Terrorists!

Here we have Bin Laden in a cave scheming a plan of mass terrorism. What better way is there than distributing Chinese made toys the small children in the U.S? Thanks to China, the terrorists are winning.

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Rotten Food

Japan scare over China dumplings

Dozens of Japanese people say they have fallen ill after eating Chinese-made dumplings, prompting Tokyo officials to launch an inquiry.

The frozen dumplings, known as gyoza in Japan, were made by Tianyang Food in China's Hebei province.

Japanese officials said they contained traces of pesticide, probably added in production or packaging in China.

China said no traces of pesticide had been found in pre-export inspections, but ordered a halt to production.

The issue has triggered intensive media coverage in Japan and sparked public alarm.
Leaders held an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the problem.

For more, click here.

Dozens of people in Japan have become ill after eating Chinese made dumplings. Officials say they tested positive for pesticides but China denies these assumptions and China stopped production of the dumplings anyway. Recently, Chinese goods have been recalled because of safety reasons, and now the trend continues in food products.

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Meteorologists to Prevent Rain in Olympic Opening & Closing Ceremonies

Source: CCTV.com

With the Olympics less than 200 days away, Beijing's meteorologists are working hard to ensure the most accurate weather forecasts during the games.

With the Olympics less than 200 days away, Beijing's meteorologists are working hard to ensure the most accurate weather forecasts during the games. (Photo: xinhuanet.com)
The weather authorities say they're applying advanced technologies, scientific methods and their own experiences to help minimize inaccuracies.

Beijing's meteorologists have been perfecting their techniques and say that they are determined to provide the best weather information ever in Olympic games history.

August is Beijing's rainy season, but Organizers have a few tricks up their sleeves to prevent bad weather: the use of Cannons will somehow prevent rain from marring the opening and closing ceremonies

Wang Jianjie, Deputy Director of Beijing Meteorological Bureau said "We are working closely with BOCOG's opening and closing ceremonies department. We are making plans for different weather conditions. Different ways will be worked out to ensure successful ceremonies."

The opening ceremony will start on August the 8th and the closing ceremony on August 24th. Let's keep our fingers crossed for good weather.

For more, click here.

This article is significant to China because, in beijing the rainy season is in full force during august, the time in which the olympics will be going on. The meteorologist have promised the people that there will be no rain during the opening and closing ceremonies. China during august is a lot like florida during the summer, it's hot and sticky till around three o'clock when it rains hard for about two hours then goes right back to being hot and sticky. So to promise that there will be no rain is very far fetched. I plan on fallowing up on this when i find the method they plan to use to stop the rain.

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(Follow Up) Transport Chaos in China Worsen Due to Snow

Travelers are waiting at railway stations around the region,

The heaviest snow in decades is continuing to cause chaos across China ahead of the busy Lunar New Year holiday, state media have reported.

Road and rail links have been paralyzed, thwarting travelers trying to return home for the festivities.

A blocked rail line has stranded about 500,000 people in the southern city of Guangzhou and officials are working to prevent riots, reports say.

In Guizhou, 25 people died when a bus plunged from an icy road, Xinhua said. The snowstorms, which began on 10 January, have now affected 80 million people across 14 provinces.

The central provinces of Hunan and Hubei have been hardest hit, but eastern provinces are also affected.

Houses and agricultural land have been destroyed, leading to economic losses totaling Y22.09bn ($3bn, £1.5bn), Xinhua said.

At least 24 people have been killed in weather-related accidents, the agency said, but this figure appears not to include traffic accidents.

Click here for more!

As I had reported earlier, China is in a state of emergency. When I last reported the migration had just begun and only around 100,000 people were being stranded (which in China terms isn't that many) but now the BBC is report that 500,000 people were stranded in the city of Guangzhou due to the heavy snow knocking the rail-road offline between there and Beijing. also there also seem to be more trajic issues being reported. 25 have died in Guizhou due to a bus over turning on a icy road, but worse than that is the economic loss. A projected $3bn loss in houses and agriculture. If more on this comes along I will report back.

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Controversy over Olympics in Beijing

China admits Games worker deaths

China has admitted that six workers have been killed on Olympic Games construction projects since 2003.

Until now, Beijing had denied there had been any fatalities on the building sites being readied for this August's Games.

Officials said the families of the dead workers had been compensated.

Games organisers last week dismissed a report in a British newspaper that at least 10 workers had died building the main Olympic venue.

Officials now say two workers died at the National Stadium in Beijing.

For more, click here.

China is just now disclosing the deaths of 10 workers on the Olympic site since 2003. The officials tried to cover the deaths up but are now finally releasing them. China already has a very poor rating with over 100,000 deaths in the workplace every year.

Snow hampers China New Yeat plans

Chinese officials have been ordered to 'battle against disaster Chinese authorities have ordered urgent measures to be put in place to fight nationwide transport chaos caused by severe weather conditions.

Ice and snowfall caused power cuts that left 100,000 people stranded at train stations in southern China on Sunday.

Forecasters predict the bad weather will continue for a week, causing travel misery in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday on 7 February.

Nearly 18 million people are due to visit relatives during the period.

Click here for more.

This Article is significant to China because Chinese new year is the worlds largest migration of people due to the fact that everyone in the cities go home to there villages to get in touch with family. Due to the largest impact that the snow and bad weather has hampered this process of people moving from the cities nearly 100,000 people were stranded in train stations around southern China, I plan on fallowing up this story at a later date when people begin to migrate back to the cities

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Rise in People's Power

A nondescript plot of industrial land on the outskirts of the southern Chinese port city of Xiamen has become the focus of a new political movement.

The site was supposed to be the home of a new chemical plant, but protesters have forced the city government to put the project on hold.

It is a rare example of people power in a country where government officials are used to doing exactly what they want, when they want.

Ordinary people elsewhere in the country have taken note. There were similar protests over a railway project recently in Shanghai.

The Xiamen saga began when Taiwan's Xianglu Group said it wanted to build a chemical factory on the Haicang peninsula on the edge of the city.

For more, click here.

China is beginning to look more like the "People's Republic." Suprisingly, residents have persuaded officials to put the building plans for the new chemical plant on hold. This could be the beginning of a rise in power for the people of China, and they deserve a little bit. After all, there is over a billion of them.

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Work Accidents

China crackdown on work accidents

Dozens of Chinese officials are to be prosecuted or punished over fatal accidents in the workplace - where 100,000 Chinese die each year.

Works Minister Wang Wei announced that prosecutors would consider cases against 78 managers and officials, and 105 had already been disciplined.

The move comes after inquiries into five incidents where 189 people died.
Meanwhile, officials say they are willing to investigate reports that 10 workers have died at an Olympic site.

Senior safety official Li Yizhong said those responsible would be punished severely if the claims - made by UK newspaper the Sunday Times - turned out to be true.

For more, click here.

This is not the first time that China has experience large numbers of the deaths of workers. In fact, more than 100,000 people die in the workplace every year. Reports say that some of the witness's and victims' families have been paid to keep quiet. This is yet another example of corruption in China. Maybe the lesson to be learned here is that when you make ridiculously cheap goods and threaten the economies of other countries, some of your workers will die. I guess this is just the law of economics evening things out.

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China Surpasses U.S. in CO2 Emissions and Exports

JUST as sports fans care deeply about their team’s position in the league, countries feel the same about their economic ranking. In 2007, there was much leapfrogging in league tables, with America often a loser to China. China's exports exceeded America’s for the first time last year. Yet more table-topping is expected in 2008. However, China may be less proud to overtake America as the world’s largest carbon-dioxide emitter. But measured per person, the average Chinese will be responsible for much lower emissions than the average American.

Click here for more:

This graph that was found on the Economist web site talking of China passing the United States in exports, a huge achievement for the country, but it comes at a heavy price and this is why this graph is so significant because China has become the worlds largest producer of CO2 due to its rather large spike of in CO2 omissions, due to its amazing growth during this decade and the Chinese government is not happy about becoming the worlds biggest polluter

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Chinese Economy Boom

China growth reaches 13-year high

Building and infrastructure projects are fuelling economic growthThe Chinese economy has expanded by 11.4% over the past year, reaching its fastest growth rate in 13 years, officials have announced.

Increased exports and a boom in the construction industry helped the rapid expansion during 2007.

But officials warned that overheating remained a danger, despite a slight slow-down in the fourth quarter.

Inflation is also a serious concern, with many Chinese people hit by recent dramatic increases in food prices.

For more, click here

The Chinese economy has boomed over 11 percent, hitting a high for the last 13 years. It is yet to be determined if China has passed Germany as the 3rd largest economy, however, inflation is still a problem. So watch out America, because the infection of cheap Chinese goods will probably become worse. And so will your company.

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Graph of the predicted population growth and movement from rural to urban!!

These are graphs showing the predicted population growth in the four major countries (excluding the EU) showing a sharp growth of population in India and China before it begins to decline in China around 2030. In the next graph it shows the changes of the Chinese moving from the rural areas to the urban areas where around 2020 there predict that there will be move living in urban areas than rural.

You can read more here:

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China in power shortage warning!

China says it is facing serious power shortages as severe winter weather continues to cause unusually high demand for electricity.

Thirteen regions have already started to ration power supplies, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

It said coal reserves were down to emergency levels and stockpiles were only high enough to generate power for the whole country for eight days.

China's economic boom has led to surging demand for electricity.

The coal industry has struggled to keep up, partly because of the government's campaign to close many small mines on safety grounds.

For more Click here

This is significant to China because the shortage of power due to the extreme weather that had hit China the Coal stockpiles have hit emergency levels stating that there is only enough coal to power all of China for 8 days, this also has to do with China closing many small Coal mines due to safety concerns.

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Assessment Complete

Change in Execution Methods

A change in technique for the world's busiest executioners?

CHINA'S leaders love talking about all the indicators that show China leading the world. Whether it is growth rates, production figures or trade volumes, officials relish any chance to unleash a barrage of dazzling statistics. They are less gung-ho about another category where China leaves the world trailing: use of the death penalty. Indeed, the number of Chinese criminal executions remains a state secret.

Foreign human-rights groups make valiant efforts to scour local press reports and tally the sums, but reckon they hear about only a fraction of the cases. In 2006 Amnesty International, a human-rights lobbying group, counted 2,790 people sentenced to death in China and 1,010 executed. Other groups put annual executions at 7,500 or more. Even per head, using low estimates, China probably outstrips every country but Singapore. It also has a greater number of capital offences than anywhere else: more than 60. These include murder and other violent crimes, but also smuggling, drug trafficking and many “economic crimes” such as bribe-taking, embezzlement and even tax evasion.

This month it was revealed that China is planning a big change. The traditional method of execution—a single bullet to the back of the convict's head—is to be replaced by a lethal injection. Jiang Xingchang, of the Supreme People's Court, told the press this is because injections are considered “more humane”. The option was first authorised experimentally in China in 1997 and has since been used in many cities, including Kunming, Wuhan, Chengdu and Shanghai. Mr Jiang did not provide a timetable for an end to death by gunshot, but said the newer method has been favourably received by “all quarters of society, including those sentenced to death and their families.”

For more, click here: http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10498179

China holds the records for the most executions per year, and there method is a single bullet to the back of the head. However, they are changing their method to a more humane treatment of lethal injection. China refuses to reveal their true number of exeutions but it is estimated that in 2006, over 1000 executions happened in China.

Mayfield: Try this method for linking to an article.

Click here.

Much more professional looking than a long URL.

Capitalist China!

alittle old and alot new!

China carmakers eye US market

By Jorn Madslien Business reporter, BBC News, Detroit auto show

From a basement at the Detroit auto show, directly below the main show floor, several Chinese auto companies are displaying an impressive array of cars whilst eagerly eyeing the American market.

Cars made in China are set to go on sale in the US within months, industry observers predict.


"You might even see some early guys this year," says Angus MacKenzie, editor-in-chief, Motortrend.

The number of Chinese models on display at the show should be enough to spook the established automotive firms.

The weirdest looking of the lot is the egg shaped Tang Hua from Li Shi Guang Ming Automobile.

BYD Auto (short for Build Your Dreams), meanwhile, is showing a contemporary-looking convertible with a retractable hard top; the first by a Chinese car maker.

Yet it is Chamco, which is showing a couple of 4x4s, that is expected to enter the market first later this year.

"I think the consumers will embrace these sturdy cars," says Chamco chief William Pollack.

Read more on Chinese cars here:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7188848.stm

Citroen regrets Mao ad "Insult"

French carmaker Citroen has withdrawn an ad featuring a doctored portrait of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, after complaints it was an insult.

In the ad, carried in Spanish newspaper El Pais, Mao scowls at a hatchback.

"It's true, we are leaders, but at Citroen the revolution never stops," reads the text below the portrait.

Citroen apologised for the "inappropriate" ad, which Chinese chatroom users had complained "hurts our national pride".

"This is no small thing," said one visitor to a chatroom about the ad - based on the famous portrait of Mao which hangs in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

"It has an influence on the whole country. It damages the whole Chinese people."

This Article that was found on the BBC, spoke of an ad that was run by the French car maker Citroen in a spanish newpaper showing Mao intreged at the new El Pais, the people of china aren't too happy about this image, stating that it is offencive and wrong to alter the image of Mao.

You can read more on this issue at:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7190249.stm

Chinese Journalist Beat to Death

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Wei Wenhua was a model communist and is now a bloggers' hero -- a "citizen journalist" turned martyr.

Wei Wenhua was beaten to death after he took pictures of a streetside fracas between villagers and authorities.

The construction company manager was driving his car when he witnessed an ugly scene: a team of about 50 city inspectors beating villagers who tried to block trucks from unloading trash near their homes.

Wei took out his cell phone and began taking pictures. The city inspectors saw Wei and then attacked him in a beating that lasted five minutes. By the time it was over, the 41-year-old Wei was slumped unconscious. He was rushed to the hospital but was dead on arrival.

His death earlier this month continues to stir controversy. In China's mainstream media and in the blogosphere, angry Chinese are demanding action.

After the Web site sina.com published news of Wei's beating, readers promptly expressed their outrage. In one day alone, more than 8,000 posted comments. Bloggers inside and outside China bluntly condemned the brutal killing.

For more, click here: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/16/china.blogger/index.html

Citizens are claiming that the city inspectors are worse than the mafia, and corruption seems to be the main problem. These inspectors, tasked with dealing with petty crimes, have recently been seen chasing away street vendors and confiscating their goods. Now they have taken it too far, killing an innocent citizen who was just watching the city inspectors attempt to dump trash in neighbors's yards.

Yangtze hit by drought in China

Yangtze hit by drought in China!

More than 40 ships have been stranded in the Yangtze, China is facing its worst drought in a decade, with water in parts of the Yangtze River at the lowest level in 142 years, state media has reported.

Millions of people were short of water, and dozens of ships had run aground in the river since October, reports said.

Officials said low water levels in the Yangtze were not linked to construction of the massive Three Gorges Dam.

China faces droughts and floods annually but has seen a recent increase in extreme weather conditions.

In the major Yangtze port city of Hankou, water levels fell to 13.98m (46ft) in early January - the lowest level since records began in 1866, China Daily said, citing local media.

"This year's drought is rare," the daily quoted a local farmer as saying.

"Just days ago, I saw ship after ship running aground. I have never seen that before."

Supporters say the dam will prevent flooding and generate electricity
Water levels in other rivers and reservoirs in China are also reported to be at record lows.
Officials said that an earlier than expected dry season was to blame for the drought.
Authorities have already warned that climate change could make weather conditions in China much tougher in the years ahead.

Large amounts of water were also stored behind the Three Gorges Dam last month, causing a 50% reduction in the flow volume of the Yangtze, China Daily said.
But the Yangtze River Water Resource Commission said this was not the cause of the problem, the daily added.

Supporters of the dam say it will prevent devastating floods and provide much-needed hydroelectric power but there are concerns over its environmental impact.

For more please visit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7193252.stm

This basically told us of an extreme drought that the Chinese are dealing with the Yangtze river, some claim that this is because of the building of the massive Three Gorges Dam that has blocked the flow of 50% of the Yangtze, but the state claims that this is not the case but rather that climate change. This drought is very similar to the drought that we have experienced here in Georgia other than the Yangtze is an important shipping lane for inland china as well as it provides millions and millions of people with food and water.

Corruption in China

China in anti-corruption struggle
Mr Hu has warned that corruption threatens the party's survivalTackling corrupt practices that have become widespread among Chinese officials will be a very tough task, President Hu Jintao has acknowledged.

Addressing the problem would be a "long-term, complicated and difficult struggle", he told the Communist Party's anti-corruption watchdog.
The practice is prevalent throughout the ranks of China's bureaucracy.

Mr Hu warned last year that the party's "very survival" depended on how it tackled the issue. The all-pervasive corruption is seen as a major source of social discontent across the country - which the authorities fear could develop into unrest.

For more click here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7191021.stm

Chinese public is concerned with the corruption in their government. The corruption has become a serious issue and in recent months, several government officials have been suspected including Shanghai's Communist Party boss. Several reforms were made such as better education, tougher punishment for corrupt officials and more checks and balances.

Chairman Yao

China

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