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Director Ang Lee and actress Zhang Ziyi pose together at the IFP/West Independent Spirit Awards March 24, 2001, in Santa Monica, California. Ang Lee won the Spirit Award for Best Director while Zhang Ziyi won the Spirit Award for Best Female Lead, and their film, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" won Best Feature. Reuters/Fred Prouser

China tackles its spitting image
It is one of the most familiar sounds in China beginning with a sonorous clearing of the throat and followed by the explosive expectoration of phlegm...a population that believes there are good medical reasons for evacuating rather than swallowing one's spittle. - John Shauble
Heavier penalty slapped on spitters | My lords, must we expectorate? | The Art of Spitting

Fish net threat to internet links
The nets are held in place by anchors set deep into the sea bed, but shifting tides can drag the anchors along the sea bed, causing them to cut through the less deeply buried telecommunications cables...telcos could help by avoiding main fishing areas when laying the cables. - Duncan Hewitt

In China, Bombs Are the Weapon of Choice
"Even though public security authorities have ruled that dangerous explosives should be manufactured, kept and disposed of by selected persons, economic development has made them widely available," - Martin Fackler

China to deregulate water-use rights to resolve rows
"In the past, water was not considered a commodity to be traded in China...This public welfare policy approach to water management is now being blamed for massive waste and serious shortages in many parts of the country" - Kyodo
Water-use rights open to trading | CEDI | Use of Market Forces Urged to Distribute Water | CAE | Agenda 21

Spend on China's poor, not arms
Perhaps we can even make the bold assumption that if Taiwan pulls NT$10 billion from its defense budget and uses it to help China resolve its domestic problems, we will be able to reap better results than if we spend it on weapons.- Chien Hsi-chieh

Another China
This work is intended as a sincere look at China's problems from a neutral point of view...Many of the findings might be incorrect, but the look is worthwhile because countries, like people, need someone else to see what is behind them, and a mirror can't be fully trusted for the purpose. - Francesco Sisci

China to Make Millionaires out of Intellectuals
Tens of millions of Chinese are crazy about lottery amid eager expectations to become millionaires overnight. However, very few intellectuals are reportedly following suit, as a more practical channel has unfolded before them: to make a fortune by knowledge. - Peoplesdaily
Sci-Edu | Cernet | COS China

China Uncorks The Gene in a Bottle
Flush with ambitious young scientists, Beijing asserts itself as a leader in biotechnology. But a weak regulatory framework could hamper its progress -David Murphy

Rural medical system to improve
The reforms are considered essential given that many of the country's more than 900 million farmers still have poor medical services...Statistics suggest that 80 per cent of China's medical resources, including hospitals and medical workers, are in the cities. - Xing Zhigang
Without 'Barefoot Doctors,' China's Rural Families Suffer
NPC and CPPCC

Arbor Day. The event marked the anniversary of the death in 1925 of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the ROC's founding father and an advocate of reforestation. Since 1929, March 12 has been commemorated throughout the ROC as Arbor Day. - Taiwanheadlines
China Commemorates 76th Anniversary of Death of Sun Yat-sen - InsideChina
Sun Yat-sen - Time Asia

Haunts of a Liberal Ghost
"Hu Yaobang is associated with the golden age of China's reforms. After he fell, the honeymoon between the Chinese people and the government ended,"...Hu rehabilitated tens of thousands of people after the Cultural Revolution. He restored relations with Japan. He offered real autonomy to Tibet and offered an apology for Beijing's failed policies in the region. - Bruce Gilley
The Chinese leader who apologised to Tibet | Chinese-Japanese Youth Center

'Graft could destroy China'
China's parliamentary leader, Li Peng, has warned that the Communist Party and even the Chinese nation itself face destruction unless corruption is rooted out..."Historical experience shows that power free from control and supervision will lead inevitably to corruption," - BBC
NPC to intensify supervision | NPC Standing Committee
The man who took on the dissidents | Li Peng holds dialogue with students

Children in China Blast Being Forced to Make Firecrackers. Parents reached by telephone said teachers seeking to supplement their meager state salaries forced the children to work without pay and set production quotas that had to be met before they could go home. - John Pomfret and Philip P. Pan
UNICEF expresses regret, outrage over school explosion
School Collapse Kills 41, Fireworks Suspected - China.org
School Building Explodes, Killing 41 - Chinadaily.com

Chinese mental torture
Recent reports of the misuse and abuse of psychiatry in China have been chilling, but they serve as a steadying cautionary tale for those of us practicing psychiatry in the West. - Paul Steinberg

Heated Debate As China Revises Its Marriage Law
"If you don't beat your wife every three days, she'll start tearing up roof tiles." So goes an old Chinese saying, meaning a wife not beaten is out of control. - Sarah Cheung

Love eludes China’s new career women
"Now I think it’s a choice, and women don’t need to define themselves by being with a male. They pretty much stand on their own," - Damien McElroy
The clit conspiracy
Thoroughly Modern Women Disconcert Many in China

China Shocked by Taliban's Destruction of Buddhist Statues
A leading official of the Buddhist Association of China expressed shock and sorrow Saturday about the alleged decision of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to destroy Buddhist statues in Bamiyan. - China.org
Taliban Destroys Ancient Buddha Statues in Afghanistan

New real estate project moves China into the 'very avant-garde'
To secure a bed in this modern commune, however, you still need plenty of filthy lucre—at least US$500,000 for a 400-square meter (4,306-square foot) pad. - Calum MacLeod

SKorea Activists Collect Signatures
North Korea suffered famine in the 1990s, and relies on outside aid to feed its 22 million people. Many North Koreans fled to China in search of food, but the Beijing government has refused to recognize them as refugees, which would entitle them to U.N.- supplied food and shelter. - AP