New Data, But No New Light, on China Property Prices

With China’s property sector coming under increasing public scrutiny, the country’s National Bureau of Statistics announced yesterday that it was reforming the way it calculated property prices. But new data released today does little to dispel worries about the quality of information the government is producing.

China Watch: Cucumbers on the Pill, New Wikileaks Revelations

A list of what the Wall Street Journal’s reporters in China are reading and watching online, periodically updated throughout the day. (NOTE: WSJ has not verified items in the ‘News’ section and does not vouch for their accuracy.) Last updated: 11:39 am Beijing time.

News Items:

• A new report warns Chinese consumers not to buy cucumbers still bearing fresh flowers as they are loaded with hormones extracted from birth control pills. (Shanghai Daily, via Shanghaiist)
• Experts say better hearing and stronger hind legs could help pandas with breeding. (Xinhua)

More after the jump

Chinese Chukkers: Latest Must-Have is Polo Pony

In the booming Chinese city of Tianjin, an hour outside Beijing, a snow machine has been blowing artificial flakes across a 300-meter-long field for the past several weeks. It’s not for skiers or snowboarders. This marathon preparation is for a six-day snow polo tournament.

The games — which began on Wednesday — will be broadcast on Chinese television, and winners will receive a trophy made by Asprey, the jewelers to the British Royal family.

Continue reading on our sister blog Scene

Video: Journalists Attacked While Trying to Visit Activist

Journalists from foreign news organizations including CNN, the New York Times, Le Monde, Radio France International and Le Nouvel Observateur were threatened, and in some cases roughed up, by unidentified men Tuesday and Wednesday as they attempted to visit blind lawyer-activist Chen Guangcheng in his home village in eastern China’s Shandong Province.

Censors Keep Watch on U.S. Embassy Microblog

Attempts by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing to stimulate discussion on Internet freedom among Chinese microblog users ran up against Beijing’s sophisticated censorship apparatus Wednesday. Now it appears that this effort has landed the embassy’s official account on Sina Weibo, China’s most active microblogging platform, on censors’ watch list.

China Watch: A Fishy Magic Trick, How to Rate Developers

A list of what the Wall Street Journal’s reporters in China are reading and watching online, periodically updated throughout the day. (NOTE: WSJ has not verified items in the ‘News’ section and does not vouch for their accuracy.) Last updated: 7:26 pm Beijing time.

News Items:

• Animal rights activists have sent a letter to China’s state broadcaster CCTV protesting a magic trick, shown during CCTV’s annual Lunar New Year gala, in which goldfish are made to swim in unison. (Guardian)

More after the jump

Air Jordan Channels the Chinese Zodiac

Nike this month launched the Air Jordan 2011, billed as the 26th shoe in the Air Jordan series, though there have been so many variations over the years that it’s tough to know for sure if that number is correct. In addition to its three ‘colorways,’ as sneakerheads refer to them, this year’s version gets a special China-themed limited edition: the Year of the Rabbit Air Jordan.

Geithner: Chinese Inflation Helping U.S. Compete

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the Senate Finance Committee today that growing inflationary pressures in China would help U.S. competitiveness because companies and investors now have to factor in rising costs in China when making business decisions.

Continue reading on Real Time Economics

New Food Scare: Some Cadmium With Your Rice?

Move aside, melamine. Cadmium-tainted rice might be China’s new scare of the season.

In a recent study, researchers from the Nanjing Agricultural University found 10 to 60 percent of the rice sold in markets in six regions contained cadmium, a heavy metal associated with high blood pressure, fluid accumulation in the lungs and a potentially fatal softening of the bones.

China Telecom Employees Hack Verizon iPhone?

Users concerned that Verizon Wireless’ iPhone 4 wouldn’t be usable with overseas carriers may have a “pleasant surprise” coming.

Employees of the Guangdong branch of China Telecom teased users this week with a post on its microblog saying they were working on a way to crack Verizon Wireless’ CDMA iPhone, suggesting users might be able to use the device on China Telecom’s network.