Blogs » Society » China Film: “There Will Be Culture”

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• China Film: “There Will Be Culture”
• Princelings At Top-Tier Western Universities: Chris Devonshire-Ellis Weighs In
• Good, bad and the ugly: Chinese cities ranked by air quality
• Presented By:
• China’s Big Banks’ Wealth Management Products Raise Concerns
• As If We Needed More Proof Of Dongshigu Officials’ Incompetence, Chen Guangcheng’s Elder Brother Has Escaped As Well
• Power beats tourism
• Top Ten Search List (May 24)
• Baidu releases 2012 Q1 Mobile Internet Development Trends Report
• Couple knocks over elderly woman, then buries her alive
• Slate Asks Why Harvard Is Training The Next Generation Of Chinese Communist Party Leaders. Answer: Why Not?
• TIME Magazine's Bo Xilai issue seized and confiscated
• Media baffled after Scarborough Shoal newspaper fails to sell single copy
• Gan Lulu spotted at the Shanghai Kitchen Expo!
• When You Gotta Go…
• The Interminable Wait
• If You Hold A Ceremony And No One Knows About It, Can You Really Still Call It A “Reader’s” Choice Awards?

China Film: “There Will Be Culture” Posted: 24 May 2012 06:03 PM PDT By: Rogier Creemers The following is a guest post by Rogier Creemers. Rogier is a post-doctoral Research Officer in Oxford University's Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy. Rogier "wrote his Ph.D. thesis on the relationship between media piracy in China, intellectual property law and media regulation, and globalization. His main research interests include the nexus between media policy and political change in China, with a particular focus on the processes of cooptation and confrontation between the vested regime and potential challengers." We thought Rogier's expert take on China's attempts to export its culture through film would make for an interesting post. So without further ado, here's Rogier's post: Amidst the flurry of cultural policy documents being flung at us since last autumn's Communist Party plenum, a new export guidance catalogue for cultural products and services was published in the beginning of February. Like the draft Film Industry Promotion Law, which featured on this blog earlier, it is part of a push to get Chinese cultural industries to "march out," so as to increase China's soft power and its international competitiveness. In the Chinese view, soft power seems to be something that is part of a zero-sum game. In the chaos of the international scramble for influence, good public relations can build up a desirable image, which in turn enables a country to weigh more on international decision-making. At least, that's the theory. In reality, the billions that China has pumped into Confucius institutes, cultural exchanges, events like the London Book Fair, handing out free copies of China Daily, and State-sponsored highbrow films, have not been terribly successful in gaining international mind-share. As a painful example, when a screening of the Chinese film The Founding of a Republic, a China State-sponsored epic about the Communist victory in the Chinese civil war, was organized in New York, literally no-one showed up. China's new export catalogue essentially promises more of the same. It lists 29 categories of cultural products and services, and obliges all participating central ministries to approve and support a number of programmes and enterprises in international market expansion. The only criteria for this support listed in the catalogue are a certain minimum export value, international market potential and having products with Chinese characteristics. In other words, large Chinese media groups can get a lot of money for producing books about Peking Opera and films about large historical events in China. But what about international market potential? One big problem here is the leadership's insistence on the focus of Chinese culture, or at least the culture administration's version of that. Generally, international audiences are not acquainted with the themes, plots and storylines that come obvious to any Chinese viewer. But perhaps most importantly, the export catalogue betrays a tendency of the culture administration to assume that what they want to say is what audiences want to hear. Recent cultural policy documents reiterate the paternalistic line that content should be "healthy and upward," and should first and foremost have a "desirable social effect," which essentially refers to treading the Party line. Until audiences are truly listened to and respected, Chinese cultural products will remain largely marginalized. Nonetheless, given the large amounts of money put in and the fact that profit from these ventures often isn't taken into consideration, there may be interesting opportunities for foreign cultural and media enterprises for investment from China. But even more importantly, the Chinese leadership treats cultural products in the same way it treats the highly homogenized, commoditized manufacturing goods industries which drove the first wave of Chinese growth. It hopes to ensure success for Chinese cultural products by improving inputs, optimizing processes, standardizing structures and procedures, and providing education and training to cultural specialists. Unsurprisingly, this results in highly homogenized, and frankly, rather boring Chinese films and television programmes, which do not strike a chord with foreign audiences. Cultural products aren't assembly line products, and the greatest successes in Western film, television, literature and the arts often come from dark horses. JK Rowling, a single mother living on welfare would, in all probability, not have been able to write and publish Harry Potter in China. A vibrant cultural sphere needs freedom and openness. It also needs to accept the freedom to fail; the recent Disney flop, to the tune of 200 million dollars shows that even the biggest names don't have a fail-safe recipe. This is not to say that China doesn't have great artists, writers, filmmakers and actors. Obviously it does, but a look at the domestic cultural market actually displays many of the same traits: a top-down mode of content production that alienated significant portions of the audience by insisting on values and historical narratives that do not take audiences into account. Still, there are independent Chinese film directors who manage to become successful. In its opening weekend, the low-budget film, Love Is Not Blind, grossed more than three Hollywood blockbusters combined, and out-earned the Party-supported Beginning of the Great Revival by more than 50% in its first week. Its secret? A certain, targeted audience, clever marketing and an engaging story. CCTV reported that the reason for low-budget success is the script. I'd go even further, regardless of technological dazzle and production values, in the end, all that matters, is the story.

Princelings At Top-Tier Western Universities: Chris Devonshire-Ellis Weighs In Posted: 24 May 2012 04:12 PM PDT Chris Devonshire-Ellis has weighed in on the post 'Children Of China's Elite Attending Top Western Schools: Hypocrisy Or Good Fortune?.' I am pleased about this on two counts. First, the insights (below) that he brings to the issues. And, second, the opportunity to introduce him to those few Asia-hands who don't know about him. I have never met Mr. Devonshire-Ellis, but I have followed his and his firm's achievements for many years. Mr. Devonshire-Ellis, as his firm website describes him: Chris Devonshire-Ellis is the founder of Dezan Shira & Associates, Asia's largest independent business advisors and tax consultants, advising multinational businesses on matters of foreign direct investment into China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam and Singapore. Established in 1992 and now in its twentieth year, the practice has twelve offices in China, five in India, two in Vietnam, and one in Singapore. More interesting, perhaps, is his personal blog, Personal Notes From An Emerging Markets Traveler. The title of his latest post, 'Of Sri Lankan Seaplanes, Sperm Whales, and Kathiawari Horses. Plus Tom Stoppard & Richard Dawkins,' gives an indication of what your will find. After going through the blog, have a look at his excellent photos. Enjoy. Now, on to business, here is Mr. Devonshire-Ellis's comment (my paragraphs): It's neither hipocrisy or good fortune is the short term view, and anywhere but China would not be an issue. Parents naturally wish for their children to be well educated, plenty in China have the means to do so. So from that basic perspective, its normal. However, where this comes unstuck in China is two fold – firstly its a communist country and even today, according to the Chinese constitution, there is supposed to be an equality among the people. Clearly that is no longer the case. Secondly, many of the parents educated their kids in this manner are Government officials – apparently getting on in life at the expense of the greater population. So who works for whom? In China it appears the people work for the Government, and not the other away around. So you're right, there is indeed conflict within China's own system. The State Constitution – and the Communist Manifesto – are both at odds with actual practice. Thats not sustainable – but which will change first – the people, or the system? Thats the question. – CDE

Good, bad and the ugly: Chinese cities ranked by air quality Posted: 24 May 2012 02:00 PM PDT It's no news that China's air pollution is bad. In fact if this NASA map of PM2.5 levels is anything to go by, Eastern China has it the worst in the entire world. But why is the air pollution in some Chinese cities is simply bad (like Guangzhou) while others are super bad (like Beijing?) And which provinces are actually doing anything about it? [ more › ]

Presented By: Posted: 24 May 2012 02:00 PM PDT

China’s Big Banks’ Wealth Management Products Raise Concerns Posted: 24 May 2012 09:15 AM PDT An often overlooked red flag about the creditworthiness of China's big state-owned banks was raised by Fitch Ratings on Monday. In a report reaffirming the ratings of the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of China, Agricultural … Continue reading →

As If We Needed More Proof Of Dongshigu Officials’ Incompetence, Chen Guangcheng’s Elder Brother Has Escaped As Well Posted: 24 May 2012 04:57 AM PDT David Gray / REUTERS Here's Tania Branigan of the Guardian: The brother of the Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has fled his family's captors in a second audacious escape from their village in eastern China. Chen Guangfu arrived in Beijing early on Thursday morning after breaking out of Dongshigu, where relatives have been living under tight guard since his brother, who is blind, fled to the US embassy in Beijing last month, according to lawyers in the capital. Maybe the people at Dongshigu should, you know, not be trying to keep people under house arrest. That's the correct conclusion to reach after all this, right? Guardian article continues: "I met Chen Guangfu this morning. His health situation is OK," said Ding Xikui, a lawyer authorised by Chen Kegui's wife to represent her husband. "His family are not allowed to leave the village. Chen escaped secretly. He came here to tell us what happened that night [when people broke in] and seeks help from the lawyer. He also supports the request from Chen Kegui's wife to engage us as his lawyer in this case." Updates tk.

Power beats tourism Posted: 23 May 2012 08:43 AM PDT Rampant hydro development could destroy Nepal's nature-based tourist trade unless planners let some rivers run free, writes Ramin Sharma. "Naturally Nepal – once is not enough". That's the line the Nepalese government hopes will bring tourists flocking to the Himalayan state. But officials have an important question to face: will visitors still choose Nepal if its nature is no longer pristine? In a country where tourism is the mainstay of the economy, but where even the capital has no electricity for half the day (and other places fare worse) this issue has stirred a heated debate, framed as hydropower versus nature. "Unbridled hydropower development will pose a threat to Nepal's nature-based tourism if the issue is not taken seriously now," said Megh Ale, an expert in white-water rafting and owner of The Borderlands Resort. Ale has been struggling for about a decade to keep hydropower projects away from the Bhotekoshi, a river that flows near Nepal's border with China and is widely regarded as the world's toughest for white-water rafting. Since the government issued a licence to construct the 102-megawatt Middle Bhotekoshi hydroelectric project, Ale has been continuously lobbying to protect the river for adventure tourism, so far to no avail. Work on the project, which sits 100 kilometres from Nepal's capital Kathmandu and on the Araniko Highway that links Nepal to China, started at the beginning of this year. It is scheduled to complete by the end of 2015. Thousands of adventure tourism aficionados arrive every year to raft the Bhotekoshi river and bungee jump its deep gorge in Nepal's Sindhupalchowk district. "We are not against hydropower development as the country needs energy, but rivers are not only for hydropower – they have other purposes too," said Ale. "Issuing licences for hydropower construction on an ad hoc basis will put the country's tourism in peril." The project developers say that they are going to build infrastructure that will actually boost tourism. "It will help bring more tourists as the company will invest on managing rafting sites on the river banks," said Kul Man Ghising, managing director of Chilime Hydropower Company, which is developing the Middle Bhotekoshi hydro project. "Funds will also be provided to local communities to work on protecting the environment." Tourist operators say a major rafting section of the river will dry up and there is no possibility of world-class rafting if the dam is built. Project developers meanwhile argue that only a two-kilometre stretch will be affected, and that "there are enough stretches in the river that will remain as they are, and rafting will be possible." Agreement appears out of reach. The government has already issued construction and generation licences to 74 projects that are supposed to generate about 1,800 megawatts of power. It is processing licence applications for 52 more projects. Other rivers popular with white-water rafting enthusiasts will also be affected by some of these hydropower projects – such as Karnali in western Nepal. Tourism entrepreneurs and trekking agents have been lobbying for some rivers to be kept free of hydro projects, but their calls so far appear to have fallen on deaf ears. More than 600,000 tourists visit Nepal every year and that number is rising. Most of them want to go hiking in the Himalayas or take part in adventure tourism activities. These tourists have been keeping Nepal's economy afloat for decades. But it is still very hard for tourist businesses to convince politicians to take their case into account when planning hydropower development. "Nobody hears our voice," complained Ale, who is also president of Nepal River Conservation Trust. "We should keep some rivers intact for tourism as these are the gifts of nature to our country. The development of hydropower is unquestionably needed but it shouldn't be at the cost of everything else." But given the energy shortage and the undoubted hydropower potential in Nepal's fast-flowing rivers, politicians seem blind to these concerns. And their promise of electricity is proving popular. Addressing a hydropower summit earlier this year, prime minister Baburam Bhattarai formulated a slogan: "Democracy + Hydropower = New Nepal". It proved a sensation. Nowadays, anyone questioning dam schemes in Nepal is termed an anti-development activist. There is a strong political consensus in favour of hydropower development, but environmentalist fears have not gone away. "Environment or nature protection has become a buzzword in the government, but when you look at actions it's disappointing," said Barry Dalal Clayton, senior fellow at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). Clayton, who has just released a report on Nepal called Safeguarding the future, securing Shangri-La, added: "Everybody talks about environment, but when it comes to action the economy dominates putting environment in the backyard. It's a global trend and Nepal is no exception." The political consensus is having an effect. The Department of Electricity Development in the Ministry of Energy has already issued hydropower survey licences to more than 500 of the 1,300-plus developers who have sought them, according to its own figures. Going beyond the survey stage, applications to construct 52 projects supposed to generate 3,500 megawatts are also pending. "There is the need to develop hydropower projects for the country, as energy is the major thing for economy. However, environmental issues and the natural beauty of the country should not be compromised, for which the ministry takes environmental impact assessments seriously before implementing any project," said Hariram Koirala, secretary in the Ministry of Energy. Hydropower development in Nepal has suffered for many years due to political instability and bureaucratic delays. Now, the country is hastening to catch up. The ministry released a 20-year hydropower plan in 2010, according to which Nepal will generate 25,000 megawatts by 2030. Theoretically, Nepal's total hydropower generation potential is as much as 83,000 megawatts, of which around 40,000 megawatts is said to be viable. Right now, the total generation of electricity in the country is only 700 megawatts in summer and 400 megawatts in winter, when many of the rivers freeze in their upper reaches and the flow of water diminishes. But in this haste, other important concerns are getting short shrift. "Hydro development is slow at present but ultimately all these projects will be implemented and there won't be any river flowing freely in a country that boasts more than 6,000 rivers and rivulets," lamented Ale. "We need to leave some rivers free flowing to save river tourism, for which people from around the world come here every year." Ramin Sharma is a freelance journalist based in Kathmandu. Homepage image by Boggin

Top Ten Search List (May 24) Posted: 24 May 2012 03:09 AM PDT Here's the top 10 real-time search list for today, recorded at 1PM. 1. 媳妇刀捅公公 xífu dāo tǒng gōnggong – On the afternoon of April 3rd, a 37 year-old woman in Banam, Tibet stabbed her father-in-law with a knife, leaving him permanently paralyzed from the waist down. The woman, named Hu Xiaoli, did so in order to vent anger and gain her spouse's attention after a fight ending in the couple's decision to divorce. The woman left a message on her (soon-to-be) ex-husband's answering machine threatening, "I've stabbed your father. If you don't get here quick to take your one last look at him, I'll stab him again." Here's the story in Chinese. 2. 云南晋宁多人失踪案 Yúnnán Jìnníng duō rén shīzōng àn – After an extremely unsettling spate of unsolved missing persons cases in Jinning, Yunnan province, the local party government has removed the city's vice mayor and chief of police from their posts, on the recommendation of the Yunnan Provincial Public Security Bureau. Initially, the total amount of young people reported missing was eight, a number that has now expanded to seventeen. It has been confirmed that one college student of the seventeen has been physically harmed, and details related to the others are unknown. A special investigative commission devoted to the cases has identified one suspect, a 56 year-old male by the name of Zhang Yongming. Here's the story in Chinese. 3. 干露露 厨卫展 Gàn Lùlù chúwèi zhǎn – Chinese actress Gan Lulu first became a national sensation when her mother, in an attempt to bait potential husbands for her daughter, uploaded a video clip of Gan showering—followed up by the actress herself publicly posting a series of come-hitherly bedroom pictures. Today in Shanghai, the curious exhibitionist was once again exposed for indecent exposure when she wore a racy silver number to the Kitchen & Bath China Expo 2012. The jumpsuit, by no accident of design, put Gan's entire, bare left buttock on display. At a kitchenware trade fair, during the day. Here's the story in Chinese. 4. 赶走洋泼妇 gǎnzǒu yáng pōfù – In the wake of CCTV International "Dialogue" host Yang Rui's Sina Weibo posts calling for the "foreign trash" of China to be "swept out" immediately; insulting Melissa Chan, the Al Jazeera reporter recently expelled from China; and enlisting the help of an assortment of other word choices interpreted by several western media outlets as blatant xenophobia, netizens have finally begun chiming in regarding the talkshow star's behavior, partially in response to foreign commentators' recent push for Yang's dismissal. Some Weibo users seem to be in full support of Yang Rui's message, while others, backed by a host of domestic journalists, take issue with the way in which he conveyed his point, but not with the point itself, which, they emphasize, he meant to direct just at the "three illegals" and not at other foreigners in China. Others still think that everyone is overreacting, and that this may well be a publicity stunt on Yang's part, citing the fact that CCTV hosts are groomed to be fully aware and extremely cautious of how they are presenting themselves, which leaves little room for "he didn't mean it that way." Here's the story in Chinese. 5. 高校食堂现鲸鱼 gāoxiào shítáng xiàn jīngyú – Sina Weibo is currently abounding with re-tweets originating from a group of Shandong high school students who on May 21st discovered that their school cafeteria has been serving them "whale meat." Some of the students have commented on the taste of the meat, describing it as "sour, and slightly bitter." Others have remarked that they would never knowingly eat whale meat, out of concerns over cleanliness or "guilt over ingesting a protected species." Here's the story in Chinese. 6. 弃车活埋老人 qìchē huómái lǎorén – On the morning of April 30th, a 68 year-old woman was hit by a speeding black Volkswagen sedan on a major highway running through Cixi, Zhejiang province. Instead of rushing the woman to the hospital or calling for help, the driver and his girlfriend buried her alive and then ran from the scene of the accident, deserting the car on the side of the road. According to police reports, the driver, drunk at the time, assumed the woman was dead and, hoping to avoid DUI and murder charges, made the decision to hide the body. It has been confirmed that the woman's death was not due to blood loss following the impact, but rather due to suffocation after she was buried. Here's the story in Chinese. 7. 五粮液机场 wǔliángyè jīchǎng – In a culture where so much weight is placed on the meaning of a name, it would probably be a bad idea to name an airport after anything that might evoke associations with the loss of control. But the local government of Yibin, Sichuan has decided to do just that, naming their new airport after a liquor brand. The brand, called "Wu Liang Ye," is a famous Chinese liquor manufactured right in Yibin, and its management has donated a sizable amount of funds for the construction of the airport to boot, but netizens are still finding it to be an "unreliable" title choice for a major transportation hub and security checkpoint. Here's the story in Chinese. 8. 蒙牛添加牛尿 měngniú tiānjiā niúniào – Dairy manufacturing and distribution company China Mengniu, based in Inner Mongolia, first rose to international infamy when, in 2008, its milk powder samples tested positive for melamine. Now, a recent spot-check factory inspection has revealed that China Mengniu's Luannan, Hebei factory has been adding large quantities of cow urine to its milk. Here's the story in Chinese. 9. 猪蹄厅长 zhūtí tīngzhǎng – In October of 2011, Liu Weizhong, director of the Gansu Province Department of Health, published an essay on the department's official website and microblog, in which he advocated eating "pig hooves" as a way to cure grave illness. Liu expounded upon the healing effects of pig hooves for patients confronting diseases as serious as AIDS and cancer, leading all sane peoples of the internet to question his professional background and scientific literacy in general. Netizens have hereby knighted him "Director Pig Trotter." Here's the story in Chinese. 10. 邮轮擦撞温州大桥 yóulún cāzhuàng Wēnzhōu dàqiáo – Yesterday morning on the Ou Jiang river in Wenzhou, a new, large ocean liner being pulled by four tugboats crashed into the Wenzhou Bridge. The ship's two funnels were damaged, but there were no casualties, and damage to the bridge is still being assessed. It was a tall boat, and it was a low bridge. So…here's the story in Chinese. READ MORE

Baidu releases 2012 Q1 Mobile Internet Development Trends Report Posted: 24 May 2012 03:02 AM PDT Baidu has been drawing upon its massive data base of user behavior data and detailed statistical data on mobile terminals in hopes to provide a comprehensive, authoritative and precise industry report for third-party developers and others in the mobile industry. Today, Baidu has finally released the "Baidu 2012 Q1 Mobile Internet Development Trends Report" for the public's viewing pleasure. The purpose of this report is to provide cooperating partners with better insight into mobile Internet trends, so that they can make the necessary adjustments in operations and resources to take advantage of opportunities and stay competitive. Guangdong takes number one spot in mobile data traffic, correlated with conditions of the economy The 2012 Q1 report demonstrates, not surprisingly, that there is a positive correlation between a city's mobile Internet data traffic and its economic development and population. Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces have two of the highest volumes of mobile data traffic, which stands at 15.2 percent and 7.4 percent of total China traffic respectively. Additionally, Guangdong province's mobile Internet user data ratio shows clear signs of growth. Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Beijing rank in the top five amongst all Chinese provinces and provincial-level municipalities for having the highest levels of mobile data traffic. All five combined make up for 40.1 percent of the total mobile Internet data traffic in China. Mobile Internet data catching up with PC Internet data Mobile Internet is catching up with traditional PC Internet at an increasingly rapid pace. Mobile Internet data traffic levels have already surpassed PC in Guangdong, Beijing, Fujian, Sichuan, Shanxi and Tianjin. This is especially the case for Beijing, Guangdong, Shanxi and Tianjin, where mobile Internet user traffic is significantly higher than for traditional PC. From the report, we can see that many more provincial districts will see its mobile Internet data surpassing PC in the not too distant future. China Telecom gaining popularity, China Mobile continues to lose market share While China Mobile still remains to be the dominant operator with 63.8 percent of the market share, its market share continues to drop, decreasing by 7.8 percent month-by-month and by 16.6 percent year-on-year. China Unicom and China Telecom have demonstrated significant growth through their 3G network build-out and development in various operations. China Unicom has increased its market share by 1.6 percent month-to-month, and 3.9 percent year-on-year. China Telecom increased its market share by 6.1 percent month-by-month, and 12.6 percent year-on-year. Market analysts believe that in the short-term China Mobile's market share will continue to drop, and will need to count on 4G if it wants to turn the situation around. Mobile Internet takes on traditional PC Internet, user behavior diversifying Mobile Internet user and PC Internet users are not only different in the devices they use to browse the Internet, they are also very different in the times of the day they browse the Internet and the way they interact with online content. There are significantly more users accessing the Internet from mobile devices than PCs between 7 to 10 AM in the morning and between 9 to 12 PM at night. This demonstrates mobile Internet's "wherever and whenever" mobility advantage. In addition, mobile Internet usage peaks at 10PM, while PC Internet usage peaks at 8PM. This suggests that mobile netizens tend to be younger than PC netizens and stay up later at night. Nokia is becoming increasingly deprived, Huawei rising to the top In the first quarter of 2012, Nokia, counterfeit (shanzhai) mobile phones and Samsung remain in the top three mobile Internet slots, with market shares of 22 percent, 16.1 percent and 10.4 percent respectively. Nokia's mobile market share continues to drop, with 5.8 decrease month-by-month and 18.4% drop year-on-year. Shanzhai phones' market share is also steadily decreasing, with 4.3 percent decrease month-by-month and 10.3 percent drop year-on-year. Although Nokia still remains to be one of the biggest mobile brands by market share, it faces a dire future if it does not innovate in an industry that is gradually gravitating towards smart phones. Apple now occupies the 4th spot with 5.9 percent of the market share, while Chinese brand Huawei has performed well in recent years, currently ranking 5th in market share with 4.6 percent. UCWeb market share drops for the first time, mobile browser war intensifies Mobile browsers are important entry points for the mobile Internet. The fight for dominance in the mobile browsers domain is intensifying. Data from the 2012 Q1 report shows that UCWeb browser remains to be the leading mobile browser with 28.9 percent of the market share. Webkit's own browser and the QQ browser follows with 18.5 percent and 16.5 percent market share respectively. While UCWeb browser still ranks first amongst mobile browsers in terms of market share, its market share still slipped unprecedentedly by 4.3 percent. Its arch nemesis, the QQ browser, has seen a 1.7 percent increases month-to-month. Looks like UCWeb needs to watch out. Audio video and image applications overshadow games applications, wins award for "most popular" 2012Q1 Top 100 Android applications data shows that 70 percent of applications are software applications, while 30 percent are games. Audio video and image applications make up for 21 percent of the software applications. Leisure puzzle games take up 22 percent of all games applications. Whether it is Android's top 10 or iOS' top 10 most downloaded applications, both have 7 software applications and 3 games applications. Applications download ranking can be seen in the image attached below: Baidu's "Mobile Internet Development Trends Report" is released on a quarterly basis, and has become the "bible" and "must-read" for mobile internet industry insiders. Industry experts believe that as with PC Internet, Baidu is also the number one entry point for mobile Internet. Hundreds of millions of mobile users browse the Internet through Baidu on a daily basis. Baidu takes advantage of its leading mass data analysis and crawling technology to study the industry trends behind user behavior, and hopes to provide the industry with timely, accurate and authoritative trends report. Please click here to download the full report in Chinese. READ MORE

Couple knocks over elderly woman, then buries her alive Posted: 24 May 2012 01:21 AM PDT A young Chinese couple has been arrested by local police in Liupanshui, Guizhou for knocking over a 68-year-old woman in Yuyao, Zhejiang with their car, and then burying her alive when they thought she was dead. An eye-witness says he saw the couple get out of their Santana to help the old woman lying on the ground, saying they would send her immediately to hospital. Worried about the penalties for drunken driving, the 25-year-olds may have decided to bury the woman when they thought she was no longer breathing on their way to the hospital. [ more › ]

Slate Asks Why Harvard Is Training The Next Generation Of Chinese Communist Party Leaders. Answer: Why Not? Posted: 24 May 2012 01:06 AM PDT By Gregory K. Shapiro Last month, Bo Guagua brought some rather unwelcome attention to Harvard, managing in one fell swoop to both draw further ridicule to himself and to affirm every popular stereotype of Harvard students as arrogant, out-of-touch elitists. Perhaps unintentionally, he's also drawn attention to an ongoing practice by Harvard of welcoming top leaders and their children — from China and other countries — to study. I refer you to today's article in Slate titled "The East Is Crimson" — and I eagerly await, if I may say so, for Slate's followups, "The East Is Columbia Blue" and "Oh Yeah, It's Also Orange And Black." Harvard's practice of accepting the leaders of tomorrow has been going on for at least over a decade, and was readily visible during my time as an undergraduate in the mid-2000s. I counted among my classmates the grandson of a former Chinese head of state and the son of the head of the Iraq's Kurdish resistance movement during the Saddam years. (They kept low profiles.) I have no doubt that children of other foreign leaders were on campus but simply never entered my social circle. Certainly each of these students gained acceptance to Harvard on their own merits, and it's not hard to see why Harvard would perceive these exceptional individuals as valuable additions to the school's academic community. However, it's worth bearing in mind that they also bring a very different set of expectations to campus with them. From their first day of class, they already possess the professional and personal relationships needed to ensure lofty careers once they exit the school. Certainly the Harvard degree is valuable for them, if only for the brand name, but they don't have nearly as much to gain from it as your typical whitebread suburban student. The princelings I knew at Harvard were incredibly smart and capable, but academics was often a decidedly secondary priority for them. Those that I knew were also busy pursuing side projects, or stayed involved with affairs back home, or were off racking up guanxi whenever the opportunity allowed. Sure, they went to class, sometimes; but usually just enough to make sure that the Harvard stamp of approval would be there waiting for them at the end of four years. As embarrassing as Bo Guagua's existence has become for everyone, I can't imagine Harvard will suddenly start to resist the allure of opening its gates to the children of foreign leaders. However, even if Xi Jinping's daughter — currently an undergraduate at Harvard — and the next crop of Chinese princelings manage to earn their Harvard pedigree with fewer drunk photos, Harvard still shouldn't expect them to always integrate seamlessly into the community. Most of them have enough common sense and personal drive to spend their time in more productive ways than Bo Guagua does. But even if they show up to class, or stay out of the New York Times, they'll certainly also be pursuing agendas of their own. Our contributor is a Harvard alumnus currently working in Beijing.

TIME Magazine's Bo Xilai issue seized and confiscated Posted: 24 May 2012 12:40 AM PDT TIME's Beijing bureau received a note this week from the customs department that 62 copies of its May 14, 2012 issue entitled The People's Republic of Scandal were being "safeguided by customs" to be "dealt with". Read Hannah Beech's account of their fruitless attempts to get their magazines back: [ more › ]

Media baffled after Scarborough Shoal newspaper fails to sell single copy Posted: 23 May 2012 11:15 PM PDT LUZON ISLAND (China Daily Show) – The ailing reef print-media industry suffered a blow this week, after a newspaper announced record losses just one week after publishing its first edition.

Gan Lulu spotted at the Shanghai Kitchen Expo! Posted: 23 May 2012 11:55 PM PDT Fresh from her boobilicious appearance at the recent Beijing Auto Show, sex-pot and woman-about-town Gan Lulu created a stir earlier today at the Shanghai Kitchen & Bath Expo in this outfit. Another picture and video after the jump... [ more › ]

When You Gotta Go… Posted: 23 May 2012 10:30 PM PDT Picture via reddit.com/r/china (h/t Katie) Nature: Ring, ring Man: Not now, Nature, I'm in the car. Nature: Ring, ring, bitch. Man: Nature, I said I'm in the goddamn c– Nature: DON'T YOU DARE SASS ME WHEN I'M RINGING, HOMO ERECTUS, OR HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WHAT I DID TO YOUR LAST LADY FRIEND? Man, sighs: There, I'm peeing out the door now. You happy? Nature: You the best, babe.

The Interminable Wait Posted: 22 May 2012 06:00 PM PDT At forty-five minutes past the hour Mark was visibly restless, and by a quarter past he was positively pacing. It didn't matter to him that this was a sensitive legal affair involving three major parties across two continents. Considering that Hawkins-Billet was extending its services pro bono - hardly an inexpensive favor - surely it wasn't too much to expect punctuality from the client? Learning mandarin? Our lesson today teaches how to make confident statements about the future using what Brendan refers to as a "prediction sandwich" and the rest of us call the 会... 的 construction. But don't let this grammatical lingo scare you off -- by the end of this lesson you'll have learned a tremendously easy way to make predictions about what will happen. So join us for today's show and if you have any questions, feel free to let us know in our discussion section below. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

If You Hold A Ceremony And No One Knows About It, Can You Really Still Call It A “Reader’s” Choice Awards? Posted: 23 May 2012 09:13 PM PDT Sorry about the low-res image... it's exactly what appears on CW's website. I didn't have the heart to make it cute. While the Beijinger's bloated and brassy PR machine pumps its little steam-piston legs to spread the gospel of the Beijing Expat's Preference of Place to Get Shitfaced, here's Grandpa City Weekend shuffling onto the front porch with a tin walker missing a wheel, his hoarse voice rasping into the desolate cockcrow, unaware that it's 5 am: "Hey. Heyyyyyy. And the winner of the best Beijing-based DJ of the year… Eddie LV. What the Sonny Liston is an LV?" Here's the full list. We're particularly confused by why Cepe (on Ritz-Carlton Financial Street, as CW tells us) won the Reader's Choice for Best Italian Restaurant, while LMPlus won the Editor's Pick and Bene and Prego both received Honorable Mentions. (Like, all-around confused.) What's less confusing is why Daniel Urdaneta won the Reader's Choice for Chef of the Year — I'm guessing it's because he's quoted every other month in City Weekend because Mosto is an advertiser. (You didn't hear that from me though.) Also, is it Reader's or Readers'? I'm OK with either, but not even City Weekend's editors seem to know, seeing as how there's a discrepancy in the article and the logo [8:03 pm: SEE UPDATE AFTER JUMP]. We'll go with "Reader's" for the hell of it. I really don't have any more to say, though I do hold out hope that this year's CW Reader's Choice Awards Party video will feature Brooke Hogan. UPDATE, 8:03 pm: The editors have decided: it's Readers'. Missed one though: