Most recent China news from Yahoo! News - World - Asia
• Local firms vie for Yum's slice of China market
(Reuters)
Reuters - Four floors up overlooking the bustle of the cavernous Joy City Mall in Beijing, diners take a break from shopping to slurp noodles and nibble on dumplings at an Ajisen restaurant.
• Wen says China has stake in helping Europe
(Reuters)
Reuters - China has a stake in helping euro zone countries get through their debt crisis, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in comments published on Sunday, pointing to Europe's importance as a market and hinting at more possible support for beleaguered exporters.
• Report says 3 set themselves on fire in China
(AP)
AP - Three more people have set themselves on fire to protest China's policies toward Tibetans in a politically sensitive area that already has seen ethnic violence this year, a media report and an activist group said.
• Merkel unhappy China blocked lawyer from meeting
(AP)
<img src="http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20120203/capt.852d7731712a4c759aac53e38d729b7d-852d7731712a4c759aac53e38d729b7d-0.jpg?x=130&y=98&q=85&sig=xoYkMVxVjDoqzDyQtW4VYg--" align="left" height="98" width="130" alt="German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses a German-Chinese economic forum during her visit to Guangzhou, China, Friday, Feb. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Bobby Yip, Pool)" border="0" />AP - German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed regret Saturday that Chinese police blocked a human rights lawyer from meeting her and said the Communist government should have the confidence to allow dissent.
Most recent China news from International News from telegraph.co.uk
• William Hague accuses Russia and China as Syria heads toward 'civil war'
Foreign Secretary William Hague accuses Russia and China of encouraging further bloodshed in Syria.
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Most recent China news from Reuters - World
Most recent China news from BBC News - Asia-Pacific - World Edition. (Note: If accessing BBC News from within China, you will probably need to configure your web browser to use a "proxy server" as the BBC is blocked.)
• Three Tibetans 'in fire protest'
Three Tibetans set fire to themselves in south-west China in an anti-Beijing protest, reports say, meaning 19 people have now self-immolated in a year.
• Oil spurs Canadian PM China visit
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will visit China next week to discuss the future of Canada's oil products.
• China 'considering' eurozone help
Premier Wen Jiabao says Beijing is "considering" contributing to European rescue funds, during a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
• China box office tipped to surge
China's box office takings surged 29% to $2.1bn in 2011 and are forecast to rise by around 20% this year, new figures show.
• China miner gets gold price boost
Chinese mining group Zijin says it expects a 20% jump in profits for 2011 boosted by higher gold prices during the year.
• China profile
Provides an overview of China, including key events and facts.
Most recent Shanghai, China news from Wangjianshuos blog
• Network Infrastructure in My Home - After 10 Years
I wrote an article about 10 years ago (on September 13, 2002) named:
Network Infrastructure in my Home in Shanghai
Time flies. So many things changed since I wrote that blog ten years ago.
I was at age of 25 at that time, and now I am 35
At that time, I was an engineer at Microsoft who likes and good at writing technical articles like Knowledge Base Articles. Now, I am an entrepreneur who only cares about the network to be working than anything else.
At that time, Dial-up was still an option (Just dial 8163 for Internet?) and now it is not.
At that time, The Great Wall Broad Network was still an option, and now it consolidates to just China Telecom, and few similar.
At that time, broadband just started. The first paragraph of my old article reads: "For friends in Shanghai, they are curious about the broadband, which is new to the city."
At that time, I only have one client device - a desktop PC - connecting to the Internet. Now, I have a dozen. (While, that PC is famous because it is in my reading room, and accessible from the Internet via http://home.wangjianshuo.com, the domain I later migrated to hosting companies).
So, let me take time to examine the current network infrastructure of my current home - Wendy complained for Internet access many times, and I finally get it to a level that is stable enough to Wendy's satisfaction.
Broadband Provider － Fiber To The Home (FTTH)
In the recent upgrade, the China Telecom Shanghai changed ADSL in my home to the current FTTB. There is a optical fiber cable at the door of my home, connected with a fiber modem. I pay 150 RMB per month for the 10M speed.
Here is the IP information from APNIC
% APNIC found the following authoritative answer from: whois.apnic.net
% [whois.apnic.net node-5]
% Whois data copyright terms http://www.apnic.net/db/dbcopyright.html
inetnum: 101.224.0.0 - 101.231.255.255
netname: CHINANET-SH
descr: CHINANET SHANGHAI PROVINCE NETWORK
descr: China Telecom
descr: No.31,jingrong street
descr: Beijing 100032
country: CN
admin-c: WWQ4-AP
tech-c: WWQ4-AP
status: ALLOCATED PORTABLE
notify: ip-admin@mail.online.sh.cn
remarks: service provider
mnt-by: APNIC-HM
mnt-lower: MAINT-CHINANET-SH
mnt-routes: MAINT-CHINANET-SH
mnt-irt: IRT-CHINANET-CN
changed: hm-changed@apnic.net 20110103
source: APNIC
It seems the IP address is a stable number since it is always connected there. (I started to miss the time when we were using 202.120.xxx.xxx IP address in universities.)
The Shanghai Bell equipment of RG201O-CA is a very simple modem plus a gateway to the outside world of my entire home.
Three Routers
To cover the entire home, I needed three routers. Due to being stupid and too optimistic about the performance of WIFI, I only have limited ethernet cable on the two floors of the home. So I setup it this way:
Router 1: 192.168.2.1 TP-Link WR320R to provides wireless to the first floor.
Router 2: 192.168.1.103 Apple Time Capsule 2T to provide wireless for the reading room
Router 3: 192.168.1.253 TP-Link WR700R to act as a repeater to extend the wireless network of Apple Time Capsule to provide additional coverage for other areas of the house.
WIFI/Ethernet Clients
Obviously, we have much more clients than before to connects to all these wireless and wired networks. Here is an incomplete list:
iPhone of Wendy(0C-74-C2-A5-C0-A5)
iPhone (18-E7-F4-F6-4A-45)
iPad 2 (40-30-04-9A-C3-80)
iPad 1 (D8-A2-5E-3D-96-29)
iMac (e4-ce-8f-5f-6d-89)
MacBook Air (04-0C-CE-D4-0F-52)
Sonos Hi-Fi System (00-0E-58-72-39-AE)
TCL TV
...
Obviously, there are much more clients than before, and the count is going up every month.
It is a much more fancy network than many years ago with NAS (Network Area Storage) and other equipments connected to it.
• Shanghai New Traditional Industry Gather
New Year Gather
The interesting part of life is to set traditions. We now have a new tradition: to meet quarterly within the community of Internet entrepreneurs in Shanghai. Here is the first gather:
They are the CEO of dianping.com, , 61.com, 51.com, pptv.com, jjdd.com, some of the most important internet websites in China.
Beautiful Life
Alan de Botton is really my favorite writer. I am re-reading his "Consolation of Philosophy", and it inspired me a lot. On Consolation of Lack of Money, he wisely quoted Epicure about the natural and necessary needs of human. It turned out that those does not cost a lot of money, like running, is natural and necessary, while expensive houses and fame are not. We really need to switch the paradigm of this world.
Mileage of Running
I tend of enjoy accumulating mileage of many interesting programs - United Mileage Plus, or HHonors... But nothing is comparable to the feeling of accumulating calorie burns. I started to run about 3-5 km per day or walk the same distance. It turned out to be very exciting experience. Thanks to Nike Plus that help me to record that, and accumulate.
Other Learning
Controlling the scope of a project, or a meeting is one of the most critical part of success. We continued to recall some of the most important principles in project management.
Time to sleep.
• Pudong IKEA is 500 Calorie Away
I just got Nike+ and started to test run with my iPhone. The first experiment is to understand how much calorie a typical running route cost. So I picked southbound of my home.
It turned out that the Pudong IKEA store is exactly 500 calories away from my home. That means, if I want to increase 33% calorie burn, or get rid of what I got from a dinner, I should just decide to visit IKEA.
A Joke
I finally understood why a typical dinner in Shanghai cost 20 RMB and a taxi ride for 6 km also cost 20 RMB - because it takes 20 RMB worth of calorie to walk over 6 km, or you can choose to take taxi - the cost and the result are the same.
I also understand why IKEA sells ice-cream at as low as 1 RMB - because it takes 90 calories to walk through the IKEA store, and that is basically what the ice-cream compensate for - 90 cal for a typical ice-cream.
• Long Long Road Ahead - G40
G40 is the code for Shanghai - Shaanxi National Expressway. It starts from Shanghai and run about 1500 km and goes from about 31.23°N, 121.5°E to 34.27°N, 108.9°E. That is almost one time zone difference (15 degree).
It is pretty handy to get back to Wendy's home town Nanyang from Shanghai. Along the way, we started from G42 and went across G15 and G2 in Shanghai, G25 and G3 in Nanjing, G35 in the middle of no where and G45 near east of Xinyang, G4 at Xinyang and finally G55 in Nanyang. That is basically the traverse of the China National Highway System.
This shows the benefit of consistent naming convention. You just need to follow on route to get to somewhere far away. Just keep driving and driving.
It also replace the original G312, just as I-40 replaced US66, the story Cars was telling. We have the same feeling. The exit to G313 was everywhere along the road. G312 goes right across the towns while G40 just bypass them.
• Culture Shock in my Own Country
When foreigners enter a difference country, they feel the culture shock. However, I found out that even in China, I sometimes feel the culture shock myself, from time to time.
Regional Culture Shock
China is large, and China differs a lot from region to region. The recent trip to Xi'an is pretty shocking in some ways - how people see entrepreneurs, and how people value their fixed income jobs - very different from Shanghai.
China is as big as an Europe, and the diversity is maybe at least as big as the european countries. There is no such a thing called China. It consists of so many provinces. The place I grew up - Luoyang, is very different with, even the neighboring cities, no to mention the cross province contrast.
System Culture Shock
What system means? It is the government and the party system. It is a very strong system with a very strong culture. I was completely shocked from time to time when I deal with the system. Something we care, they don't. Something we don't care, they care a lot.
For example, I was consistently educated by the government guys when we meet. They told me I should bring a notebook, and the book I brought the second time is too small to show respect. They complained the table to host the government guys were too small, and claimed that we should have the budget to buy bigger tables. Things like this.
Culture Shock is Normal
The more I see this world, the more I understand that culture shock is just part of this universe. Even in the relatively more melted culture like Silicon Valley, the culture shock between relatively very similar companies in the same industry is big enough - look at current Yahoo! v.s. Google v.s. Facebook v.s. Twitter - they are so different and I assume people transiting from one company can find it hard to fit into the other.
The nature of culture shock is really about finding people in another company/society/system/group sing highly of something that you hate, and try to kill many things you value...
This can be universal, and long lasting.
• Back to University
We had a nice university recruiting event tonight at the East China Science and Technology University. It is successful because the company is well presented, and the Q&A section was good. If any of you have missed the event, you can simply contact us with your resume at eduhr@baixing.com, and I am looking forward to hear from you.
Here are some random notes of today. (As Paul suggested, some times to spend time to record the random note is helpful to relax, and get more unstructured inspiration. I added, the other way to do that is just to draw - follow what you see, and don't care what is drawn on the paper).
Shanghai is raining today. I drove from SJTU to BEA Tower at Lujiazui. Shanghai's traffic is generally bad, and it causes delay, but it is still reasonable, most of the time. A lot of times, things changes faster than you imagine, and I cannot believe Shanghai's traffic is still under control these days.
• Wrapping up YLF Xi'an Trip
I am wrapping up this year's YLF trip on the flight from Xi'an to Shanghai. I said farewell to my dearest friends today, after singing the song of all kinds on friendship last night. From time to time, I assert the necessity of the trip most of the time when I wrap it up. Obviously, these three days are very worth the time.
Cross Industry Knowledges
Photo by Ron Xu
I am a strong believer of vision and inspiration. To be able to be visionary, you have to consistently look beyond what is already in your landscape by listening to people who are out of your knowledge. This cross-country, and cross-industry in-depth event helps me to understand more about something I completely have no idea.
My friends are so kind of guide me to their world, and help me to understand. The key of this mentorship is, they are not just someone who is from that field, they are actually one of the best in their field.
I just cannot miss the chance
to learn how to conduct an orchestra from the director of Lincoln Center in New York, or
to learn how space shuttle works from an astronaut who are back from the space, or
to learn architect from the famous architect of many landmark buildings in New York, or how military works from someone who is controlling the air force of US army in Iraq (How Matt twists the plane to escape from missiles was so funny), or
what the north korea things are all about from the person who lead the negotiation from White House
or
Ballet - yes, Ballet, from the top ballet dancer Jeremy!
The list goes on and on and on. More interestingly, most of the talks happened not in the conference room. They were the side conversation when we were bored on a bus, or walked in the dark night under the splendid stars, or at the mountains in the middle of nowhere. That experience was so unique, and precious.
Share and Learn the Personal Experience
Photo by Ron Xu
Beside the cross industry learning, the more meaningful thing is sharing of personal experiences. People were selected into the program from 10 years ago when they were under 40. Now, they have been mature enough to experience the key moments in life - ups and downs, and how they handle the criss also gave me great power. (Obviously I will keep strictly confidential about that part, which is so private to each of us). Things like religions, Buddha stories, how to mediate, and to things of how to schedule trips, or just some piece in the history, are talked. Big or small, they were so helpful. I believe there must be a reason for this group of people to archive what they have archived. To learn from that is also a meaningful experience.
Friendship
Photo by Ron Xu
Last but not least (actually it is the most), it is the personal connection - the friendship. I am committed to do whatever I can do to help my YLF friends I know because of the many things I received. Just like Paul repeatedly gave behind-the-scene tours to YLFers to White House, Mark helped the Chenggang to bring the wedding ring to the space and back (of cause), Kebo were kind enough to sponsor group activities including flight tickets, people have the natural tie, just like a family. This friendship fostered deep engagement after the conference ends. We have people marry each other (Mark and Gaby), investment in each other, work for each other. Just like Steven Jobs mentioned in the Stanford commencement, a forum of 24 people started 10 years ago is just one dot, and the dots got connected in the future. Looking forward, you cannot understand how the dots were connected. It is obvious only when looking backward.
At the end, I felt I made a wonderful choice to come here. There is no short term return on events like this, but it has so long time impact to my life. We really need to set apart time to work on some long term things, and we should be generous enough to invest in ourselves to be a more capable, more connected people.
End of my Travel Season
There are time in a year that we travels a lot. I visited Europe, and then US, and Xi'an. It is too much of travel, and I have a lot of things to do. So, after the YLF trip of today, I officially claim the end of my travel season this year. I will avoid future travel by the end of this years, unless it is absolutely necessary. You will be able to find me in Shanghai.
Most recent China news from China Digital Times
• Photo: The Summer Palace in Beijing, by Andy Enero
© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.usPost tags: Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall
• Russia, China Veto U.N. Resolution on Syria
In Syria, violence has escalated in an uprising against the government of Bashar al-Assad, including a recent shelling by Assad’s forces in Homs that reportedly killed up to 300 people. In response, the U.N. Security Council put forth a resolution calling on Assad to give up power. China and Russia vetoed the resolution. From the Los Angeles Times:“Assad must halt his campaign of killing and crimes against his own people now,” Obama declared before the vote, reacting to accounts of an overnight shelling in the restive city of Homs that opposition activists said left at least 200 people dead. “He must step aside and allow a democratic transition to proceed immediately.” Instead, the veto by Russia and China threw a lifeline to Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for more than 40 years through deft manipulation of regional intrigues, an essential skill for a nation in a volatile region, bordering Israel, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. The vote would seem to signal a death knell for the Arab League’s peace road map, hammered out during months of negotiation. There is no other pending peace plan. That leaves the United States and its allies with few options for halting the... Read more
• On Vogel & Kissingerâs âSino-Americanaâ
Science fiction author William Gibson has frequently argued that “novels set in imaginary futures are necessarily about the moment in which they are written“; that the real subject matter of ’1984′ was 1948. In the London Review of Books, Perry Anderson reviews three examples of what he calls “Sino-Americana”, a sub-genre whose ostensible focus is China, but which in fact offers a reflected view of its native United States. The three volumes under the magnifying glass are Ezra Vogel’s ‘Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China’, Henry Kissinger’s ‘On China’ and Jay Taylor’s ‘The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China’.Books about China, popular and scholarly, continue to pour off the presses. In this ever expanding literature, there is a subdivision that could be entitled âUnder Western Eyesâ. The larger part of it consists of works that appear to be about China, or some figure or topic from China, but whose real frame of reference, determining the optic, is the United States. Typically written by functionaries of the state, co-opted or career, they have as their underlying question: âChina â whatâs in it for us?â Rather than Sinology proper, they are Sino-Americana. Ezra Vogelâs biography of Deng... Read more
• Flame War: Novelist vs Fraud Buster
Danwei’s Joel Martinson chronicles the war of words between author-blogger-racing driver Han Han and merciless scientific fraud slayer Fang Zhouzi. Battle lines have been drawn, with writers, publishers, cartoonists and allegedly censors arrayed on one side or the other. The fight arose from an earlier skirmish between Han Han and tech entrepreneur Mai Tian, who had questioned the authorship of Han Han’s blog posts: Han Hanâs early replies were entertaining in their earnestness and snarky vulgarity. He provided a straightforward account of his blog-writing habits to explain how he could post in between race events, and then flipped Mai Tianâs reasoning around to cast aspersions on his sexual prowess. He offered a 20 million yuan purse and the copyrights to his entire oeuvre as a reward anyone giving conclusive proof of having ghostwritten for him. And, perhaps unwisely, he took a few potshots at Fang Zhouzi (æčèć), who up until that point had needled Han Han for a few minor writing mistakes but had otherwise shown no great interest in the argument. Going up against Fang Zhouzi is a risky thing. A science writer better known for his work exposing academic fraud and intellectual dishonesty, Fang Zhouzi is a tenacious... Read more
• Photo: Hong Kong February 2011, by Remko Tanis
© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.usPost tags: Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall
• China and Merkel do Diplomatic Euro Debt Dance
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in China, sowing potentially advantageous diplomatic relations in the midst of the EU’s current economic situation. An article from NBC News’ Behind the Wall explains how, in addition to economic relief, Merkel addressed long contentious issues of domestic and international conduct. As the leader of the strongest economy in the European Union, the chancellor has called for more “Europe,” a stronger union as an answer to the Eurozone crisis. And China with its massive $3.2 trillion in foreign currency reserves is seen as a potential source of critical support for any European bailout program. [...]“I will advocate, that if Europe, for example, imposes sanctions (on Iran), that China still uses the influence it has to tell Iran that we do not need, and cannot allow, another power with nuclear weapons,” [Merkel] told the assembly at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The German leader has raised a wide range of issues with the Chinese side, including human rights, intellectual property protection, and improved market access. The ABC piece cites a China Daily article, which discusses the possible intentions of visits by Merkel and her European counterparts: As a Chinese saying goes, one does not visit the temple for nothing. Public... Read more
• Running Dogs and Locusts
A deep rift in cultural identity has come into the spotlight through public expressions of the tension that exists between residents of Hong Kong and those of the mainland. The Economist outlines the beginnings of the most recent series of events: On January 15th a young Mandarin-speaking girl dropped some dried noodles she had been nibbling on a Hong Kong underground train. Perhaps her family, from mainland China, did not know that eating and drinking is banned on the spotless metro. When a local Cantonese speaker objected to the noodle-eating in bad Mandarin, a quarrel erupted. The whole incident, recorded on a mobile phone, was soon viewed online by millions in Hong Kong and in China. âThatâs what mainlanders are like,â was perhaps the nastiest thing said by any Hong Konger in the metro carriage.In a televised and characteristically nationalistic public admonishment of Hong Kongers, Peking University’s Kong Qingdong added fuel to the fire:Kong’s comments sent a shock of rage through many Hong Kongers, and led to the commissioning of a full page anti-mainland ad in a Hong Kong publication. The ad, which characterizes mainlanders as ‘locusts,’ is reposted and described in a Wall Street Journal blog post: The full-page ad, which shows a... Read more
• Weibo: Order to Detain Petitioner
Li Guosheng posted this to his Sina Weibo on January 8 with an image of the letter to the Kaifu Discipline and Inspection Commission. The message was reposted 420 times and received 98 comments. Li’s Weibo account no longer exists, but his Sina blog is still online (last updated November 18 2011). Read the original weibo here.@Journalist Li Guosheng: Hunan Provincial Discipline and Inspection Commission Order to Detain Petitioner: Li Xiang is from Kaifu District in Changsha. In 2006, her village land was reclaimed and her house was demolished.  She then began to petition.  In July of 2011, she once again petitioned the Hunan Provincial Discipline and Inspection Commission. Shockingly, the provincial Discipline and Inspection Commissionâs petitioning office sent the following letter to the Kaifu District Discipline and Inspection Commission: âIf she goes to Beijing to petition, you may detain her.â  After this news got on the web, the head of the petitioning office found Li Xiang and implored her to delete the post, saying, âI beg you as you are my grandpa and grandma.âTranslation by Harriet Xu.
© fionasmith for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to... Read more
• Photo: Chinese New Year Parade in New York Chinatown, by May S. Young
© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.usPost tags: Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall
• Tibetan Protests Caught on Video
Radio Free Asia has posted video that reportedly shows a protest in Aba Prefecture, Sichuan, where large-scale demonstrations erupted last week, resulting in the shooting of one or more protesters by security officials. Read more about the protests on CDT. Tensions have been high in Tibet and Tibetan regions of Sichuan with numerous self-immolations by Tibetans protesting Beijing’s policies and an ongoing crackdown by security forces. Students for a Free Tibet have obtained an audio file that is reportedly a final statement by Lama Soepa, a spiritual teacher and community leader from Golok in the Kham region of Tibet, who died after setting himself on fire on January 8. Listen to the recording here. From SFFT’s translation:This is the twenty-first century, and this is the year in which so many Tibetan heroes have died. I am sacrificing my body both to stand in solidarity with them in flesh and blood, and to seek repentance through this highest tantric honor of offering oneâs body. This is not to seek personal fame or glory. âšâšI am giving away my body as an offering of light to chase away the darkness, to free all beings from suffering, and to lead them â... Read more
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