FEATURED ARTICLES write my paper Scenes From 21st-Century China (June 19, 2012, The Atlantic)China, the most populous country and the second-largest economy in the world, is a vast, dynamic nation that continues to grow and evolve in the 21st century. In this, the latest entry in a semi-regular series on China, we find images of tremendous variety, including astronauts, nomadic herders, replica European villages, pole dancers, RV enthusiasts, traditional farmers, and inventors. This collection is only a small view of the people and places in China over the past several weeks.Netizens Reflect As One Chinese Woman Touches Heaven, Another Hell (June 17, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)The contrast was not lost on Chinas netizens. On Sina Weibo, Chinas Twitter, @ advanced a widely-discussed comparison of the two women. He posted an image featuring a smiling Liu Yang at top, and below, Feng Jianmei and the aborted fetus in the hospital.GOVERNMENT / POLITICS / FOREIGN AFFAIRSPhilippines and China Ease Tensions in Rift at Sea (June 18, 2012, The New York Times)Chinese fishing boats near the disputed Scarborough Shoal off the Philippine coast were heading back to port on Monday after Philippine vessels withdrew from the same area in an easing of tensions in the South China Sea, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. The pullback, made necessary by the arrival of typhoon season, had been expected after two months of conflicting claims over ownership of the shoal, about 140 miles west of Luzon, the main island of the Philippines. The underlying antagonism between China and the Philippines over disputed islands in the South China Sea remained unresolved, but diplomats said they hoped the absence of the vessels would lead to a cooling-off period.Top chief says Bo Xilai scandal ‘damaged’ China’s image (June 18, 2012, BBC News)The new leader of China’s city of Chongqing has said that the Bo Xilai scandal “gravely damaged” the image of the country and the Communist Party. Zhang Dejiang spoke at a municipal party congress ahead of a major Communist Party leadership change in October. Former party chief Bo Xilai was sacked in March and is under investigation for breaking party discipline.French Architect Arrested in Chinese Inquiry (June 19, 2012, The New York Times)A French architect who worked closely with a disgraced Chinese official and his wife has been arrested in Cambodia, the French government said late Tuesday, in a development that could trigger further diplomatic friction in a domestic Chinese political dispute that has already embroiled the United States and Britain. Bernard Valero, the spokesman for the French foreign ministry, said at the ministrys daily news conference in Paris on Tuesday that the architect, Patrick Devillers, had been detained in Cambodia. Mr. Devillers is one of two foreigners known to have had business ties to Gu Kailai, the wife of the disgraced Chinese official, Bo Xilai, who was jockeying to enter the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee before he was purged this spring.China denies military drill with Russia, Syria, Iran (June 20, 2012, Xinhua)China on Wednesday said there was no truth to an Iranian media report about a joint military drill involving China, Russia, Syria and Iran. “The report is groundless,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei at a regular press briefing. The Iranian news agency Fars reported that 90,000 troops and hundreds of ships, tanks and warplanes from the four countries would take part in a land and sea drill in Syria soon. Russia and Syria have also denied the report.China: 2 Tibetans Set Themselves on Fire to Protest Beijings Rule (June 20, 2012, The New York Times)Two Tibetans set themselves on fire on Wednesday to protest Chinese rule and to call for the return of the exiled Dalai Lama, according to a report by Radio Free Asia. The Tibetans were identified as Tenzin Khedup, 24, a former monk, and Ngawang Norphel, 22. The self-immolations occurred in the Yushu Prefecture of Qinghai, a Chinese province that is traditionally the northeastern Tibetan area of Amdo. The burnings occurred in the town of Dzatoe, known in Chinese as Zaduo.HEALTHChina vows intensified crackdown on fake drugs (June 15, 2012, Xinhua)The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) has promised more efforts to prevent the manufacture and sale of counterfeit drugs following a five-month campaign that led to the uncovering of some 30,000 cases. The cases, which involved some 277.37 million yuan (43.5 million U.S. dollars), were investigated from January to May. Among them, 669 cases were transferred to police departments for further investigation, according to figures revealed Friday. “Many counterfeit drug cases featured online advertisements and sales, underground production workshops and transfers through postal express. Many occurred in drug stores and medical institutions in rural areas,” said SFDA head Yin Li. According to Yin, future crackdowns will focus on websites advertising and selling fake drugs, the management of postal express services and the supervision of market circulation, especially the procurement of medicine in rural stores and health centers.EDUCATION / CULTUREMore Party influence in higher education institutions urged (June 20, 2012, Xinhua)Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping has urged the country’s higher education institutions to give Communist Party of China (CPC) branches a bigger role in the education and management of faculties and students. Xi, also president of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks while inspecting Peking University, Renmin University and Tsinghua University on Tuesday and Wednesday. “A Party branch is a basic unit for college education and the management of Party members Grassroots Party organizations should be assured of playing a vigorous part in more aspects of higher education,” Xi said while visiting the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering and the School of Archaeology and Museology under Peking University. At Renmin University, Xi visited the education and research center for Karl Marx’s Das Kapital and attended a seminar where new student Party members discussed Marxist classics.SOCIETY / LIFEBeijing-Shanghai high-speed rail prices cut (June 18, 2012, Xinhua)Travelers will enjoy discounts when buying business-class tickets and premium seats on Beijing-Shanghai high-speed trains starting June 27, according to the Ministry of Railways. Business-class tickets for the 85 high-speed trains operating on the country’s busiest railway line will be reduced by 10%-20%, while tickets for premium seats will be cut by 10%, according to a statement posted on the website of the ministry. The ministry’s move aims to attract more passengers to business class, which has been suffering from low attendance.No deferment of retirement age yet (June 20, 2012, China Daily)Chinese authorities have said the country has no immediate plans to defer the retirement age. “We are indeed studying the deferment of the retirement age but it does not mean we would change the current retirement policy right now,” an official with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security was quoted as saying by the People’s Daily. The ministry said earlier this month that the country would introduce a policy at the “proper time” and it would start related deliberations later this year. Currently in China, the retirement age for female workers is 50, female government officials, 55, and male workers, 60. Experts say the retirement age policy was made some 60 years ago when life expectancy in China was comparatively low. Now, as Chinese people have an average life expectancy of 73.5 years, the issue needs to be reconsidered, as is being done in other countries.Protest in China over Guangzhou death in custody (June 20, 2012, BBC News)Police in the Chinese city of Guangzhou say they are investigating the death of a foreign man at a police station, which led to clashes between African traders and police. The man, said in some reports to be a Nigerian citizen, was taken to the station on Monday after a clash with an electric bicycle driver over a fare.While there, he “lost consciousness” and died, police said. Over “100 Africans” protested over his death on Tuesday, state media reported.Dangdang online mall mired in fake watch crisis (June 20, 2012, Shanghai Daily)CHINA’S online shopping site, dangdang.com, has been accused of selling counterfeit watches, becoming the second online mall to be hit by the fake watch sandal after Taobao. Online stores at dangdang.com were found selling Casio electronic watches made in Japan at only 40 percent of normal market prices. They promised their watches are genuine, but Casio said it never authorized them as retailers. Japan’s leading electronic goods producer said the website has infringed on its rights and the customers’ rights as well, and it will send a formal letter to Dangdang to stop selling any Casio products and get rid of fake dealers. It will also file a lawsuit against Dangdang, CCTV reported today.SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY / ENVIRONMENTChinese astronauts complete successful docking at space lab (June 18, 2012, The Guardian)Chinese astronauts carried out the country’s first manned docking mission on Monday, taking it one step closer to building a space station within the decade. The saturation coverage of the trip in state media had previously concentrated on its other first: Liu Yang, the youngest of the three astronauts, is the first Chinese woman to go into space. The trio entered the Tiangong 1 laboratory module around three hours after it linked up with their spacecraft, the Shenzhou 9, led by their commander, Jing Haipeng. The docking was shown live on television. The Tiangong 1 is a prototype, rather than a component, of the space station that China hopes to build in the next 10 years. But the rendezvous and docking practice is an important step towards constructing a full space laboratory.BUSINESS / ECONOMICS / FOREIGN TRADEBurger King to open 1,000 restaurants in China (June 15, 2012, BBC News)Fast-food giant Burger King has said it will open 1,000 restaurants in China over the next five to seven years. The announcement comes after the group signed a joint venture agreement with the Kurdoglu family, which is already Burger King’s largest franchisee, and private equity firm Cartesian Capital. Burger King currently owns 63 outlets in China. Rival McDonald’s owns 1,400. Other fast-food groups are also looking to take advantage of China’s rapidly-growing middle classes.China offers Taiwan companies $95 bn in credit (June 17, 2012, AFP)China pledged Sunday to offer up to 600 billion yuan ($95 billion) in credit to Taiwanese companies on the mainland as it furthered its campaign for reunification. China will also increase access to mainland universities for Taiwanese teachers and students and allow direct cross-strait flights to three more mainland airports, Wang Yi, head of the cabinet-level Taiwan Affairs Office said. “In order to help Taiwanese enterprises develop, mainland banks will offer a 600 billion yuan credit ceiling over the next three to four years,” Wang said in a speech at a forum in southeast China’s Xiamen city. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and China Development Bank will be authorised to make the loans, he said. Wang was speaking at the Straits Forum an annual meeting aimed at bolstering ties between China and Taiwan, which Beijing considers a rebel province awaiting reunification. The new moves were aimed at boosting trade and tourism between the two sides, Wang said.China property prices drop further raising growth fears (June 18, 2012, BBC News)Property prices in China fell further in May indicating that government policies put in place to curb speculation are having the desired effect. Prices of new homes fell in 55 of 70 Chinese cities from a year earlier. Beijing has been trying to curb property speculation amid fears that asset bubbles may be forming. However there are concerns that if prices fall too much too soon, it may hurt China’s overall economic growth.China says rare earths practices meet WTO rules (June 19, 2012, AFP)China said Wednesday its regulation of the rare earths industry was in line with global trade rules, as it faces international pressure over its control of the crucial elements. The United States, European Union (EU), Japan and Canada lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) in March, claiming Beijing was unfairly choking off exports of the commodities to benefit domestic industries. China produces more than 90 percent of the world’s rare earths, which are used in high-tech equipment from iPods to missiles, and has set output caps and export quotas on the coveted resources. Gao Yunhu, vice director of the rare earths office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said its management of the industry was “in full compliance with WTO rules”.LINKS TO DETAILED ARTICLES AND ANALYSISAccused Chinese Party Members Face Harsh Discipline(June 14, 2012, The New York Times, by Andrew Jacobs)When party members are caught breaking the rules or even when they merely displease a superior they can be dragged into the maw of an opaque Soviet-style disciplinary machine, known as shuanggui, that features physical torture and brutal, sleep-deprived interrogations.Video: China’s Shenzhou capsule docks with space lab (June 18, 2012, BBC News, by John Sudworth)China’s Shenzhou-9 capsule, with its crew of three, has docked with the Tiangong-1 space lab. The latest Shenzhou mission is of particular significance to China as it involves the country’s first female astronaut, 33-year-old Liu Yang.Even in New York, China Casts a Shadow (June 18, 2012, The New York Times, by Erik Ekholm)Mr. Chen is enjoying his first chance in years to study and use the Internet without fear of arrests or beatings. But he is hardly serene.China: witnessing the birth of a superpower (June 19, 2012, The Guardian, by Jonathan Watts)As he prepares to leave after almost a decade reporting from China, our reporter reflects on his ringside seat watching a developing country transform itself.A Nigerian Dies in Chinaand Racial Tensions Heat Up (June 20, 2012, Time, by Hannah Beech)The death of a Nigerian man in the southern Chinese megacity of Guangzhou allegedly when he was in police custody sparked a protest by Africans living there, raising tensions in a country still uncomfortable with racial differenceChina Needs American Education. Here’s How to Bring It There (June 20, 2012, Forbes, by Shaun Rein)Chinas education system has serious weaknesses, and the Chinese are well aware of them.Debt dispute leaves Missouri man in limbo in China (June 20, 2012, AP)A Missouri man involved in a business dispute has been stuck in China for five months after the Chinese government refused to let him leave. The Chinese government forced Steve Fleischli of Labadie, Mo., to surrender his passport in a dispute over his company’s unpaid debt to Chinese firms. Complicating matters is that he has lost his job since going to China on business in January.Will China overtake America in space?(June 20, 2012, CNN, by Joan Johnson-Freese)China’s space plans are ambitious, incremental and extensive. Should Americans be worried that China will overtake us in both space exploration and military capability in space? No, not yet.LINKS TO BLOGSThe Greater Significance of the Forced Abortion Photo (June 18, 2102, Sinostand)For most Chinese, the one-child policys unpopularity comes simply from the fact that they cant have as many kids as theyd like. Social side-effects like forced abortions have been largely non-issues because the censorship apparatus doesnt allow them to be issues. For Chinese, unless you personally know of someone who experienced brutality in the name of population control, you probably dont appreciate the seriousness and ubiquity of the problem. That is, until last week.Sidney Rittenberg: An American in Maos China (June 18, 2012, China Digital Times)90-year-old Sidney Rittenbergs life story is one beyond compare. Not only did the South Carolina native witness first-hand the totality of Maos career as Chinas supreme ruler, but he also played an active role in the oscillating political environment of revolutionary China. In 1942, The young labor organizer left the US Communist Party to become a soldier in World War II, and was stationed in China in 1944. After the war, he decided to stay in China to work for a UN famine relief program. He came into contact with CCP leaders in Yanan, and joined the Party.Chinas Caribbean Adventure (June 18, 2012, The Weekly Standard)Beijing is flooding the region with investment. Should America be worried?Shenzhou-9: national glory, or flight of fancy? (June 19, 2012, China Media Project)Some Chinese on social media, however, questioned spending on prestige-building endeavors in space when China faces pressing inequalities on the ground.Chinas Reluctant Young Entrepreneurs (June 19, 2012, China Real Time Report)The commercial success of many high-profile Chinese entrepreneurs appears to have done little to encourage young Chinese college graduates to become their own boss. According to a recent report, only 1.6% of Chinese college graduates started businesses last year, essentially flat with the year before.Model Workers 2012 (June 19, 2012, Danwei)Today we present the Danwei Model Worker Awards 2012, a list of the best specialist websites, blogs and online sources of information about China.Journalistic ethics questioned at SCMP (June 19, 2012, Asia Sentinel)A decision by the South China Morning Posts new editor in chief, Wang Xiangwei, to reduce a major breaking story on the suspicious death of Tiananmen dissident Li Wangyang in a Hunan hospital to a brief has kicked off a new controversy at the paper.Playing Fake Ball: Why Chinese Soccer Matters (June 20, 2012, Letter from China)Chinese soccer problems go beyond rotten apples, and the deep structural obstacles to solving them tell you quite a bit about the broader debate about credibility and institutional strength in Chinese life today.Communist Party Wilting Under the Political Heat? Hardly.(June 20, 2012, China Real Time Report)The true heat of the summer has started here in Beijing. But theres little sign of the Communist Party sweating over social unrest or the upcoming transition in political leadership. In fact, the developing agenda for Chinas leaders is not saying yes or no to political reform, but what kind of restructuring makes sense for the moment.Discussing Why Weibo Matters To Journalisms Future (June 20, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)What is the future of journalism? How do you even define journalism? Why is Weibo, Chinas Twitter, an important part of this discussion?Controversy Continues over Confucius Institutes (June 20, 2012, China Digital Times)Beijings Confucius Institute, a program to aid in spreading Chinese soft-power to the world via language and cultural education, has generated much controversy since its beginnings in 2004. While government sponsored efforts to bolster national image through the global promotion of language and culture are not unique to China (see Frances Alliances Franaises, Spains Instituto Cervantes, or Germanys Goethe-Institut), their presence within established universities and exercise of control on class curriculum is.The Best Chinese Restaurants in America: Are They All in California? (June 20, 2012, Asia Society)Ranking the 10 best Chinese restaurants in the United States is fairly easy for me. It’s something I’ve often thought about, though I have never put pen to paper. However, I feel as though I must provide an explanation first, since I suspect the result is not what you might expect.Global Times: China Has Long Been a Type of Democracy (June 20, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)And the hits keep on comin. You can always count on Global Times, the tabloid owned by Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece Peoples Daily, for entertaining editorials over your morning soy milk.Something in the Chinese Air: Pollution, But Hints of Transparency (June 20, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)Talking endlessly about the weather is supposed to be a British quirk, but a growing obsession with air quality has made the weather an equally popular talking point for Chinese netizens.ARTICLES IN CHINESE (Pushi Institute for Social Science) (June 19, 2012, Gospel Times) (June 21, 2012, Gospel Times)RESOURCESyesHEis.comyesHEis (Chinese)