Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 1496

Hollywood Movies: Be Nice to China

If your movie features a Chinese villain, change his nationality. If your plot omits a scene in China, insert one – preferably with gleaming skyscrapers. If your production deal lacks a Chinese partner, find one. If Beijing's censors dislike certain scenes, cut them. Read more

Norge vil merke oppbremsingen i Kina

Etter nesten tretti år med rask vekst hoster og harker den kinesiske vekstmotoren. Det blir anslått at Kina må vokse med en årlig rate på minst sju til åtte prosent for å hindre sosial uro. Det er en reell fare for at veksten blir lavere enn dette de neste årene. Det kan skape sjokk i finansmarkedet og gi en betydelig lavere oljepris. Og det kan endre maktbalansen i verdens største land, med de

China Releases Last June 4 Counterrevolutionary

China’s prison authorities have released the last individual known to be incarcerated in Beijing for “counterrevolutionary” crimes dating back to the June Fourth protests. Jiang Yaqun was released in October or November 2012, based on a notice posted online by the Jingshan Neighborhood Council. The 73-year-old suffers from Alzheimer’s and has no family or home to return to. His previous

Latin America welcoming the Chinese dragon

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, travels to the US and Latin America this week, for the first time since he took office in March. What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago, there would hardly have been any fanfare about a Chinese visit to the region. Now, for Brazil, Chile and others, China is the most important trade and investment partner. Read more

We're all upset about Baby 59. So what else do we agree on?

On Sky News last night, as the Zhejiang baby in the pipe, Baby 59, lay incubated, away from the hurly burly of his beginnings, the anchor Anna Botting and pundit Jonathan Maitland were arguing about which photo the papers should have used. The choice was between the baby coming out of the pipe, which was Maitland's preference, and the baby rescued, alive and well in a hospital setting. Read more

Chinese Lead the World in Economic Optimism

Even as expert opinion sours on China’s economy, Chinese themselves remain highly optimistic about the state of their economy. A new poll by Pew’s Global Attitudes Project found that 88 percent of Chinese citizens say their national economy is doing good, more than in any of the other 38 countries Pew surveyed. Read more

Gerhard Heibergs ustanselige mas

Kina-venn Gerhard Heiberg fortsetter sitt korstog for å få lille Norge til å blidgjøre store Kina. I Aftenposten 26. mai minner han om de negative følgene av at forholdet lenge har vært på frysepunktet. Norge må derfor komme Kina i møte. Dessverre er noen av Heibergs argumenter haltende. Les mer

Hunan Officials 'Cover Up' Self-Immolation Protest

Authorities in the central Chinese province of Hunan have muzzled local media after a woman set fire to herself in protest at forced eviction from her home last week, the woman's relatives said on Tuesday. Zhou Lijun, 47, poured petrol over herself and set herself ablaze on the morning of May 22 after the ruling Chinese Communist Party secretary of her home village of Xiangshui brought in a

Xi Jinping's Maze with No Exit

Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is in a maze with no exit. Today, there is a growing recognition that fundamental economic change in China cannot occur unless there is also far-reaching political reform to remove entrenched interests. Yet meaningful political reform is completely off the table, as China’s lurch to the left makes clear, writes Gordon G. Chang. Read more  Secret Chinese

Can China breathe life into 'ghost towns'?

"Currently China's urban population is a little over 700 million people," said
Tom Miller, author of China's Urban Billion.
"By 2030, we would expect it to
be one billion. One in eight people on Earth will live in a Chinese city. So
they still need to do a lot more building." Read more