Rice Cooker 200102

February 28, 2001
Chinese investors open accounts to trade hard currency B shares at a brokerage in Shanghai, the mainland's financial centre February 28, 2001. China's B shares shot up to near their maximum limit in the first hour of trade after the formerly foreigner-reserved market officially opened to domestic punters on Wednesday. REUTERS/China Photo China hopes Indonesia to protect ethnic Chinese from riots "We hope that the Indonesian government take effective measures to guarantee the safety and property of people of all nationalities, including those of Chinese origin," - Xinhua A Look at Who's Fighting in Borneo The Dayaks and ethnic Malays each make up about 40 percent of the population in Borneo's Kalimantan provinces. Ethnic Chinese, holders of much of the region's wealth, make up about 12 percent of the population, and Madurese about 8 percent. - AP Below this mud lie 118 victims of new bloodshed in Indonesia Witnesses recall horrific events in Borneo killing field - John Aglionby No signs of reduction in clashes - Jakarta Post28, 2001. China's B shares shot up to near their -reserved market officially opened to domestic . REUTERS/China Photo The truth shall set you free Transitions of political power have always been a painful experience in Taiwan over the past three centuries, a period of time in which the island was ruled by the Qing Dynasty, Holland, Japan and the KMT...The same was true with the conflicts that broke out between mainlanders and Taiwanese during and after the 228 Incident, which occurred under KMT rule. - Taipeitimes 228 Memorial Day China ratifies U.N. workers' rights treaty Human rights activists are lauding China's ratification of a United Nations convention that calls for Beijing to allow workers to go on strike. - CNN China Ratifies Convention on Human Rights - China.org
February 23, 2001
the urban generation – chinese cinema in transformation "Instead of grand historical narratives, movies like POSTMAN (He Jianjun, 1995), LUNAR ECLIPSE (Wang Quanan, 1999) and MR. ZHAO (Lu Yue, 1998) are microscopic studies of a society undergoing drastic, often violent changes. These hyper-realistic films tackle a wide variety of previously sensitive issues and subjects, like disability, alcoholism, homosexuality, mental illness, prostitution and the increasing gap between rich and poor; they have criminals, bohemian artists, and migrant workers for heroes. " Via indiewire Chinese weddings: Austerity out, extravagance in In China today the increasing amount spent on wedding ceremonies seems to reflect a growing desire to shake off the austerity of the recent past and celebrate a marriage in style. - Michael Stones
February 20, 2001
Disaster Relief Distributed in Snowstorm-hit Inner Mongolia People in the blizzard-attacked Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region got grain, clothes and fodder from local governments to weather through the hard times...The autonomous region so far has appropriated about 22.6 million yuan (US$2.7 million) and about 4,500 sets of cotton-padded coats to the people.- Peopledaily Notes from the Underground "When the temperature plummets to -30°C, the warmest place in Ulan Bator is the sewer. The nearly 4,000 homeless children in Mongolia's capital are faced with a stark choice: go underground or die" - Paula Bronstein/Liason Mongolia Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region \| Explore by Province The Mongol Khans
February 19, 2001
	An unidentified Chinese man surveys the view from one of the world's tallest buildings, in Shanghai February 18, 2001. The man, who took about an hour to climb the 88-story Jinmao Building without using any equipment, was arrested by police after sucessfully reaching the top of the building. REUTERS/China Photo
Torture and Ill-treatment of Prisoners Prohibited in China Chinese officials were indignant over the assertions of "widespread and systematic" torture and ill-treatment of prisoners in China in a recent report released by Amnesty International..."the Chinese government prohibits the practice of torture, beating or ill-treatment of prisoners, which is also laid down by the Prison Law...like prisons in other countries, beatings and ill-treatment of prisoners have not yet been rooted out completely in China." - Peopledaily Yuan Longping, China's Most Famous "Farmer" Yuan, 71, won a 5 million yuan State Supreme Science and Technology Award today, known as the Nobel Prize in China, for his outstanding achievements in breeding high-yield hybrid rice, which has substantially increased China's grain output. - Xinhua Who's Who - Asiaweek Nikkei Asia Prize winners 1996 Scientists Awarded for Contributions
February 17, 2001
Rock Icon's New Colors Cui Jian struggles to shake his image as China's dissident musician — through dance - Maria Cheng Hip Hop Generation A music born in New York's ghettos is winning fans in Shanghai--and attracting Western companies keen to tap into the youth market - Edward Shei China's New Names: Fish, Medusa, Satan Youths Borrow From Western Pop Culture - Jennifer Lee "4 Chinese Women Artists Show" 2001-02-15 until 2001-02-28 Look What China Could Do If It Changed Tactics by Michael Oksenberg and Susan Shirk China set to outlaw popular grotesque toys Fake mucus, blood, and even X-rated toys seem to be favourite teen playthings, forcing parents and the authorities to look at banning them - Lee Seok Hwai
February 14, 2001
A Chinese woman smiles after her boyfriend presented her with a rose during a surprise visit to her work place in Beijing on Valentine's day - Reuters via InsideChina In China, 7 Brides for 14 Brothers Alleviating the problem, however, will require some creativity...societies have found ways to remove surplus men from the marriage market--for example, by turning some into monks, as has happened before in places such as Tibet...Another option is to raise the legal marriage age for men, currently 22, while lowering it for women, now 20, which would instantly boost the supply of available women...."Only the most radical things could solve it, and nobody's suggesting those radical things, like women getting two husbands each. Nobody's suggesting things that are so culturally alien." - Henry Chu
February 13, 2001
China: Amnesty torture report 'groundless' "Those who torture will be punished in accordance with the law," Zhu said, adding "the human rights situation in China is the best in its history."...In its report Amnesty put forward a series of recommendations, including calls for the government to ban the use of leg shackles and chains irons; ensure officials are liable for prosecution for acts of torture; and move legal cases away from the "excessive reliance on confession evidence in prosecutions". - Kirsty Alfredson Torture - A Growing Scourge in China -Time for Action "Resorting to establishing false cases and fabricating false evidence to entrap people and gain personal merit is the greatest tragedy of the era of rule by law. Those people who are clearly aware of injustices and deliberately, wantonly and perversely commit them, utterly devoid of conscience, are the greatest criminals of a society ruled by law" - Amnesty.org
February 11, 2001
Making Sense Of A Suicide The self-immolations in Beijing showed what can happen when cult members get desperate - Ron Javers A Cultural Icon Embraces a New Role in Post-Revolution China "I often tell them they wouldn't have ended up this way if they were not my sons," said Tong, now a balding grandfather who fidgets like a child, in contrast to the charismatic hero who once held the nation spellbound. - Ching-Ching Ni
February 8, 2001
Asia's Antibiotic Abuse "Our greatest nightmare is a pandemic caused by a new strain of influenza that is then complicated by the appearance of a drug-resistant bacteria,"...Hong Kong, one of Asia's wealthiest cities, leads the region and the world in encouraging evolution of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. - Thomas Crampton Chinese discrimination row Compensation payments following a bridge disaster in China have generated a row over whether town dwellers are worth more than farmers. - Duncan Hewitt Japan starts picking on China As its economy shows no sign of recovery, Japan is getting angrier. Some of that anger is being directed against China. - Economist.com Kids' spending dominates family budgets According to a survey conducted by the China Mainland Marketing Research Co., children who are 12 years old or younger spend a total of 3.5 billion renminbi (US$422.71 million) every month.- Chinaonline Why has counterfeiting in China moved from copying brand name products to widespread sales of harmful products? - Ji Wenhai
February 6, 2001
In China, a drive against disposable The campaign underscores the vitality of China’s fledgling environmental movement, a ragtag collection of groups and individuals who operate in a gray area outside state control but never entirely free from it...China now produces and discards more than 45 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks every year, cutting down as many as 25 million trees in the process, according to government statistics. - Phillip Pan
February 5, 2001
Panorama of Ordinary Chinese "During my journey, I shall try my best to discover and capture, with my pen and tape-recorder, the liveliest common folk, their fresh language and attitudes towards life, their thoughts on destiny and most basic dreams and expectations, and their trivial happiness, sorrows and hardships...I realized so many people today are anxious to make their voices heard." - Xinhua Forget Japanese tour groups, the Chinese are coming "Chinese shopping is shocking," he says. "We don't stay in hotels as expensive as the Japanese, but Chinese have lots of money to spend. We buy on a family or group basis -- if one person from a village or work unit is going abroad, everyone gives him money to buy them things. I've seen Chinese visiting Thailand who buy 20 crocodile skin belts each, and 10 gold necklaces!" - Calum Macleod
February 4, 2001
Palace Museum becomes surreal Over 70 works by the surrealist master Salvador Dali add an unusual strangeness to the typically staid art institution. - Chang Ju-ping National Palace Museum The Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation Salvadordalimuseum.org The World Invades, and Chinese Art Surrenders? The cache of nearly 500 paintings that Mr. Ellsworth, an art dealer, gave the Met in 1986 are restricted to media associated with China's elite art tradition: ink, water-soluble pigments, paper, silk. - Holland Cotter Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Chinese Paintings from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
February 2, 2001
China eases its one-child policy Minglan is a pioneer in a remarkable experiment taking place in hundreds of villages and towns across China...the government is quietly encouraging a wide array of pilot projects that replace coercion with choice, in matters such as when to give birth and what type of contraceptives to use. - Leslie Chang Pride and Prejudice Indonesia's Chinese community knows the meaning of oppression all too well. But now, after decades of discrimination, there is hope that things may be starting to look up. - Dini Djalal In China, Computer Use Erodes Traditional Handwriting More than 97 percent of computer users in China type by phonetically spelling out the sounds of the characters in a transliteration system, called pinyin, that is based on the Roman alphabet. - Jennifer Lee