"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Happy Tuesday…Cambridge University Press reversed its decision to acquiesce to Beijing’s censorship request. The push to censor the China Quarterly content is part of the campaign against “Historical Nihilism” and also part of the broader information war the the CCP is increasingly waging outside its borders. Australia has woken up to the information war and the rest of the West is slowly coming around. There is lots of talk in DC of China and economic war, but do not be surprised to see the Trump administration take more aggressive steps to counter Beijing’s information operations in the US. Pushing back on Beijing efforts in this realm would be a fairly easy win for the president.
The Essential Eight
1. Cambridge University Press Reverses Decision To Censor The China Quarterly
Comment: Will Cambridge University Press’ resolve last in the face of the inevitable Beijing backlash?
The China Quarterly follow-up statement | Cambridge University Press:
Academic freedom is the overriding principle on which the University of Cambridge is based. Therefore, while this temporary decision was taken in order to protect short-term access in China to the vast majority of the Press’s journal articles, the University’s academic leadership and the Press have agreed to reinstate the blocked content, with immediate effect, so as to uphold the principle of academic freedom on which the University’s work is founded.
Another academic journal published by the Cambridge University Press says the Chinese authorities requested the publisher remove articles deemed sensitive about China from its mainland website…
The Journal of Asian Studies said the Chinese authorities had requested its publisher remove about 100 articles from its website in mainland China. The request was refused.
Cambridge University censorship U-turn is censored by China | The Guardian:
Chinese internet users also praised Cambridge’s support for academic freedom, with its Weibo post drawing more than 2,600 shares and 525 overwhelmingly approving comments. “Cambridge University has backbone – academic freedom cannot be threatened by political persecution,” wrote one. Another commented: “What a brilliant decision! Well done Cambridge!”
However, less than 12 hours after the Weibo statement was posted – at about 12.20am local time in China – it had disappeared, apparently scrubbed from the Chinese internet by censors. Those trying to access the post instead found the message: “Sorry, this article has been deleted.”
Tim Pringle, editor of The China Quarterly, wrote an OpEd in The Guardian–China’s bid to block my journal’s articles is a new attack on academic freedom:
This attempt to deny access might – just might – be the result of over-reach by Chinese censorship bodies such as the recently created General Administration of Press and Publication. But I fear it is the outcome of a much stronger shade of authoritarian government that excludes voices from outside the party-led system. The evidence of new regulatory, and apparently ideological, constraints on academic freedom and public engagement in China that have emerged since 2012 – under the leadership of Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang – suggest that the parlous state of affairs with regard to academic freedom is policy-driven. What is unprecedented is that its reach has now stretched to international institutions such as Cambridge University Press.
Burn the Books, Bury the Scholars! – China Heritage – Geremie R. Barmé:
As a senior academic working on China, and later as founding director of a major China research institution, I’ve sat through my fair share of meetings with academocrats obsessed with international rankings, income streams and their beloved business models.
As I’ve followed the furore surrounding CUP’s self-censorship of China Quarterly (a journal for which I, like so many international colleagues, have acted as a peer reviewer, and one in which I have also published work), I could all but hear the academic number crunchers working behind the scenes with the lofty CUP and Cambridge executive administrators
Comment: Interesting that LexisNexis didn’t seem to have the confusion that Cambridge University Press had.
LexisNexis withdrew two products from Chinese market – Reuters:
“Earlier this year LexisNexis Business Insight Solutions in China was asked to remove some content from its database,” LexisNexis said in a statement. “In March 2017, the company withdrew two products (Nexis and LexisNexis Academic) from the Chinese market.”
2. Rule By Law For Rights Lawyers, Jiang Tianyong Goes On Trial
Activist Confesses to Subversion in Chinese Show Trial – New York Times:
The attorney, Jiang Tianyong, was well known for his vociferous support of dissidents amid a nationwide crackdown on dissent. But at his trial in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province in southern China, which was streamed live on the internet and shown on television news, a soft-spoken Mr. Jiang appeared defeated.
He pleaded guilty to inciting subversion of the state, voiced contrition in a calm, practiced voice, and asked for mercy. His wife and supporters said his confession was forced and possibly the result of torture after nearly a year in secret detention.
Jiang admitted to have gone overseas for workshops five times over the years. “The workshops were mainly about Western constitutional system. They had an impact on me, helping develop ideas of overthrowing China’s [socialist] system and implementing the Western system in China. All these have motivated me to attack the Chinese government and its judicial organs,” Jiang said in court.
江天勇煽动颠覆国家政权案一审：当庭认罪悔罪，否认遭酷刑_一号专案_澎湃新闻-The Paper:
8月22日上午，湖南长沙中级人民法院公开开庭审理了江天勇涉嫌煽动颠覆国家政权案。对于公诉机关指控的罪名和四项事实，江天勇均表示无异议，他还多次表示认罪忏悔，对其在被监视居住期间遭受“酷刑”的谣言予以否认，并承认他是“谢阳遭受酷刑”谣言的幕后策划者。
3. Yuan Stable For Now, So Long As Real Reforms Deferred?
Why the Chinese Yuan’s Hot Streak Will Cool Off – WSJ:
Sheng Songcheng, a senior adviser at the People’s Bank of China, said it is ”entirely possible” that by the end of the year the currency will have recouped all of last year’s losses, ending 2017 at around 6.5 yuan per dollar…
Some reform-minded officials and academics have urged the leadership to act now, arguing the current stability provides an opportunity to let markets play a bigger role in the yuan’s direction. But others said it isn’t likely that any substantial step to liberalize the currency will come in a key political year.
Editorial: It’s the Right Time for Further Tweaks to the Yuan Fix – Caixin Global – Hu Shuli:
It is not easy to find the right time to make further exchange rate reforms. But the opportunity also goes by quickly. The time window for reform has been opened, now that the downward pressure on Chinese economy has been easing, the risks of financial markets have been receding, and the bullish performance of the U.S. dollar in the past two years may come to an end. At least the timing is much better than it was in August 2015.
Development follows the introduction of facial recognition technology at Macau ATMs and a surge in Hong Kong China UnionPay ATM withdrawals
4. Is China One Of The Biggest Risks To Bitcoin?
China’s two biggest bitcoin exchanges, Huobi and OKCoin, collectively invested around 1 billion yuan ($150 million) of idle client funds into “wealth management products“—which are often high-yielding and risky—for their own gain, state newswire Xinhua reported on Aug. 17 (link in Chinese), citing an investigation by the People’s Bank of China. On the same day that the investigation was reported, bitcoin hit an all-time high of $4,500.
Yesterday (Aug. 21) Xinhua also published a rare commentary (link in Chinese) warning against bitcoin’s recent price surge. “New things are developing so fast that regulations must keep pace,” the article said, calling on the government to shut down dubious bitcoin exchanges and to “never be soft” on them.
China’s bitcoin mining scene is catching the eye of the government – TechInAsia:
Today, Chinese mines not only seek out cheap electricity, but also stability and scale. So instead of siphoning surplus electricity from hydropower stations in Sichuan, say, during the rainy season, larger mines are now partnering with local governments for a steady but discounted supply of energy from the State Grid, China’s state-owned electricity utility.
5. Technology Billionaires Believe The Realization of Communism Still Possible?
Tycoons spark discussion on realization of communism – Global Times:
Liu Qiangdong, founder and CEO of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, triggered an online debate recently after he suggested in an interview that with technological advances, China can fully realize a communist society, with neither poor nor rich people and all companies being nationalized.
In the past, many people believed that communism is idealistic, “but with the technologies we have laid out in the last two or three years, I have come to recognize that communism can indeed be achieved in our generation,” Liu said in an interview that was recorded in November 2016 and aired by online business news site Yicai over the weekend [刘强东：共产主义将在我们这代实现 公司全部国有化 ]…
Besides Liu, Jack Ma, founder and chairman of the Alibaba Group, said in May that the planned economy will become larger, and that “with access to all kinds of data, we may be able to find the invisible hand of the market.”
“It is common sense that private capital, like Liu and Ma’s businesses, and communism are incompatible, but Liu and Ma’s discussion on communism is important and should be seriously considered,” Wu Bo, a research fellow at the Academy for Social Sciences Evaluation under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), told the Global Times on Monday
刘强东回应”共产主义”言论：被断章取义 勿过分解读_手机网易网-Liu says his remarks were taken out of context
Meanwhile, here are pictures of Liu Qiangdong’s wife with a foreign bodyguard and chauffeured Maybach. Has Liu asked her if she wants to realize Communism? 京东掌门人刘强东老婆外出很排场，老外保镖护驾300万豪车护送
6. Technology May Or May Not Enable The Realization Of Communism, But It Will Enable Beijing To Build A True Digital Panopticon
Managing the State: Social Credit, Surveillance and the CCP’s Plan for China | Jamestown:
Social management itself is not a new concept and dates to the PRC’s founding in 1949, when it was first integrated into the CCP’s discussion of law and social order. The concept became increasingly prominent in the Party leadership’s rhetoric between the late 1990s and early 2000s. When the 12th Five-Year Plan for National and Social Development was released in March 2011, social management was enshrined as a key objective (China.com.cn, March 16, 2011). In the plan, the Party set targets for speeding up the construction of a social management system that combined governance measures to address problems at their source, dynamic management, and emergency response—while adhering to the core leadership of the Party…
Chinese information technology research and development, including the priorities outlined in the artificial intelligence plan, are interesting on their own because they mark advances in important research areas. But, as the language of the AI development plan indicates, these advances cannot be separated from Beijing’s social management and state security policy. Applied to the social management process, they are aimed at improving governance capacity—automating the “carrot” and “stick” processes that ensure the Party-state’s power. Senior CCP leadership hopes that through automation the Party will be able to more effectively anticipate and react to emerging problems, pre-empting a crisis before they become serious threats to stability.
7. Beijing Will Solve Its Air Pollution Problem
Beijing close to meeting PM2.5 goal – China Daily:
Comment: With Xi’s focus on redefining Beijing, the 2022 Winter Olympics and the former Minister of Environmental Protection Chen Jining as the new mayor, Beijing is very likely to have good air in the next couple of years. Those who fled to Shanghai may want to move back…
Beijing has seen a significant reduction in PM2.5 as a five-year campaign against air pollution nears its end.
The level of PM2.5 – fine particulate matter with diameter 2.5 microns or less that can be hazardous to health – declined by 34.7 percent in the first seven months of the year, compared with the same period in 2013, the municipal environment bureau said on Monday.
However, the pressure is still on the municipal government to meet the goal of reducing the average PM2.5 concentration to 60 micrograms per cubic meter, as the average PM2.5 concentration last year was 73.
Beijing to offer comprehensive support for construction of Xiongan New Area – Xinhua:
The agreements were signed after a group of the city’s leaders and heads from Beijing’s different districts, departments and state-owned enterprises paid a visit to the new area on Thursday. The agreements focus on eight areas namely working mechanisms, scientific and technological innovations, transportation, ecology, industry, public services, construction plans, and talent exchanges.
中央在京部分行政事业单位将落户雄安 – 国内 – 新京报网 “河北雄安新区主要承接的是：中央在京部分行政事业单位、总部企业、金融机构、高等院校、科研院所等；北京城市副中心则主要发展的是行政办公、高端商务、文化旅游等。”昨天，北京市发改委相关负责人介绍，三地协同办研究制定了《关于加强京津冀产业转移承接重点平台建设意见》，明确了北京“两翼”发展定位。
8. Alipay Caught Stealing WeChat Code
Alipay Apologizes to Rival WeChat for Copying ‘Mini Apps’ Code – SixthTone:
On microblog platform Weibo, tech blogger Feng Dahui posted a screenshot of a coding template in the developers’ guide for Alipay’s mini apps that included the names of three developers from the WeChat mini app team. Feng, who has more than 1.7 million Weibo followers, worked for Alipay as a database architect from 2005 to 2010.
In an apology posted on Zhihu, China’s popular question-and-answer website, Alipay admitted that their own developers had “directly copied WeChat’s coding templates.”
Business, Economy And Trade
China’s ‘big four’ banks raise billions for Belt and Road deals – sources The people said China Construction Bank Corp (CCB) (601939.SS) (0939.HK), the country’s second-biggest bank by assets, was raising at least 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) for a fund to specifically finance Belt and Road investment. The people added CCB was raising cash onshore and offshore, and has already been running roadshows with investors. Bank of China (BOC) (601988.SS) (3988.HK), another major state bank, aims to raise around 20 billion yuan for a similar fund, according to two of the people.
Military Giant Poly Group Takes Over Two SOEs – Caixin Global (Beijing) — Military giant Poly Group Corp. is taking over two state-owned trading companies of light industrial products, helping the Chinese government reach its goal for the year early and slim down the number of SOEs to 99. The two companies — Sinolight Corp. and China National Arts & Crafts (Group) Corp. — have been completely transferred to Poly Group, without financial transactions, the government supervisor over SOEs said Tuesday. Sprawling Poly Group businesses include defense manufacturing, real estate, cinemas, film distribution and art auctioning.
Why You’ll Hear More on Mixed Ownership in China: QuickTake Q&A – Bloomberg Mixed ownership is China’s way of describing the sale of minority stakes in state-owned companies to private investors. The idea — or at least the hope — is to make these state-owned enterprises more efficient without surrendering state control.
Wanda Walks Away From London Land Purchase Amid China Scrutiny – Bloomberg Wanda’s International Real Estate Center is no longer in pursuit of the 10-acre Nine Elms Square land, the Chinese company said in a statement to Bloomberg on Tuesday. Hours later, Guangzhou R&F Properties Co. said it and C C Land Holdings Ltd., the owner of London’s Cheesegrater tower, replaced Wanda as the buyers of the Nine Elms land.
中国民生银行首席信息官林晓轩接受组织审查——中央纪委监察部网站 Minsheng Bank CIO Lin Xiaoxuan under investigation
China, Like U.S., Struggles to Revive Industrial Heartland – The New York Times But as China’s investment binge fizzled, Shenyang and its factories sputtered. Last year, the economy of the northeastern province of Liaoning, of which Shenyang is the capital, shrank 2.5 percent — a shocking figure in a country accustomed to seemingly endless expansion. Other major cities have sped ahead of Shenyang in the development of the high-tech and service companies expected to propel China’s future growth.
UnionPay, Third-Party Clearinghouse Clash in China’s Race to Go Cashless – Caixin Global For now, the online clearinghouse is responsible for transactions that are linked to commercial bank accounts, while UnionPay handles payments that are linked to bank cards, the People’s Bank of China has said. But in the future, third-party payment providers will be able to choose to settle transactions through either UnionPay or the online clearinghouse, a central bank official told Caixin.
Chinese authorities seize equipment from South Korean retail giant Lotte as tensions over missile defence shield continue | South China Morning Post Inspectors from the Beijing Development and Reform Commission have seized a total of 23 pump motors and four power transformers from two Lotte Mart stores in the capital city in the wake of a special crackdown on energy consumption, the Beijing Evening News reported. The equipment, which the authorities said failed to meet the city’s power conservation standards, will be dismantled and all the components will go under the hammer, the report added.
China Cash Squeeze Lurks Again as $340 Billion NCDs Come Due – Bloomberg The flood of maturities comes at an especially challenging time for the nation’s interbank market, with lenders hoarding cash every September to satisfy quarter-end regulatory checks. Money rates spiked in April and May, with the government rolling out a range of deleveraging measures. Markets felt the squeeze again in June amid regulatory requirements that helped push the yield on NCDs to a record. The yield on three-month AAA contracts was at 4.40 percent on Monday, compared with a peak of 5 percent in June.
Chinese Automaker’s Bid for Jeep Raises National Security Concerns – Breitbart “I cannot imagine this making it past CIFIUS. It would probably be be stopped on the grounds that it would transfer important U.S. technology into Chinese hands,” said a Washington D.C. trade lawyer who has successfully overseen deals approved by the committee.
Chinese cities saying “enough already” to chaos generated by bike-sharing services like Ofo and Mobike — Quartz On Aug. 18, Shanghai’s municipal transportation bureau sent a notice to a number of bike-sharing companies demanding they refrain from adding more new bikes (link in Chinese) on the streets. According to the bureau, the city has 1.5 million sharing bikes on its streets—about one for every 16 residents. The government also demanded that the companies aggressively relocate bikes parked and scattered carelessly across the city—the services let customers return bikes anywhere, rather than only in designated racks.
Ford, China’s Zotye Auto plan JV to build electric vehicles – Reuters Ford, whose overall China sales are down 7 percent this year, said in a statement on Tuesday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Zotye Auto to build a new brand under which the electric vehicles will be sold. Both firms will hold a 50-50 stake in the JV, it said.
潘石屹霸气回应跑路质疑：我能往哪里跑？_第一财经 Comment: SOHO China’s Pan Shiyi denies that he is selling everything and planning to flee..fact is they already have enough offshore to live like kings for many generations…
China central bank to give more credit support to poor areas – Xinhua At a meeting on Aug. 21, Pan Gongsheng, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, urged China’s policy and commercial banks to step up financing support for relocation projects and infrastructure building in poor regions. Securities and insurance companies should expand their business network in these areas, Pan said, stressing China’s poverty relief target needs coordinated efforts from various financial organs.–做好深度贫困地区脱贫攻坚的金融支持-中国人民银行召开金融支持深度贫困地区脱贫攻坚座谈会
Politics And LawSaich, Anthony. “What Does General Secretary Xi Jinping Dream About?” Ash Center Ocassional Papers Series, August 2017.
人民日报：赢得伟大胜利的法宝–观点–人民网 80年前在延安窑洞诞生的《实践论》《矛盾论》（以下简称“两论”），是毛泽东同志把马克思主义哲学与中国革命实践经验和中国传统哲学优秀成果相结合的产物，是马克思主义哲学中国化的典范，是马克思主义哲学发展史上的璀璨明珠。“两论”是我们党从胜利走向胜利的重要法宝，是我们必须反复研读和运用的经典。// Comment: Article in People’s Daily on the 80th anniverary this year of Mao’s essays “On Practice” and “On Contradiction”
Why Did Father Die of Stab Wounds After Trip to Government Office? – Caixin Global Less than two hours after Yue Chengyi entered a township government office in northern China last week, his family found him lying on the floor with multiple stab wounds. He died that night. It remains unclear how the 49-year-old father ended up stabbed and bleeding on the floor of a government office. The government that administers the township said the wounds were self-inflicted — a conclusion that Yue’s family rejects.
Foreign And Defense Affairs
China defends ally Pakistan after Trump criticism – Reuters Asked about Trump’s speech, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Pakistan was on the front line in the struggle against terrorism and had made “great sacrifices” and “important contributions” in the fight. “We believe that the international community should fully recognize Pakistan’s anti-terrorism,” she told a daily news briefing.
China newspaper claims US Navy is ‘hazard’ in Asian waters | Fox News “While the US Navy is becoming a dangerous obstacle in Asian waters, China has been making joint efforts with the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to draw up a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea and it has boosted navigational safety by constructing five lighthouses on its islands,” the editorial stated. It continued: “Anyone should be able to tell who is to blame for militarizing the waters and posing a threat to navigation.”
The PLA at 90: On the Road to Becoming a World-Class Military? | Jamestown Although much of the media coverage to date has focused on the symbolic and political importance of the parade as a powerful reaffirmation of the military’s loyalty to the CCP and Chairman Xi Jinping ahead of the pivotal 19th Party Congress later this year, the parade reveals a force that is still growing and developing, concurrently envisioning itself as a modern, advanced military and acknowledging its own weaknesses. The parade demonstrated an important development in the PLA’s pursuit of developing improved joint operations capabilities by incorporating the key components necessary for combat operations, supported by information support, electronic warfare, logistics support, and other non-combat units. The air-assault demonstration, the integration of the SSF through the information operations group, and the prominent display of the PLA’s latest and most advanced missiles are clear signs of the PLA’s developing operational capabilities and evolving force structure. The demeanor of the both PLA leadership and troops indicated a highly disciplined force. The parade and media coverage both signify that the Party will always command the gun and should not be discounted as a powerful deterrent signal to foreign observers of the PLA’s progress and the scope of its ambition.
Yap Islands Seek Sustainable Tourism Development While Balancing China, U.S. Influence – National Geographic This is a narrative that’s playing out all across the Pacific. Though some islands are further along in the storyline, Yap is hanging at a particularly crucial juncture in its history, caught between big development plans by Chinese investors and an uncertain geopolitical future with the U.S.
Solomon Islands undersea cable red-flagged by Australia’s spy agencies dogged by donation allegations – Sydney Morning Herald last year, abruptly and allegedly without proper processes, the Solomons government switched to a subsidiary of the Chinese firm Huawei, which was banned from involvement in Australia’s national broadband network on security grounds on the advice of ASIO. Since then, allegations have surfaced of a $6.5 million political donation paid by Huawei to the ruling party in Honiara. Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare visited Canberra this week and discussed the matter with his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull.
North Korea and the Need for a US-ROK-PRC Dialogue | United States Institute of Peace North Korea has advanced weapons of mass destruction programs but poor WMD security, and tensions in the region are growing in response to increasing brinkmanship between Pyongyang and Washington. This report identifies the major challenges that the United States, South Korea, and China would encounter in the wake of a North Korean government collapse and recommends establishing a sustained trilateral dialogue to increase cooperation and understanding of North Korea contingency planning among the three countries.
Hong Kong, Macao And Taiwan
China warns U.S. ahead of Taiwan defense minister’s brief visit – Reuters Defence Minister Feng Shih-kuan would make brief transit stops in New York and Los Angeles on his Aug. 23-Sept. 8 trip, and had nothing else on his agenda in the United States, the ministry said.
Counterintelligence Remains Weakness in Taiwan’s Defense | Jamestown While Taiwan faces an espionage and subversion challenge from China at a scale that no modern democracy has faced, its leading political parties struggle to address the problem. Despite the stark divide between the DPP and KMT’s visions of Taiwan’s future, both sides share concerns that China is attempting to force an accommodation on Beijing’s rather than Taipei’s terms. Yet, neither side seems to trust the other enough to see the need for effective democratic controls over counterintelligence or build a consensus on how to address Chinese subversion. As China helps build a “fake civil society,” any Taiwanese government, whether DPP or KMT, will face Chinese pressure from within and without. The absence of a strong legal framework and a political consensus exacerbates the challenge of counterintelligence and countering covert influence in a democratic society. The stakes are not trivial spy-vs-spy games but the integrity of Taiwan’s democracy, and the weakness is every bit as crippling as an ill-equipped or poorly-prepared military.
Tech And Media
Xunlei Loses Copyright Lawsuit Filed by Hollywood Studios – Caixin Global As part of its decision, the court in Shenzhen’s Nanshan district also ordered U.S.-listed Xunlei to pay litigation costs of 162,400 yuan, according to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which represents the six top studios.
《冈仁波齐》导演张杨：聊着聊着就哭了，拍着拍着就赚了 | PingWest品玩 Comment: Interview with Zhang Yang about his movie “Path of the Soul”, about a family’s pilgrimage to Kangrinpoche (Mt. Kailash).
Ele.me may buy out Baidu’s food delivery business to get a leg up over rival Meituan-Dianping | South China Morning Post Ele.me would have an estimated 53.4 per cent share of China’s food delivery market, compared to the current 35 per cent before the acquisition, while Meituan-Dianping — backed by the operator of China’s largest social network, Tencent Holdings — would have 40.7 per cent, according to data by the China Electric Commercial Research Centre (CECRC).
NFL partners with Tencent to stream live games in China – The Verge The three-year deal, announced Monday, gives Tencent exclusive digital streaming rights to live and on-demand NFL games in China, including the playoffs and the Super Bowl, as well as all Thursday, Sunday, and Monday night games. Live games and other content will be available through a range of Tencent’s mobile and desktop platforms, including Tencent Sports and the social networks QQ and WeChat. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Xinhua, AP discuss cooperation amid media convergence – Xinhua President of Xinhua News Agency Cai Mingzhao and his Associated Press (AP) counterpart Gary Pruitt discussed possible cooperation in media technology and innovation in Beijing Monday. The development of new media has brought significant impacts to the traditional media industry, said Cai, noting that both Xinhua and AP should adapt to changes.
Society, Art, Sports, Culture And History
Loudspeakers from mosques removed in Qinghai to eliminate noise – Global Times Loudspeakers were removed from 355 mosques within three days recently in the county with a large Muslim population which is under Haidong city, according to a Friday report that was later deleted. A screen grab of the report is still circulated online.
桂林这家米粉店的歇业通知火了！哈哈，老板你能不能低调点！？ Comment: Guilin noodle shop owner vacation notice goes viral. He wrote, in nice callgiraphy, that his shop would be closed 8,20-24 so he could take drop his sonn off at Tsinghua University to start freshman year
Remembering Ren Hang’s High-Contrast Charisma – Sixth Tone Ren’s mother became the sole beneficiary of all his works. She wanted to burn them after his death, as she didn’t want to see these pieces that caused her sorrow. We had to explain a lot of things about legal protection to his parents. They’re not in the art world; they had a limited education, and on top of that, they had just experienced the pain of losing their child.
Energy, Environment, Science And Health
Smog monitors of the world unite! Marxism meets ozone science in awkward Chinese academic paper | South China Morning Post The paper, “Application of Marxism in Environmental Monitoring and Analysis of Ozone in Beijing”, was first written for a compulsory ideology class, a source said. The students had been asked to submit a thesis on how Marxism applied to their own research area and from there the paper made its way into the journal.
Informants to get more cash rewards over food, drugs scandals – Xinhua The China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) and the Ministry of Finance stated that a single tip-off will be rewarded with up to 500,000 yuan (about 75,000 U.S. dollars) instead of the previous limit of 300,000 yuan. The regulation also states that informants who are insiders in the product’s development, manufacture, sales or applications could be rewarded with extra cash on top of the new limit.
Education
Tales From Tibet 4: The Joys of Being a Teacher – SixthTone When my students found out that I was returning to Shanghai during the summer vacation for my master’s classes, they surprised me with fresh flowers and gifts before my departure from Lhasa. I was moved by their thoughtfulness. My class of now-precocious freshmen even made me a scrapbook expressing their well wishes. Some students wrote that while they had previously disliked literature, it was now their favorite class. Other students said that my Chinese class has broadened their view of the world, and that they never imagined a Chinese class could be so interesting.
China sends most international students to US high schools – China Daily Around two in five international students enrolled in American high schools came from China and the total number of students from China rose by 48 percent between 2013 and 2016, according to the report compiled by the Institute of International Education (IIE), a nonprofit organization.
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