found on: 51jms.com. In my four years in China I’ve yet to see a legitimate version of any software here. Generally when purchasing apps and games in the Middle Kingdom you have two choices – pirated software that looks pirated, and pirated software that looks real. Like pretty much every other media, most notably DVDs, [...]
Chinese Politics & News Posts
Tighter reigns, business as usual, or lost in translation?
Not sure if you’ve heard the news, but China has banned Western religious music. Well, technically, it was banned all along, but only now are the powers that be getting their red and yellow panties in a bunch. The banning news hit the wire after The Messiah, as to be performed by Britian’s Academy of Ancient Music at [...]
Chinese Skype privacy breech
A report released on Wednesday exposed the fact that the Chinese version of Skype has been snooping and storing the full text chat messages of TOM-Skype users (along with regular Skype users who have communicated with TOM-Skype users) on publicly-accessible servers.
The report, BREACHING TRUST: An analysis of surveillance and security practices on China’s TOM-Skype platform, was authored by Canadian Nart Villeneuve, of the Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary research and development lab that performs research at the intersection of technology, civic networks, and human rights (and whose site is seemingly blocked in China).
The key findings of the report:
What is melamine? Is it in my milk?
Every few months the media seems to dig up a new quality control issue with Chinese products. Many of these are largely just typical media fear factoring, but the recent “melamine in milk” debacle is very real and very wide-spanning. If you’re like me, you probably gasped in horror when it was reported that all [...]
Protesters play secret agents
If ever an argument needed to be made for watching less TV, the groups of Western “Free Tibet” protesters that have snuck in to China are it. There’s a four-page article running on the Washington Post’s site which explains in detail the mission of a group funded by Students for a Free Tibet (cue Mission [...]
While protesting in the park, stop and smell the 100 flowers
It was announced recently that three Beijing parks, miles away from the Olympic events, will be reserved as areas where people can “protest” during the Olympics. Of course, to protest, you’ll have to apply five days in advance and hope your cause isn’t considered, the rather ubiquitous, “against national interests” (anyone wishing to raise a [...]
Olympic fashion (non)sense
Well, everyone and their grandma is calling the 2008 Beijing Olympics China’s coming out party, and they’ve just been given the biggest reason yet, as it doesn’t get any gayer than this.
Sorry, I don’t mean to offend or misrepresent the gay community, <em>Queer Eye</em> teaches us you all have far more fashion sense than this.
This fashion faux pas of the century (and we’re still early into it) is China’s official Olympic opening ceremony uniform.
How does China Define Terrorism?
When I read about the bus explosions in Kunming on this past Monday I was a little surprised that the local police weren’t calling it terrorism. I don’t believe that it was done by anyone with a political agenda. This was probably done, as the police are saying, by someone with a local grievance. But isn’t [...]
A sober discussion about the Olympics
There’s little doubt that the 2008 Beijing Olympics have become more a political affair galvanizing views of China between “Western bias” and “blind Chinese nationalism” than anything even remotely resembling a global, peace-celebrating sporting event. Because of this, there’s been an endless barrage of reporting and blogging that has gone a long way to inciting [...]
Chinabounder returns, identity revealed?
Everyone’s favourite China user and abuser, Chinabounder, has returned – flicking the lights back on at his blog: Sex and Shanghai/欲望上海. As with his last return, he seems much more focused on sticking it to the Chinese government than he does sticking it to random Chinese girls – that was after all what originally gained [...]
