Journalist. Author. Junk Man.
I’m in Tianjin this week, attending a conference that I’ll be writing about soon. Like most Chinese trade conferences attended by government officials, this one is a very long snooze: speeches and presentations are submitted and vetted in advance, bound in a book, and distributed to conference participants who have very little incentive to attend…
From a purely selfish point of view, I think the best news to come out of Wu Yi’s visit to Washington was a deal to add 13 more daily flights to China by US carriers by 2012. Currently, there are only 10 routes per day, and so the competition for new ones is always ferocious.…
In late April, Xinhua ran a brief item on new drug and psychological testing requirements for People’s Liberation Army officer candidates. At the time, I was most surprised by the open acknowledgment that drug use is a growing problem among young Chinese. That, and the obvious use of a modified MMPI (“700 to 800 questions…
The quality control crisis in Chinese manufacturing may be on the verge of getting some high-level attention, if recent news coverage is any indication. In a stunning acknowledgement, China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine [AQSIQ] yesterday released figures showing that 23% of non-export toys manufactured in six major provinces, do not meet…
Just what national interest of the United States is served by trying to keep pirated versions of an American television series about Texas highschool football off the streets of China? Not to mention, one that comes with Chinese subtitles? Hollywood’s usual argument, the bogus one, is that Chinese piracy costs the studios hundreds of millions…
It’s come to my attention that emails sent from the contact form on this site are not reaching me. The problem appears to be associated with the hosting company and, unfortunately, the hosting company is in the US, and enjoying a long Memorial Day weekend. I’ve pulled the contact form for now, but hopefully it’ll…
Keith Bradsher’s fine article about the ongoing run-up in the Chinese stock markets was illuminating on several levels. At the very least, even if you’re not interested in financial news, it’s worth checking out for the vertigo-inducing graph tracking individual brokerage account growth on the Mainland. I can’t even begin to guess when this thing…
Wonderful parody post over at Sinocidal on how to write a China feature – specifically targeted at established journalists on their first trip to China. It’s an easy target, obviously. But it does hint at the more important point: namely, why do major media insist on the expense and trouble of sending correspondents to China…
Unlike Paulson, Bush brought up the currency issue. In a meeting with reporters after Wu Yi visited the White House, he fingered the yuan as a primary reason for the US$223 billion trade deficit. There’s some truth to that, of course. But only some. If the yuan rises enough, many of China’s low-cost manufacturing jobs…
I’m not surprised, but the most detailed coverage of Vice-Premier Wu Yi’s trade mission seems to have been in the Asian press, and to a lesser extent in the US financial press. Not surprised, but disappointed. Wu Yi, like most Chinese high government officials, reclusive and difficult to cover beyond her official statements. Thus, it…