China's Global Currency Proposal

BEIJING – China is calling for a new global currency to replace the dominant dollar, showing a growing assertiveness on revamping the world economy ahead of next week's London summit on the financial crisis.

The surprise proposal by Beijing's central bank governor reflects unease about its vast holdings of U.S. government bonds and adds to Chinese pressure to overhaul a global financial system dominated by the dollar and Western governments. Both the United States and the European Union brushed off the idea.

The world economic crisis shows the "inherent vulnerabilities and systemic risks in the existing international monetary system," Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan said in an essay released Monday by the bank. He recommended creating a currency made up a basket of global currencies and controlled by the International Monetary Fund and said it would help "to achieve the objective of safeguarding global economic and financial stability." - Yahoo! News

Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury, "said the U.S. is "open" to a headline-grabbing proposal by the governor of the China's central bank, which was widely reported as being a call for a new global currency to replace the dollar, but which Geithner described as more modest and "evolutionary." Source: Politico

China Owns The U.S?

America outspends China on defense by a margin of more than six to one, the Pentagon estimates. [1] In another strategic dimension, though, China already holds a six-to-one advantage over the United States. Thirty-six million Chinese children study piano today, compared to only 6 million in the United States.[2] The numbers understate the difference, for musical study in China is more demanding.

It must be a conspiracy. Chinese parents are selling plasma-screen TVs to America, and saving their wages to buy their kids pianos - making American kids stupider and Chinese kids smarter. Watch out, Americans - a generation from now, your kid is going to fetch coffee for a Chinese boss. That is a bit of an exaggeration, of course - some of the bosses will be Indian. Americans really, really don’t have a clue what is coming down the pike. The present shift in intellectual capital in favor of the East has no precedent in world history. - Asia Times

It's not a competition! But yeah, Americans are dumb.

China: "Change Your Lifestyle, Rich Countries"

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said developed countries should change their "unsustainable lifestyles" to tackle global warming.

Mr Wen said richer nations should help poorer ones solve the global problem.

United Nations climate chief Yvo de Boer said rich countries had to transfer cleaner energy technologies to developing nations.

The two were speaking at a two-day conference in Beijing discussing climate change. - BBC News

Like China has any level of credibility...

Kenya Gov't Bans Egg Imports

The Government has banned importation of eggs and related products from China.

This follows an earlier ban on milk and other related products from the country by the Kenya Bureau of Standards after the detection of traces of melamine.

Managing director Kioko Mang'eli said the ban also affects products from territories near China and takes effect immediately.

"The related eggs products will include noodles, mayonnaise, animal feeds and animal feed inputs." - allAfrica.com

Kenya knows what's up.

iTunes Store Blocked In China

Internet users in China have been complaining this week that they cannot access Apple’s iTunes Store. The start of the problems coincided with an announcement from an activist group which said that around 40 Olympic athletes had downloaded a pro-Tibet benefit album that was also carried on iTunes.

The IDG News Service reported Friday that the Amazon.com page for the “Songs for Tibet” album, which includes 20 songs from artists like Sting, Dave Matthews and Moby, could not be reached within China. Michael Wohl, executive director of the Art of Peace Foundation, which produced the album, cited comments on YouTube which said a video promoting the album might also be inaccessible in China. - New York Times

Pff, who buys music anymore?

Kexin Is Possibly 14 Says IT Expert

A determined U.S. computer expert has delved into cached pages on the Internet to unearth Chinese official documents showing a gymnast who took gold in the uneven bars competition, edging the U.S.'s Nastia Liukin, may indeed be underage.

Controversy over whether He Kexin is under the minimum age of 16 has surrounded her participation in the Beijing Olympics. The latest challenge over the age of the tiny Olympian comes from the discovery through a cyberspace maze of Chinese official documents listing her date of birth. - Fox News

The documents give her date of birth as January 1, 1994 - which, if you know how to do simple math, is two years under the minimum.

Bolt breaks record

And now, a success story.

BEIJING -- There will always be another. This is the eternal lesson of track and field. On a sweltering August night 12 years ago, Michael Johnson lashed the 200-meter world record to his back and seemed to drag it deep into the future. He ran 19.32 seconds, so fast that young men accepted that they would not see the record broken again in their lifetimes.

Usain Bolt was 9 years old on that night, growing up tall and skinny -- "I was tall when I was little,'' says Bolt -- in Trelawny Parish on the north shore of Jamaica, an hour's drive from the vacation resorts of Montego Bay and Ocho Rios. He loved to play cricket with his friends, and if he was talented, he was also a little lazy.

But one afternoon two years later, he ran too fast at a school field day and found himself on the track team, because Jamaica will compel a sprinter to sprint. Somewhere a clock began ticking, counting down the life of Johnson's record, unseen and unknown, but inexorable.

At the age of 12, Bolt ran 52 seconds flat for 400 meters on a grass track in Manchester, Jamaica. He won the world junior 400-meter title at age 16, beating athletes who were four years older. He was impossibly precocious. "We knew what was coming,'' said Bert Cameron, a Jamaican national coach who was also the 400-meter world champion in 1983.

On Wednesday night in the Olympic Stadium called the Bird's Nest, Bolt ran 19.30 seconds to take down Johnson's world record.

Olympics update

"Because it is my name!"

BEIJING -- American women were the face of heartbreak at National Stadium on Tuesday night.

Twice in the span of 20 minutes, they were flying down the straightaway with a gold medal within reach. Two strong favorites were close enough to feel it. Years of unstinting effort were about to pay off.

Lolo Jones failed to clear her next-to-last hurdle in the 100-meter hurdle final, falling from first to seventh in the race.

Twice they crossed the finish line beaten, shocked and devastated.

Two athletic moments of a lifetime ended in bitter tears.

First, Sanya Richards in the 400-meter dash. She was well clear of the field with a mere 80 meters to run when she suddenly lost her momentum, shortening up and finishing third. She was shaking her head in obvious dismay at the finish and complained afterward of a tweaked hamstring.

Richards was the saddest bronze medalist in Beijing, describing herself as "more than snakebit."

"I don't even want to tell you what I'm thinking right now because it's not positive," she said. "I feel so betrayed right now by my body. It's so discouraging."

At least Richards got a bronze, there's an achievement. Jones can take pride in how far she got and hope for a better turnout four years from now.

Phelps breaks medal-winning record

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a sports fan, but I've been watching the Olympics like crazy. Mainly because Phelps is making history.

BEIJING - The US lead in the men's 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay today was almost comical. And that was when Michael Phelps finished his leadoff leg in 1 minute 43.31 seconds. Not only was Phelps more than two seconds ahead of his nearest competitor, but he also put the Americans well ahead of world-record pace.

Phelps earned his fifth gold medal and his fifth world record of the Beijing Games when the US won the race in 6:58.56, smashing the previous record by 4.68 seconds. The gold represented the 13th Olympic medal of Phelps's career, surpassing swimmer Jenny Thompson for the most won by an American athlete. Between Phelps and the team's record-setting effort, runner-up Russia was an afterthought, touching the wall more than five seconds back for the silver medal.

"It's everything I ever dreamed about," said Phelps, whose victory earlier in the day in the 200-meter butterfly earned him his 10th gold medal, the most ever by an Olympian.

Female American, Chinese gymnasts face off

BEIJING (AP) - Nastia Liukin is bringing the toughest uneven bars routine in the world, and Shawn Johnson will be strutting some of the strongest stuff on vault, floor and balance beam. When it comes to sauce and sass, no one comes close to Alicia Sacramone.

C'mon, China, think you can top that?

Actually, yes.

For every dazzling routine the Americans throw out there in Wednesday's gymnastics team final, the Chinese can come right back with one of their own. And then some, in some cases.

Three years in the making, the showdown between China and the United States is finally here and it's as good as advertised. The world's two powerhouses, going one after another in the same rotation, one last meet to show, once and for all, who really is the best of the best.

Swimming loses its excitement when Phelps leaves the pool, but gymnastics is always worth watching - especially when you're rooting for Team USA! USA! USA! Sorry. But of course, the best sport of them all - you guessed it - ladies' beach volleyball.

Olympics Commence

BEIJING (AP) - China didn't just walk onto the world stage. It soared over it. At last playing its long-sought role as Olympic host, China opened the Summer Games in spectacular fashion Friday with an extravaganza of fireworks and pageantry dramatizing its ascendance as a global power.

Disasters, environmental problems and human-rights disputes preceded the games, and questions abound about how they will unfold. But for an evening, at least for the 91,000 people packed into the new National Stadium, it was an interlude of fervor and magic - capped by the spellbinding sight of a skywalking, torchbearing gymnast floating around the stadium's top rim before sending a torrent of fire upward to light the Olympic flame.

Scores of world leaders were on hand, and the potential TV audience was 4 billion worldwide for what was certainly the costliest and probably the largest opening ceremony in Olympic history.

Damn, I missed it. At least I can say I was a part of the 3 billion that didn't tune in.

China Is Racist

Hong Kong's English newspaper The South China Morning Post reported Friday that Chinese authorities have issued a secret ban on blacks, Mongolians and other "social undesirables" from Beijing's bars during the Olympics.

As the content on South China Morning Post's site is for subscribers only, here is an excerpt of the article c/o the Beijing drinking blog Beijing Boyce:

Beijing authorities are secretly planning to ban black people and others it considers social undesirables from entering the city's bars during the Olympic Games, a move that would contradict the official slogan, "One World, One Dream".

Bar owners near the Workers' Stadium in central Beijing say they have been forced by Public Security Bureau officials to sign pledges agreeing not to let black people enter their premises.... - The Huffington Post

The most twisted Olympic games in years? You bet.

Internet Spying At Olympics

Washington DC, Jul 29, 2008 / 04:47 pm (CNA).- Although the Olympics are meant to be a time of celebration and athletic competition, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) produced evidence today that Chinese authorities are planning to spy on visitors’ internet usage.

Documents obtained by CNA from Sen. Brownback’s office, show that the Chinese Public Security Bureau (PSB) is requiring hotels to install a software program called the “Security Management System” and a hardware device, both of which will allow the PSB to monitor the use of the internet by their patrons.

Hotels and other companies who charge for internet usage were told to have the software component installed by April 28, 2008 and to have the hardware functional by July 31, 2008 or face fines from the PSB.

Those who refuse to comply with the orders will be fined $730 for individuals and $2,200 for a company. Serious violations, the notice mandating the installations warns, will result in a suspension of access to the internet or the cancellation of the company’s business license. - Catholic News Agency

Government censorship = big no no

Separatists Threaten Olympics

A Muslim separatist group yesterday claimed responsibility for a series of fatal explosions in several Chinese cities and threatened to target the Olympic Games, due to begin on 8 August.

Chinese officials dismissed video statements by spokesmen claiming to represent the little-known Turkestan Islamic Party, who warned that they would attack next month's Games and said they were to blame for the previous blasts. A US terrorism-monitoring firm published a transcript of their video.

The Chinese authorities have repeatedly alleged that extremists from the restive northwestern region of Xinjiang - known as East Turkestan by separatists among the Uighur Muslim population - were targeting the Olympics. Officials have blamed the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and, more recently, Hizb ut-Tahrir for plots. The AFP news agency quoted intelligence analysts Stratfor as saying the Turkestan Islamic Party was another name for ETIM. - Guuardian

In response, China has set up a 100,000 man anti-terrorist team.

3 Shot At Gun Control Meeting

Three journalists have been injured in south-west China after a gun went off at a press conference called by Chinese police to highlight the success of a gun control campaign, state media said.

The press conference was taking place in Nanchong in Sichuan province to publicise the results of a campaign by the city's police to seize illegal weapons, the Beijing News reported.

According to Zheng Chongjun, deputy head of the political division of Nanchong police, some of the reporters asked to take photos of the guns seized.

One of the police officials mishandled a homemade weapon, releasing the trigger and dropping it to the ground.

It is unclear from the report whether the gun contained bullets or shotgun pellets but it said one local journalist needed surgery after being hit in several areas of the body including his ankle, crotch, and chest. - ABC

Talk about coincidence.

Christianity In Chinese Workplace

Beijing - A spiffy corporate campus in China isn't exactly where you'd expect to find a four-foot-tall wooden cross, let alone a church filled with Chinese singing hymns.

But that's what's happening on the Beijing and other campuses of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Company (SMIC), whose founding CEO is an enthusiastic evangelical Christian.

A leader in what Beijing considers a highly strategic industry, the chipmaking company has secured unusual leeway for free worship from a government that's extremely cautious about organized religion.

But despite their often hard line on religion, in practice, Chinese authorities use a sliding scale of religious control – influenced in part by how much a group contributes to a prosperous and "harmonious" society.- Christian Science Monitor

Sounds better than an atheistic influence in the workplace.

A Metaphysical Mismatch

NANJING, CHINA -- The factory looks like it could be any plant in this export-driven nation. Hundreds of Chinese workers huddle over loud machines churning out large orders for customers at home and abroad.

But what they're making might surprise you: Bibles.

As Tibetan monks grab headlines protesting the lack of religious freedom under Chinese rule, a booming Bible industry is on its way to turning the world's biggest atheist nation into the world's largest producer of the Good Book.

Chairman Mao might have said, "Our God is none other than the masses of the Chinese people," but here at Nanjing Amity Printing Co., China's only state-sanctioned Bible printer, little time is wasted pondering the contradictions of a metaphysical mismatch.

"We are printers," said Li Chunnong, the general manager of the plant, which has about 500 employees. "As long as somebody legitimate sends us an order, we will print them." - Los Angeles Times

Imagine if these Bibles were being produced in a sweatshop (ohhh the contradiction)

Darfur update

So, let's get this straight. China gets its oil from the Sudan. It pays the Sudanese government for that oil. The Sudanese government uses China's money to fight the people of Darfur. Thus, China is NOT playing a, let's say, "constructive", role, in ending the war. Right?

BEIJING - Chinese President Hu Jintao said on Wednesday that China will continue its constructive role in achieving a proper settlement of the Darfur issue.

Now I'm just confused.

Chinese Military Build Up? Nah.

BEIJING—China's top general sought to allay U.S. concerns Monday about his country's military buildup, but defended a decision late last year to deny Hong Kong port calls by an American aircraft carrier and other navy ships.

Gen. Chen Bingde, in charge of day-to-day operations for the 2.3 million-member People's Liberation Army, offered no new explanations as to why Beijing turned away the U.S. ships, a move that sparked consternation at the Pentagon.

"The distance between China and U.S. militaries is big. ... We don't have the ability to make you afraid of us," Chen, chief of the general staff, said at the beginning of talks at the Defense Ministry with Adm. Timothy Keating, the top U.S. commander in the Asia-Pacific region. - Associated Press