiry into the governor of Fujian // connected to Zeng Qinghong? That is what I am hearing, not about Zhou Yongkang. The original, much more detailed Chinese version  神秘商人徐京华在京被查

Related: Sam Pa, China’s Mysterious Middleman in Africa | ChinaFile 9.20.2014 Publicly, China’s engagement in Africa is purportedly based on “mutual benefit” or, as Chinese officials like to phrase it “win win.” Behind the scenes, though, it’s a little more complicated. Many of those multibillion-dollar natural resource-for-infrastructure deals have been arranged by mysterious middlemen like Sam Pa and his Hong Kong-based Queensway Group

2. U.S. Patrols to Test China’s Pledge on South China Sea Islands – WSJ A U.S. official confirmed Sunday that a decision had been made to conduct such patrols but said it was unclear when that might happen or where exactly. “It’s just a matter of time when it happens,” the official said. Another U.S. official indicated that the operation could come within days…“A U.S. Fonop gives China an opportunity to assert that the United States is the country ‘militarizing’ the South China Sea and, if China chooses, such a Fonop provides a rationale for China to further militarize or develop the features it occupies,” said Taylor Fravel, an expert on the Chinese military at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. //which of course the Chinese understand…

Related: Why We Need South China Sea Freedom of Navigation Patrols | The Diplomat  if possible, the U.S. should make greater efforts to persuade other nations who have a vested interest in freedom of navigation to: 1) agree with the U.S. legal analysis regarding the nature of the features China has built on in the SCS, 2) file diplomatic protests with China challenging its infringement on navigational rights, and 3) actually conduct military FONOPs in the SCS. Finally, perhaps the time is ripe for Congress to once again consider ratifying UNCLOS as recommended by every president, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Chief of Naval Operations since the 1990s.

Related: Freedom of Navigation in the South China Sea Is Business as Usual | Foreign Affairs Why Freedom of Navigation Is Business as Usual in the South China Sea By Mira Rapp-Hooper  //  China does not see it as business as usual

Related: 美若闯南沙12海里中国必反制_手机环球网 Global Times warns of responses against US FONOPs in South China Sea.  // 如果美军只是偶尔出现，在扩建后的岛礁周围做做样子，我们需对其予以警告。如果美方公然反复进入12海里，飞临它们的上空，那么就需坚决予以回击。 中国应向南沙调集海上力量，准备在美舰肆意挑衅时与其周旋对峙。如果美军的挑衅是持续性行为，中国只能被迫将建成的岛礁迅速军事化，和前来护岛的军舰协同与美军对抗。一旦美军增加赌注的筹码，那么中国二炮的远程打击力量就应动员起来，应对南沙危机的全面升级。

Related: Why Beijing Isn’t Backing Down on South China Sea-Newsweek The conversations we had in Beijing and Shanghai late last month suggested that China is confident, perhaps overly so, that it can triumph in a standoff with the world’s leading, nuclear-armed superpower, at least as long as it’s confined to its own neighborhood. “There are 209 land features still unoccupied in the South China Sea and we could seize them all,” a senior Chinese military official said bluntly, on a not-for-attribution basis so that she could “speak frankly.” “And we could build on them in 18 months.” // with quotes from yours truly

3. CPC schedules key meeting on new development plan – Xinhua The leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) will gather from Oct. 26 to 29 in Beijing for a key meeting on the country’s development plan for the next five years, they decided on Monday. The fifth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee was scheduled at a meeting of its top officials, the Political Bureau, presided over by the CPC Central Committee’s General Secretary Xi Jinping. Attendees said selected members and departments from across the CPC had made good suggestions for a draft of the 13th five-year plan (2016-2020) for economic and social development. Their views will be incorporated into a final draft to be deliberated at the plenary session.// expects lots of speculation about personnel moves over the next couple of weeks

4. 习近平在文艺座谈会上的讲话首次公开发表(全文)_凤凰资讯 // Xi’s speech on the arts unveiled in full  Took a year to be released, explains a lot of the recent media retrenchment

Related: 人民日报评论员：不负人民期待，不负时代召唤-新华网 一年前，习近平总书记在文艺工作座谈会上发表重要讲话。这一马克思主义文艺观的新成果、新发展，为新的时代条件下做好文艺工作划定了基本遵循、标注下价值航向。座谈会召开一周年之际，这一重要讲话全文发表，必将有利于广大文艺工作者进一步深刻领会讲话精神，更好地把握文艺的根本方向、担起文艺的历史使命，推动文艺事业在新起点上实现新跨越。

5. New world order: Xi bent on securing bigger role for China in global affairs, analysts say | South China Morning Post In several high-profile speeches, the president has stressed the nation must assume a greater position in the global order, one equal to its larger status

Related: Xi stresses urgency of reforming global governance| China Daily Reform is about “laying down rules for the international order and international mechanisms” and “deciding in which direction the world will head,” Xi said at a study session of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. “It is not simply a case of competing for the high ground of economic development, but what roles and functions nations will play in the long-term systemic arrangement of the international order,” according to Xi. // [视频]习近平在中共中央政治局第二十七次集体学习时强调 推动全球治理体制更加公正更加合理 为我国发展和世界和平创造有利条件 

6. Renowned agricultural reformer Du Runsheng dies at 102 Du Runsheng, former director of the Administration of the Rural Development Research Center of the State Council, died on Friday in Beijing at the age of 102, sources from Xinhua News Agency said. Du was honored as China’s “father of rural reform”. As China’s most influential expert on rural problems and a well-known economist, Du was one of the key members in the 1980s involved in China’s major policies and decision-making on rural reform. // don’t make them like they used to

Related: 杜润生谈政治体制改革政经频道财新网 历史证明，哪个社会能够发扬民主，尊重自由，明晰产权，并予以法律保障，哪个社会就能够取得不断创新的活力，领先实现技术革命和制度变迁。 政治体制也要创新。党领导改革，自身也必须改革。消除腐败，是众望所归。根治之道，作为执政党，第一步应退出过多的对具体经济事业的审批事务，集中精力与重大政策制定，重点放在政治领导和政治监督。

Related: 周其仁：没有比“杜润生的徒子徒孙”更高傲称号_共识网 周其仁说，在杜润生身边的日子，我们年轻人总有的毛病“像打铁淬火一样把杂质磨掉了。”

7. Survivors tell the camera the hidden tale of China’s Great Famine – LA Times The Chinese government would prefer that such stories be forgotten. Wu Wenguang won’t let that happen. Wu, 59, is often considered the godfather of Chinese independent cinema, and he plays the role with gusto: Gruff and gregarious, he wears John Lennon glasses, blue jeans and a T-shirt that reads “100% life, 0% art” above a crude sketch of a video camera. Wu calls it the Memory Project: a grass-roots effort to build a historical archive of firsthand stories from the darkest — and, because of pervasive censorship, least-understood — periods of the Chinese Communist Party’s rule.

8. For Xi, Politics Comes First and Economy Second | Foreign Affairs-By Evan A. Feigenbaum and Damien Ma Xi’s recent predecessors tended to view “getting the economy right” as the secret sauce to assure the party’s credibility and its political success. Xi has bet the reverse—that a rejuvenated and more credible CCP is the ticket to implement necessary economic reforms and shepherd China into the role of a great power in the twenty-first century. Indeed, from his first minutes as China’s top leader, when he stepped from behind a red curtain in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People in November 2012, the Chinese president’s priorities have been unambiguously clear: first, a cleaner CCP; second, a more disciplined CCP; and third, a stronger and more enduring CCP. As a result, politics and economics—always tightly intertwined in China—have become more deeply connected than at any time in perhaps a generation. //  don’t be surprised if Xi sees economic problems as political opportunity he can use to his advantage between now and 19th Party Congress

BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE

Proposed Rules for Car-Hire Industry ‘Will Hurt Its Development’-Caixin The Ministry of Transport issued a draft regulation on October 10 so the public can provide feedback for the next month. The proposal would require drivers offering rides through mobile applications to register their vehicles for use as taxis. This is the biggest difference between the central government’s proposal and a pilot program in Shanghai, which just gave a license to operate to the company offering the popular Didi-Kuaidi apps.

Closer Look: Private Investors Play Waiting Game with Telecoms Giants-Caixin The government wants Big Three to attract private backers, but investors are waiting to see just how many opportunities will arise

China-backed trade pact playing catch-up after U.S.-led TPP deal | Reuters Beijing is a key driver of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a proposed 16-nation free-trade area that would be the world’s biggest such bloc, encompassing 3.4 billion people. “Member countries will be under pressure to fast-track negotiations for RCEP,” said a senior official in India, which is keen to avoid being excluded from major trade accords.

Will Investors Get Burned in Bond Market Fire?-Caixin A decision to relax corporate bond rules sparked a surge in new issues as well as fears of risk in a less-supervised market

As Home Prices Soar in Shanghai, Gov’t Halts Land Auction-Caixin Six developers had signed up for the auction on October 14, officials said. The bidding was to start at just over 4 billion yuan. Zhang Hongwei, head of the research unit at Shanghai-based Tospur Real Estate Consulting Co. Ltd., said the government halted the sale of the land to prevent the property market from overheating.

Loan Crisis in Hebei Gets Worse with Executive’s Stabbing-Caixin Global Wealth (Beijing) Investment Co. Ltd., an asset management firm, has lent out about 630 million yuan from about 660 investors to companies backed by Hebei Financing’s guarantees. All those companies have defaulted on their debt, Global Wealth has said. The guarantee firm could not make the repayments either. Angry investors in Global Wealth have called for a meeting every week with the firm’s executives since May so they can be briefed about progress on efforts to recover their money, a person who attended the talks said. During the meeting on October 11, an investor stabbed the firm’s CEO and general manager, Wang Jie, in the chest, injuring him badly, people who witnessed the incident said.

China less terrifying than a month ago | FT Alphaville That’s China ‘tail risk’ dropping sharply from 54 per cent to 39 per cent while predicted growth rates creep back up to levels the CCP might find acceptable. Fickle folk these fund managers.

刘鹤:大力推进市场取向的改革_手机新浪网 10月8日至10日，中央财办主任刘鹤率中央财办和国家发改委调研组到广东考察。刘鹤在调研时强调，重视产权保护，发挥企业家精神，以改革、开放、创新克服当前的结构性、周期性困难，创造中国经济光明前景。这是继浙江调研、主持国家发改委专题会议后，刘鹤在一个多月内第三次重申产权保护和企业家精神。 //  Liu He makes an inspection tour to Guangdong, stresses reform

深化国企改革为什么必须坚持、加强和改进党的领导 latest Red Flag Manuscript on importance of strengthening and improving party leadership in SOEs

POLITICS AND LAW

CPC adopts new rules for better governance – Xinhua The Communist Party of China (CPC) has approved revised rules on clean governance and punishments for breaking party rules, authorities said Monday. Two documents were adopted at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, presided over by Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee.

中央编译局-中央文献重要术语译文发布（2015年第一期） 首次发布的30条术语全部采自今年3月份召开的十二届全国人大三次会议重要文件  //  official translations for some of the key terms under Xi

多维新闻网-神秘“消失”20个月 习旧部蔡奇官升正部 近平成为“非常重要”的中央财办主任、国家发改委副主任刘鹤。而与其同在一排的还有中组部常务副部长陈希、中宣部常务副部长等人，他们同为正部长级。这意味着，在“神秘消失”近20个月之后，蔡奇已经进入正部级行列。 // Cai Qi makes a public appearance, looks to have ministerial rank

Party Legal Eagle in Shenzhen Helped Firm He Backed Win Building Project-Caixin Disgraced Jiang Zunyu, who once ran Politics and Law Committee in southern city, helped a company he invested in get science park construction project

How a 16-year-old found himself caught up in China’s latest crackdown – The Washington Post Bao Zhuoxuan was apprehended last week in Mong La, Burma, where he fled, hoping to make his way to Thailand and ultimately to high school in the United States, according to two family friends, Liang Bo and Zhou Fengsuo. Rights groups believe he is now in Inner Mongolia, likely under close surveillance. Reached by phone, local police said they have no knowledge of the case.

Li Gang Accused of ‘Falsifying Evidence’ in Murder, Burglary Case Appeal Hebei provincial deputy district police chief Li Gang, whose name became a household word among Chinese netizens after his son Li Qiming’s now-infamous warning, stands accused of falsifying evidence against Wang Chao, a 29-year-old man from Hebei’s Shijiazhuang city.

河北省承德市市委书记郑雪碧接受组织调查—中央纪委监察部网站 Chengde Party Secretary under investigation

Xue Li of CASS on “Conclusions Drawn from China’s Rapid Development” | 高大伟 在美国华盛顿人的博客 Xue also had a comment on Tibet:   he writes that the Party had better negotiate with the Dalai Lama now since HH is more moderate than the younger generation of Tibetans and has not openly advocated for Tibet independence.

China jails senior officials linked to ex-security chief for 20 years amid anti-corruption campaign – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) The Chinese government’s anti-corruption campaign has claimed three more senior figures linked to former security chief Zhou Yongkang.

李东生涉贿受审金额2198万元特别报道新京报网 Li Dongsheng trial starts

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

继大军区和军兵警种之后，中央军委巡视组已开始巡视总部机关中国政库澎湃新闻-The Paper CMC has sent an inspection team into the General Armaments Department, reports thepaper.cn  //  澎湃新闻日前获悉，经中央军委批准，2015年9月28日至11月10日，中央军委巡视组对总装备部党委班子及其成员进行巡视。这次巡视为专项巡视。

In a first, Chinese hackers are arrested at the behest of the U.S. government – The Washington Post this is encouraging, but who are the arrested?  //  Catherine Lotrionte, who teaches international law and cyberpolicy at Georgetown University and is a former CIA lawyer, said she had been skeptical that the pact was more than words. But China’s arrests, she said, “makes the U.S. government look much smarter coming into this agreement” with Xi. “You want to see the Chinese do something,” she said. “This would be one of those things that I want to see. It is a good-faith move by the Chinese.” She too, however, cautioned that there must be follow-through. “You want to watch over the next couple of months for action, for the cessation of attacks,” she said.

‘Why Won’t Anyone Play With Us?’ China’s Internet Erupts with TPP Angst | Foreign Policy Most striking of all, commenters spoke critically of Chinese political and economic reform with a candor not often seen in the midst of a crackdown on social media and Internet speech that’s now over two years old. Sun Liping, a professor of sociology also at Tsinghua, asked on Weibo why so many Chinese were “reveling in the misfortune” of having been excluded from the TPP. “Behind it,” he wrote, “are dissatisfactions with the status quo and demands for reform.” Indeed, much of the online hand-wringing about TPP evinced anxiety about Chinese leaders’ evident recent turn away from certain elements of international society, from their declarations of “internet sovereignty” and increasingly harsh regulations on online speech, to education minister Yang Guiren’s now-famous denunciation of Western values in a January speech.

Senior Defence official raises security concerns over Darwin port sale to Chinese-owned company Landbridge – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) The ABC has spoken to a senior ADF official who said that there were concerns about the security implications of a Chinese company owning a mounting port for major operations. The Navy website said Darwin “is a vitally important Navy port … and the centre from which we conduct border integrity operations”.

China arrested Japanese man on island where Beijing is building up military – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun One of the Japanese men seized by China for spying was arrested on the Nanji islands, where China is believed to be building a military outpost, sources said. The island chain is situated about 300 kilometers northwest of the uninhabited Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea administered by Japan but claimed by China.

Air force now able to launch long-range, precision strikes| China Daily “The fact that our H-6K bombers have performed several long-distance drills far into the Pacific Ocean indicates that the H-6K fleet has become capable of conducting various operations such as long-range precision strikes,” Fu Qianshao, an aviation equipment expert with the PLA Air Force, told China Daily on Tuesday.

Japan, China vow to keep up ties, despite Nanjing row, spying arrests | Reuters Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and China’s top diplomat on Wednesday vowed to keep up a recent warming in ties, even though new irritants, such as a row over documents about the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, threaten the nascent recovery in relations.

Japan says may cut UNESCO funds over Nanjing massacre move – Pacific – Stripes Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the government’s chief spokesman, told reporters that UNESCO’s decision reflected only China’s views on the 1937 assault on Nanjing, when Japanese troops killed tens of thousands of civilians in the city.

多维新闻网-中央军委五中“异动”？ 刘源之外诸将争雄 Duowei speculation on possible PLA personnel changes at upcoming 5th plenum

U.S. urges release of rights lawyer in growing crackdown | Reuters The United States on Wednesday called on China to release human rights lawyer Zhang Kai and said it was concerned by reports that the son of another detained rights lawyer had been put under house arrest. In releasing the State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom Report, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Zhang, a Chinese Christian, was detained shortly before a meeting in August with David Saperstein, the U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom, who was visiting China.

Spotlight: U.S.-backed “Color Revolution” deep roots of refugee crisis – Xinhua Analysts say that the current refugees crisis, the worst in the post-war era, can find its roots in the U.S.-sponsored Color Revolution, which, under the pretense of spreading western-style democracy, aimed to facilitate regime changes by fanning anti-government protests.

Britain is bending over backward to prove its friendship to China – The Washington Post China’s foreign ministry announced this week that the trip will lead to the signing of agreements worth a “huge” amount of money and herald a new “golden era” in ties between the two countries. And that is exactly what the British government wants. Ever since Prime Minister David Cameron felt the full force of Chinese displeasure after meeting the Dalai Lama in 2012, Britain’s government has been working overtime to ingratiate itself with Beijing.

Beijing takes aim at clubs frequented by PLA generals to stifle networks of corruption | South China Morning Post The Daily specifically named calligraphy and painting clubs, and literary and photography associations as problematic. Neither could they join any NGO registered overseas, including foundations, academies and research institutions without prior permission. “As the military must be highly unified … entering such overseas organisations may be politically sensitive and thus require strict scrutiny before approval,” the official was quoted as saying.

PLA Publishes Photos of “Chinese Soldiers” That Are Actually From a US Hunting Magazine | The Nanfang The Nanfang has caught the People’s Liberation Army Daily, the military’s flagship newspaper, lifting photographs from a US hunting magazine and claiming they are Chinese soldiers in camouflage.

PacNet #68 – China’s Xiangshan Forum: A balancing act for the PLA | Center for Strategic and International Studies Later this week, on Oct. 16-18, China will host the Xiangshan Forum, a recently upgraded track 1.5 dialogue organized by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and military-associated think tanks. Scheduled to coincide with a special meeting between Beijing and ASEAN defense ministers is almost certainly intended to improve attendance from last year and underscores a larger effort by Beijing to better shape Asia’s security agenda.

China and the U.S. Are Long-term Enemies – IQ2 Debates Is China’s ascendancy a threat to the U.S.? China’s rise as an economic and military power, coupled with its aggression in the South China Sea, have led some to call for a major rebalance of U.S. policy and strategy. Can China be trusted to act as a responsible global stakeholder? And will they be a long-term ally, or adversary?

Chinese president Xi Jinping turns down seasonal fish at Buckingham Palace banquet  | Daily Mail Online According to royal sources, the visiting Chinese delegation, led by President Xi Jinping, and his wife, Peng Liyuan, have politely declined the proposed seasonal Turbot and crab starter at the welcome Buckingham Palace luncheon because they will only consume cured or smoked fish. And Prince William, who will also attend the lunch with his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, won’t eat the accompanying coriander sauce. To cap it all, apparently the Chinese wish to bring their own water, perhaps not entirely trusting of the home-grown stuff.

Australian-Chinese businessman Michael Li claims China intimidation after refusing to act as spy – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) A prominent Australian-Chinese businessman says China’s security agencies have placed his family under surveillance in Sydney and imprisoned his brother in China because he has repeatedly refused to act as a spy for Beijing. Michael Li, the owner of global furniture exporter OSMEN, said he has been routinely pressured by security officials to gather intelligence about the local activities of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement outlawed in China.

PLA navy ship arrives in Pearl Harbor[1]|chinadaily.com.cn The high-seas-going training ship Zheng He of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy arrived in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the morning of Oct 12 for a four-day training exchange and good will visit.

TECH AND MEDIA

Tsinghua’s Latest Deal Is Adding Chairman of Micron Venture – Bloomberg Business Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd. has made its latest acquisition on the road to becoming a global semiconductor powerhouse: Taiwanese industry veteran Charles Kau. Kau, chairman of a venture between Nanya Technology Corp. and Micron Technology Inc., brings decades of chip industry experience to Tsinghua as the company seeks partners to produce semiconductors in China.

Pando: The most patient man in Silicon Valley Shan Xiangshuang– the CEO of the CSC Group and co-chairman of the China Venture Capital Association– had already experienced what Ravikant called the “DST Moment.” He realized he could get instant access to deals and instant credibility simply by blanket-backing some of AngelList’s best syndicates, just by giving them a checkbook…They settled on $400 million and, today, the two are announcing the release of CSC Upshot on AngelList.

中央网信办所属事业单位面向社会公开招聘-新华网  jobs at Cyberspace Administration of China

In China’s State News Media, What Is Said May Not Be What’s Printed – The New York Times China’s state news media is known to go to great lengths to portray China in a positive light, massaging headlines and omitting crucial facts. But several prominent China experts have recently reported instances in which the words attributed to them in Chinese news media were fabricated or grossly changed.

Dragons in the East, WeChat, and cutting through red tape  | The China Startup Pulse A podcast designed to give startup enthusiasts from around the world a behind the scenes and on-the-ground understanding of what’s happening in China’s startup ecosystem every week. Founded and hosted by Ryan Shuken & Todd Embley, and Produced by Qi Liu – all hackers and hustlers on the ground and at the epicenter of it all in Shanghai.

We Chat About WeChat #1 – Interview with Product Manager Stephen Wang | WeChat Blog: Chatterbox Get an inside look behind WeChat in our new podcast series, “We Chat About WeChat.” Through the series, you’ll be able to learn more about the app creators and the product design philosophy that makes WeChat one of the world’s most used social communications platforms.   In our first podcast, we talk with Stephen Wang, who manages the International Operations team and Data Analytics team for WeChat’s Core Product Group

Facebook Is Looking to Asia for Messaging Model | Re/code It looks as though Facebook is building Messenger in the image of WeChat, where users can do everything from book a ride to pay their credit card bill. But while WeChat is serving as inspiration, Marcus cautioned that Messenger can’t necessarily take the same path. “The big difference is that all these services didn’t exist [in China] before WeChat enabled it,” Marcus said. “We need to approach it differently.”

China to improve telecom services in rural, remote areas – Xinhua By 2020, 50,000 more villages will get access to broadband and 30 million rural households will enjoy upgraded services. The total investment is estimated to hit more than 140 billion yuan.

China Phone Carriers Rally in New York on New Tower Asset Deal – Bloomberg Business China Reform’s investment would help China Tower pay for building a network of electric-car charging stations, people familiar with the matter said this month. The government wants to boost availability of the facilities to spur adoption of the vehicles, and it assigned state-owned China Tower to build out the network because it already has a nationwide footprint with its telecommunications assets, the people said.

Amazon Doubling Down on China Market, Executive Says-Caixin “China’s economic transition has brought us a rare opportunity for development,” said Doug Gurr, president of Amazon China. “We take China as a strategically important locale from a global perspective and will continue to invest in China.”

China to Launch First Ever Tibetan Search Engine Next Year | The Nanfang “Cloud Tibet”, China’s first internet search engine in Tibetan, is expected to be released next August. Being built next door in Qinghai Province, development on the Cloud Tibet project began in April 2013 by a 100-member team from a Tibetan language research center at a cost of 57 million yuan ($9 million).

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

A Land China Loves and Hates – NYTimes.com – Murong Xuecun The young man in Tiananmen Square and my former schoolmate are hardly alone in holding contrasting, schizophrenic views of America. For many Chinese people, the depth of their admiration for the American system and way of life is matched only by their animosity toward the country.

Poverty Levels Mean Meeting Well-Off Society Goal ‘Will Be Difficult’-Caixin China must cut the portion of its population living in extreme poverty by an average of more than 11 million people every year from 2015 to 2020 to meet the ruling Communist Party’s goal of building a moderately well-off society by the end of the decade, says a government official, but doing that will be difficult. “Absent special and significant measures, it will be very difficult to complete the task,” Hong Tianyun, deputy director of the Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development under the State Council, said at a press conference on October 12.

Magna Carta Exhibition in China Is Abruptly Moved From University – NYTimes.com One of the few surviving 13th-century copies of the document was to go on display this week from Tuesday through Thursday at a museum at Renmin University of China in Beijing, the British Embassy said last week on its WeChat account. But then the exhibit was abruptly moved to the British ambassador’s residence, with few tickets available to the public and no explanation given. (The document is also set to go on display at the United States Consulate in Guangzhou and at a museum in Shanghai, the embassy said.)

Teeth from Chinese cave recast history of early human migration | Reuters Scientists on Wednesday announced the discovery of teeth between 80,000 and 120,000 years old that they say provide the earliest evidence of fully modern humans outside Africa. The teeth from the Fuyan Cave site in Hunan Province’s Daoxian County place our species in southern China 30,000 to 70,000 years earlier than in the eastern Mediterranean or Europe.

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH

中科院博导的农村调查笔记：癌症病人越来越多_共识网 如今，村民们因病去世的多了，而更多的病，都是在医院里查出的癌症。先是村民感觉某个部位不舒服，疼痛难忍，送去医院检查，往往都是癌症后期。后来这样的事情多了，谁家发现有人疼痛，就很自然地猜想是不是得了癌症。

Prosecutors say this 66-year-old Chinese woman is one of Africa’s most notorious smugglers – The Washington Post Yang was detained in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam after a high-speed chase and is apparently the most prominent Chinese national charged with wildlife trafficking in Africa. The short, bespectacled owner of a well-known Chinese restaurant doesn’t fit the image of a poaching kingpin, but that’s exactly what she is, according to Tanzanian officials.

EDUCATION

Beijing stresses Marxist education in college – Xinhua Beijing, home to a number of top universities, will spend 200 million yuan (31.5 mln U.S. dollars) annually to promote the study of Marxism in colleges. According to a guideline issued by the city government, Beijing will encourage reforms in Marxist research to build “socialist universities with Chinese characteristics.”

China’s latest building binge: the education factory | Reuters Cities around China are carving out tracts of land for school parks – dubbed “education factories” – designed to train hundreds of thousands of students.

FOOD AND TRAVEL

美媒曝中国土豪赴美新玩法：重金包机打猎钓鱼新闻腾讯网 on the escapades of a Chinese “tuhao” hunter in the US

BEIJING

23 new intercity rail lines planned in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei – Xinhua The planned lines will form a network whereby travel time between major cities in the region will be one to two hours and that between cities and their surrounding towns will be half an hour to an hour. The planned lines with a total length of 3,400 kilometers will link big cities, major towns and important industrial zones.

Shower Business-Last days of a Beijing bathhouse | the Anthill Shuangxingtang was the main shooting location for the 1999 film Shower, which received multiple international awards and “two thumbs up!” from Roger Ebert. But although attempts were made on the back of the film to apply for World Intangible Cultural Heritage status in 2006, they were fruitless. The place is doomed, and I can’t explain why. // what a great movie

JOBS AND EVENTS

Careers At Sidwell Friends School Sidwell Friends, a coeducational Quaker day school with campuses in Washington, DC, and Bethesda, MD, seeks a part-time, long-term substitute teacher for its East Asian history course (focusing primarily on China).  Applicants must possess an undergraduate degree in History, Asian Studies, or a related field (a master’s is preferred) and teaching experience, preferably at the high school level.  A deep understanding of East Asian politics, history and culture is also required.

ChinaFile Presents: Can the China Model Succeed? | New York | Asia Society  should be a fun one // 15 October 2015 6:30pm – 8:00pm 725 Park Avenue, New York, NY-How does liberal democracy stack up against what has been called the “China Model”? Daniel A. Bell, a philosopher and political theorist who teaches at China’s Tsinghua University, argues in a new book that China’s “political meritocracy” has been overlooked as a superior system. Bell will discuss his ideas and the comparative merits of different political models with law professor Taisu Zhang, author Mark Danner, political scientist Andrew Nathan, Oxford University Professor of European Studies Timothy Garton Ash, and Asia Society’s Orville Schell.

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