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I thought the people dieing from obsessive gaming were adults (20+).
Preventing minors to enter internet-cafés would target the wrong audience, wouldn't it?
What would those minors do when they have been DIEING to play a game because of all the media-hype around it, but couldn't because of local laws, and at a certain moment become "legal to game"?

Right.. play all they can to "catch up", even if it costs sleeping and eating...

"I am still looking for a reputable scientist that believes in global warming, and isn't caught up in the hype."

Duh. Are you really looking, or just saying you're looking? Maybe you're blind?

For example, less than a week ago: How about Stephen Hawking (the 'weelchair guy').

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-06/22/cont ent_623803.htm

He said he was afraid that Earth "might end up like Venus, at 250 degrees centigrade and raining sulfuric acid."

I don't think anybody posting here has what it takes to call Stephen Hawking wrong.

What's next, a lawyer for your hair?

Well, if you can get your hair insured (a little more about it here) then there's a lawyer involved somewhere in the process... and don't forget to make deposits at the hair bank.

http://chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-04/29/content_ 579968.htm
Seems state workers make about $630 a quarter which is $210 a month, while rural residents make about $140 a quarter which is 46.66 a month. This is both before food and housing. So seems like this income is right on for rural residents. Obviously this all depends upon the location. But the markets are still semi free, meaning people are CHOOSING to work and live at this apple factory so their pay has to be competative to the area or noone would work.

Debunking of link #1 http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2004-01/27/con tent_301145.htm

This building had 4 floors added to it illegally. It ends with this quote:

Building collapses are common in Egypt and are often caused by shoddy construction or the unauthorized building of extra stories. The last such incident was May 4, when a seven-story apartment building collapsed in Cairo, killing at least seven people.

Debunking link #2 http://www.china.org.cn/english/2003/Nov/79742.htm

This is still under investigation. The cause of the collapse is not yet determined.

In both of these articles, the word steel is absent. How do you know they are of similar construction?

How is that for calling bullshit?

Steel frame building collapses: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2004-01/27/con tent_301145.htm http://www.china.org.cn/english/2003/Nov/79742.htm Can you find examples of "this type of steel frame building" with raging fires which didn't collapse? All of the examples of buildings which had fires but did not collapse that I've seen so far were instead concrete and steel frames.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-03/1 5/content_536821.htm

Plagiarism, fake research plague academia
By Zhu Zhe (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-03-15 05:39

As China marks the World Consumer Rights Day today, the spotlight would inevitably be on poor products and shoddy service.

But attention is also being focused on the rights of a special group of consumers: subscribers or readers of academic journals.

Plagiarism and fake research have become rampant in China, and are eroding people's trust in academia, Ren Yuing, a member of the Councillors' Office of the State Council, told the recent meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the top advisory body.

He cited a recent survey of 180 PhD degree holders, of whom 60 per cent paid to be published in academic journals; and about the same percentage copied others' work.

"The situation exists in almost every well-known Chinese university," He Weifang, a professor at Peking University's law school, told China Daily. He is also an activist in fighting what he called academic corruption.

Some 100 Chinese professors plan to publish an open letter calling for the establishment of a national supervision mechanism to root out academic plagiarism. The move follows a series of academic scandals:

Qiu Xiaoqing, a biomedicine professor at Sichuan University, was last year accused of publishing fraudulent research in the November 2003 issue of Nature Biotechnology.

Zhou Yezhong, a professor at Wuhan University's law school, was last December accused of copying others' work "word for word."

Shen Luwei, an associate professor at Tianjin Foreign Studies University, was removed from his post in January for plagiarizing 10 articles in his book.

He Weifang said he felt obliged to sign the open letter as the problem has been holding back the country's scientific development.

Academic corruption refers to institutions making use of their resources to gain improper income or power; but misconduct, which is often individual, could take different forms such as plagiarism, distorting experiment data and tampering with original work.

The existing evaluation system, which emphasizes the quantity of papers rather than quality, is considered the root cause of academic corruption and misconduct in China ?scholars have to publish a certain number of books or papers before they are promoted.

"One of my colleagues was demoted because he failed to publish two papers in key academic journals a year,?He said. "The situation in other schools is worse.?

Zhang Jianzu, a professor at East China University of Science and Technology, said schools are to blame as they often help cover up misconduct. "Many plagiarists still work as professors despite some scandals,?he said.

Some plagiarists also hold administrative positions in schools.

To curb violations of academic rights, the Ministry of Education announced this month that it planned to set up a national supervision committee.

It will work out detailed rules on criteria and punishment for academic corruption and misconduct, and investigate such cases. The 25-member committee will consist of scholars from academic institutions.

Vice-Minister of Science and Technology Ma Songde also disclosed that the ministry would establish an archive database, including books and papers the ministry published. "If any academic violation is found, the stain will be on record for good,?Ma said.

Academic circles applaud the new policies, but how the committee and database will work has sparked heated discussion.

He Weifang insists that the committee be made up of scholars, and procedures be transparent. "Also, those being accused should have the right to appeal.?

He argues that the ministry's committee cannot replace committees set up by individual schools, as "administrative powers should not i

You can discuss democracy in China. Try this one: http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/viewthread.php?tid=11 8157&fpage=1&highlight=

Ok, where do I go to buy a majority share in a Chinese company?

Oh wait, I can't.

...and before someone tries to rebut this with the example of the Unocal bid that was shot down, allow me to point out that in China, foreign ownership or controlling interest must abide by a strict set of constraints. Furthermore, foreigners may only invest in a special category of shares. These restrictions hardly comprise a free market.

By comparison, in the United States foreign ownership restrictions are generally only found in transportation, telecommunications, energy, healthcare, and defense industries; outside of those industries it is pretty much completely open. Before we all sing the praises of the U.S. business environment's openness however, allow me to explain why many other nations operate more closed business environments.

The open environment allows companies like Espire Infolabs headquartered in another nation for example, to establish a corporate presence in the U.S. (see their old contact pages showing their now-defunct branches in the U.S.). These can be nothing more than branches that funnel funds back to headquarters. They can also close up, declare bankruptcy, and break contracts, with no recourse to pursue them for making you whole back at the headquarters in the home nation unless you start talking seven to eight figures at stake. Completely legal. I know all this because I'm one of the creditors in their bankruptcy case. Expensive mistakes like these are the cost of doing business in the U.S.

However, nations like China are concerned about these types of outcomes that they consider predatory if they open up their business environment like the U.S. has opened up. If their politicians believe their business culture is not as sophisticated and prone to predation, then they will put in restrictions like we see today. In a more closed environment where only native citizens are allowed to retain controlling interest for example, outcomes like I described generally depend upon the creditors' willingness to get nasty in the court system with those citizens. It is not all doom and gloom if a nation opens up, however. For example, information and communications technology lets me quickly and easily verify that Espire Infolabs doesn't open another presence in the U.S. based upon that brand. If they use that brand in the U.S. again, I'll go after them for the funds they owe, plus interest, plus attorney and court fees. They can open up under a different name and throw away the enormous marketing and sales investment they have made into that brand, of course; I check for that less frequently because I can't automate that. On the balance, even after getting reamed because the environment allows such dynamics, I believe the U.S. is a stronger nation for it. Wasn't a fatal incident for my business, and I'm still around, at least.

The situation will only get better in the future, I believe. Eventually trusted reputation systems will get established, and not just the reputation of a company but of the management individuals at the helm can be tracked. Credit scoring is simply a primitive reputation system, and the demand exists to extend its reach. And the calculus of business etiquette will start to eventually change in favor of better practices.

Are you trying to prove my point posting such emotion raising links, my friend?

The media makes and sells emotions. Hate here, a little sympathy there. For example: You may not think much about it, but your government is torturing people. They are bombing innocent people. You probably don't care alot because you believe they deserve it for probably being terrorists anyway, or you let it pass as collatoral damage for a bigger cause. But people being tortured or killed are someone's wife, someone's child, someone's father... Who cares if we beat someone a bit if we can get info to avoid terrorism, right? This makes you evil in their eyes. Like: "How can you be letting this continue? Why don't you do something about it?" (Hint: This is what is in their media, and just as you are thinking that Afghanistan needed more bombing, they are thinking 9/11 was an understatement. Hate sells.) A quote from your link:

But the bigger problem confronting the president is that an overwhelming number of ordinary Afghans appear to believe Mr Rahman has erred and deserves to be executed.

Same thing there to. They don't think much about it. It is the norm over there, just as your norm is that anything that can be done to avoid terrorism should be done, even if it means war, bodycounts, torture, collatoral damage, loss of freedoms...

One of the Iranians I know coverted to marry a christian friend of mine. She didn't hesitate at all, although she knew returning home would stop being an option. Her parents took it surprisingly well IIRC. She converted so 'without fuss' it made me think if I would be as open minded to convert to a muslim if I was in the same situation.

A bit offtopic: When you see inflammatory stories on the news for no good reason, check for something they are trying to pass while our backs are turned. 9 times out of 10, this is the case... ;)

Cheers!

Hello all: I like to point out that the story is lost in most of our posts here (some of us still remain true). The point is that our news media takes materials out of context. In annoyance, the two Chinese bloggers protest how their words have been twisted... The original story is NOT about western news media's lack of research and getting their stories wrong (though that certainly contributed to the development of this event). As stated in http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-03/1 4/content_534795.htm, the story is about our media turning these two bloggers' words into politically charged statements. The original story is NOT even about Chinese government's censorship over material on the internet (though that is true). The story is about extra material our media added to spice up a story about two Chinese bloggers' site being shut down. Cheers B. Pascal.

Hello FreeUser:

Well said. I like your analogy of staging your own kidnapping.

That being said, I like to point out that the intent of the two Chinese bloggers are not to ... expose the Western press's weakness to detect lies. They did this, to show that the Western press adds elements (politically charged words, for example) to a story. There is a slight difference between reporting a fake event truthfully, and spicing up a story. The former is unfortunate but still journalism. The latter is sensationalism. Let's try a less Western centric press, and see their side of the story. From: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-03/1 4/content_534795.htm

'
Wang Xiaofeng had been annoyed that he was constantly misquoted by foreign media.

"Every time they interviewed me, they tried to steer the questions towards political topics, in which I have no interest. Even if I made no mention of anything political, the articles would come out as if I were an activist," he said.

"Most of the foreign reporters are not readers of my blog, and the few snippets they read in translation are usually out of context so they appear to be political," he added.
'

Finally, I don't think the bloggers try to justify Chinese censorship in this stunt. I can see how it may be interpreted that way though, especially from where we are.

Cheers.

B. Pascal

damn link. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-03/1 4/content_534795.htm

correct link
http://www.accoona.com/about/press/press_rel ease_2005_03_29_001.jsp
For some reason, you have to copy and paste it into your browser:
Top 25 Search Results from Winter 2005 Reveal What Chinese Internet Users Are Searching For New York, NY March 29, 2005 A recent study and whitepaper by Accoona Corporation (http://www.accoona.com/ an industry leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI) search technology and one of the most prominent search engines in China, reveals that while geographical and cultural issues are still a major focus, Chinese Internet users are becoming more business and technology focused in terms of the information they seek online. With more than 94 million users online, China is the second largest online population after the United States. The Accoona study looked at the Top 25 non-adult search queries on http://www.accoona.cn/ and the Accoona Search Bar on http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/ throughout January and February 2005. The three most popular searches in China during this period were for the nation's lunar year celebration known as the "Spring Festival" (19%), followed by "Tsunami" (12%) and "Car" (8%). Among the leading geography-related searches were for China, India, Shanghai and CEPA, a Hong Kong business pact. Some of the most popular technology searches were Chinese instant messaging software, the MF RC531 wi-fi chip specification, Mongolian software and laptop motherboards. The most sought after consumer searches were cars and car stereos. Searches regarding the nation's elderly and education each made up 2% of the Top 25. Additional insight and analysis can be found in an Accoona whitepaper published today at http://www.accoona.com/whitepaper20050329.pdf. "As the consumer class in China continues to develop and economic markets continue to slowly open, the focus of the world's second largest Internet population has shifted more towards business information. In contrast, the top searches in the US are skewed towards celebrities and current events", said Stuart Kauder, CEO at Accoona Corporation. "As one of the most prominent search engines in China, Accoona is able to give the rest of the world deeper insights into what the fastest growing Internet population is looking for online". Accoona enjoys a 20-year exclusive agreement with China Daily Information Company and is the official search partner for its China Daily news portal -- the first news site in China and one of the country's largest portals. Accoona's flagship offering, Accoona.com, is complemented by the Accoona QuickProfile(TM) database -- the world's largest database of free online business information, with up-to-date records on millions of companies around the globe. The QuickProfile database contains one of the most extensive listing of Chinese businesses available online, making it a powerful tool for US-based companies wishing to find information about Chinese businesses. The following is a list of the Top 25 non-adult search queries on Accoona.cn during the January/February 2005 time period: * Spring Festival - 19% * Tsunami - 12% * Car - 8% * China - 6% * Chinese IM software - 4% * CEPA - 3% * Plastic flowerpot manufacturer - 3% * Copper - 3% * Mifare mf rc-531 - 3% * Textile printing ink - 3% * Car audio - 3% * Education - 3% * AL Corp Musical Instruments - 3% * Accoona - 3% * Chinese Railways - 3% * Thermo - 2% * Mongolian Software - 2% * Shanghai - 2% * Elderly in China - 2% * Insurance - 2% * Emigration - 2% * India - 2% * Lantern Festival - 2% * Laptop motherboard - 2% About Accoona Founded in February 2004, the Accoona Corporation is an industry pioneer in Artificial Intelligence search technology, and has filed a patent with over 650 claims. The company unveiled the Accoona search engine in Decembe

I also submitted this story, linking to http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-03/1 4/content_534795.htm for further information.

It just shows that Western media has a standard agenda of politicizing everything, and that checking sources is not honored by Western journalists (who really should set a good example on this to show Chinese journalists how to do it).

Now the crowd here will come up with ingenious "what ifs" and other excuses, actually defending this bad journalism. It is Us and Them nomatter what, as usual.

You're not Japanese then I take it :-) http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/0 7/content_510179.htm

Compare this American Google image search for "tiananmen square" to the same search in the Chinese Google image search. Notice that the only result that even mentions something related to the imfamous student protests is this result, which makes it seem as if the government didn't do anything wrong, but the protestors did. Google is clearly wrong in this case. Google is right to stand up against the Bush administration, but Google is wrong to not do the same against the Chinese administration. A spade is a spade, but apparently there is a partisan divide that dictates people's beliefs on this issue.

/me puts on an asbestos suit

(and why didn't they pour money into helping Chinese succeed in basketball?)

putko, Yao Ming. Yao Ming, putko.

Why do you make it sound like exploitation? They're getting paid to play video games! In the NY Times article linked by someone else who replied to your post states that one of the workers in one of these gold farms makes $250/month, or $3000/year. According to this article, the average per capita income in Beijing in 2004 was $1900. I wouldn't call someone who gets paid 50% more than the average person "very poorly paid".

"and that you are not reluctant *at* *all* when it comes to sending that army to wage wars in other parts of the world."

I love these assertions. We are critisized for going to war in Afghanistan, because we are killing innocent civilians, and the Afghanistan government didn't attack us, 19 Saudis did. (Or maybe it was the Jews, with Bush's help.)

We are blasted for attacking Iraq, when the entire world thought Saddam had biological weapons. And with France, Germany, and Russia balking at using force, Saddam had enough time to move tons of the stuff out of the country or bury it in the middle of the desert. Who knows, we might find it yet, in Syria. (And of course France, Germany, and Russia were objecting for humanitarian reasons, not because any invasion would show how much corruption was in the Oil-for-food program, and how much public officials and business leaders in those three countries profited.)

All well and good, if you are going to hate us for sticking our nose in, feel free. But be consistant. While the US was still locked in battle with terrorists (people who detonate car bombs in front of school children are terrorists, not insurgents), the world blasted us for not invading another country which had a repressed population being savaged by a dictator. That was Haiti. Here is a link to one article I found, which carried a theme similar to most at the time:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-02/1 8/content_307092.htm

Notice how it is assumed that the US would invade this country to save the innocents, and since we didn't, we are bad people.

Yet we are still being called bad for invading other countries. Which way do you want it?

And personally, for your information, I personally think the US should pull out of the nation-building mentality. We should stop acting like the Europeans, thinking we have the right to interfere in other cultures like they always did. The United States was founded as a repulsion of that idea. Why did we lose sight of that and start to emulate them again?

Two words: Bull. Shit.

And a critical analysis of the methodology behind the study that started this fearmongering here.

"If I buy a laptop that has "AMD Sempron 3000+" written on it, I would like to *know* that that's what it is - not an 900MHz Intel Celeron. Similarly, I want the video memory to be whats advertised, etc etc etc."

Agreed, but isn't this the exact same thing:

You're being sold "foo" when in reality it's "foobar".

In my example, "foo" is Italian Made Designer Shoe, and "foobar" is Chinese Made shoe imported into Italy.

In your example, "foo" is an AMD Sempron and "foobar" is an Intel Celeron.

In both cases it's not the method of deception thats important (trademark in one, origin of goods in another), its the deception itself.

What I think they should do is focus on origin of goods laws. That way fake Italian brands gain their protection by leveraging "Geox made in Italy", but in order to do that they have to actually make their brand in Italy! Otherwise they would be "Geox" with big "Made in China" labels stuck all over their adverts & boxes!

Geox BTW is an example brand, that manuafacturs in China, but is based in Italy and tells different stories to each side. For example they tell the Chinese this story:

"With a history of more than 300 years, the Geox company ranks first in Europe and eighth in the world in terms of its sales."

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-10/1 8/content_383303.htm

Which is bollocs because Geox is a fake brand created in the early 90's:

http://www.ey.com/GLOBAL/content.nsf/International /EGC_-_Events_-_WEoY_-_2003_Participants

"Italy
Winner: Mario Moretti Polegato, President
Company: Geox International S.r.L.S.p.A.
Description: In seven years, Geox has become the leader in the Italian shoes market. Founded in the early 90's, Geox designs, manufactures, and markets a rubber soled shoe, allowing the foot to breathe. Geox is now the world leader in the casual shoe segment. "

If China stops pulls their money out of the US, interest rates go up. By historical standards, they're still too low. If mortgage rates go up, the speculators who have interest-only loans with adjustable rates have their payments go up. Many will default, resulting in foreclosure. The housing bubble finally pops. Baby boomers who expect to sell their houses at a profit lose their equity.

Also, the US stock market is overpriced by a factor of 2 or so, based on historic P/E ratios. There's too much money in stocks because debt yields are so low. If interest rates go up, money moves from stocks to bonds. The stock market collapses.

All this is well known. China is using it, too. The position of the Chinese government appears the People's Daily: The US must "break away from the "cultural superiority" theory, which stresses a certain set of values, because we have entered a new era featuring long-term coexistence and blending of various civilizations." That's clear enough, even though written in the rather oblique style of diplomacy.

That's why the US has to suck up to China.

I really don't think this will go very far in Russia. The Russian's might play lip service to protecting US IP rights, as the Chinese did earlier this year, but the Russian's have too many real problems for this to be a priority.

The music industry is desperate, because the fat profits are drying up. And if that "problem" weren't enough they are being faced with disruptive technologies that almost make them obsolete. Face it, big music labels are only needed for marketing. With a few thousand dollars worth of equipment you can put together a good home studio, make your own CD, and sell your music online. And if you are good enough to get some grassroots buzz, you will probably make as much that way as signing with the big label. As someone said "last throws."

..who is in Osama Bin Laden's circle of family and friends... Yes. Especially the family "femme fatale", his 25-year old niece, Waffa. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-03/3 0/content_429377.htm

What?

HARRY Potter's creator J.K. Rowling was the top woman earner in Britain this year, a new salary rich-list revealed recently.

Her annual pay of 48 million pounds (US$77 million) was six times greater than the salary of Queen Elizabeth, according to The Mail on Sunday's annual list. http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2003/0102/ls12- 2.html

How the hell did you get 50K a year?

Ah but you are wrong:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-03/2 1/content_426856.htm

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-12/2 7/content_403512.htm

http://www.ipv6.net.cn/

...that was until the commercial fishing and technology came along to start wiping them out

And shark fin soup.

Haha maybe this'll cheer you up:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-05/2 7/content_446335.htm

"The name may not roll off the tongue quite like American Idol does, but that hasn't kept the Mongolian Cow Sour Yogurt Super Girl contest from sweeping China. Zhao Jingyi, 17, the "schoolgirl" candidate won the Changsha competition.

Like Idol, which named its winner Wednesday night, China's Super Girl gives aspiring singing stars a shot at televised fame and fortune."

Looks like American culture has spread far and wide...

Why should I (as John Q. Public American) have to pay taxes for the UN? What has it done for me lately?

Except the funny thing is the US pays 21% of the total UN dues, not to mention the tens of billions in IMF/World Bank default loan coverage. Here are some amounts (in varying years per what I could pull up quickly):

(2003 dues payments)
- Mali: $11,800 (less money than the cheapest Geo Metro!)
- Congo: $13,500 (Honda Civic D with no features)
- Honduras: $67,500
- Latvia: $135,000
- China: Pays 2.1% of the total UN budget. Not bad for the world's largest economy with more than two thirds the worlds population.
- Russia: Pays 1.1% of the total UN budget.
- Japan: 19.5% of the total UN budget, at $364,000,000 (but pushing for lower dues since they haven't gotten a permenant security council seat as they demanded, so they're going to pay less than 20% of the total now. Seems fair).
- United States: 22% of the total UN budget at $ . The largest amount of all, and doesn't include IMF/WB and other loan defaults assumed.

During the late 1990s, the Clinton administration refused to pay dues for several years, though it was resolved under Bush. Our apologies for irresponsible "Big Hat, No Horse" Democrats.

It has been said that the "Rest of the World" hates the fact that the US is the "ultimate owner" of the internet. Mark my words this is going to be a repeat of the situation with China, Chinese Taipei (tiwain), and the OLYMPICS. I have no problem the Chinese, the Chinese Gov., however, is a very different story. "They are a Freedome hating superpower that won't go away, ergo, the fact most of its citizens didn't know the US had been on the moon in 1967 untill the early 1990's (Damn thats effective censorship)." --Me Back to the point. Taiwan was not represented as Taiwan in the last olympics. "Why Chris, why was this so?" the reason was because the Chinese Gov. went to several smaller countries and used the polotical might that comes with its size (Resources, People, Land Mass, ect) and got them to vote so that when Taiwan won metals the Taiwan flag, and national anthem were off limits. I believe the Chinese will use its votes to controll access to places like Tiawan and make life hell. I believe the Chinese is using the same methods to get votes so it can controll the DNS servers and quash domestic dissidents. I believe the "Rest of the World" is the manipulative Chinese Gov. try a few links : General: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3541180.st m WIKI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Taipei_at_the _2004_Summer_Olympics HORSES MOUTH: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-08/0 7/content_363055.htm http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-11/21/con tent_283675.htm

It has been said that the "Rest of the World" hates the fact that the US is the "ultimate owner" of the internet. Mark my words this is going to be a repeat of the situation with China, Chinese Taipei (tiwain), and the OLYMPICS. I have no problem the Chinese, the Chinese Gov., however, is a very different story. "They are a Freedome hating superpower that won't go away, ergo, the fact most of its citizens didn't know the US had been on the moon in 1967 untill the early 1990's (Damn thats effective censorship)." --Me Back to the point. Taiwan was not represented as Taiwan in the last olympics. "Why Chris, why was this so?" the reason was because the Chinese Gov. went to several smaller countries and used the polotical might that comes with its size (Resources, People, Land Mass, ect) and got them to vote so that when Taiwan won metals the Taiwan flag, and national anthem were off limits. I believe the Chinese will use its votes to controll access to places like Tiawan and make life hell. I believe the Chinese is using the same methods to get votes so it can controll the DNS servers and quash domestic dissidents. I believe the "Rest of the World" is the manipulative Chinese Gov. try a few links : General: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3541180.st m WIKI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Taipei_at_the _2004_Summer_Olympics HORSES MOUTH: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-08/0 7/content_363055.htm http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-11/21/con tent_283675.htm

I was surprised to read that China is developing a standard with anti-piracy in mind... Since most of my favourite hardware toys come from there (the kind you can't buy in North American stores)...

Yeah sorry, my math was wrong. It's closer to 21,917 a day.

According to this article, China will have 140 million cars on the road by 2020. That's in 15 years. They currently have around 20,000,000 cars on the road now. The difference is 120 million cars. 120 million cars over a 15 year period is 8 million a year. 8 million divided by 365 days is roughly 21,917.

I was off by a factor of 22. That's a pretty large amount.

If you were convinced I was a moron because of some other reason the price of gas is going up and don't want to share your enlightenment, then you can toss off. Prove a point, don't just rant.

Sorry, I almost forgot. The UN is charging China with rights abuse. The government claims that things are getting better, but the testimonies say otherwise.

You have to realize that, not withstanding Articles 35 and 41, any right of speech, publication, or suggestions of criticisms on state organ must be made with the premise to protect the unity of the state.

No, I don't understand. The first amendment of the US Constitution was freedom of speech and freedom of press. This extended all the way into government affairs, with early Supreme Court cases ensuring that even views that would harm "the unity of state" could not be supressed. The second amendment of the US Constitution is the right to bear arms. The purpose of this was not only for common defense, but also to ensure that tyranny could never reign in the United States. The founding fathers understood that power corrupts, so to combat this they made certain that the populace was ALWAYS only a trigger pull away from overthrowing its government.

To this day, every citizen of the United States is allowed to carry weapons unless he has been convicted of a violent crime. If you know what you're doing, you can even obtain licenses to carry military grade hardware.

The freedoms of the people MUST be cherished by the US government, or it will find itself demolished from the inside. China has no checks and balances. If the government says it is so, it is so. The government would have you believe otherwise, but their actions (Great Firewall, Censoring of the Press, Jailing of Religeous Believers, etc.) speak far louder. Tell me, is this the tolerance and human rights that the Chinese government speaks of? The UN doesn't think so.

When Communism was strong (and these bodies were named) China certainly had a very strong social welfare program

You mean like the social welfare programs that starved 30 million people to death?

China's move away from Communism trough free market reforms, and its expansion of exports to the US, has lead there to be about 200 million fewer people in China living on under $1 per day now than in 1990.

I'm no apologist for China's continued lack of human and political rights, but at the same time at least the government appears to be leading economic growth, which is much more than I can say for Cuba or North Korea (or places like Zimbabwe).

It seems that a country like China, much less developed than the US, managed to evacuate several hundred thousand people in a couple of days before the arrival of a typhoon.

A question though: I am living outside the US, so I don't know if any offers of foreign aid have come in. Not just money, but doctors, freshwater, etc.

The Philippines. Cuba. Lots of others.

Actually, I read one country (Saudi Arabia?) had offered doctors, but hadn't been given the go-ahead to send them, but I can't find where I read that again.

you're the first person to bring it up so what the hell are you complaining about

and anyway, of more importance is the chimp genome being mapped and found to be 96% similar to humans

If i remember correctly, the incident happened in China and not Korea. Did a google search and here's the original story... http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-03/3 0/content_429246.htm now... can i find a dragon saber in guild wars?...

China's GDP as of 2004 is $7,262,000,000,000 (7.26 trillion) while the GDP of the USA as of 2004 is $11,750,000,000,000 (11.75 trillion). Growing a nations GDP by 1 trillion is a few years let alone more than 4 trillion is just impossible. China has _at least_ 1 billion people. Divide their GDP by their population and you get about $7,262 per person. The USA has about 300 million people. Divide our GDP per person and you get about $39,166.66 per person. A _huge_ difference, more than five time the amount _per person_!

A few notes:

1.) Your figures are probably from the CIA World Factbook, which reports purchasing power parity GDP. Comparing nominal GDP makes your argument stronger, as the PPP GDP for China is substantially smaller. One source has the figure for 2004 at $1.65 trillion US. However, the PPP number is useful in that it's probably a better comparison with US output, I believe due to the rather extraordinary circumstances with the yuan dollar peg kept artificially low. Still, that said...

2.) China's GDP growth is pretty spectacular, and has been so for the past several years (check the World Bank's World Development Indicators database). 9.5% reported growth in 2004 is probably unsustainable, but China had GDP growth of 7-9% for 1999-2003 (according to the WB). The US, by comparison, had growth of 1-4% between 1999 and 2003 (admittedly including a recession).

3.) Your argument about per-capita GDP works against you. Few believe that the average Chinese person will be as wealthy as the average "first world" person any time soon. The point is that China, as a political and economic powerhouse, will likely become even more huge in the near future. The large population bolsters this goal, as it provides low-cost labor and a quick opportunity for growth. One only needs to raise per-capita productivity a small amount to see huge gains in overall GDP for the country as a whole.

4.) Let's take your original figures of $7.26 trillion versus $11.75 trillion. Assuming China can keep up a 7% growth and the US has about 3% growth, China will reach the $11.75 trillion mark within 8 years. At those rates of growth, China will exceed the US within 13 years. Even if these figures are quite off, China is still likely to have a much larger economic role than it does now in the coming decades.

In addition to the comet mission, they are going to build their fourth space launch center , and they've also announced plans to militarize their space program.
I wonder, when they finally land someone on the moon, will they say "We came in peace for all mankind"?

New Star Trek Film Planned by Fans

The IP laws referenced were adopted or ammended between 1984-1994.

Following China's entry into the WTO, Microsoft China became the first foreign company to become a full member of the China Software Industry Association in 2002.

The president of MS China at the time moved to Shanda in 2004. Shanda is to online gaming in China what Sony is to online gaming in Japan. Former Microsoft China chief gets new job

Enforcement remains a problem. But the Chinese government doesn't want to see state and party sanctioned cultural enterprises lose more ground to Western imports.

Actually, the FDA hasn't totally rejected the use of the device yet (as I already pointed out).. but otherwise you are very correct. At that point I misread the article.

I don't see the problem if someone makes a conscious decision to use this or any other device. If some people want the right to die, then others should have the right to live.I argue constantly with my friend who is fresh out of medical school (and pretty close to Kevorkian's views medically/politically speaking) - but he always seems to argue that doctors would know best. I think the issue is a lot less medical and a lot more personal/religious/whatever...

I hate to see anyone push their beliefs on another (especially Tom Cruise's religious view of psychiatry, but that is another story).

I don't see the point. Take a look at http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/ for an example of Chinese debate on various topics. Although articles can be pulled if deemed too offensive (this is a newspaper, whose existence dependes on the party's benevolence), there are no simple words like democracy or freedom that are forbidden. Chinese censorship simply doesn't operate on that level.

On the site you can see examples, mostly in English and sometimes in Chinese, of pretty straightforward debate on most sensitive issues, and my impression is that anything goes as long as you are informed about the matter you are discussing.

Furthermore, I don't understand how you could ban words. It is easy to circumvent this, because you can just use similar-sounding characters to fool the system; people will still understand that ziyou means freedom, regardless of what characters are used. You could also write it backwards, or use latin letters. Or why not l33t.

Well, here goes; From my limited political knowledge(I don't really follow my own canadian politics very closely, but the ware in Iraq, ect can't really be avoided in the news) But the way the US is spending more and more money trying to police the world, it's only a matter of time before they run out. At which point all those people pissed off by being 'policed' will start causing problems. This is when China will be sitting and chuckeling, and breaking out the champagne.

Besides, I don't really think the Chinese gov would have much to worry about in a war-time scenario: the ratio of Chinese to Americans is about 4.5:1 But what do I know? china population US population

.... Walmart is opening stores there. Thus, it's only a matter of time.

To be fair, I should point out that the 'safe sex' policies lauded by prior administrations weren't exactly effective either. Better to try something new that doesn't work than stick with the same old that hasn't been working for decades.

Actually, that's incorrect. Since there has been a greater focus on abstinence over safer sex, HIV rates have stayed the same http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-12/ 02/content_396638.htm and abortion rates are up http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial /outlook/2851283 which generally means more unwanted pregnancies. Not an effective policy at all, and seemingly worse than the one under Clinton.

Disclaimer: I realize that the op-ed I cited pins the abortion increase on economic policy, but that's an opinion and I think it's fair to say that the majority of abortions are due to an unwanted pregnancy, even if for economic reasons.