Oct20

October 2000
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October 30, 2000
State power monopoly to be broken-up Experts said full competition in the country's power industry would reduce prices nationwide by 20% on average...The total installed generating capacity of China is the second highest in the world while the power consumption per capita in 1999 was only half of world average. - Chinaweb Cash promises lure universities "Dongguan is now one of the richest cities in China. But we will be kicked out of touch quickly if we do not develop an edge in education and research," ...the city signed contracts with 20 universities to jointly develop a 50-square-kilometre scientific and technological zone. It will invest more than 2 billion yuan (US$240 million) to build facilities and support research and development at the universities. - Wang Rong A New Threat To Old Cultures Return of Lead-Contaminated Crabs to China Demanded Cambodian students seek apology from China Are China's "official" grain reserves over-estimated? Chinese Firm Raises Storm with Abortion Pill 'I am so angry. It isn't good for you guys to act like this'
October 28, 2000
In Rural China, a Steep Price of Poverty: Dying of AIDS Zhengzhou,China -- To celebrate the Moon Festival last month, a frail retired doctor named Gao Yaojie scraped together money to hire a taxi, packed it full of medicines, brochures, sweet drinks and cakes --and slipped off, once again, from this provincial capital to see patients in remote mud-brick villages where countless farmers are silently dying of AIDS. - Elisabeth Rosenthal In China, making (up) the grade Zhang Haoming knows the drill. A long-haired Beijing University graduate (his name and those of other Chinese involved in these applications have been changed to protect their identities), he is exceptionally skilled at applying to American schools, so good that he has received several acceptances from prestigious programs--but none in his own name. - Bay Fang Lasting Lessons From Long-Ago China "Like it or not, we were a part of colonialism," said Sid Anderson. "A famous English park on the Bund in Shanghai had a sign on the gate: 'No Dogs or Chinese Allowed.' " - Ken Ringle
October 26, 2000
New telecom player pulls into the station The inherent advantage of Railway Telecom lies in its existing communication network that follows its rail lines...Another big advantage of Railway Telecom is its right to dig along railways. - Chinaonline Crime Unlimited "I work hard to try to make money, but crime is getting worse...A lot of people don't have jobs or want to work. Some people just want the easy life. They want to play around, have fun, drink. Crime is one way of doing that." - Trish Saywell Law to make home warmer Farms and forest centres were established by the government in the 1950s to settle returned overseas Chinese who had difficulty living abroad. Most of them relocate in areas inhabited by minority ethnic groups, and in remote and poor areas ... Meanwhile, the returned overseas are encouraged to invest in China, especially invest on high-tech industries, - Chinadaily http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndydb/2000/10/d2-1npc.a26.html Pigeons, even potty-trained ones, not welcome in China In most countries, pigeons are viewed as something akin to flying rats, feathered pests that drop a malodorous coating of bird guano on public squares and monuments...The Birdman of Tiananmen Square takes a contrary view. - Miro Cernetig Taiwan embraces the spiritual movement that terrifies Peking "As long as people obey the law, they can believe what they like. But we don't even think of Falun Gong as a religion. They registered as a sports organisation, and we have had no trouble from them," - Calum MacLeod You're an excellent host :"If you think about the relationship we have with the rest of nature, the way we extract from the natural world, the way we use up resources without restoring them, the way that we manipulate nature in order to make it serve us better: These are all things that parasites do, and do very well." Seed of dissent :"Or how about letting farmers decide when and where to turn on a gene in their fields? Perhaps even turning a gene on or off by pissing on a plant. Seriously. Urine contains compounds called glucuronides, which are the main way our bodies detoxify compounds." - via Scitech Diamond in the roughage The value of China's total output of vegetables and fruit is 350 billion renminbi (US$42.27 billion)...In 1999, China had 32.8 percent of the world’s vegetable fields and 21.3 percent of the world’s orchards, in which it produced 64.4 percent of the world’s vegetables and 14 percent of its fruit. - Chinaonline
October 25, 2000
China opens Net to cable TV industry By blessing the convergence of the sectors, Beijing appears to be trying to spur competition to strengthen the telecom industry ahead of China's entry to the World Trade Organization, after which foreign firms will be allowed to participate. - Matt Pottinger in Beijing Cultural Revolutions What the Chinese are now wrestling with is no longer whether to choose the future, but how to deal with the consequences of their choice. That is what people here are talking about..."What we must do is help those workers who have lost their jobs to learn new skills and find new jobs...While providing useful information, the Internet has some negative contents and may also mislead the public. But it does more good than harm." - Thomas Friedman
October 24, 2000
A Chinese model displays a prototype of a Philips mobile phone at China Communication Expo 2000 in Beijing October 24, 2000...The numbers of phone subscribers in China have jumped from 10 million in 1992 to 200 million in 1998, of those, 65 millions are mobile phone users. - Photo by Guang Niu (Reuters) The model looks great but how do you make a call on that thing? How to take a call (unrelated) Russian Win in Chinese Court Encourages Critics A U.S. law firm defends two Russian steel companies before a Chinese agency in a complex international "anti-dumping" case brought by China's government-owned steel company -- and wins. - Joseph A. Slobodzian revisited Chinese diplomat recognized for aiding Jews during Holocaust Feng-Shan Ho, the Chinese consul-general in Vienna, Austria, from 1938-40, disregarded instructions from the Chinese Ambassador in Berlin to limit visas and instead issued hundreds to Jewish refugees. - AP 'One million people' in Chinese gangs The report, by Professor Cai Shaoqing of Nanjing University, gives a rare glimpse into the scale of the problem now confronting the Chinese Government...two major factors fuelling this massive growth in organised crime: large-scale rural urban migration and an increasingly corrupt government bureaucracy. - By Beijing correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes China Reviews Marriage Law to Curb Adultery "Three is too many for the marriage bed,"...The revisions on the table this week would not outlaw affairs, but would make adulterers liable to compensate their spouses in divorce settlements,... - Jeremy Page Lab to test home-grown poisons under euthanasia plan Terminally ill patients hoping to find an effective poison would be able to send in plant samples and receive reports on their potential as suicide methods. - SCMP
October 23, 2000
The Biotech Boom Long dominated by the U.S., the field now bristles with new entrepreneurial players. - Karen Lowry Miller NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL
Erotica: From Pig Sty to Museum Piece Drawn on brick panels for the tomb of a wealthy man during the Eastern Han (A.D. 23-220), they depict a menage a trois in an idyllic landscape dotted with mulberry trees and wild monkeys...IT’S NOT CLEAR whether the two panels reflect scenes from the gentleman’s daily life or his dreams for the afterlife, says Xindu museum deputy director Zhang Yuxin. - Lijia MacLeod and Melinda Liu Lijia and Calum MacLeod must be the same person. They are not. Selling the Internet to the Skeptics A Hong Kong-based online auction firm that pairs surplus goods with buyers has learned that the world still needs Willy Loman. - Evelyn Iritani
October 21, 2000
Herbal Remedy Offers Hope for Cancer Patients A centuries-old Chinese herbal remedy is showing striking results in treating patients with advanced prostate cancer...The blend of herbs was brought to this country by Allan X. Wang, a Chinese herbal doctor who learned the formula from a long line of healers in his family, including a great-grandfather who ministered to the last Chinese emperor. - By SHARI ROAN, Times Health Writer Decision Time Looms for Ephedra The battle over a controversial stimulant in dietary supplements is moving back to the national stage...Ephedra -- also known as Ma huang, Chinese ephedra and epitonin -- is an herb used for centuries in China. In the United States, it has become a common ingredient in numerous dietary supplements. - Oct. 19 by Randy Dotinga China-Taiwan Trade: No Dire Straits At a time when trade and commercial relationships have an increasingly important role in defining the global order, there are few places in the world where business so ignores the political tensions surrounding it. In a very real way, the link represents a triumph of commercial self-interest and the need for economic growth over ideology. - By TYLER MARSHALL, Times Staff Writer. The shape of things to come? ...Beihai Park, a pleasure ground of emperors since the Mongols, was to open one of the largest exhibitions of Henry Moore's sculpture ever assembled, as the peak of a drive by the British Council to raise the UK's profile in China.- Electronic Telegraph Xiahe, the mainland's 'Little Tibet' Nestled in a mountain valley in Gansu province at an altitude of nearly 3,000 meters (9,842 feet), Xiahe's fame stems from its Labrang Monastery (Labuleng Si), home to monks of the Gelukpa, or Tibetan Buddhism's Yellow Hat sect. - Oct. 20, Amanda Hudson
October 20, 2000
Taiwan PR Machine Hands Out Gifts Opponents of the junkets complain that they rarely attract coverage by major publications and broadcasting companies, whose policies ban their reporters from accepting government-paid trips. But Allen Beermann of the Nebraska Press Association thinks Taiwan's strategy is brilliant because it targets weeklies and small dailies that reach ordinary people. - By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer taiwan headlines China: Counterfeiter's dream; corporations' nightmare Every day in Beijing's busy shopping districts pedestrians are confronted by bands of youths carrying heavy bags, and calling, "CD! VCD! Music! CD-Rom!" - By KATHERINE ARMS Real Test for China: Crackdown On The Fakes Beijing's WTO bid raises hopes of action against counterfeiters..."There are unscrupulous people who will take empty bottles of wine, clean them out and fill them with plonk from big plastic bags that have been sitting somewhere out in the sun for days and call it Pouilly Fuisse."...Consumers who buy a fake will probably be scared away from that brand forever, a disheartening prospect to companies that have invested so much to be in position when China begins to live up to its potential as the world's largest consumer market. - April 9, 2000 By Michael A. Lev Don't fake it.
October 18, 2000
Private business eclipses state sector in China, study shows The report, funded partly by the World Bank's International Finance Corporation, provided the most authoritative evidence to date that thriving private enterprises have eclipsed the state sector and marks another milestone in China's transformation from central planning to free markets. - AP Henan reaching out to tourists Henan wants to list as a Unesco World Heritage site after its success with listing the Longmen Grottos. One of its most innovative efforts to attract publicity was a recent story that the first flush toilet was discovered among the imperial ruins. - Jasper Becker in Zhengzhou Henan dam fails to find customers China's US$4 billion (HK$31 billion) dam in Henan Province across the Yellow River has been unable to find customers for its electricity, according to its vice-general manager, Wang Xianwu. - Jasper Becker in Beijing Dalai Lama Says He May Postpone Visit to Taiwan The Dalai Lama, looking to avoid conflict as he attempts to open talks with China about the future of Tibet, said Wednesday he might postpone, but not cancel, a forthcoming visit to Taiwan..."(The Taiwanese people) are very, very eager to learn from Tibetan Buddhist traditions. I have a moral responsibility to look after them -- to serve them," he said. "Besides that, I want to show the world, and especially my Chinese brothers, that I'm not anti-Chinese." - Reuters For the Up-to-Date Village, a One-of-a-Kind God Local folk religions have spread all over China in recent years, even while the Falun Gong sect is being hounded. In Xialing, ancestor worship, which was banned for 40 years under Communism, is having a revival...In local religions the goals tend to be unabashedly down to earth -- a new job, more rain, a new son -- and the methods center on exuberant excess. - April 7, 2000 by Elizabeth Rosenthal Nobel Laureate Criticizes China ...Gao Xingjian criticized the Chinese government Wednesday for trying to sanitize communist China's tumultuous history. Defending his works at a news conference at the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair, Gao said they reflected the painful history of 20th century China. There is the official history of China based on ideology,'' he said. "I think we should address history directly rather than through ideology." - By HANS GREIMEL, Associated Press Writer
October 17, 2000
Firm selling unapproved HIV product to Chinese Using prominent billboards and product giveaways, the Arizona company touted its contraceptive gel, Surete, to the Chinese public as "the world's first approved product preventing AIDS"...The gel has never been approved as an anti-AIDS product in any country, and Optima has not conducted any large-scale tests in humans to demonstrate its effectiveness. - Barbara Feder and Micheal Dorgan Young China "The generation that has grown up since the Cultural Revolution is a country-within-a-country, one that faces new possibilities, new fears-and a wide world that it will surely change." - Time Asia OCTOBER 23, 2000 VOL. 156 NO. 16 Glass Concrete: Putting Waste to Work Inventions often spring from unlikely scenarios. A Brooklyn roofer strolls down a Bahamas beach, frustrated by the cost of importing concrete to build his second home. He notices bottles littering the sand...Since this unusual inspiration, Meyer has spent the last five or six years pioneering the new material (literally, concrete made from glass). - Christian Meyer was interviewed by John Pavlik on May 30, 2000. Home on the Web Facing a sagging corporate marketplace, tech leaders are preparing to invade homes with everything from paging dishwashers to Internet butlers. will consumers buy it? October 16, 2000 By Joe Ashbrook Nickell
October 15, 2000
More Chinese are going to court To be sure, the Communist Party still exerts control over politically sensitive cases, or any other case if it chooses. For everyday conflicts, however, more people are willing to sue not just other citizens but government agencies as well. - Julie Chao North America's first all Chinese town needs attention A tiny settlement in the Sacramento River, Locke is a bittersweet reminder of California's past. It is both a monument to hard work that built the Golden State and to the racial prejudice that scarred it ..."The Chinese did the jobs no one wanted to do,'' said Cecilia Soto, who lives on Main Street. "Now the Hispanics are doing those jobs.'' Locke, the town founded by immigrants from another culture in another time, has come full circle - Anwar Iqbal In the beginning there were the tribes: Cherokee, Sioux, Apache, Cheyenne, Comanche... american indian research and policy institute www virtual library-american indians native americans-internet resources Taiwan's morgue vultures Ms Huang Mei-shu was shocked when an undertaker from a remote town in eastern Taiwan refused to give her back the body of her late sister unless she paid NT$150,000 (S$8,400). - Lawrence Chung The First Chief Minister of Penang "To this day, I still cannot believe that I was the first Chief Minister of Penang. How could a Chinese school teacher, son of a farmer, become the first Chief Minister? I thought I was only acting as one in a school concert." - via The Star
October 14, 2000
Beijing attitude to gratitude proves headache for hosts After funnelling about 2.5 trillion yen (HK$179.4 billion) in aid into China over the past two decades, many Japanese are annoyed at Beijing's penchant for unpleasant reminders of Tokyo's wartime past and its reluctance to say thanks for the more recent help. - Reuters An exile gives hope to Chinese writers Eschewing traditional Chinese style prose, Gao Xingjian was influenced by French existentialism, seen at the time as a weapon against communism for its themes involving the absurdity of life - Cao Chang-Ching
October 13, 2000
'Spelling' of Chinese characters a puzzle Overlapping systems have created a hopeless mish mash of spellings. You don't need to look very far to find inconsistencies on Taiwan's signs, some streets manage to have three or four different spellings, creating big headaches for foreign visitors...Unlike Hanyu Pinyin, Tongyong can also be used to romanize and teach Hakka and Taiwanese which have been recently added to the school syllabus. - The Chinapost Singapore's first Net home "We would like to spur our industries to look into how they can re-engineer themselves to provide new services and product offerings to homes, leveraging on Singapore's nation-wide broadband network," - Ariel Tam, Zdnet Asia internethome.com.sg. Science and Self-Doubt Why animal researchers must remember that human beings are special. - Frederick K. Goodwin and Adrian R. Morrison
October 12, 2000
The Nobel Prize for Literature 2000 The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2000 goes to the Chinese writer Gao Xingjian. “for an œuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama”. In the writing of Gao Xingjian literature is born anew from the struggle of the individual to survive the history of the masses. He is a perspicacious sceptic who makes no claim to be able to explain the world. He asserts that he has found freedom only in writing. - The Swedish Academy Bibliography more photos from Reuters Via Yahoo Yahoo! news photo excerpts from "Soul Mountain" via AP news wires Chinese To Make RU-486 For U.S. RU-486 has been a key ingredient in China's population control strategy for years. Of the estimated 10 million abortions performed annually in China, about half are carried out with RU-486, said Gao Ersheng, director of the Shanghai Institute of Planned Parenthood Research...China began experimenting with RU-486 as early as 1983, participating in clinical trials with the World Health Organization. In 1988, along with France, it became one of the first countries to approve the drug. - Phillip Pan
October 11, 2000
Hunan Style Television: Spicy and Crowd Pleasing Although Hunan Satellite TV is government-owned, like all stations in China, it has broken out of the state television mold. And stations across China are scrambling to follow. - Elisabeth Rosenthal CCTV 1 August 2000 - Fights over cable TV transmission in Hunan leave more than 100 casualties Warm Reception: CNN on shortlist to telecast in China next year Citing sources at the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), the Oct. 10 Hong Kong Ming Pao reported that 21 telecasters will be allowed to enter the Chinese market in 2001...Seven foreign telecasters already have been authorized to work in Guangdong after promising to conform to Chinese regulations on news coverage. - Chinaonline The many faces of Chinese cinema The pin-up girl of Chinese cinema still has trouble finding a decent role. Gong Li tells all..."Historical dramas are freer from government interference...Most Western movies with Chinese characters are kung fu, and I'm not interested in that," she said with a laugh. "I want to make art films with human sentiment and characters, and it's very hard to find good roles like that." Not just for Chinese actors, Ms Gong. - Bernard Zuel.

October 10, 2000

A Photographer’s Journey Through Siberia
In a gesture of pure happiness, as well as surprise, a boy stood in a snowdrift in Siberia and cradled a perfect watermelon, the fruit becoming an extension of his belly. Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer William Snyder, glimpsing the scene, was elated.- Rose Palazzolo

Biotech Crops As 'Health Food?'
"It looks identical to normal rice," says Professor Ingo Potrykus, who has genetically fused rice with daffodils to produce a rice so rich in vitamin A, it could cure the vitamin A deficiency in 100 million people...But now you have to ask, if this is possible now-mass scale cures for disease and malnutrition-why is it not being grown? The reason is there's no paying market. - October 9, 2000 CBS News Correspondent Wyatt Andrews
rice-research.org
"Frankenfood" Frenzy

Development of New Anti-TB Treatments Affordable in Worst-Hit Countries is Aim of New, Global Public-Private Partnership. "...The creation of the Global Alliance, the most important development in TB control since the WHO declared the disease a global emergency in 1993, brings us much closer to a new treatment." Global Alliance for TB Drug Development Commits to Delivering Its First New Drug by 2010 - Oct. 9 /PRNewswire-Asianet

Industrial partnership,funding,organization,selection,registration - ten years sounds about right.

Bad Hair or Just a Bad Day?
But when you look in the mirror and hate what you see, it becomes a case of perception versus reality. And guess what wins? Your opinion is all that counts, according to one Yale psychologist - and you're in for a rough day. - October 9, 2000 by Ursula Owre Masterson

Special, Safe Delivery
A parent who abandons a child under the safe-haven law does have the option of reclaiming the child within 15 months of abandonment, but only after social service caseworkers investigate and determine that he or she is capable of caring for the child. - October 5, 2000 by Lauren Terrazzano via PersonalReader

Taiwan on guard for cyberwar
Chinese and Taiwanese hackers have already crossed cyber-swords - BBC

October 7, 2000

Protection for nation's poorest
China has set up an effective social security system that has ensured protection for 6.17 million urban and rural people...China allocated nearly 5 billion yuan (US$600 million) to protect 3 million urban residents... More than 2 million State employees, unemployed workers and retired people accounted for 78 per cent of the urban beneficiaries...In rural areas, more than 3 million farmers have also been included in the system...The State allocated over 900 million yuan (US$108 million) for rural areas... - Xiao Jiang, China Daily staff

Grassroots Democratic Election Improving in NE. China
The first villagers' committee election in the province was in 1988. The head of the villagers' committee was elected by villagers rather than being appointed by superiors. - People's Daily

A woman confronts her fears as China tackles TB
...Like 6 million other Chinese, Shi had been diagnosed with a highly contagious form of tuberculosis...So serious is the problem that Vice Health Minister Yin Dakui warned last March that TB could slow the country's economic development. - Greg Baker, AP

Russia and China accept choice of Yugoslav people
Slobodan Milosevic's foreign friends were distancing themselves from the fallen dictator yesterday, with Russia belatedly acknowledging Vojislav Kostunica as the "leader of the democratic forces" and China saying it "respected the choice of the Yugoslav people".- Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor, and David Rennie in Beijing

Gateway to Opportunity
Warm Beijing-Belgrade Relations Spawn Flood of Immigrants - July 13 By Dragana Jovanovic

High price of education tests China's rural families
"The problem China has is to use limited resources to educate a large amount of people. If the state is unable to run the whole show, let it go to the market. Increased tuition fees are just the first step," Hu says, believing it will lead to greater competition and more private, even foreign-invested universities. - 6 October 2000, Lijia MacLeod in Beijing

October 4, 2000

Little Anxiety Over China Web Rules
Chinese Internet entrepreneurs and their foreign backers expressed only mild concern today about the potential impact of new rules that, if enforced, could markedly slow development of the young industry here.- Craig Smith

Internet use in China is rising, and officials seem intent on restricting some content and on knowing who has been surfing where. A woman paused near an Internet promotion at a computer exhibition in Beijing. - The Associated Press

Chinese saints: Beijing may have a point
We will not blame the Pope for having chosen this course of action. He is a religious leader and apparently thinks a hard line is the better policy at this point in defense of the faith. Nor, however, will we blame Beijing for having recognized the challenge and having reacted with some venom to a gauntlet thrown before it in such public and ostentatious manner. - (op-ed) Asia Times

October 3, 2000

Lights, Camera, Lawsuit
Parents Videotaping Births Cause Legal Complications for Doctors, Hospitals - Geraldine Sealey

"I wonder how many families across America would invite friends and relatives over to observe the patient’s vulva and vagina as the baby’s head comes out?"..."I would be concerned about any doctor who was concerned about being videotaped,.."

Making the Cut
It's a girl!...or is it? When there's doubt, why are surgeons calling the shots? - Martha Coventry

Let's talk about sex. Or let's not.
While more health officials begin to speak up, the Internet is bringing sex information to a curious 1.2 billion people, and Viagra, or "big brother," has just hit shelves at local hospitals. - Cara Anna

Sex information to a curious 1.2 billion people!

"Big brother" displaces oriental remedies?

FDA Approves RU-486
Sept. 28 - The Food and Drug Administration today approved prescription by physicians of RU-486, the so-called 'abortion pill' known clinically as mifepristone. The drug is a non-surgical alternative to abortion for pregnant women within 49 days of their last menstrual period. - Science in the Headlines

The Whole Truth About Contraception: A Guide to Safe and Effective Choices (1997)

Aug.9 - The Whole Truth About Contraception: A Guide to Safe and Effective Choices, a 1997 National Academies publication, describes the birth control methods available today, comparing how well they prevent pregnancy, potential side effects, and common problems to help readers decide what type of contraception is best, based on age, personal preference, and situation in life. - Science in the Headlines

Egg stopper
A small metal coil inserted into a woman's fallopian tubes promises permanent birth control without surgery. - 16 Sep 2000 by Alison Motluk
More at: www.conceptus.com