US : News
WU CO-FOUNDS BIPARTISAN GLOBAL INTERNET FREEDOM CAUCUS, INTRODUCES BILL TO COMBAT INTERNET CENSORSHIP - Mar 10, 2010 - 2:09:34 AM
WASHINGTON, DC ¡ª Today Congressman David Wu, in cooperation with Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), launched the Global Internet Freedom Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives.  The caucus is a bipartisan congressional organization that will promote peaceful free expression on the Internet and serve as a forum for members of Congress, the executive branch, and U.S. industry to discuss and debate ideas on how to enhance online freedom and address minimum standards of conduct for U.S. businesses that operate in Internet-suppressing countries.

China : News
CHINA:Censorship and threats after newspapers publish joint editorial about hukou - Mar 10, 2010 - 2:03:05 AM
Reporters Without Borders urges the Propaganda Department to lift the censorship imposed on a joint editorial in 13 Chinese daily newspapers calling for the elimination of the internal passport system known as the "hukou." The press freedom organisation has learned that journalists working for news media that published the editorial have been threatened with punishment.

World : News
World Day Against Cyber Censorship: March 12 - Mar 10, 2010 - 2:01:27 AM

Launched by Reporters Without Borders in 2008, World Day Against Cyber Censorship is intended to rally everyone in support of a single Internet without restrictions and accessible to all. The fight for online freedom of expression is more essential than ever. By creating new spaces for exchanging ideas and information, the Internet is a force for freedom. However, more and more governments have realised this and are reacting by trying to control the Internet.

China : News
Demolition in Wuhan caused fatal incident - Mar 8, 2010 - 11:50:20 AM

A demolition activity carried in Hu Bei Wuhan on March 3 has caused one dead.

Wang Cui Yun, a 70 years old woman fell into a ditch due to assault of a on-site constructor when she intended to stop the demolition. She was then buried alive as the ditch was being filled.

China : Special
Practical Manual for Party Propaganda Work - Mar 6, 2010 - 2:16:55 AM
This 2003 Red Flag Publishing House, I purchased at the Kunming Xinhua Bookstore in November 2007. Hu Jintao in his foreword to the book wrote "If the masses are not guided by a scientific theory as they push forward social change, they cannot succeed ...As times change our thinking and understanding too must move forward...the theoretical basis of the Party, must based on what we have inherited from the past constantly absorb new experiences and new thinking." In the first section of the "Propaganda Manual" Hu Jintao and others expound on the "Three Represents" of former Party Secretary Jiang Zemin. The book, and especially the first section, is very dull reading. The next sections on the theory, purposes and methods of Party propaganda work are more enlightening.

China : Finance
STRATFOR on China and Japan Economy - Mar 5, 2010 - 6:38:46 AM
Peter Zeihan, vice-director of research at STRATFOR: "In the short run China’s economy will grow, but apart from that we disagree with the many who predict that China’s economy will be dominant over the next 100 years--on the contrary, it won’t!"

China : Comment
China's Rule of Law is in Full Retreat - Mar 3, 2010 - 9:27:54 AM
Attending today's lunch and hearing so much praise makes me feel very uneasy.   I don't know how many times I have celebrated my birthday this year, and here comes Sun Guodong, hosting yet another event.

The first celebration was with fellow scholars and the second with my family, but I felt like something was missing.  There was no event with lawyers, or rather we might say some lawyers wanted to have a birthday celebration for me but didn't have a chance.  I think today's event might settle that.  However, in listening to these words of praise my ears have pricked up, as I must say you have expressed aspirations I have definitely never fulfilled.  Perhaps it was just the circumstances around me.  Because today the situation for the rule of law in China is grim.  So in these circumstances perhaps your expectations of me are even higher.  But I think I have not been able to do enough.

China : Comment
China's IDN flop, Who to blame? - Feb 26, 2010 - 7:21:02 PM
On Jan. 21, 2010, ICANN approved the first four internationalized top-level domain names. Egypt, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have passed the language character (string) evaluation. An alarming shock to the Chinese internet communities, China being one of the pioneers in IDN policy & development exploration, is not on the list. ICANN declined to comment after its news release when approached by Chinese internet news reporters. Insider source has point the failure directly to Rod Beckstrom, the new ICANN CEO & former US National Security Agency Chief. Did Rod Beckstrom really failed China's IDN application as "inspired" by the US government?

China : Special
The Internet Revolution: Our Manifesto - Feb 26, 2010 - 4:35:38 AM
At the end of the nineteenth century, Japan had its Meiji Restoration,
while the Manchu Dynasty had its Hundred Days Reform. The former was a
success, while the latter was aborted. As a result, in present-day
Japan, the most ancient monarchy coexists with the most modern
democracy, as the rulers have yielded power to the people. The term
"constitutional monarchy" symbolizes a compromise between absolute
power and democratic rights, and the melding of historical tradition
and modern culture.

China : Comment
The Elite’s 'Cultural Superpower' Dream and Han Han’s Dream of 'Harmonious Existence' - Feb 25, 2010 - 7:38:15 AM

The lead article in the current issue of Nanfang Zhoumo [Southern Weekend] is entitled “Is it possible to become a cultural superpower; if so, how?” Written by Yi Zhong–tian, the intention was to pour a little cold water on the ruling elite’s dreams of becoming a “cultural superpower.” The article concluded that “becoming a ‘cultural superpower’ should not be the wishful thinking of an elite minority, but the common pursuit of all citizens.  If its citizens can live in dignity, China will have dignity; only if they have culture in their lives will China have any culture. Only on this basis can we produce influential figures, ideas and works. For a people’s practical experience is the source of its culture.” [1] (Translator’s note: Yi Zhongtian 易中天: Professor in the Academy of Humanities, Xiamen University; intellectual and TV personality. Known as “Superman of Scholars,” gained popularity in CCTV’s ‘Lecture Room’ for his retellings of history.)