life - Great Xinjiang food at Yishan road

I do love food from Xinjiang (as from many other regions), but despite the often good quality of the food, most places I know look like a dump. Last night I had a great dinner in the Shanghai Xinjiang Fengwei Restaurant at Yishan Road in Shanghai. Spacious, good food and around seven o'clock staff started to make music, to dance and got their clientele also involved.
"We are more happy people," described my combination of Xinjiang and Mongolian table the difference between them and the Chinese. It showed.

economy - Henry Bloget finds a new hype

The China Net Investors noted how former security analyst Henry Bloget joins the China-hype in his very special style in Slate. His email address says it all: chinagoldrush@yahoo.com. His column focuses almost exclusively on the opportunities of investing in China, while carefully avoiding the plentiful problems that might occur here too.
For those who missed the first Internet hype, Henry Bloget set his record then, when he pumped up (with many others) the hype. Even when the bubble started to burst, he kept on pumping, while in private he advised people to run for their money. That ended his career as a securities analyst.
Following his advices on the China-hype should be done with even more reluctance than in the case of other analysts: they have their own agenda.

media - China's legal development and the media

The Columbia Law Review has some compulsory reading for both journalists and lawyers dealing with China. (Thanks China Digital News for the link!) Benjamin L. Liebman names his article "Watchdog or demagogue? The media in the Chinese legal system", but that sounds all too simple.

"A loosening state control over the media has facilitated the media's ability to engage in problem solving and to influence conflict resolution. ... the effectiveness of the media in these roles still stems primarily from the media's continued position as an arm of the Party-state. But media commercialization is dissolving the traditional pattern of media-state relations to appeal directly to, and create "popular opinion."

More as I move on to the chapters on the internet and the conclusions.

law - China's expanding legal aid system

Karen I. Tse of Bridges to Justice explores in the International Herald Tribune the giant advances China has made in setting up 2,800 centers for free legal aids. "In a little under a decade, China has established more than 2,800 legal aid centers - an unprecedented accomplishment for any country - whose basic mission is to provide fair and competent legal representation to all of China's citizens regardless of ethnicity, gender or economic status," she writes.

"Though many laws already existed on the books - covering the rights of
defendants and prisoners, and the safety of lawyers - they are not always
upheld, particulary in rural and remote regions. Indeed, there have been
complaints that lawyers sometimes become the targets of the very abuses they are
fighting against."

Also in not-that remote Shanghai, I must add, where the Zhou Zhengyi-case brought the lawyer taking up the case of the evicted residents got into severe problems.

internet - What makes your weblog tick?


The Shanghai weblogger meetup will gather most likely at February 23 and members will talk about their personal motivation for blogging. "We already covered "making money" last time, now thisseems a nice follow-up. How often do you write, and how do youpick your subjects every day? Do you have an audience in mindwhen you blog, and who is that? What is your philosophy for using links?" You can join by clicking on the logo.

economy - Budweiser sponsors propaganda

In its long march to capitalism Shanghai Municipality has broken new ground: a slogan sponsored by Budweiser, discovered by Danwei.

The slogan says, according to Danwei: "Control the quantity and improve the quality of the Chinese population. All society is concerned about population problems." What concerns me is whether this sponsorship is not going to cause problems for Budweiser in the US. Pro-life groups have brought more organizations, including the UNDP, a lot of problems for real or imaginary support for China's one-child policy.

Had Budweiser picked the slogan themselves? Could they not sponsor more applicable slogans, like "Do not piss here!"?

life - And Brussels is on the agenda

The year of the rooster has started in a dynamic way. It is not yet time for full disclosure, but in the coming two years I will be dividing my time between Shanghai and Brussels. While details and also timing are still under discussion, I already start to look forward to be on a few hours travelling distance from Paris, London and Amsterdam.

government - More transparency in the year of the rooster

All good things come in steps, they say, and in China those steps are sometimes rather small. As one of the steps to promote transparency the phone numbers of 75 spokespersons have been published on the internet by the State Council Information Office, writes the Shanghai Daily. I always thought those phone numbers were state secrets that could bring Chinese journalists in great danger when they would disclose them to foreigners.

Now what is next? Somebody will actually pick up the phone? We will actually get information? Probably next year. Anyway, happy year of the rooster to all of you. Included a card I actually got from Wang Jianshuo and its reads:

Wish you have a great New Year,
And splendid futures
May you surprise others by great achievement!
And may everything go along with your wish.

media - Larry Lang hits the waves


The Bingfeng tea house reminded me an entry about Lang Xianping, or professor Larry Lang is long overdue. Bingfeng has been reporting about him more often, but also other people have been mentioning his talkshow at Shanghai TV for months. Now, how often would that happen to Shanghai TV, not often I guess.
The frankly speaking professor has a ph.D from Wharton and teaches at the Chinese University in Kong Kong and in other places, but might not have that much time, considering his many media obligations.
He is doing something what is still rather uncommon in the Chinese media: he calls the problems by their name. Certainly an encouraging development.

economy - We want a big bonus (but do not get it)

That at least suggests a survey of leading HR-website 51job.com, published by Xinhua. They asked 3,300 white-collar workers in Shanghai about their expectations for the year of the rooster.
Of those surveyed 56 percent had received an end-year bonus, but only a meagre four percent thought it was enough. The rest was not happy with it, and 43 percent said they did not receive a bonus at all. At private companies, 60 percent did not receive a bonus.

internet - Looking for Skype voice mail invite


Since I was not able to do anything better, I toyed around on the Internet and found this new application Skype is testing: their voice mail. I tried it with a few of my Skype-friends and it worked excellent. Unfortunately, in their testing period they hand it out by invitation only. So, if you have an invitation you're not using... skype me.

trade unions - The struggle of a Beijing taxi driver

The Washington Post has the telling story of Dong Xin, a taxi driver who has tried to set up an independent trade union for his colleagues. One quote tells it all:

"I've heard about Dong Xin," said Zong Yongfeng, 43, a driver at another firm, the Sanyuan Taxi Co. "He is trying to establish a taxi driver union. Well, I don't think it will happen."

(Still feverish and suffering from a nasty flu, but will try to resume my
online life again.)