News » Politics » Ang Lee wins Oscar for best director
News » Politics » Ang Lee wins Oscar for best director |
- Ang Lee wins Oscar for best director
- Ang Lee's Life of Pi nabs Oscar for best cinematography
- House Intelligence Chairman: U.S. ‘Losing’ Cyber War
- China's gold output rises 11.66%
- Hainan province pledges funding for marine economy
- Chinese CIA spy unveils power struggle between security ministries
- The Chinese Lantern Festival, Yuan Xiao Jie!
- Mary Ellen Harte: Climate Change This Week: China Eats Amazon, Methane Bomb Set to Explode, and More!
- CPC Central Committee to hold 2nd plenum
- Traces of metal, talc powder found in China's dried seeds
- Top China Stories from WSJ: BYD Sales, U.K. Properties, iPhones
- China's environmental woes, wrapped in gorgeous packaging
- Labor shortage hits Chinese businesses after holidays
- Success of budget carriers gives larger airlines food for thought
- Premium postnatal care centers spring up in Beijing
- Corrupt officials in China frequently pardoned or paroled
- China prostitutes making 'home services' popular in Taiwan
- Leftovers: unmarried Chinese women over 25
- China unveils 'world's fastest smartphone'
- Censoring the Internet a Lucrative Industry in China
| Ang Lee wins Oscar for best director Posted: 25 Feb 2013 05:06 AM PST Taiwanese director Ang Lee on Sunday (L.A. time) won the 2013 Academy Award for best director, on the 3-D shipwreck epic "Life of Pi." "Thank you, movie god," Lee said during his acceptance speech.... |
| Ang Lee's Life of Pi nabs Oscar for best cinematography Posted: 25 Feb 2013 04:30 AM PST Taiwanese director Ang Lee's 3-D shipwreck epic Life of Pi on Sunday (LA time) nabbed the 2013 Academy Award for best cinematography. Life of Pi, 80% of which was shot in Taiwan, was adapted from Ca... |
| House Intelligence Chairman: U.S. ‘Losing’ Cyber War Posted: 24 Feb 2013 08:04 PM PST The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday that recent reports about Chinese hacking show the U.S. is losing a global cyber war. |
| China's gold output rises 11.66% Posted: 25 Feb 2013 03:54 AM PST China produced 403.1 tonnes of gold in 2012, up 42.1 tonnes or 11.66% year on year, according to new data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Among the total, 341.8 to... |
| Hainan province pledges funding for marine economy Posted: 25 Feb 2013 03:46 AM PST South China's Hainan province is planning to boost financial support to develop its marine economy, according to guidelines issued by the provincial government. The guidelines, released by the Stat... |
| Chinese CIA spy unveils power struggle between security ministries Posted: 25 Feb 2013 03:10 AM PST Last year's failed defection attempt by an official from the Chinese Ministry of State Security has uncovered a bitter and long-standing power struggle between China's state security and public securi... |
| The Chinese Lantern Festival, Yuan Xiao Jie! Posted: 24 Feb 2013 06:54 PM PST
 The Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival is one of the most colorful activities of the Lantern Festival in Taiwan. (Lin Bodong/The Epoch Times)  The Lantern Festival ends the 15-day celebration of Chinese New Year. As a result, it is an exciting festival that draws huge crowds of people out to celebrate under the full moon. This year, it fell on Feb. 24th in the Gregorian calendar. Called 元宵節 (yuán xiāo jié), or Yuanxiao Festival, in Chinese, the Lantern Festival is held on the 15th day of the first lunar month. That is the first night of the year in which a full moon can be viewed.  A Taiwan 2013 Lantern Festival decorative lantern for the Year of the Snake. (Xu Xiangfu/The Epoch Times) The word yuan (元 ) refers to the first month, while xiao (宵) means night, and jie (節) means festival. Therefore, Yuanxiao Jie is a night festival held during the first month of the year, partly as a celebration to end the New Year's celebrations, and partly to celebrate the first full moon. Though the Mid-Autumn Festival is sometimes also called the Lantern Festival in the West, the Yuanxiao Festival is a distinctly different celebration. A family event, the Lantern Festival brings families out with their children to take part in games and activities. During the day, or sometimes at night as well, schools will set up performances and competitions, which often include solving riddles and word-guessing games that allow children to practice language and problem-solving skills. Festivities can also include dancing, fireworks, and drumming. Traditionally, 湯圓 (tang yuán), or glutinous rice balls, would be eaten at night. These sticky rice balls are usually stuffed with sweet fillings, most commonly black sesame paste, though they can also be filled with sugared tangerine peels, walnuts, and red bean paste.  A beautiful Fa boat on a lotus blossom, lit up at the Taiwan 2013 Lantern Festival. (Chen Baizhou/The Epoch Times) The pronunciation of tang yuán is very similar to the pronunciation of 团圆 (tuán yuán), or reunion, so the round, rice balls symbolize family coming together. Eating them is meant to bring happiness and good luck to the family in the New Year. Whole families may go outdoors to eat these treats under the full moon. Since these rice balls are specifically eaten during this festival, they are sometimes just called 元宵 (yuán xiāo), after the festival.  Cooked and filled rice-flour dumplings, called yuan xiao, are served during the Lantern Festival, which concludes the Chinese New Year celebrations. (David Wu/The Epoch Times) At night, the most beautiful part of the celebration begins as the "lanterns" of the Yuanxiao Festival are lit. These lanterns symbolize letting go of the old and welcoming in the new. Thousands of colorful lanterns outdoors is also a way of lighting up the night so people can enjoy the full moon. After dinner, children spill into the streets with the lit lanterns. Parents accompany their children and meet up with friends to chat. In ancient times, the lanterns were handmade out of paper with a simple candle inside. The outside was hand-decorated and painted with pretty designs. The children of the aristocrats would have ornate lanterns of lavishly painted, cut paper.  A gorgeous, tall lantern topped by a lotus flower at the Lantern Festival in Hong Kong in 2012. (Pan Zaishu/The Epoch Times) Every child carried a lantern to light the way as they strolled through the streets with their families. Sometimes, the paper lanterns would have puzzles written on them for children to solve. If they solved the puzzles correctly, the children would receive a little gift. These days, lanterns are usually made of plastic in the shapes of animals, often Chinese zodiac animals, and lit by a battery-powered light. Shops and buildings also hang strings of lanterns from their doorways, and lanterns are also hung at temples. In some parts of the world, lantern competitions are held, dazzling the crowds with their size, beauty, and scope. According to various legends of the origin of the festival, the lanterns have served many purposes, over the years—as beacons, signals, or ruses. Now, on this special day, they are colorful symbols of peace and prosperity. Best wishes to all throughout the New Year! Read more about the origins of the Lantern Festival here:
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| Posted: 24 Feb 2013 01:19 PM PST US Winters Warming Faster, says a new report by Climate Central, an online scientific journalism organization. Before you snow shovelers start cheerin... Read more: Wind Power, Congress, Fracking, Economy, Agriculture, Renewable Energy, Clean Energy, Pollution, Business, Green Energy, Coal, Drought, Insurance, Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse Gases, Climate Change Solutions, Climate Change, Business News, Global Warming, Solar Power, Natural Gas, Voting, Energy, Heat Waves, Carbon Emissions, Crops, Weather, Energy Efficiency, Corporations, Snow, Water, Environment, Sustainability, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Extreme Weather, China, Green News This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| CPC Central Committee to hold 2nd plenum Posted: 25 Feb 2013 02:26 AM PST The Second Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China will be held in Beijing from Feb. 26 to Feb. 28, according to a decision by members of the Political Bureau of the CPC C... |
| Traces of metal, talc powder found in China's dried seeds Posted: 25 Feb 2013 02:26 AM PST Suzhou authorities have found traces of aluminium substances in watermelon seeds during recent investigations on snack foods. They were reportedly used in order to make the products more visually appe... |
| Top China Stories from WSJ: BYD Sales, U.K. Properties, iPhones Posted: 24 Feb 2013 05:54 PM PST China's foreign-exchange regulator has been actively investing in U.K. property and infrastructure,; the battle over sales of locked Apple Inc. iPhones has reached Hong Kong; China's BYD is betting that the wider adoption of its electric vehicles will help triple sales. |
| China's environmental woes, wrapped in gorgeous packaging Posted: 25 Feb 2013 01:06 AM PST Nearly 400 billion yuan (US$64 billion) in annual product packaging will eventually destroy China's environment, warned the Ministry of Justice in its publication the Legal Daily. The price a Chine... |
| Labor shortage hits Chinese businesses after holidays Posted: 25 Feb 2013 12:50 AM PST Labor shortages in China following the Lunar New Year holidays are affecting not only coastal manufacturing provinces but also inland regions. Another strange phenomenon is difficulty of some service ... |
| Success of budget carriers gives larger airlines food for thought Posted: 25 Feb 2013 12:50 AM PST International budget airlines, which have adopted a strategy of expanding to cities from rural areas, have gradually ventured into China's first-tier cities including Beijing and Shanghai, Shanghai's ... |
| Premium postnatal care centers spring up in Beijing Posted: 25 Feb 2013 12:50 AM PST The growing importance placed by people in China on postnatal care traditionally offered to mothers so they can recuperate during the first months after they give birth has led to a rise in the number... |
| Corrupt officials in China frequently pardoned or paroled Posted: 25 Feb 2013 12:50 AM PST Many of Chinese government officials sent to jail for corruption allegedly later obtained either a pardon, penalty reduction or medical parole, reports the China Youth Daily, the official newspaper of... |
| China prostitutes making 'home services' popular in Taiwan Posted: 25 Feb 2013 12:50 AM PST Prostitutes from mainland China are finding business increasingly abundant in Taiwan's southern and central regions, where they are offering services directly at clients' homes for NT$500 (US$17) an h... |
| Leftovers: unmarried Chinese women over 25 Posted: 24 Feb 2013 01:00 PM PST China has a rather unpleasant term for women who are still single in their mid- to late-20s. Why don't men suffer the same fate? Age: Variable Appearance: Not at their best Ooh, leftovers! Best meal of the day! Roast beef sandwiches! Whizzed up into soups! Jammed indiscriminately on a plate and warmed up in the microwave, bacterial risk be damned! You're right, but I'm talking about a different kind of leftover. Really? What kind. The woman kind. I already don't like where this is going. Nor should you, painfully liberal sir, nor should you. "Leftovers" is apparently how the state refers to refer to women in China who remain unmarried after the age of 25. Yikes! That's – well, yikes! I know. And they're not alone in their deployment of base terminology for the phenomenon of women deemed by their sociocultural milieu to be past their marriageable peak. How so? The people of the Philippines refer to women of 30-plus as "over the calendar" – ie exceeding the number of days in a month. Basically, denoting a number and age so vast as to be unrecordable and virtually inconceivable? Quite so. For those moments when "past it" doesn't seem quite enough. And in Japan, the term in use is "Christmas cakes". Don't tell me – unsold after 25? Correct. What a way you have with the derogatory pun, sir. It's just a gift. Now, I feel I must ask the obvious question – do any of these cultures have similarly objectionable words for unmarried men of a certain age? Unmarried Chinese men over are known as "bare branches". Which is quite nice. But they are in surplus because of the preference for sons under the one-child policy and high abortion rate of female foetuses. So the cavalcade of damning proof of the intractable nature of patriarchal prejudice and misogyny never really falters then? No. Of course, I feel I must point out that we, the British, are hardly blameless in this regard. "Spinster" and "old maid" are unlovely words for unlovely attitudes, while the equivalent, "bachelor", has always connoted life of fun and freedom. They're still better than a state-sanctioned comparison to discarded food, though, aren't they? I'll give you that, yes. I'll give you that. Do say: Up yours. I'm a magnificent main course. Don't say: Marry me! Whoever you are, just marry me, please! guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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| China unveils 'world's fastest smartphone' Posted: 24 Feb 2013 10:50 AM PST Telecoms giant Huawei presents a device it claims can download high definition films in minutes and songs in seconds Huawei, the Chinese telecoms equipment group, has unveiled what it claims is the world's fastest smartphone and announced a 60% annual rise in shipments of its mobile devices. Headlining at the mobile phone industry's annual gathering in Barcelona, which opened its doors a day after hundreds of thousands of demonstrators rallied across Spain in protest at national austerity, Huawei presented its latest device to run on Google's Android software. The Ascend P2 connects to the web two or three times faster than other smartphones when using Wi-Fi, its maker claims, downloading high-definition films in minutes and videos, songs and ebooks in just seconds. In the Christmas quarter, Huawei overtook BlackBerry to become the world's third largest smartphone maker. Although it is some way behind Samsung and Apple, its less expensive but high-performing handsets are attracting a growing following. It shipped a total of 127m consumer devices last year, of which 32m were smartphones alongside more basic "feature" phones, home broadband modems and dongles to connect laptops to mobile networks. The division generated $7.5bn of revenues in 2012, a 10% increase on the previous year. Overall income including sales of network equipment to telecoms companies totalled $35.4bn, bringing Huawei level for the first time with the market leader Ericsson. The surge in sales is despite heightened concerns in Washington and London over cyberspying and the degree to which Huawei's equipment should be trusted at the heart of western networks. A United States Congressional report in October stated the firm and its fellow Chinese business ZTE posed a national security threat, while the UK's Intelligence Security Committee is due to complete its own investigation shortly. In a sign of the shifting power balance in telecoms, Huawei and Samsung are vying with Sweden's Ericsson and US computer chip maker Qualcomm to host the largest stands at this year's Mobile World Congress trade fair. Although the number of delegates is expected to rise from 67,000 to 70,000 this year, cash-strapped mobile phone networks are cutting back their presence as austerity grips Europe. According to Bloomberg, Vodafone is spending 20% less this year and, along with Sweden's TeliaSonera, is sending fewer executives. "What we see at the event matches the trends we have in the industry," said Michael O'Hara, chief marketing officer of mobile carriers association and congress organiser GSMA. "Europe is the flatter piece of the equation." Following student riots last year and Sunday's 100,000-strong demonstration in Madrid, at which prime minister Mariano Rajoy was urged to step down, security is expected to be tight. Conspicuously missing from the exhibitors is Google. Last year, to showcase Android, the company took a gigantic stand which featured a juice bar and a helter-skelter. The showmanship will be left to Huawei, which launched a new branding campaign under the slogan "Make it Possible" by commissioning an artwork of a solid steel 1m square cube magnetically suspended in mid-air. Huawei is redoubling efforts to establish its brand with consumers, moving out from behind the shadow of the mobile networks it supplies. Richard Yu, head of the Chinese company's consumer business, said the company now had "strong momentum" in its efforts to be a "leading smartphone brand in the coming years". guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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| Censoring the Internet a Lucrative Industry in China Posted: 24 Feb 2013 01:53 PM PST  People in Beijing use their laptops at a cafe in Beijing in November, 2012. The censorship of posts on the Internet has become big business in China. (Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images) Coming across the message "this page cannot be displayed" while browsing the Internet is a common experience for Chinese netizens, and is often a sign the content was removed by Internet censors. The practice is known as "post-deleting," and a recent inside account reveals how the industry has boomed. Like most things in China, the dubious practice of deleting posts straddles both business and officialdom, according the report in Beijing-based Century Weekly on Feb. 18. This gray economy is controlled by public relations companies, website managers, and Party officials tasked with monitoring the Internet. Also known as "Internet crisis public relations companies," post-deleting firms serve private businesses as well as officials. One such company, Beijing Qihang Internet Public Relations, explains on its website that certain online posts must be deleted because "many well-known enterprises spend large amounts of money on establishing their corporate images. If they do not take action to remove negative articles, they could find themselves in a deadly crisis."
Beijing Qihang is able to remove any online article that can be found using Baidu, China's largest search engine, as well as cached screenshots of the offending webpages stored on Baidu servers. Deleting an article costs up to tens of thousands of yuan, and blocking a search term can cost up to 1 million yuan (US$160,000), according to Century Weekly. However, with many anonymous netizens now using the Internet as a platform to report acts of corruption, Chinese officials have become the main clients for these censorship companies. Web-scrubbing company Yage Time Advertising Ltd. said in the report that 60 percent of its revenue came from officials in small- and medium-sized cities, most of whom were police chiefs and county governors. Gu Tengda, Yage Time's founder, reportedly told his salesmen during a training session, "Each of your business deals should be worth at least 500,000 yuan (US$80,000)." A former high-ranking manager disclosed that the company turned a profit of 50 million yuan (US$8 million) in 2011. Mr. Zhang, an employee at a business in the same industry, 306 Internet Brand Consulting, said in an interview with the Chinese International Business Times that the company provides long-term services for its customers. "Prices depend on the difficulty of the job. It's not difficult to delete news from most news sites, but deleting news or posts from financial news websites and forums often costs more. We also offer the service of modifying the original news and releasing positive information on our customers," Zhang said. According to Zhang, the post-deleting business began to boom in 2007 and peaked in 2010, but has since slowed down. "This industry is still profitable. It is really competitive in large cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. However, the market is also bright in small- and medium-sized cities." Research by Howard Feng. Translation by Hsin-Yi Lin. Written in English by Tan Shu Yan. The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 21 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter. .
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