Nov20

November 2000


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November 30, 2000
China's First Human-like Robot Shown in Changsha: Developed by China's University of Defence Science, the 1.4-meter high robot is named "Forerunner". It has the appearance of a man with a weight of 20 kilos. - Xinhua photo Who's better looking? Forerunner (left and below) and Asimo, (on the right) via Honda Creates Walking Robot First Hominine Robot in China Compared with the first robot produced in 1990 by the university, "Pioneer" can walk faster. It can take two steps per second instead of one step every six seconds, like its predecessor. Many technological breakthroughs have been made in producing the new robot, scientists said, noting that they involved neural networks, physiological optical systems, hand coordination skills and finger-control abilities. - China.org Chinadaily Families in Shanghai get wired Vegetables from outer space to land on China's markets Vaccine may work against tuberculosis China in the grip of 'nano-mania' Bringing art to the masses via the web Japanese press hails major wartime settlement by contractor Hard to Be a Chinese Trader
November 29, 2000
China Still Shows Distrust of Japan China's distrust of Japan bubbled to the surface again Wednesday as state-run media gave prominent coverage to a tearful survivor of the 1937 Nanjing massacre and warned Tokyo not to "whitewash" history. - Martin Fackler Nanjing Massacre survivor battles Japanese Xia Shuqin, a woman from Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, has sued two right-wing Japanese authors for trampling on her reputation.- Qin Chuan Nanjing Massacre Survivor Lodges Lawsuit against Japanese Rightists History cannot be distorted According to Japanese and Asian media, in their drafts submitted to Japan's Ministry of Education for screening, seven textbook companies involved have either altered, slashed or blurred a considerable number of important historical facts related to Japan's wartime aggression in Asian countries. - Wang Hui Japanese contractor pays to settle wartime past with Chinese slaves: The settlement relates to the treatment of 986 Chinese prisoners at Kajima's Hanoaka copper mine in Akita, northern Japan, during World War II. - AFP
November 24, 2000
B.C. police arrest Chinese smuggling suspect On Friday, the RCMP confirmed that Lai Changxing was picked up in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby the previous night. A woman, Tsang Mingna, was also arrested - CBC Immigration nabs suspect in major Chinese smuggling and corruption scandal - Steve Mertl Canada Nabs China's Alleged Smuggling Kingpin -Allan Dowd/Reuters Xiamen mastermind has explosive evidence on senior Chinese leaders - AFP Xiamen Yuanhua smuggling scandal - Chinadaily Beijing pondering co-hosting 2008 Olympic Games with Taiwan The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Bid Committee is thinking seriously inviting Taiwan to co-sponsor the 2008 Olympic Games, said a leading official with the committee's press and public affairs department on Thursday on condition of anonymity. - Li Du People's Daily Farming manual far too practical for Chinese authorities
November 23, 2000
South Korean President Kim Dae-jung (C) joins hands with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori (L) and Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji before a three-way breakfast meeting November 24, 2000 in Singapore, on the sidelines of a gathering of Southeast Asian nations and some of their North Asian counterparts. - Reuters Right to silence debuts in China's judicial system Is spite of its subjectivity, a confession has been taken as the major source of proof in trying criminal cases in China. The right to silence application is believed to help eliminate inquisition by torture or extorting a confession. - Chinadaily Chinese law experiment gives suspects right to remain silent Law and Policy Making in Depth Chinese adoptees increasing in state The agency has found American homes for about 2,200 Chinese babies, including 29 boys, LaMons said.- Joe Garner Computers Available for Students in Mountainous Area: Wen Yonghua, a student of the Danma Village High School in the poverty-striken Danma village of Huangzhong county in West China's Qinghai province, operates a computer in a lab of her school. - Xinhua photo Chinese painting with some teeth Rare Birds Take Winter Habitat At China's Largest Fresh-water Lake
November 20, 2000
VeriSign vs. China (And the World) The CNNIC claims it offers a superior service - VeriSign still requires the .com or .net extension in Roman characters, the CNNIC service is entirely Chinese...The CNNIC service is free of charge, first come, first serve.- Sa.internet.com Furious Fight Arises in Registration of Chinese Domain Names Under such circumstances, a company which plans to protect it's on-line trademarks must register at least three or four Chinese domains, with different suffixes, not to say registering domain names for it's subsidiaries. - Xinhua VeriSign Takes Asia The implications are immense, signaling a critical step in opening the Internet to the 90% of the world that doesn't count English as its first language. Yet as the Internet moves away from its reliance on English, the role of U.S. Internet authorities like VeriSign in dictating global standards is increasingly being questioned. - Seth Redniss VeriSign Plays Down China Dispute Over Addresses For instance, one possible problem with VeriSign's system is the fact that many words and proper names in Japanese and Korean are written in Chinese characters. That means companies with identical trademarked names in those countries could end up fighting over who has the right to the same Web address. - Reuters Welcoming an age of Chinese tourists by the million
November 19, 2000
China, Russia beef up cooperation Russia and Chinese military officials have agreed to coordinate their efforts in combatting ethnic separatism in central Asia, a senior Russian officer said Saturday. - AFP China warming to its wary neighbors If for no other reason, it is to Beijing's advantage to encourage the peaceful development of ASEAN states, whose populations include 40 million ethnic Chinese with combined wealth estimated at $200 billion. - David Lamb Defiant Chinese Muslims Keep Their Own Time In this far western outpost, where a Muslim majority lives restively under Chinese rule, you can tell a lot about a man's politics by how he sets his clock. - Elisabeth Rosenthal China Sets Up Modernized Middle School at Pamirs Japan watchful of China's ambitions I think China will remain preoccupied with domestic issues over the next 20 years, and it will take a long time for China to really strike a balance domestically. It will face minority issues, even separatist issues, perhaps revolts in certain areas.- Monique Chu Generosity toward China faces tough test Chinese dissident wages solitary crusade Town honors unsung Chinese builders
November 17, 2000
China Envoy Angers Koreans Again Reiterating Beijing's opposition to the possible visit to Seoul by the Dalai Lama, for example, he said giving the Nobel Peace Prize to the Tibetan spiritual leader in 1989 had made a mockery of the award...Such comments from the Chinese envoy on the prestigious prize are inappropriate, especially as Korean President Kim Dae-jung recently became this year's recipient. - Son Key-young Women's groups plan to put Japan in the dock for sex crimes "The main purpose of the tribunal is to clarify that this military sexual slavery was a crime against women," - AFP Quick Trip To The Future The cities have been revolutionized, the people have been revolutionized, and their industry has been revolutionized. I wonder if their thinking has been revolutionized as well. - Alan Joseph First Children’s Bank Card Issued China's changing face "When the artist Wang Gongxin returned after a few years in New York he had to buy a map of the city he was born in" - Julian May China Declares Elimination of Absolute Poverty - Xinhua Beijing claims victory in poverty fight - SCMP A young Chinese immigrant's fear came deadly true
November 15, 2000
Japanese biological warfare veteran says he cut human `logs' Yoshio Shinozuka is still haunted by the ghoulish experiments he helped carry out on captured Chinese civilians and soldiers as part of Japan's top-secret biological warfare program during World War II. - Mari Yamaguchi Surgeons Replace Esophagus with Colon "It is unbelievable that I can eat with my mouth again," it quoted E Aiguo as saying with tears in his eyes, after slurping down a full bowl of noodles cooked by his wife. - Reuters -- can't seem to find this article on Xinhua: the news service reminds me of an older version of China.org.cn (China Internet Information Center) which ran briefly on a new domain. Lessons from the Chinese diet A middle class emerges in China In China, Making Nice on the Web
November 12, 2000
Retail investors draw the short straw in China's bullish market China's bourses are some of the best performing in the world this year, but many small investors have failed to reap the rewards of the spectacular bull market. - AFP A Bull In China Stocks Lager than life Chinese breweries are so busy feeding the internal market that few of their products are exported. The only regular beer to appear in Britain is China's oldest and biggest brand, Tsingtao. - Roger Protz Grandiose Survey of Chinese Alcoholic Drinks and Beverages Founder of Modern China Commemorated Born in 1866 in Xiangshan County (now Zhongshan City), Guangdong Province, Dr. Sun has been known across the country as a "great revolutionary and a great statesman" who fought against imperialist aggression and for the independence and freedom of China. He died of illness in Beijing on March 12, 1925. - People's daily Sun Yat-sen Chinese pilot recalls racism during WWII
November 11, 2000
WWII vet fought in elite Chinese unit Janes, it seems, had unknowingly volunteered for duty with the elite SACO strike force, comprised of U.S. soldiers leading Chinese troops. - Michael Jamison Caught in the Web China weaves The main reasons for overregulation are commercial — and analysing them is a lesson in how modern Chinese capitalism works. - Oliver August China's Tangled Web The result of mixing administration with business Chinese Government Bans Unauthorized Web News -Biztech China Enacts Rules Controlling News on Internet -Reuters China cracks down on news Web sites, chats -AP Regulating Internet News Transmission -People's Daily
November 10, 2000
China looks for ways to increase female population: High-tech methods to determine the sex of a fetus have apparently skewed the proportion of male-to-female births. The rate, known as the "sex rate" has swelled beyond normal proportions favoring male births. - Chinaonline China's 50 Richest Entrepreneurs Five of the 50 have based their businesses in agriculture and 29 in manufacturing; 14 have made their money from the Internet or other high-tech fields. - Rupert Hoogewerf Chinese confused by odd US polls, suspect corruption Many Chinese were stunned to learn that the candidate with the most votes did not necessarily win -- Gore has polled more votes than Bush nationally, but if Bush is declared winner in Florida he will become president because of the United States' Electoral College voting system. - AFP Making sense of Electoral College Angry Chinese protesters turn on Li Peng over investment scam Manna from heaven: A shaggy, cheesy yak story Territory recalls orgy of killing and rape after the surrender Finnish minister discusses human rights issues in China
November 9, 2000
Upward Bound: Planned skyscraper to be Beijing's tallest Study finds Chinese civilization older than thought - A government-funded study released Thursday pushed back the dates of China's earliest dynasties, shedding light on the origins of Chinese civilization and adding fuel to a controversy over the influence of politics on scholarship. - Charles Hutzler Oldest civilization; largest dam; highest skyscraper; manned space flight...nanodots!
November 8, 2000
Splendour of the emperors: China reveals its buried wealth Most of the items were found in burial sites in the Shaanxi, Henan and Inner Mongolia provinces and have been lent to the Paris authorities by local museums. - AFP Petit Palais China in Paris: the dragon takes wing The Chinese community in Paris is itself a cultural patchwork, its members originating from different regions of China but also from the Chinese diaspora in other southeast-Asian countries. - AFP "Suzhou River" is a rare Chinese movie (it was co-produced with German money) that isn't about Chinese culture or history - in fact, it's a contemporary homage to Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo." - Lou Lumenick Lou Ye's Variations on Romance - Virtualchina's film Tam goes for the gold in fall/winter collection Residency given despite false 'war orphan' claim
November 6, 2000
China battles sex disease explosion New figures indicate that more than eight million Chinese people have STDs - far more than the previously acknowledged figure of 830,000 - and that the number is rising by almost 40% a year. - BBC. Source: State alert as STDs on the rise Your millennium words immortalized Share your thoughts and wishes before the new century officially starts in 2001 at the China Millennium Monument. - Chinadaily
November 4, 2000
Will Soaps Wash In China? Chinese TV isn't known for its steamy plots or racy romances. But that's all changing as the country's first soap opera takes to the air..."I would be so amazed if this country doesn't get addicted to soaps." - Trish Saywell/Beijing Letting Off Steam Jiang told the reporters he had "personally experienced a hundred battles" in his lifetime. Just a few weeks earlier, Premier Zhu told a television audience in Tokyo he had "suffered injustices more times than you can imagine." The battle between the two men may be just beginning. - Bruce Gilley/Beijing Doctor leads first crusade against medical negligence in China Views in China of the race for American presidency vary greatly
November 3, 2000
Overseas Chinese War Heroes Tour Homeland More than 20 overseas Chinese pilots of the "Flying Tigers" arrived Thursday in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province to initiate their two-week long homeland tour. - People's Daily "At midnight on July 4, 1942, the American Volunteer Group (AVG), better known as the Flying Tigers, ceased to exist. They were replaced by the China Air Task Force (CATF), a group that was, in the words of Tiger founder and leader Brigadier General Claire Lee Chennault, "patched together in the midst of combat from whatever happened to be available in China during the gloomy summer of 1942." - By William B. Allmon via P-40.com Before the Flying Tiger A Tribute to the Flying Tigers The Story of the Flying Tigers First commercial heli flight in China - Look out! (up) Pilots saw plane line up 'on the wrong runway' - Pilots didn't alert plane; PR nightmare Rice fields 'are threat to world's ozone layer' - Methyl halide compounds, naturally released by fields of crops; Guilt
November 2, 2000
Chinese breaks into English Web The gatekeeper for China's Internet domain name registrations Wednesday released a sweeping new system which enables Internet surfers to type Chinese characters in the address bar to pinpoint a website. - Zhao Huanxin China bans sale of e-mail lists Unsolicited e-mail, also known as spam, has become the bane of the computer age. China is doing something about it. - Chinaonline China gets a new perspective on the Korean war John Gittings, East Asia editor, on how China is viewing the outbreak of the Korean war in a more sophisticated, less confrontational fashion The Asian Domain Name Game Now if all the high-level (.com, .net, .org) domains are gone, what should you do? Answer: register your name in your country-level domain name registry. - Linda Cheng via Asiagateway
November 1, 2000
China's gamble China's Communist leaders deserve half a cheer for planning a modest experiment with a more open political system...The party pledged after its recent plenum to build "democratic politics" over the next five years, to "make decision-making a scientific and democratic affair and expand citizens' orderly participation in politics". - Financial Times Delta Chinese Hang On to a Vanishing Way of Life "Don't get me wrong -- I'm an American," Mrs. Wong said. "I'm proud to be an American.". "But no matter where I go," and here she poked herself in the cheeks, "I'm still going to be Chinese." - Somini Sengupta China's youth: Shaping the future This is the last generation of young Chinese who have brothers and sisters...The students call these spoilt single children "little gods" and say they think only of themselves. - Iain Simpson in southern China How many people are there in China? National headcount gets underway Surveys taken down the centuries China Readies For Gargantuan Task Of Counting Its People Chinese census takers start counting world's largest population Solving China’s population puzzle Clipboard army seeks out China's missing generation Taiwan Headlines DPP's twin goals dangerous for Taiwan Pro-Hanyu decision sparks mass resignation KMT moves to recall the president Officials say that at least 66 people dead in Singapore Airlines crash 45 killed, 11 missing as typhoon Xangsane lashes Taiwan