June 23rd, 2009
BEIJING — Ai Weiwei believes in the power of the internet. That’s precisely why on July 1, he wants China to stop using it.
A general internet strike — no work, no games, no email or anything else online — for 24 hours on the date the government plans to require censorship software on all new computers, he says, will be a quiet act of rebellion. Not coincidentally, July 1 is the 88th anniversary of the Communist Party of China. Though he posted the idea, Ai wants to leave the meaning to those who participate.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/china-and-its-neighbors/090623/meet-the-man-who-wants-shut-down-the-internet-china
June 9th, 2009
BEIJING — It’s become on-board theater for those arriving in China: A team of health workers, dressed head-to-toe in white space suits, boards each international flight to scan every passenger for fever and other flu symptoms before they are allowed to set foot in country.
The team moves from seat to seat, checking each traveler, pausing to confer over any abnormality. Stories abound from tourists and business travelers, relishing in the oddity that is China’s heavy-handed reaction to the swine flu, photographing alien temperature checkers, regaling friends back home with the strange tale.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/china-and-its-neighbors/090609/greetings-earthlings-welcome-china
June 2nd, 2009
BEIJING — Even as U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told state television on Tuesday that his counterparts in Chinese government are confident of their massive investment in U.S. dollars, ordinary Beijingers remain skeptical.
While Chinese government officials haven’t confirmed the confidence of which Geithner spoke, the regular folks of Beijing are shaking their heads about putting so many eggs in the American basket — and feeling they don’t get much in return.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/china-and-its-neighbors/090602/street-view-Geithner
June 2nd, 2009
BEIJING — There are a million moral and ethical arguments against eating dogs.
Westerners like to make these arguments, while Chinese who enjoy the meal refute them with a polite scoff. The dogs you eat, they say, are different than those you keep as pets. The meat is healthy, especially in winter. But a growing body of evidence could make everyone think twice, as new studies emerge indicating that putting Fido on a plate is potentially harmful and even deadly to humans.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/china-and-its-neighbors/090529/the-link-between-eating-dogs-and-catching-rabies
