"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
1. China heading for big economic policy shift, says mystery ‘authoritative’ source in People’s Daily | South China Morning Post The article, in the form of a question and answer format, repudiated many of the economic policies pursued by the State Council under Premier Li Keqiang, including propping up stock prices to address a slowdown in growth and boost the leverage ratio to keep expansion on track. “It’s almost a public criticism of what the State Council has been doing,” Jonathan Fenby, managing director of the China team at Trusted Sources consultancy in London, said. The unnamed figure, Fenby said, “must come from the party’s leading group on economic and financial affairs, and my guess is it was Liu He or any of those who are close to [President] Xi Jinping”. // Any bookmaker taking bets yet on Wang Qishan replacing Li Keqiang as premier at 19th Party congress? I will put some money on that happening. I agree that this looks like a repudiation of Li Keqiang, and I have been hearing for a couple of months from multiple sources that Wang Qishan is back playing a role in economic policymaking, at the behest of Xi Jinping. A very big deal if true, short-term probably won’t make the markets happy, medium/longer term may see more traction on economic reform and some of the more intractable structural issues…
Related: 开局首季问大势–财经–人民网 ■经济运行的总体态势符合预期，有些亮点还好于预期。但经济运行的固有矛盾没缓解，一些新问题也超出预期。很难用“开门红”“小阳春”等简单的概念加以描述 ■综合判断，我国经济运行不可能是U型，更不可能是V型，而是L型的走势。这个L型是一个阶段，不是一两年能过去的 ■“退一步”为了“进两步”。我国经济潜力足、韧性强、回旋余地大，即使不刺激，速度也跌不到哪里去 ■对一些经济指标回升，不要喜形于色；对一些经济指标下行，也别惊慌失措
Related: Authoritative person authoritatively admits China can’t keep going this way | FT Alphaville Talk is cheap, even authoritative talk, but Nomura do note that “the People’s Daily has in the past cited ‘an authoritative person’ when discussing top-level policy issues.” Two examples within the last year include an article on 25 May 2015 in which five questions related to the economy were discussed, and on 14 January 2016, when seven questions on supply-side reforms were addressed. While the anonymity has been protected, the views expressed in these articles did have a large impact in China.
Related: China’s economy likely to follow ‘L-shaped’ path in coming years, says an ‘authoritative insider’ – People’s Daily Online China’s economic growth trend in the coming years will be “L-shaped” rather than “U-shaped” or “V-shaped,” according to an “authoritative insider” who conducted an exclusive interview with People’s Daily. The Q&A with the insider receives lots of attention, since the “authoritative insider” is presumed to be high-level officials.
Related: China’s Anonymous Economic Oracle Signals Shift From Debt Binge – Bloomberg Monday’s page-one takeaway: Excessive debt was China’s “original sin” and the country can’t borrow its way to long-term economic health. The message contrasts with what investors have been presented in recent months: a record jump in credit that had helped stabilize the economy and led some to forecast a return to old-fashioned, leverage-based stimulus.
2. Organization Involved in Red Song Concert Accused of Fraud | Sixth Tone One of the participating bodies of a large-scale performance of communist “red songs” held earlier this week in Beijing has been accused by the concert’s chief organizers of being a fake organization. On its official website, the China National Opera and Dance Drama Theater announced Friday that it had fallen victim to a scam by an organization that claimed to belong to the country’s Central Publicity Department. The concert, titled “In Fields of Hope,” was held on Monday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, the same place where the yearly meetings of the country’s legislative body, the National People’s Congress, take place, and where the Communist Party’s National Congress is held.
Related: Controversial concert spoils China’s plans to bury Cultural Revolution anniversary – The Washington Post Some of the catchy tunes included “Socialism Is Good” and “Without the Communist Party There Would be No New China,” as well as, most controversially, the Cultural Revolution’s anthem: “Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman.” The show also flashed up slogans like “People of the world unite to defeat American invaders and their running dogs,” a quote from Mao during the Korean war. It also featured songs praising China’s current President Xi Jinping and showed huge images of both men. In an announcement Friday, the China National Opera and Dance Drama Theater disowned the show, claiming that the organizers had duped them into believing they belonged to the party’s propaganda wing. The local government in Beijing’s Xicheng district also claimed not to have given its consent, and threatened legal action. // with some video
Related: The Maoist Revival That Unraveled — China Media Project — Medium On May 5, an open letter emerged on the internet from Ma Xiaoli (马晓力), the daughter of former minister of labour Ma Wenrui (马文瑞) — and a “princeling” who in the past has spoken out on the Chinese Communist Party’s legacy and future. Addressed to Li Zhanshu (栗战书), director of the General Office of the CCP, the letter called the recent concert in the Great Hall of the People “a reproduction of the Cultural Revolution.” “For them to use this means to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the start of the Cultural Revolution is entirely in defiance of the political discipline of the Party,” Ma wrote.
Related: 郭松民:“五十六朵花风波”有感 高干子弟（不是全部，而是其中的一部分）反文革，是当下中国一个非常引人注目的社会现象。他们有两个共同的特点，一是父辈跟着毛主席出生入死打天下，建国后要么是元帅、将军，要么是省委书记、部长等；二是他们都无法用一种平静、理性的态度对待文革，一听到“文革”两字或和文革稍微沾点边的声音，比如听到有人唱文革期间的歌曲，就陷入一种歇斯底里的状态，虽不至于口吐白沫晕倒在地，但也会发疯似的四处举报或口出恶语，令旁观者既怜且叹。
3. Philippines’ Duterte calls for summit to solve South China Sea spat | Reuters Rodrigo Duterte, the tough-talking mayor of Davao City, said China should respect the 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone granted to coastal states under international law and should team up with the Philippines to jointly exploit offshore oil and gas. “I would say to China, ‘do not claim anything here and I will not insist also that it is ours’. But then I will just keep (turn) a blind eye,” he told reporters, as results of an unofficial vote count came in showing him winning a hefty 40 percent of the votes. “If you want joint ventures, fine, we can get the gas and the oil,” he said. “I believe in sharing.”
Related: OPINION: Dear Mayor Duterte, pls disclose what you told Chinese officials | ABS-CBN News Coupled with his meeting with Chinese officials, Duterte also disclosed last March that “a Chinese” had partly funded his political ads. His exact words to reporters were: “May nagbayad niyan na Chinese sa initial ads ko.” He added, “Ayaw naman sabihin [kung sino siya].” Which leads me to ask this question – is Duterte getting funding from a foreign Chinese corporation or the Chinese government? What I find really puzzling is that the tough-talking Mayor of Davao City, who has repeatedly warned that “blood would flow” if he ever gets elected President because he would be tough on criminals, seems all but ready to lie down and give up sovereignty over the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) claimed by the Philippines in the South China Sea. I base this on the series of statements that Duterte has publicly stated on the issue.
4. 互联网核心技术有多重要 听听习近平如何比喻-新华网 【学习进行时】习近平在网络安全和信息化工作座谈会上重要讲话全文发表后，关注互联网发展的热潮再度掀起。习近平在这次会议上关于核心技术的发展有许多精辟巧妙的比喻，让人耳目一新。新华网《学习进行时》原创品牌栏目“讲习所”今天推出《互联网核心技术有多重要 听听习近平如何比喻》，与您一起聆听习近平对互联网核心技术的妙喻。 // US tech no firms should be under no illusions that China has changed its intentions to de-Americanize as much of its IT stack as possible
5. 在省部级主要领导干部学习贯彻党的十八届五中全会精神专题研讨班上的讲话–时政–人民网 （2016年1月18日） 习近平 // Tuesday People’s Daily carries January speech Xi gave at meeting of provincial-level officials on the implementing the spirit of the 5th Plenum
6. The New York Times vs. The Chinese Authorities | GreatFire Analyzer The Times have also exploited holes in the great firewall to distribute their uncensored content inside China. In March, 2013 both the New York Times and GreatFire.org news sharing pages (link is external) on GitHub were attacked by the Chinese authorities. Most recently, GreatFire has worked with the New York Times to integrate our technique of collateral freedom behind the New York Times Android application (link is external). Once downloaded, news stories are constantly updated. No information is censored and because of our advanced circumvention technology, the authorities have not found a way to block the app, or any of our other apps (like FreeBrowser). The authorities back off from taking such action because they understand that this manoeuvre would have considerable negative economic consequences. Most critical to the Times success in China, senior management have rarely swayed in the face of pressure.
7. The Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda outlets are absolutely crushing it on Facebook (FB) — Quartz Paying for Facebook fans has become a cottage industry as the social media platform’s influence has grown, and while many businesses shun the idea because it doesn’t bring engaged readers or customers to a company, it is certainly a good way to boost your numbers. (And, for Chinese state media’s top managers, potentially a good way to show numbers-obsessed authorities in Beijing you’re getting China’s story to the world.) People’s Daily did not respond to questions sent to its Twitter, Facebook, or public email accounts. But a closer look at its fans via Fanpage Karma gives some credence to its critics.
8. China: Beautiful photos take you behind the scenes at a rural Sichuan Opera performance Award-winning photographer Kevin Frayer travelled to Cangshan in Sichuan province to watch the Jinyuan Opera Company perform.
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
Chinese economy to grow 6.7 pct in Q2: think tank – Xinhua China’s economy will grow by around 6.7 percent in the second quarter of 2016, on a par with that recorded in the first quarter, a leading think tank said in a report Monday. The State Information Center, an institution affiliated with the National Development and Reform Commission, predicted that with infrastructure investment and the real estate sector gaining steam, the Chinese economy is likely to stabilize in the next six months.
China steel, iron ore futures dive as demand worries batter commodities | Reuters inRead invented by Teads On Monday, the Dalian Commodity Exchange said it would continue to strengthen its market monitoring and may raise transaction fees further to curb speculation. “Futures liquidity has dropped sharply following exchanges’ measures, and now investors are worried China’s economic trend will be weaker than previously expected, hurting sentiment,” said Zhao Chaoyue, an analyst at Merchant Futures in Shenzhen. The most-traded rebar, or reinforced steel, on the Shanghai Futures Exchange posted its biggest daily fall on record on Monday. It hit a downside limit of 6 percent to 2,175 yuan ($334.41) a ton, the lowest since April 7. September iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange also tumbled by their daily permissible limit of 6 percent to 388 yuan a ton.
Yuan Declines Amid Bets Depreciation Concern Spurring Outflows – Bloomberg A record surge in imports from Hong Kong last month indicates that people are moving money out because they expect the dollar to strengthen as the Federal Reserve prepares to increase interest rates, said Tommy Xie, a Singapore-based economist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. China’s imports from Hong Kong jumped 204 percent in April to $2.1 billion, according to official data released Saturday. “As long as there is an expectation of yuan depreciation against the dollar, there will be a massive outflow of funds,” said Iris Pang, Hong Kong-based senior economist for greater China with Natixis Asia Ltd. “As long as channels under the capital account are still semi-closed, trade will remain a shadow channel for funds outflows.”
独家|保监会计划派调研组赴安邦金融频道财新网 调研目的主要是为摸底公司情况；近两年，安邦保险一方面大手笔增资，同时在海内外投资领域攻城略地，发展速度之快令业界侧目 // Caixin breaks the news that insurance regulators hae sent an investigation team into Anbang
Anbang Said to Face Inspection by China’s Insurance Regulator – Bloomberg Share on Facebook Share on Twitter China’s insurance regulator is planning to send inspectors to Anbang Insurance Group Co., a person with knowledge of the matter said, after the watchdog stepped up scrutiny of insurers’ investments in real estate and unlisted equities. The China Insurance Regulatory Commission is assembling a team to examine Anbang, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Caixin, which reported on the inspection earlier on Monday, said the CIRC is trying to get a better understanding of Anbang’s business.
China Revamps Credit Expansion as PBOC Balance Sheet Shrinks – Bloomberg For all the Communist Party’s rhetoric about giving a decisive role to markets, China’s financial system remains dominated by state-owned lenders. That’s come in handy as policy makers loosened monetary policy since 2014 to shore up a slowing economy. Officials can direct banks to make new loans or roll over existing ones. The PBOC has also been expanding support for “policy banks” that support government objectives. What’s perhaps most striking is China’s lending machine is humming even as the PBOC downsizes. Its balance sheet has been shrinking some as it sold off foreign-exchange reserves in the past year to shore up the yuan’s value.
Gucci quits US anti-counterfeiting group after Alibaba joins | South China Morning Post The outrage over Alibaba’s membership raises fresh questions about how effective Alibaba has been in fighting fakes as it pushes to take its e-commerce juggernaut global // Seems absurd Alibaba is part of this, not back on US notorious markets list. but DC lobbying dollars have gone far. If Alibaba were as serious about fighting counterfeits as they are about keeping their services censored and in compliance with Party directives, the company could fix this problem quickly. But why would they be when the counterfeit issue is not nearly as important to PRC regulators and the Party?
Race and Real Estate: Vancouver’s China Syndrome – a Karin Wells documentary – Home | The Sunday Edition | CBC Radio Karin Wells reports from Vancouver, where the most – and the wealthiest – Chinese immigrant investors have settled. Chinese newcomers are being blamed for pushing Vancouver real estate prices so high that nurses, teachers, even a few lawyers and doctors, are leaving town. Others say that these are the chickens of globalisation coming home to roost.
China fights for market economy status – FT.com the US and Europe want to gain a few years’ reprieve by requiring China to jump through the hoops for MES when it contests its next anti-dumping case at the WTO. Beijing faces a major political challenge to its ambitions this week when members of the European Parliament will pass a resolution on whether China’s status should be upgraded. Senior members of the largest groups in the assembly have already expressed their opposition.
Xi calls for building competitive human resource system – Xinhua Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for reform in a bid to build a globally competitive human resource system. Xi made the remarks in an instruction for a seminar convened Friday on implementing a guideline on reform of the human resource system.
Xi Jinping’s Politics in Command – WSJ Editorial Page Yet since he came to power in 2012, General Secretary Xi Jinping has put politics in command, as Mao Zedong put it 50 years ago. Mr. Xi urged Party members to “embrace the spirit of Mao” and make ideology the priority. // Sinocism 1.7.2016 “so long as Xi is making it clear that politics, not markets, are in command (政治挂帅), the odds increase that the upcoming Year of the Monkey will turn out to be the Year of the Bear.”
PBOC Broadens Scope of Investors Allowed into Interbank Bond Market-Caixin Letting pension and more wealth management funds invest will bring a huge amount of money to bond market, experts say
POLITICS AND LAW
中央纪委再派空降兵 陈小江任辽宁纪委书记政经频道财新网 陈小江此前任中央纪委宣传部长，是中共十八大后第七位“空降”地方担任省级纪委书记的中央纪检监察系统官员，此番履新的辽宁刚刚经历三名高官落马的多事之秋；营口市委书记吴汉圣升任辽宁省委常委，中组部2010年下派“京官”中至少有16人晋升副省部级
61岁傅政华任公安部常务副部长政经频道财新网 傅政华的现任职务包括：公安部党委副书记、常务副部长，中央610办公室（防范和处理邪教问题领导小组办公室）主任，中央政法委委员；上任公安部常务副部长杨焕宁已于2015年10月转任国家安监总局局长 // Fu Zhenghua gets a promotion
治山寨社团 黑名单仅是第一步新浪财经新浪网 打着唬人的名头、刻章奖状造假、大肆吸纳会员……近段时间，此类浑水摸鱼、谋人钱财的“山寨社团”正处在舆论的风口浪尖。为警示公众，民政部门已连连曝光多批社团黑名单，但从效果来看，显然难以遏制早成规模化的山寨风。业内普遍认为，无论是健全法规、提高违法成本还是公安跟进执法，监管部门要做以及可以做的还有很多。
习近平总书记在十八届中央纪委六次全会上的讲话都引用了哪些典故？————头条——中央纪委监察部网站 编者按：2016年5月3日，人民日报发表了习近平总书记在十八届中央纪委六次全会上的讲话全文。在讲话中，习近平总书记引经据典，讲民心、讲修身、讲家风、讲反腐、讲从严治党，深入浅出、娓娓道来。让我们一起来看看讲话中引用的典故，更好地理解、学习习近平总书记讲话精神。
深圳 转型创新不停步（稳增长调结构转方式·深圳调研行）–时政–人民网 日前，深圳公布了第一季度经济数据：全市生产总值3887.90亿元，同比增长8.4%，增速分别比2014年、2015年同期提高1.1个、0.6个百分点，高于全国和全省增速1.7和1.1个百分点，实现“十三五”开年首季“开门红”。 “这得益于历届深圳市委市政府始终坚持‘改革开放’不停步，咬住‘转型升级’不放松，坚定不移把创新作为城市发展的主导战略。”广东省委副书记、深圳市委书记马兴瑞说。
Operation Cleanup: A Shanghai ‘Chengguan’ Hits the Streets | Sixth Tone ‘Chenguan’ are some of the most feared and hated people on China’s streets, one of them talks about his experiences
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
A U.S. Admiral’s Bluntness Rattles China, and Washington – The New York Times For the Chinese, Admiral Harris, 59, is not only a tough talker. He was born in Japan, the son of a Japanese mother and an American father who was a chief petty officer in the American Navy. The Chinese have zeroed in on his ethnicity as a mode of attack. “Some may say an overemphasis on the Japanese background about an American general is a bit unkind,” Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, wrote. “But to understand the American’s sudden upgraded offensive in the South China Sea, it is simply impossible to ignore Admiral Harris’s blood, background, political inclination and values.”
军队“打虎”核心三人组啥来头？ 新闻腾讯网 “政事儿”(微信ID:gcxxjgzh)注意到，军委纪委“升格”后4个月来，“一正两副”新领导班子陆续亮相：原总政治部副主任兼中央军委纪委书记杜金才上将，任中央军委纪委书记，并同时还担任中纪委副书记职务；原沈阳军区政治部主任杨成熙中将任专职副书记。而宋丹少将最新履职的军纪委副书记。
13警官晋升武警少将 含武警新疆总队三名副司令员政经频道财新网 包括来自省级武警总队的警官七名，武警水电指挥部警官两名，武警院校警官四名；其中有三名武警新疆总队副司令员高国平、杨国华、刘明榜 // 13 newly promoted PAP generals, who do you think they are loyal to? Hear lots of commentary about the officials/generals hurt in corruption crackdown and how that dissatisfaction poses a threat Xi, at least as important are those who are promoted to replace them. Their loyalty will generally lie with whomever paved the way for their promotions, aka Xi…never underestimate the power of opportunism, especially in a system like the PRC’s…
人民日报学苑论衡：在历史中变幻的自由、民主、人权概念–观点–人民网 但美国自冷战结束后就开始在人权问题上做文章，不承认当初的妥协，越来越片面强调政治权利意义上的人权，甚至提出“人权高于主权”的口号，并以此为借口，在非西方国家煽动亲西方反对派进行颠覆活动。可以看出，西方国家蓄意进行并完成了对自由、民主、人权这三个政治哲学概念的改造，使它们完全变成其进行意识形态软战的锋利武器。 （作者为中国人民大学重阳金融研究院、春秋发展战略研究院研究员）《 人民日报 》（ 2016年05月09日 16 版）
Military targets corruption by terminating commercial activities – People’s Daily Online On Saturday, the PLA and the Armed Police Force selected 17 units to be the first to close their commercial activities such as housing rentals, medical services and hospitality. The move came after the death of Wei Zexi, a young university student who received experimental cancer treatment at a military hospital in Beijing, triggering a huge public outcry. General Zhao Keshi, head of the Central Military Commission’s Logistical Support Department, said on Saturday that the chosen units are tasked with exploring effective ways to shut down businesses. In March, the Central Military Commission ordered the PLA and the APF to end all commercial activities within three years. It told units to stop signing new contracts and to negotiate with civilian clients to try to cancel existing ones.
Commentary: Western speculation will never shake China’s determination in the South China Sea – People’s Daily Online In recent days, more than 10 countries have shown their support for China’s proposition of peacefully resolving the South China Sea dispute through negotiations between the countries directly concerned. The countries that have shown their solidarity with China include not only ASEAN members like Laos, Cambodia, Brunei and Myanmar, but also neighboring countries such as Russia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan, and even European and African countries such as Poland, Belarus and Gambia.
Biggest China-Pakistan Economic Corridor infrastructure project begins construction – People’s Daily Online The groundbreaking ceremony for the new expressway linking Peshawar and Karachi was held in Pakistan on May 6, China News Service reported on Sunday. It is the biggest transportation infrastructure project planned for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and a key project in the Belt and Road Initiative. With a total contract investment of $2.9 billion, the Peshawar–Karachi expressway will be 392 kilometers long with a designed speed of 120 kilometers per hour.
The Case for US Ship Visits to Taiwan | The Diplomat In the mid-1990s, I served as one of the Department of Defense (DoD) representatives on the U.S. negotiating team for the discussions with China related to the pending reversion of Hong Kong sovereignty to the PRC. DoD’s position on continuing ship visits to Hong Kong was that it was desirable, but not critical. We had other options. I believe that remains true today. While we should continue to request port calls to Hong Kong for the foreseeable future, Chinese leaders themselves have created the conditions that compel us to look elsewhere for more reliable, welcoming ports of call. Taiwan should be included in our annual ship visit program as an outstanding port of call that will serve U.S. strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific. Randall Schriver is the President/CEO of the Project 2049 Institute
As North Korea’s Nuclear Program Advances, U.S. Strategy Is Tested – The New York Times After years of trying to separate fact from propaganda about North Korea’s nuclear program, American and South Korean intelligence officials say they have concluded that the country can now mount a small nuclear warhead on short- and medium-range missiles capable of hitting much of Japan and South Korea. The United States and its allies have sought for nearly a decade to prevent the North from gaining such capabilities, ever since it detonated its first atomic device a decade ago. Their failure is likely to raise new questions about the effectiveness of the policy toward North Korea, while ushering the long-simmering nuclear standoff with the North into a more perilous phase under its combative young leader, Kim Jong-un. // and they can hit the PRC as well
This Brave New World: India, China and the United States: Anja Manuel:Amazon From her front row view of this colossal shift, first at the State Department and now as an advisor to American business leaders, Anja Manuel escorts the reader on an intimate tour of the corridors of power in Delhi and Beijing. Her encounters with political and business leaders reveal how each country’s history and politics influences their conduct today. Through vibrant stories, she reveals how each country is working to surmount enormous challenges—from the crushing poverty of Indian slum dwellers and Chinese factory workers, to outrageous corruption scandals, rotting rivers, unbreathable air, and managing their citizens’ discontent.
First freight trains from China arrive in Tehran – FT.com The first freight train to travel the old Silk Road arrived in Tehran in mid-February, bearing goods from China’s eastern Zhejiang province and making the journey through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in 14 days — compared with around 45 days by sea. However, if Iran is to play a significant part in Chinese plans, it must expand and modernise its 85-year-old national railway network,
China envoy to visit Djibouti, site of 1st overseas base-AP Deputy head of the national legislature Yan Junqi will this week attend the inauguration of Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh followed by that of President Yoweri Museveni in nearby Uganda, The official Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday.
Chinese Nuclear Strategist Believes China’s MIRVs Are Decoys | The Diplomat During a discussion at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (44:20), Professor Li Bin, a nuclear strategist at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, said he didn’t believe that China had deployed MIRVs (multiple independently-targetable re-entry vehicles), but that “on one missile there is one real warhead and many decoys” and that these decoys are in fact “missile defense countermeasures.” Li further speculated that “China wants to understand the technology,” suggesting that the People’s Republic is testing MIRV systems without actually having one ready for immediate use.
South China Sea: Who Occupies What in the Spratlys? | The Diplomat the issue is that there is still no real clarity about who occupies what in the Spratly Islands. It is not uncommon to find articles – and sometimes even publicly available documents, maps and data – that contain inaccurate, conflicting and sometimes unreliable information. This piece attempts to address that issue by looking at who actually occupies what in the Spratlys. In investigating these questions, I have consulted multiple sources, many of which are primary, and interviewed several people knowledgeable about the subject matters. The information obtained has also been carefully checked.
军队全面停止有偿服务试点启动 医疗房地产租赁等在列政经频道财新网 军队和武警部队全面停止有偿服务试点任务部署会议今天召开，7个大单位、17个具体单位成为试点单位，中央军委委员、军委后勤保障部部长赵克石出席并讲话
Xi congratulates Kim Jong Un on election as chairman of DPRK ruling party – Xinhua On behalf of the CPC Central Committee and in his own name, Xi said he hoped that the DPRK people will achieve new accomplishments in the cause of building socialism under the leadership of the WPK headed by Kim. The China-DPRK friendship was personally forged and carefully fostered by the two countries’ leaderships of the older generation, said Xi, adding that the traditional friendship is a treasure of both sides.
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
TTF’s English Website Suspended Effective May 20, 2016 | Thinking Taiwan Following Dr. Tsai’s election to the Office of the President last January, and as part of TTF’s overall post election reorganizational plan, the English section of Thinking Taiwan (www.thinking-taiwan.com) website will be suspended effective May 20, 2016. // mission accomplished, no longer convenient/useful for Tsai?
TECH AND MEDIA
人民日报热点辨析：增强互联网企业社会责任意识–观点–人民网 习近平同志在网络安全和信息化工作座谈会上指出，网络空间是亿万民众共同的精神家园。建设好这个精神家园，互联网企业是重要主体，既要讲发展，也要讲责任。互联网企业生存在社会之中，不能只讲经济责任、法律责任，还要讲社会责任、道德责任。我国互联网企业在快速发展过程中，承担了很多社会责任，作出了大量社会贡献，但也有一些企业只顾发展、不讲责任，或是在发展中忽视了责任这一面，导致不少问题。近来发生的一些互联网事件，凸显了增强互联网企业社会责任意识的
China curbs Baidu healthcare ads business after student’s death | Reuters The new rules mean the company must clean up in-search healthcare adverts and the positioning of paid-for search adverts of any kind cannot only be based on the highest bidder, said a statement from the internet, industry and health regulators which was posted on the website of the Cyberspace Administration of China. The number of such adverts must also account for no more than 30 percent of a page of search results, the statement said. “If they do enforce that, it would likely significantly cut into revenues,” said Mark Natkin, managing director of Beijing-based Marbridge Consulting.
China Focus: Investigation finds Baidu’s objectivity compromised by profit model – Xinhua The search-engine must eschew the current model of paid listings and stop ranking search results solely according to price-tags. It needs to propose and implement a new listing mechanism which places the heaviest weight on credit-worthiness of products and organizations, the investigators said. They asked Baidu to clearly label advertisements, and feature a risk reminder; and to restrict the share of commercials in search results to less than 30 percent of each screen page. Baidu was also ordered to streamline its commercial services regarding the medical industry. Such information featured must be pulled off should it break regulations, and medical institutions unaccredited by industry regulators should not be commercially promoted. // surprised Baidu shares have not dropped much more on this, if implemented may have material impact on its business going forward
China Money Network − DCM China Co-Founder Ruby Lu Joins H Capital DCM China co-founder Ruby Lu has joined H Capital, a China-focused venture capital firm founded by Tiger Global Management LLC’s former China managing partner Chen Xiaohong, according to Lu’s Wechat messages reported by Chinese media.
Chinese Have No Right to Be Forgotten, Court Rules | Sixth Tone A Beijing court has reminded citizens in China that they do not have the right to be forgotten on the Internet, after a judge ruled in favor of Baidu in a lawsuit involving a request for the removal of search results on China’s most popular search engine. Ren Jiayu, 44, sued Baidu after he searched for his own name in February 2015. He found results that associated him with his former employer, Wuxi Taoshi Biotechnology. Ren said that the company is not well-regarded, and that the search results made it difficult for him to find a new job.
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
‘The Cultural Revolution: A People’s History, 1962-1976,’ by Frank Dikotter – The New York Times At times Dikotter’s account focuses on the sensational rather than the nuanced. Some discussion of just how reliable his disparate sources are would have been welcome. Cultural Revolution memoirs may emerge from understandable pain and the desire for revenge, the hope to prevent the recurrence of horrors, the desire to tell the world and to inform future generations. They are by their nature subjective and selective. Yet attributions in the text are sparse, forcing the diligent reader to flip to endnotes, which sometimes cite questionable sources. Moreover, it is difficult to evaluate the significance of the statistics about casualties. That said, this book is a significant event in our understanding of modern China // the book on Amazon
Fifty years on, one of Mao’s ‘little generals’ exposes horror of the Cultural Revolution | World news | The Guardian China’s communist rulers have remained silent over the anniversary of the devastating political mobilisation, which scholars estimate claimed somewhere between one and two million lives. But since the start of this year, Yu has been trying to use her blog to tear down the wall of official silence surrounding the events of that bloody summer. “If our descendants do not know the truth they will make the same mistakes again,” she wrote in the introduction to her series of online reflections. “I want to use real experiences to prove that the Cultural Revolution was inhumane.”
The Cost of the Cultural Revolution, Fifty Years Later – The New Yorker This fall, Harvard University Press will publish a new history, “Unlikely Partners: Chinese Reformers, Western Economists, and the Making of Global China,” by Julian Gewirtz, a doctoral student at Oxford. The book tells the little-known story of how Chinese intellectuals and leaders, facing a ruined economy at the end of the Cultural Revolution, sought the help of foreign economists to rebuild. Between 1976 and 1993, in a series of exchanges, conferences, and collaborations, Western intellectuals sought not to change China but to help it change itself, and they made indispensible contributions to China’s rise as a global economic power. “China’s rulers were in charge of this process—they sought out Western ideas and did not copy them indiscriminately. But they were open to Western influence and were profoundly influenced,” Gewirtz told me. “This history should not be forgotten.
China ‘Tries to Cover Up’ Guangdong’s Cultural Revolution Museum-RFA The museum, which is privately financed and advertises only online, has been open since 2005 in a discreet location at the top of Tashan, a mountain where many of the Cultural Revolution dead from the nearby city of Shantou were buried. But according to Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper, signs showing the way to the museum have been covered over with banners that read “Core socialist values propaganda exercise,” among other slogans, or in places by the Chinese flag.
It’s Time to Get Over QWERTY — A Q&A with Tom Mullaney on Alphabets, Chinese Characters, and Computing » The LARB Blog More than ever before, Chinese is a world script, and China is an IT giant. This would shock the many people who, for the past two centuries, assumed that such an outcome was conceivable only if China got rid of character-based writing and went the route of wholesale alphabetization — which it did not. This outcome was not supposed to have been possible — and yet here we are. What did we miss?
Hundreds of Chinese schoolchildren have been poisoned, but their affluent families aren’t winning them much sympathy | Hong Kong Free Press The parents of many of the affected students, however, are government employees and members of the Chinese Communist Party, and they have refused to treat the incident as a public safety crisis, rejecting interview requests by foreign journalists. “This is our internal business and we should negotiate with the door closed”, the protesters said. Their protest strategy is designed to prevent them from being arrested on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking public disorder”, but it also means they have to rely on the authorities to correct the mistake.
Dying Village Gets the Hipster Treatment | Sixth Tone Graffiti exhibits, fixed-gear bike performances, and a steady stream of lattes. No, this isn’t the Lower East Side, but a 730-year-old village in China’s deep rural south that is seeking to reignite its sense of community as city-bound migration drains it of residents. For the past three years, a variety of social service organizations, culture and arts groups, and individual enthusiasts have been attempting to breathe life into Fengjian, a village of just over 6,000 residents that lies 60 kilometers from Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong province and China’s third most populous city.
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Doctor’s Hacking Reflects Rising Medical Tensions | Sixth Tone A recently retired doctor was hacked to death by a former patient in Guangzhou, in South China’s Guangdong province, marking yet another case of patient-doctor violence in China. Chen Zhongwei, 60, was a dental surgeon at the Guangdong General Hospital until his retirement a few weeks ago. He was followed home on Thursday and attacked in his apartment.
网曝学生甲醛中毒 吉林大安：检测合格综合新京报网 5月9日，有网友发微博称，来自吉林省大安市新艾里乡学校初中三年级学生，由于学校新建的宿舍和购进的学生桌椅甲醛含量严重超标，导致学生出现咳嗽不止，恶心、呕吐等症状。昨晚，吉林大安官方发布消息称，学生宿舍甲醛检测结果合格。共青团中央对此事表态“管定了”。
EDUCATION
Conn. town seeks to buy property eyed for Chinese academy – The Boston Globe In an about-face, the town of West Hartford, Conn., has moved to purchase a University of Connecticut satellite campus and preempt a Chinese company’s plans to build an international academy on the site. One week after a heated four-hour public meeting in which many residents expressed skepticism over the plan, town officials meeting behind closed doors Monday morning decided to buy the 58-acre parcel, according to two officials.
BEIJING
人大硕士涉嫖被抓途中死 家属质疑警方说法政经频道财新网 北京昌平警方称曾对死者雷洋采取强制约束措施，雷洋因涉嫌嫖娼被带往派出所途中突发心脏病身亡；死者亲属质疑死亡原因及死者手机信息被删除、死亡后警方不通知家属等做法，并称要求对遗体拍照被警方禁止；北京市昌平区检察院已介入调查
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