China's, how to say this, unorthodox rehabilitation methods, which involve "beating and confinement" of internet addicts, have finally been fully outlawed. Following the death of one teenager due to the treatment he received at an addiction camp, the Chinese Health Ministry has come out with a statement to say corporal punishment and methods restricting personal freedom "are strictly forbidden." In the meantime, the UK and USA are playing catch-up by opening up their own computer addiction camps, which have been described as residential internet detox clinics. Their genius ploy to get you off the web juice has been to go cold turkey and teach people to do chores as a distraction (really, chores and boredom are the cure and not the disease?). The British version even has a 12-step program, but we advise doing what we all did -- if you find yourself spending most of your time on the internet, just become a full-time blogger.
As the water level in the reservoir on the Yangtze River approaches its final height of 175 meters, criticism of China's Three Gorges Dam continues.
The completion of Three Gorges is being met with little fanfare, unlike the elaborate celebrations Beijing staged 12 years ago to mark the diversion of the Yangtze on the spot of the future massive dam, Inter Press Service reports.
In China, critics are saying filling of the dam is worsening the drought already affecting the Yangtze's delta. And Chinese diplomats are being met with skepticism in their efforts to promote hydropower across Asia and Africa.
To construct Three Gorges -- the world's largest and most expensive dam -- 1,350 villages were submerged and 1.3 million displaced from their homes. The dam has a capacity of 18,000 megawatts of electricity.
The dam's original cost, when approved in 1992, was estimated at $8.3 billion. That figure has now risen to $27 billion by Beijing's estimate, while other predictions slate the final cost at $88 billion.
"The Three Gorges dam is a model of the past," said Peter Bosshard, the policy director of California-based International Rivers, an organization whose mission is "to protect rivers and the communities that depend on them," Inter Press reports.
"There are smarter ways of generating energy and managing floods than by building outdated mega-projects," said Bosshard.
By blocking the flow of the Yangtze, its ecosystem has been altered to the extent that rare river species of dolphin and sturgeon are now facing extinction. Commercial fisheries along the Yangtze as well as off the river's mouth in the East China Sea have declined. And landslides, pollution of freshwater supplies and a greater risk of earthquakes are among the side effects of the dam.
In September 2007 government officials admitted, "If preventive measures are not taken, there could be an environmental collapse."
Pan Jiazheng, hydrologist with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, maintains that water is the only renewable energy source in China that can be developed on a large scale.
"Developing hydropower is the only viable way to make a dent in China's consumption of coal," Pan told Inter Press. "Those who argue that hydropower is not a clean energy have to ask themselves whether there is any other task more urgent for China's clean development than burning less coal."
Despite domestic and foreign criticism of Three Gorges, China is actively seeking to build hydropower projects in countries ranging from Cambodia to Pakistan to Nigeria.
"It is quasi-science to believe that hydropower equals green energy," said Zheng Yisheng, who researches environment and development at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "You can't see rivers just as a source of energy and choose to ignore their ecological function as ecosystems. People need energy but they need a place to live, too."http://www.terradaily.com/reports/No_fanfare_for_Chinas_Three_Gorges_Dam_999.html... more
The average handset has evolved from the humble voice-box, to the total media centre. As a result thousands of start-up companies are profiting out of the Telecom sector’s advances, supplying the various add-ons which inevitably accompany any new wave of technology. Such innovations were used by the operators to supplement the pricey voice packages. However, the operators are now finding themselves in the hands of the ever-creative software/hardware companies and the changing consumer culture. iPhone appstore was the first to take advantage and make millions from the operators’ customers, creating a financial redistribution within the Telecom industry. With the telecom giants left to maintain the costly infrastructure that supports this ever growing new-media industry, the outlook for today’s communication service providers is set to get worse in a new 4G world where broadband is everywhere (LTE, WiMax, FTTX and cloud services). How can the giants sustain such costs and avoid being relegated to the sidelines as bit-pipe providers?
To answer this question visionaries such as Zhang Fan - CTO - China Unicom, Anil Tandan - CTO - Idea Cellular , Ravinder Jain - CIO – Aircel, Michael Kuehner - CEO - AXIATA Bangladesh and Mu Piao Shih - President - Chunghwa Telecom are all set to attend what is a closed meeting at the NGT APAC summit in Sentosa, to discuss a unified investment strategy to provide Long Term Evolution (LTE) across the existing 3G network. Such increased download speeds will allow the telecom industry to capitalize on the change in consumer habits and provide wider service offerings.
“Asia’s innovative technologies have inspired the western world and with economic pressures alleviating, we are now looking to invest in 4G to capitalize on the ‘Prosumer’ market.” Said a spokesman for the fifty strong consortium at the NGT APAC Summit
This most elite of delegations led by Kyle Whitehill – COO, Vodafone India, are set to discuss the rapid pace of communication, transforming from the one-to-one (direct) voice communication to the fast, informal & responsive, opinion and thought exchange we have today.
‘Such a meeting has been a long time coming, large operators have been losing revenue as the communication market has diversified, network optimization should lend to them finding new revenue streams as the level of service can expand’ – Nick York – NGT Summit Director Asia Pacific.
Such consumer & technology transformation has distorted the way 'Prosumer' consume their products & services, and interact with their mobile devices. The industry awaits to see if Asia’s Top Telecom guns can decide on a unified approach to map revenue streams back to the operators.The average handset has evolved from the humble voice-box, to the total media centre.... more
They think of it as an answer to their drought and global warming.
I don't like it.
I say don't mess with nature.
Let's keep the focus on cutting emissions and killing the dependency on oil.Chinese scientists claim to be able to control the weather. But is so-called... more
"The discovery of an early human fossil in southern China may challenge the commonly held idea that modern humans originated out of Africa.
Jin Changzhu and colleagues of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, announced to Chinese media last week that they have uncovered a 110,000 year old putative Homo sapiens mandible from a cave in southern China's Guangxi province.
The mandible has a protruding chin like that of Homo sapiens, but the thickness of the jaw is indicative of more primitive hominins, suggesting that the fossil could derive from interbreeding.
If confirmed, the finding would lend support to the"multiregional hypothesis". This says that modern humans descend from Homo sapiens coming out of Africa who then interbred with more primitive humans on other continents. In contrast, the prevailing "Out of Africa" hypothesis holds that modern humans are the direct descendents of people who spread out of Africa to other continents around 100,000 years ago.
The study will appear in Chinese Science Bulletin later this month."http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18093-chinese-challenge-to-out-of-africa-theory.h... more
Chinese workers are trying to clean up dangerous chemicals in the central reaches of the Yangtze river and an oil spill near an eastern Chinese port, after two shipping accidents this weekend.
The accidents show the vulnerability of China's waterways, which are corridors for transporting industrial and chemical goods while also serving as a primary source of water for human use and agriculture.
Workers in Central Hubei province were trying to contain and retrieve 100 tonnes of hydrochloric acid carried by a ship that sunk in the Yangtze River after colliding with another vessel early on Sunday, the Xinhua news agency said.
The Yangtze is a busy shipping lane that also provides drinking water for tens of millions of people.
Meanwhile, maritime workers in Zhoushan near the Yangshan port in Zhejiang province were cleaning an oil spill after an Iranian container ship, the Zoorik, ran aground on a rocky island in bad weather, Xinhua said.
The 37 people aboard the ship were rescued, but online photos showed a black slick spreading from the damaged vessel.http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5A114R20091102?feedType=RSS&feedN... more
China's black pop idol exposes her nation's racism
Contestant on Shanghai TV talent show draws barrage of internet abuse because of her skin colour
She is attractive, effervescent and has an appealing voice. But these qualities alone would not have made Lou Jing the most famous television talent show contestant in China and the subject of national debate in the world's most populous country. The reason they are talking about Lou is because she is black.
The 20-year-old daughter of a Chinese mother and an African-American father who left the country before she was born, Lou was a highly unusual entrant to Shanghai-based Dragon TV's Go Oriental Angel. Her appearances – she became one of five finalists – have provoked a storm of abuse on the internet, a rare debate on racism in the media, and a bout of self-examination in a country where skin colour is a notoriously sensitive subject.
Dragon TV initially had doubts about allowing Lou to perform, but then realised that her presence would do much to attract publicity for the show. But few executives can have expected the fury contained in many of the blogs and online posts that accompanied her performances. The internet is the only place in China where the public can express views with near-freedom – although they are rapidly cut off by an army of state censors if they stray into territory that attracts official disapproval. The huge online interest in Lou clearly does not fall into this category.
"Ugh. Yellow people and black people mixed together is very gross," was one representative post. And Lou's critics are incensed not only by her colour but also because she is apparently the product of an extramarital relationship. Another blogger wrote: "Numb! This bitch still has the audacity to appear on television! I don't know what to say! One cannot be shameless to this kind of level!"
Lou admitted to Neteast News that the level of hostility had come as a shock. "The whole thing was a big bomb to my family and me and it caused great harm," she said. "I wish netizens could tolerate my particular parentage and let it go as soon as possible."
She has stressed that she is a true Shanghainese, an assertion underlined by her accent. There has been no official response to the racism, but public figures have been quick to join what has become an impassioned debate on the Chinese and race. Media commentator and author Hung Huang wrote on her blog: "In the same year that Americans welcome Obama to the White House, we can't even accept this girl with a different skin colour."
The China Daily newspaper also published a sterling defence of the young theatre student, written by one of its top columnists. "There are two factors at work here," wrote Raymond Zhou. "Lou Jing is not a pure-blood Chinese and anyone who marries a foreigner is deemed a 'traitor' to his or her race. More relevant, Lou's father is black."
Zhou concluded: "It is high time we introduced some sensitivity training on races and ethnicities if we are going to latch on to the orbit of globalisation. People should realise that if you have a right to discriminate against another race you have automatically given others the right to discriminate against you."
Chip Tsao, one of Hong Kong's leading columnists and cultural commentators, believes that a child of a Chinese woman and a black person hits all the buttons that cause prejudice among Chinese. "It's an obnoxious novelty," he said, adding that Chinese prejudice against black people was part of "prejudice against people less well-off than themselves".
There was, he said, greater acceptance of Europeans because they were viewed as successful, but mixed Chinese/white European couples frequently attracted racist comment.http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/01/lou-jing-chinese-talent-show
China's... more
In a historical moment in which all the world governments are aware of the very serious danger of global warming and many countries including the United States and China begin massive investment into renewable energies, Italy seems one of the less eco-friendly countries in the world. Despite environmentalism has entered politics for over twenty years, in practice our nation has done little and now that would be time to act, is doing nothing. http://inaltreparole.net/en/nature/ecologyitaly311009.htmlIn a historical moment in which all the world governments are aware of the very... more
Chinese meteorologists for years sought to make rain by injecting special chemicals into clouds and now they just covered Beijing in snow Sunday after seeding clouds!
China's busy climate change diplomacy has become increasingly feverish weeks before crucial talks that could forge a new pact to fight global warming, or end in rancor that could rebound onto the world's biggest emitter.
President Hu Jintao told President Barack Obama last week that China wants a successful outcome in Copenhagen when the world gathers from December 7 to wrangle over the proposed new climate pact, and the topic is sure to feature when Obama visits Beijing in mid-November.
Recent weeks have brought a flurry of meetings between China and other big hitters in the negotiations, including India. Global warming will feature too at a China-European Union summit late in November.
But Chinese diplomats and advisers doing footwork for the negotiations have echoed growing international gloom, warning the Copenhagen talks could end with a feeble agreement that evades key issues or even fails to reach a deal.
"The real negotiations will be after Copenhagen," Yi Xianliang, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official involved in the climate talks told a meeting in Beijing last week. "Copenhagen will be a starting point, not an ending point."
Hopes negotiators will agree on a firm goal to halve worldwide greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 compared to recent levels appear dim, said Pan Jiahua, an expert on climate change policy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
As a coal-dependent behemoth with output of greenhouse gases likely to rise for many years yet, China could bear much of the brunt of any backlash if the talks fail to produce a solid deal. That could spill over into greater tensions over trade.
"With China such a big emitter, it wants to avoid becoming the scapegoat if negotiations are unsuccessful or even fall apart," said Wang Ke, who teaches environmental policy at Renmin University in Beijing.
"We feel it's already game-over. Copenhagen will be a rough compromise," he said. "China wants to take the initiative so it avoids being blamed if that's called a failure."
China's emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas generated by human activity, reached 6.8 billion tonnes in 2008, a rise of 178 percent over levels in 1990, according to the IWR, a German energy institute. U.S. emissions rose 17 percent over this period to 6.4 billion tonnes.
A MATTER OF TRUST
China is often denounced by Western critics as a stumbling block to agreement, because it argues developing countries should not submit to binding international caps on emissions while they grow out of poverty.
In turn, China and other developing countries have said the rich countries have done far too little in vowing to cut their own greenhouse gas output, and in offering technology and money to the Third World to help cope with global warming.
The weeks before Copenhagen appear unlikely to bring decisive progress in settling those and related disputes over commitments and verification.
"The likely outcome, we believe, may be to issue a framework political agreement," said Pan, the climate change researcher, who also advises the government.
"The long-term mitigation targets and medium-term goals will require subsequent tough negotiations."
Adding to the sober tone, the U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, Todd Stern, Wednesday scuttled expectations Obama's visit to China next month could produce a climate change deal.
But the summit between Hu and Obama may nonetheless help nurture greater trust so governments can reach a workable agreement in Copenhagen, said Deborah Seligsohn, China program director at the World Resources Institute in Beijing.
China's top leaders, including Hu and vice-Premier Li Keqiang, have been determinedly upbeat about success at Copenhagen.
ZHOUSHAN, Zhejiang Province - A new Chinese naval flotilla was deployed to the Gulf of Aden and waters off the coast of Somalia on Friday to protect merchant vessels against rampant pirates that still hold a Chinese ship for ransom.
China sends new naval flotilla to Somali waters
Family members wave good-bye to their loved ones of the fourth Chinese naval flotilla that was deployed to the Gulf of Aden and waters off the coast of Somalia to protect merchant vessels against rampant pirates in Zhejiang October 30, 2009. [Xinhua]
The flotilla of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has been the fourth task force of its kind that China has sent to the region since the end of last year.
Missile frigates FFG-525 Ma'anshan and FFG-526 Wenzhou will relieve the FFG-529 Zhoushan and FFG-530 Xuzhou from the PLA Navy's third flotilla which have patrolled the area since June.
The new warships will join Qiandaohu, a supply ship, which has been on duty in the region for about three months. The fourth flotilla will have a crew of more than 700, including a special force unit and two ship-borne helicopters.
They would actively take part in international humanitarian rescue missions, said Liu Xiaojiang, the Navy's political commissar.
A Chinese coal-carrying vessel "De Xin Hai" with 25 crew members on board was kidnapped by pirates about 1,000 sea miles away from the patrolling area of Chinese warships in the Indian Ocean.
So far all the 25 crew members have been identified as Chinese citizens by the shipping company they worked for. The Ministry of Transport is working on the release of the ship.
It is not immediately known whether the new naval task force will bear a rescue mission for "De Xin Hai", but the two Chinese frigates currently patrolling the area have intensified the frequency of surveillance by shipborne helicopters, skiffs and the special force unit for merchant vessels passing by.
China made an unprecedented move by sending three warships to the Gulf on December 26 last year in the first overseas escort mission for merchant vessels.
The PLA Navy warships have escorted hundreds of domestic and foreign vessels since the first flotilla arrived in the region.http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-10/31/content_8877182.htm
ZHOUSHAN,... more
Germany, China investment leader
A new report from Deutsche Bank says the UK and US need to strengthen renewable energies and clean tech incentives to encourage investment
Germany China and Japan top cleantech investor countries
Germany, China and Japan present some of the lowest risks for green investors and clean tech firms looking to expand their operations, while the UK and US currently have a higher risk policy and clean tech investment environment. The report comes as US energy secretary Steven Chu warned yesterday that his country may miss out on a multi-billion dollar market in clean energy technologies unless it acts quickly to encourage investment.
Clean tech countries
Among the countries in the Major Economies Forum, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany and Japan were hold to present the lowest investment risks. Germany and China also ranked highly in terms of the amount of clean tech investment projects between 2000 and 2008, with respectively $36.7 billion and $41.2 billion in capital investment.
The UK and US occupied the second tier of countries, ranked by investment risks, alongside Canada
Cleantech Society http://tinyurl.com/yel9cxbGermany, China investment leader
A new report from Deutsche Bank says the UK and US... more
Well how about that?! Vitamin C: Your Daily Dose On China has just turned 50 years old! Half a century of existence, eh? And who would have thought we'd have made it this far? Well thankfully the more important story is China, and, moreover, where it finds itself exactly after 60 years of independent statehood. As today's "People's Republic" grows with characteristic blistering abandon, is that same PRC starting to fray apart at the seams, ethically and morally? In Episode 50, ADM recounts a common urban Chinese horror story and let me tell you, friends, it ain't pretty. As China surges ahead towards apparent superpower-dom, is the nation somehow checking and balancing itself? Are its citizens safe in their own cities? Is the country going to hell in a handcart, as people disregard their fellows' well-being with their only concerns revolving around the almighty yuan? And as cloying as it sounds: are Chinese citizens still nice to each other? You can decide for yourself at the end of this episode, and thanks again for watching. Looking foward to seeing you at 100!Well how about that?! Vitamin C: Your Daily Dose On China has just turned 50 years... more
FRom BBC: Police in China say they have recovered more than 2,000 children in a six-month campaign against human trafficking. The ministry of public security has set up a website with pictures of some of those kidnapped, in the hope of returning them to their families. The ministry website has pictures of 60 children, ranging from babies to young adults, who were kidnapped from their families.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children go missing in China each year.
The 2,008 rescued children come from across China, and some have already been reunited with their parents. Some of the older children on the "Babies Looking for Home" website were kidnapped years ago, according to the Ministry of Public Security.
Criminal gangs steal the children and sell them to childless couples. The children of migrant workers are often targets. State media have reported a string of arrests in recent months, including 42 suspects picked up last week for allegedly selling 52 children in the north of China.
In China's patriarchal society, baby boys are especially prized, sometimes selling for as much as $6,000 (£3,670), says the BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Beijing. Girls are sometimes sold for just $500 (£305), he says.FRom BBC: Police in China say they have recovered more than 2,000 children in a... more
China's state-run newspaper, People's Daily, is accusing Google of unfairly censoring it's online book section from search results, calling it "revenge" because they publishing a story questioning Google's book scanning practices along with possible copyright issues. My friends, this is rich.
Google claims their site automatically removed the search listing because of perceived malware threats, and had nothing to do with what People's Daily actually published. People's daily though feels as though they were the victim of an unfair attack, calling the event "malicious."
A case of the pot calling the kettle black?China's state-run newspaper, People's Daily, is accusing Google of unfairly censoring... more
When President Obama declared the swine-flu outbreak a national emergency, he tapped into America’s time-honored tendency to freak out.When President Obama declared the swine-flu outbreak a national emergency, he tapped... more
Police have broken up a network of workshops and warehouses used to illegally smuggle 140 tons of used, foreign clothing through southern China.Police have broken up a network of workshops and warehouses used to illegally smuggle... more
Steven Wiltshire (born in 1974) is an accomplished architectural artist who has been diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder. Wiltshire’s work has been the subject of many television documentaries; neurologist Oliver Sacks praised his artistic work in the chapter “Prodigies” in his book “An Anthropologist on Mars.” Stephen Wiltshire’s many published art books include “Cities” (1989), “Floating Cities” (1991) and “Stephen Wiltshire’s American Dream” (1993).
Wiltshire is presently working to complete his last drawing in a series of city panoramas, this time of his spiritual home, New York City. Wiltshire’s collection of already completed works depicting some of the world’s most iconic cities already includes London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Rome, Madrid, Frankfurt, Dubai and Jerusalem. A 20-minute fly-over Manhattan this past weekend provided the memory for a 20-foot panorama of the city that he’s drawing throughout this week at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute. Viewers can watch his progress on a live web cam or by visiting the Institute while he works from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday, Oct. 26 to Friday, Oct. 30, 2009.
This piece includes a number photographs, a slide show of Stephen Wiltshire's work, a video of Wiltshire's current work drawing the panorama of New York City and a live web cam of him at work on the panorama.Steven Wiltshire (born in 1974) is an accomplished architectural artist who has been... more
There is “good” Mao and “bad” Mao. There is the Mao of the Chinese Civil War, and then there’s the Mao of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. So which Mao Zedong is the “real” Mao Zedong? Peter Levenda gets into all of this in his latest book, “The Mao of Business: Guerrilla Techniques for the New China,” where he describes how the majority of Chinese you’ll be dealing with as part of your China business will have come of age during the worst years of Mao’s sordid reign and why you should be reading Mao’s “Little Red Book” instead of more traditional Chinese strategy tomes like The Art of War. It was a compelling read, and that’s what we talk about in today’s pod. Thanks again for watching!There is “good” Mao and “bad” Mao. There is the Mao of the Chinese Civil War,... more
The largest growing economic force in the world isn't China or India -- it's women, and this is matched with online usage – says Meettheboss.com study.
The largest growing economic force in the world is not China or India it is Women. The earning power of women globally is expected to reach $18 trillion by 2014, a $5 trillion rise according to World Bank estimates. That is more than twice the estimated 2014 GDP of China and India combined. Although the average women still earns only 77 cents for every dollar men do this is set to grow as more and more women are finding themselves in board rooms.
Such career advancement has brought the female workforce online to share ideas and best business practices. MeettheBoss.com (a world leading online business network) has shown an increase of female sign-ups of 18% from this time last year.
“It is fantastic to see so many women embrace the technology and use it to their advantage, every day I see more and more online” Harlan Davies, MeettheBoss director.
MeettheBoss maintains that the site will not be making any changes for the rush of its new female members “The current way companies appeal to women is to take a male product and paint it pink but this is both patronizing and unnecessary, our members are extremely powerful business people and would not rise to such gimmicks”
The site boasts innovative connectivity amongst peers with an internal Video Conferencing tool as well as Instant Messaging, forums, blogs, tweets and up to the minute news fed individually to each user based on their unique business interests. This sophisticated online aggregation has been popular to the sites members and has seen leading business women such as Isabelle M. Conner Global Head of Marketing ING Group, Dr Anne Phillips, Medicine Development Leader, GlaxoSmithKline and Joanna Young Human, SVP, Liberty Mutual take the limelight and give online presentations to the entire community through MeettheBoss TV on their views of best business practices.The largest growing economic force in the world isn't China or India -- it's women,... more
