China :: Commentaries

ISTANBUL -- China evacuated 504 nationals Monday night in three chartered flights from strife-torn Libya to Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey.This was the first time that Chinese evacuees from Libya made transit in Turkey.The first chartered flight landed at the Sabiha Gokcen International Airport at 22:05 local time (2005 GMT) while the rest two lights arrived at late night. Related readings: 29,000 Chinese nationalspulled out of LibyaThe Chinese nationals took the flights, which were chartered by the Chinese embassy in Turkey, from the southern Libyan city of Sebha, and most of them are from east China's Anhui province.They were greeted at the airport by Chinese Ambassador to Turkey Gong Xiaosheng, Chinese Consul-General in Istanbul Zhang Qingyang and other Chinese diplomats.The Chinese diplomats made careful preparations for their arrivals, distributing meals and mineral water to all of them while making food and lodging in five local hotels.Gong expressed thanks to the Turki...

BEIJING -- Nearly 29,000 Chinese have been evacuated from riot-torn Libya during China's largest-ever evacuation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Monday.More than 30,000 Chinese citizens had been working in the north African state when the anti-regime protests broke out.As of 10 a.m. Monday, about 2,500 Chinese had been flown back to China, while 23,000 had been temporarily resettled in third countries, and 3,400 were on their way to third countries, said the statement. Related readings: China sends planes to evacuate nationals from LibyaThere were about 10,000 Chinese evacuees on the Greek island of Crete, 1,600 in Malta, 11,000 on the Tunisian island of Djerba, and 400 in Khartoum of Sudan and in Dubai of the United Arab Emirates.Two foreign ocean liners chartered by the Chinese government are shipping about 2,800 Chinese evacuees to Malta and another Chinese vessel is heading for Crete with about 600 Chinese on board, it said.The Chinese embassy in Libya and ...

Flash In Hollywood, the red carpet is rolled out, the champagne is on ice and the limousines are waiting. Yes, it's Oscar time. Now we are watching the 83rd Academy Awards, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Tonight will honor the best films of 2010. Actor James Franco and Anne Hathaway are to co-host the ceremony, marking the first time for a man and woman have presided over the Oscars. "The King's Speech" and the Facebook film "The Social Network" are widely considered front-runners for best movie. Best actress and actor nominees include Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem and Colin Firth. More than 20 awards will be given out in the next three hours. Producers say the ceremony is meant to connect movie fans to the Hollywood of old, while also giving a nod to the future of web cams and Twitter feeds. 1 2 3 4 5 Next

China Digital Times provides a translation of Ran Yunfei's last post before his arrest. Link picked by Danwei.org

CHENGDU - Rescuers are trying to reach six people buried when the waste dump of a mining company collapsed and buried an apartment building in Southwest China's Sichuan province.The accident occurred at around 7 am Sunday when the dump of a local mining company in Miyi county collapsed, said police.Residents of two of the building's six households escaped, but six people from the remaining four households were buried by an estimated 100,000 cubic meters of stones and earth, said a spokesperson for the municipal public security bureau of Panzhihua, which administers Miyi county.

HERAKLION, Greece - He worried for almost two weeks as he tried by every means to contact his beloved wife in their hometown in Anhui province. Finally, construction worker Ling Qinghao got a message through from this warm holiday resort: He is safe. "She is thrilled and is crying," said the 44-year-old Ling, one of the 4,500 Chinese evacuees from Libya who arrived in the Greek port Heraklion on the island of Crete on Thursday. Now they have settled down in a local five-star hotel thanks to comprehensive arrangements by the Chinese government. Related readings: China urges Libya to ensure foreigners' safetyBy Saturday, three ships had arrived on the island of Crete and two more will be arriving on Sunday. The total number of Chinese evacuees here will surpass more than 10,000.Like Ling, many Chinese nationals in Libya had lost contact with their loved ones for days due to the ongoing riots. And after their arrival, they lined up to use the free mobile phones offered by th...

BEIJING - China on Saturday decided to hasten evacuation of its nationals from Libya, as Chinese aviation authorities prepare 15 planes per day during the next two weeks to carry home citizens stranded in the northern African country.The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) convened an emergency meeting in Beijing on Saturday and decided to send the extra aircraft every day from February 28 to March 10 to neighboring countries near Libya for the massive evacuation.In line with the CAAC's arrangements, China's major airlines will carry out the airborne evacuation missions and bring home stranded Chinese citizens as soon as possible.During the period, Air China will send five passenger planes every day to the island of Crete, Greece. China Eastern Airlines will fly four planes every day to Malta. China Southern Airlines will dispatch four planes to the island of Djerba, Tunisia; and Hainan Airlines will also fly two planes daily to Crete, Greece.As of Saturday afternoon,...

BEIJING - Zhu Guangya, who contributed to the development of China's first atom and hydrogen bombs, died Saturday at age 87. Zhu was a senior academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He served as vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's top political advisory body, between 1994 and 2003. Born in central China's Yichang city, Zhu obtained a PhD in nuclear physics from the University of Michigan in 1950. That year he returned to China. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1956.

Related readings: UN resolution on Libya 'possible' on SaturdayCAIRO - A chartered plane carrying 275 Chinese nationals, who were evacuated from Libya, departed from the Egyptian capital in the wee hours Saturday and headed for Beijing, according to the Chinese embassy here.The Egyptian aircraft was chartered by the Chinese government, said Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Song Aiguo.

A policeman helpsto push vehicle on the No. 217 national highway in Altay, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Feb 24, 2011. Heavy snow and strong wind hit Altay from Wednesday to Thursday. Some 200 vehicles and more than 500 people trapped on the highway due to the weather have been transfered to safety area after four hours' rescue. [Photo/Xinhua] Previous Page 1 2 3 4 5 Next Page Previous Page 1 2 3 4 5 Next Page

Young people from Europe taste cuisine common among the Miao ethnic group while on a visit to the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture in Southwest China's Guizhouprovince on Friday. A total of 73 young delegates from 27 European countries arrived in the prefecture on Friday.[Photo/Xinhua]

During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, the regional Education Department planned to invest up to 1 billion yuan in providing digital facilities for schools at all levels across southwest China's Tibet autonomous region. According to the local educational digitalization plan, multimedia education will be gradually realized in all primary and middle schools as well as kindergartens in the region.Besides, teachers and students in rural and remote areas will also benefit from sharing premier educational resources through educational digitalization and improved utilization of distance education.In the past five years, Tibet has altogether built 133 computerized classrooms and about 1000 receiving spots for satellite distance education, as reported.

Villagers look on as others celebrate during a traditional parade in Yanzhao village, Shantou city, South China's Guangdong province, Feb 24, 2011. The "tuoshenou" parade, literally means to drag down god's statue, involves fierce body confrontation in which people try to get hold of the statue protected by a guardian and is carried on the shoulders of dozens of others. The activity is a traditional custom for praying for a good harvest. [Photo/Xinhua] Villagers take part in the traditional "tuoshenou" parade in Yanzhao village, Shantou city, South China's Guangdong province, Feb 24, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua] Previous Page 1 2 3 Next Page Previous Page 1 2 3 Next Page

BEIJING - Some 6,300 Chinese nationals have been evacuated from riot-torn Libya so far, China's Foreign Ministry said early Friday morning.The ministry updated the figure as the first chartered plane sent by the Chinese government to evacuate its nationals in Libya flew back to Beijing in the wee hours of Friday with more than 200 Chinese on board.

BEIJING - China ranked 21st in terms of innovative abilities among the world's 40 most innovative countries, according to a report issued by the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development (CASTED) on Thursday.In the report, China's innovative ability garnered 57.9 points based on a scale of 100 with the United States getting 100 points at the top. Related readings: Car designer drives faster innovation Think tank head warns of China's rise in innovation China ranks 4th on innovation-ability listThe report, China's first on national innovation ability, was mainly based on data from the World Bank, the National Science Foundation of the United States and China's National Bureau of Statistics.According to the report, China ranked first in terms of the number of research personnel and the export of high-tech products. It ranked fourth in total research and development (R&D) investment and third in terms of the number of authorized patents.To better...

BEIJING - China appreciates the warm and considerate support of other countries in the evacuation of Chinese nationals from Libya, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said Thursday.Ma said at a regular press briefing in Beijing that China was cooperating with other countries to evacuate its nationals in Libya. Related readings: 83 Chinese evacuated from Libya, heading homeHe said the support of other countries fully reflected the spirit of international cooperation."The Chinese people also have a tradition of lending assistance to other countries in times of need," Ma said.Ma said China was closely following developments in Libya. He expressed the strong wish that Libya restore social stability and order as soon as possible, and earnestly guarantee the safety of foreign nationals and institutions.China had made clear its stance at a closed door meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, calling for early resumption of social stability in Libya and urging Libya to...

Rain is expected to fall this week on arid farmland in China's major wheat producing province, which is suffering its worst drought in six decades. The weather service of Shandong Province said Thursday that "sufficient" rainfall would start late Thursday in the province's southeast and expand to other areas in the next three days. Medium to heavy rain and snow are expected in some parts of Shandong over the weekend, with a maximum precipitation reaching 35 millimeters. Rainfall across Shandong since mid-September last year has been only 13 millimeters on average. Winter wheat accounts for 95 percent of China's gross wheat output. Shandong is a key winter wheat producing base in north China. The government has been extending irrigation to prevent damage to the crop. A provincial weather service spokesman described the coming rainfall as "sufficient" and said it would be "very helpful" to ease the drought. The dry spell is hitting large areas of...

Flash There are now many TV shows in China where you can have your family heirlooms examined, to find out their value. At Beijing Antique City, you can also have your antiques appraised. Or, you can add to your collection. But you'd better hurry up! Antique collecting is becoming more and more popular in China. And once these ancient relics are gone, they're gone!

New regulations for Shanghai's dog owners will come into effect on May 15 after the city passed its dog law yesterday. Proposals, including a one-dog policy and a ban on attack dogs, aroused long and heated debate and certain clauses have been revised based on the opinions of lawmakers and local residents. Under the new rules, people living in downtown areas and new urban centers, such as Lingang and Jiading new towns, are permitted just one dog per household, but anyone currently owning two or more licensed dogs will be allowed to keep them. Any unlicensed pets will have to be given away to friends or relatives or to adoption agencies. Applications for dog licenses have been suspended until May 15 and the licensing system will be more strictly enforced under the new rules. All dogs will require a license and will have to be vaccinated against rabies regularly and go through annual checks. Owners will face fines from 200 yuan (US$22) and 1,000 yuan or have the dog taken away for an...

Dan Edwards at Screening China looks at two documentaries by Guangzhou-based filmmaker Zhou Hao: In this sense, Using adds little to previous films about the culture surrounding heroin, apart from revealing its existence in present-day China. The film's emotional nexus, however, lies elsewhere, in the knotty relationship between filmmaker Zhou Hao on the one hand, and Ah Long and his girlfriend Ah Jun on the other. The on-again off-again nature of their friendship is established straight after the film's introductory sequence, when inter-titles tell us police cleared out the derelict building shortly after Zhou Hao filmed there. Ah Long disappears for six months and Zhou Hao gives up hope of ever seeing him again until Ah Long calls out of the blue and they are reunited over a meal. Link picked by Danwei.org

The Global Times profiles Lu Liping and Sun Haiying, well-known Chinese actors who also happen to be Christian: With those words, given as she accepted a Best Actress award at the 47th Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival last November, L Liping became the first Chinese mainland actress to express her "gratitude to God" at an international film festival award ceremony in a decade. Chinese mainland media such as the Oriental Morning Post later reported L was "too nervous [and] delivered an incoherent and confused speech." Link picked by Danwei.org

Flash Twin giraffes in North China's Hebei Province are now available for public viewing at a local zoo. The rare twin brothers were born last year to their mother named Beibei. The stronger one on the left is the elder brother while the younger one is a bit thinner. Both of them stand at roughly 2.3 meters. The zoo in Shijiazhuang had been collecting proposals from tourists on the names since the Spring Festival Holidays began. Their keeper says the giraffe twins will be named around mid April. 1 2 3 4 5 Next

Home-bound Chinese nationals to leave Libya by air, sea and road BEIJING - China on Wednesday activated an emergency plan to evacuate its citizens from conflict-torn Libya by air, road and sea as the first group of Chinese nationals headed home. Related readings: China urges Libya to protect ChineseBefore the turmoil erupted there were more than 30,000 Chinese people living in Libya, many of whom worked in the construction and telecom sectors. The first chartered evacuation flight, an A330-200, stocked with food and medicine, left for Athens on Wednesday afternoon. It remains unclear whether the plane, expected to arrive in the Greek capital around 9 pm local time, can actually land in Libya as flight operations have been disrupted amid the turmoil. If landing permission is granted the plane could bring home about 250 Chinese nationals early on Friday. A second chartered plane is scheduled to take off at 2 am on Thursday and fly to Cairo to pick up Chinese nationals already evacuated ...

Qilu Evening News , February 23, 2011 Ji'nan-based Qilu Evening News highlights the news of 83 Chinese workers' safe exit from riot-hit Libya, connecting it to China's increased effort to evacuate its overseas citizens from danger areas in recent years. According to the report, around 30 thousand Chinese citizens currently living in Libya, most of them oil workers and construction workers. As the disorder drags on, risk to their life and property is mounting. On February 20th, a camp of a Zhejiang construction company was broken into and looted by rioters; thousands of workers living there were robbed and forced to leave. The local Chinese embassy says that up till 22nd, 15 Chinese citizens were seriously wounded in the unrest. The report, which is vague on the nature of the incident, quotes Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Chaoxu as urging the Libyan government to 'investigate into the attacks quickly and punish the perpetrators severely'.

M4.cn is a Chinese website that describes itself as 'youth thought portal'. It's a new incarnation of Anti-CNN.com, which became famous in 2008 by pointing out inaccuracies and biases in the foreign media reports about the unrest in Tibet in 2008. Today, M4.cn published a story and video showing U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr. at Wangfujing on Sunday afternoon, when the 'jasmine protests' were supposed to take place. The video was also posted to Youtube (see above). The story and video insinuate that the U.S. and Huntsman's hand may be behind calls for protest in China. The U.S. 'Embassy spokesman Richard Buangan told AFP he was on a 'family outing' and his presence was 'purely coincidental'.

SHANGHAI - Fire authorities in Shanghai denied certification for China's first capsule hotel, refusing to issue a license due to fire and personal safety concerns.Though acclaimed for its ingenuity in housing budget-conscious travelers in limited spaces at cheap prices, Xitai Capsule Hotel, which is located near the city's railway station, was found to have used flammable materials during construction, said the local fire department.Furthermore, inspectors said that the average space for each guest, which is measured at 2.4 square meters, did not meet the city's basic requirement for renting houses and may pose difficulties for emergency evacuation.Modeled after capsule hotels in Japan, the 300-square-meter hotel consists of 68 "capsules," or "coffins" as critics called them. Each capsule is simply equipped with bedroom facilities, and costs a basic 28 yuan (the price of two McDonald's burgers) for 10 hours.The lavatory and shower facilities are shar...

NANCHANG - Renowned Chinese health and legal experts are invited to attend a legislation seminar this Friday to lobby for the passage of a city's smoking ban touted as the toughest in the country with more than 350 million smokers. Related readings: More Chinese cities committed to anti-smoking campaign The Regulation on the Control of Harm Posed by Second-hand Smoke has been shelved after it went through a second reading by Nanchang Municipal People's Congress last December.It is rare for a draft regulation to be read twice and yet be shelved for voting by a local legislature. Those who opposed the bill said though it met the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO)'s smoke-free initiative, it was too "tough" and "difficult to enforce" in China.Li Ai, deputy director of Jiangxi Provincial Center for Diseases Control and Prevention, the seminar organizer, told Xinhua Wednesday that health and legal experts from Beijing and Shanghai will d...

China's first chartered plane to evacuate its nationals from Libya is seen in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 23, 2011. China's first chartered plane to evacuate its nationals from Libya left Beijing Wednesday afternoon. [Photo/Xinhua] BEIJING - China's first chartered plane sent to evacuate its nationals from Libya left Beijing Wednesday afternoon. Related readings: Chinese embassy ready to help compatriots in Libya China vows to protect citizens in Libya UN Security Council to meet on Libya on Tuesday Protests in Libya reach the capital, dozens dead Carrying a joint task group of officials from various ministries, the chartered aircraft, an Air China Airbus A330-200, took off at about 5:15 pm with food, medicines and other necessities on board.Song Zhiyong, vice president of China National Aviation Holding Company, told Xinhua that the first plane would have a stopover in Athens before heading to Libya's capital Tripoli, and the second plane was expected to take off e...

BEIJING - Heavy fog with a visibility of around 1 km persisted in Beijing for a third day Wednesday, keeping the city's air pollution at the most hazardous levels measured this year. Related readings: Coal and cars combine to increase pollution in North The municipal environment bureau's readings indicated the heaviest air pollution on Wednesday was monitored in Daxing district in southern Beijing, where the air quality index (AQI) reading hit 362.The AQI ranges from 0 to 500: the higher the number, the more severe the pollution. Readings over 300 are considered hazardous.The average AQI reading for the city Wednesday was 207, down from 270 on Tuesday and 333 on Monday.The highest AQI reading over the last three days - at 394 - was recorded in the eastern Chaoyang and northern Haidian districts on Tuesday.The Beijing Meteorological Bureau said a weak cold front would hit the city on late Wednesday to dispel haze. Winds, however, were unlikely to completely clear the air polluti...

From Netease : Autumn of 2000, 26-year-old Michael carried his luggage and hopped onto a train going to Shanghai. He had just graduated with his masters in communication engineering from a well-known university in Nanjing. “In 10 years, my annual salary will be over millions (RMB)” Michael set a goal for himself. In 2000, IT communications boomed in the land of China. As Huawei, ZTE, Bell and other enterprises rapidly expanded in the country, they have recruited many engineers from major colleges and universities in the country. Michael got an offer. As an engineer with masters at the R & D department, his monthly salary was 7200 yuan. In the beginning his life was more like an extension of his college life. He was trained and worked with some same year college graduates. Then they were transferred to different departments. “We got along very well, we played ball, ate and did other things after work.” Michael was very frugal, “I only spent 1000 a month, including the 500 rent that ...

Kinda recently, we (and every other news source on the face of the earth) posted about Sina microblogging account Prof. Yu Jianrong set up for reposting photos of beggar children. At the time, the campaign was rapidly gaining momentum, the Chinese media was all over it, and Sina was making special efforts to build up followers on Yu Jianrong’s account . Then, perhaps inevitably, came the backlash. A number of prominent Chinese bloggers (i.e. hecaitou ) and writers published pieces condemning, in one way or another, Yu’s campaign. The hype and the Sina promotion stopped. His followers started to come more slowly. Now, there are even rumors that he’s been told not to accept interviews or talk to the media (multiple calls to his office to request an interview with him for our film have thus far been fruitless). So why have people soured on this campaign, and why are some so against it? It is deeply unclear. Let us examine, for example, a Global Times editorial on the subject. The recen...

Apple recently released a 2011 Supplier Responsibility Report which offered details on labor abuses that had been revealed at their suppliers’ factories in China, including poisoning by n-hexane. The New York Times reports that Apple has so far not lived up to its promises to improve conditions : Apple , describing it as a “core violation” of worker safety, said that it had ordered the contractor to stop using the chemical and to improve safety conditions at the plant. Apple also said that it would monitor the medical conditions of those workers. But in interviews last weekend, nearly a dozen employees who say they were harmed by the chemical said they had never heard from anyone at Apple . Instead, they said the contractor — a Taiwanese-owned company called Wintek — had pressed them and many other affected workers to resign and accept cash settlements that would absolve the factory of future liability, charges the company denied. “We hope Apple will heed to its corporate social re...

BEIJING - A Chinese mainland spokesman Wednesday expressed appreciation for Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou's remarks supporting the "1992 Consensus".The mainland had noted and appreciated the remarks earlier this month, said Yang Yi, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office. Related readings: Mainland delegation seeks co-op with TaiwanHe was commenting on the statements that Taiwan would stick to the "1992 Consensus" and Taiwan authorities would replace "China" with "the Chinese mainland" in official documents when mentioning the other side of the Taiwan Straits.In November 1992, the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation reached a common understanding during talks on routine affairs that they should express verbally that "both sides of the Taiwan Straits adhere to the One-China Principle.""There is only one China," Yang said. "Although ...

Qilu Evening News , February 23, 2011 Ji'nan-based Qilu Evening News highlights the news of 83 Chinese workers' safe exit from Libya, connecting it to China's increased effort to evacuate its overseas citizens from danger areas in recent years. According to the report, around 30 thousand Chinese citizens currently living in Libya, most of them oil workers and construction workers. As the disorder drags on, risk to their life and property is mounting. On February 20th, a camp of a Zhejiang construction company was broken into and looted by rioters; thousands of workers living there were robbed and forced to leave. The local Chinese embassy says that up till 22nd, 15 Chinese citizens were seriously wounded in the unrest. Links and Sources Qilu Evening News : China evacuates overseas citizens from Libya Chinese camp looted by rioters Tags : evacuation , Qilu Evening News This article is from Danwei.org . Mainland accessible mirror on Danwei.TV tweet facebook bookmark HaoHao...

UNITED NATIONS - China on Tuesday urged Libya to take substantial measures to protect its compatriots and other foreign nationals in the unrest-hit north African country, and to facilitate their evacuation.Li Baodong, permanent representative of the Chinese Mission to the UN, told reporters after a close-door Security Council meeting on Libya that China is "very concerned" about the current situation in Libya, and hopes the country "can restore social stability and political order as soon as possible." Related readings: 83 Chinese nationals in Libya evacuated to Egypt"I urge the Libyan government and all parties concerned to ensure life and property safety of Chinese and other foreign nationals in Libya, and call on all parties to enhance international cooperation and facilitate their evacuation," Li said.Since the unrest erupted in Libya on February 16, people have been attacked and there has been vandalism, looting and arson, and Chinese firms had been a...

GUANGZHOU - This city's legislature has become China's first law-making body to publish the attendance records of deputies in an attempt to better hold public servants to account. A circular released on late Tuesday night by the secretariat of the annual session of the local people's congress showed that 481 deputies attended the congress' morning plenary session, while 22 asked for leave and two were absent without excuse. On Monday, 494 deputies had attended the congress' morning plenary session, while seven had asked for leave and four had been absent without excuse. The deputies who had asked for leave on Monday to undertake official business included Xu Ruisheng and Gong Erzhen, both vice-mayors of Guangzhou, and three other local government officials. Meanwhile, Lian Weifei, Chen Yunxiang, Chen Guijiang and Lu Jinnan, each a senior executive at local companies, had been absent without excuse. ...

BEIJING - A total of 83 Chinese nationals have arrived in the Egyptian border crossing of Sallum after leaving Tobruk in eastern Libya late Tuesday, sources with the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.All these Chinese nationals, belonging to China Building Technique Group Company, have now been evacuated to within the border of Egypt and are well looked after.The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it will spare no effort to evacuate the Chinese nationals in Libya with other related departments.

BEIJING - Pakistan and China will hold two joint military exercises in 2011, a Pakistani senior military leader said Tuesday.The two exercises, one army drill and one air force one, will be held to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Pakistan and China, said General Khalid Shameem Wynne, chairman of Pakistan's Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.Wynne, who is paying a five-day visit to China, told reporters that the two countries will also participate in a multinational navy drill in March.Wynne hailed the strategic partnership between Pakistan and China, saying it is "the best example" of bilateral ties and a "stabilizing force" in the region."The China-Pakistan partnership is a source of comfort and stability for the entire region," Wynne said.The visit is Wynne's first official visit to China since he was promoted to the rank of general and assumed his present position in October 2010.In July 2010, Wynne le...

BEIJING - China on Tuesday said it supported Indonesia's efforts to solve the border row between Cambodia and Thailand within the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)."China appreciates and supports Indonesia's active mediation efforts to tackle the Cambodia-Thailand border conflict under the ASEAN framework," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a regular briefing. Related readings: ASEAN meets for solution to Thai-Cambodian dispute Thai, Cambodia hold secret talks on ceasefire Cambodian evacuees return home after border row clashesChina is "ready to continue to work with the international community, and ASEAN, to play a constructive role in resolving the conflict," he added.Stressing that Cambodia and Thailand are friendly neighbors of China, Ma called on the two nations to stay calm and exercise restraint to avoid an escalation of tensions.In the latest clashes on February 4-7, a barrage of artillery shells were fired from both sides of th...

Two boy street performers solicit on a busy street in Chongqing City on Feb. 9. One boy wraps a steel wire around the neck of another. (The Epoch Times Photo Archive) On Jan. 25, Professor Yu Jianrong of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences set up a microblog and called upon people to post snaps of child beggars and orphans on streets, to enable parents of missing children to search for their kids. Yu’s microblog has since received unprecedented support from Chinese bloggers, celebrities, and even public security offices in different areas – with close to half a million followers, and over one thousand photos posted. Frenzy in Media Cracking down on the abduction of children has since been a hot topic in Chinese media. A case of seven child beggars who were rescued by police in Sanya City in Hainan Province was widely reported in the Chinese media. All seven children were from Mengtang Village, Taikang County, Henan Province; four of them had been hired by two child be...