The Foreign Street China Brief

Issue 1: New Year's countdown

Chinese rush to wed before 'widow's year:' More personal freedom allows retreat to tradition

David J. Lynch

1041 words

7 February 2005

USA Today

A.6

BEIJING -- In many ways, the happy couple is the face of modern China. Liu Bo, 27, manages real estate in the Chinese capital's red- hot property market. His fiance, Guo Li, 27, sells wine, increasingly popular among the city's emerging class of affluent professionals.

Yet Friday, the two were outside a drab government office, anxious to wed before the start of the Chinese New Year on Tuesday. The reason? An ancient superstition arising from a calendar quirk that makes the coming lunar year a "widow's year."

USA Today Information Network

Coming home to roost

Jason Leow , China Bureau Chief

1091 words

7 February 2005

Straits Times

SHANGHAI - A DRAMATIC form of mass migration happens in China around this time each year.

People board trains, ships, cars or planes and pour themselves into rural corners of the country, hollowing out the cities they live in. Others leave the country for a holiday abroad.

SPH AsiaOne Ltd.

Rooster booster or fowl flap? Some turn to Chinese zodiac

Goh Eng Yeow

770 words

7 February 2005

Straits Times

The Singapore stock market is at four-year highs, but where it will go from here is anyone's guess. In the spirit of Chinese New Year festivities, here's a light-hearted look at what may be written in the stars

SOME investors swear by technical analysis. Others pore over annual reports and reckon fundamental analysis is the way to go. Some rash souls go by 'gut feel'.

SPH AsiaOne Ltd.

CHINESE NEW YEAR: Warning on killing fowl in open areas

267 words

7 February 2005

Bangkok Post

As the city gears up for Chinese New Year celebrations, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is on guard against the slaughter of live poultry in open areas.

BMA livestock office chief Padung Sutaecha said officials began inspections yesterday and would continue today.

The Post Publishing Public Company Limited

Free money isn't great

Marc Lim

902 words

7 February 2005

Straits Times

As Chinese New Year closes in, I'm having to wonder again when is one too old to receive hongbao

WHEN we were children, my cousins and I used to refer to Chinese New Year as our annual pay day. It was the only time in the year that we had as much as hundreds of dollars in cash, all at our disposal.

SPH AsiaOne Ltd.

God of Fortune back for good

Leong Weng Kam

1213 words

7 February 2005

Straits Times

THIS time last year, Mr Perng Peck Seng was having a rotten time down at the Singapore River Hongbao.

People kept asking him: 'Where is the God of Fortune?'

SPH AsiaOne Ltd.

Thousands flock to enjoy Lunar New Year Fair: Improving economy puts shoppers in the mood to spend

Carrie Chan and Scarlett Chiang

452 words

7 February 2005

South China Morning Post

The Lunar New Year Fair in Victoria Park was packed yesterday in another sign of the economy's revival and the willingness of people to spend more.

Police had to introduce crowd control measures as tens of thousands flocked to the park.

SCMP.com Limited

Semarang's Chinese set to celebrate 'Imlek'

Suherdjoko , The Jakarta Post, Semarang

602 words

7 February 2005

The Jakarta Post

Beads of sweat trickle down Hui Liam's face while he dusts the small statues in front of him with a brush.

"I've been assigned to clean these gods statues this year," said Hui at the Tay Kak Sie Temple on Gang Lombok, Semarang, on Thursday.

PT Bina Media Sejahtera

Issue 2: Sino-Japanese suspicions

China finds Japan hard to manage

By S.P. Seth The Statesman (India) / Asia News Network

1023 words

7 February 2005

The Korea Herald

It would seem that Japan is emerging as Beijing's targeted bad boy. Internet users are posting angry messages on Web sites designed to let out their hatred against Japan. Some are even predicting war. The Chinese authorities are quick to shut down sites advocating democracy and other activities. But they are looking the other way where Japan-bashing is concerned.

Why is Beijing allowing it? One explanation could be that it is a safety valve to channel popular disaffection into a national cause with the broadest popular appeal. Japan fits the bill. It hasn't apologized adequately for its wartime atrocities. It has sought to whitewash its history books by tinkering with wartime facts to paint Japan in a favorable light.

Herald Media Inc.

Beijing's military buildup races ahead

816 words

7 February 2005

The Japan Times

By RICHARD HALLORAN Special to The Japan Times HONOLULU _ China is modernizing its military forces faster than anyone expected only a few years ago, escalating the potential danger to the island of Taiwan, to American forces and bases in Asia, and to the overall balance of power in the region. ``China adheres to the military strategy of active defense and works to speed up the revolution of military affairs with Chinese characteristics,'' says the white paper Beijing issued in December. It points to ``leapfrog development'' in high-tech weapons for its missile units, navy and air force. Where many American and Asian analysts said before that China would be able to mount a credible threat between 2010 and 2015, now they are saying it will come earlier, perhaps by 2006 and certainly by 2012.

The Japan Times

China's Long March to globalisation

1356 words

7 February 2005

South China Morning Post

In the 1980s, Japanese firms made headlines worldwide by acquiring trophies such as Columbia Pictures, the Rockefeller Centre and Pebble Beach golf course. This global expansion generated envy and resentment, but over-expansion and a decade-long recession at home brought a mass retreat in the 1990s.

Now China is the new rising sun in the east, acquiring oilfields, mines and global brands such as IBM Corp, Thomson Investments Group, MG Rover Group and Ssangyong Motors. In 2003, China spent nearly US$3 billion buying foreign firms and the figure this year could reach as high as US$14 billion.

SCMP.com Limited

Japanese nervous again, this time over China

James Brooke

1096 words

7 February 2005

International Herald Tribune

TOKYO:

In the eyes of Shintaro Ishihara and others here, Japan used to be too meek and mild, allowing an overbearing United States to push it around. Ishihara was one of the authors of the best seller "The Japan That Can Say No," a call for national spine-stiffening that framed the foreign policy debate here in the 1990s. One of Japan's responses was to build a thriving relationship with China, whether Washington liked it or not.

International Herald Tribune

International Relations

U.S. Policy Leaves Taiwan Concerned --- Low-Key Efforts Opposing China Antisecession Law Are Disappointing to Taipei

By Murray Hiebert in Washington and Jason Dean in Taipei

878 words

7 February 2005

The Asian Wall Street Journal

The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush is quietly pressing China to ease off a planned "antisecession law" aimed at Taiwan. But Washington's low-key efforts are doing little to soothe Taiwan's anxiety about an issue that threatens to disrupt the recent, tenuous improvement in atmosphere across the Taiwan Strait.

China has said it will take up -- and therefore likely pass -- the proposed legislation at its annual legislative session in March. Specifics of the measure haven't been made public, but it is expected to enshrine into law Beijing's claim to sovereignty over democratic Taiwan and China's strong opposition to any move toward formal independence by the island.

Dow Jones & Company Inc.

Government, Law & Politics

China gets tough on schools 27,000 staff sacked after spate of bloody attacks

304 words

7 February 2005

TODAY

BEIJING - Chinese authorities have shut down 10,000 kindergartens and 2,000 schools and sacked 27,000 staff in a nationwide campaign to increase safety after a spate of knife attacks on pupils, state media reported yesterday.

The State Council or Cabinet ordered an inspection of all schools from October to December last year following a string of deadly attacks in the facilities, the Beijing Morning Post said.

MediaCorp Press Ltd

A fine line between fighting graft and providing justice

689 words

7 February 2005

South China Morning Post

Beijing's most potent weapon in its fight against corrupt officials is shuanggui - a Communist Party rule which requires suspects to report to graft investigators at specific times and places.

Much like the infamous invitation for coffee by Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption, the mere mention of the word is enough to make corrupt mainland officials tremble with fear. But the mainland leadership is under increasing pressure to scrap the rule, or at least restrict how it should be applied.

SCMP.com Limited

Halt on hydro project: CHINA'S new environmental watchdog may take the operators...

By The Canberra Times

602 words

7 February 2005

Canberra Times

Halt on hydro project CHINA'S new environmental watchdog may take the operators of the world's biggest hydro-electric development - the Three Gorges Dam - to court. The State Environmental Protection Administration has told the state-owned Yangtze River Three Gorges development corporation that it must heed an order to halt construction at three new projects or face legal penalties. Last month, the new eco-watchdog ordered a halt to construction at 30 major projects around China, because they had ignored laws requiring environmental impact assessments before work began. Eight projects, including Three Gorges Corp's Xiluodu station on the upper Yangtze River, the underground power station at the Three Gorges Dam and the Three Gorges project power supply station, have not followed the orders.

Federal Capital Press of Australia Pty Ltd

Websites come under attack for pushing independence

Martin Wong

356 words

7 February 2005

South China Morning Post

Websites calling for independence for Hong Kong and criticising the central government came under fire from an official news agency yesterday.

In an angry report, the China News Service said these "subversive" websites were not only agitating for a Hong Kong independence movement but also trying to recruit internet users to the cause.

SCMP.com Limited

Greater China & Provincial News

Beijing scouts for next chief executive: Officials and researchers seek views of HK politicians on possible candidates

Gary Cheung

438 words

7 February 2005

South China Morning Post

Mainland officials and researchers have been sent to Hong Kong in recent months to seek the views of pro-Beijing politicians on possible candidates for the next chief executive.

A pro-Beijing figure said researchers from various mainland departments had sought opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of several possible candidates since the middle of last year.

SCMP.com Limited

A question of control Vice--President Zeng Qinghong's comments have intensified speculation about Beijing's plans for HK

1378 words

7 February 2005

South China Morning Post

In a rare move displaying the undercurrents within our political waters, the Hong Kong government has acted swiftly to set the record straight on comments made by Vice-President Zeng Qinghong about the governance of the beleaguered Tung Chee-hwa administration.

Citing an authorisation from Beijing, the Information Services Department issued a terse statement on Sunday last week to clarify Mr Zeng's remarks broadcast by electronic media throughout the day.

SCMP.com Limited

Beijing left confused by Democrats

Jimmy Cheung

254 words

7 February 2005

South China Morning Post

Beijing was confused by conflicting signals from the Democratic Party over its sincerity to engage in talks, an executive councillor said yesterday.

Cheng Yiu-tong said the Democrats stressed there should be no preconditions to communication yet insisted on re-examining the June 4 incident and calling for an end to the one-party rule on the mainland.

SCMP.com Limited

Guangdong expected to need 1m more labor force in 2005

267 words

7 February 2005

Business Daily Update

Guangdong Province, an economic powerhouse in South China, is expected to face a shortage of migrant workers by more than 1 million this year, according to a governmental survey report released Saturday.

The latest sample survey on migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta conducted by the provincial statistics bureau shows that the labor force shortage is getting worse in the Guangzhou-centered Pearl River Delta, after it firstly appeared in the area in 2004.

China Daily Information Company

YANGTZE DELTA REGION STRENGTHENS FINANCIAL CO-OPERATION

630 words

7 February 2005

Asia Pulse

BEIJING, Feb 7 Asia Pulse - Co-operation among the Yangtze River Delta's financial sector recently took a major step forward with the establishment of a co-operation mechanism between the central bank branches of Shanghai and Nanjing.

The two branches, which started the study of building an interactive financial network in the region at the start of 2003, launched the co-operation project at the end of last year.

Asia Pulse Pte Ltd

Business & the Economy

The Counterfeit Catastrophe: Curbing piracy is as urgent as taking down trade barriers

Staff

419 words

7 February 2005

BusinessWeek

From the barbary pirates to the rumrunners of Prohibition to today's e-mail spammers, every period has its distinctive form of economic criminal: people who flout or break the rules of commerce for their own benefit. Such problems can't be eliminated, but a successful society keeps them under control.

By that measure, the era of globalization may be facing one of its biggest challenges. The astonishing expansion of manufacturing capabilities in less developed countries, notably China, has raised incomes and boosted trade around the world. But the same production and distribution also have created a frightening phenomenon: an ever-rising flood of counterfeits and fakes coming onto world markets (page 54).

McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Did Spark Spark A Copycat?

By Dexter Roberts in Beijing

581 words

7 February 2005

BusinessWeek

It's close to noon on a sunny January day, and the Chery dealership at the Asian Games Village car market in north Beijing is bustling. That's because the price of the popular Chery QQ minicar was just slashed by as much as $725, to a highly affordable $3,600. ``The best thing is the low price,'' says one customer preparing to buy a gray QQ, which he says has ``a fashionable shape.''

McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Beijing cites trade figure to resist yuan pressure

Shi Jiangtao and Agence France-Presse in London

530 words

7 February 2005

South China Morning Post

Beijing is under no pressure to revalue the yuan given its modest trade surplus, the central bank governor said after the central government agreed to support the call by main western countries for more flexible exchange-rate regimes.

Zhou Xiaochuan , who has been attending the Group of Seven talks in London, told Xinhua that the central government would follow its own timetable to reform its exchange-rate mechanism according to the needs of its overall development.

SCMP.com Limited

China Everbright Could Shine By Tapping Assets, Analysts Say

By Chan Ka Sing Dow Jones Newswires

711 words

7 February 2005

The Asian Wall Street Journal

HONG KONG -- While many China-backed companies based and listed in Hong Kong are back on investors' radar, China Everbright Ltd. -- once one of the most high-profile of the so-called red-chip stocks -- isn't one of them.

Analysts say, however, that China Everbright could shine again if it unlocks the value of key assets, particularly its stake in China Everbright Bank Co.

Dow Jones & Company Inc.

China Vows to Investigate Irregular Bank Activity

By J.R. Wu Dow Jones Newswires

370 words

7 February 2005

The Asian Wall Street Journal

SHANGHAI -- China's top banking regulator said yesterday it would thoroughly investigate illegal and irregular banking activities and urged banks to do the same, a call that comes as millions of yuan are feared lost in suspected fraud at the local operations of one of the nation's largest lenders.

Despite continued strengthening of regulatory supervision and banks' own internal management, violations are still happening, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said, singling out an unfolding case at Bank of China.

Dow Jones & Company Inc.

Chinese companies eye Canadian oil sands assets.

By KEVIN MORRISON

322 words

7 February 2005

Financial Times

Page 24

Chinese companies are looking closely at buying Canadian oil sands assets, but are waiting for Canadian authorities to give the go-ahead for the first oil export terminal to ship oil to Asia before committing to new investments.

Enbridge, a Canadian pipeline operator, says it is close to concluding an agreement to build a pipeline from Alberta to the west coast of Canada to export crude extracted from the country's bitumen oil sands to Asia, in particular China.

The Financial Times Limited

China's Demand For Oil May Keep Price Up Globally

By John J. Fialka

405 words

7 February 2005

The Asian Wall Street Journal

Increasing involvement by China and other nations in international oil deals could keep prices high for the foreseeable future and require more involvement by the U.S. and other governments to secure energy supplies, a panel of energy experts told the Energy Committee of the U.S. Senate.

Jeffrey Logan, an analyst for the International Energy Agency, said China's rapidly expanding demands for oil are being driven, in part, by plans to fill its version of the U.S.'s Strategic Petroleum Reserve and by its need to burn oil to generate electricity.

Dow Jones & Company Inc.

The politics of lipstick

344 words

7 February 2005

South China Morning Post

For the Chinese government, direct selling isn't just about Mrs Wang peddling make-up to a neighbour. It's also about politics and the right of access to homes and to organise at a national level.

It began in 1990, when Avon ladies began calling on homes in Guangzhou. By the end of 1995, there were 163 direct selling firms, employing 12 million people. In 1996, the government banned the direct sales of medicines, jewellery and fresh food by civil servants, serving soldiers, journalists, doctors and teachers.

SCMP.com Limited

Opportunity knocking for direct sales Initially banned in China

1095 words

7 February 2005

South China Morning Post

In April 1998, China banned direct selling. Seven years on, its people outlay billions of dollars annually on famous brands such as Amway, Avon and Mary Kay. The State Council is now considering lifting the ban that's due to be promulgated in the next two months.

"Worldwide, the direct selling industry employs 45 million people with annual revenue of US$85 billion," said Corey Lindley, president of Greater China for Nu Skin Enterprises. "By 2010, we expect China to be the equal of the world's two biggest markets, Japan and the US, accounting for 20-30 per cent of global sales and employing five to 10 million people."

SCMP.com Limited

Asian Garment Exporters Look To U.S. for Help Against China

By Murray Hiebert

988 words

7 February 2005

The Asian Wall Street Journal

A10

WASHINGTON -- Fearing that China will destroy their garment industries with the end of the quota regime that long governed global textile and apparel trade, poor Asian countries led by Cambodia and Bangladesh are appealing to the U.S. Congress to slash tariffs on their garment exports to the U.S.

The effort may be paying off. In late January, Sen. Gordon Smith, a Republican from Oregon and a member of the Senate's influential Finance Committee, introduced a bill that will cut tariff rates to zero on textile imports from 14 least-developed countries -- most of them Asian -- as well as tsunami-affected Sri Lanka. And Rep. Jim Kolbe, an Arizona Republican, is working to cobble together a bipartisan coalition to sponsor similar legislation in the House of Representatives.

Dow Jones & Company Inc.

Chinese-language pop music finds online outlets.

By MALINI GUHA

290 words

7 February 2005

Financial Times

Page 2

Apple and Universal Music are expanding their range to online music consumers by selling Chinese-language pop music for the first time in North America and Europe.

More than 1,000 tracks by top Chinese artists on the books of Universal, the world's biggest record company, will be available from Apple's iTunes stores in 15 countries, including the US, UK and Canada.

The Financial Times Limited

Metro Radio tunes in to China: HK station partners Radio Guangdong for Putonghua and Cantonese broadcasts

mediaSidney Luk

577 words

7 February 2005

South China Morning Post

Metro Radio hopes to tune in to the mainland's untapped radio market, the world's second-largest after the United States, by repositioning itself as a bilingual broadcaster in co-operation with Radio Guangdong.

Metro Radio, jointly owned by Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong (Holdings), will for the first time produce Putonghua broadcasts for a mainland audience, with an initial target of 100 hours of programming this year.

SCMP.com Limited

Web-Game Firm In China Posts Surge in Net Profit

By Jeff Meyer Dow Jones Newswires

448 words

7 February 2005

The Asian Wall Street Journal

SHANGHAI -- Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd., one the largest online game operators in China, said its net income more than doubled in the fourth quarter, spurred by robust net revenue growth, especially from casual games.

The company, which trades on the Nasdaq Stock Market, said its net income rose to 231.4 million yuan, from 68.3 million yuan a year earlier and from 165.1 million yuan in the third quarter. Net revenue more than doubled from the year-earlier period and rose 22% from the third quarter to 430.9 million yuan.

Dow Jones & Company Inc.

Creeping Unification Quiet moves in bonds, stocks and cash reserves are bringing an Asian financial union ever closer.

By Stephen Glain

778 words

7 February 2005

Newsweek International

An auction for $12 billion worth of U.S. Treasury bills has gone from routine to catastrophic. Prices are cratering as demand plummets. Share prices and the U.S. dollar tumble in value. Panic builds as the cause for the failure becomes clear: the Central Bank of Asia, balking at America's spendthrift ways, is shedding dollars in favor of Asian bonds denominated in the region's new unified currency, the yenminbi.

Newsweek, Inc.

Lenovo's Net Is Flat as Prices Fall --- Inventory Levels Are Down Executives Try to Quell Fear That IBM Clients Will Flee

By Evan Ramstad

585 words

7 February 2005

The Asian Wall Street Journal

HONG KONG -- Lenovo Group Ltd., the Chinese company buying the personal computer operations of International Business Machines Corp., said net profit was flat in its fiscal third quarter, when average prices for its PCs declined.

China's biggest computer maker posted earnings of HK$327 million (US$42 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31. That is slightly better than the HK$325 million it earned a year earlier but well ahead of the HK$307.8 million average forecast of five analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires. Revenue was HK$6.31 billion, down 3.7% from HK$6.55 billion a year earlier, when Lenovo also operated consulting and maintenance businesses.

Dow Jones & Company Inc.

Capacity glut set to double China car stocks - At least 300,000 units unsold as consumers step on the brakes

vehiclesMark O'Neill in Shanghai

404 words

7 February 2005

South China Morning Post

Inventories of unsold cars in the mainland are expected to double this year as new capacity races ahead of demand and consumers remain cautious because of unstable oil prices, tighter bank credit and expectation of lower prices.

Official figures put the level of stocks at the end of last year at between 300,000 and 400,000 units, or 7 per cent of last year's production of five million cars.

SCMP.com Limited

Anglo-Chinese car deal hits snag: Regulators resist UK pressure for completion

By GEOFF DYER, RICHARD MCGREGOR and JONATHAN MOULES

469 words

7 February 2005

Financial Times

Page 19

A planned tie-up between Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, the Chinese carmaker, and the UK's MG Rover has hit difficulties because mainland state regulators are resisting UK pressure to come to a quick decision, according to officials in China familiar with the transaction.

For the deal to proceed, SAIC needs approval from the Shanghai city government, its owner, and from the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic policy-making body in Beijing, which is responsible for foreign investments by state-owned companies.

The Financial Times Limited

Chinese Diaspora

Like the Irish in former times, thousands of young people from the Far East are going overseas for jobs...

1630 words

7 February 2005

Irish Independent

Just five years back, your chances of meeting a Chinese in Dublin were pretty small, apart from immigrants from Hong Kong waiting on you in Chinese restaurants. There were also transient university students and a handful of professionals, mostly from Malaysia - the odd lawyer like myself or doctors who had qualified at the Royal College of Surgeons.

Now the city seems flooded with Chinese. Almost every convenience store or fast-food restaurant has its quota of young Mainland Chinese. But behind this menial work masks the driving ambition that has brought them to Ireland: the hunger for education, that will turn them into well-paid professionals and successful businessmen. Like the Irish in America, their story is one of hardship and resilience in fighting for their dream of a better life.

Independent Digital Ltd

Chinatown remembers Kobe's Nankinmachi: community strengthens ties through quake

Hiroko Ihara Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer

1711 words

7 February 2005

Daily Yomiuri

Kobe's Chinatown will host a number of events in celebration of the Chinese New Year from Feb. 9 to 20, a much longer period than in usual years to mark of the 10th anniversary of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.

The Chuo Ward district, better known as Nankinmachi, played a vital role after quake. Although most of its nearly 100 restaurants and grocers suffered damage, some managed to serve simple hot meals the day after the quake, using propane gas, electric cookers or charcoal.

Yomiuri Shimbun, The

A study in motherly concern

Chang Ai-Lien

936 words

7 February 2005

Straits Times

SHE has been living here for close to a year, but Madam Zhou Hong has yet to make a Singaporean friend.

'People here tend to be warm and helpful, but somehow I haven't got to know any of them well. I suppose there hasn't been much opportunity,' said the 35-year-old, who moved here from China's Shenyang city last February.

SPH AsiaOne Ltd.

Society & Culture

Learning to make ends meet while studying for a future free of poverty

Alice Yan

715 words

7 February 2005

South China Morning Post

Mechanical engineering student Zhang Xiaojian has beaten the odds. Born into a dirt-poor family in southern Guangxi , the 21 year old has escaped a life of poverty by winning entry to Wuhan's Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

But it is a journey he is undertaking on his own, as his family has few resources to draw on. They rent a three-room house in the city of Liuzhou for 100 yuan a month and have turned part of the building into a grocery shop that brings in less than 20 yuan a day. As a result, the family can offer Mr Zhang little financial support.

SCMP.com Limited

Urban hope for migrants

762 words

7 February 2005

The Standard

It has taken courage for Guangdong governor Huang Huahua to announce that the province's population has reached 110 million _ nearly a third of them migrants who have lived in the province for more than six months.

It means Guangdong's real gross domestic product is probably going to fall precipitously because of a 50-year-old household registration system that has distorted China's local economic statistics.

The Standard Newspapers Limited

It's still tough being a farmer

661 words

7 February 2005

South China Morning Post

About a year ago, Beijing released its much-touted "Document No1", outlining a comprehensive strategy for rural development. The aim was to address the widening income gap between the rich cities and the poor countryside. The document was rightly hailed as a turning point in Chinese economic policy. Beijing issued a No1 rural policy document every year from 1982 to 1986, a time of dramatic agricultural reforms and huge rises in farmer incomes. For the next 17 years, however, rural reform was demoted to a secondary concern, behind building the coastal export economy. Real farm incomes first stagnated, then began to fall in the late 1990s, as agricultural prices dropped.

SCMP.com Limited

Rewriting the Role Sylvia Chang shines as a rare female success in Chinese cinema--in front of the camera and behind.

By Alexandra A. Seno

887 words

7 February 2005

Newsweek International

Sitting on a swivel chair in her office, Sylvia Chang sips hot tea out of a mug bearing a childhood photo of one of her two teenage sons. The 51-year-old actress may be a proud parent, but that doesn't mean that's all she wants to be known for. "I'm getting tired of playing mother roles," she says quietly. It's not hard to see why: in the critically acclaimed new Hong Kong-Singaporean film "Rice Rhapsody," Chang plays a Singaporean woman who has two gay sons and is determined to make sure the third turns out heterosexual. And later this year, Chinese moviegoers will see her as the lead character's mother in director Tian Zhuangzhuang's long-awaited historical drama "Wu Qingyuan," about the life of the revered master of the Chinese board game Go.

Newsweek, Inc.

A Talk Show Host Wants To Be China's Larry King

By CHRIS BUCKLEY

1088 words

7 February 2005

The New York Times

BEIJING, Feb. 6 -- Jack Pan aspires to be the Larry King of China. It is a grandiose ambition for a budding Chinese television host who began his career as an engineer and propaganda official.

But Mr. Pan, like many other Chinese and international broadcasters, is betting that a gradual opening of China's television industry will bring lucrative opportunities. And he has already coaxed an eclectic list of international celebrities like Yoko Ono, Nicole Kidman, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dennis Rodman to appear on his half-hour show, ''21@21,'' which began broadcasting weekly on Dragon TV in Shanghai on Jan. 7.

New York Times Digital (Full Text)

Chinese warm to art of ice-sculpting

Catherine Armitage

696 words

7 February 2005

The Australian

The Harbin Snow and Ice Festival is hot again, writes China correspondent Catherine Armitage

IT was Monday morning, -12C on Sun Island and the ink in my pen was freezing.

Nationwide News Pty Ltd