Free Republic

China's Mrs Fixit reignites row with Japan By Richard Spencer in Beijing (Filed: 25/05/2005) Diplomatic hostilities between China and Japan exploded into life again yesterday after a Chinese politburo member known as Mrs Fixit snubbed her hosts by ending a visit to Tokyo a day early. No reason was given for Wu Yi's failure to meet Junichiro Koizumi, the Japanese prime minister, thereby missing talks supposed to improve relations between the economic giants. But it became clear that the snub was deliberate when the Chinese media reopened a campaign of vilification against Mr Koizumi. The countries have been at loggerheads...

Zhao Ziyang, former Secretary-General of mainland China’s Communist Party, died at a Beijing hospital last Monday. Good riddance to another communist? In this case, no. Not all tigers are incapable of changing their stripes. During his tenure in China’s one and only political party, Zhao took steps that truly can be called “reforms.” Zhao's greatest moment occurred during the pro-democracy rebellion of 1989, which was centered in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. He opposed the use of China’s vast military might against the peaceful protestors gathered in the square. On May 19, 1989, Zhao personally pleaded with the protestors, mostly...

China’s ‘Golden Age,’ over five crucial centuries Souren Melikian International Herald Tribune Saturday, October 23, 2004 NEW YORK As they walk through the Metropolitan Museum’s ‘‘China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 A.D.,’’ many people will marvel at the new portrait of Chinese art and culture over five crucial centuries that comes across almost instantly. The myth of a monolithic, self-absorbed China is swept aside once and for all. . In a gripping introduction (sometimes difficult to follow because it is so packed with information), James Watt, the Met curator who masterminded this unforgettable exhibition, describes the intermingling of the...

Rats are next China's SARS hitlist January 07 2004 at 01:45PM Beijing - China's quest to stamp out Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome has spread from the slaughter of civet cats to rats as the southern province of Guangdong ordered a large scale rat extermination campaign, state media said on Wednesday. Communist Party and government officials in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, have stipulated a city-wide effort to kill rats or mice between January 10 and 13, the Guangzhou Daily said. Residents are encouraged to set rat poison in their homes, block all channels of entry for the rodents, including drains...

China's premier to tackle Bush over Taiwan and bra taxes By Richard Spencer in Beijing (Filed: 08/12/2003) The prime minister of China arrived in Washington last night for the new leadership's most important overseas visit yet, and he was preparing to challenge President George W Bush over a list of issues from Taiwan to brassieres. The visit by Wen Jiabao, regarded as the most liberal of China's leaders, was supposed to set the seal on two years of improving relations with the Bush administration. But meetings may be less friendly following a fresh outbreak of tension between China and Taiwan....

China's Net surfers second only to US December 06 2003 at 11:12AM Beijing - China will probably have 78 million Internet users by the end of the year, keeping its position as second only to the United States for the number of people online, state media reported Saturday. The figure was announced by Hu Qiheng, chairwoman of the Internet Society of China, a government-backed industry regulator, the Xinhua news agency said on its website. It marks an increase of 32 percent from 59.1 million users at the end of 2002. China's government has conflicting attitudes towards the Internet, as it...

Sars spreads to China's army By Richard Spencer in Beijing (Filed: 14/05/2003) Sars has struck China's three million-strong military, the World Health Organisation said yesterday - just as the number of cases in the country appeared to be heading downwards. The number of new Sars patients in China was less than 100 yesterday, and the number of cases in Beijing less than 50 for the fourth day running. Ten people died, bringing the total to 262 in China. But the government's promises of new openness in its "war on Sars" came into renewed question when it was left to a...

China's Super KidsBy NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF HANGHAIQuick, what's 6 + 8 - 7 + 6 + 5?If you knew instantaneously that the answer is 18, without having to pause even a second, then congratulations! You're as bright as a Shanghai kindergarten student — calculating in his or her third language.I've met the future, and it is these kids. Americans who come to China tend to be most dazzled by glittering new skyscrapers like the 1,380-foot Jin Mao Tower, but the most awesome aspect of China's modernization is the education that children are getting in the big cities. And the...