News

Dental problems afflict 80 percent of Chinese: At least 80 percent of Chinese adults have dental problems and 57 percent of rural Chinese—or 500 million people—have never brushed their teeth.

China sees success tackling TB: The number of TB cases has fallen by a third in parts of China where WHO-approved treatment programmes have been implemented. The data was published in the medical journal The Lancet and suggests China could significantly cut TB as part of a wider global effort.

China Orders Emergency Shipments of Coal: China has ordered emergency shipments of coal by road and waterways to help ease severe energy shortages said to be the worst in two decades.

Lost in Translation

The chopsticks we received at a local Chinese restaurant had the following text:

Welcome to Chinese Restaurant. please try your Nice Chinese Food With Chopsticks the traditional and typical of Chinese glonous history. and cultual.

BAMBOO CHOPSTLCKS
PRODUCT OF CHINA

In a perfect follow-up, I noticed the following on-line news article this morning: Thunder Causes Forest Fires in Inner Mongolia.

Local Stories

From China to Home: Zachary Collopy was almost 4 years old when he asked his parents for a baby sister from China. Many parents might have dismissed such a statement without another thought, but David and Rachel Collopy took it seriously. "I thought it would be fun to have a sister," Zachary said.

New Book

Only Hope: Coming of Age Under China's One-Child Policy

The first generation of children born under China's one-child family policy is now reaching adulthood. What are these children like? What are their values, goals, and interests? What kinds of relationships do they have with their families? This is the first in-depth study to analyze what it is like to grow up as the state-appointed vanguard of modernization. Based on surveys and ethnographic research in China, where the author lived with teenage only-children and observed their homes and classrooms for 27 months between 1997 and 2002, the book explores the social, economic, and psychological consequences of the decision to accelerate the fertility transition.

"Only Hope" shows how the one-child policy has largely succeeded in its goals, but with unintended consequences. Only-children are expected to be the primary providers of support and care for their retired parents, grandparents, and parents-in-law, and only a very lucrative position will allow them to provide for so many dependents. Many only-children aspire to elite status even though few can attain it, and such aspirations lead to increased stress and competition, as well as intense parental involvement.

To their parents, brought up in larger families with lower parental investment, only-children seem maladjusted and spoiled—a complaint, the author points out, heard in many societies in the developed world, where declining fertility rates are an integral part of the modern economy.

Terms to Avoid

News Watch, (a project of the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism of the San Francisco State University Journalism Department) publishes style guide that includes words and phrases to avoid. Here is a list of words compiled by Emily from APC.

Asiatic—Avoid. A 19th century adjective typically used in "scientific" European treatises assuming the superiority of the white race. Implies enemy race. Instead use Asian, Asian Pacific American, Pacific Islander or Asian American.

China doll—Avoid. Reinforces stereotypes of Asian women as exotic and submissive sex objects. Use only in direct quotes.

Chinaman—Avoid. A racial slur often used against anyone of Asian ancestry.

Chinaman's chance—Avoid. Refers to having little or no chance of succeeding. Believed by some to have derived from the fate of Chinese laborers building the transcontinental railroad. They were subjected to extreme physical danger and died at a high rate from placing explosives on steep cliffs and working in deep tunnels. Others believe it derives from the lynchings and other racist attacks by white mobs against Chinese, beginning in the 1850s. Use only in direct quotes.

chink—Avoid. Racial slur referring to Chinese and Chinese Americans. Use only in direct quotes.

Confucian work ethic—Avoid. Stereotypical term referring to the tendency of some Asians to work hard and keep quiet. Evokes images of Asians as mindless hordes unable to think or act creatively.

Confucius say—Avoid. Stereotypical saying poking fun at Asian Americans as speaking in proverbs and not having original thoughts or actions.

exotic—Avoid when describing Asian, African, Latino, or American Indian cultures, unless also using for European and American culture.

Far East—Avoid. Denotes Asia, as viewed from London. Use Asia, East Asia or Southeast Asia.

gook—Avoid. Racial slur. A derogatory term for Asians, widely used by American GIs during the Korean War and again during the Vietnam War. Thought to be a corruption of "Hankook," or Korea.

Oriental—Avoid. Do not used to refer to people of Asian ancestry. Use "Asian" or "Asian American." Many Asian Americans liken "Oriental" to "negro." A vestige of British imperialism, the term, at minimum, is vague. In art, it may include countries such as China and Japan, but not Turkey. In rugs, it may mean India and China as well as Turkey. In food, it may mean China or Japan, but not India, Vietnam or the Philippines.

slant, slant-eye—Avoid. Racial slur. The stereotypical caricature of Asians with narrow, slanted slit eyes, with no pupils showing, was first used by white cartoonists in the 1800s to whip up anti-Asian hysteria. The caricature also is used to demean Asians as mindless horde.

yellow peril—Avoid. Derogatory term used to describe Asians as a great threat to Western civilization. The term gained appeal in the 1880s, and was used by some newspapers and politicians to whip up racism against Asian immigrants, specifically Japanese, who had become successful entrepreneurs in California agriculture and were portrayed as taking jobs from whites or were poised to invade the United States.

News

China launches spacewomen hunt: China is to start scouting its high schools next year to find candidates to be the country's first woman in space.

China to launch second manned space mission in 2005: China is expected to launch its second manned spacecraft, Shenzhou VI, on a five-day mission in the second half of next year, state media quoted a Chinese space expert as saying.

China Arrests Chinese-Born U.S. Citizen: China has arrested a Chinese-born American citizen on charges of spying on Beijing's diplomats in the United States for rival Taiwan, an official newspaper reported. [reg. req.]

News

China launches gay Aids survey: China is conducting its first survey of the number of homosexual carriers of HIV, the virus that can lead to Aids.

China's Internet Population Grows 28 Pct.: China's Internet population grew 28 percent over the past year to 87 million, while use of broadband and online commerce is soaring, according to a government report.

China's victims pick a brave fight: It is five o'clock in the morning and Chi Yumei has already begun picking through rubbish bins to see what she can sell.

China shows military muscle in weekend drill: About 3,000 people took part in a two-day weekend military exercise off the southeastern coast amid increasing tensions with Taiwan.

Fridge Magnet

TravelTECH1, which provides travel accessories for the international traveler, is selling a ladybug refrigerator magnet.

Bug Benders come individually packed in its own mesh tin with a clear viewing top that can be used for viewing live ladybugs and other insects. There is a 16 page booklet that tells cool bug facts included. Take your Bug Bender and plant him on the fridge, then take that mesh tin and hunt some real bugs. It's okay, with powerful neodymium magnets in each leg, your Bug Bender will still be there on the fridge when you return.

(Thanks Glenn from APC!)

Local Stories

Adoptive parents take in twins to double their pleasure: The two identical 6-year-old sisters, complete in matching red-and-white outfits down to the bows in their hair, each were tugging the same small toy. Their mother intervened. "Girls, I'm just telling this lady how much you love each other," she admonished.

News

China Mulls Bonus Hike for Olympic Medal Winners: China is considering increasing the cash bonus paid to its Olympic medal winners at the 2004 Summer Games, opening next month in Athens. Cash bonuses for gold, silver and bronze medal winners at the last Olympics in Sydney were 150,000 yuan (about US$18,000), 80,000 yuan (US$9,600) and 50,000 yuan (US$6,000), respectively.

US officer charged for beating Chinese: Robert Rhodes, a US border inspector, was charged on Friday with civil rights violations after the Wednesday beating of 37-year-old Zhao Yan near the famous Niagara Falls. Rhodes pepper-sprayed and struck Zhao after confusing her with suspected drug smugglers.

China Farmers Get Death for Oil Theft: A Chinese court has sentenced five farmers to death for stealing crude oil from a pipeline that ran through their county.

China domestic flight 'hijacked': China says a Chinese aircraft was hijacked on an internal flight on Monday, but that the incident had been "successfully resolved". "Fifty minutes after take-off, a young man... claimed he wanted to hijack the plane and fly to South Korea."

Beautiful China

Please don't feed the animals . . .

Asian Entertainment

YesAsia.com has a large selection of Asian music, videos, comics, etc.!

(Thanks Darinka from APC, who also reminds us: One caveat though, be careful when ordering that you pick NTSC format and the correct region for DVDs, make sure the item is subtitled in English (unless of course you are fluent in the language selected) and be careful, it is easy to click on VCD instead of CD.)

News

Summer weight reduction camp: An overweight Chinese boy eats his lunch after a weight reduction class in Beijing. Obesity has become a big headache for many families who are allowed only one child and spoil their offspring.

Swimwear for Athens Olympics debuts: The official swimwear for the Athens Olympic Games to be worn by the Chinese National Team has made its Shanghai debut. The swimwear—Speedo Fast Skin FSII (second generation)—is said to be 4 per cent faster than other swimming costumes.

Beijing 'brown-out' to save power: Beijing has experienced its first "brown out" of the year—a partial power cut to save energy as China grapples with soaring electricity demand.

China flood death toll nears 400: China is warning of more floods and typhoons as the death toll from the summer rains approaches 400. Official figures say more than a million people have been relocated from their homes so far this year because of extreme weather conditions.

Poems

Philip Terman, professor of English and Creative Writing at Clarion University in Pennsylvania, has written a new book of poems — Book of the Unbroken Days. There are quite a few poems in the book that he wrote about his two daughters adopted from China.

Poem for Our Daughter

Philip Terman

We didn't know how a small child —
thirty inches, twenty-five pounds, could delight us

in the way she draws us out of the misery
we thought was waiting for us, the heaviness
of our bodies, the brittling of our bones,
the abandoned strands of hair, the puffed
edges around the eyes, each ache and crack —

we didn't know that solitude was simply a condition,
that we could peek beyond the walls of ourselves
and discover this other kind of life, asking to be lifted up,
demanding us out of our concerns,

now that we are brought back to our birth beginnings,
reminded of our exotic origins,
and our faithlessness can be banished,
with all our dreams of absence, our desires to sink deeply
into our own misery.
and we need no longer think so seriously of our own deaths,
or believe in the great Nothingness that comes after,
the broken generations, the windows of emptiness:

Oh you who have entered our lives as if through a secret door
and brought to us your wholly other world
and are teaching us the language of your millennium,

before you arrived we renounced miracles
and disregarded whatever might happen in the next life,
we reveled in the comfort of our own skin and bones,
and shunned absolute beauty into the Book of Myth.

We thought purity, as in laughter, was a concept,
immediacy an idea, innocence a theological speculation.

We thought each of our responses had to be gauged,
our words tempered, our singing muted,
we thought our happiness had to be justified,
spontaneous gestures inhibited, we believed
we were too old to simply babble,

too refined to manipulate our faces into absurd expressions,
contort infantile positions out of our stiff frames.

Slowly objects are once again becoming unfamiliar.
We are reminded how every moment we remake the world.

If you would like to order the book, please contact Dr. Terman directly. (Poem posted with permission.)

A loss in the adoption community

International Adoption Loses A Hero: On July 19, 2004, the International Adoption community lost a true hero in the never-ending quest to find forever families for the waiting children of China. I first spoke to John Harrah in 1996, when RainbowKids was just an idea. His humor, insight, wisdom, and encouragement were vital gifts we used to help grow RainbowKids into the publication it is today. RainbowKids owes John Harrah a debt it cannot repay.

News

China's Sars whistleblower freed: The Chinese doctor who exposed Beijing's Sars cover-up last year has been freed after seven weeks in detention, family members have said. They have said he was forced to undergo "brainwashing classes" to change the mentality of political dissidents.

Taiwan holds rare military drill: Taiwan has closed a busy motorway to let fighter jets use it as an emergency runway and practice refuelling. The drill—the first of its kind in 26 years—comes as China conducts war games in the Taiwan Straits.

Shanghai's Expert Panel to Correct English: A panel of 26 English language experts, including overseas Chinese, interpreters, linguists and lawyers, has been set up in the city and given the task of correcting wrong, awkward and confusing English expressions on public signs and billboards.

News

China boom leaves many behind: The number of Chinese people living in abject poverty rose last year for the first time in a quarter of a century. According to official figures, 800,000 Chinese citizens fell into abject poverty last year, with incomes of less than $77 a year.

Chinese 'road killers' roam the streets with little driver-training: In car-crazy China, the price of autos is falling fast, fueling a desire among throngs of people to go to driving school and get out on the road. Would-be drivers are cramming the costly driving schools, and inexperienced motorists have turned China's highways and streets into the deadliest in the world.

Despite bumper harvest China again faces grain shortages this year: China is expected to face a grain deficit of nearly 40 million tonnes this year despite a bumper harvest that will help fulfill centrally set production targets.

Sex education to start in kindergarten for Chinese kids: With an AIDS time-bomb ticking, at least one Chinese province has decided that sex education needs to be taught from kindergarten onwards. New courses about sex and health are to be offered in kindergartens, primary and middle schools in southern Guangzhou.

The Year China Discovered America

Keep a look out for a number TV programs based on the book 1421: The Year China Discovered America.

We are pleased to announce this month a series of television programmes based on 1421 that are to be broadcast later on in the year. Coupled with the Penguin Television production of 1421—The Year China Discovered America, to be aired on July 21st on PBS in the USA, the 1421 team's work has also been the subject of several other international television productions.

More info can be found on the 1421 Webpage.

Local Stories

Dan Marino inspired couple to adopt: Football star Dan Marino's adoption of a Chinese girl helped Al Frevola make his decision.

Local Stories

American parents' dreams take flight at China's White Swan: The massive 34-story hotel on the Pearl River in this booming industrial city is called the White Swan, but it could be dubbed the White Stork.

Dragon Beard Candy

Ever wondered what Dragon Beard Candy is? You can order it from this website!

Bamboo Garden Icy-Crispy Dragon Beard Candy, originally developed as long as 2000 years ago, was first serve to emperors and aristocrats. A skilled candy-maker repeatedly stretches, rotates, and doubles a maltose and sugar mass until thousands of thin strands are formed. Finally, the strands are trimmed and wrapped around some coconut, peanut and sesame seed bits.

(Thanks Junie from APC!)

Flooding

China has recently been experiencing a significant amount of rain and flooding. A number of pictures across the country can be found at this link.

Braving the rain, a man rides a bike in Jinan, east China's Shandong Province, July 17, 2004. Excessive rainfall caused floods in Jinan and brought inconvenience to local people on Saturday.

China Related TV Guide

China Sprout posts a much-appreciated weekly guide for China Related TV listings.

Beautiful China

New Book

China's New Order: Society, Politics, and Economy in Transition

As the world is drawn together with increasing force, our long-standing isolation from—and baffling ignorance of—China is ever more perilous. This book offers a powerful analysis of China and the transformations it has undertaken since 1989.

Wang Hui is unique in China's intellectual world for his ability to synthesize an insider's knowledge of economics, politics, civilization, and Western critical theory. A participant in the Tiananmen Square movement, he is also the editor of the most important intellectual journal in contemporary China. He has a grasp and vision that go beyond contemporary debates to allow him to connect the events of 1989 with a long view of Chinese history. Wang Hui argues that the features of contemporary China are elements of the new global order as a whole in which considerations of economic growth and development have trumped every other concern, particularly those of democracy and social justice. At its heart this book represents an impassioned plea for economic and social justice and an indictment of the corruption caused by the explosion of "market extremism."

As Wang Hui observes, terms like "free" and "unregulated" are largely ideological constructs masking the intervention of highly manipulative, coercive governmental actions on behalf of economic policies that favor a particular scheme of capitalist acquisition—something that must be distinguished from truly free markets. He sees new openings toward social, political, and economic democracy in China as the only agencies by which the unstable conditions thus engendered can be remedied.

News

Stolen Children Returned to Parents: Nine children who once were abducted and sold were returned to their parents in Dongguan, south China's Guangdong Province. The abductees—between two and six years old—were identified by DNA tests before they were returned to their parents.

China simulates Taiwan invasion: China is reported to have begun military exercises simulating an invasion of Taiwan. The annual drills—involving 18,000 troops on the island of Dongshan—are intended as a further warning against moves towards formal independence by the self-governing island Beijing claims is part of China.

China offers parents cash incentives to produce more girls: China is offering to pay couples a premium for producing baby girls to counter an alarming gender imbalance created by the country's one-child population control policy.

Chinese Literature

A Dictionary of Maqiao

Maqiao, a fictitious rural village lost in the vitals of Mao's Communist empire, is to Han's magical novel what Macondo is to One Hundred Years of Solitude—a place in which the various brutalities and advances of contemporary history are transformed within the "fossil seams" of popular myth. Han adopts the rules of the dictionary to the rules of fiction, distributing mini-sagas of rural bandits, Daoist madmen and mixed up Maoists across the definitions of terms with special meaning in Maqiao. Han, narrator as well as author, is sent to Maqiao as part of a cadre of "Educated Youth" during the Cultural Revolution. A sharp, sophisticated observer, he narrates these folkloric tales from the vantage point of contemporary China, situating them within a richly informative historical and philosophical framework.

Among the stories that deserve mention are those of Wanyu, the village's best singer and reputed Don Juan, who is discovered to lack the male "dragon"; of "poisonous" Yanzao, so called both because his aged mother has a reputation as a poisoner and because he is assigned to spread pesticides (and in so doing absorbs such a quantity of toxins that mosquitoes die upon contact with him); and of Tiexiang, the adulterous wife of Party Secretary Benyi, who takes up with Three Ears, so called because of the rudimentary third ear that grows under one of his armpits. Flawlessly translated by Lovell, this novel should not be missed by lovers of literature.

The book received very positive Amazon.com reader reviews.

News

China acts to protect baby girls: China says it will intensify its efforts to protect girls and address the gender imbalance of newborn babies. A senior government official said that trafficking and abandonment of girls would be severely punished, and a ban on selective abortion reinforced.

Meeting Challenges of a Huge Population: Maintaining a low birth rate will remain a difficult task for some time in the world's most populous country, said Zhao Baige, vice minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission. She said that a number of other problems are appearing that require research into population strategy and immediate responses.

Growing movement in China against government land grabs: When the city of Zigong needed room for new apartments for its rising middle class, it took the farms, fish ponds, orchards and houses of the farmers on its outskirts. A decade later, the farmers say they got only a fraction of what would've been fair compensation. In some cases they got nothing at all.

Timeline—Mongolia:

Ethnic Groups in China

This website gives specific information on the ethnic groups in China.

There are some 56 officially recognised ethnic groups in China. Over 92% of the population is made up of the Han Chinese, and in speaking of the Chinese it is generally the Han that people are referring to. In addition there are 55 ethnic minority groups from a diverse range of ethnic and linguistic groups.

(Thanks Jo from APC!)

New Book

Wild Grass: Three Stories of Change in Modern China

These three intimate case studies explore how China's recent reforms have opened avenues for dissent. Johnson portrays the upsurge of popular protests as the leading edge of an inchoate grassroots movement that will ultimately threaten Communist Party rule. He is skeptical about whether the Party can accommodate or co-opt expectations arising from a nascent legal system through which grievances are supposed to be channeled. The problem he illustrates is that petitioners too often lose, no matter the justice of their cause—the legal system is hopelessly skewed in favor of the rich and connected.

The three cases studies are chosen to represent the variety of experiences of ordinary Chinese. The first involves a self-educated peasant lawyer who takes on the local political elite over the excessive and illegal taxation of impoverished farmers, and mobilizes thousands in the process. The petitioner is encouraged by a court victory in one village, but the demands are defeated and the protagonist jailed when higher authorities realize the danger of his appeals. The second case pits owners of homes in the historic heart of old Beijing against city planners who want to bulldoze nearly everything old to make way for high-rise developments. The third case exposes the persecution and determined persistence in her faith of one woman who joined Falun Gong protests.

The book received excellent reader reviews from Amazon.com

New Book

China's New Nationalism: Pride, Politics, and Diplomacy

Through recent Chinese books and magazines, movies, television shows, posters, and cartoons, Gries traces the emergence of this new nationalism. Anti-Western sentiment, once created and encouraged by China's ruling PRC, has been taken up independently by a new generation of Chinese. Deeply rooted in narratives about past "humiliations" at the hands of the West and impassioned notions of Chinese identity, popular nationalism is now undermining the Communist Party's monopoly on political discourse, threatening the regime's stability.

News

The Controversial Greening of Beijing: A gardener in Beijing's Tiantan Park said sadly, "Many trees that have stood for a thousand years are now dead." To cater for the growing habits of grasses imported from Europe and America, the park has had to introduce spray irrigation across large areas of its gardens. But although this might be exactly what the new grasses need, it has had an adverse effect on the native pines that have watched silently over the park for so many years.

China halts baby trafficking ring: Chinese police say they have broken up a criminal ring which was trafficking dozens of babies. They said they were investigating 95 people in the city of Hohhot, in China's inner Mongolian region. Eight people have been formally arrested.

China finally faces up to Aids: When it comes to Aids, attitudes in China are finally changing. There are to be no more lies and cover-ups. Frankness is the new watchword, and that comes right from the top. The top in this case is China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

Powerful Quake Strikes Tibet; No Injuries: A powerful earthquake Monday struck an isolated mountainous region of western Tibet, and the government said there was no immediate information on deaths or injuries. The 6.7-magnitude quake struck an area in the Gangdise mountains inhabited mostly by nomadic herders.

China Confronts Consequences of Calories: or Chinese raised in an era of food rationing, with memories of days of grumbling, empty bellies, long food lines and dusty piles of winter cabbage, buying groceries these days is truly like being a kid in a candy shop.

Local Stories

Young Chinese girl joins new family in College Hill : Pei Pei snuggles on her mother's lap, studying a photo album. "Jie, Jie," she asserts, and taps her big sister's picture. Then she taps the next photo. "Mama."

Featured Homepage

The Devlin Family Homepage is full of great pictures and a nice webpage covering the adoption of the youngest daughter Lily.

Congee

Like congee? You can find recipes here, here, here, here, here, and here.

(Thanks Lisa from APC!)

China Related TV Guide

China Sprout posts a much-appreciated weekly guide for China Related TV listings.

Beautiful China

Real-Time Chinese TV

You can watch live Chinese TV over the internet at: http://www.wcetv.com/

(for an English copy of the page http://www.wcetv.com/default.asp?sysLang=e )

Click on your connection speed close to the bottom of the screen, then select your station.

CCTV is China Central Television out of Beijing
CCTV-4 is all in Chinese
CCTV-9 is English language programming
CCTV-9 programming listings can be found at http://www.cctv.com/english/tvguide/index.shtml

ATV is Asian Television Limited out of Hong Kong

The rest are out of Taiwan

The links to the left on the WCETV page allow you to watch other programs at any time. Some cartoons and movies are there too.

The link to the left labeled "Music Box" will bring up links to some Music Videos.

The AAT 2003 link on the left will bring up links for videos from last year's Asian American Teens talent competition in the Los Angeles area.

(Thanks Kirby from APC!)

Take-out Anyone?

A Chinese Take-Out Lunchbox can be ordered here.

It may look like a jumbo-sized order of Moo-Goo Gai Pan to go, but it's actually our new Chinese Take-Out Bag. Each 7" tall, white vinyl lunch box / bag features a zippered top, an authentic spiral metal handle and four metal feet on the bottom. The sides are screened with a fiery Chinese Dragon and the words "Thank You" and "Come Again" on the top. Makes a great handbag, lunchbox or storage container for your fortune cookies.

(Thanks Christine from APC!)

China's Lost Girls DVD

China's Lost Girls DVD is now available from the National Geographic online store.

National Geographic Ultimate Explorer host Lisa Ling examines the consequences of China's two-decade-old, "one-child policy" designed to curb the country's exploding population. Due to cultural, social and economic factors, traditional preference leans toward boys, so girls are often hidden, aborted, or abandoned. As a result, tens of thousands of girls end up in orphanages across China.

Today, more than one quarter of all babies adopted from abroad by American families come from China—and nearly all are girls. Ling joins some of these families as they travel to China to meet their new daughters for the first time. Along this emotional journey, she shares in the joy of these growing families and also witnesses firsthand China's gender gap, its roots, and its possible repercussions.

Join Ultimate Explorer as Ling explores the many complex issues surrounding China's attempt to slow its swelling tide of humanity. Approximately 43 minutes.

Yet another . . .

Ellen from MAC, who was evidently feeling hungry today, points us to this recipe for Five-Spice Shrimp And Noodles With Plum Sauce.

The complex flavor of Chinese five-spice powder and the sweet-sour taste of plum sauce combine beautifully in this memorable dish. You'll find these Asian ingredients in Asian markets and in most supermarkets.

Yum!

Check out this recipe for Asian Pasta Primavera.

Euro-Asian fusion means cross-blending whatever works; so feel free to substitute linguine for the lo mein noodles and to add other vegetables, such as julienned carrots or thinly sliced bok choy, to cook with the ginger and garlic. To make a more substantial meal, top servings the servings with grilled or stir-fried large shrimp.

(Thanks Ellen from MAC!)

News

Rice in China: Chairman of China's Central Military Commission Jiang Zemin met here Thursday with US Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Condoleezza Rice. Jiang said he is glad to meet Rice, adding that she looks younger than before.

US Shrimp Ruling Angers Producers: Chinese shrimp producers said Wednesday that the US decision to impose high duties on their exports is unfair and that it is US consumers who will pay the cost.

China's vision for new space age: "Space technology is very hi-tech. It's important for national economic and social development. We won't stop doing it just because other countries have already done it. We think we still need to have these technologies to help other kinds of hi-tech development, such as material science, computers and the life sciences."

Timeline—SARS virus: BBC News Online looks at the chronology of key events surrounding the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) virus.

Chiang Kai-Shek to Be Buried - at Last - in Taiwan: Nationalist Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek will be buried at last—three decades after his death and after his successors failed to realize his dream of reclaiming the Chinese mainland from Mao Zedong's communists. [NYT reg. req.]

Toronto Chinatown

Information on Toronto, Canada's Chinatown can be found here.

This ever-expanding area is home to ethnic Chinese from Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, and elsewhere. A wealth of oriental shops and fruit markets spills out onto the street, and a vast selection of authentic Chinese restaurants feature such delicacies as dim sum.

(Thanks Lauri from PAC!)

Learning Chinese

Graham from APC has generated a list of Chinese language links he finds useful.

There is also a Yahoo Group "on the topic of teaching adopted Chinese children Mandarin (or maintaining their language skills if they were adopted later)."

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cfoc

(Thanks Roberta from APC!)

News

China announces bird flu outbreak: Chinese officials say a new outbreak of a strain of avian flu virus deadly to humans has been detected in the eastern province of Anhui. It comes four months after China declared itself free of the disease.

Beijing 'brainwashes Sars hero': The Chinese doctor who exposed Beijing's Sars cover-up last year is undergoing "brainwashing sessions" in custody, according to media reports.

Local Stories

Families adopt a little bit of China: Montezuma resident Lynne Wagner-Lange sat at a table at the Dillon Dam Brewery on Thursday afternoon filled with all the excitement of an expectant mother. "I'm just so thankful to have the opportunity to be a parent," she said. "I can't wait to hold her in my arms. I'm so excited."

Gathering unites adoptive families: "Found forsaken." By the look of the children playing happily at Lexmark Park on a recent sunny Saturday, you'd never guess those two words once summed up their lot in life. Here they were, smiling as they rode the seesaws with their mothers, holding hands with siblings or bounding down the giant inflatable slide with their fathers.

Local couples look to overseas adoption: Finished with her part in a rehearsal for a dance recital, 4-year-old Savannah Cushman runs up to her father, Peter. "Want me to hold you upside down?" he asks.

Martial arts event will raise funds for adoption: A local martial arts school will soon be breaking boards to help a student's family adopt a child from China. The Board Break-A-Thon, to be held at Black Belt Academy, Route 516, July 10, came about after academy owner John McInerney learned that the family of one of his students was seeking help with the costs associated with the adoption.

Happy 4th of July!

I'll be taking a few days off over the holiday weekend and into next week. I'll resume blogging on Thursday, July 8.

Have a great holiday!

Featured Webpage

We became adoptive parents of a then 8-month old girl from Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China, back on 12/21/98. Since then we have come to realize just how much we were missing in life. She has filled a void that only a child can fill! We are very thankful for her, and to The People's Republic of China!

The My Adopted Child webpage is here.

Personal Stories

Personal China Adoption Stories

This page provides links to Personal China Adoption Stories available on the web. Every one is different, but each adds dimension to the story of China adoption. Many stories include adoption diaries, photos, trip journals, and other wonderful information, including links to all sorts of interesting and helpful sites for families thinking about or pursuing a China adoption.

News

Heritage Site Management to Be Questioned: The World Heritage Committee is investigating 121 World Heritage sites to determine whether they are being damaged or endangered as a result of improper management. Four of the questioned sites are in China: the Imperial Palace of Ming and Qing dynasties in Beijing, commonly known as the Forbidden City; Lhasa's Potala Palace in the Tibet Autonomous Region; the ancient building complex in Hubei Province's Wudang Mountains; and the classical gardens of Suzhou in east China's Jiangsu Province.

China's Men Discover 'Self Beauty': Pop music wafts through the Extraordinary Space Spa as Su Xin sinks into a chair, skin glowing and mood mellow after a facial and aromatherapy massage scented with lavender and sandalwood. "I just feel so good now," said the 37-year-old travel agent, who comes every two weeks to the airy, plant-filled spa in a luxury Beijing apartment complex.