Top-of-the-Week Links: Briton immolates for Tibet, China Daily Show makes headlines, and the CBA’s newly released schedule

Top-of-the-Week Links: Briton immolates for Tibet, China Daily Show makes headlines, and the CBA’s newly released schedule
Another Victory for U.S.-China Joint IP Enforcement
Top 10 Search List (November 19, 2012)

Top-of-the-Week Links: Briton immolates for Tibet, China Daily Show makes headlines, and the CBA’s newly released schedule

Posted: 19 Nov 2012 03:00 AM PST

A dorm room, via The Nanfang

Small links edition today because we have lots of content for tonight and into Tuesday, culminating in TAR Nation's latest column. Here we go.

China Daily Show has made it. "Incisive, attuned to the cultural and political context of China… and completely fictional. Since its founding in 2010, the satirical news site China Daily Show (CDS) has become an institution among English-speaking foreigners in China." [Lily Kuo, The Atlantic]

Microblogger detained for comparing 18th National Congress with Final Destination, the movie. "A Beijing Twitterer @Stariver has been detained since November 7th, 2012, at the eve of the 18th National Chinese Communist Party Congress. According to his friends who visited his family on November 17, the excuse provided by the police officers was that @stairver was 'involved in spreading false and terrible information' online." [Global Voices]

Getting rich not so glorious anymore. "Recently the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences conducted a survey asking residents of China's capital whether their quality of life had greatly improved, slightly improved, remained the same, or declined over the period 2005 to 2011. One-fifth of respondents said it had improved slightly, but two-fifths said it had declined. (Only 1 percent said life had improved greatly.)" [Bloomberg Businessweek]

Economist using emperor-has-no-clothes headline again. "Communist Party leaders are well aware they must provide more than theatre to the public. They have responded to an era of unprecedented public discourse with measures more sophisticated than censoring microblogs, blocking search terms and monitoring users' accounts (all of which Chinese internet companies must do). Party leaders now seek to 'guide' the public conversation with commentary that sounds more in tune with public discontent, and less like government propaganda." [The Economist]

Briton sets himself on fire for Tibetan freedom. "Tonden, 38, whose name at birth was David Alain, had been training for the past five years in the Nalanda monastery near the southwestern village of Labastide-Saint-Georges. The secluded monastery's 25 monks, including five Britons, are currently in retreat. // Horrified colleagues rushed into the garden of the quiet monastery, which is surrounded by rolling farmland, at 4.50pm on Thursday afternoon, after spotting their orange-robed, shaven-headed colleague burst into flames on the lawn." [The Telegraph]

Halloween in Beijing interlude:

Finally…

"An Awkward Phone Call." [Shanghai Shiok]

The case for Xi Jinping as reformer. [Wang Xiangwei, SCMP]

CBA schedule: Game 1 is November 24, Shanghai at Beijing. [NiuBBall]

Finally, finally…

Via Mike Forsythe

Another Victory for U.S.-China Joint IP Enforcement

Posted: 19 Nov 2012 02:53 AM PST

This is becoming a common occurrence, which is a good thing:

Chinese police, working with US law enforcers, uncovered a major transnational criminal case of manufacturing and exporting fake international brands and arrested 73 suspects.

The police has [sic] confiscated over 20,000 counterfeit bags branded as Louis Vuitton, Hermes or Coach, closed 37 illegal sites for the production and sale of such bags, and found that the suspects have manufactured and sold more than 960,000 such fake bags, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement Sunday. (Xinhua)

So these were counterfeits manufactured in Guangdong and exported to the U.S. (among other places). The illegal activity at issue was trademark infringement, and the authorities involved included the PRC Public Security Bureau and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Not only was property seized and individuals arrested, but there was also online activity here that was stopped.

This kind of joint task force covers all the bases and is typical of how law enforcement is dealing with international counterfeiting these days. Moreover, this was a fairly large group that had manufactured a large number of infringing bags. This ring was substantial and therefore worth the time and effort of the authorities, both here and in the U.S.

As I've said before, I wonder if we will see, sometime in the future, a situation where most of the large-scale infringers out there are rolled up by the police, leaving only a scattering of de minimis wrongdoers who are simply too small to go after. I definitely see that happening with small websites that offer downloads of copyrighted works but whose traffic is insignificant. We might see the same dynamic with counterfeiters.

In the meantime, expect to see more large-scale joint enforcement cases.

Top 10 Search List (November 19, 2012)

Posted: 19 Nov 2012 01:10 AM PST

1) 五名流浪男童垃圾箱死亡(wúmíngliúlàngnántóng lājīxiāng síwáng, five homeless boys died in a dumpster) – Five boys died of carbon monoxide exposure in Guizhou Province after burning charcoals to keep warm in a dumpster. Their bodies were found in the morning of last Friday and the tragedy sparked much criticism of local government. Chinese story here.

2) 张芊芊(Zhāng Qiānqiān, Zhang Qianqian) – Zhang Qianqian, a formal HK entertainment show host, is the new girlfriend of actor Wang Xuebing. Wang became well known for his role in the TV serial "Cherish Our Love Forever". Wang and his ex-wife Sun Ning, actress, divorced earlier this year. Chinese story here.

3) 滨崎步当小三(Bīn qíbù dāng xiáosān, Ayumi Hamasaki became the other woman) – 34-year-old Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki was seen on the streets of Paris with her back dancer/new boyfriend Maroka Uchiyama, who has a one-year-old extra-marital son and is in the middle of a messy divorce. Hamasaki revealed the relationship in a blog entry last week. Hamasaki and her ex-husband, Austrian model Manuel Schwarz, divorced in January after one-year of marriage. Chinese story here.

4) 陈怡婷 (Chén Yítíng, Chen Yiting) – Chen Yiting is the late girlfriend of Chen Junsheng, a Taiwanese formal singer and show host. The couple made our list a few weeks ago when Chen Yiting committed suicide and left a note accusing Chen Junsheng of cheating on her. Yesterday, Chen Junsheng showed up at the funeral of his late girlfriend and got slapped on the face twice by her cousin. At the funeral, the poor girl's family members argued with each other over forgiving Chen or not. Chinese story here.

5) 不爽姐(bùshuángjié, the girl who was not impressed) – Gymnast McKayla Maroney made the famous "not impressed" face when she had to settle for silver in the vault for the London Olympics. Yesterday, she made that face with Barack Obama when she visited the White House with a group of Olympians. English story here.

6) 车展儿童比基尼(chēzhán értóng bíjīní, kids in bikini during an auto show) – During an auto show in Wuhan, Hubei Province last week, several five-year-old girls who were competing for a model contract with an agency put on bikinis and posed like car models. The photos went online and triggered fierce criticism from internet users, many accusing the parents of being irresponsible. Chinese story here.

7) 福安打砸警车(Fú' ān dázá jíngchē, police cars smashed in Fu'an) – A traffic accident left five automobiles damaged and five people injured. The police said the officers at the site called 120 but the ambulance didn't arrive after over 30 minutes due to traffic. Angry family members of the victims and local residents overturned and smashed three police cars. Chinese story here.

8）李烈(Lí Liè, Li Lie) – Li Lie is the ex-wife of Taiwanese musician Luo Dayou (Law Tai-yau).When asked to comment on the new-born daughter of Luo, Li said she was worried and surprised that he can still do this at the age of 58. Chinese story here.

9) 女生被老师带出吃饭坠亡(nǘshēngbèiláoshī dàichūchīfàn zuìwáng, college student taken to dinner by teacher died) - Liu Xiao'ao is a 19-year-old freshman from the flight attendants department of a local vocational college in Qingdao, Shandong Province. She died after falling from the bathroom window of a hotel room last month. She and five classmates were taken to dinner by six teachers and she was very drunk when the accident happened, the university told local media. Her parents don't believe the story told by the university and are requesting a full investigation. Chinese story here.

10) 徐铮幽会神秘女(Xú Zhēng yōuhuì shéngmìnǘ, Xu Zheng cheating on his wife) – Xu Zheng is an actor/director who married actress Tao Hong and had a daughter. Xu was seen spending a whole day in a KTV and hotel with a beautiful young woman. It was said that the couple have agreed to not intervene with each other's love life and keep up the appearance of a happy marriage. Chinese story here.