Beijing City

No Chinese troops in Gilgit, claims Pak’s envoy to Beijing

musiclover — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:09:50 +0000

Rejecting as “fabricated” reports of presence of up to 11,000 Chinese troops in PoK’s Gilgit- Baltistan area, Pakistan’s envoy here has claimed that only a “humanitarian team” from China was in the region to assist the flood victims. “The story is not true and totally fabricated,” Pakistan’s ambassador to China, Masood Khan, told the state-run More >

China goes against grain with crop imports

musiclover — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:40:17 +0000

While agricultural markets focus on Russia’s devastating drought, another large shift in soft commodity production and consumption is lurking in the background: China’s mediocre crops this year, combined with a shift in dietary habits, have strained the country’s traditional sufficiency in grains, leading to higher prices and large imports.

Beijing pushes Ma to dump Taiwan democracy

musiclover — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:08:38 +0000

Following on the heels of the signing of a controversial cross-strait trade agreement, the authoritarian People’s Republic of China is now pressuring President Ma Ying-jeou’s rightist Chinese Nationalist Party government to explicitly “oppose Taiwan independence” to maintain “the foundations for mutual trust” across the Taiwan Strait.

Beijing responds fast to landslide

musiclover — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:18:02 +0000

China’s government appears to have responded quickly after landslides and flooding devastated the isolated county of Zhouqu.

Rescuers were immediately despatched to the mountainous region; the first soldiers arrived just a few hours after disaster struck.

Chinese author to publish book critical of premier

musiclover — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 23:46:42 +0000

China’s premier cultivates the image of a sympathetic “Grandpa Wen,” but a new and unusually critical book claims he should be known as “China’s Best Actor” instead. Author Yu Jie said his new book aims to show the vast difference between the prim premier’s image and his hard-line policies. “China’s Best Actor: Wen Jiabao” will More >

London will not try to match Beijing Olympics

musiclover — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:37:51 +0000

London will not make any attempt to match the splendour of the 2008 Beijing Olympics when it hosts the event in 2012, chairman of the organising committee Sebastian Coe said on Thursday.

Instead, London would cull the best of all past Olympics and put up a game which is unique, Coe said.

China, Argentina sign 18 trade, economic deals

musiclover — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:01:09 +0000

China and Argentina signed 18 agreements covering infrastructure, energy and railway projects on Tuesday as Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner held talks with her Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao.

Following a welcome ceremony at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Ms. Kirchner said her closed talks with Mr. Hu would focus on bilateral and global issues.

State media quoted Mr. Hu as saying that China wants to expand bilateral trade and investment, and promote cooperation in mining; transportation; finance; farming, forestry and animal husbandry; infrastructure construction; and oil and gas exploitation.

Beijing Panda Crushes Cub to Death

musiclover — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:55:55 +0000

A panda cub was accidentally crushed to death by his mother in a Beijing zoo on July 3.

The mother panda, named ‘Ying Hua,’ gave birth to twin female pandas just 20 hours earlier.

Chinese media quote a zookeeper saying that the panda had been feeding her cubs when she heard them cry. Then the new mother, who hadn’t slept in 20 hours, fell asleep in the corner of her enclosure and accidentally crushed one of her cubs to death.

Undercover fashions

musiclover — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 22:28:11 +0000

Summer has arrived and with it the plum rains or meiyu. Getting caught in the rain is an all too often occurrence and the chances of catching a cab are remote. And as rain hits the streets umbrella sellers materialize to hawk their wares to desperate passersby.

While the need to carry these accessories is a nuisance for most, fashionistas may find the plum rains are an opportunity to sport a designer umbrella. The Global Times took a look at some of the designer umbrellas on offer in the city.

China hopeless campaign to clean up prostitution

musiclover — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 23:09:32 +0000

The world’s second oldest profession is, it seems, trying to suppress prostitution. The Chinese have been practising it for some time, with the predictable degree of success. Now we hear that the Hilton hotel chain has got into some embarrassment because police in Chongqing claim to have discovered a brothel, masquerading as a karaoke club, in the basement of the Chongqing Hilton. Well, when I say “claim”, I am of course being British and over-cautious: I don’t necessarily believe everything the Chinese authorities tell me, but I am fairly sure that if they say they’ve found a brothel, a brothel is what they have found. The combination of human nature and huge inequalities is always going to produce certain phenomena, with a proliferation of knocking-shops high on the list.