January 2009 Entries
Her fiftieth birthday is less than two months away, but Barbie seems to show no signs of slowing down. With more than three billion in sales, Barbie is the number one girl's brand worldwide, and now she's opening her first flagship store in Shanghai, China.
It's just two days after China welcomed in the Year of the Ox, and celebrations are still going strong. But China's nearly 1.4 billion people aren't the only ones enjoying the new year; China's pandas also have reason to celebrate.
With an estimated 130 million Christians in China who worship in house churches, the so-called "underground church" hardly goes unnoticed by the Chinese government. While some of these Christians are imprisoned for their faith, the vast majority simply worship in small groups beyond the watchful eye of the government.
There have already been several changes in the administration, but the jury's still out as to how the new president will deal with China. Although relations between the two countries are now strong, there are some early indications that political and financial difficulties could strain this partnership. Fundamental political differences between the two countries are nothing new, and the censoring of Obama's inaugural address by Chinese media probably didn't come as a shock to anyone.&nb
The 21 dairy producers hoping for a lenient sentence were severely disappointed today. A Chinese court sentenced two men to death, and gave other sentences ranging from life in prison to lengthy jail terms.
President Obama's family appears to be a small microcosm of the international community. His relatives live on three continents, with ties to multiple countries, including China.
Millions of Chinese eager to hear President Barack Obama's inaugural speech got a slightly condensed version yesterday. References to communism, fascism, and dissent were notably absent from most broadcast and print versions in China, including those on web portals like Sina.com and sohu.com.
Mark Ndesandjo is one of thousands of ex-pats living in China. Kenyan-born Ndesandjo owns a chain of restaurants called China BBQ in Shenzhen, China, and has been active in the city's charity sector.
Last May's earthquake in Sichuan Province dealt a difficult blow to many, especially the 10,000 families who lost their children during the quake. 8,000 lost their only child.
It could be decades before history definitively judges George W. Bush, but at this moment in time, his legacy in China looks pretty favorable.
On the surface, the news of China surpassing Germany as the world's third largest economy seems great. According to China's National Bureau of Statistics China's economy grew a staggering 13% in 2007, surpassing the 11.9% that officials previously reported.
At the ripe old age of 107, many women would abandon romantic notions of falling in love, but not Wang Guiying. After spending over a century as a single woman, she's ready to tie the knot. Now all she needs is a groom.
It's amazing what a difference perspective can make. DC residents and authorities have been extremely distressed about accommodating an additional 2 million people for next week's inauguration. Concerns about having enough food, hotel rooms, and even port-a-potties have been all over the headlines, as residents brace themselves for the worst.
It's been a rough week for many of China's websites, as different search engines and websites have had to issue apologies. Today the government blocked 41 more websites, and it's just getting started.
There's a reason you don't find any pandas in petting zoos, and it's not just because of their rarity. Gu Gu, who's perhaps Beijing's most famous panda, has bitten his third tourist in just two years.
Just days ago, I was fairly skeptical about China's new efforts to crack down on Internet porn for various reasons. Topping the list was the fact that China had a very similar campaign last year, which lasted until September, 2008, conveniently ending after the Olympics.
There's something magical about the snow and ice of winter months, and few places are quite as spectacular as Harbin China's Ice Festival. The extremely cold temperatures of this northern city have allowed the creation of this ice park, which has been created completely out of ice.
Just when you thought it was safe to eat poultry, bird flu strikes again. This time, the H5N1 virus struck a 19-year-old woman in Beijing, who had purchased and gutted nine ducks from a Hebei market.
Billions worldwide kick off the new year with ambitious resolutions, and the Chinese government has its own set of lofty January goals: to reduce Internet pornography. As a result, they've targeted 19 major web portals and sites, like Baidu, Sohu, and Google.
2008 was an incredible news year for China from the earthquake to the Olympics. Here are a few of the highlights: