Blogs » Society » Shanghai Weekender: Slowdown

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• Shanghai Weekender: Slowdown
• Meet Jane Wolfer, Shanghai's Iron Woman
• Homies: The New Mr. Pancake House
• [CLOSED] WIN a Chance to Meet and Interview Ndamukong Suh
• How to marry someone from Anhui, a guide for the perplexed
• Hebei gamer burns down café after killing owners because... internet is down
• Presented By:
• China Product Problems. Again.
• China ranked 173rd in Press Freedom Index
• WIN a RMB1,000 Voucher from Toni & Guy
• Watch this Jiangsu man's explosive fishing technique
• Kim Jong-il’s dying wish was for North Korea to build up its nuclear arsenal, apparently
• PSY Lands In Shanghai, Celine Dion Tabbed For CCTV Spring Festival Gala
• Mid-Week Links: Xi Jinping’s leaked speech, Chen Guangcheng says China has “leadership of thieves,” and maybe no fireworks this year?
• Foreigner Goes Streaking In Beijing Airport
• The Didier Drogba Experiment In Shanghai Is Over: Striker Joins Anelka And Joel Griffiths In Skipping Town
• Mainland Toddler Poops In Taiwan Airport, Predictable Uproar Ensues
• Maya Moore Scores 53 Points In Game 1 Of WCBA Finals, Overshadowed By Fans Beating Up Referees
• Trojan virus infects China’s train ticketing website
• China's street protests won't change failing system

Shanghai Weekender: Slowdown Posted: 30 Jan 2013 09:00 PM PST Date: Jan 31st 2013 12:01p.m. Contributed by: katvelayo The best parties in Shanghai to hit this weekend

Meet Jane Wolfer, Shanghai's Iron Woman Posted: 30 Jan 2013 07:38 PM PST Date: Jan 31st 2013 12:34p.m. Contributed by: katvelayo

Homies: The New Mr. Pancake House Posted: 30 Jan 2013 06:28 PM PST Date: Jan 31st 2013 12:17p.m. Contributed by: geofferson

[CLOSED] WIN a Chance to Meet and Interview Ndamukong Suh Posted: 27 Jan 2013 11:01 PM PST Date: Jan 28th 2013 2:55p.m. Contributed by: katvelayo

How to marry someone from Anhui, a guide for the perplexed Posted: 30 Jan 2013 08:00 PM PST No, I'm not going to share courtship advice. This article assumes you're ready to take the next step with your Anhuinese partner (the dress, the rings, the whole bit). I hope sharing my experience helps simplify yours. [ more › ]

Hebei gamer burns down café after killing owners because... internet is down Posted: 30 Jan 2013 07:00 PM PST Nothing can be more irritating than crappy internet connection when it comes to playing online games. Right? But who would have guessed that could turn just another addicted gamer into a frenzied murderer? [ more › ]

Presented By: Posted: 30 Jan 2013 07:00 PM PST

China Product Problems. Again. Posted: 31 Jan 2013 03:38 AM PST I've been deleting old emails today and in doing so I have deleted far too many that relate to China product quality problems.  Here's the most recent such email, with all identifiers removed to protect the victim: My company purchased hundredss of _____ from a company in China for about $65,000. Most of these _______ were defective when we received them. They [the Chinese manufacturer] told us that they would make up for this on our next order. We made another order and we got more defective _________. We then Upgraded the _________ to what was supposed to be a better quality ________. Again, we have received defective ________. We are now getting many returns from our customers who bought these _______ and this is costing us tens of thousands of dollars. I would like to know if there is any way that we can get our money back for all the bad ________. We have all invoices, communications, and videos and pictures. We also want to know if we can sue for attorney costs to resolve this matter as well? My response, which is pretty much pure template these days, was as follows: I hate to have to tell you this, but you have probably set yourself up so that a good solution is very unlikely. You say that you have all "invoices, communications, and videos and pictures," but you fail to mention the most important thing of all, which is a signed AND sealed contract in Chinese that makes very clear exactly what the Chinese manufacturer was to provide you and the penalties it owes for having failed to do so. Once you have the sort of problem that you had with a Chinese manufacturer, you run away.  Fast.  And you don't go back for more and then back again.  Ever. We typically charge a flat fee on these sorts of cases, along with a percentage of whatever we recover, with the fee and the percent based on how we access the case after reviewing all relevant documetns. When we take on these cases, we review all the documents and try to get anything back for our clients by writing a letter in Chinese threatening to sue.  I don't think that will work here and I would urge you not to retain us. The other thing I would urge you to do is to not order anything from China again without a good contract in place. Good contracts usually work by driving away the bad Chinese companies and by forcing the good ones to toe the line.  China does not typically award attorneys' fees unless that award is set forth in a signed contract. For more on what you can be doing to protect yourself by from China product problems, I urge you to read the following: China Supplier Agreements. With Apologies To Kansas. China OEM Agreements. Why Ours Are In Chinese. Flat Out. China Manufacturing Agreements. Make Liquidated Damages Your Friend. The Six (Not Five) Keys To China Quality How To Protect Your Molds And Tooling In China I am truly sorry this has happened to you and I am also sorry that I cannot be more positive about it, but the last thing I want to do is to add to your pain by taking more of your money on something that probably will not give you any value back. Not surprisingly, I did not hear back.

China ranked 173rd in Press Freedom Index Posted: 30 Jan 2013 06:00 PM PST Reporters Without Borders have just released the latest World Press Freedom Index, an annual report that ranks the freedom of the press in every country. 179 were listed in this year's report and China achieved a miserable 173rd place, one better than last year. [ more › ]

WIN a RMB1,000 Voucher from Toni & Guy Posted: 30 Jan 2013 12:06 AM PST Date: Jan 30th 2013 4:03p.m. Contributed by: mengsta

Watch this Jiangsu man's explosive fishing technique Posted: 30 Jan 2013 05:00 PM PST This video, shot in Haimen, Jiangsu province, shows a Chinese fisherman with an... innovative technique: chucking homemade explosives into the river and scooping out the dead fish afterwards, Saddam Hussein style. (Apologies for the vertical camera syndrome, but these guys don't seem like the sharpest tools in the shed.) [ more › ]

Kim Jong-il’s dying wish was for North Korea to build up its nuclear arsenal, apparently Posted: 30 Jan 2013 09:40 AM PST Kim Jong-il, North Korea's second most popular and important leader of all time, left final instructions for his son in the form of 44 orders — probably bullet-pointed, because he's an asshole — that were supposedly delivered on October 8, 2011, two months and nine days before his death. According to Korea JoongAng Daily: When it comes to the regime's defiant nuclear test and missile capabilities, Kim said, "Keep in mind that the way to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula is to endlessly develop nuclear, long-range missiles and biochemical weapons and possess a sufficient number of them. Don't ever be caught off guard." Some fathers, in their will, bequeath to their son a house, a bank account, or a boat. Kim Jong-il passed along a mandate to build warhead-carrying long-range missiles to keep the "peace." Pyongyang reportedly considers the instructions from the two former leaders, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-il, as the final word in their policy-making, overruling even the Constitution. These government orders were allegedly obtained by the South Korean government. Kim expressed his wish for a unified Korea, as every Korean wants, but stressed that "the North should thoroughly be superior to the South in terms of ideology and dominate Seoul's military." The primary goal of the north and south, now as always, remains a unified peninsula. Yet a gulf separates the two sides, and the tragedy continues. Kim Jong-il's final orders: Build more weapons (Korea JoongAng Daily, h/t Gady Epstein)

PSY Lands In Shanghai, Celine Dion Tabbed For CCTV Spring Festival Gala Posted: 30 Jan 2013 07:44 AM PST Hunan will be spared a visit from Uncle PSY this Spring Festival, as it looks like he'll be galloping on Phoenix TV's Spring Festival crap-a-thon in Shanghai, effectively making the Changsha government look like a bunch of liars. According to gossip queens Xinhua, PSY arrives in Shanghai tonight, where he's scheduled for a performance at Cuvve on The Bund February 1 and will then spend the next five days psyching himself up in the mirror for the big game. Also, he's very down-to-earth for not wanting any fuss or fanfare: PSY is keeping things very low key and simple, Phoenix TV publicist Feng Liang told reporters… "We offered to provide PSY with a very detailed itinerary for security and accommodations, but after he saw the words 'hotel suite' 'eight-man security team' and 'all-inclusive,' he completely refused them." PTV's gushing publicist later spewed, "His fee was less than even when we had Jacky Cheung and Andy Lau for our New Year's concert." PSY told the station how he rolls: "There's no need for a VIP corridor at the airport, the simpler the better. No need for security, Shanghai's very safe. No need for banquets, I just want to eat Shanghai traditional snack foods, and I'll pay my own bills. No need for a suite, I just want to stay in a room on a high floor, where I can really see what Shanghai is like." One person I'm pretty certain won't be turning down hotel suites is Celine Dion (see notoriously demanding rider here), who will not only grace the CCTV Spring Festival Gala with the rarely-performed "My Heart Will Go On," but also pair up with PLA songbird Song Zuying, the now "legendary mistress of Jiang Zemin," for a duet on "Jasmine Flower." (Here is Song singing something annoying in 2009.) Titanic will always be afloat in the hearts of the Chinese people, but for someone who had to cancel tour dates last year due to inflamed vocal chords, I wonder how this diva will handle a lungful of Beijing. James writes about music for That's Beijing.

Mid-Week Links: Xi Jinping’s leaked speech, Chen Guangcheng says China has “leadership of thieves,” and maybe no fireworks this year? Posted: 30 Jan 2013 04:00 AM PST Caption via Global Times: "A woman wearing a panda suit sits on a train going from Beijing to Cangzhou, Hebei Province, on Saturday in hopes of feeling a more special atmosphere as huge masses of people rush home for the upcoming Spring Festival. Photo: CFP" Please note that due to travel, this site may be quiet on Friday. All is normal, just like mid-week links. Xi Jinping behind closed doors. "Future historians wondering exactly when the PRC entered its pre-revolutionary phase may focus on a series of speeches that General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered behind closed doors to the Communist Party elite after being promoted to the top slot in the leadership. It was rumored early on that his tone was not encouraging to anyone hoping for an incremental transition to the rule of law with wider scope for civil society and greater accountability in government. Now Gao Yu has provided a few quotes from one of these speeches in an essay which Yaxue Cao has translated. In these fragments we glimpse a ruling class that not only is prepared to defend its privileges with force but anticipates the need to do so, and views proposals for reform as threats to its grip on power." (AE Clark, Ragged Banner) Chen Guangcheng has some unkind things to say about China. "Blind dissident Chen Guangcheng on Tuesday urged China's people to end the communist-governed nation's 'leadership of thieves' and for Washington not to 'give an inch' on human rights in its relations with Beijing. // Chen made the comments as he received an award from a human rights group in a ceremony attended by several U.S. lawmakers on Capitol Hill. His speech was a stinging rebuke to authorities in China where he had faced years of persecution for his legal activism against forced abortions and for citizens' rights." (AP) "Oh My God, Shut Up About China's Game Console Ban Being Lifted." "Ever since the news broke that an anonymous source thinks China's Ministry of Culture is considering lifting China's decade-long ban on game consoles, the world has gone a little crazy. Somehow, a single, anonymous source about something that might happen has gotten people so excited that Sony and Nintendo both saw their stocks jump and Forbes is talking about how those companies could "make billions" if the ban is lifted. Talk about irrational exuberance." (Charlie Custer, Tech in Asia) Corollary: "'We are reviewing the policy and have conducted some surveys and held discussions with other ministries on the possibility of opening up the game console market,' a source from the Ministry of Culture, who asked not to be named, said. // 'However, since the ban was issued by seven ministries more than a decade ago, we will need approval from all parties to lift it,' the source said." (China Daily) Tibetans not happy about this. "In China, a recently screened TV drama, Tibet's Secret (西藏秘密), caused outrage amongst many Tibetans, critical of the director, Liu Depin, for what they perceive as a distortion of Tibetan culture and religion. Since the drama was broadcast on the state-run China Central Television (CCTV), in early January 2013 via CCTV channel 8 in prime time 7:00pm, the controversy has intensified, and somewhat inevitably, begun to turn political in nature." (Global Voices) Would increase? "A commentary in The Beijing News on Tuesday urged the municipal government to ban or reduce the number of fireworks set off in the capital during next month's Spring Festival if the current heavy smog does not disappear by then. // Beijing has been blanketed by smog four times this month. The discharge of fireworks would increase the city's air pollution level to 'hazardous,' seriously threatening people's health in cases where there is little or no wind to dispel the polluted air." (CRI via Sina) Mostly the cameras are to record traffic accidents so that we can post them on blogs. "China is becoming a surveillance state. In recent years, the government has installed more than 20 million cameras across a country where a decade ago there weren't many. // Today, in Chinese cities, cameras are everywhere: on highways, in public parks, on balconies, in elevators, in taxis, even in the stands at sporting events." (NPR) Self-defense? "More than 400 lawyers and women's rights activists have sent a petition letter to the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate calling for the reversal of a death sentence that was handed down to a Sichuan woman who killed her husband after suffering months of domestic violence." (SCMP) That's quite a boast, right there. "More than 50 Chinese people take part in Aussie Rules competitions in Beijing, Shanghai and Southern China." (China Daily) Sky is the Limit (by expats in Beijing) interlude: Finally… "My nephew self-immolated for Tibet." (Tsering Kyi, Washington Post) Xi Jinping's career timeline. (NefariousNarwhal, Reddit) On knock-off cargo jets in China. (Gizmodo) "Time to Abandon the Post-Apocalyptic Unlivable Hellscape that is Beijing?" (Jason Abbott, The Durian) Finally, finally… Oooh. This is how they're promoting Viagra in China. bit.ly/Wugn6r — Ray Kwongさん (@raykwong) 2013年1月30日

Foreigner Goes Streaking In Beijing Airport Posted: 30 Jan 2013 01:03 AM PST A possibly mentally unstable foreign man took off all his clothes and streaked through Beijing Capital International Airport's Terminal 3 yesterday afternoon, chased after by two shouting policemen. That last detail is provided by Legal Mirror, but the man doesn't appear to be running or chased in the above picture posted to Sina Weibo. Although if a picture exists, it means there has to be a video, right? Eventually the man was corralled and covered up with a blanket. Authorities say he was schizophrenic, so they sent him to the hospital. The man might have come unhinged by an argument on the airport shuttle train, when he refused to let a Chinese passenger sit in an open seat next to him. And with this, we introduce a new tag: streaking. Also, if you're type to follow where curiosity may lead, try a Chinese image search for "Beijing Airport Naked" on Baidu. Wacky results. Man runs naked through Beijing Airport (SCMP)

The Didier Drogba Experiment In Shanghai Is Over: Striker Joins Anelka And Joel Griffiths In Skipping Town Posted: 29 Jan 2013 11:49 PM PST Didier Drogba rode into China with hopes of changing Chinese football. "I think I have a little bit of experience — I come here to share that experience and some knowledge," he said back in July. Given the chance on a different team, he might have succeeded, and we might be writing a different story. But in Shanghai, under a bullheaded chairman who, at one time, threatened to pull his investment in FC Shenhua, Drogba's time in China has been nothing short of disappointing. And now he's gone. Drogba confirmed on Monday that he's leaving for Turkey, where his new club, Galatasaray, has a spot in the Champions League. Through a PR company, he announced, "I am looking forward to playing in the Champions League again, against the best clubs in Europe." His well-compensated Shanghai running mate, Nicolas Anelka, 33, is set to leave as well. Le Sulk is currently on loan with Juventus, and it's highly unlikely he'll return to Shanghai. Shenhua's third big off-season foreign acquisition, 33-year-old Joel Griffiths (formerly of Beijing Guo'an), left the club in December for Sydney FC. The Griffiths signing didn't have a tenth of the buzz as Anelka's and Drogba's, but as I wrote here in March, "No one expects him to outscore a healthy Anelka over the course of the season, but I for one wouldn't be surprised if he outplayed him." Well, it turns out that in seven fewer appearances, Griffiths did outscore Anelka, five goals to three. Meanwhile, rumors continue to swirl that FC Shenhua's crazy chairman, Zhu Jun, may move the team out of the city. Via Shanghaiist: As if that weren't enough drama for Shenhua, rumors swirled late last month that team chairman Zhu Jun threatened to ditch Anelka, Drogba, and head coach Sergio Batista during a shareholders meeting. Insiders also say Zhu went as far as to claim he would move the club to another city. James Griffiths (no relation to Joel), who keeps a good watch of his city's team, points out that Shenhua would do much better to distribute its largesse to local players. He's right. It takes more than a few big-name foreigners to build a successful team, and for the price of one Anelka or Drogba — who was the highest-paid player in Chinese Super League history at more than $300,000 a week — a squad could buy itself a very solid midfield. And finally, the moment of truth: what difference did Drogba, Anelka, and Griffiths make in their brief season in Shanghai? A one-point improvement from the season before. One. Shenhua finished 8-8-14, ninth place in the 16-team CSL. UPDATE, 1/30, 1:07 am: As Didier #Drogba joins #Galatasaray, his contract with Shanghai Shenhua is still valid. Shenhua is preparing to report to #FIFA #ESPN — TencentSportsさん (@TencentSports) 2013年1月30日

Mainland Toddler Poops In Taiwan Airport, Predictable Uproar Ensues Posted: 29 Jan 2013 10:17 PM PST Ah yes, another moment in Chinese poop history. In a Taiwan airport recently, someone snapped a picture of a toddler defecating onto a newspaper in the middle of the ground, reportedly with a bathroom nearby. Culture, right? What can ya do? The photograph found its way to Facebook and then Taiwan's NOW News, and people are kind of unhappy. SCMP's Amy Li has the story: "There aren't enough public toilets in China and the ones they do have are usually dirty," commented a Taiwanese blogger, "This might explain mainlanders' poor hygiene habits." "This is  a typical mainland parent who spoils their children,'' said a mainland netizen on China's twitter-like Sina Weibo. "This is so embarassing, " said another mainland blogger. We can only say, by way of counterpoint, that at least the kid's mother had the courtesy to lay down a paper for easy disposal. And look at how young he is! You can bet this kid won't be pulling shit like this when he's ten. Oh wait. Outcry at mainland mother who let son defecate at Taiwan airport (SCMP)

Maya Moore Scores 53 Points In Game 1 Of WCBA Finals, Overshadowed By Fans Beating Up Referees Posted: 29 Jan 2013 09:29 PM PST Maya Moore scored 53 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in Game 1 of the WBCA finals yesterday. Whatever superlatives you want to append to that statement, feel free to do so, but I'll just write this again: 53 points, 13 rebounds. This is where the focus should be: a remarkable individual effort from the world's best female basketball player on Chinese professional basketball's biggest stage. Imagine if LeBron James went for 53 in the NBA finals (or CBA finals, to complete the analogy). You'd want 800 words about that, right? Moore's Shanxi beat Zhejiang 96-92 to grab a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series. This is not the main story, however. After the game, Zhejiang fans — who just watched their team lose at home for the first time all season — spilled onto the court and intercepted the referees. One female ref managed to duck into the back before everyone else, but two male refs were surrounded and beaten. In the video, it doesn't look like they took any serious blows, thankfully. Security was sparse, which seems like an awful oversight considering we see rowdy Chinese basketball fans do stuff like this much too often. Eventually, the refs are smuggled off the court, pursued by still-angry fans. What do we say about this incident? An embarrassment? A shame? It's lucky that no one jumped on the court and assaulted someone while the game was happening, but is it really a stretch to imagine this happening in the future? The hell of it is, the solution is simple: add more security. That's it. Three guards can't fend off a dozen rowdy spectators, but you know what? One dozen guards could! For the purpose of the highest of high-profile matchups the league may ever get, it'll be worth it. You already know Moore was doing her thing, but on the other side was Liz Cambage, i.e. the first female to ever dunk in an Olympics basketball game. She's fairly unstoppable as well — her 35.3 points per game average this season was second only to Moore's 38.1 ppg. And yesterday, she scored 38 points on efficient 11-for-16 shooting (16-for-17 FTs) before fouling out — perhaps it was this that incited the home crowd. The WCBA has issued a public apology to the referees and promised to punish those responsible. Meanwhile, the series shifts to Shanxi for games 2 and 3. By the way, the first time Moore (of the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx) played Cambage (of the Tulsa Shock) in China, they scored 53 and 49, respectively. You should watch tomorrow's game — for the basketball, we mean. Pictures via Sina:

Trojan virus infects China’s train ticketing website Posted: 29 Jan 2013 07:19 PM PST As if the stress of participating in the world's largest human migration weren't enough, Spring Festival travelers have one more thing to worry about. Hangzhou-based Qianjiang Evening Post reports that a woman named Xiao Qiao recently downloaded a Trojan while trying to buy a ticket from the Ministry of Railways official ticketing site — "which comes buried with downloads of other software" — and found herself charged 1,730 yuan for a 152-yuan ticket. "I checked everything, the train, the fare… I checked over and over again, afraid of making any mistake," she said. Xiao Qiao said that her payment concluded with two different pages telling her simultaneously that she had both failed and successfully paid her fare. She then received a text message from a bank notifying her that 1,728 yuan had been deducted from her account and transferred to a bank in Shenzhen. The brief doesn't tell us if Xiao was able to recover her money, or how many people were similarly duped. But on top of all the other problems 12306.cn has, this latest surely won't make anyone more comfortable with the idea of online purchasing. Trojans infect China's ticketing software (Sina/Agencies, h/t Alicia)

China's street protests won't change failing system Posted: 30 Jan 2013 02:27 AM PST A rise in public protests in China signals a failure of environmental governance, where officials use legal threats to extract benefit from polluters. China's "environmental storms", a spate of high profile crackdowns on illegal polluters eight years ago, have faded into history. Back then, a new law on environmental impact assessments gave the otherwise weak State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) the tools to stop law-breakers in their tracks. The agency halted 30 major projects, worth almost 118 billion yuan (US$19 billion), and many hoped it was only the start. It was not. After SEPA was upgraded in status, becoming the Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2008, the storms died away. In the following years, there was much less supervision and momentum from the environmental wing of government, and China's environment continued to worsen. Instead, public participation in mass environmental campaigns came to the fore. In 2007, the people of the east coast port of Xiamen marched through the city to protest against a PX chemical plant, starting a new trend of large-scale environmental campaigns. In Dalian, Shifang and Qidong too, this is how the environment was protected: by tens of thousands taking to the streets. Also see: China's new "middle class" environmental protests In 10 years, environmental management in China has shifted from being a matter of top-down law enforcement to one of bottom-up public campaigning. This marks a failure of environmental management in China, founded on structural problems. Simply strengthening the arm of the law will not solve the problem. Squeezed private businesses create pollution "disaster zones" Businesses sacrifice the environment in pursuit of profit primarily because economic structures force them to do so. The global economy squeezes the profits of Chinese firms, while domestically almost all the sectors where large profits can easily be made – finance, energy, communications, transport – are dominated by state-owned firms. China's numerous private businesses are pushed into a limited number of industries, leading to excessive and destructive competition. With slim profits, it is natural that companies sacrifice the environment to cut costs. As a result, the food, paper and small-scale manufacturing industries are turned into disaster zones for workplace safety and pollution. Then there's the problem of local law enforcement. China's green legislation is improving on paper, but turning that progress into reality at local level remains a battle. Local officials are meant to represent the state and society in combating pollution but, without oversight or constraints, often become agents of the law-breakers instead, engaging in an alliance with polluters where they use the threat of legal powers to extract benefits from them. Areas which rely heavily on local law enforcement, such as food safety and environmental management, are particularly prone to this trap. Clearer and tougher laws may only strengthen the position of local officials when negotiating with business. Perversely, stronger legislation may actually make things worse. Environmental groups unable to represent the public Routes to judicial redress have also been blocked, with no legislation allowing environmental groups to bring cases on behalf of the public. This means most activists push hard on environmental education and advocacy, but are unable to protect the environment on behalf of residents. Worse, the system obstructs the registration and operation of environmental groups. So these groups, which should represent and mediate between the people and the government, are unable to play their role, leaving the public to go it alone. With neither the government nor environmental groups able to play their part, a new environmental force has taken the stage – direct and spontaneous public campaigns. In China, the "environmental movement" used to mean lobbying from NGOs, reporters, academics and university students. Now it includes ordinary people in large-scale street protests. It was only after SEPA's crackdowns were over that the country saw this wave of environmental campaigns. China's street protests are a case of the people taking power into their own hands after environmental management by the government has failed. Participants in the public protests of recent years have been mainly locals. The cases are very similar, and are becoming more frequent and intense. They rely heavily on new forms of media, as people use social networking to form groups, creating a form of community protest. In Dalian and Shifang, such protests changed government decisions, relieving to some extent the risks of pollution. Street protests won't change the system Of course, there are also problems. Mass movements can radicalise. The speed of microblogs and the ease with which they bring people together allows for personal and emotional reactions to be exaggerated. Irrational ideas are easily spread and emboldened. And the decentralised nature of these discussions makes it harder to control public opinion. More important is the fact that, no matter how loud these protests are, they don't change the system. Many projects have been stopped due to mass protests, but decision-making methods stay the same, as does the power of developers. China's so-called environmental movement looks passive – it is dependent on how the government reacts. If the reaction is poor, so will be the outcomes for the movement. You could say that the quality of China's environmental movement depends on the quality of its participants, while its outcome depends on the quality of government. This way of protecting the environment offers no guarantees. The good news is that these campaigns show the Chinese people are getting more involved in the environment. I hope grassroots participation can help to trigger true reform of the system.

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