A network of grass-root activism

AP gives a good overview of a new movement in social activism taking root in China. Last week's massive protest against the spike in fares for public transportation in Hunan province provided a good example on how local protest and a network of more professional organizers work together.

The movement — known as rights defense or "wei quan" in Chinese — took root in 2003, after police beat to death a young college graduate who was not carrying his residency papers. The government bowed to public outrage and curbed police powers for arbitrary detention, an unusual restraint to official authority and a move that energized socially conscious lawyers and scholars.

What is remarkable is their profound difference from their predecessors, the so-called 'dissidents' of the 1990s. They have no political target, like setting up a political party or overthrowing the government - a target no government would really appreciate. They go for issues where they would often find the central government at their side. Often they focus at the local conflicts between the citizens and their local governments, concerning AIDS, urban development, problems with elections and environmental protection.

A day later, Zhang [one of the organizers involved in the Hunan protest] says he was taken to dinner by provincial security agents and government officials, who warned him against talking to reporters.
Zhang remains unfazed, in part because he's not alone. He's part of the China Pan-Blue Alliance, a Web-based rights organization which started in 2005 and claims 2,000 registered members including college students, laid-off workers, teachers, journalists and lawyers.

Google China tries to talk to bloggers

China Web2.0 Review points at an exchange that emerged as Google China tried to deal with webloggers that were mostly negatively reviewing a new China-service called Daohang. What happened was that Google's PR-agent in China, Ogilvy, started to reply on those comments by sending those webloggers the press release on that service.
Let's first look at it from a positive side: Ogilvy did react on the comments and that is already much more than what happens mostly. But apart from that almost everything went wrong.
As China Web2.0 Reviews also says, weblogs are conversational media, you have to build up a conversation. Sending a press release is not the way to build up a conversation. So, that means, leaving comments and actually reacting on what the weblogger is saying.
Also, you have to find a real person to react, a company cannot do that anonymously. And, I would add myself, Google China cannot outsource this kind of work to a PR-company. PR-companies might be able to help and give advise, but the person talking to the webloggers should be involved in the work directly, coming from Google China.

Has Amazon stopped shipping to China?

I'm not really reading a lot of books compared to the past. Mostly I would pick them up at airports, at least that was the case before I could get online in airports and airplanes. But every now and then I would order some at Amazon, especially since a few of the organizations I work for would send me Amazon gift certificates. I still had a US$ worth of vouchers laying around and I thought this was a good opportunity to order The China Fantasy: How Our Leaders Explain Away Chinese Repression and a few others.

Not so. Putting the books in my Amazon-cart was no problem, but when I wanted to check-out, the Amazon computer said they would not ship to my address. No explanation given. By accident I discover at the bottom of the site they now have a China-agent: Joyo.com. They only offer Chinese books, including one I wanted to buy, but I would prefer to order it in the English language, German or Dutch, but rather not Chinese.

I started to write an angry email to the Amazon customer service, but my email was refused. Not because of foul language (although I'm ready to use that now), but because I have not order number. Now that was exactly my problem.

Anyway: similar problems out there, and perhaps solutions too?

At last, Gillette gets some competition

China has not really a shaving culture, so for years I accepted I had to pay a premium for shaving product, or take enough supply from my trips abroad. Other products got beaten in endless price wars by domestic competitors, but P&G's Gillette seemed to have a free ride.
But today I should at the shelves of Carrefour this "Hengjie Paomo" shaving foam, just under the products of P&G and for eight renminbi, about one third of the Gillette product. It looks like their designers have also gotten their inspiration from Gillette.

breaking the conventional thinking: the China fantasy

When people come to China they often want a quick flicks on the question what is China's biggest problem, often business people, journalists? I'm mostly tell them they are their own biggest problems. Breaking the mould of conventional thinking is becoming now more important than ever.
New insights on how Chinese companies are conducting their price wars as a part of an intelligent strategy I found groundbreaking on management practises. The book The China Fantasy by James Mann seems to be doing the same for the political thinking on China. For the review of the Washington Post:

The China Fantasy raises an awkward and important question: What if there is a third alternative between the rise of democracy and the collapse of China's political order? What if that alternative is the survival of the one-party state, with all its apparatus of control and repression?

Its again the foreigners looking at China who have to deal with their own illusions. When the system as we know it now is going to stay, we will have to deal with it - and with the huge changes that take place in the system itself. I just ordered the book, so you might hear more about this subject.

Missed the free coffee at Starbucks

Well, I suggested it earlier in the week myself (although I mentioned the wrong day then), but when I passed my Starbucks in Huaihai Zhonglu this morning(picture), I knew there would also be on Friday no free coffee for me. Quite a bit of a crowd in front of the little store, waiting for new coffee being brewed. I might be Dutch, but are not going to wait for an hour for a free coffee. Quite some people seemed happy to do so.

Translations: German to English sucks

Thanks for all the response that is already coming in on my request for an evaluation of the Google translation tool I posted here this morning. As expected, people think very differently about the performance up to now. After the weekend, I will give a decent overview, since some of the feedback is also coming in on email.
Most of the feedback is on the European languages, and I do hope to get some on Japanese and Korean too. Do forward my request to others, if you think they might be able to help.
Meanwhile, I could not resist the temptation and have tried to translate a chapter of my book in German into English. Here is the English translation and here the German original, so you might be able to compare yourself.
As you might see for yourself: the English sucks. There is really too much guesswork needed.

the internet breaks down another barrier: languages

Nothing is nicer, while working on the internet, to hear old barriers crumble. First, limitations to place and time disappeared. Communication tools and publishing tools became available at almost no cost. Now a new barrier seems to be breaking down, those between languages, as Google's translation tool offers a much better service than any of the previous online services.
"Believing is good, but testing is better," goes the saying and before joining the cheers, I will first ask my readers to join me for some testing. Especially those who are familiar with several languages, including German, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portugese and Russian I need to make a good assesment.
In this entry I will give you links to the translations of my weblog, the China Herald. I would appreciate it if you could compare the original with the translated edition and tell me whether it makes sense. You can do this in the comments or by email. Thanks for your help.

Mir bitte helfen, zu überprüfen, ob diese übersetzung sinnvoll auf Deutsch ist
Svp m'aider à vérifier si cette traduction se comprend en français
ارجو مساعدتي لمعرفة ما اذا كان هذا امر منطقي في الترجمة العربية (this does not work very wel)
Ayudarme por favor a comprobar si esta traducción tiene sentido en español
私がこの翻訳が日本語の意味を成しているかどうか確認するのを助けなさい。
저가 이 번역이 한국어에 있는 이해된는지 검사할 것을 도우십시오.
Ajudar-me por favor verificar se esta tradução faça o sentido em Portugese.
请帮我查是否有道理中文译本.
幫我查是否有道理中文譯本.
Aiutarlo prego a controllare se questa traduzione abbia il significato in italiano.
Пожалуйста, помогите мне проверить, правильно ли данный перевод имеет смысл в русском языке.

New mobile number

Just obtained a new mobile number for my China mobile, so if you need to call me, do drop me an email first.

Taobao starts to charge customers

After years of offering free services as a strategy to flush out competitors like Ebay, China's most successful auction site Alibaba's Taoboa has now disclosed a plan to start charging, be it very little, write China Tech News. This diversion from its price-war strategy will start at April 2, suggesting Taobao.com feels comfortable enough in having pushed competition out of the market.

Mark Schaub

"Headquarters should be more involved in their China-operation"

Lawyer and author Mark Schaub spoke this evening in Shanghai at the Garden Bookstore at Changle Lu during the presentation of his recently published book, China - the Art of law. His message of this evening: headquarters should not abandon their China operation after they signed a contract.
Schaub: "Ninety percent of the effort and financial resources is spend to set up the operation. They hire PWC, McKinsey and a law firm to help them to make things right. Then they hire a general manager, often a new kid at the block, and everybody goes home. That is not right. The headquarters back home should be involved in their China operation."
Mark Schaub is one of the prominent speakers we engaged for our upcoming China Speakers Bureau. If you are interested in Mark Schaub as a speaker, please get in touch.

The incredible Chongqing house

More pictures and stories are emerging since I posted this first picture of the amazing house in Chongqing earlier in the week. Venture 160 has done some translating here. Unlike earlier stories, this is not a protest, but the house used by the construction company:

One netizen said this wasn’t a holdout at all, it was actually the contractor’s temporary residence, there were also other netizens who supported this position.
After verification, this was determined as Chongqing city’s “Broadway” real estate construction site currently being put up in the residential quarter.

Google sends translators home, or not?

In December I made fun about the online translation service Babelfish was offering at the time, to the relief of a few friends who make a living in translating. I thought it would take another year before I would give such a service a serious chance.
But today I got an enthusiastic email from Maria Trombly, who advised to have a look at the new online translation service of Google itself. As a picture you see my weblog in Chinese, and when you click here you get the latest update translated.
Compared to the Babelfish efforts, the Google translations actually make some sense, although I must agree with Maria:

it read like a Xinhua news report

And that is not necessarily a compliment. The problem is of course, that when the original does not make any sense in your eyes, a translations is also a problem.
Of the English to Chinese translations, my Chinese colleagues say about 60 percent is correct. The software picks the most commonly used characters, and that is not always the right one. It might be an interesting experiment. The system allows you to suggest corrections and when people start doing so, it might become better over time.
I found it a useful barrier, not being able to read too much Chinese, because when those gates open, I will be lost. Just see what happens.

The China problem: too many priorities - the WTO-column

"You have to help we with this, this must have your highest priority," says the voice at the other side of a Skype conversation. You might recognize this tone: urgency seems to be part of the Chinese genes and it must be contagious, since also foreigners who have stayed in China for a longer time have this peculiar way of setting other people’s agenda. You work your butt off for a week to help your friend and you call him back a week later. He has already forgotten last week’s priority and new priorities have emerged.

It is not different on a political level.

Because China's public political season is condensed into two weeks per year, you might easily get overwhelmed by the number of priorities emerging from those - otherwise rather boring - sessions. While the direction is guided by this catch-all phrase of a "harmonious society", under that label you see a wealth of issues where China's leaders promise to make a difference. A short impression, not sorted according to importance:

• The reform of the tax system

• the abolishment of the labor camps

• missing: 12 million jobs

• the stiff reduction of death penalties

• the reform of the health care

• the reform of the education

• the reform of the army

• the ongoing reform of the economy

• the eradication of corruption

• attacking IPR infringements

• guaranteeing the property rights in the law

• reversing the deterioration of the environment

• bridging the gab between poor and rich, the country side and the cities

And this is only the domestic agenda. I have not mentioned the active role Beijing in playing in dealing with some longstanding international issues.

I'm not complaining here: all those issues are very important and when China is unable to deal with those major problems, it is heading for even more trouble than it has now. It is partly the legacy of the previous government for whom economic growth had first priority at the expense of legal rights, the environment, the health care and the education. Using that growing wealth to deal with some of the negative fallout it has caused is a long overdue challenge.

But is it going to work?

Traditionally the power of the central government is limited. To really set priorities, just writing a law is not enough: it needs to convince power brokers on provincial, industrial or local level about the importance of those priorities that are being set at a national level. That is always going to be a trade-off. Depending on the interests of those different power brokers, some priorities might prevail over others.

That is also the dilemma of the current priorities: only two or three are going to make it. And what is worse: the real problem that is the basis of many others is not even on the list.

At a meeting of the Singapore based Nanyang Technological University in early March in Shanghai professor Tan Kong Yam gave a nice overview of the real conundrum. According to his estimates a huge part of the fees on land and property stay at a local level, curtailing the power of the central government. Because of that lack of money, the Chinese government is spending - even compared to other developing nations - an appalling small percentage of its GDP to education, health care and social welfare. Household expenditure is therefore slowing down, compared to the savings by companies, because the households have to spend money on education, health care en pensions themselves.

Too much power at a local level, too little leverage on a national level is China's real problem in setting priorities. And since that is very unlikely to change, the central government can only pursue a limited agenda. The question then is, which of those very real problems will drop off the agenda?

Fons Tuinstra

Take that

Imagethief gives an overview of the down to earth anti-Japanese and racist feelings on the Chinese internet. The the QQ penguin aims at a Japanese pig.

Li Yan's request to die

Euthanasia is a big issue in the Netherlands, my home country, and when I started to work in China halfway the 1990s as a foreign correspondent any story on the issue was very much wanted. Euthanasia is allowed in the Netherlands, under very strict conditions, but that has not ended the discussion.

Halfway the 1990s a doctor from Shanghai, also member of the CPPCC, pushed the discussion on euthanasia in China. He has already retired and struck me as a rather dedicated man, rather exceptional in a sector where corruption is standard. He had to deal with cancer patients, often (no longer smoking) men with lung cancer in a struggle that would always be fatal. Too often they used the hospital roof to end their suffering.

He wanted legislation, but their were strong - and justified - arguments against euthanasia. In a developing country like China, with still a lack of resources, financial arguments of the family might also become an argument. Rigid guarantees would be needed, but maintaining those guarantees would be almost impossible.

From Danwei I learn that the issue is still under discussion, but now on the internet. Cancer patient Li Yan has started a blog to push for a law on euthanasia. My take: it will take a while.

Guanxi helps

A beautiful scene in Chongqing where obvious somebody has been very succesful in saving his or her house. Marc van der Chijs pointed at the picture and he has all the details.

Shanghai's gay scene depicted

Less than ten years ago gay Shanghainese could end up in labor camps and now, they are the wanted customers of major entertainment sites. Peijin Chen of Shanghaiist and Megan Schank did a nice write-up of the changes that have taken place in Shanghai, and are happening also in the other big cities. (h/t to Danwei).
It is one of the differences relative newcomers to Shanghai cannot imagine. Of course, there is still a lot to complain about - and we should complain - but in many ways things have gotten so much better.

Jeffrey Wasserstrom

Shanghai in the Global Imagination (1850-2010)

At last, the Shanghai Foreign Correspondents Club is showing signs of life again. On Wednesday 21th March it will host a talk by professor Jeffrey Wasserstrom on Shanghai in the Global Imagination.

From the invite:

Professor Jeffrey Wasserstrom of the University of California, Irvine, is a leading specialist on Shanghai history and the history of student movements in China. In this talk, he will look at how international perceptions of Shanghai have evolved since the earliest days of foreign settlement, from Ulysses Grant to Jean Cocteau and Giorgio Armani, to the city's recent
popularity as a venue for science fiction films and novels, and on to the potential impact of the World Expo in three years' time. He will draw on material from his soon to be published book 'China's Brave New World - and other tales for Global Times', and his work in progress, 'Global Shanghai 1850 - 2010'.

I would have loved to be there, but have unfortunately another meeting too.

The details:
Wednesday, 21st March, 2007
doors open at 7:00p.m., talk starts approx. 7: 40p.m.*
At FCC (Foreign Culture Club) (formerly Cochinchina),
Building 11- 12, 889 Julu Lu (near Changshu Lu)
Tel: 6445 8082
RSVP here
Non-members: 50 RMB

Zhao Ziyang

Zhao Ziyang speaks from the grave

Former prime minister Zhao Ziyang refused to condone the crackdown on the unrest in June 1989, was put under house arrest till he died in January 2005. Because of the solid censorship, most young people might not even know his name.
Now, with help of a longstanding friend, a book about his life and thoughts has been publishing in Hong Kong. Mark Oneill reviews the book for Asia Sentinel. While not everybody agrees with the way Mark connects the lack of democracy Zhao-style with China's current development (what a great stuff internet conversations are), it gives a nice overview of the issue.

“For China to modernize, it must move toward democratic politics,” Zhao says in a 1994 conversation recorded in the book. “This gives me great inspiration. In the East, be it Taiwan or South Korea, countries have moved from dictatorships to parliamentary democracy and many parties. This is a trend which is irresistible and no country can be an exception.”
It is the first time since the party was founded in 1921 that a senior leader has given an honest, uncensored account of his life and opinions. It is the more stunning because, unlike all but one previous party general-secretary dismissed from office, Zhao refused to recant and admit his mistakes, which is why his successors detained him at his courtyard home in Beijing and cut him off from the world.

The book is not only not available in China yet (it will be soon on the black market though), but also not at Amazon. Therefore, a few other books:

SIM-card corrupted

Ah, switched on my Chinese mobile again last night, but the SIM-card seems to be corrupted. I will have to replace it one of these days at a China Mobile office, so I can keep my same number. Please use email if I do not answer my phone in the coming days.

Curbing death sentences not that easy

"Murderer to die", says an article today in the Shanghai Daily. It is the sad story of a divorce that got out of hand. But hold on, the article says the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court issued the order yesterday. Would that since January 1 not be the responsibility of the Supreme People's Court who has the final word in all death sentences?
It is obvious not going to be that easy. Capital punishment is still supported by many Chinese, including local governments who hate to see this tool to set examples disappear. The first step might have been made, but it will not be easy to get this done very fast.

Wanted: another 12 million jobs

One of the impressive figures coming up from a press conference by the minister of Labor and Social Security, Tian Chengping. China will be able to provide this year 12 million jobs, but needs another 12 million more, especially for graduates.

"Our analysis at present of the employment situation is that in the future pressure for jobs will still be very great, and the situation is still very serious."

Tian downplayed the current shortage of workers in Guangdong and Fujian province, and said it was of a temporary character.

Free coffee at Starbucks

What have Dutch and Shanghainese in common? When we smell a bargain, we go for it. So, I'm happy Marc van der Chijs points me at the action of Starbucks to hand out coffee for free on Thursday morning between 10 and 12.
Looks like I will be in my office and then the Starbucks at Huaihai Zhonglu no.1 is most convenient. Anybody wants to join there? The place is pretty small, but for emergencies there are at least to other outlets on walking distance.
If you're interested, drop me your mobile phone number, so I can call you if we move to another outlet.

picture from the scene (ESWN has more)

Spike in bus rates triggers off massive riot

Up to 20,000 people have been on the street protesting last Friday in Yongzhou, Hunan province, the BBC reports, after the government raised prices for public transportation. Nine police cars were burned in the protest.
According to a Hunan official in a comment to Reuters, here used in an ITV-report:

that the riot had been quelled and that scores of the rioters were arrested. Both police and rioters were injured in the violence, and some of the rioters were sent to hospital, but none was seriously hurt, the official added.

Updated: More reports are coming in, like here from AP. Not surprisingly ESWN has the most thorough overview. The account from the Chinese media are most interesting, but are not always giving the same information. Also, many pictures here. Some accounts say there has been one death and 60 injured.

Mandate of heaven returns home - Gore Vidal

Shanghaiist obtained a ticket and came back with this nice write-up of the session of the 2007 Shanghai International Literary Festival with American writer and celebrity Gore Vidal. One quote really makes this session into a historial one:

I was on top of the Westin Hotel being shown the sites of the city, and I had a sudden crisis as I looked out at the extraordinary skyscrapers the architecture and the art deco. I thought to myself, well, the mandate of heaven has passed from us and come home. And I did write that once, in the world as it was shaped after the war, it's quite clear that Japan [was]... only standing in for China.

Although he avoided a few "smaller" issues. More at Shanghaiist (who also made the picture.)

Beijing is getting it too

A beautiful picture of Beijing's emerging infrastructure. Well, from a distance it looks nice, although it is not that good when you are standing under one of the bridges. I picked it up at Virtual China, but to there it made already a long way.

Left the South China Morning Post untouched

It happened this morning. I rushed out of my Hong Kong hotel for a meeting and suddenly I saw a pile of newspapers on the sideway, including the South China Morning Post. For a former newspaper addict that sight would have triggered off the need to buy a copy, at least until recently. Even though I would not have time to read it, since I was more eager to check my email and rss-feeds, I still would have to buy a copy.

Not this time: I was like a former junk, passing his former addiction and know it is finaly over.

A bit upset with the hotel here, the Dorsett Olympic Hotel. Apart from a reasonable room rate, their website offers free internet access. Well, it actually does not say 'free', but having internet access is still not that common in the Hong Kong hotels.

So, they wanted to charge me 30 HK$ per hour! I could as well take than a virtual subscription on the South China Morning Post. Fortunately, Hong Kong is so much wired up that I have access to half a dozen free wifi-connections. Thank you, neighbors.

Greeting from Pudong Airport

Yes, I'm leaving the motherland for a short while, but expect to be back in Shanghai by Tuesday again. Had to test of course the rumors that this airport had a wireless connection. It it true. It had actually three and only one is working, of course the last one I tried.

Shanghai's new party secretary?

Unconfirmed rumors suggest that Liu Yandong (left on the picture) has been appointed as the new Shanghai Party Chief. China Digital Times noted the story in the (dissident) Boxun.

According to the story the current head of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party would replace Han Zheng, who has been taken over from Chen Liangyu, who was detained for corruption in September last year.

The story also alledges that Shanghai Vice-mayor Liu Genyun will take over the post of Shanghai Mayor of Han Zheng. That would mean a de facto demotion of Han Zhen, a move that is rather uncommon in the Chinese bureaucracy, where officials only move upward - or end in jail of course.