"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
China goes back to work Monday after the long “Golden Week” holiday and Beijing will be locked down for most of the rest of the month.
The 8th Plenum of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) opens October 9 In Beijing, the 7th and final Plenum of the 18th Party Congress convenes October 11, and the 19th Party Congress starts October 18.
Readers in DC are welcome to attend Lenora Chu’s October 10 talk about her new book Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve. It is at 7PM on the main campus of Sidwell Friends School. The event is free and you can register here.
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The Essential Eight
七集政论专题片《不忘初心 继续前进》 is the official page for the new propaganda documentary (propadoc?) “不忘初心 继续前进”, officially translated as “Be Faithful to Our Original Aspiration and Continue Marching Forward”. There are seven episodes in total, three have run so far, they are all about extolling the achievements since the 18th Party Congress convened in 2012. The propadoc was produced by the Ministry of Propaganda, The Central Party Literature Research Office, The Central Party History Research Office, The National Development and Reform Commission, The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, The Central Military Commission Political Work Department and CCTV (中共中央宣传部、中共中央文献研究室、中共中央党史研究室、国家发展和改革委员会、国家新闻出版广电总局、中央军委政治工作部、中央电视台联合摄制-《不忘初心 继续前进》开播 一起来听主题歌！_凤凰资讯)
The first episode may give us another sign that Xi will get an eponymous theoretical contribution written into the Party Constitution at the 19th Party Congress. Episode One states that the biggest theoretical achievement since the 18th Party Congress is “the spirit of the series of Comrade Xi Jinping’s important speeches and new concepts, new thinking, and new strategies for governing the country and administering state affairs” 十八大以来最重大的理论成果就是习近平总书记系列重要讲话精神和治国理政新理念新思想新战略. That does not roll off the tongue, in Chinese or in English, and as Alice Miller wrote recently in an excellent piece on this issue “the spirit of the series of Comrade Xi Jinping’s important speeches” is not an ideological concept.
Based on what I am seeing in official media and what I am hearing from various people my money is on Xi getting some formulation of an eponymous theoretical contribution written into the Party Constitution at the 19th Party Congress, and it may very well be all or part of this unwieldy phrase.
At this point my money is also on Wang Qishan staying on the 19th Politburo Standing Committee. I have heard arguments that keeping Wang would anger elites, but Xi has already broken so many rules and norms I think we may be well past that. And even if some are angered, Xi has done such a good job of raising the cost of opposition that keeping Wang around is unlikely to be the move that pushes them over the edge.
Getting an eponymous theoretical contribution will be another signal, as the core designation was, that opposing Xi is opposing the Party.
Go Deeper: This page includes 4 minute condensed versions of the first three episodes. the propaganda folks know most people may not want to watch the whole thing– 不忘初心 继续前进
2. US-China Law Enforcement and Cyber Security Dialogue
High-level US-China Talks Focus on Immigration, Fugitives – VOA:
On Wednesday, the U.S. and China held a high-level, bilateral Law Enforcement and Cyber Security Dialogue, one of four such meetings agreed to by President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in April…
U.S. officials had lodged complaints that Beijing is not making enough effort to repatriate illegal Chinese immigrants staying in the United States. Washington also protested that some Chinese security officials used visitor visas to enter the U.S. while conducting official business or attempting to repatriate Chinese fugitives.
Spotlight: Law enforcement, cybersecurity dialogue strengthens China-U.S. cooperation – Xinhua:
In the statement released on Friday outlining the fruitful outcomes of the meeting, the two sides expressed their intention to enhance cooperation on narcotics control and enforcement and gave a nod to continue their implementation of the consensus reached by the Chinese and U.S. presidents in 2015 on China-U.S. cybersecurity cooperation.
China and the United States also consented to develop a repeatable process to verify the identity of illegal immigrants in a timely manner.
PRC readout on the law enforcement and cybersecurity dialogue–首轮中美执法及网络安全对话成果清单-新华网
China ‘not involved’ in cyberattacks on Washington think tank, law firm | South China Morning Post:
The Ministry of Public Security also said in a press release that China had provided evidence to the US government that documents presented by Guo to support some of his allegations against China were forged. It said it would make a formal request to Washington to investigate the matter.
Comment: The event was already postponed by the time the attack hit (I got the email announcing the postponement and clicked through to the web site with no issues) and it was never listed on the website. Seems dumb of Beijing to attack it once the event was postponed.
U.S. Confronts China Over Suspected Cyberattack as Fugitive Guo Wengui Appears in Washington – WSJ:
In the days leading up to his canceled appearance at the Hudson Institute, the Chinese embassy made phone calls to Institute staff warning the think tank not to give Mr. Guo the opportunity to speak, according to several staff members who received such calls.
One scholar with a pending visa application to visit China received a phone call about his submission and was asked to send his colleagues a request from Beijing. “They want Hudson to cancel the Guo Wengui event because he is a criminal and tells lies,”
Comment: Which scholar?
3. Guo Wengui Holds A Press Conference In DC
Comment: Guo is pushing all the right buttons in DC to advance his application for asylum.
Exiled Chinese billionaire blasts ‘kleptocracy’ running China – CNBC
This week representatives of a leading corporate investigative firm provided CNBC with a 12-page dossier on Guo detailing his use of social media to make “allegations against women and his perceived enemies,” and the fact that he “has been subject to accusations of questionable business dealings and the defrauding of business partners.”
The dossier from the firm, which has been retained by a number of clients around the world that have been targets of Guo, also noted “a series of defamation suits” filed in New York City against the billionaire since April.
Comment: Which firm has prepared this dossier, and why does CNBC not name it?
The video of Guo’s press conference, he could have used a better translator-Free Beacon’s Bill Gertz Hosts Press Conference With Chinese Dissident Guo Wengui.
Chinese Fugitive Guo Wengui Amasses War Chest to Battle Beijing – WSJ:
Mr. Guo, who last month applied for political asylum in the U.S., told The Wall Street Journal he has set aside over $150 million for legal fees and other expenses that he expects to incur over the next few years as he battles defamation and other lawsuits and steps up his antigovernment rhetoric.
Comment: Did he put the money into an escrow account and did the Wall Street Journal verify it? If I were a service provider to Guo I would demand large upfront payments, and would immediately cease all work if payments were delayed even a day…
4. More On PRC Influence In Australia
Big political donor has secret Beijing ties, court documents say – The Age:
The allegations involving Chau Chak Wing, an Australian citizen who has also donated $45 million to Australian universities, are detailed in a defamation case in the Federal Court…
The documents also allege that Mr Chau was party to a conspiracy to pay a $200,000 bribe to the president of the United Nations, John Ashe, and that he engaged lobbyist Sheri Yan, “whom he knew to be a corrupt espionage agent of the Chinese government” to help advance the Communist Party’s interests…
The defence filed by Mr Collins, QC, also contrasts Mr Chau’s public denials in a media interview that he had any knowledge of the CCP’s lobbying arm, the United Front Work Department, with photos and other evidence showing Mr Chau meeting with UFWD officials and participating in alleged United Front events and organisations.
Comment: Sheri Yan is in a US jail and her husband Roger Uren, who once worked for Australia’s spy service, may be charged for mishandling classified documents. Feels like the public is seeing just a small tip of the iceberg–Charges loom for ex-intelligence official Roger Uren after ASIO raid.
The Giant Awakens – Vision Times Australia:
We invite over twenty leading China experts and community commentators to discuss their views on the influence of the Chinese government and the resulting impact on Australia as a nation in this spectacular collection of eye witness accounts, personal narratives, opinions and analysis in The Giant Awaken
No, China is not being demonised – Lowy Interpreter:
It is not demonising China to report what the Chinese government says about itself: that it is a wealthy and powerful Communist Party state that has no time for democratic accountable government, no independent courts, security, or media, that denies universal adult political participation, that offers no protection for the exercise of fundamental rights of freedom of speech, religion or assembly. In China this is called guoqing. There are no plans to change anytime soon. Similarly, querying the behaviour of a few named and alleged influence peddlers from China no more tarnishes the reputation of all Chinese Australians than querying the conduct of Putin’s agents in Washington impugns the loyalty of all Russian Americans.
Go Deeper: The latest Qiushi has a piece on studying Xi’s important thinking on the United Front, written by the “Marxist Theory Research and Construction Project Important Practice And Experience Summary Research Group 马克思主义理论研究和建设工程重大实践经验总结课题组” [I am open to a better translation…]–凝心聚力 开创统一战线事业新局面-— 深入学习习近平总书记关于统一战线的重要思想 – 2017年09月30日 来源： 求是. This gives some context to the activities in Australia and other countries.
5. Beijing Has Limited Military Options To “Reunify” Taiwan
Peter Mattis has written the most sensible review of the new book The Chinese Invasion Threat: Taiwan’s Defense and American Strategy in Asia.
Optimism for Taiwan’s Defense: A Review of ‘The Chinese Invasion Threat’ – Taiwan Sentinel:
One might therefore be forgiven for thinking that Taiwan’s continued independence depends solely on whether and when Beijing decides to order the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to attack to Taiwan and whether the U.S. will come to its assistance. Taiwan’s choices are irrelevant; its future therefore left to fate and the whims of others. This kind of attitude leads to moral and political degeneration, casting a pall of defeatism and opening the door for Beijing’s relentless subversive efforts. It allows the leaders of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Kuomintang (KMT) to point fingers at each other over national defense rather than fixing the problems that both sides know exist.
Such views, however, are born of ignorance. As Ian Easton, a research fellow at the Project 2049 Institute in Arlington, Virginia, argues in his insightful new book The Chinese Invasion Threat: Taiwan’s Defense and American Strategy in Asia, the practical realities of an amphibious invasion of Taiwan — which would be necessary for an occupation of the island-nation — challenge the PLA in fundamental ways.
What will Xi Jinping say about Taiwan at the 19th Party Congress?-Richard Bush, Brookings Institute:
Because of the institutional process that produces the general secretary’s report, observers will need to read the whole section on Taiwan, not just focus on the most eye-catching parts. Whether Xi reiterates the common elements of past reports will be important, as will how he puts his personal stamp on the Taiwan issue. Will he acknowledge that China has not successfully made its case to the public in democratic Taiwan? Just as important as what he says and doesn’t say will be his attitude: how will he seek to refute, deflect, or affirm the attitudes of the delegates before him? That is, can he convince skeptics that past policy is not failing? Or will he accept the criticism and try something new?
6. Two Good Podcasts On PRC Censorship And The Struggle Against “Historical Nihilism”
On August 17, 2017, the global community of China scholars erupted in outrage over one particular and unusual case of censorship in China — the decision of Cambridge University Press (CUP) to comply with requests to censor 315 articles deemed sensitive by the Chinese government.
Chinoiresie | LRP#14: Muzzling the Academy: Policemen, Spooks, and Vanishing Archives:
With censorship and intimidation reaching ever-greater levels of intensity, some are even drawing comparisons with Emperor Qianlong’s literary inquisition of the eighteenth century. Louisa and Graeme are joined by Glenn Tiffert from the Hoover Institution, Dayton Lekner from the University of Melbourne, and Timothy Cheek and Morgan Rocks from the University of British Columbia to discuss their recent experiences researching China.
7. The Trump Administration’s Reject Of Multilateralism Keeps Expanding China’s Period Of Strategic Opportunity
As U.S. Retreats From World Organizations, China Steps in to Fill the Void | Foreign Policy:
The push reflects Beijing’s desire to project a more visible “soft power” profile around the world and fill a political void left by an American administration that has grown skeptical of multilateralism…
The fight over control of UNESCO, an agency that Chinese President Xi Jinping has been keenly interested in since he took office, isn’t just about overseeing world heritage sites and educational programs. Chinese officials also see UNESCO as a vehicle to regulate the global internet.
China, Brazil, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela and others pressed UNESCO back in 2013 to position itself “strategically in the international debates concerning cyberspace in the coming years.” And Tang said that he hopes that UNESCO can provide a stage for the world to wrestle with how to strike the proper balance between free expression, privacy, and the need to prevent abuses of the internet by extremists.
8. China Details In New Yorker Story On Secretary Of State Rex Tillerson
Dexter Filkins has a long story on Tillerson–Rex Tillerson at the Breaking Point–in The New Yorker that has some interesting China details.
We learn that Steve Bannon blocked the appointment of Susan Thornton as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs because he saw her as too soft on China:
Steve Bannon told me that he had personally scuttled Tillerson’s choice of Susan Thornton to be Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Thornton is a career diplomat, and a fluent speaker of Chinese and Russian, but in Bannon’s view she had not been tough enough on China’s trade policies. “She’s not hawkish enough toward China,” he told me. “I had to throw myself in front of her.”..
Tillerson’s parroting of Beijing’s formulation on his first visit to China as Secretary of State was actually a screwup:
In March, Tillerson made his first visit as Secretary of State to Beijing, where he tried to persuade the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, to force North Korea to acquiesce by squeezing its economy. According to an official who was briefed on the meeting, the encounter was uneventful, until the end, when Tillerson made a striking diplomatic slip: he told the Chinese that he was hoping for a relationship with “no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win coöperation.” Chinese officials saw it as a recognition of their country’s equal status in the Pacific—or, more cynically, as an admission that the U.S. would not resist its aggressive moves in the region. “Tillerson’s words came as a surprise, to the delight of many in Beijing but to the dismay of some in Washington,” China Daily, a Communist Party newspaper, reported. The slip did not go unnoticed among American observers. “He had not adequately consulted the experts when he went into those talks,” the senior Administration official told me.
But the Trump Administration does deserve credit for pressuring the Chinese into moving more on North Korea than they have in years, something I have also heard from people on the Chinese side:
Since then, though, Tillerson and others in the Administration have maintained pressure on the Chinese. A South Korean official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, praised the approach. “No previous Administration has been willing to put the relationship with China at risk. Trump has. We think that’s good.” A former senior official in the Obama Administration also endorsed the idea of focussing on China. “Our policy failed,” he said. “My impression is that Tillerson is getting North Korea policy about right.”
Business, Economy And Trade
China’s steel industry PMI retreats in September – Xinhua The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the steel industry came in at 53.7 last month, down from 57.2 in August, according to the report by the Steel Logistics Professional Committee under the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.
In Historic Shift, MSCI China Close to Erasing Shanghai Gap – Bloomberg The MSCI China Index trades at 17.4 times reported earnings, compared with 17.5 for the Shanghai Composite Index. The gap is the narrowest since July 2014, just before a rally in mainland equities swelled valuations to twice that of offshore shares. MSCI’s gauge hasn’t been more expensive than Shanghai’s since Bloomberg started tracking the data in 1997.
Martha Stewart-Style Trading Scandal Nears Quiet End for Tarnished Chinese Prodigy – Caixin Global Li Yinan, now 47, was in headlines as recently as last week, when a court upheld his conviction that carried a 2 1/2 year jail sentence for insider trading. He will have served that time as of December, leaving him to resume his life after a scandal that saw him go from high-tech superstar to financial criminal, according to the website Sina.com.
China’s sovereign wealth fund hits 900 bln USD – Xinhua The figure is more than triple the original capital of 249 billion U.S. dollars when the fund was founded a decade ago. It has grown quickly to become the world’s second-largest SWF, only after the Government Pension Fund of Norway, whose assets reached one trillion dollars last month. CIC has generated an annual return of 14.35 percent, with that from overseas investment at 5.51 percent.
U.S. Delays Key Commerce Decision on China Until After Trump’s Trip – Bloomberg The Commerce Department has deferred a decision on whether China should be treated as a market economy until after President Donald Trump’s visit to the Asian nation next month.
热点城市网签跌近8成 成近三年楼市最惨淡黄金周 | 每经App “Golden Week” home sales in top 30 cities off 80% from a year ago, at lowest level since 2013
Politics And Law
Some problems with China’s domestic violence warning system – China Law Translate One major innovation in China’s Domestic Violence Law[i] is the written warning (告诫书) system, which allows for state intervention in domestic violence even before it has reached the level of a punishable offense. When responding to a domestic violence call, but not finding a punishable offense, the system allows police to create a detailed incident record which is sent to community organizations and local law enforcement. These organizations are then empowered to make home visits to monitor for domestic violence and provide counseling. The written warnings can also be used as evidence in any future civil and criminal trials arising from the domestic violence.
Six Decades of CCP Congress Reports | China Media Project: With that in mind, here are downloadable links to each political report since the 8th National Congress of the CCP in September 1956, spanning more than 60 years. Of the English-language reports at left, all are Word files with the exception of the file for the 13th National Congress, which is available only in PDF.
Chinese online discussions undermine official ideology – Mercator Institute for China Studies A new publication by the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) shows widely differing views within Chinese society on China’s developmental model and the country’s global role. For their report, “Ideas and ideologies competing for China’s future,” Kristin Shi-Kupfer, Mareike Ohlberg, Simon Lang and Bertram Lang analyzed debates in Chinese social media and conducted a survey among predominantly urban Chinese netizens. The researchers examined debates on topics ranging from the South China Sea to the role of the state in the economy and the influence of “Western” ideas in China’s education system.
China Law Society establishes research center for Party regulations – Xinhua The center will become a think tank that researches regulations of the Communist Party of China, said the CLS. CLS President Wang Lequan said the center demonstrated that the CLS is strengthening research into socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics and Party governance.
China Focus: China’s anti-graft drive wins people’s trust – Xinhua More than 70,000 officials at or above the county-head level have been investigated for suspected corruption since the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress in 2012, the top anti-graft body of the CPC said Saturday…According to the CCDI, 1.34 million township-level and 648,000 Party members and officials in rural areas were also punished during that period…By the end of 2016, 155,300 violations against the eight-point code on frugality and maintaining close links with the masses had been investigated. Among the violations, 78.2 percent took place in 2013 and 2014, 15.1 percent took place in 2015, and 6.7 percent in 2016, indicating marked decreases each year. // CCDI Infographic with this data and more 有腐必反，有贪必肃形成反腐败斗争压倒性态势
开拓当代马克思主义政治经济学的新境界 “Autumn Stone” in the latest Qiushi on breaking new ground in the development of Marxist Political economy // 马克思主义政治经济学是马克思主义的重要组成部分，是坚持和发展马克思主义的必修课。党的十八大以来，习近平总书记高度重视马克思主义政治经济学的学习、研究和运用，在经济建设中提出了一系列重大战略思想，在理论上不断拓展新视野、作出新概括，为推动中国经济持续健康发展提供了科学指南，开拓了当代马克思主义政治经济学的新境界。
确立中国特色监察体系的创制之举–新闻报道-人民网 深化监察体制改革是确立中国特色监察体系的创制之举，是对中国监察制度的继承与发展，是对权力制约体制的新探索。监察机关既不是行政机关也不是司法机关，而是代表党和国家行使监督权，这与西方“三权分立”下的监察制度完全不同。“我们必须坚定‘四个自信’，从中华民族历史文化中汲取智慧，从实际出发，走出一条适合历史传统和现实国情的道路。”中央有关部门负责人说。 《 人民日报 》（ 2017年10月07日 01 版）
Foreign And Defense Affairs
U.S. Intelligence Sees China’s Military Expanding Bases Globally – Bloomberg “China has the fastest-modernizing military in the world next to the United States,” according to insights provided Thursday by U.S. intelligence officials, who asked not to be identified discussing the information. That will create “new areas of intersection — and potentially conflicting — security interests between China and the United States and other countries abroad,” according to the officials.
What’s in the New China Military Aid to the Philippines? | The Diplomat Though that assistance – which also includes other aid for the Marawi crisis more specifically – remains quite limited compared to that of Manila’s traditional partners like the United States, it is significant because, as Lorenzana himself noted, Philippine attempts to get these guns from the United States had earlier been complicated by concerns by Congress about human rights abuses. China’s growing security role in the Philippines is a storyline that we will likely continue to see in the coming months.
China and Russia’s Dangerous Entente – WSJ Chinese and Russian leaders won’t always agree, but their deepening cooperation and mistrust of the U.S. is here to stay. Unfortunately, American leaders have shown few signs that they know how to navigate this new reality, let alone manage the competition among great powers as non-Western countries grown in stature. –Mr. Gabuev is a senior fellow and chairman of the Russia in Asia-Pacific Program at the Carnegie Moscow Center.
US Commission Doubts the Viability of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ Model in Hong Kong | The Diplomat On October 5, the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), an independent agency with a mandate from Congress to monitor human rights in China, released its 2017 annual report (PDF) and announced intention to nominate Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement for the Nobel Peace Prize. In particular, CECC doubted the viability of the “one country, two systems” model in Hong Kong. On October 6 the Hong Kong government demanded that the CECC not to interfere in Hong Kong’s affairs.
Downing Street denies Theresa May has delayed China trip because Beijing snubbed her in favour of Donald Trump Number 10 say a long-awaited trade mission in November had not been formally agreed
Patrols In Doklam For Protecting Territory, Says China – NDTV India, meanwhile, said there were “no new developments” at the face-off site and its vicinity in Doklam along the India-China border and status quo continues.
NKorean workers prep seafood going to US stores, restaurants – AP HUNCHUN, China (AP) — The workers wake up each morning on metal bunk beds in fluorescent-lit Chinese dormitories, North Koreans outsourced by their government to process seafood that ends up in American stores and homes. Privacy is forbidden. They cannot leave their compounds without permission. They must take the few steps to the factories in pairs or groups, with North Korean minders ensuring no one strays. They have no access to telephones or email. And they are paid a fraction of their salaries, while the rest — as much as 70 percent — is taken by North Korea’s government.
新华社、解放军报推出长篇综述：《谱写国防动员建设新篇章》 – 中华人民共和国国防部 in the 9th installment of the series on building a strong army, Xinhua and PLA Daily extol improvements in National defense Mobilization Construction
Hong Kong, Macao And Taiwan
Macau Casinos Drop as Golden Week Visitor Numbers Disappoint – Bloomberg “Casinos, shops and restaurants inside the resorts were not crowded in the last few days. It’s just like a regular Saturday night performance, definitely not a ‘Golden Week’-type busy,” said Ben Lee, a Macau-based managing partner at Asian gaming consultancy IGamiX. “We are scrambling to find out what happened.”
Tech And Media
Minitrue: Delete References to Korean Film “A Taxi Driver” – China Digital Times (CDT) South Korean historical drama “A Taxi Driver” (택시운전사), which debuted on August 2, is inspired by the story of an unidentified Seoul cabbie who in desperate need of a fare takes a German journalist on the long ride into Gwanju, where the two navigate the violent military crackdown on the May 18, 1980 Gwanju Uprising.
Chinese state media report bloated battery in Apple’s iPhone 8 – Reuters On its website on Thursday, China’s state-backed ThePaper.cn cited an iPhone buyer surnamed Liu as saying his newly purchased iPhone 8 Plus arrived cracked open on Oct. 5. There was no sign of scorching or an explosion.
Real-Time Recognition of Handwritten Chinese Characters Spanning a Large Inventory of 30,000 Characters – Apple Handwriting recognition is more important than ever given the prevalence of mobile phones, tablets, and wearable gear like smartwatches. The large symbol inventory required to support Chinese handwriting recognition on such mobile devices poses unique challenges. This article describes how we met those challenges to achieve real-time performance on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch (in Scribble mode). Our recognition system, based on deep learning, accurately handles a set of up to 30,000 characters.
Why ‘Flipped News’ Spells Danger for China’s Media Landscape – Sixth Tone “Flipped news,” or fanzhuan xinwen, is an approach to publishing ongoing news stories. Media outlets typically run an initial piece containing a limited amount of information about the event and then continually publish updates to the story. Flipped news is different from traditional forms of breaking news because it is not limited to the bare facts of an incident; instead, it encompasses “raw” forms of human experience, like eyewitness accounts and subjective claims from bystanders.
Society, Art, Sports, Culture And History
Online Outrage After University Professor Brutally Beats up Female Street Cleaner | What’s on Weibo On October 4th, a netizen from Tianjin (@查派017) posted about a violent incident he witnessed that involved a female street cleaner and two persons, one being a professor from the Shaanxi University of Science and Technology. The two allegedly beat up a female sanitation worker for blocking their way on a road outside the university campus in Xi’an. The person’s Weibo post about the incident was shared over 93,000 times within 24 hours, attracting ten thousands of comments from angry netizens.
From Innovation to Provocation, China’s Artists on a Global Path – The New York Times Strange to say, although China has 1.4 billion people, it has only one artist, Ai Weiwei. Or so you’d think if you followed the Western news media. “Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World” at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum wants to correct that impression. With work by some 70 Chinese-born artists and collectives filling most of the museum, it’s the largest American survey of its kind since Asia Society’s “Inside Out: New Chinese Art” in 1998. // Comment: Spouse went to the opening party, said it is a very interesting show
Beijing Olympics organizers prepare 3 Alpine skiing courses – ESPN Organizers of Alpine skiing at the 2022 Beijing Olympics are ahead of schedule creating three courses on two mountains. Course designer Bernhard Russi said Friday one of the courses is “completely ideal” for individual and team events in parallel racing. // Comment: There may be no real snow there but everything will be built far in advance and will work…
Alibaba Scores Sports Tie-Up With U.S. Pac-12 College League – Caixin Global Under the deal, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will get first-time distribution rights for content from Pac-12 Networks across linear and digital channels through 2024, according to Pac-12, a conference of major U.S. universities whose members include Stanford, University of Southern California, University of Utah, and University of California, Los Angeles. The deal covers most of the major U.S. sports, including football, men’s basketball, track and field and beach volleyball.
Under Pressure: Chinese Full-Time Mothers Demand Time Off | What’s on Weibo The story of a full-time mother who was slammed by her husband and mother-in-law for asking some ‘time off’ for traveling during the national holiday has gone viral on Chinese social media. Her account strucks a chord with other stay-at-home moms, who face difficulties in being a full-time mother in a society where family responsibilities are shifting.
Energy, Environment, Science And Health
In China, Hospitals Are Calling In Dr. Robot – Caixin Global Doctors are still at the center of medical treatment, with AI playing only a supporting role. But the promising industry, in which AI medical care startups in China alone raised more than 18 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) by the end of August, has attracted many big names, both home and abroad, to explore opportunities.
Suicide of Woman in Labor Prompts Chinese Hospitals to Rethink Pain Management – Caixin Global Less than 10 percent of natural births in China were carried out under epidural analgesia to reduce pain, compared to about 80% in the U.S., due to a shortage of aestheticians, especially at public hospitals, Song Xingrong, director of the anesthesia department at Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, told China Daily. The country had 85,000 aestheticians in 2016, but hospitals required about 300,000, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
Gates Foundation Harnesses Chinese Private Sector to Bring Financial Services to World’s Poor – Caixin Global Caixin spoke with Jane Xing, deputy director for Program Related Investment at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s China Office, to learn about how the foundation’s mandate has changed over the years and how it allocates resources and evaluates risks.
China sprints ahead in CRISPR therapy race | Science $$ CRISPR, the wildly popular genome-editing research tool, was invented in the West, but it is speeding toward potential human applications in China. Last week, the Chinese team that sparked a worldwide debate in 2015 when it reported the first use of CRISPR to edit a human embryo’s genome notched another first. In early embryos, they showed that a new CRISPR variant, which chemically modifies rather than cuts DNA, can correct the mutation causing a debilitating blood disease. But the most striking evidence of progress in China can be found on the clinicaltrials.gov database: Of the 10 listed trials of CRISPR in patients, nine are in China, where streamlined safety and ethical reviews have given researchers a head start. Three of the groups confirmed to Science that they are infusing cancer patients with their own immune cells modified using CRISPR.
Food And Travel
Over 100 million railway trips made during National Day holiday – Xinhua People in China have made about 105 million trips by railway since the holiday travel rush started on Sept. 28, the China Railway Corporation (CRC) said Saturday. The National Day holiday has been extended to eight days this year to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Cake Festival, which fell on Oct. 4.
Books And Literature
“The Mongol Would-be Self-Immolator”：An excerpt from “Mongolia,” a novel by Guo Xuebo – 非漂 (fēi piāo) The excerpt from Mongolia below treats comically two taboo topics almost never mentioned in Chinese news reports or fiction: The exploitation of traditional Mongolian pasture lands by ruthless coal mining firms, and the use of self-immolation by China’s ethnic minorities to protest government policies aimed at acculturation.
Beijing
Rich and Poor Are Neighbors — but Divided by Walls – Caixin Global In Fengtai district in southern Beijing, residents have locked horns over a gated wall that separates those living in a cluster of affordable houses known as Yupu Home Garden from those in the upscale homes in Xichen Yuanzhu…Residents who moved into the Yupu Home Garden in March have been petitioning regulators and the company that manages buildings on both sides to unlock the gate and even demolish the wall so they can enjoy the lush and leafy garden and parking spaces of their wealthy neighbors..
Jobs And Events
Seventh Annual China Defense and Security Conference Tickets, Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 8:30 AM | Eventbrite Over the past two years the Chinese Military’s activity in the East China Sea has increased dramatically. Meanwhile, the joint theater commands created in December 2015 have had a over a year to be stood up and staffed appropriately. This years’ conference will examine the PLA’s progress toward building an effective joint force, and what this means for U.S. interests and those of our allies in the East China Sea.
Digital China: What Are China’s Leaders & Scholars Saying About Their Plans for Cyberspace? October 17, 2017 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm in DC
Assessing the Resiliency of the Chinese Communist Party – Project 2049 Thu, Oct 12, 2017 at 1:30 PM in DC
U.S.-Taiwan relations under Trump and Tsai (and Xi) Thursday, Oct 12, 2017 1:30 PM in DC
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