Blogs » Society » London Mayor Boris Johnson Welcomes You To The Olympics, Sort Of
Blogs » Society » London Mayor Boris Johnson Welcomes You To The Olympics, Sort Of |
- London Mayor Boris Johnson Welcomes You To The Olympics, Sort Of
- Benjamin Cost: 6 favorite dining spots in 2012 thus far
- CW Heated Debate: Is It Worth Learning Chinese in Shanghai?
- This Truck Driver Is The Definition Of Lucky To Be Alive
- How M50 Changed One Shanghainese Art Professor into a Champion of the Arts
- Escape Shanghai: Float Along the Canals of Zhouzhuang
- China VIEs And New Oriental Education. July 25 Webcast.
- ‘Flying Kick Brother’ Subdues Knife Wielding Killer
- You Know It’s No Longer Simple Road Rage Once The Machete Comes Out
- Balding crisis engulfs the post-’90s generation
- China’s Official Olympics Song, “Best Wishes From Beijing,” Is Eight Minutes Of Dreadful
- How To Serve A Complaint In China And In Taiwan
- Suicidal Tendencies
- What’s Driving China’s Real Estate Rally? Part 2
- Female with mini-skirt gets half off park admission discount in Guilin
- Cambodia’s deadly land grab battle
- Bayern Munich Plays At Workers Stadium Tonight, Near Where A Bus Was Stuck Earlier Today [UPDATE]
- Video of the Week: Horse Riding Fitness Ace Power
- TICT Beach Party at Bund Beach
- Speak Cantonese! Language War in Hong Kong Book Fair
| London Mayor Boris Johnson Welcomes You To The Olympics, Sort Of Posted: 24 Jul 2012 09:12 PM PDT YouTube user Cassetteboy has posted a hilarious cut-up of Boris Johnson — who we last saw on this blog trying (and failing) to operate a Sina Weibo account — welcoming people to London for the Olympics (opening ceremony is Friday, in case you've forgotten). Some of our favorite parts: "Something nasty is going to happen to you. Welcome to the so-called Games… "It was the beginning of a dark age. A kind of cringe-making, clash of civilizations. The peoples of the earth sailed into the mouth of the Thames, a place of mud, illiteracy, and embarrassing diseases. London built this superdome in which took place entertainments which seemed shocking and depraved. Exactly the same experience as English public schools." That was all within the first 40 seconds. Now go watch the rest. Youku video for those in China after the jump. |
| Benjamin Cost: 6 favorite dining spots in 2012 thus far Posted: 24 Jul 2012 09:00 PM PDT              |
| CW Heated Debate: Is It Worth Learning Chinese in Shanghai? Posted: 24 Jul 2012 08:11 PM PDT Date: Jul 25th 2012 9:59a.m. Contributed by: cityweekend_sh Are you one of the expats who moved to China without learning any of the language? Now that you're in Shanghai, do you really need it? |
| This Truck Driver Is The Definition Of Lucky To Be Alive Posted: 24 Jul 2012 08:39 PM PDT We're not sure how this truck flipped over on a bridge in Gansu recently, but the driver was thrown from the cab and would have plummeted 10 meters to serious injury if not for his right leg being pinned underneath the truck. The rescue operation required three cranes and lots of ropes and harnesses. The man was successfully untangled after three hours, and everyone involved deserves a pat on the back. Youku video for those in China after the jump. |
| How M50 Changed One Shanghainese Art Professor into a Champion of the Arts Posted: 24 Jul 2012 08:00 PM PDT Date: Jul 24th 2012 11:57a.m. Contributed by: amberwoo Most are familiar with M50 as a creative haven of artist studios and galleries in Shanghai, yet few have a more intimate connection with its history than Image Tunnel founder Han Yuqi does. |
| Escape Shanghai: Float Along the Canals of Zhouzhuang Posted: 24 Jul 2012 06:00 PM PDT Date: Jul 24th 2012 11:20a.m. Contributed by: geofferson Get lost among the charming lanes and canals of Zhouzhuang. Bigger than Qibao, further off the tourist trail than showy Zhujiajiao and older than everything else (it recently celebrating its 926th birthday), you'll be able to recapture a certain tranquility in Zhouzhuang that's slowly being bred out of its brethren. |
| China VIEs And New Oriental Education. July 25 Webcast. Posted: 24 Jul 2012 06:21 PM PDT GLG Research is going to be moderating what I am certain will be a fascinating discussion tomorrow on China VIEs and the SEC's pending investigation into New Oriental Education (EDU). The event is entitled, VIEs – SEC Investigation into New Oriental Education and it will be taking place live on the net and by teleconference on July 25 at 2:00 PM EDT. The two speakers at this event will be China Law Blog's own Steve Dickinson and Paul Gillis, Professor of Practice at Guanghua School of Management at Peking University. The webcast/teleconference is expected to focus on the following:
For more information on this free event, go here. If you miss it live, there will be an audio replay within around 24 hours and there will also be a transcript available for purchase. For those of you who really want to prepare for this event beforehand, I recommend you read the following China Law Blog posts:
And the following China Hearsay posts:
And the following China Accounting posts:
And the following China Finance posts:
If you read all of the above, you will probably know more about VIEs than anyone else alive. If you are going to read just one post, make it "Explaining VIE structures." Oh, and just to give you more to read, I also recommend you read the Silicon Hutong post, "VIEs, The Long Resolution." In that post, David Wolf talks of how the Chinese government likes to "boil its frogs slowly, not all at once," and he then talks of how VIEs are on the wrong side of where China wants to be going.         |
| ‘Flying Kick Brother’ Subdues Knife Wielding Killer Posted: 24 Jul 2012 05:12 PM PDT Another lighter post while I'm at Buddha Camp. This isn't a very light post. But, this video shows outstanding courage and is worth watching. A man, reportedly mentally ill, went on to the Guizhou Normal University campus, wielding a 27-inch knife and stabbed two guards, who later died at the hospital Here's the video, viewed nearly 3 million times in China, of how he was subdued: Interestingly, many of the comments in China focused on the photographer didn't help out. Turns out it was a female professor. Male or female, it would take a lot of courage to try to disarm the killer, especially after just watching him repeatedly knife the guard. That why 'Flying Kick Brother' is a hero. |
| You Know It’s No Longer Simple Road Rage Once The Machete Comes Out Posted: 24 Jul 2012 03:00 PM PDT Remember the advice that Nanjing motorist — who, even after suffering a split lip at the hands of a bully on the road, refused to fight back – gave last week? About the importance of keeping your cool, especially during "summertime," and how "a gentleman uses his mouth, not his fist"? There were some people in Tangshan, Hebei province recently who heeded none of it. As reported by Jiangxi TV's Morning New Horizons show on Monday, a dispute arose after two cars bumped into one another while making a turn. A man got out and beat a woman bloody. That woman then called on some friends, who began chasing the man — at the beginning of this video, you see him scurrying into his car. The bloodied woman then smashes his window with a brick, and her friend, wielding a machete, appears to attempt to stab the man multiple times. "Say, shouldn't traffic accidents be reported to traffic cops?" muses the news anchor at the end. "Acting violently will only result in more mistakes." Youku video for those in China after the jump. |
| Balding crisis engulfs the post-’90s generation Posted: 24 Jul 2012 03:40 PM PDT  The front page of the Wuhan Morning News today features a strange picture: the back of a bald-man's head with a nail sticking out of it, and a goat leashed to the nail. The goat is walking the circumference of its leash, eating the man's hair, making him bald. The headline reads " Why the baldness crisis has engulfed the post-90s generation." The article says a recent survey of men aged 20 to 40 has shown that men today are, on average, losing their hair 20 years earlier than the previous generation. While the bald patch used to be a typical symbol of being successful and middle-aged, Chinese men born in the 90's generation are beginning to bald in their 20s. Some are even losing their hair as early as high school. Experts believe this earlier hair loss is a "modern disease," related to the modern lifestyle. The article includes personal interviews with several young Chinese men who began balding early. It treats balding as a medical issue as opposed to an aesthetic one, and describes how Dr. Ping Aiping, a dermatologist at the Wuhan Union Hospital, frequently encounters cases of early-onset baldness. He says his hair-loss patients are getting younger and younger. These young men often feel insecure about their baldness and find it difficult to find employment. They are eager for medical attention. The article advises that men count the number of hairs they lose each day. If that number exceeds 150 hairs, they should actively seek medical attention. The causes of hair loss are environmental, and include: eating too much meat, staying up late, and going to the salon too often. The article finishes by point out that, for young people, preventing hair loss is very simple: eat a light diet, rest and improve your way of life. This front page stood in contrast to the majority of front pages today, which focused on an important speech Hu Jintao gave yesterday at the Opening Ceremony of the Provincial and Ministerial Level Leading Cadres Symposium. The speech was presided over by Xi Jinping, and attended by other high-ranking Party members, including Wu Bangguo, Wen Jia bao, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Li Keqiang, He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang. In the speech, Hu Jintao stressed that cadres should hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, take guidance from Deng Xiaoping's theory of "Three Represents," thoroughly implement the scientific concept of development, emancipate the mind, and continue reform and opening up along the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics. He noted that the 16th Party Congress has traveled a bumpy road, and will have to overcome a series of severe challenges to achieve the next phase of development. The speech made headlines across the country, and was featured on many front pages, including the following examples: Links and Sources  |
| China’s Official Olympics Song, “Best Wishes From Beijing,” Is Eight Minutes Of Dreadful Posted: 24 Jul 2012 08:48 AM PDT First of all, it's eight minutes. Say what you want about "Survival," London's official Olympics song, but at least Muse had the courtesy to stop at a reasonable five minutes and 20 seconds. For what is essentially an overproduced, commercialized ditty, what couldn't you possibly do in five minutes that you need eight? Actually, we know the answer: you couldn't squeeze in "more than 100 singers and movie stars from Hong Kong, Taiwan and the mainland," according to Sina. It's an orgy of excess, and like most orgies, the participants come off as awkward and trying too hard, and no one gets the attention they deserve. Jackie Chan, the video's centerpiece, is paraphrased in the Sina article as saying "celebs were desperate to get their chance to play a part in the song." That's too bad. The song's producers should have been a bit more discerning. Or written more lyrics. The song consists of 140 characters, and it only takes about 90 seconds to get through them. These same lyrics are repeated five times. It's an Andy Kauffman skit without any intent at humor. For crying out loud, the final six lines all rhyme on the same two-letter sound: bi/qi/ti/ni/yi/di.
I feel bad for everyone involved, most of all for those who can actually sing — because a lot of the performers are jaw-droppingly tone deaf. Under-planned and under-edited, Best Wishes feels like the work of a soulless music label recycling last decade's hits because it just can't be forced to give a shit. Normally it's cute when some culture-related subbranch of this government commissions a cuddly and soft-power-y project, but this… this abomination… why, while listening, do I conjure the image of a wombat trying to be a kitten? No, wet wombat, I do NOT want to see you roll on the ground or bat your toy mouse. I don't want you in my house. I don't want you to imitate a purr. Because you're terrible. The lyrics are decent though. Here they are: 《北京祝福你》 爱像地球仪转来转去 (Chinese to English translations errors are mine) Love is like a globe turning round and round (With help from Alicia) If you're up for any more ridiculousness, here's a behind-the-scenes making-of Best Wishes From Beijing video. P.S. I rather liked Beijing Welcomes You though (YouTube/Youku). |
| How To Serve A Complaint In China And In Taiwan Posted: 24 Jul 2012 08:18 AM PDT One of the many things that makes suing Chinese companies and individuals so difficult in the United States is the requirement that service be done according to the Hague Convention on Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters, to which China is a party. Service of an entity or person in China under the Hague Convention on Service must be done through the designated Chinese Central Authority in Beijing, which is the Bureau of International Judicial Assistance, Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China. To accomplish this, the US party must submit the following to China's Ministry of Justice:
China's Ministry of Justice will then send the service documents to the appropriate local court. That local court will, in turn, finally effect service. In our experience Chinese courts are sometimes fairly slow to send out service. If the Chinese company or person you are suing is "powerful" service may be even slower. Repeatedly calling and emailing both the court itself and the Ministry of Justice can often expedite service. Service normally takes around one to three months. Service on a Chinese company by mail is not effective and U.S. courts have held that China's formal objection to service by mail under Article 10(a) of the Convention is valid. See DeJames v. Magnificence Carriers, Inc., 654 F.2d 280 (3d Cir. 1981), cert. den., 454 U.S. 1085; Dr. Ing H.C. F. Porsche A.G. v. Superior Court, 123 Cal. App. 3d 755 (1981). In International Service of Process in Taiwan? Relax, it's FedEx the International Technology Law Blog describes what is required for service in Taiwan and it is (at least compared to China) a piece of cake. This is because Taiwan is not a party to the Hague Convention. The International Technology Blog notes how in the recent case of SignalQuest v. Chou, the New York District Court judge affirmatively answered his own question of "When service of process absolutely, positively has to be effected on a Taiwanese defendant pursuant to FRCP 4(f)(2)(C)(ii), is Federal Express enough?" The Court held that because Taiwan was not a signatory to the Hague Convention on service, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (FRCP) Rule 4 would control. Rule 4 authorizes foreign service of process by letters rogatory or under the foreign country's own laws on domestic service of process. But as the International Technology Blog points out, "the letters rogatory process takes months to complete, as it requires the assistance of courts and government offices in both countries." Service under Taiwan's domestic requirements would have been "no less cumbersome, because Taiwan's law requires service to be made by the clerk of Taiwan's court." So the plaintiff in SignalQuest served the Taiwan defendant by Federal Express and argued that was proper under FRCP 4(f)(2)(C)(ii), "which permits process to be served on a foreign defendant – unless prohibited by the foreign country's law." The defendant then moved to dismiss the case, arguing that because service by overnight courier is not permitted under Taiwan law, it must be deemed prohibited, for purposes of FRCP 4(f)(2)(C)(ii). "The court disagreed, holding service is not prohibited under foreign law unless it is expressly prohibited and it found the service by FedEx was proper." Sounds great, right? Well International Technology Blog astutely points out one potentially massive flaw in serving a Taiwan company via Federal Express:
It would seem then that in most cases, a plaintiff suing a Taiwan company should do so through the clerk of Taiwan's court, which also no doubt requires that the complaint be translated into Chinese.     |
| Posted: 22 Jul 2012 06:00 PM PDT This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| What’s Driving China’s Real Estate Rally? Part 2 Posted: 24 Jul 2012 07:23 AM PDT Yesterday, I began an investigation into the potential causes behind the latest bump in China's property sales numbers, and whether they portend a genuine turn-around in the nation's real estate market. I noted that five basic theories to account for what has been happening, and promised to examine them each in turn:
In my last post, I concluded that it was certainly possible that a fall in both real and nominal property prices could explain a recovery in sales, as properties become more affordable to buyers. However, this theory cannot explain the rebound in property prices reportedly taking place, nor should it offer much comfort to hard-pressed developers, who would may have to endure steep losses to clear their inventories at reduced prices. Chinese developers and bullish real estate investors much prefer a second theory that promises a return to both higher sales and higher prices. 2. Looser restrictions are unleashing pent-up demand. The conventional explanation that you will hear for China's real estate slowdown, from developers and from most of the media, is that it's a direct result of government policies designed to "cool" the property market, including tightened rules on mortgages, residency requirements for buying, and — more than anything else — restrictions on multiple home purchases. As a result, many who wish to buy are not allowed to do so. If the government would only relax these restrictions, the argument goes, all that pent-up demand would come back onto the market. As the chart below illustrates, in contrast to the first theory we examined, introducing new demand (shifting the entire demand curve to the right) would boost sales for any given price, and cause both quantity and price to rise to a higher equilibrium point. This is a dream scenario both for developers and for local governments that depend in various ways on a booming property sector, which is why both have been baying for months if not years about the need to relax the restrictions. Some local governments have succeeded in loosening or circumventing the central government's tightening measures when Beijing wasn't looking, and May brought a surge of rumors that the central government itself would have no choice but to reverse course as part of its effort to re-stimulate a slowing economy, a belief that prompted one Beijing developer to quip, "Ducks first know when the Spring river water begins to warm" — in other words, "Happy days are here again!" But is the conventional story — that China's government drove down the real estate market, and can just as easily resuscitate it — really correct? The evidence, I believe, demonstrates it is not. Most of the government's measures aimed at "cooling" the property market were adopted in April 2010 — over two years ago. I remember it well, because I argued at the time that such top-down restrictions would do little to change the dynamics that drove so many Chinese to pour so much money into vacant, unproductive real estate as a form of savings. I also distinctly remember the government ordering developers in key cities to take their most expensive units temporarily off the market, in order to (statistically) reduce the average market price and thereby show that the policies were producing immediate results. "Mission accomplished" was quickly declared. The chart below, courtesy of Joanna Dong, the chief China economist at the mining firm Anglo American, shows the number of Chinese cities (out of 70 tracked in the official statistics) where property prices rose (blue) , fell (yellow), or remained the same (orange) each month. It is not weighted by market size, but it offers a good "heat map" of rising and falling prices by geography. And along with the national statistics on property sales and investment, it tells a very interesting story. After the government's cooling measures were adopted in April 2010, nationwide property sales did not decline, as one might expect. They rose by 18.3% YoY in 2010 and 24.1% YoY in the 1st half of 2011. Nor did real estate investment, which rose by 33.2% YoY in 2010 and 32.9% in the 1st half of 2011. In other words, the government's cooling measures had little appreciable effect on a booming property market for the first 16 months they were applied, at least when measured on a nationwide basis. The 70-city price map tells a bit more nuanced story. First you see a drop in about 20 key cities, which corresponds to the politically-engineered withdrawal of high-end units I mentioned. Then you see — strangely enough — a big surge in the number of cities reporting price increases which lasts until the summer of 2011, when the bottom falls out of the whole market. Again, for the first 16 months or so that "cooling measures" were in place, property prices continued rising in a large majority of Chinese cities, instead of stabilizing or falling. What happened? The fact is, the government's "cooling measures" were not terribly effective. Premier Wen Jiabao admitted as much at the end of 2010. They were only enforced in a few key cities, and even then, if you really wanted to purchase multiple apartments in Beijing, you could probably figure out a way to do it (through relatives, nominees, false documents, etc). What the "cooling measures" did do, however, was send investors a signal that, if they wanted to see outsized returns, they'd do best to look for them outside high-profile cities like Beijing and Shanghai, when China's leaders were at least trying to rain on their parade. Government-imposed restrictions didn't rein in Chinese demand for real estate, as the national numbers indicate. But they did shift buyers' attention away from a handful of 1st-tier cities — where prices stabilized or fell — towards 2nd and 3rd-tier cities in the provinces — where, as the chart shows, they surged. In other words, the party didn't end when the cops showed up, it just moved down the street. In the summer and fall of 2010, I visited a number of provincial cities and asked developers there how the central government's "cooling" policies were affecting their business. Every single one of them reported that they had experienced no effective restrictions; to the contrary, investors from other cities were showing up literally holding sackfuls of cash, looking to buy. When "cooling measures" were gradually extended to more cities, developers responded by building luxury condos and villas out in the countryside, whose sole selling point was that they lay outside the restricted zone, permitting investors to buy as many units as they desired. China's property market continued booming right through the summer of 2011, when — as the price chart shows — the wheels abruptly fell off. Why the sudden implosion? Because even as sales grew by 20% or so, investment in property development expanded at an even faster rate, higher than 30%. The government's ineffectual "cooling measures" had lulled developers into a false sense of security: believing that buying restrictions had artificially suppressed demand — which was not true, except on a very localized basis — many developers borrowed heavily to build far more than they could sell, reasoning that they would be in a winning position when the government ultimately relented and relaxed its controls, and all that pent-up demand came flowing back onto the market. To support these rising unsold inventories, however, they needed to borrow more and more money — at the precisely the time China's central bank was reining in credit expansion to combat inflation. By the end of last summer, Chinese developers finally ran out of funding options and were forced to begin liquidating their inventories to generate desperately-needed cash. The fire sale they initiated quickly undercut existing demand, as would-be buyers who had once rushed to beat rising prices now held back, now that every day brought larger discounts. So if the government's "cooling measures" were NOT the cause of China's property downturn, is there any way the relaxation — or anticipated lifting — of those measures can possibly explain the rally we've seen over the past couple of months? Surprisingly, the answer may be YES — but the implications are not what struggling developers or China property bulls might like to imagine. As we've seen, the government's restrictive measures did not suppress overall demand, as many imagined. They merely redirected that demand away from 1st-tier cities, towards 2nd and 3rd-tier cities, as well as the countryside. Undoing those measures would have the opposite effect: allowing demand to flow back to 1st-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, while cutting the legs out from under the lower-tier (and potentially much more vulnerable) markets that benefited from the earlier diversion. Prime urban areas would see higher sales and higher prices, but the nationwide effect would be a wash. That may help explain the apparent disconnect between the rather astonishing statistics we see coming out of Beijing, Shanghai, and other big cities, and the much less impressive results revealed in the national statistics for June. It's also interesting to note, as well, that the latest rebound in Beijing, for instance, took place in anticipation of a policy change, even though buying restrictions and other "cooling" measures remained largely in place. That accords with my argument that it was the policy signal, rather than the practical effect of the restrictions themselves, that led buyers to shy away from Beijing and similar markets and channel their interest elsewhere. When the signal was perceived to have changed — when people came to believe the government would welcome a rebound in the city's property market — they rushed back in, revealing the restrictions themselves to be an inconvenience, at most. Critics will respond that, in fact, it was the government's restrictive policies — its efforts to rein in lending — that brought the real estate market down. But it's important to note that China's leaders had little choice, given the need to combat rapidly rising inflation. More relevant to my argument, the constraints imposed by credit "tightening" (relative to developers' spiraling credit needs) fell mainly on developers, not buyers — it did not create any reservoir of "pent-up demand" that later could be "unleashed" to boost the market. This concept is worth clarifying. Developers, investors, and analysts often talk about there being "pent-up demand" in China for buying homes. But as I hope these last two discussions have illustrated, "pent-up demand" can mean very different things. In Theory #1, it means that if prices fall, the quantity demanded increases, although the calculus for demand does not change. In Theory #2, it means that a change in policy could shift the entire demand curve outwards, increasing the amount demanded at any given price. I have just argued that, in fact, it could mean demand increases in one location only at the expense of another, with overall demand remaining the same. All of these are very different dynamics, with different implications for developers, investors, and the Chinese economy. Very often, people conflate them under the broad and appealing notion that 1.3 billion people in China would really like to buy as nice a home as possible, if only they could. Of course they would. The essential question is under what conditions this general desire gets translated into actual purchases and at what price. Next Installment: Theory #3, Optimistic buyers are misreading the market.   |
| Female with mini-skirt gets half off park admission discount in Guilin Posted: 24 Jul 2012 01:16 AM PDT From Netease and other source: The promotion launched by a park in Guilin triggered lots of controversy. A theme park in Guilin launched the campaign, "Happy Summer Loves Mini-Skirts", stipulating that from July to August, females who are over 18 years old, with skirts shorter than 38cm, could enjoy half price adminssion, which is 55 RMB. And on July 21st and 22nd, qualified females could enjoy 10RMB ticket before 12pm. But some netizens expressed their objection, deeming it a vulgar publicity stunt without any meaning, and an unhealthy low-class event. Guilin Merryland said that we had this promotion for 5 years since 2007, and due to positive feedbacks, it had been kept. And the park did not agree with netizens on that it was a vulgar act. Despite its continuous controversy, this campaign reached its peak on July 21st and July 22nd when qualified visitors could enjoy 10 RMB tickets. The amount of total visitors increased instead of declining. Statistics showed that around 12,000 visitors entered the park on July 21st. In order to participate in this campaign, many female visitors who wore pants changed into a mini-skirt before they bought tickets, and changed back after they went inside. Mrs. Su, a visitor, said it was a bit troublesome, but both the length of skirt and the ticket price were acceptable and such a good deal. July and August are the peak season for this theme park, and the "mini-skirt festival" not only greatly increased the amount of visitors, but also brought new business opportunities for some merchants. The booth, under the tree which was only 20meters away from the ticket office, offered mini-skirts in various colors and attracted many females. According to the cart owner, their target consumers were visitors from other cities, who did not know this mini-skirt promotion and hence were not prepared for it. The mini-skirts were well received by these visitors because the total price of the skirt (30-40 RMB) and ticket (10 RMB) was still slightly lower than a half price ticket. They sold near 200 skirts in a single morning. |
| Cambodia’s deadly land grab battle Posted: 24 Jul 2012 02:55 AM PDT Cambodia is a microcosm of a violent struggle playing out across the globe for control of a shrinking – and therefore increasingly valuable – pool of natural resources. Corinne Purtill reports. On 26 April, Cambodian military police shot the environmental campaigner Chut Wutty as he sat at the wheel of his blood-red Land Cruiser. Chut, 46, had just led two journalists through an illegal logging operation in Koh Kong province. As the journalists fled into the bush for safety, they heard two more gunshots behind them. They emerged to find Chut slumped lifeless in the driver's seat and military police officer In Rattana lying dead in front of the vehicle. Police initially claimed that the dead officer killed Chut during a heated confrontation, then turned his rifle around and shot himself – twice – in remorse. After a three-day investigation in May, a government panel decreed that a second officer accidentally shot In while trying to disarm him. The case is officially closed. |
| Bayern Munich Plays At Workers Stadium Tonight, Near Where A Bus Was Stuck Earlier Today [UPDATE] Posted: 24 Jul 2012 04:22 AM PDT This very moment, fans of Bayern and Guo'an are milling around Workers Stadium in anticipation of tonight's 7:30 friendly between the Munich and Beijing football clubs. Not far from there, on Workers Stadium (Gongti) North Road, a bus was stuck earlier today when part of the street caved in. The above picture appeared on Sina Weibo at 3:15 pm, and we're told it was near the cross-street Xingfu Yicun Baxiang (幸福一村八巷). We've written several times about road collapses in China, most notably a sidewalk in Beijing that swallowed a woman before scalding water flowing underneath boiled her alive. (There was also the sidewalk that sucked in a girl in Xi'an, and this, and this.) It doesn't seem like anyone was injured in this most recent episode, and the people I know in the area say a large vehicle is not currently stalled on the side of the road, so, you know, that's an improvement over being boiled alive. (UPDATE, 7:38 pm: The bus is still there! Pictures We would still highly recommend avoiding Gongti tonight if you're driving though, especially around 9:30 pm, when soccer fans stream outside. UPDATE, 8:04 pm: Via Tori Cook: |
| Video of the Week: Horse Riding Fitness Ace Power Posted: 24 Jul 2012 03:51 AM PDT Date: Jul 24th 2012 9:09a.m. Contributed by: clairebared Every week City Weekend features a new video circulating the Internet. This week we are looking at the new fitness craze sweeping Korea. The Horse Riding Fitness Ace Power! |
| TICT Beach Party at Bund Beach Posted: 24 Jul 2012 03:22 AM PDT Date: Jul 24th 2012 6:06p.m. Contributed by: cityweekend_sh Every week, City Weekend Shanghai posts photo galleries of Shanghai's best parties. Today we're posting the party pictures from TICT party at Bund Beach. |
| Speak Cantonese! Language War in Hong Kong Book Fair Posted: 24 Jul 2012 02:18 AM PDT Columnist Leona Wong talked about a Cantonese-Mandarin language war happened in a lecture given by movie director Pang Ho-cheung for the Hong Kong Book Fair 2012
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