"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
- Sohu Falls Most in Two Years on Higher Costs: China Overnight – Businessweek –
- Behind The Wall – In China: Man bags and make-up for men – But what's more remarkable, for retailers and advertisers, is that Xin Xin’s not the only one. In fact, many other young Chinese women are snapping up high-performance sports cars. (One woman named Guo Meimei was pilloried after she posted on China's Twitter-like service, Sina Weibo, photos of herself with some of her cars, including a Maserati and a Lamborghini. At the time, she claimed to be working for the Red Cross Society of China, which triggered a flurry of Netizen speculation that she was siphoning funds, the Red Cross was corrupt, or she was the mistress of some official.)
- China’s Fox News – By Christina Larson | Foreign Policy – Meet Global Times, the angry Chinese government mouthpiece that makes Bill O'Reilly seem fair and balanced.
- The Charts You Must See, Now, About GOP Tax Plans – James Fallows – Politics – The Atlantic – That combination is: America, banana republic in the making. If that's the plan, it's working.
- 神舟八号发射图文直播_腾讯新闻_腾讯网 –
- Groupon前车之鉴 拉手网IPO疑云 – 产经 – 21世纪网 –
- 万科再降价：楼市价格拐点已经发生? – 金融 – 21世纪网 –
- Managing Instability on China’s Periphery – Council on Foreign Relations – China’s growing global engagement and presence has increased the number of conceivable places and issues over which it could find itself at odds with the United States, but potential developments in the territories immediately adjacent to China remain the most likely—and the most worrisome—sources of friction. In this Center for Preventive Action study, "Managing Instability on China’s Periphery," Scott A. Snyder, Joshua Kurlantzick, Daniel Markey, and Evan A. Feigenbaum provide policy options for preventing a major crisis and mitigating the consequences in North Korea, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Central Asia.
- The Unspeakable Bi – Niubi is a term of approbation, perhaps the greatest such term in colloquial Chinese. Niubi is an attitude, a lifestyle: a complete lack of concern over what other people think of you, and the resulting freedom to do whatever you please. It is knowing exactly what you’re capable of, making the decision to act, and to hell with the consequences. It is the essence of ‘cool’, but taken to the nth degree, and with a dirty word thrown in.
Of course, like all great philosophical concepts, niubi has an inverse side – an excess of niubi leads to self-importance, arrogance, hubris, imperiousness, and very dangerous driving. The key difference between positive and negative niubi is that in the former, you have the ability (本事, běnshì) to back your attitude up, while in the latter you don’t. Thus the derivatives bīyàng (the appearance of a bi), and zhuāngbī (pretending to be bi – in northeastern China this will start a fight). The line between positive and negative blurs when it comes to people in positions of power, who assume they are justified in a certain measure of niubi.
- Microblog accounts closed for spreading porn|Society|chinadaily.com.cn – Chinese authorities recently shut down 50 microblogs that were distributing pornography and vulgar content, said a government official Monday.
- Crack in the wall – Entertainment News, Film News, Media – Variety – China is the last frontier for Hollywood, a vast untapped market that can be tough to access without knowledge of the local market and its regulations, plus an inside track to the government powers-that-be.
Recent months have seen a flurry of deals between Hollywood studios and Chinese orgs. L.A.- and Beijing-based DMG Entertainment announced a $300 million fund to bring co-produced tentpoles to China.
DMG chief exec Dan Mintz will be one of the panelists at the forum, as will Ryan Cavanaugh, CEO of Relativity Media, which set up a Chinese production and distribution partnership this year.
- Banquet etiquette for gaining face | Seeing Red in China – While many foreigners enjoy the Chinese hospitality at banquets, I get the feeling that most of them are trying to survive the meal rather than impress at them. Banquets are a social obligation, and we’ve learned from guidebooks that we shouldn’t stick our chopsticks upright in the rice bowl, and it might not hurt to toast once or twice with baijiu, but do you ever really feel completely comfortable at the big round table? Hopefully these tips will help:
- Iranian Police Get Aid Of Western Companies – Bloomberg – The Iranian officers who knocked out Saeid Pourheydar’s four front teeth also enlightened the opposition journalist. Held in Evin Prison for weeks following his arrest early last year for protesting, he says, he learned that he was not only fighting the regime, but also companies that armed Tehran with technology to monitor dissidents like him.
Pourheydar, 30, says the power of this enemy became clear as intelligence officers brandished transcripts of his mobile phone calls, e-mails and text messages during his detention. About half the political prisoners he met in jail told him police had tracked their communications and movements through their cell phones, he says. - China’s Tencent Focuses on Microblog Content – WSJ.com – China's Tencent Holdings Ltd. is developing new ways to oversee content on its Tencent Weibo microblog service, its chairman said, amid a broader effort by Beijing to tighten control of online content and other media.
- Met police using surveillance system to monitor mobile phones | UK news | The Guardian – police states everywhere. too many toys, too much money, too tempting
- Media czar: be docile, but profitable – China Media Project – Li Changchun’s speech signals again that despite all of the language this month about cultural innovation, advancement and refulgence, the Party’s fundamental attitudes and policies toward culture — and toward news media in particular — have not changed.
The media must “guide public opinion” domestically, and to the extent possible also internationally, while they continue to operate at profit-making enterprises creating products attractive to the masses, thereby contributing to overall GDP growth.
- China’s Misunderstood Spies | The Diplomat – Chinese intelligence services are often assumed to use a vacuum cleaner approach to espionage. It’s a view that risks undermining other countries’ security efforts.
- After Soldier’s Death, a Chinatown Family Seeks Answers – NYTimes.com – "subjected to physical abuse and ethnic slurs by superiors"
- VC Dollars Rise 84 Percent In China, As They Slide In Europe | TechCrunch –
- China land grab disputes spread west, hit new high – Yahoo! News – The poll, involving 1,700 households in six Chinese provinces, found disputes over land acquisitions had reached a new peak amid rampant development across China and was a leading cause of rural clashes, according to the Outlook Weekly, a magazine run by Xinhua, China's state run news agency.
- China invokes Waco siege in denouncing Dalai Lama – Yahoo! News – To help make its point, the commentary borrowed from recent American history, when U.S. federal agents raided the headquarters of David Koresh's Branch Davidian religious sect in Waco, Texas, amid allegations of child abuse, statutory rape and underage marriage.
"At that time, David Koresh called himself Jesus, ensnared large groups of followers, publicly opposed national law, and in 1993 he was eliminated by federal agents who even used tanks," the paper said. - China, 3 countries meet over Mekong River security – Yahoo! News –
- Global Fund, China agree to cut $95m from grants – Yahoo! News –
- China plans 2012 manned space flight after docking test – Yahoo! News – China will launch up to two manned space missions in 2012 as it hones the skills needed to secure a long-term manned presence in outer space, an official spokeswoman said on Monday, on the eve of the launch of an unmanned spacecraft.
- China land grab disputes spread west, hit new high (Reuters) – Rural land grab disputes are hitting new highs in China and spreading to the undeveloped west of the country, according to a country-wide survey published in a state-run magazine.
- Microblog accounts closed for spreading porn|Society|chinadaily.com.cn – Chinese authorities recently shut down 50 microblogs that were distributing pornography and vulgar content, said a government official Monday.
- Crack in the wall – Entertainment News, Film News, Media – Variety – China is the last frontier for Hollywood, a vast untapped market that can be tough to access without knowledge of the local market and its regulations, plus an inside track to the government powers-that-be.
Recent months have seen a flurry of deals between Hollywood studios and Chinese orgs. L.A.- and Beijing-based DMG Entertainment announced a $300 million fund to bring co-produced tentpoles to China.
DMG chief exec Dan Mintz will be one of the panelists at the forum, as will Ryan Cavanaugh, CEO of Relativity Media, which set up a Chinese production and distribution partnership this year.
- Banquet etiquette for gaining face | Seeing Red in China – While many foreigners enjoy the Chinese hospitality at banquets, I get the feeling that most of them are trying to survive the meal rather than impress at them. Banquets are a social obligation, and we’ve learned from guidebooks that we shouldn’t stick our chopsticks upright in the rice bowl, and it might not hurt to toast once or twice with baijiu, but do you ever really feel completely comfortable at the big round table? Hopefully these tips will help:
- Iranian Police Get Aid Of Western Companies – Bloomberg – The Iranian officers who knocked out Saeid Pourheydar’s four front teeth also enlightened the opposition journalist. Held in Evin Prison for weeks following his arrest early last year for protesting, he says, he learned that he was not only fighting the regime, but also companies that armed Tehran with technology to monitor dissidents like him.
Pourheydar, 30, says the power of this enemy became clear as intelligence officers brandished transcripts of his mobile phone calls, e-mails and text messages during his detention. About half the political prisoners he met in jail told him police had tracked their communications and movements through their cell phones, he says. - China’s Tencent Focuses on Microblog Content – WSJ.com – China's Tencent Holdings Ltd. is developing new ways to oversee content on its Tencent Weibo microblog service, its chairman said, amid a broader effort by Beijing to tighten control of online content and other media.