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5,000 yuan stored in feed grinder shredded

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:41:50 GMT

City Evening News January 6, 2008 The Changchun-based City Evening News ran a notice on its front page (see the front page photo) looking for jigsaw expert to recover five thousand yuan worth of banknotes which were accidentally shredded in a corn grinder. The owner of the shredded notes is a farmer named Ji Zhankui. At the beginning of the year, Ji decided to store the money in the corn grinder. His home had previously been burglarized and he believed the grinder to be a safe place. A few months...(read more)

Rehab for Internet addicts

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:52:16 GMT

The Christian Science Monitor looks at a PLA-run Internet addiction treatment program: As the song "If you're happy and you know it" plays, two web addicts at a time spin around until dizzy, then try to race each other across the room. Later, they line up in pairs to pop pink balloons by hugging each other tightly, amid raucous laughter. Link picked by Danwei.org...(read more)

Preservation, Shanghai-style, of a Carmelite Convent

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:27:08 GMT

Shanghai Scrap observes a demolition: I've witnessed my fair share of Chinese demolitions, and to me this looked like the gutting of any and all recyclable materials (scrap!) before the wrecking ball. I'll admit, my indignation was rising; my camera was snapping; and I was mentally preparing the accusatory blog post that this crime against history so richly deserves. But then I backed up and noticed - hanging from the old gate to the Film Studio - was this blueprint... Link picked by Danwei...(read more)

Postcards from Tomorrow Square by James Fallows

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:19:32 GMT

James Fallows is National Correspondent for The Atlantic magazine. He has been in China since 2006, writing articles for the magazine and an excellent blog . His report on Chinese State control of the Internet, The Connection Has Been Reset , is best explanation yet published of the mechanisms of net censorship here. Fallows was chief White House speechwriter for Jimmy Carter and has written nine books including National Defense which won the American Book Award for non-fiction. This month, he has...(read more)

French laughing child?

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:03:48 GMT

From Bloomberg: Groupe Danone SA, the world's biggest yogurt maker, and Chinese partner Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co. began a hearing this week in Stockholm to decide who owns the $2.4 billion brand Wahaha, which means 'Laughing Child.' Link picked by Danwei.org...(read more)

Angry protesters in the south, and timid police

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:09:07 GMT

The Shanghaiist links to a NBC video that '...is an otherwise regular report if not for the footage of the angry crowd pushing policemen back when they tried to stop the NBC crew from doing their work.' Link picked by Danwei.org...(read more)

Obama's Asia team

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:16:12 GMT

Thomas Crampton gives an early peek at Obama's potential Asian team, courtesy of Chris Nelson at Samuels International. Link picked by Danwei.org...(read more)

Angry protestors, timid policemen

Shanghaiist — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:00:29 GMT

.msnbcLinks {font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 425px;} .msnbcLinks a {text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px;} .msnbcLinks a:link, .msnbcLinks a:visited {color: #5799db !important;} .msnbcLinks a:hover, .msnbcLinks a:active {color:#CC0000 !important;} Another day, another factory closure, another worker protest....(read more)

Shaq fighting terrorism on Shanghai streets

Shanghaiist — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:49:38 GMT

We pass this billboard (almost) every day, between Shanghaiist headquarters and the gym. For a long time it featured Barack Obama on the cover of the Chinese version of Men's Health . Recently a Twitter user named Shaquille O'Neal has taken the president elect's place. It's an ad for Li Ning basketball shoes, Shaq's brand of choice for a couple years now . (You might remember the real Li Ning from such Olympic opening ceremonies as Beijing 2008 .) Here's the text of the ad...(read more)

Today's Links: Guangzhou girl found dead in fridge, Google and Baidu deemed 'vulgar' and thrifty youngsters

Shanghaiist — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:30:08 GMT

Photo by fateless_gypsy . A four year old girl in Guangzhou has been found dead in a refrigerator belonging to a migrant worker who is thought to be mentally ill and who once told neighbours that human flesh was "delicious". [BBC] In the latest internet crackdown, Google, Baidu, Sina and QQ, other portals have been deemed "vulgar and unhealthy" , and ordered to clean up their act. [Danwei] A total of 14 people were killed in two separate illegal fireworks plant blasts , one in...(read more)

3G licenses to be issued before Spring Festival

Shanghaiist — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:01:57 GMT

As it turns out , China's 3G licenses will be issued to China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom by Spring Festival . Guangdong Mobile (a China Mobile subsidiary) is already releasing a new set of 3G numbers all starting with "188" beginning this Thursday. In addition GPRS fees will be cut by as much as 2/3 in most cities. According to Pacific Epoch , Shanghai Mobile users can "now pay RMB 5 per month for 30MB, rather than the RMB 5, 10 MB package originally available, while...(read more)

The SH Magazine issue you weren't supposed to see

Shanghaiist — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:57:59 GMT

SH's tombstone Late last year we documented SH magazine's trials and tribulations . The English-language weekly stopped publishing in December, but it continues to be a source of drama in 2009. A final "funeral issue" — death themed from front to back — was finished and set for publication on December 19. But the swan song never saw the light of day. Until now. The issue in its entirety can be found after the jump on this post. Here's some back story from someone...(read more)

Zhang Ziyi bikini photos on the Chinese Internet

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:37:07 GMT

Paparazzi world On very same day that the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center criticized many of China's major websites for "vulgar and unhealthy" content, some rather revealing paparazzi photos have appeared all over the Chinese Internet. The photos apparently show actress Zhang Ziyi and her fiancé Vivi Nevo on a beach. The photos are available on hundreds of web pages on websites as diverse as the popular Tianya forum (cited in the document criticizing websites for...(read more)

China's highways expect 2.08 billion passengers for Spring Festival

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 09:55:02 GMT

People's Daily Online reports on the 3% year-on-year grown of Spring Festival travelers: New Year's Day and Spring Festival this year are close to each other so the effects will be especially noticeable; the flow of students going home, migrant rural workers and people who returning home for family reunions will overlap, causing passenger flow peaks to appear earlier than in previous years. Link picked by Danwei.org...(read more)

Cultural Revolution Propaganda Part 2

Ben's Blog.....小本的博客 — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:36:57 GMT

Here’s the next batch of posters. I’ll have more up as I get them scanned and translated. Corrections welcome. Long Live the invincible Marxism, Leninism, and Mao Zedong Thought! The Red Army does not fear difficult expeditions. Carry out in depth the Revolution’s Mass Criticism! Everything will come out. Soldiers and civilians unite as one, view the world and [...]...(read more)

Google, Baidu, Sina, QQ "vulgar and unhealthy"

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:46:15 GMT

Searching Baidu images China has announced a list of websites criticized for "low and vulgar practices on the Internet" as part of the latest Net Nanny campaign. China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center (中国互联网违法和不良信息举报中心), under the China Internet Information Service Commission, has announced a list of websites which contain "large amounts of low and vulgar content that violates social morality and damages the physical and mental health of youths.” Each website listed is...(read more)

Larry Yung investigated by Hong Kong securities regulator

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:07:44 GMT

Daily Sunshine January 5, 2008 Shenzhen's charmingly named Daily Sunshine newspaper leads with a widely reported story on its front page: 17 board members of the state-owned overseas investment company CITIC Pacific, including its chairman Larry Yung (荣智健), were questioned by Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). The SFC launched a formal investigation into CITIC Pacific last month after the company predicted a 15.5 billion Hong Kong dollar loss from its currency bets last...(read more)

If you're feeding your dog Optima, stop right now and read this

Shanghaiist — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:57:08 GMT

This warning may have come a little too late for some of you but the story needs to go out anyhow. The dog you see on the right, Addie, which belongs to Ryan McLaughlin (who also writes LostLaowai and CNet Asia's The Tech Dynasty ) has just died from contact with aflatoxin-contaminated Optima dog food. Aflatoxicity leads to rapid liver failure and kills 80% of all dogs afflicted with it. After Ryan's local pet store in Suzhou was nice enough to inform him of the aflatoxin contamination which...(read more)

Yao Ming shares a Coke with Liu Xiang

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:18:15 GMT

For the New Year, Yao Ming stops by Liu Xiang's place to see how his recovery is progressing. Coca-Cola features prominently in this video broadcast on CCTV-News. Soft ad? Lots of people think so. (via Sina ) Chengdu Business News digs deeper : Netizen suspicions are not groundless. This reporter confirmed that the contents of the video had come from a New Year party thrown by Dragon TV and Coca-Cola on the bank of Shanghai's Huangpu River. One highlight of the event was the presence of Liu...(read more)

The China economy for foreign companies

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:49:55 GMT

China Law Blog conducts a non-scientific poll of foreign businesses in China: They said that China's downturn had made them look more carefully at their China expansion and hiring plans. They said they were going to be very "cautious" and "careful" in 2009 with respect to expansion and hiring. Many of them (5 or 6?) said they had an "official" hiring freeze in place for the first six months of 2009 or the entire year. Two said they were going to expand faster than...(read more)

Edison Chen nominated for "Person of the Year 2008" alongside Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Wen Jiabao and the Dalai Lama in Hong Kong

Shanghaiist — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 16:02:50 GMT

Edison Chen was narrowly beaten by Barack Obama for "Person of the Year 2008" in Radio Television Hong Kong's poll. The public was "cordially invited to vote for the most outstanding personality of the year at RTHK or by calling in during the program "Backchat". The results of the poll were announced on Radio 3, on Friday, January 2nd. The RTHK nominees were as follows: Dalai Lama - Spiritual Leader Edison Chen - Artist and photographer Tony Hedley - Health campaigner...(read more)

Human flesh search engines could be hunted themselves

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 11:36:28 GMT

Singapore's Strait Times reports on the supposed government tightening on 'cyber hunts.' China Digital Times first linked to the piece . Link picked by Danwei.org...(read more)

10086: We are very sorry

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:53:37 GMT

James Reynolds writes in his BBC blog about the text message that apologized on behalf of the 22 dairy companies, and the parents of affected babies who invited foreign media to a press conference: I went with a colleague to the parents' news conference. Things began badly - the parents we met told us that the police had stopped five of their group from attending. The Time China blog also reported on the ' milk powder mass mailing .' Link picked by Danwei.org...(read more)

Quick loans from Mr. Wang

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:25:59 GMT

Chinayouren analyzes SMS spam for high-interest loans, noting that, much like email spam, the text is broken up with punctuation to evade keyword filters. Link picked by Danwei.org...(read more)

Blast at illegal fireworks kiln kills 13

Danwei - Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:30:43 GMT

The AP reports via the International Herald Tribune about a fireworks accident three weeks before Spring Festival: An explosion at an illegal fireworks factory in eastern China killed 13 people, state media reported Sunday. The blast occurred Saturday in an abandoned kiln being used illegally to produce fireworks in the city of Weifang in Shandong province. Accidents such as this one are common in China, here is a similar fireworks incident that occurred in 2004 in Hunan province. Link picked by...(read more)