All about China

Just about as close to a parade as we can get in the People’s Republic:

Zhang Chunxian, the new governor of Xinjiang

“We must strike hard at all the separatist and destructive activities brought on by the three forces of terrorism, separatism and religious extremism.”
 

— Zhang Chunxian, the new governor of Xinjiang

 
Said in a statement made to the Xinjiang Daily. Zhang, who has recently replaced [...]

Bert van Dijk, Shanghai correspondent for Dutch paper Het Financieele Dagblad, tells us about what he saw at the Iran pavilion: “Iran wants to impress visitors with the supposedly high technologies that the country has developed. There is a model of a cloned goat to see, the first self-built satellite, a microscope, drugs against AIDS, [...]

      
On May 9, Shanghai’s Russian community gathered in the St Nicholas Church on 16 Gaolan Road, for a special Victory Day service. Built in 1934, the Orthodox church was once used as a washing machine factory and later hosted a French restaurant, Ashanti Dome, on the upper floor, and a Spanish tapas bar on the [...]

Great example of a piece of art that you can find only in China!

Spotted by frankyu at Beijing’s luxury Yintai shopping mall

We want to take a moment to congratulate Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, founders of file-sharing service Dropbox. Guys, you’ve made it! China’s Net Nanny considers your website such a threat to the People’s Republic that she has decided to ban it! That’s right! Dropbox.com is no longer accessible and file-syncing and sharing [...]

Will The Shelter be smoke-free by 2011?
The biggest question on our minds right now: Does this mean we’ll finally have smoke-free restaurants, bars and clubs?:
China is set to implement a ban on smoking in all indoor public places including workplaces and public transport vehicles from January 2011.
Yang Qing, Director General of [...]

[from the official Shanghai Expo website]
It’s been a roller coaster ride for the Shanghai Expo in terms of attendance so far. While the state media has been dutifully trumpeting the amazing ticket sales (apparently 33 million tickets have been sold, that’s almost half the target of 70 million!), all that hasn’t quite translated [...]

Wan Yanhai: “When I am in China, the authorities look at me like I am a bird in a cage. They say: ‘If you don’t listen to me, then I will eat you, but after I leave the country, they will see me in a new light, because I am no longer [...]