China Wakes

The title of this weblog is borrowed from a book that has greatly impacted my approach to studying and observing China, and has led me to conclude that the future of America is becoming more deeply embedded in the future of Asia every day. That book was NY Times op-ed columnist Nicholas Kristof's memoir about his experiences while working as NYT bureau chief in Beijing. According to Kristof, Napolean once said that "When China wakes, it will shake the world." Can you feel it?

Showing posts with label People's Republic of China. Show all posts

14.7.09

Finally: China stops shock therapy for Internet addicts due to lack of effectiveness data

China stops shock therapy for Internet addicts - Yahoo! Finance

It was more than two years ago when I first blogged about China's use of shock therapy to "cure" individuals of their internet addictions, and today it seems as if the Chinese have decided to abandon such cruel techniques.

Of course, the treatments are only stopping because research conducted at the institution administering the treatments showed it had no measurable effect on the usage of video games by the 3000 young Chinese who were chosen to participate in the program. I am not sure if this speaks more to the Chinese diligence for measuring and quantifying anything/everything, or to their cruel pragmatism when asserting their authority over its citizens. Either way, we should all take note of the casual acceptance of such draconian practices by the one government we are counting on to keep our country out of bankruptcy and our economy from going even deeper into the crapper. It is a scary future for America, a scary future indeed.

24.2.07

China uses "shock therapy" to cure internet addiction...

Tech2.com India > China Launches Campaign For Net Addicts > News on Internet

MSNBC- China treats internet "addicts" sternly

According to several international news outlets, the Chinese government has decided to take severe measures to curb the internet addiction that has afflicted many of the countries younger citizens. Using shock therapy, the government hopes to discourage these internet users, who often spend every minute they are awake in internet cafes playing video games and chatting with their friends, from maintaining unhealthy levels of usage. I doubt that the government will find the international reaction to this controversial program to be very favorable, and it certainly won't do very much to bolster the countries image in the eyes of the world. Can anyone seriously consider China to be a civilized nation when they have such Draconian policies for dealing with excessive internet usage?

11.9.06

EU takes proper stand against Chinese censorship

Image by MrGluSniffer via Flickr

Bloomberg.com: EU Says It Opposes Chinese Restriction on Foreign News Agencies

It has been mere hours since my last posting, in which I make clear my fealings about the newly issued rules for foreign media outlets operating in China, and already I am impressed by the reaction of the Europeans. Can't say that I often agree with the EU, but on this issue all citizens who live in societies free of government censorship should be deeply disturbed by such measures.

China's Draconian Media Policies Get Worse

Image via WikipediaFOXNews.com - China Tightens Controls on Foreign Media - Asia

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The state-owned media outlet Xinhua Press today issued strict restrictions on the content distributed by foreign media on the mainland. Bloomberg summed up the scope of the new rules as follows,

Foreign news agencies are subject to approval by Xinhua and may face warnings, demands for rectification, suspension or cancellation of their qualifications to release information for breaching the rules, the statement said.
Under the rules, foreign agencies must not release information that undermines China's national unity, sovereignty or territorial integrity; endangers China's national security, reputation and interests; or violates China's religious policies or preaches ``evil cults or superstition.''
The regulations also ban incitement of hatred or discrimination among ethnic groups, spreading false information, disrupting China's economic and social order, or undermining China's ``social ethics'' or cultural traditions.

Bloomberg LP, Reuters Plc and Dow Jones & Co. are among overseas companies that sell news and information to subscribers in China. Xinhua, while acting as the industry regulator, also competes with foreign news agencies to sell information.

Effectively, Beijing is drawing a line in the sand and the west is simply expected to respect China's sovereignty and stay on the other side. Unfortunately, the Chinese people have decided to go along with its government's overt attempts to drastically limit their access to information. This fact simply astonishes me, especially considering the countries growing exposure to the west and dependence on foreign markets to feed their industrialization. One would think that businesses and individuals in less accessible Chinese villages would demand access to information as the internet becomes more widely available. This could be an attempt by the communist government to institute these rules early, before the entire Chinese internet market becomes too accustomed to certain media outlets, but how can they realistically expect foreign media conglomerates not to declare all out war on the government. I think such careless decisions by the current leadership could prove disastrous in the long term, but these rules aren't set in stone and a little pressure from the west now could avert a crisis situation.

China Launches "Super Fruit" Satellite

Image via WikipediaDNA - Evolutions - Shijian-8: China launches satellite for super fruit and vegetables - Daily News & Analysis

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The Chinese have launched an ambitious agricultural program into orbit in the form of 2000 seeds on a recoverable platform, which will be exposed to cosmic radiation and micro gravity. China has been experimenting with similar research involving rice and wheat seeds with the result being a substantial increase in yields. This is China's 23rd 'recoverable' satellite launch and marks the first solely dedicated to seed enrichment. As the country continues to grow and more Chinese become accustomed to a higher standard of living, the demand for food in the PRC is also going to continue to rise indefinitely.

Rising populations in Africa and other less developed regions will undoubtedly put strain on global markets, and desertification of China's already scarce farmland has already put the country in a position of great dependence on global markets to feed its population. It will be important for Beijing to successfully reap the maximum yields from the arable land it still hasn't polluted if it is to confidently promise its citizens that they will have sufficient food stocks to prevent the onset of famine in the event of a natural disaster or other crisis. This research is absolutely a step in the right direction, and I hope the US and other governments have green-lighted similar programs to help China, India and every other developing nations deal with the strain of growing populations with limited resources.

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