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.
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:
More after the jump
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.
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.
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.
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:
More after the jump
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.
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.
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.
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.
With Internet activism seemingly on the rise in China, what are the chances social media pressure will lead to reform of China's corrupt legal system?
A new regulation promises to a practice considered one of the greatest threats to stability in China, but will it be effective?
As President Hu Jintao starts his trip to the United States, the real political drama for U.S.-China relations is what happens as Hu begins his political exit back in China.
In recent weeks, leaks of information embarrassing to a number of government agencies and officials in various parts of the country suggest that plenty of Chinese Assanges have already emerged.
In a small but significant move, China has recently expanded the rights of its citizens to obtain redress for harms caused by intentional or negligent conduct by government agencies.
China Real Time Report is a vital resource for an expanding global community trying to keep up with a country changing minute by minute. The site offers quick insight and sharp analysis from the wide network of Dow Jones reporters across Greater China, including Dow Jones Newswires’ specialists and The Wall Street Journal’s award-winning team. It also draws on the insights of commentators close to the hot topic of the day in law, policy, economics and culture. Its editors can be reached at chinarealtime@wsj.com.