Links » Crème » Mid-Week Links: Protesting Africans update, Chinese superhero The Annihilator, lots of baijiu, and “5,000 Years”
Links » Crème » Mid-Week Links: Protesting Africans update, Chinese superhero The Annihilator, lots of baijiu, and “5,000 Years”
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 A rainbow in Xinjiang (CFP via Chinanews.com) The Nanfang updates the story from earlier today about protesting Africans in Guangzhou: "According to Matouvu, a 26-year old Nigerian who lives in the Sanyuanli area, the initial altercation between the moped driver and Nigerian man was in the wee hours of yesterday (June 19) morning. She said when she arrived at her office around 8 o'clock yesterday morning, police cars remained around the area where the altercation had taken place. 'I called to find out what was going on, and they said one man had died from a beating,' she said." [The Nanfang] About that postgame soccer "near-riot" on Saturday: "Beijing has no problem attracting fans and families are seen all over Worker's Stadium on a matchday. With Father's Day having just past, it was an awesome sight to see all the young children inside Gongti Saturday night. What happened outside the venue was an isolated incident, over 40,000 people showed up for the match proving that Guoan is attracting plenty of well-behaved fans and that the league is nowhere near 'spiraling into a weekend pasttime for thugs' and saying as much is an insult to Beijing's great fans." [Wild East Football] And one more reaction to that forced abortion case. "The gradual relaxation of the one-child policy over many years (as we're seeing now) is probably the best anyone can hope for. Ending it outright all at once could cause a baby boom with demographic consequences down the road just as bad as those that resulted from the policy in the first place. // So for most intents and purposes, the forced abortion problem is probably better than it was 10 or 20 years ago and improving slowly but surely. The takeaway from this latest incident though is that, as far as public opinion is concerned, none of that matters." [Eric Fish, Sinostand] Travel to Tibet open again to foreigners — unless you're from Norway, the UK, Austria or Korea (and other restrictions). "The Tibet Tourism Bureau had a meeting today (June 18) and will begin processing permits for foreigners again starting on June 20th. There are still a lot of restrictions. Only groups of 5 people from the same country will have their permits processed." [Land of Snows] Self-censorship at the South China Morning Post? "A decision by the South China Morning Post's new editor in chief, Wang Xiangwei, to reduce a major breaking story on the suspicious death of Tiananmen dissident Li Wangyang in a Hunan hospital to a brief has kicked off a new controversy at the paper. // Alex Price, a senior sub editor at the paper, sent Wang an email saying 'A lot of people are wondering why we nibbed the Li Wangyang story last night. It does seem rather odd. Any chance you can shed some light on the matter?' // Wang answered curtly: 'I made that decision.' When Price asked in a subsequent email: 'Any chance you say why? It's just that to the outside world it looks an awful lot like self-censorship,' it generated an explosion from Wang." [Asia Sentinel] Get ready. "The Annihilator" really is happening. "'Spider-Man' creator Stan Lee's first Chinese superhero, 'The Annihilator,' topped the inaugural slate of feature film co-productions announced Monday by state-run National Film Capital." [LA Times] Chinese drinking culture. "The pressure to drink, and drink a lot, is so great that even Mormon Jon Huntsman admitted he tippled while serving as U.S. Ambassador to China. // In 2009, a Guangdong police officer who passed away after drinking to excess at an official event was said to have 'died in the line of duty.' He received the official designation of "martyr," which greatly increased the compensation his family received. The officer's death came just after another official, ironically with Wuhan's water resources bureau, also succumbed to too much drink. // While not the official cause of death, the Guangdong cop and the Wuhan cadre died of inadequate jiuliang (酒量), which literally means 'booze capacity,' or in common usage, 'ability to hold one's drink.' In modern China, showing off one's jiuliang, often on numerous nights (or afternoons) a week, is part of doing business or being important. Like the eighth rule of Fight Club, if it's your first time, you have to drink." [The Awl] Beijing is getting more expensive. "Mercer's annual expatriate cost-of-living survey has come out. Judging from the results, either Beijing is getting pricier or lots of other places are getting cheaper. Beijing now ranks #17 on the international list, up three spots from its perch last year, but still down one from its high at 16 in 2010." [the Beijinger] Featuring a screen-grab of BJC… "But what all Chinese everywhere of whatever political persuasion agree upon is the figure used to mark the extent of their lineage: '5,000 years of civilization' and '5,000 years of history' are the most repeated phrases you'll hear the Chinese use to describe their country. Indeed it is not so much something agreed upon as simply taken for granted." [Isham Cook] Feet calligraphy interlude: Finally… Patrick Devillers, who had business ties with Gu Kailai, arrested in Cambodia. [NY Times] Jonathan Watts bids farewell to China. [Guardian] Danwei's "Model Workers 2012" (chinaSMACK and Bill Bishop are the big winners). [Danwei] Gonna put this here without comment: Jim Boyce headline: "Beer-ty queens: Gao Xiaodan is Miss Kriek 2012 for China." [Beijing Boyce] Finally, finally…  "SLEEP," by Beijing-based artist Zhao Na, via NeochaEDGE |
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Cambodia police have arrested French architect Patrick Henri Devillers, an associate of Bo Xilai's Wife Gu Kailai. AFP reports that "Cambodian police said the arrest of Patrick Devillers was carried out with the cooperation of Beijing, which is seeking his extradition." Anyone who thinks Cambodia is safe from the lengthening arm of Chinese law is not thinking clearly. The best case for Devillers may be that Beijing just wants him as a material witness?
The erratic Boxun claims that the Bo Xilai verdict is due before the end of June. So within ten days we should either know the resolution of Bo's case or have further proof that Boxun will print just about anything. Now that China has forced the Philippines to back down over Huangyan Island, perhaps Vietnam is next? Xinhua reports in China dissatisfied over Vietnam's island patrols that:
A spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday expressed strong dissatisfaction over Vietnamese fighters' recent patrolling and reconnaissance on Nansha Islands in the South China Sea…Speaking at a regular press briefing in response to a journalist's question on the subject, Hong Lei said, "China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters. Vietnam's recent action is a serious violation of China's sovereignty."
Vietnam is unlikely to bend as the Philippines just did.WantChinaTimes writes that Kweichow Moutai outshines Apple in rewarding shareholders. In China at least they are both excellent plays on corruption, though it is unfortunate that foreigners can not buy Moutai A shares. I recently discussed Moutai's business and its 2012 lucky brand in Xi Jiu, A Baijiu Bet on Xi Jinping. A new report predicts that in 2015, At Least 40% of Smartphones in China Will Be Priced Below $200. I wrote about the coming tsunami of cheap Chinese smartphones a couple of weeks ago, writing that a big concern for Beijing will be the likely exponential growth in the censorship load. Some filtering can be done with software, but as we have seen with Weibo much still has to be done with humans. I am no cyber-utopian, but the proliferation of cheap, 3G smartphones throughout China, and not just 1st and 2nd tier cities, could have profound implications for the political system. Speaking of censorship, Pando Daily's Hamish McKenzie writes that Internet Censorship Isn't Just for China and PCWorld reports in Chinese Operators Hope to Standardize a Segmented Internet that Chinese researchers have submitted a draft proposal to the Internet Engineering Task Force that "describes how the Internet could be split into several parts using the Domain Name System and in the process give countries more control over their own segment of the network." One world, two Internets. Xinhua tells us that Infrastructure investment is vital for China's continual growth, writing that:
…besides investment plans, China this time has initiated a slew of other structural reforms, including taxation reductions and opening the floodgates for private investments, to target long-term sustainable growth. But these policies will take time to have an effect on the economy, and in the short term, infrastructure investment will shield the economy from a hard landing.
Danwei is out with the Danwei Model Worker Awards 2012, a list of the best specialist websites, blogs and online sources of information about China. It is the premier list of English-language China resources and I am honored to be included. Thanks @Danwei.
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