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June 2005 - Posts

AFX Justly Smacks Imagethief for Doubting Their Editorial Integrity

Posted Thursday, June 30, 2005 3:03 PM by will
In the wake of yesterday's post, “ CNOOC's Unocal Bid Kindles Shadowy Media and Influence Warfare ”, an AFX journalist has contacted me to defend AFX's editorial integrity and to suggest that plain, old-fashioned journalistic initiative rather Read More...
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Rebecca MacKinnon: US Complicity in Internet Censorship in China

Posted Thursday, June 30, 2005 9:58 AM by will
From Yale Global, via Peking Duck . I won't comment. Just read. China's Internet: Let a Thousand Filters Bloom Then (Americans) ask yourself, what are our values as a nation? Do we believe in free speech or not? Can we play both sides of the fence? Think Read More...
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CNOOC's Unocal Bid Kindles Shadowy Media and Influence Warfare (Update)

Posted Wednesday, June 29, 2005 8:04 PM by will
Inevitably, CNOOC's bid for Unocal has caused the cerebral-spinal fluid of the usual congressional suspects to come to a rolling boil. What fun. One of the fringe benefits of working in the world's lowest profession, spin-doctoring, is that your default Read More...
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Donald Tsang Says Hong Kong Don't Need No Steenkin' Democracy

Posted Wednesday, June 29, 2005 12:40 PM by will
I paraphrase, of course. In yesterday's (unlinkable) South China Morning Post, the above-the-fold banner headline and sub-head reads: “ Listen to the people, says Tsang Democracy is well down the list of the public's priorities, the new chief executive Read More...
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I Duck ESWN's Challenge and Ride the Night-Train to Pornoville

Posted Wednesday, June 29, 2005 10:11 AM by will
In a thoughtful and interesting June 22 post, “ Hinano Mizuki: The case for Internet censoring in China ”, ESWN wrote: This is not the usual blog post against Internet censorship in China. Quite the opposite, in fact. This post is a request Read More...
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China Buying Unocal? Here's an Idea: Get Over It

Posted Monday, June 27, 2005 8:00 PM by will
From Beijing, 8000 miles away, you can actually hear the US Congress working itself into a lather over CNOOC's bid for Californian oil company Unocal. In the midst of the rising tide of recycled “yellow peril” fears boiling out of Washington, Read More...
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HK Disney Dumps Sharkfin, Gets Itself Out of the Soup, Still Spouting Inanities

Posted Monday, June 27, 2005 2:56 PM by will
About freakin' time. The statement: [A] company spokeswoman, Esther Wong, said Saturday the park was "not able to identify an environmentally sustainable fishing source, leaving us no alternative except to remove shark's fin soup from our wedding banquet Read More...
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First Anniversary: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Beijing

Posted Sunday, June 26, 2005 10:47 PM by will
June 6th was the first anniversary of my arrival in Beijing. It seems like a good occasion for reflection, especially in light of some of the recent topics that I have covered. One reason why I wanted to come to China was to connect personally; to understand Read More...
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The Barricading of Blue Castle, Part The Third: Why We Fight!

Posted Sunday, June 26, 2005 6:10 PM by will
There are now card-key controlled gates at all the entrances to the south district of Blue Castle, and my walks to the gym and the supermarket at twice as laborious and annoying as they used to be. The entire north side of the courtyard area, however, Read More...
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Unless You're Fascinated by Online Poker, Imagethief's Comment Policy Will Need to Change

Posted Friday, June 24, 2005 10:02 AM by will
A warning to Imagethief readers. I've been getting thoroughly bombed by comment and trackback spam recently, and it's taking more and more of my time to clear it. Unfortunately, I use rather an old blogging engine, and it isn't well set-up to control Read More...
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The China New Leftists Debate: The Point Isn't Income Gap - It's Opportunity

Posted Thursday, June 23, 2005 10:27 AM by will
Richard, the Peking Duck, and Simon, of Simon World, have kindled a lively debate. Richard posted a piece on China's New Left , citing a San Francisco Chronicle article (my hometown rag!), in which he said: What the New Left is saying resonates with me. Read More...
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Has Nanny Blocked Your Favorite Blogs? The Horse Extends a Helping Hoof.

Posted Thursday, June 23, 2005 9:52 AM by will
Not able to hit your favorite Typepad blogs? Well, you can always read state-sanctioned English content provided by China's gung-ho state news organs. Otherwise, Gordon, at the Horse's Mouth , has stepped forward to provide working links to Typepad blogs Read More...
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The CCP Censors: Net Nanny or Nurse Ratched?

Posted Wednesday, June 22, 2005 5:24 PM by will
The censorship events of the past day have made me reflect on our collective habit of referring the China's censorship apparatus as “Nanny”. I've always found this interesting because we used to refer to the government as “the nanny Read More...
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A Bad Day for China Bloggers: Asiapundit, Other Typepad Blogs, ESWN Swatted by Nanny - Updated

Posted Wednesday, June 22, 2005 10:15 AM by will
Asiapundit has gone off the radar inside China. Gordon, of The Horse's Mouth , has been contributing to Asiapundit, and has put up some small info on his own blog, here . Gordon (or Myrick, if you see this): If you know what the topic was that put Asiapundit Read More...
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A Mouse Out of its Depth

Posted Wednesday, June 22, 2005 10:01 AM by will
Because it's just so easy. Simon World with the latest on the sharfkfin fiasco, including an interesting article in The Standard on the protests the company has received and a wicked letter in the (unlinkable) South China Morning Post . We divers will Read More...
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Q: Which Group Tried to Recruit Me Into Their Fringe Lifestyle? (Hint: I Grew Up in SF's Castro)

Posted Monday, June 20, 2005 6:03 PM by will
Options: A) Gays B) Evangelical Christians C) The US Army The hint is, of course, a red herring. The answer to the question above is B and C. Not A. I did grow up in San Francisco's Castro, in the 1970s and early 80s, the era that saw the rise of the Read More...
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Magical Shanxi Vinegar: The Wit and Wisdom of Madam Wang

Posted Sunday, June 19, 2005 4:30 PM by will
I haven’t made a recommendation like this before, but I am going to suggest a little restaurant that my wife and I discovered last weekend. I had such a congenial experience there that I’d like to share it. Furthermore, after all of the recent, Read More...
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How Did I Miss This? -- Halliburton to Build New $30 m Guantamo Jail

Posted Saturday, June 18, 2005 1:52 PM by will
See? This is what happens when I travel. I miss little developments like this . From Reuters: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Halliburton Co. unit will build a new $30 million detention facility and security fence at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Read More...
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Talking Cock Explains Why Episode III is Really About Singapore

Posted Saturday, June 18, 2005 1:20 PM by will
Singapore satire site "Talking Cock" posted a wicked prod at the government in the form of a Star Wars spoof. This is from a couple of weeks ago, but I just discovered it and thought it was worth a link. Hokkien pun translation help (provided by my wife): Read More...
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Q: Who is the Traitor - Charles Jenkins or Chen Yonglin?

Posted Saturday, June 18, 2005 12:05 AM by will
Richard, the Peking Duck , has started a nightly open discussion thread on his blog. (This is a great idea, by the way.) In last Thursday’s discussion thread the topic turned to the issue of American deserter Charles Jenkins, prompting an apparently-Chinese Read More...
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Nanny Drops the Hammer on CNN and My Hotel Room Goes Spooky Silent

Posted Friday, June 17, 2005 1:49 AM by will
So I'm sitting here in my hotel room at the Holiday Inn Chengdu at about 12:30 AM watching a little CNN to bore myself to sleep and a report comes on about how US technology companies are involved in helping China to censor the Internet. Fifteen seconds Read More...
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Why I Love Chinese Domestic Air Travel

Posted Thursday, June 16, 2005 10:30 PM by will
As I write this I am on Air China flight 4104 from Beijing to Chengdu. A colleague and I are escorting some Chinese journalists to Chengdu for a few press events, I also hope to meet Chengdu resident Gordon, of the Horse’s Mouth, for a drink while Read More...
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Anti-semitic or just silly and ignorant?

Posted Thursday, June 16, 2005 9:59 AM by will
Spotted by Danwei and worth a look . The Guangzhou-based New Weekly has printed a story on marketing to children with the following headline: Childhood Companies: Making money from children is no longer only a trick of the Jews. The whole world has joined Read More...
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China Daily: Save the Whales! (Pass the Sharkfin...)

Posted Wednesday, June 15, 2005 5:03 PM by will
Front page, above the fold in China Daily today, a page-wide banner headline: Block Japan's bigger whaling bid The first sentence sums it up: Chinese environmentalists and academics have joined forces to attack Japan's proposals to kill more than 1400 Read More...
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A Horse in a Tea Shop

Posted Wednesday, June 15, 2005 2:19 PM by will
Well, some things take a while to cool-off. Gordon at the Horse's Mouth has unloaded both barrels at Bingfeng with a stern criticism of prior posts from the Teahouse. Bingfeng himself has made some conciliatory gestures , but the temperature remains high. Read More...
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Hey, MSN China Bloggers: Your Censored Words are Here!

Posted Wednesday, June 15, 2005 12:54 PM by will
I've been trying to work out how to respond to Microsoft's recent decision to ban the words “freedom”, “democracy” and “human rights” from its China MSN “Spaces” blogging service. I think I've hit upon a Read More...
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Q: Is Gitmo Causing the USA an Image Problem?

Posted Tuesday, June 14, 2005 11:21 AM by will
I was intrigued this morning by a report on CNN.com in which Vice President Dick Cheney defended the use of the Guantano Bay prison camp for suspected terrorists. The report said: Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday he doesn't believe revelations about Read More...
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The Barricading of Blue Castle, Part the Second: The Forbidden City

Posted Tuesday, June 14, 2005 10:51 AM by will
Last night, after working a bit late, I took a taxi back from the office with a colleague who lives in the same complex. In my previous post I wrote that iron gates were already being installed in all the doorways into the courtyard area. Well, imagine Read More...
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Q: Why was my copy of The Economist a freakin' week late?

Posted Monday, June 13, 2005 3:27 PM by will
This really fries me. I barely have enough time to read the damn thing each week anyway. And I normally get it on Wednesday, six days after publication, which is bad enough. But the issue two weeks ago was delayed an extra full week, meaning I got it Read More...
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Salon: Return of a Bad Habit - Keeping Score With Body Counts in Iraq

Posted Monday, June 13, 2005 2:18 PM by will
There is an interesting article in Salon from this weekend that discusses the re-emergence of body counts as a way of communicating the success of military operations. Although not officially practiced since Vietnam, for several very good reasons, it Read More...
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Do Expat Bloggers Belittle China?

Posted Monday, June 13, 2005 10:31 AM by will
A bit of a ruckus has erupted between two bloggers who publish sites I enjoy. Gordon, of the Horse's Mouth , an American, and Bingfeng, of Bingfeng Teahouse , a Chinese, have been trading some words since Gordon posted a “Chinglish” piece Read More...
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SCMP: Yet More Restrictions on Mainland Newspapers

Posted Monday, June 13, 2005 9:57 AM by will
Because there aren't enough yet, you understand. The Peking Duck has thoughtfully posted the entire text of an unlinkable South China Morning Post story covering new restrictions on the geographic areas that Chinese newspapers will henceforth be required Read More...
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Annals of Chinese Public Art, Gold Medal Series: Earth vs. the Olympic Space Squid! (Updated)

Posted Sunday, June 12, 2005 11:37 PM by will
A message of environmental stewardship, or a dire warning that an attack by the space squid is imminent? A recent trip up to Mutianyu gave me an opportunity to mine the rich public art vein that can be found in the Beijing suburb of Huairou and its surrounds. Read More...
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Democracy in China at Last: Blue Castle Votes to Exclude the Riff Raff

Posted Saturday, June 11, 2005 12:34 AM by will
In this regressive age, there are some parts of China in which democracy is thriving. What a shame. I live in an apartment building called Blue Castle. This glossy, soulless slab is neither blue, nor a castle. It is pseudo-brick laminate tacked down onto Read More...
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Sanitized For My Protection: Imagethief's Self-Censorship Policy Explained

Posted Saturday, June 04, 2005 10:02 PM by will
In a recent comment , an old friend of mine posed a very interesting question: Do you think much about where the "line in the sand" is for you personally? Just how far can you take criticism of China in your Blog before you potentially attract unwanted Read More...
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When Xinhua Wants Your Opinion, They'll Give it to You

Posted Friday, June 03, 2005 4:07 PM by will
This is hysterical. The Horse's Mouth stumbled on this amazing online poll on the English website of Xinhua, China's state news service. It has to be seen to be believed. The poll is still live as of this posting, and can be found here , under the section Read More...
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New Charge for Detained NYT Researcher Zhao Yan

Posted Wednesday, June 01, 2005 8:31 PM by will
Continuing this week's theme, “A bad time to be a journalist in China”, AFX has an update on the status of detained New York Times researcher Zhao Yan. Apparently, new charges needed to be filed in order to allow the authorities to continue Read More...
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SCMP: China to Charge Journalists for Their Own Re-Education

Posted Wednesday, June 01, 2005 6:46 PM by will
Deadbeat local hacks insufficiently dogmatic? A friend sent me an article from today's South China Morning Post entitled, “Reporters Told to Take Ideology Test”. I can't link as the SCMP website is subscription only, but an extract: Beijing Read More...
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