China shut down six porn websites

Beijing: Internet police in China's capital have shut down six pornographic websites to prevent their ‘negative’ influence on society.

The six websites, including ‘www.ysdm.com’ and ‘www.xf13.net’, contained what was determined to be ‘unhealthy content’ and were shut down on Friday, 'Beijing News' reported.

Operators of two other websites were given a deadline to clean up contents on their websites after an investigation, the paper said.

In early April, a proposal to operate ‘civilised’ Internet websites won support from fourteen major websites in the city. Internet authorities have also increased their supervision of websites.

In recent years, the Internet industry in China with over 100 million Internet users witnessed remarkable progress and now has more than 700,000 websites, with over 25,000 being added each year.

In 2004, Chinese government kicked off a massive campaign to weed out pornography from the rapidly-growing Internet and in 2005, 11 people were jailed for up to 12 years for running an obscene website in the country's largest case of Internet pornography.


(Source)

Tags: China | News | Pornography

How Google became a rude word in China

Gougou, Gugu, Gege, Goule or Guge? A furious online debate has opened up in China over the recent adoption of a Mandarin name by Google - the latest in a series of controversies to hit the American online search company since it launched a Chinese service earlier this year.

Already facing a backlash over its capitulation to Beijing's censorship demands and problems with US regulators, the world's biggest search engine is now under fire for choosing a name many users criticise as awkward, nonsensical or rude.

It is less than a fortnight since Google said it would be known as Guge, represented by the ideograms for valley and song. The name conveyed "the sense of a fruitful and productive search experience in a poetic Chinese way", it said.
But in a poll by news portal Sina.com, 85% of respondents were opposed to Guge. Tens of thousands of others have signed an online petition calling for Google to rethink its Chinese identity.

Soso, one of the leaders of the campaign, said: "When I first heard the name Guge, I couldn't help laughing. It sounded like fool, funny and fart." Soso is the founder of igogo8.com, a site that allows users to superimpose their own name on Google branding. The most popular alternatives listed on a second website, NoGuge.com, are Gougou (dog dog), already used by China's web community, Goule (enough), Gugu (auntie), Gugou (ancient dog) and Gege (elder brother). But in an apparent sideswipe at Google's obedience to Beijing censors, the seventh most popular is Good Gou (good dog).

(Source)

Tags: China | Google | Guge

Photos: Welcome to Beijing

click on thumbnails to enlarge

Tags: China | Beijing | Pictures

China raises interest rates to cool overheating economy

China yesterday increased its interest rates for the first time in 18 months in an effort to rein in booming investment and credit growth that have the potential to destabilise what is now the world's fourth largest economy.
The unexpected increase in the People's Bank of China's one-year lending rate, to 5.85% from 5.58%, signals important changes in Beijing's policy priorities as it aims to support sustainable development of the economy against a background of strong growth, say economists.

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Tags: China | Economy | Beijing

Construction Pictures of the New Beijing Airport

Beijing's Terminal 3 to be worlds biggest airport. Construction will be complete in 2007

Renderings


Construction









Tags: China | Beijing | Construction

Exploring Space: New Space Station to Be Built

China will launch Shenzhou VII with three astronauts in September 2008, after the Beijing Olympic Games, said Song Zhengyu, deputy director-designer of carrier rocket F of March II and research fellow of the first institute of the China Aerospace Science & Technology Corp (CASTC).

The preparation work goes smoothly, with the rocket to be ready at the end of this year. The selection and training of the three astronauts is getting under way.

Different form Shenzhou VI, the astronauts of Shenzhou VII will step out of the module for a space walk, operation, tightening up screws, and installment of equipment, with the aim to get ready for the building of a space station.

After the launch of Shenzhou VII, a space station with 20 tons will be built, Song said, adding that Shenzhou VII will also be launched at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northweat China's Gansu Province.

(Source)

Tags: China | Space | Shenzhou

(Video) Construction of Major Projects in Beijing

Here is a short video showing the current state of four of Beijing's new mega buildings:

- Rem Koolhaas' new CCTV building
- Paul Andreu's National Theater
- The National Swimming Center or 'Water Cube' designed by PTW
- The Olympic Stadium designed Herzog & de Meuron
Shot and edited by Luke Mines, presented by Jeremy Goldkorn.



Source: Danwei.tv

Tags: China | Beijing | Olympics

Donnie Yen's "Dragon, Tiger Gate" to Debut in North America

"Dragon, Tiger Gate," a Hong Kong kung fu movie starring Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse, will be released in Chinese in Asia on July 28 and in North America next March.

Based on and sharing the name of Hong Kong cartoonist Tony Wong's cartoon, the movie follows the story of three young Hong Kong kids who open a kung fu school and compete with foreign counterparts and even fight against an overseas criminal gang in the 1970s.

The shooting of the movie, directed by Wilson YIP Wai-Shun and also starring Shawn Yue, Dong Jie and Li Xiaoran, began in Shanghai last September and finished in February.

It was the second film in which Yen, who was also the choreographer for the movie, has cooperated with Wai-Shun, following "Sha Po Lang."

Yen said the action design was a bit different from his previous works.

"It's a little surrealistic and has a sense of cartoon, but I promise each action of mine is real," he said.

The Weinstein Company, created by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded the Miramax Films Corp. in 1979, has been the film's distributor in all the English-speaking areas.

Bey Logan, The Weinstein Co.'s new rep in Asia, said in Beijing that he is proud of buying the film.

"There are a lot movies adapted from cartoons in America. I think this is the best one so far. Yen: great star, great action!" he added.

The 10-million-U.S.-dollar movie was invested by the Hong Kong-based Mandarin Films Distribution Co., Ltd, Beijing Polybona Film Distribution Co., Ltd and the Shanghai Film Group.

(Source)

Tags: China | Film | Kung Fu

Chinese scientists clone mad cow-resistant calf

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese scientists have succeeded in cloning a cow with gene cells resistant to mad cow disease, the official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.

The birth of the 55-kg (121-lb) calf in the eastern province of Shandong comes three years after a team led by now-disgraced South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk cloned cows with a protein structure resistant to bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

"Scientists with the Laiyang Agro-Science Institute in Shandong said they used gene-transplant technology to introduce the genes to the calf cloned from cells of an adult cow," Xinhua said.

The research was led by professors Dong Yajuan and Bo Xuejin -- who succeeded in cloning China's first and second healthy cows in 2001 -- in collaboration with a Japanese university.

State television reported that further tests would be required on the calf as it grows to verify the effectiveness of the transplanted genes.

(Source)

Tags: China | Science | Health

NASA Administrator Agrees to Visit China

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said Tuesday he has accepted an invitation to visit China for talks on possible cooperation in some areas of space.

He announced this while answering questions raised by lawmakers at the Senate Subcommittee on Science and Space. Agenda of the trip has not yet been fixed, local press reports quoted NASA officials as saying.

China has in recent years made notable achievements in space exploration. It becomes the world's third country to send human into orbit, after the former Soviet Union and United States. The launch of its first manned space mission in 2003 was followed by a longer mission carrying two astronauts in 2005.

"The United States needs good competitors and it needs good partners and sometimes they can be the same," said Griffin, who cited the example of current cooperation between the United States and Russia on the international space station.

Source: Xinhua

Tags: China | NASA | Science

Jingjing and Chacha, China's cartoon censorship cops

The Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Public Security created two anime-style cartoon Internet police in January. The mascots' names? Jingjing and Chacha.

Each cop has a blog and a chat window. "The main function of Jingjing and Chacha is to intimidate," a Shenzhen official told The Beijing Youth Daily.

The newspaper article said the characters are there "to publicly remind all Netizens to be conscious of safe and healthy use of the Internet, self-regulate their online behavior and maintain harmonious Internet order together."

Credit: Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Public Security

Tags: China | Censorship | Chinese

Hooters bar now open in Shanghai

China's first Hooters bar has opened in Shanghai.

Bosses said a Chinese Hooters girl should be "easygoing, upbeat, open-minded, and above all, be a cheerleader for the restaurant"

The US chain - famous for its scantily clad waitresses - has had its image slightly tweaked for the relatively straight-laced local clientele.

Vivacious Chinese waitresses sport the same uniform as their US counterparts in the Shanghai restaurant, bearing the well-known "delightfully tacky but unrefined" logo on their tops.

Bosses said a Chinese Hooters girl should be "easy-going, upbeat, open-minded, and above all, be a cheerleader for the restaurant".

Apart from escorting customers to their seats and waiting on them they also dance, sing and even hula-hoop on request.

(Source)

Tags: China | Restaurants | Bar

Three Gorges Dam Now Near Completion

Source: xinhuanet.com
Total length: 2309m
Height: 181m
Width of bottom: 124m
Width of top: 15m







Tags: China | Construction | Projects

Moon Probe Radio Telescope Complete

Chinese scientists in early April completed the main part of a high-tech radio telescope which will serve China's ambitious moon-probe project scheduled for launch in 2007. The 45-meter tall telescope weighs 400 tons and measures 40 meters in diameter of the antenna. It's located in southwest China's Yunnan Province and is the country's second largest radio telescope. The largest is being built in Beijing.

According to Li Yan, director of Yunnan Observatory of Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with two radio telescopes already set up in Shanghai and northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China now has four large radio telescopes which are 2,000 to 3,000 kilometers apart from each other.

The telescopes will form a comprehensive earth-based research and survey network that will be able to detect, track and retrieve data sent back from China's first moon-orbiting satellite, Li said.

Located on top of the 2000-meter-tall Mountain Phoenix in an eastern suburb of Kunming, capital city of Yunnan Province, the newest radio telescope is "superbly well positioned", the scientist said.

The construction of the telescope started in August last year and will be completely installed and tested by June.

(Source)

Tags: China | Space | Science

China's third manned space flight to fly in September 2008

China's third manned space flight will take place in September 2008 immediately after the Beijing Olympic Games, with astronauts attempting a space walk, state press reported Sunday

"The launch of the Shenzhou VII has been set for after the Beijing Olympics in September 2008 and will carry three astronauts," said Song Zhengyu, a leading official at the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp.

"The selection process for three astronauts is going on now as they train," he was quoted as saying by the Beijing News.

The flight will be launched from China's Jiuquan launch center in the deserts of northwest China's Inner Mongolia, Song said.

China became the third nation to place a man in space after the former Soviet Union and the United States, when Yang Liwei piloted the Shenzhou V on a short mission in October 2003.

Two years later, the Shenzhou VI carried two astronauts into space on a five-day mission.

Although no major technological breakthroughs have been made with China's manned space program, the nation has sought to use the flights as a vehicle to better educate its 1.3 billion citizens to modern science.

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Tags: China | Space | Science

China to build 30 new science & tech parks

BEIJING, April 21 -- China plans to increase the amount of academic research that gets developed into commercial products by building 30 new science and technology parks by 2010.
The move, announced last week by the Ministry of Science and Technology, will bring the total number of such facilities to 80.
The parks act as "incubators" for small and medium-sized high-tech companies, many of which are set up by universities or students.
Xu Luping, a senior official at the Ministry of Science and Technology, says that about 5,000 businesses have been set up in the 50 existing parks.
China started building science parks at universities in the late 1980s, with local governments and the universities usually covering the construction costs.
Thanks to policies China announced in February, the parks will enjoy a range of tax breaks starting this year. Xu told reporters that the amount each company is taxed would fall by 17.5 percent.
He says that China considers science parks to be central to its efforts to build capacity for innovation, because university-based researchers are among the most productive in China.
Universities won more than half of the national science and technology prizes awarded between 2000 and 2005.
This year, 17 universities have submitted applications for science parks, with only nine reaching the second round of competition.
Xu says that a panel of experienced park managers will soon complete its final assessments of the applications. Eight will be chosen for this year's program.

Tags: China | Tech | Science

Chinese $150 Linux mini-PC races OLPC to market

A Chinese company is touting an inexpensive Linux-based computer as a way to close the "digital divide." YellowSheepRiver's $150 "Municator" appears to be available now, with a three-month leadtime, suggesting it could reach market well ahead of MIT's $100 "One Laptop Per Child" (OLPC) device.

The OLPC project was announced last fall, with laptop manufacturer Quanta Computer of Taiwan stepping forward to offer its manufacturing services shortly afterward. However, no specific delivery commitments appear to have been reached.

Additionally, the performance potential of the OLPC's $100 laptop design has drawn taunts from Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, as well as Intel Chairman Craig Barret, who called the design a "$100 gadget." If the Municator lives up to YellowSheepRiver's promise of Pentium III-like performance, the Chinese device could enjoy a performance edge, in addition to its apparent time-to-market lead.



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Tags: China | Tech | Linux

China close to being top spammer

Statistics from security firm Sophos show that China is fast catching up the US as a source of junk e-mail.

Top  Spam Nations 
1) United States - 23.1%
2) China (inc. Hong Kong) - 21.9%
3) South Korea - 9.8%
4) France - 4.3%
5) Poland - 3.8%
6) Spain - 3.3%
7) Germany - 3.0%
8) Brazil - 2.9%
9) Japan - 2.0%
10) United Kingdom - 1.9%

Tags: China | News | Internet

Chinese City Profile: Dailian

Description: One of the most heavily developed industrial areas of China, the Dalian administrative district today consists of Dalian proper and the smaller Lüshunkou, formerly Lüshun city known in western and Russian historic references as Port Arthur
Population: 5,550,000
Area: 13,237 km² (land 12,574)
Pictures:









Tags: Culture | Photography | China

Chinese businesses among the most optimistic in the world: survey

BEIJING, April 21, 2006 (AFP) - Chinese enterprises are among the most optimistic in the world, saying they are happy with the state of affairs and upbeat about prospects for the future, according to a company survey.

Seventy percent of the nation's middle-market enterprises, companies with annual turnover between 45 million and 1.3 billion dollars, are happy with the current world economy, said the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp (HSBC) survey.

The survey, covering 4,000 businesses in the Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas, also showed 55 percent expected the world economy to be even better by the end of the year.

"We are pleased to see so much optimism for the economy among mainland China businesses," said Neil Tottman, Head of Commercial Banking China at HSBC.

He said middle-market enterprises, along with smaller players, "are the engine of the regional and global economy. Positive outlook will further support their expansion into international trade."

The poll also found that 41 percent of middle-market enterprises in Hong Kong considered the current economy to be "very good" or "fairly good" and 31 percent expected the economy to improve by the end of 2006.

In Taiwan, 24 percent of middle-market enterprises said they considered the current economy to be "good" and 17 percent said they expected it to improve by the end of the year.

But 36 percent said the economy is now "fairly bad" or "very bad" and 23 percent expect conditions to become worse by the end of 2006.

The survey also found that the Asia-Pacific outlook for 2006 was the best of the three regions polled.

Among 1,800 businesses in nine Asia-Pacific countries and territories, HSBC found that 41 percent expected the 2006 economy to improve by the end of the year. In the Americas the figure is 28 percent and in Europe 32 percent.

Tags: China | Business | News

"Nice Suit President Hu"

Tags: China | Humour

Bush offers China cooperation on space exploration

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
President George W. Bush offered Chinese President
Hu Jintao on Thursday greater U.S. cooperation on space exploration and planned to send the head of
NASA to China later this year.

Bush was "trying to deepen the relationship between our two societies and our two cultures," said Dennis Wilder, an Asia specialist at the White House national security council.

"There are some things that the Chinese also have in terms of sensor technologies and information that we are interested in, in terms of global climate and other issues," Wilder said.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin would probably go to China later this year "to begin to consult on the subject of space exploration and where we might have common interests and where we might begin to work together as the two nations on the Earth with the most ambitious space programs in the 21st century," Wilder said.

Tags: China | News | NASA

Chinese not so satisfied with their sex lives?

According to University of Chicago researchers, here are the top five and bottom five nations on scale of rates of sexual satisfaction

TOP FIVE

1. Austria: 71.4 percent satisfied with their sex lives.
2. Spain: 69 percent.
3. Canada: 66.1 percent.
4. Belgium: 64.6 percent.
5. United States: 64.2 percent.

BOTTOM FIVE

25. Thailand: 35.9 percent.
26. China: 34.8 percent.
27. Indonesia: 33.9 percent.
28. Taiwan: 28.6 percent.
29. Japan: 25.7 percent.


Tags: China | News | Research

Skype bends to Chinese laws

Skype, the revolutionary online telecoms service, has defended its mainland partner's censorship of text messages in China, saying the company was obeying local laws.

The Ebay-owned company admitted its joint-venture partner on the mainland, Tom.com, had edited messages containing words considered politically sensitive by the Chinese government.

(article continued)

Tags: China | News | Tech

Beijing 2008 Olympics Construction Pictures

Renderings of the National Stadium ("Birdnest") and the National Swimming Center ("Watercube")



Construction of National Stadium



Construction of National Swimming Center


As you can see the constructions are going rapidly. Bejing is the only host city asked by the IOC to slow down rather than speed up its building program.

Tags: China | Beijing | Olympics

Microsoft wows Chinese president with "Home of the Future"

REDMOND, United States (AFP) - The world's software leader Microsoft impressed China's President Hu Jintao with a tour of its most advanced technological innovations, including the "Home of the Future."

Comfortably and tastefully furnished, the facility in Microsoft's Redmond Campus, just outside Seattle, is a model of the type of high-tech home the company envisions will be used in five to 10 years.

Stepping into the livingroom, Hu was shown a screen which displayed digital photos of a typical family. With the movement of a Chinese vase, the photos changed to ones of places where Hu had lived or worked, including Beijing and Tibet as well as his alma mater Tsinghua University.

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Tags: China | News | Microsoft

Zhang Ziyi to Keep Making Chinese Movies

Source: chinapost.com.tw

Newly named Cannes juror Zhang Ziyi, who has risen from a local Chinese actress to Hollywood star, says she wants to keep making Chinese movies -- as long as the scripts are high quality.

Zhang, who made her name in Hollywood with films like "Rush Hour 2" and "Memoirs of a Geisha," said she may make a Chinese movie this year.

"I've been receiving a lot of scripts from directors recently in Beijing. Many are scripts written by young directors. I really look forward to the chance to work with them," she said, according to a Beijing news conference transcript posted Sunday on Chinese news Web site Sina.com.

"I want to make good movies, movies with artistic value. This has nothing to do with my salary. If I wanted to make money, it's easier to make money in the U.S.," the transcript quoted Zhang as saying.

Zhang is due to appear in the upcoming Chinese ancient court drama "The Banquet," directed by Chinese director Feng Xiaogang.

Friday's news conference was to promote Zhang's new film, whose Chinese title translates into "Jasmine Flowers Blossom" in English.

The movie, an adaptation of a book by Su Tong, also stars Joan Chen from "The Last Emperor," Cannes winner Jiang Wen and Liu Ye from "The Promise."

The film was completed three years ago but is only now being released. At the conference, Zhang and a movie executive were vague about reasons for the delay.

Zhang called the film "a very meaningful piece of work" for her.

The actress, who will head to Cannes on May 16, said the jury position will pose a challenge.

"This is a totally new duty," she said. "For me, it's also very all-rounded training."

This year's jury is headed by famed Hong Kong art-house director Wong Kar-wai, who worked with Zhang on the film "2046."

The 59th Cannes Film Festival is scheduled for May 17-28.

Tags: China | News | Entertainment

Some people against Google's new Chinese name "Guge"

Postshow points us to a grassroots anti-GuGe campaign being waged by some hardcore Chinese Google fans. As of 10:40 pm Monday evening April 17, 944 had signed an online petition against using the new Chinese language name, GuGe "谷歌". 468 prefer the original English name (indeed, the Chinese version is the first time Google has changed its name to another language); 177 say they'd prefer 狗狗 (dogdog). They'd like the company to rethink the name.

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Tags: China | News | Google

China Using Artificial Rain to Clear Dust

By JOE McDONALD
Associated Press Writer

BEIJING

Beijing will use artificial rainmaking to clear the air after a choking dust storm coated China's capital and beyond with yellow grit, prompting a health warning to keep children indoors, state media said Tuesday.
The huge storm blew dust far beyond China's borders, blanketing South Korea and reaching Tokyo.

The storm, reportedly the worst in at least five years, hit Beijing overnight Sunday, turning the sky yellow and forcing residents to dust off and hose down cars and buildings.
Hospitals reported a jump in cases of breathing problems, state television said.
The government was preparing to seed clouds to make rain to clear the air, state TV said, citing the Central Meteorological Bureau. It did not elaborate, and the bureau refused to release more information.
Storms carrying chalky dust from the north China plain hit Beijing every spring, but newspapers said this week's was the heaviest since at least 2001. The Beijing Daily Messenger said 300,000 tons of sand and dust were dumped on the city Monday.

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Tags: China | News

China growth hits 10.2% in first quarter

BEIJING, China (AP) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao said Sunday that China's economy grew 10.2 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, but said the government was concerned about overly rapid growth.

The figure was well above previous growth estimates for this year.
"We do not seek high-speed economic growth," Hu said during a meeting with a former Taiwan opposition leader in Beijing.
"We are concerned about the pace of development and the quality and the effect of our growth. We are also concerned about saving our resources, environmental protection and the improvement of our people's livelihood."
China's economy expanded 9.9 percent in 2005, with overall gross domestic product for the year totaling $2.26 trillion.
The economy has consistently overshot official targets for the past several years.
Government economists earlier offered predictions of between 8.5 percent and 9 percent for this year, a range in line with estimates by the World Bank and many private economists.


Tags: China | Economy | News