"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
The Newsletter will be on vacation from August 12 until early September. I will be on Twitter @Niubi sporadically during that period.
Have a nice August!
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
China’s Power Politics – NYTimes.com – John Garnaut It can be difficult to comprehend that Mr. Xi can be serious about fighting corruption and saving the regime, rather than just accumulating power for himself, when his own siblings have accumulated enormous wealth through crony dealings, as forensic investigations by Bloomberg and The New York Times have revealed. But internally Mr. Xi is seen to have moral standing because he has opposed his siblings’ business dealings and ensured that he, his wife and his daughter are clean — as best as any outsider can tell. Mr. Xi and his close supporters, who were born into the Communist aristocracy as children of former leaders, have won the first round in their battle to save the revolution that their parents fought for. But there is a long journey ahead not least because, like their forebears, they have invested far more effort defining enemies than objectives. // 你死我活
U.S. to monitor South China Sea for de-escalation after China rebuff | Reuters A U.S. proposal for a freeze on provocative acts in the South China Sea got a cool response from China and some Southeast Asian nations at a regional meeting at the weekend, an apparent setback to U.S. efforts to thwart China’s assertive moves. The U.S. official said the United States would follow up on those talks by assessing an ASEAN-China meeting due in a few weeks time on implementing a 2002 declaration on conduct in the South China Sea, something that “equates to the freeze.” “We will also be monitoring the actual situation around the rocks, reefs, and shoals in the South China Sea,” he said.
Related: U.S., China tussle over sea claims – The Washington Post The statement fell short of U.S. hopes for a stiff declaration that China must reverse course and that disputes must be settled by international arbitration, but U.S. officials claimed a victory. “This language represents a significant setback for China’s efforts to play for time and . . . change the subject,” a senior Obama administration official said. “It’s a criticism of Chinese behavior, and it puts an enormous amount of pressure on the Chinese and signals to them that its relations with countries in the region are deteriorating.” // really?
Related: 人民日报客户端盘点习近平执政建树：
Related: As China flexes maritime muscle, SE Asia builds home-grown defence industry With regional defence spending seen rising to $40 billion in 2016, 10 percent higher than last year, some countries are already developing their own exports. A domestic defence industry is a long-term economic as well as security goal of varying degree for the 10 countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), spending more on modernising ageing equipment partly to retain the region’s military balance. The goal has been given urgency by China’s moves in recent months to press disputed claims in oil- and gas-rich waters of the South China Sea, security analysts say.
Related: What to Make of Xi Jinping’s Vision for Asian Security? | The Asan Forum by CNA analyst Joel Wuthnow// To be sure, there are two good reasons to doubt the ultimate success of China’s new peripheral diplomacy. First, as Joseph Nye has argued, China’s internal political problems have complicated its previous efforts to amass soft power, and this may continue to be a problem as China faces significant ecological, social, political, and other issues at home that may reduce its national attractiveness. Second, its assertive actions in its territorial disputes, especially in those with Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam, may similarly hinder Beijing’s attempts to persuade its neighbors of its benign intentions.54 These actions have included the establishment of an Air Defense Identification Zone over the East China Sea without consultation in November 2013 and the controversial presence of a Chinese oil rig in waters claimed by Vietnam in June 2014. Nevertheless, Xi Jinping’s address at CICA may have been one of the opening salvos in a longer-term, whole-of-government process by China of solidifying its influence around its periphery. Despite its potential weaknesses, China’s regional diplomacy should continue to be the subject of attention by observers in the region and the United States.
Related: Indonesia ready to mediate sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun Indonesia’s president-elect, Joko Widodo, is prepared to play peacemaker between China and countries in Southeast Asia that have sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea. “Solutions through diplomacy are desirable. If necessary, Indonesia (which is not part of the disputes) is prepared to serve as an intermediary,” said Widodo, 53, referring to countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines, which are at loggerheads with China over maritime territories. He spoke to The Asahi Shimbun in an exclusive interview on Aug. 11.
China Probes Threaten to Squeeze Foreign Profits – Bloomberg Li Pumin, a spokesman for NDRC, told reporters on Aug. 6 that the investigation was aimed at maintaining market order and protecting consumers. Besides the NDRC, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce said last month it began probing whether Microsoft’s Windows operating system and Office software violate China’s anti-monopoly law. Some have benefited. Control Risks, which specializes in providing political and security advice, has seen a doubling of its business in the past year as more clients find themselves under investigation by Chinese authorities, according to Kedl. Sébastien J. Evrard, a partner at the Jones Day law firm in Hong Kong, said he’s seen a spike in demand for antitrust advice over the last year, with companies re-checking pricing and corporate relationships.
Related: 汽车反垄断三年调查始末：发改委遭炮轰_
Related: 超国民待遇消失 外企在华“光环”褪去_财经_新京报网
Beijing cuts coal use by 7 pct in H1 in anti-smog push | Reuters Previous data issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection showed that concentrations of hazardous airborne particles known as PM2.5 in Beijing stood at 91.6 micrograms per cubic meter in the first half of the year, down 11.2 percent year on year but still more than twice as high as the recommended national standard of 35 mcg. Much of the pollution that hits Beijing drifts in from the surrounding province of Hebei, a major heavy industrial region that was home to seven of China’s 10 most polluted cities in the first half of the year. Under new plans to integrate Beijing with Hebei and the port city of Tianjin, the region will be treated as a “single entity” with unified industrial and emission standards.
Related: 张高丽任京津冀领导小组长
Related: 京津冀 谋篇起笔“大交通”（
China’s military tells soldiers not to spread rumors | Reuters In a front page story detailing new education and propaganda guidelines, the military’s official People’s Liberation Army Daily said soldiers had to be “clear and steadfast” in their politics and support China’s ongoing reforms. “Resolutely resist mistaken opinions that confuse public opinion and interfere in reforms; don’t make irresponsible remarks, do no listen to, believe or spread news from the grapevine and resolutely guard against political liberalism,” the newspaper said. “From beginning to end it is absolutely necessary to uphold the absolute leadership of the party over the armed forces.” // rumor that one of Xu’s former colleagues in trouble after, among other things, authorities discovered that this person’s father had been keeping a ledger of all the people who had paid for promotions, with names/amount/rank, though for figures above 10m RMB the names were left out…authorities raided that person’s house and were shocked by the amount of loot…including so much cash they had to bring in a forklift…who knows, but rumor mill in Beijing keeps churning away, no wonder concerned about rumors
Related: 王春成草原矿权遗案-财经网 Caijing cover story on the downfall of Wang Chuncheng, a rail and mining magnate detained in April, reportedly for his connections to Xu Caihou
Tributes for China expert who exposed horror of Cultural Revolution | The Australian FORMER prime minister Kevin Rudd has paid tribute to Pierre Ryckmans, one of the world’s most eminent Sinologists and literary figures, who died in Sydney yesterday aged 78. Mr Rudd, whose honours thesis on Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng was supervised by Dr Ryckmans, told The Australian: “Pierre Ryckmans was one of the world’s leading China scholars.
Related: Simon Leys Remembered | ChinaFile Conversation Isabel Hilton and Perry Link so far // No one in the China field has combined profound erudition and stiletto insight as well as Simon Leys. For me he has been the North Star of China watching—equally as constant, and just as brilliant. In January, 1986, I reviewed his book of essays called The Burning Forest for The Los Angeles Times. The North Star quality in his writing shows in the fact that today, nearly three decades later, I find nothing to revise.
Related: Amazon: Books by Simon Leys a remarkable scholar
Random Drug Test at 2 Kolegas, 30 Suspects Arrested | the Beijinger Over the weekend, Beijing music venue 2 Kolegas was raided by the police and all patrons were forced to give on-site urine samples to test for narcotic use. The raid resulted in the arrest of 30 suspects, which included ten expats who are apparently in the process of being deported.
Related: 演员高虎因吸毒被抓 曾饰《天龙八部》虚竹_网易新闻中心 actor Gao Hu, a model and two others detained in Beijing for marijuana and meth…latest in growing line of celebrities busted in Beijing…this year’s drug crackdown in Beijing harsher and lasting longer than in previous years (kind of like every crackdown in Xi era?)…celebrities seem to be a particularly fat target, wonder when one of the visiting Hollywood stars who party here will get busted
Related: Arrests rise 35 percent in anti-drug campaign – China – Chinadaily.com.cn Beijing police arrested 963 people suspected of drug crimes over the past four months, a 35 percent increase year-on-year, according to Beijing Public Security Bureau on Monday. Among those arrested, 58 are accused of involvement in drug trafficking and smuggling, the police said.
China cracking down on Christian groups along North Korea border: sources | Reuters China is cracking down on Christian charity groups near its border with North Korea, missionaries and aid groups say, with hundreds of members of the community forced to leave the country and some who remain describing an atmosphere of fear. The sweep along the frontier is believed to be aimed at closing off support to North Koreans who flee persecution and poverty in their homeland and illegally enter China before going on to other nations, usually ending up in South Korea.
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
China Trust Asset Growth Slows Amid Shadow Banking Crackdown – Bloomberg Trust companies’ assets under management climbed 6.4 percent to 12.5 trillion yuan ($2 trillion) as of June 30 from three months earlier, the China Trustee Association said in a statement yesterday. That’s the slowest growth since the first quarter of 2012 and compares with an average annual gain of 50 percent since 2008.
Property Pile-Up: Which Chinese Provinces Rely Most Heavily on Real Estate? – China Real Time Report – WSJ a new analysis shows just which Chinese provinces have become most reliant on property investment. Those provinces are Hainan, Guizhou and Yunnan, according to data compiled by China Business News. Driven mainly by tourism-related demand, property investment takes up 36% of Hainan’s gross domestic product, Guizhou 27% and Yunnan 25%, the paper said.
湖南楼市”湘五条”出台 省内异地购房可申请公积金贷款_财经频道_一财网 Hunan roles out measures to encourage home purchases // 湖南省明确规定将从政府回购普通商品房用做保障房源、
昆明取消商品房限购 不需再提供住房查询证明 -中新网 Kunming ends housing purchase restrictions
State Council Gives CRC Its Backing for Developing Land around Stations, Lines – Caixin The State Council has given its support to the operator of the country’s railroads for developing land around stations and lines for commercial and logistics purposes. The country’s cabinet said in a document released on August 11 that local governments should cooperate and negotiate with China Railway Corp. (CRC) on the projects and establish supporting policies. The cabinet issued a similar document last year.
传阿里腾讯竞投中石化混合所有制改革 双方不予置评_TechWeb Are Alibaba and Tencent competing to invest in Sinopec?
POLITICS AND LAW
中央调整巡视领导体制：“指导”变“领导”_新闻_腾讯网 Pa
中纪委一天通报查处9名厅级官员 创新纪录_新闻_腾讯网 CCDI sets new record in announcing investigations into 9 provincial department heads and above officials in one day
How One Police Chief Built a Graft Network over Four Decades in Power – Caixin The fall of the public security chief, Wu Changshun, of the northern port city of Tianjin has rocked local public security system and shed light on the graft network cultivated by Wu over 40 years. The Central Discipline Inspection Commission (CDIC) said in a statement on July 20 that Wu, chief of the Tianjin Public Security Bureau and vice chairman of the city’s political advisory body, was being investigated for “serious discipline violations.” The phrase usually means corruption. Wu, 60, is a veteran Tianjin police officer. He has spent 44 years in the public security system and was the head of the city’s public security bureau for 11 years. Caixin learned that the investigation into Wu is aimed at suspicions he illegally benefited from the public security and transportation departments’ equipment acquisition deals and license issuance for vehicles and drivers.
More than 150 breaches of anti-bureaucracy guidelines uncovered – Xinhua The cases were reported by graft busters in more than 20 provincial regions, the CPC’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in a weekly report on its website on Sunday. Violations of the guidelines were also found at Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, the Ministry of Transport, and the PICC Property and Casualty Company Limited, a major Chinese insurer. The violations include the use of public funds for moon cakes or shopping cards, private use of official cars, breaches of workplace rules, embezzlement of public funds, holding extravagant wedding ceremonies and accepting monetary gifts at weddings. Violators were named and given penalties ranging from Party warnings, administrative demerits, probation within the Party, demotion to removal from posts. Those who used public vehicles for private purposes were ordered to pay for their trips, according to the report.
4 Misconceptions About China’s Anti-Corruption Campaign | The Diplomat – Chen Dingding As Professor Zheng Yongnian of the National University of Singapore correctly points out, today China’s anti-corruption campaign has a new political meaning. It is about much more than just anti-corruption; it is about rebuilding legitimacy and China’s political structure. Those who remain skeptical about China’s anti-corruption campaign need to realize their own blind spots in analyzing Chinese politics. In particular, we need to understand China from China’s perspective, not the Western perspective.
辽宁清原法院10法官窝案内幕调查：执行“黑幕”与权力内斗_
教育系统腐败地图 近年落马的高校领导一览 –就业频道–中国教育在线 a look at officials in the education system detained for corruption
It’s Time to Tear Up China’s ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ Cards by Luo Changping, whose public Wechat account has been allowed to start posting again… // Zhou’s case presents an important opportunity to reform the leadership system of the party and our nation, which is a necessary step if we are to fully establish rule of law in China. The core objective of reform is to completely rebuild a system in which power is highly concentrated in the hands of few men, with neither checks nor balances. Only with democracy and the rule of law can we have an orderly transition of power on a regular basis, overseen by an independent judiciary and other regulatory bodies. At the end of the day, democracy and the rule of law are the best auto-correct for our political system.
Arrested, Detained: A Guide to Navigating China’s Police Powers – China Real Time Report – WSJ As China’s political-legal system presses vigorously to maintain “social stability,” the number of different terms used is further complicated by the various actors and agencies involved, including public security (“police”) forces and the procuratorate (“procuracy”). At the same time, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s campaign against corruption is being conducted by the Chinese Communist Party, which follows its own rules until it turns over an accused party member to the formal legal system.
Dismissed Officials in China Don’t Always Disappear – NYTimes.com When officials are fired in China, they don’t always fade away. In fact, many make comebacks. An investigation by The Beijing News found that out of 85 officials who had lost their positions over the past six years, more than one-third eventually returned to public-sector jobs. // 6年来85名免职官员逾三成复出 有作风问题无人起复
China asks Interpol to help in chase for fugitive businessman accused of illegal fundraising | South China Morning Post A fugitive Chinese businessman suspected of raising billions of yuan illegally is being hunted by judicial authorities, who are seeking help from Interpol, according to Xinhua. The authorities have asked Interpol to issue a Red Notice for the arrest of Liao Rongna, 58, the chairman of private car and machine manufacturer Zhengling Group. Interpol’s photo of Liao Rongna. Photo: Interpol Liao was once listed among the wealthiest individuals in China by Hurun’s Rich List.
新疆乌什县民警田地废弃砖厂搜捕逃犯_网易新闻 slidesh
China Focus: China opens Tibet forum with focus on development – Xinhua Around 100 representatives from around the world convened for the two-day forum on the development of Tibet on Tuesday. The forum, hosted in the autonomous region’s capital, Lhasa, will see delegates from Britain, India, the United states and other countries pool collective experience to discuss development strategies for the region. Jointly sponsored by the Information Office of China’s State Council and the regional government of Tibet, the forum seeks to gather opportunities and suggestions for Tibet’s future. The protection of Tibetan culture and environment will also be highlighted.
China Voice: Instant messaging service rules aren’t barriers – Xinhua The rules said only media organizations and news websites can use public accounts to release and retweet political reports. Some public accounts of non-media organizations will be allowed to retweet political reports after scrutiny. These points comply with the country’s provisions on the administration of Internet news information services, which were announced in 2005. According to the 2005 rules, political reports include military reports and foreign affairs reports. The regulation mainly targets China’s 5.8 million public accounts on apps like WeChat. In order to help fight online rumors, the country aims to standardize the release of news information through better managing of those accounts, which can send mass messages to followers. Similar regulations were passed for microblogging service Sina Weibo in 2012. // and helped lead to the seizure of Weibo’s commanding heights
人民日报人民论坛：言论可以自由 谣言不能自由–观点–
SIIO Spokesperson’s Comments concerning the “Provisional Regulations for the Development and Management of Instant Messaging Tools and Public Information Services” | China Copyright and Media The State Internet Information Office convened a press conference on the 7th, to announce the “Provisional Regulations for the Development and Management of Instant Messaging Tools and Public Information Services” (hereafter simply named “Regulations”), which imposes standards on instant messaging service providers, user services and user conduct, and puts forward clear management demands for engaging in public information service activities through instant messaging tools. To this end, a Xinhua journalist interviewed a SIIO spokesperson.
剧组回应”毛部署粉碎四人帮”_手机网易网 latest episode of the Deng Xiaoping miniseries has Hua Guofeng saying that smashing the Gang of Four was Mao’s plan…causing some debate online, production team details their evidence for adding this line
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
With eye on China, Japan slowly building amphibious force with help of US Marines – Pacific – Stripes The U.S. Marine Corps on Okinawa has spent more than two years helping Japan stand up an amphibious force geared toward defense of islands in the East China Sea, according to U.S. and Japanese officials. Members of the Japan Ground Self Defense Force have been observing and participating in amphibious training with U.S. Marines on Okinawa since 2012, U.S. and Japanese officials said in response to questions about the force. The training — off limits to media — is part of Japanese efforts to develop, in the next five years, an amphibious capability that includes new helicopter carriers and landing craft, along with a 3,000-strong army unit modeled on the U.S. Marine Corps.
China Sees Islamic State Inching Closer to Home–Foreign Policy They’ve been grabbing headlines nearly everywhere else, but the jihadis of northern Iraq haven’t been getting much play in China. But a threat by the Islamic State (IS) of revenge against countries, including China, for seizing what IS calls “Muslim rights” appears to have changed all that. The comments were made in early July, but the news didn’t jump the language barrier from Arabic into Mandarin until August 8, when Phoenix Weekly, a Hong Kong-based newsmagazine widely distributed in China, made the IS revenge
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
HKMA says risk related to Hong Kong banks’ exposure to China is controllable | Reuters By the end of 2013, the exposure of Hong Kong banks to mainland corporate borrowers constituted a fifth of their total assets, compared with around 5 percent in 2007. Under an extreme scenario presented by the IMF in May, if the default rate in the mainland banking system’s interbank obligations hits 80 percent, the losses would wipe out all the capital in the city’s banking system.
TECH AND MEDIA
China smartphone maker Xiaomi apologizes for unauthorized data access – Yahoo News Xiaomi Inc said it had upgraded its operating system to ensure users knew it was collecting data from their address books after a report by a computer security firm said the Chinese budget smartphone maker was taking personal data without permission. The privately held company said it had fixed a loophole in its cloud messaging system that had triggered the unauthorized data transfer and that the operating system upgrade had been rolled out on Sunday.
Jack Ma says Scotland hunting trip was to ‘study animal conservation’ | South China Morning Post Chinese internet titan Jack Ma hit back yesterday at a British report that he indulged in a luxurious hunting trip in Britain, saying the trip two years ago was for animal conservation, not recreation. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) also defended Ma, a director on the organisation’s board, after Britain’s The Sunday Times reported on Sunday that billionaire Ma was among the Chinese new rich indulging in upmarket hunting trips in Britain. The report said Ma and 11 travelling companions spent £36,000 (HK$468,000) renting a castle near Loch Ness for a hunting holiday.
Alibaba IPO Has Unusual Challenges for Bankers – WSJ Then there is a longer-term challenge. Although Alibaba is a Chinese company, it is incorporated in the Cayman Islands and will list on U.S. markets. That means Alibaba, once public, won’t qualify to be included in many major benchmarks such as potentially the S&P 500 or some of the MSCI Inc. MSCI +1.30% indexes tracked by funds commanding trillions of dollars. If a stock isn’t in a certain index, some funds can’t buy it. (See an interactive guide to Alibaba.) The S&P 500 index includes only companies that are domiciled in the U.S. The index is among the world’s most closely followed by investors, with some $5.1 trillion worth of assets tracking it, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.
An Unambitious Fox: Stripping Sohu’s Financial Statements-huxiu Sohu’s revenues hit a record high of over $400 million in the second quarter, up by 18.1% over the same period last year. Nonetheless, after a loss of $56 million in the first quarter, the second quarter saw yet another loss of $45 million. It is expected that Sohu will continue to report losses in the third quarter and the whole year. For internet firms, losses are not horrible provided revenues grow at a high rate. But when you look at Sohu’s financial reports, you would probably wonder: is Charles Zhang past his prime?
Now It’s Official: Huxiu English-huxiu good site, looking for English-language editors/contributors…happy to connect those interested, though they require very high proficiency in speaking and reading Chinese, so if you do not have that please don’t bother // Judging from a year’s trial run, the main audience of Huxiu English has been technology journalists and editors at foreign media, oversea venture capital firms, consultancies and some business academic research institutions. Of course, besides them, there are also fund managers tracking China concepts stocks, traders as well as web crawlers. Among them, except web crawlers, our editors have tried their best to meet online and offline to seek feedback. Exchanges of ideas and communication brought about more ideas. Huxiu will try to achieve them step by step in future.
‘Naked PCs’ lay bare Microsoft’s emerging markets problem | Reuters On a trip to Beijing a decade ago, Bill Gates was asked by a senior government official how much money Microsoft Corp made in China. The official asked the interpreter to double check Gates’ reply as he couldn’t believe the figure was so low. It’s a problem that hasn’t gone away. Indeed, Microsoft’s current issues in China conceal a deeper problem for the U.S. software giant – despite the popularity of its Windows operating system and Office suite, few people in emerging markets are willing to pay for legitimate copies.
[TechCrunch Beijing] Secret Unveils China Team, Saying Anonymous Socializing Is Perfect For China | TechNode “Anonymous socializing suits China particularly well.” Secret’s Operation Direct in China Eva Li said this morning at 2014 TechCrunch China/TechNode conference in Beijing.
Internet TV Companies Should Play by New Rules, Executive Says – Caixin The government has laid down the law for the nascent industry, Shao Yiding of Union Voole Technology Co. says, and firms must figure out how to adapt
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Four Provinces, Regions Raise University Tuitions for 2014-15 – Caixin On July 11, officials in the eastern province of Zhejiang set tuition at 6,483 yuan per year for most majors, an increase of 15 percent. Undergraduate tuition for certain engineering and medical majors will rise 80 percent to 6,670 yuan. Zhejiang, whose tuitions are some of the highest in the country, runs more than 60 universities. Ningxia raised fees for college by an average of 60 percent across several majors. The northwestern region charges some of the lowest tuition rates in the country. Universities are being forced to raise tuitions because they are in debt, Professor Deng Xiangchao from Shandong Jianzhu University in Jinan told China National Radio. The colleges also needed to invest in building projects and buying new equipment, but funding from local governments was insufficient.
An Academy for the Elite Stirs a Culture Clash – NYTimes.com For Peking University, the rivalry is especially fierce with Tsinghua University, which is also in Beijing’s northern suburbs, and counts President Xi Jinping and former President Hu Jintao among its alumni. Some critics say Peking University rushed ahead with Yenching Academy in response to a graduate program — created with $100 million in seed money from Stephen A. Schwarzman, the American private-equity mogul — that will be established at Tsinghua in 2016. “Schwarzman Scholars,” as the students will be called, will also spend a year studying a number of subjects in English, including business, international relations and public policy.
If China Is Anti-Islam, Why Are These Chinese Muslims Enjoying a Faith Revival? | TIME With violent unrest affecting northwestern Xinjiang, a spotlight has been cast on that area’s Muslim Uighurs, who have long chafed at rule from Beijing. But the Uighurs, some of whom yearn for autonomy from the People’s Republic, are not the biggest Muslim population in China, which has more adherents to Islam than the European Union. That distinction belongs to the Hui, a 10.5 million-strong group that is also the second largest of China’s 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities. One of the Hui centers of Islamic learning is the Wild West town of Linxia, in Gansu province, where Sufi traditions remain vibrant.
The Bard in Beijing | ChinaFile Chinese theater directors have long perceived Shakespeare as eminently adaptable to their nation’s own theatrical traditions. One of the first known performances of Hamlet was done as a Sichuan opera in the 1910s and adaptation to Chinese operatic traditions became quite popular again in the 1980s. In recent years, Chinese directors often have merged Chinese and Western traditions or simply approached Shakespeare through their own creativity. A 2007 Coriolanus, re-staged this spring at the NCPA Shakespeare Festival, includes a live soundtrack by two heavy metal bands. Director Tian Qinxin set a 2008 production of King Lear in the Ming Dynasty court and a 2014 Romeo and Juliet in today’s China, replete with hip-hop and mini-skirts.
The Jiangxi Township Doing a Brisk Trade in Cambodian Wives – Caixin One area of an eastern province has gained a reputation as a distribution center linking Chinese men and women from Cambodia, but marital bliss is proving hard to buy
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Rhodiola rosea – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The plant has been used in traditional Chinese medicine, where it is called hóng jǐng tiān (红景天). The medicine can be used to prevent altitude sickness // doesn’t taste so good
高原康_百度百科 高原康是一种抗急性高原病(高原反应)
湖南纪委干部举报食药监总局 敦促张勇辞职_财经频道_一财网
Liberia awaits experimental drug as Ebola death toll tops 1,000 – Yahoo News China’s ambassador to Sierra Leone Zhao Yanbo said that seven doctors and one nurse who treated Ebola patients had been put in quarantine, but would not be drawn on whether they were displaying symptoms of the disease.
Spotlight: China helps Africa fight against Ebola epidemic – Xinhua A chartered plane carrying supplies from Shanghai in eastern China arrived in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia successively on Monday. The supplies, worth 30 million yuan (4.9 million U.S. dollars), include medical protective clothes, disinfectants, thermo-detectors and medicines. China delivered its first batch of Ebola relief in May, mostly for disease prevention, control and treatment, to Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau.
鄱阳湖拦湖大闸工程已上报 专家称湖中鱼类将绝种_新闻_腾讯网
FOOD AND TRAVEL
[组图]西藏冈仁波齐 去圣地感受神性的召唤_旅游_央视网(cctv.com) ni
BEIJING
进京高速检查站采取最高防控等级 驾驶者将被查两证_国内_新京报网 Security raised in Beijing ahead of APEC Ministers Meeting, IDs checked for all drivers entering Beijing among other measures…this and November APEC meeting will probably be like the Olympics period but with better tech // 记者从北京市公安局获悉，8月1日至22日，
Following Vanke’s Lead, Developers in County near Beijing Cut Home Prices – Caixin Xianghe is 60 kilometers southeast of Beijing’s business district along a highway linking the capital and Tianjin. It is considered one of the places poised to benefit the most from central government plans to strengthen economic coordination between Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. On July 12, Vanke started to pre-sell homes in a community it developed with Minmetals Land Ltd., a Hong Kong-listed real estate company. The units were priced at 6,600 yuan per square meter, including decorations valued at 1,500 yuan per square meter. // still not a great place to live, public transport to Beijing underdeveloped, friend has a development there, may be nice eventually once allegedly planned light rail that will take 20 minutes to Beijing CBD is developed…
北京高中全面取消择校 中招时校长”清净多了”–教育–