"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
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THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
1. China’s top graft-buster says fight will never end | Reuters “All these efforts have gained the support of the general public,” said Wang Qishan, who heads the ruling Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. “This is just the beginning,” he said, adding that the party’s anti-graft campaign requires “consistency, intensified supervision, discipline and accountability”. The campaign for clean government “will never be concluded”, Wang was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency late on Friday.
Related: CPC’s anti-graft campaign will never end – Xinhua Senior leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Wang Qishan said on Friday the CPC’s anti-graft campaign and its efforts to build a clean government will never be concluded. Wang, secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, made the remarks while meeting with overseas members of the advisory board of Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management…”This is just the beginning,” he said, adding that the party’s anti-graft campaign requires consistency, intensified supervision, discipline and accountability.// 王岐山会见Faceboo
Related: Top CPC graft-buster warns of Party cliques – Xinhua Party cadres should “maintain a high degree of unity with the CPC Central Committee,” said Wang Qishan, secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, at its Saturday plenary session. “Any Party member is forbidden from forming a clique and rent-seeking,” Wang said. “Going one’s own way, or complying in public but undermining in private are never allowed.” Wang vowed to intensify discipline inspection to fight the phenomenon of “higher authorities with policies, localities with counter-measures”.
Related: 王岐山在中国共产党第十八届中央纪律检查委员
Related: 中国共产党第十八届中央纪律检查委员会第四次
Related: 十八届中央纪委四次全会传出信号:
Related: Xinhua Insight: Party discipline inspectors echo rule of law, support legal reform – Xinhua | Despite fierce anti-graft initiatives, there are still officials who refuse to stop their wrongdoings and even step them up, he said. Wang promised that discipline agencies will remain committed to their anti-graft tasks, “staying clear-headed, having a strong political anchor, keeping faith and resolve”. “Any corrupt officials who go back to their old ways will pay the price,” he said. “We will drive on the anti-graft campaign, treating sick trees and uprooting rotten ones.” Wang also promised to improve Party rules to bring them in line with the law: precise, clear and practical. New measures adopted in anti-corruption campaigns will be incorporated into Party regulations and law. // 新华社评论员：遵守党规党纪 从严管党治党
Related: China’s discipline watchdog elects new deputy – Xinhua The 18th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) elected Liu Jinguo as its deputy chief at a meeting here Saturday. Liu, currently deputy minister of public security, was elected deputy secretary of the CCDI at its fourth plenary session on Saturday.
Related: 中纪委副书记刘金国之妻系临时工 亲属均为农民_新闻_腾讯网 [摘要]刘金国用40年时间，
2. As China Deploys Nuclear Submarines, U.S. P-8 Poseidon Jets Snoop on Them – WSJ – WSJ sounds like the US navy gave the reporter lots of access for this excellent series // The P-8s also work with satellites that monitor submarine bases, with undersea microphones that listen for passing subs and with surface ships that tow large arrays of sonar equipment. Once over a potential target, the P-8 drops its sonar buoys in a grid, then circles overhead gathering the data that they transmit. Those data are displayed on a screen in the back of the plane and analyzed by specialists like Naval Aircrewman Operator 1st Class Robert Pillars, who is trained to recognize the acoustic signature of a Chinese sub.
Related: When Sub Goes Silent, Who Has Control of Its Nuclear Warheads? – WSJ – WSJ China’s military, like the Soviet Union’s, answers to the Communist Party and has a centralized command structure that doesn’t traditionally allow its officers to make important decisions in the field. China’s Second Artillery, which controls its nuclear forces, is especially cautious, storing missiles separately from warheads to ensure they can only be launched on Party-leadership orders, nuclear experts say. On a nuclear-missile sub, or “boomer,” however, warheads must be loaded on missiles and ready to launch.
Related: China’s Submarines Add Nuclear-Strike Capability, Altering Strategic Balance – WSJ The message was clear: China had fulfilled its four-decade quest to join the elite club of countries with nuclear subs that can ply the high seas. The defense ministry summoned attachés again to disclose another Chinese deployment to the Indian Ocean in September—this time a diesel-powered sub, which stopped off in Sri Lanka. China’s increasingly potent and active sub force represents the rising power’s most significant military challenge yet for the region. Its expanding undersea fleet not only bolsters China’s nuclear arsenal but also enhances the country’s capacity to enforce its territorial claims and thwart U.S. intervention.
Related: Navy Makes Submarines Quieter, More Stealthy | Defense Tech Vice Adm. Mike Connor, commander of the Navy’s Atlantic submarine force, Atlantic, said anti-access, anti-denial efforts are increasingly expanding into the undersea domain. “We need to be ready for a Russia, China, Iran or whoever else who – recognizing the superiority we have today – seeks to develop an A2/AD like network underwater to match what many of them currently have on the surface and in the air. We know that is going to happen,” Connor said. Tofalo said the Navy intends to implement these technical upgrades across the fleet of existing and future attack and ballistic missile submarines. The extent of integration of these new technologies, however, may largely depend upon budget considerations.
Related: Underwater Drones Join Microphones to Listen for Chinese Nuclear Submarines – WSJ – WSJ These cable-linked “hydrophones” were part of a secret global network called Sound Surveillance System, or Sosus. The U.S. declassified Sosus in 1991, making it available for civilian purposes such as tracking illegal fishing or whales. But in recent years, the U.S. and its allies have reactivated or upgraded elements of the system in Asia, partly in response to renewed Russian undersea activity, but also to monitor China’s expanding submarine capabilities
Related: Blind Man’s Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine EspionageAmazon an enjoyable book, from 2000 // This is an epic of adventure, ingenuity, courage, and disaster beneath the sea, a story filled with unforgettable characters who engineered daring missions to tap the enemy’s underwater communications cables and to shadow Soviet submarines. It is a story of heroes and spies, of bravery and tragedy.
3. Chinese politics: Xi makes the rules | The Economist Doing this without making courts independent in the Western sense is quite a trick. How does Mr Xi intend to do it? First, he is trying to make it less appealing and more difficult for local officials to interfere in cases. Chinese local courts are notoriously beholden to local officials, who have great power over court budgets and over the careers of judges. This makes the courts ripe for the sort of meddling that infuriates citizens, especially in cases already involving the abuse of power, such as land grabs in which local officials and their friends appear to be benefiting. The communiqué says that the party will now assess how much officials interfere in cases and that this will affect evaluations for their promotion.
Related: In “rule with virtue,” where is the law? – China Media Project What does it mean to “rule the nation with virtue”? For a precedent for the use of this term we have to go all the way back to Jiang Zemin. Jiang used the term in an almost identical manner when articulating the Party’s governing principles in June 2000. “[We must] uphold the combination of governing the nation in accord with the law and governing the nation with virtue,” he said (坚持依法治国与以德治国相结合). But after 2000, the term fell entirely out of favor. So we are witnessing the return of a ghost after a 14-year absence. And who can say what that means?
Related: 国平：依宪执政与西方“宪政”不容混淆-
Related: China to hasten establishing circuit courts – Xinhua China’s Supreme People’s Court announced Saturday it will hasten steps to set up circuit courts, responding to the latest requirement of the ruling party to advance rule of law. The supreme court will also speed up efforts to establish special courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to handle intellectual property rights cases. Other measures include enhancing accountability of judges, unifying the management of personnel and finance of local courts below provincial level, and setting up a mechanism to record officials’ interference in judicial cases.
Related: Exclusive: China’s Xi likely to promote army general who exposed graft – sources | Reuters 8.1.14 so this did not happen at the Plenum. Several rumors/hypotheses going around: 1. the story was wrong from the start; 2. the General’s health has worsened; 3. Xi wanted this but could not make it happen; 4. The Plenum was not the place for this change and it is still going to happen. If any readers have actual knowledge of what is going on, please share // General Liu Yuan, 62, the eldest son of late president Liu Shaoqi, is set to be appointed to the Central Military Commission during a meeting of the Communist Party’s elite 205-member Central Committee in October, a source close to the leadership and a second source with ties to the military said.
4. A city divided: Occupy protest and rally by opponents mark a society split by politics | South China Morning Post Rancour and division after a month of political turmoil crystallised last night as thousands of pro- and anti-Occupy Central protesters gathered on opposite sides of Victoria Harbour to vent their frustrations. The gatherings – one at the newly dubbed “Umbrella Square” and the other at the Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower – came as Occupy leaders geared up to poll supporters on the way forward while anti-Occupy activists began a signature campaign to end the protests and back the police.
Related: Hong Kong Tensions Rise Between Protesters, Opposition – Bloomberg Protest leaders will hold a referendum today and tomorrow to decide on their demands, after talks with the government on Oct. 21 failed to resolve the impasse. People opposed to the disruption from demonstrations rallied last night in the Tsim Sha Tsui district to express their views. “You can disagree, but you cannot just sit in the middle of the road,” said Betty Yung, 65, a retired principal who spoke on stage in Tsim Tsa Tsui. “This is not the right way to do things. What if the ambulance that’s supposed to bring me to the hospital ends up being stuck in traffic because the roads are blocked by the students?”
Related: 尖沙咀記者涉嫌被打事件足本 – YouTube reporters roughed up in Hong Kong Saturday night? raw video
Related: HK business leaders: Occupy Movement damages economy, social order – Xinhua Li Ka-shing, chair of the Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited, has urged the protesters to go back home. He said in a statement that if Hong Kong’s rule of law breaks down, it would be the “greatest sorrow” for the region. “I urge everyone not to be agitated and not to let today’s passion become tomorrow’s regrets,” he said. Another real estate tycoon, Lee Shau-kee, chairman of Henderson Land Development, criticized the movement is an act of destruction that not only posed adverse impact on Hong Kong’s economy, finance and social prosperity but also harmed its international reputation.
Related: 消息称沪港通或“无限期”搁置-手机凤凰网
5. China announces penalty points plan to curb abuse of internet | South China Morning Post Under the new system, users with good credit would be rewarded, while those amassing black marks would be penalised, People’s Daily reported on its website yesterday, quoting State Internet Information Office director Lu Wei . Lu announced the move at an internet security forum for lawyers, legal academics and judicial officials in Beijing on Friday, but did not say how the system would work or specify the kinds of violations. One Beijing-based academic who attended the session said Lu’s announcement about the system was brief. // Actually first announced in June. For it to be implemented effectively, China will need a much more comprehensive real-name registration system for the Internet
Related: Fei Chang Dao: China’s Real Name Internet Part 5: 2013 – 2014 On June 14, 2014, the State Council issued the Social Credibility System Construction Program (2014—2020）(社会信用体系建设规划纲要（2014—
Related: 网信办召开重点网站负责人座谈会 推进依法办网_新浪新闻 中新网北京10月25日电 (记者 刘育英)中央网信办25日召开重点网站负责人座谈会，
6. Which Way for Smartphone Swipe and Pay? – Caixin Telecoms, device makers and China’s bank card company are tangled in a fray over cashless cash register payments…China UnionPay Co. Ltd., a state company that controls all debit and credit card services in the country, reportedly reached a deal with Apple Inc. to link its UnionPay cards with the Apple Pay feature. But it is not available yet. In fact, iPhone6 owners may have to wait until March to access the swipe-and-pay feature in China. Sources say that UnionPay and Apple are still working out details of a proposed agreement for a joint service that lets shoppers use iPhone6 smartphones with embedded, near-field communication systems to access their bank accounts at store checkout counters. The feature is deactivated in all phones sold in China. Apple Pay will only work for a Chinese iPhone 6 owner after a system upgrade, which Apple has yet to start offering.
Related: China Exclusive: Tim Cook: Apple wants everything it develops to enter China market – Xinhua Cook’s ambition, however, does not rest on the iPhone. He has been advocating Apple Pay and Apple Watch long before they will reach the China market. “We want to bring Apple Pay to China,” he said, “I’m convinced there will be enough people that want to use it. It’s going to be successful.” He said he wants to understand the necessary steps to bring Apple Pay to China before he summoning local networks, banks, and merchants to work together to make this happen.
7. How Chinese fortunes are hidden in Australia–AFR The Chinese government has repeatedly raised concerns about Australia’s popularity with corrupt officials in its state-run media. After Australia expanded its Significant Investor Visa scheme earlier this month, the Chinese government specifically warned Canberra not to create a safe haven for corrupt officials. Over the past decade, those officials have been drawn to Australia’s political stability, clean air and robust legal system, which provides some of the strongest protection for individuals facing criminal charges anywhere in the world. This flow of money out of China has reportedly boosted demand for houses, filled universities and fuelled spending on luxury goods right across the Australian economy. But the party may be coming to an end as Chinese authorities and the Australian Federal Police increase co-operation to seize and repatriate the proceeds of crime.
8. Rise and Fall of a Coal Boomtown in Shanxi Province – Caixin As collusion between business and official spread in Luliang, fraud became common in official appointments. In June 2009, Luliang, on the orders of Nie, announced a plan to the select heads of its 13 counties. Strict election procedures were announced. But a local official said that the procedure “looked fair, but without outside supervision, there was actually room for fraud in every stage.” Indeed, a candidate who described himself as a vice county head later posted an article online saying he spent 4 million yuan to get a more senior job, but lost to someone who spent more. The author of the post said his funds to buy votes came in part from companies. He said that Luliang was one of the places in China where such fraud was worst. Li Yi, a former Luliang official and a subordinate of Nie’s, said the heads of the city’s counties and districts usually got gifts worth 50,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan from one individual lower-level official every year before the Lunar New Year holiday. Some got 5 million yuan in total.
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
China FocusChina Focus – #CFDebate: The winner is… with the video. Victor Shih and team vs Barry Naughton and team: Will the Chinese economy collapse in 5 years? Definition of collapse = real GDP growth fall to 0 or – OR Chinese govt will need to devalue currency by at least 20% // Congratulations to the Proposition (Yes) Team! Victor Shih, Max Bonner, and Angela Luh are the winners of the 2014 China Focus Debate. The initial pre-debate vote was 25% Yes and 75% No, but through their impressive argumentation and mastery of statistics, the Proposition Team was able to achieve a final count of 51% Yes and 49% No in the post-debate vote. A cash prize of $100 goes to the ‘hobbyist accountant’ and his students to spend on a team dinner… or to invest in a China downturn!
Realising China’s sustainable growth rate – The A-List – Yukon Huang – FT.com At the end of June, Beijing signalled its most important reform yet, promising the completion of the detailed framework for a major fiscal overhaul within two years. Compared with the attention China watchers pay to minute shifts in financial indicators such as interest and exchange rates, these fiscal reforms have received relatively little attention. If implemented, the reforms have the potential to increase government expenditures by 4-5 per cent of GDP. This would ensure that there is adequate demand for China to still grow at a sustainable rate of 7 per cent a year to the end of this decade. By 2025, the regression to the mean that Profs Summers and Pritchett predict will have begun but it need not be any sooner.
Cheaper oil: Winners and losers | The Economist China is the world’s second-largest net importer of oil. Based on 2013 figures, every $1 drop in the oil price saves it an annual $2.1 billion. The recent fall, if sustained, lowers its import bill by $60 billion, or 3%. Most of its exports are manufactured goods whose prices have not fallen. Unless weak demand changes that, its foreign currency will go further, and living standards should rise. Cheaper oil will also help the government clean up China’s filthy air by phasing out dirty vehicle fuels, such as diesel. Lighter fuels are dearer and, under current plans, drivers could pay up to 70% of the extra; lower prices will soften that blow. More generally, says Lin Boqiang of Xiamen University, lower prices should support the government’s efforts to reduce subsidies (it has already freed some gas prices, and electricity prices are expected to follow next year).
China Home-Price Drop Spreads as Easing Fails to Halt Slide – Bloomberg New-home prices fell 0.7 percent from August in Beijing and 0.9 percent in Shanghai, according to the government. The port city of Xiamen in southern Fujian province was the only city where prices didn’t fall, remaining unchanged from the previous month. Prices in Shanghai fell 0.8 percent from a year earlier, the first annual decline since December 2012, compared to a 17.5 percent jump in January this year. Hangzhou, the capital of southeastern Zhejiang province, had the biggest decline among all cities, with 7.6 percent.
Unilever Posts Slowest Quarterly Sales Growth Since 2009 – Bloomberg Sales in China plummeted 20 percent as big retailers in that market ran down inventories of Unilever products worth 100 million euros ($126 million), finance chief Jean-Marc Huet said. China’s deceleration weighed on emerging markets, which account for about 57 percent of the company’s revenue. “Unilever is paying the price for having too many of its growth eggs in the emerging markets basket,” said Chris Wickham, an analyst at Oriel Securities…The inventory backlog in China will continue in the fourth quarter and be “largely complete” by the end of the year, Unilever said in its statement, though James Allison, head of investor relations, told analysts that it’s “very difficult to be absolutely sure of that because our visibility across China is not that great.”
China SignPost™ (洞察中国) # 81: “Physician, Heal Thyself: Modest Expectations in Order for China’s Reforms as Third Plenum Anniversary Approaches” | Andrew S. Erickson long piece concluding reform will fail // It seems unlikely that the leadership’s goal of rebalancing to a domestic consumption-based economy sufficient to support a new growth model can be achieved. A true transition from government investment and manufacturing toward an innovative service economy would appear to require reforms that vested interests are likely to block and leaders are likely to view as being too politically risky. The heart of the problem is that China’s leaders are beset with strategic ambivalence: they know what they need to do from an economic standpoint, but cannot do it fully because this would undermine their authority. Beijing cultivates notions of a “Chinese dream,” but cannot afford to allow individuals to define it for themselves—particularly in the public square. Faced with this dilemma, short-term stability to preserve the CCP’s power will always prevail. And true reform will always yield to strengthening the existing political-institutional order. Even the dynamic Xi-led leadership is thus likely to muddle through some of the most difficult areas, leaving insufficient progress before S-curve slowdown factors become increasingly limiting. As Larry Summers warns, it would be a mistake to fall for “Asiaphoria.” Given these realities, “Chinaphoria” is a sort of irrational exuberance that should be particularly avoided.
The journey from luxury to thrift will test Beijing’s mettle – FT.com This ratio, it is true, remains modest next to some in the west; US debts stand at 322 per cent of GDP, Ireland’s at more than 400 per cent, while Greece and Spain are at about 300 per cent each. But the speed of increase in China’s leverage has been beyond parallel, and because of elevated Chinese interest rates (estimated by Fitch, a credit-rating agency, to average 7 per cent) the cost of debt servicing has risen much faster than in other indebted countries. This year China is set to pay an interest bill of about $1.7tn, an amount not far short of India’s entire GDP last year ($1.87tn) but larger than the economies of South Korea, Mexico and Indonesia.
组图：万吨大桥成功“转体”跨越京广铁路_新闻_腾讯网 sli
Chinese vice premier meets U.S. deputy national security advisor – Xinhua Vice Premier Wang Yang met here on Friday with U.S. deputy national security advisor for international economics Caroline Atkinson. The two sides exchanged views on China-U.S. economic relations as well as the economic issues of G20 summit in the Australian city of Brisbane in November. Wang also met with Doug McMillon, the president and chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on the same day.
Alibaba’s online mutual fund Yuebao is actually shrinking–TechInAsia Back in July, Yuebao held RMB 574 billion (US$92 billion) in assets, making it the fourth-largest money market fund in the world. But this past Friday, Tianhong Asset Management Co. (which manages Yuebao’s funds and which is also owned by Alibaba) announced Yuebao’s latest numbers: RMB 534 billion (US$87 billion). That suggests that users have pulled almost US$5 billion out of Yuebao since July…The overall drop in assets shouldn’t come as a big surprise, as the fund’s yield has dropped a bit from its initial highs of over 6 percent. Yield fell below 5 percent for the first time in May, and according to the Yuebao website, as of this writing it currently sits at just 4.1 percent.
Video: The End of Copycat China | Watch The Open Mind Online | PBS Video Founder of the China Market Research Group, Shaun Rein discusses his new book, “The End of Copycat China,” an incisive survey of modern China’s economy and politics and her quest for creativity, innovation and individualism. // the book on Amazon
POLITICS AND LAW
In One Chinese City, Underperformers Also Share the Limelight – NYTimes.com Weinan, in the western province of Shaanxi, has found a new way to encourage local districts to improve their performance on a series of development-related goals such as infrastructure projects and tax collection. In addition to awarding prizes to the best performing districts at a ceremony on Thursday, the city also presented the worst performers with last-place plaques. The prizes, based on quarterly targets, have been around since 2012, the newspaper Huashang Bao in Xi’an reported. But the practice received widespread attention only this week, after photographs of local officials standing awkwardly with their badges of dishonor were widely circulated on Chinese news sites.
深圳政法委书记蒋尊玉被查 或涉大运会工程腐败_新闻_腾讯网 Shenzhen Politics and Law Secretary under investigation // 昨日下午，中纪委官网通报称，深圳市委常委、
China scraps 130,000 ‘leading groups’ in effort to streamline local government | South China Morning Post China, in an effort to streamline bureaucracy, has scrapped over 130,000 of the many “leading groups” that operate at all levels of governments across the nation, state media reported on Thursday. Formally called “leading small groups”, these structures are set up independently by each local party or government body and they primarily serve the same purpose: bringing control over a broad policy area to a single conference table.
韩克敌：再谈苏联解体的原因_共识网 从以上分析，
Old photos and essays published to cement Xi Jinping’s power | South China Morning Post The photographs, taken over 20 years ago, show a farm visit, a factory tour and a dinner with members of an ethnic minority. Now the pictures of a younger Xi Jinping have been released online, along with the rest of a book of republished essays on poverty by the president, in a move an academic says is designed to cement Xi’s authority within the party. The photographs were taken between 1988 and 1990 during Xi’s two-year stint as party boss of Ningde, a city in Fujian that lagged most others in the province.
四中全会公报解读（六）行政程序法定化需注重“外部声音”_
Despite Ban, County Holds Convict Parade Days before Rule of Law Plenum – Caixin In 1988, the country’s top court, prosecutor’s office and public security ministry banned the public parading of suspects and criminals, saying it had little impact on deterring crime and violated human rights. Despite this, some local governments still hold the displays. Huarong County held at least three in 2009 and last year.
Heard in the Hutong: China’s Legal Reform – China Real Time Report – WSJ China’s top party leaders met in Beijing this week for a plenary meeting devoted to governing the country according to law – the first time in its history the party has held a plenum on legal issues. As the meetings wound up, China Real Time hit the streets in Beijing to hear what residents think of the country’s legal system.
Zhou Xiaoping, “sunshine boy” – China Media Project The following is our translation of an interview with Zhou Xiaoping published today on page 6 of the People’s Daily. We leave it to readers to decide whether Zhou Xiaoping makes inspired points, or whether this familiar brand of cultural nationalism will, as the historian Yuan Weishi wrote a number of years back, “produce ideological trash.”
Spat involving patriotic blogger spreads online – People’s Daily Online A spat between prominent anti-fraud campaigner Fang Zhouzi and high-profile blogger Zhou Xiaoping over an online essay about life in the US has gone viral and has allegedly resulted in the closure of Fang’s China-based social media accounts….Scholar Sima Nan wrote on his Sina Weibo that Fang corrected the untrue parts of the story by being “rational as he always has been.” He said he hoped that Zhou can clarify his stance. “Isn’t it a good thing for people to recognize the flaws of a fighter? Will it not help to spread a story on positive energy by eradicating the fatal mistakes in it?” Sima added. Wu Danhong, an assistant professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, wrote that Fang’s right to speak should be respected and no different opinions should be forced out.
What China’s Reading: ‘Broken Dreams, USA’–Foreign Policy There’s been no shortage of controversy in China since, over Zhou Xiaoping’s intellect, his motivations, and the veracity of some of the claims he makes about the United States. What exactly about Zhou’s writings is so irksome to some Chinese — and so attractive to others? Foreign Policy translates selected portions of one of Zhou’s better-known works, “Broken Dreams in the USA,” below. — The Editors
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
China’s Latest Space Launch Is Next Step in Lunar Ambitions – NYTimes.com The launch was carried out from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan, with a Long March 3C rocket successfully placing the craft into earth orbit, the China National Space Administration announced. The eight-day mission calls for the craft to enter lunar orbit, then return to Earth, bouncing off the atmosphere to slow its rate of descent before re-entry.
U.S. Commander Seeks to Make Chinese Military Encounters Boring – Bloomberg In order to make maritime encounters more predictable, the Seventh Fleet practiced a new Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea during a visit to the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao in August, Roberts said. He added that the U.S. must be careful not to attribute hitches to the People’s Liberation Army Navy being “obstinate.” “Sometimes it’s actually just the language barrier,” he said. “Their bridge watch won’t respond and it’s not because they’re trying to be unprofessional, they’re just a little embarrassed because it’s done in English.”
Canadian couple accused of spying in China held in near isolation, son says A Canadian couple accused of spying near China’s sensitive border with North Korea have been kept separately in near isolation for more than 80 days and denied access to legal counsel, their son said on Friday. Treatment of the couple, who are being held without charge at a remote facility in the border city of Dandong, has seriously strained China’s ties with Canada ahead of a planned visit by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for a multilateral summit next month in Beijing. Kevin and Julia Garratt were allowed to meet briefly for breakfast last week – the first contact they had with each other during their detention. “It’s not their physical health I’m concerned about, it’s more their mental health,” their son, Simeon Garratt, told Reuters by phone. “You put anybody in a situation like that for 80 days, where you can’t talk to anybody else and with no outside contact, and you don’t know what could happen. It’s not about food or water.”
How UK-born James Chau became a presenter on Chinese state TV – FT.com James Chau, 36, has worked for CCTV for more than a decade; first as a primetime news anchorman and today as a special contributor focusing on major news and special events. He also has 1.6m followers on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. Inside his ground-floor, two-bedroom apartment, warm light from an inset balcony floods the living room, which has a curved jade-coloured sofa and a large painting of a grandmother and two children posing in a rural Chinese setting.
蓝翔校长妻子承认生育6子女 10年前被举报未处理_网易新闻中心 Lanxiang Vocational School, famous for claims it is a hub of hacking, has another problem. Its president has admitted to fathering 6 kids
China, Russia urge scientific, technological cooperation via innovation forum – Xinhua Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday extended congratulations on the opening of the 2014 Pujiang Innovation Forum, voicing hope for enhancing bilateral cooperation in the fields of science and technology. The forum, themed “Coordinated Innovation and Sharing Opportunities”, is being held in the coastal city of Shanghai in east China on Oct. 25-26.
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
Hong Kong Stars Face Mainland Backlash Over Support for Protests – NYTimes.com In a commentary published on Wednesday evening, the state news agency Xinhua delivered an ominous rebuke to celebrities backing the protests, warning of possible greater consequences to come. “You have violated the principles of ‘one country, two systems,’ challenged the authority of the Central Party, ignored the Basic Law, and earned fistfuls of cash only to then turn and scold your motherland,” said the commentary, singling out Ms. Ho, Mr. Wong and the Hong Kong actor Chapman To, who have been among the most visible celebrities at the protest sites. “Is this how you treat the country that gave birth to you and raised you?”
Taiwan denies reported leaks of weapons secrets to China – CNA ENGLISH NEWS The ministry acknowledged discovering 14 Chinese espionage cases involving Taiwanese military personnel over the past three years, but it said 12 were uncovered while still at an early stage. The cases did not involve any leaks of classified information on military equipment, it said. The ministry was responding to a report in U.S. media Defense News, which said that “as relations improve between Beijing and Taipei, military morale still continues to fall as fewer Taiwan military officers see a future in an ever-shrinking armed forces.”
TECH AND MEDIA
China’s handset manufacturers: Smartening up their act | The Economist A serious threat to Chinese firms as they head overseas is lawsuits from Apple and Samsung, who themselves have long been entangled in nasty battles over intellectual property (IP). Ben Qiu of Cooley, an American law firm, believes that “Xiaomi is in dangerous waters of potential patent-infringement claims on the international markets.” But he argues that the firm’s clever management team, which includes former Google executives, can navigate these perilous seas because it is well prepared for legal and regulatory battles. He points out that Tencent, a Chinese internet giant, expanded abroad successfully in part because its general counsel is a seasoned Silicon Valley lawyer. In addition to lawyering up, Chinese handset-makers must also build up arsenals of licences from existing patent holders
令完成往事揭秘：投资乐视公司赚逾2亿元|乐视|贾跃亭|投资_
乐视CEO贾跃亭何时能回国？CEO of LeTV Jia Yueting left the country in the midst of regulatory issues, now disclosed that one of his early investors was fund controlled by Ling Jihhua’s recently detained brother Ling Wancheng. LeTV CEO still overseas, no word when he will return
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
It’s a Long Way to the Top (if You Wanna Be a Uighur Pop Star) | TIME For Uighur youth growing up amid marginalization and strife, Ablajan’s story is the stuff of legend. Born and raised in a mud-brick courtyard in one of China’s poorest and most isolated counties, unable to speak Chinese or English until his teens, and lacking training and connections in the music industry, Ablajan somehow made it. To his fans, he symbolizes the possibility of a life that is at once modern, successful and Uighur. He often gives free shows and, during performances, tells kids to study hard and get a good job. “The message is that this is the 21st century,” says Ablajan. “We cannot make a living buying and selling sheep.” Now Ablajan wants to take his music east to the Chinese heartland. He sees his story as proof that there is more to Xinjiang than what you read in the news. He is right, of course, but Xinjiang is a region on edge, and conflict has a way of creeping in.
Perhat, a Gracious Uyghur Rock Star on the Voice of China | the art of life in chinese central asia Perhat has a lot of fans in Ürümchi. Walking around on college campuses it is not unusual to hear Han students humming a few lines of the chorus of “How Can You Let Me Be So Sad” – the song popularized by the Uyghur rock star Perhat on The Voice of China back in August. Uyghur students are in awe of how he has become so famous so quickly. They say things like, “Wow, now Perhat is hanging out with rock stars like Wang Feng who sold out the Bird’s Nest in Beijing; just a few months ago I said hello to him when I saw him buying stuff at the corner store.”
Living it up in a zone of infection: SARS in Beijing, 2003 病区的吃喝玩乐 – YouTube I found this film on a disk when going through some old papers – not sure where I got it from. With Ebola fears growing around the planet, it seems like a good time to remember Beijing under lockdown in the spring of 2003: quarantines, travel bans, road closures, and foreign business people fleeing. The film was made by Ai Weiwei and his younger brother Ai Dan. I asked Ai Weiwei for permission to upload it, and he gave me permission via Twitter direct message.
‘The Storm of Reality’: Chinese Poetic Voices From the Lower Tier of Society – NYTimes.com This week, the second annual Artsbeijing.com International Chinese Poetry Prize startled its own organizers with its number of entries: about 50,000 poems. That is down from the 80,000 submissions at the contest’s inaugural event, but a large number by any reckoning. And while submissions came from all over the country, quite a few — many of the most compelling, according to Yang Lian, an organizer of the event — were from laborers in factories, which are not the usual poetry centers of China.
120 arrested, 1,300 relics seized in Zhejiang’s ‘biggest ever’ tomb-raiding case | South China Morning Post they need to also arrest the auction houses that sell these and the buyers // Authorities there described it as the “biggest ever” case of tomb raiding and artefact trafficking in the province’s history. Shaoxing plays host to hundreds of ancient tombs, some of which are thousands of years old. Archaeologists researching the burial sites first tipped off police to the tomb raiders’ activity, after which a task force was set up to track them down.
BEIJING
An American Drug Dealer in China | Roads & Kingdoms wonder how hard this guy will be to find if police decide to look for him . // During his first six months in Beijing, Rob sold marijuana to between 10 and 15 regular customers. Then he found a “special pharmacy,” where he could buy codeine over the counter. He added that to his list of products. About a year later, he discovered percocet, morphine and oxycodone at the same pharmacy. Now, pain pills are the most popular item he sells, especially the percocet. He prices pills at 5 to 30 yuan each, depending on customer naivete. During one especially fruitful week he sold 1,000 tablets.
Beijing expects to cut pollutants discharge by 1/3 during APEC – Xinhua “China will take the highest-level measures to guarantee the air quality during the APEC meeting,” said Chai Fahe, vice president of the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, on Saturday. “It is expected that the pollutants discharge in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regions will be reduced by 30-40 percent, and the air quality will hopefully be further improved,” he said.
北京蓝天短暂停留两天 29日将再次迎来雾霾(图)_网易新闻中心 wind kicked up early Sunday AM, today is beautiful in Beijing. But another smog storm predicted starting Wednesday
JOBS AND EVENTS
Ian Johnson and Sim Chi Yin on China’s Environment and Religion | Pulitzer Center Wednesday, October 29 7 to 8:30 pm Main Auditorium Nerinx Hall High School 530 E Lockwood Avenue Webster Groves, MO 63119
Surprised (disappointed) to see a plug for Shaun Rein. He’s become infamous for his often slavish defense of CCP authoritarian rule. He also claimed he interviewed 50,000 people for that book, which is ridiculous.
Take it up with PBS if you have an issue.