Local Story

Local couple praised for adoption work: Before adopting their two young daughters from China, Tim and Sue Muldoon never gave international adoption much consideration. Today, the couple mentor couples considering adoption and both have published articles on the subject.

News

Bats a 'likely source' of Sars: Researchers found a virus closely related to the Sars coronavirus in bats from three regions of China.

Concerns Grow Over Executions in China: Comprehensive death penalty statistics remain a state secret, although local jurisdictions will announce executions when that serves a political purpose. Human rights groups, however, say China executes more people than the rest of the world's governments combined.

US Warns of Possible Terror in China's Northwest: The United States has warned American travellers to be vigilant against a terrorist attack in China's restive northwestern region of Xinjiang after Beijing told police there to be prepared for danger.

Lady Bug Cake

Betty Crocker has a Lady Bug Cake recipe that will be fun for the kids.

Delight your little ones with this cute-as-a-bug cake. All you need are cake mix, frosting and a few cookies and candies.

(Thanks Brian!)

Book Review on NPR

Alan Cheuse reviews A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Chinese emigre Yiyun Li. It's a collection of stories about life in modern China and the United States.

News

Shanghainese Asked to Speak Putonghua: People from other parts of China often complain that visiting Shanghai is like arriving in a strange city.

Headhunting Heats Up in China Market: The world's largest law firms are intensely interested in China and the other fast-growing economies of Asia. But firms eager to open or expand offices there are finding the supply of lawyers is outstripped by demand.

Fur flies as rivals pit the panda against the monkey in battle for Olympic glory: China's Communist Party officials are locked in a battle over which animal to choose as mascot for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

China's model for a censored Internet: As China began to go online, observers made brash predictions that the Internet would pry the country open. Cyberspace, the thinking went, would prove too vast and wild for Beijing to keep under its thumb.

Featured Blog

The featured blog for today is journeytogwen.blogspot.com.

That's right, ramblings about our journey to adopt our daughter from China - the ups, the downs, the heart-stopping moments of (oh my . . .!) is that the Fed-Ex guy!?!, when will we ever clear Immigration??!?! and the hurry-up-and-wait syndrome that is the adoption process...

China Related TV

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

News

China Tightens Its Restrictions for News Media on the Internet: China on Sunday imposed more restrictions intended to limit the news and other information available to Internet users, and it sharply restricted the scope of content permitted on Web sites.

Down Time

I won't be updating the China Adoption News weblog until Monday, Sept. 26.

Chinese celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival

This and other beautiful pictures can be found at the following link.

China Related TV

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

China's One Child Policy

This is a scholarly article published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The Effect of China's One-Child Family Policy after 25 Years: China's one-child family policy has had a great effect on the lives of nearly a quarter of the world's population for a quarter of a century. When the policy was introduced in 1979, the Chinese government claimed that it was a short-term measure and that the goal was to move toward a voluntary small-family culture. In this article, we examine to what extent this goal has been achieved and the implications for the future of the policy.

(Thanks Diana and Mark from APC.)

Local Story

Even with health questions, Emily is the answer to a Fremont family's prayers: Abandoned beside a lake in the small village of Zhe Juang, Emily was 6 days old when a villager found her and took her to an orphanage in China. Now, she has a home with the Rev. Rob and Tamra Spykstra in Fremont.

News

Old Residences with New Charm: The elegant scenes of civilian residences in the style of Ming and Qing dynasties located at the Three Gorges area are on display at Mount Fenghuang in Ziqui County.

Top 100 Chinese Cities by Quality of Life: During the "2005 Chinese cities discussion forum Beijing summit" held on the 13th in Beijing, the first ten Chinese cities ranked by their quality of life are Shenzhen, Dongguan, Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Zhuhai, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Suzhou and Xiamen.

Modern Solution for Ancient Masterpiece: A luxury high-tech display case will be installed in the Forbidden City on September 15 for the first-ever exhibition of a Chinese masterpiece, Qingming Shanghe Tu from October 10.

News

Statue of The Rape of Nanking Author Unveiled: A bronze statue of the late Chinese American writer and author of the book The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, Iris Chang, has been unveiled in the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, in Nanjing, eastern China's Jiangsu Province.

Not to be read in China: The Chinese government thinks that ordinary Chinese people should not be exposed to the BBC News Website, or to the websites of several other foreign media.

Population Watchdog Investigates Family Planning Abuses: The National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC), China's watchdog of population issues, has started to investigate media reported illegal family planning practices in east China's Shandong Province, a population official said in Beijing Friday.

Hong Kong Disney

Disney Opens Its First Theme Park in China: Disney officially opened its newest theme park in Hong Kong, its first step into the lucrative China market. Some 2,500 dignitaries and guests were on hand, including Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong, Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang, Walt Disney Company CEO Michael Eisner and company president Robert Iger.

HK Disneyland Caters to Chinese Tastes: Disneyland fans eagerly await the official opening of Hong Kong Disneyland (HKD) on September 12, 2005. And to help ensure overall visitor satisfaction, management has put in place certain measures to cater to the tastes and wants of Chinese visitors.

China-Related TV

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

Disney Stamps

Commemorative Disney stamps to be issued in Hong Kong: A commemorative Disney stamp sheet is displayed at a preview ceremony at the Central Post Office in Hong Kong Sept. 8, 2005. Commemorative Disney stamps will be issued to coincide with the inauguration of the Disneyland on Sept. 12.

Lee Middleton Original Dolls

New Lee Middleton doll to help support Love Without Boundaries

Li Ying Comes Home is a toddler-sized doll with long black hair and brown eyes. She comes dressed in soft denim pants, a navy blue sweatshirt embroidered with an American flag, a white Oxford-style button-down blouse, and red and white sneakers. Inside her khaki knapsack is a Chinese traditional red satin dress with an Eastern inspired floral pattern, gold piping, and a mandarin collar. Li Ying Comes Home also features a freshwater pearl bracelet with a sterling silver charm that says “family.” With every Li Ying Comes Home doll, $5 will be donated to Love Without Boundaries and $5 will be donated to Newborns in Need.

(Thanks Brittany!)

Photo Buttons

LadyBugSisters.com has a number of products for sale, include Referal Photo Buttons.

News

UFO Enthusiasts Descend on Dalian for Conference: UFO (unidentified flying objects) enthusiasts gathered yesterday morning in Dalian, a port city in northeast China's Liaoning Province, for the 2005 World UFO Conference, the first time the event has been held in China.

Gender inequality serious in rural areas: Gender inequality still exists in China, especially in poverty-stricken rural areas, a recent national study on gender assessment learned.

Style-conscious China city flags down bald cabbies: In a bid to spruce up the city's image, authorities in China's Nanjing are banning taxi drivers who are bald, wear their hair too long, have moustaches or wear too much make-up, media said on Tuesday.

Mulan Costume

Disney Direct has a Mulan Halloween costume for sale.

Features shimmering accents and a Mulan cameo. Crown, fan, bag and shoes sold separately. Accessories Ages 3+.

(Thanks Mary from APC!)

Pictures of Hong Kong Disney

Hong Kong Disneyland will be officially opened on September 12. This link has some pictures.

News

Relief goods airlifted to hurricane-hit US: A plane carrying China's first batch of humanitarian aid to the United States for victims of Hurricane Katrina left here Wednesday afternoon. According to the information from the Ministry of Commerce, the relief goods include power generators, tents, bed sheets and child clothing.

Firms face moral dilemma in China: Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders has accused Yahoo of being "a police informant for the Chinese regime", following allegations that information supplied by the company helped jail a journalist.

As China changes, so does its image of US: As President Hu Jintao prepares to visit the US next week for the first time as China's leader, he represents a country whose popular understanding of America has become more diverse, yet whose negative impression of the US as a "bully" and "rival" continues to deepen, particularly among young people.

London and Beijing to exchange archaeological treasures: London and Beijing capped their status as Olympic cities yesterday by announcing an unprecedented exchange by loan of archaeological treasures over the next five years. This could lead to one or more of China's world-famous terracotta warriors going on show at the British Museum and to Chinese crowds having their first chance to see Egyptian mummies and cuneiform tablets from London.

Highly-Rated Book

Peach Girl: Poems for a Chinese Daughter

Unable to conceive a child, Siegel and Solonche adopted an abandoned Chinese baby and, both nearing 50, embarked on parentage. Each fills half this book with poems reacting to and meditating on their experience. Both focus intensely on the being and doings of Emily, their peach girl. Siegel sees China and all nature in the child, generally and particularly; one of her finest poems, "To the Chinese Mothers," conjures the emotions of all the Chinese mothers who have had to give up their children as well as of the one mother who had to give up this baby girl. Solonche characteristically wraps himself in the moments of Emily's and his interactions, often repeating a phrase within a poem as if it were a refrain in the song of fatherhood; when he looks beyond the present, it is the future rather than, like Siegel, the past that he envisions. Thanks to their poetic skill and emotional wisdom, Siegel and Solonche create not treacly inspiration but a testament of love and faith in humanity.

Local Story

Adopting scrutiny: Minnesotans adopt more children from overseas per capita than any other state in the nation. The question is, why? Some adoption adoption scholars say Minnesotans should examine the trend.

News

Barber of Beijing cuts through a century of change: The barber of Houhai plies his trade the old way: a silver razor moves deliberately over the head, across the face, along the bridge of the nose, down the neck. He moves in unruffled concentration, as if time suspends for his work. In some ways, it does. Jing Qui is his name. He has cut hair in Beijing for 77 years, or "four dynasties," as he says, winking.

'Baby Tutor,' a Burgeoning Profession in China: "Baby Tutor," specializing in educating babies from their birth to three years old, is one of the new professions released by China's Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

News

A Chinese Painter's New Struggle: Mr. Zhang, 47, is one of China's best-known artists. For years, his works - like those of other avant-garde artists of his generation—could not be exhibited in China, often because they were deemed too modern or politically questionable.

Beijing tries to tame its wild taxis before '08 Olympics: . . . can this be Beijing? The NASCAR-esque maneuvers are missing—along with heart-stopping lane changes. Stranger still, our ride has no white-knuckle encounters with bicyclists trying to dash across the road.

In China, it's Mongolian Cow Yogurt Super Girl: For nearly three hours Chinese society stopped—and voted. No, it wasn't a political revolution, but a mass thumbs up to a 21-year-old from Sichuan who belts out the song "Zombie" from the rock band "Cranberries" as part of her act.

In China, some global brands assailed by consumers: It's been a year of consumer scandals for big global brands in China, and Haagen-Dazs, the specialty ice cream purveyor, faced a doozy earlier this summer.

China Related TV

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

Beautiful China

News

Charity Begins at Home: China is one of the most popular countries for Westerners looking to adopt children. But today more Chinese than ever are doing the same thing themselves—adopting or providing foster care to thousands of orphans and abandoned kids, almost all of whom are girls.

China more popular than U.S. overseas: The United States’ image is so tattered overseas two years after the Iraq invasion that China, which is ruled by a communist dictatorship, is viewed more favorably than the U.S. in many countries, an international poll found.

A Watchful Eye on China's Blogosphere: China may have some of the world's most active Internet police, who make sure its citizens don't get out of line while they're online. But Hu Zhiguang is out to prove that the blogosphere is nonetheless alive and thriving in China.

US places curbs on Chinese bras: The US has introduced further quotas on Chinese-made clothing exports, intensifying an already fierce trade dispute between the two countries.

Local Story

Special Needs Orphans Get Help: The China Center for Adoption Affairs initiated a humanitarian project to raise money for corrective surgery for orphans in the organization's care. The Tomorrow Plan for Rehabilitation of Handicapped Orphans through Operations began last year and is a three-year effort to raise millions of dollars to help 30,000 orphans.

Beer Can Art

Beer tins-turned-artwork highlighted at Chinese Folk Art Fair: Photos taken on August 30, 2005 during the ongoing Third Chinese Folk Art Fair held in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province. You Shouyi, a famous local artist, has reincarnated some 50,000 empty beer tins into thousand-plus artworks since 1987.

News

Huge Ancient Porcelain Pit Discovered: About 1 million scraps of broken porcelain, some of which may be up to 800 years old, were unearthed recently from an enormous pit in downtown Beijing, the Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau announced yesterday.

Media Executives Court China, but Still Run Into Obstacles: Viacom, like many other American media companies, is already active in China. Its MTV network is carried in 10 million homes in Guangdong Province. Two-hour blocks of Nickelodeon programming like "CatDog" and "Wild Thornberries" are beamed on the government-run CCTV to more than 120 million homes.

Confucius's Hometown Renovated: Qufu, the birthplace of China's preeminent philosopher Confucius, plans to restore its ancient city walls and streets ahead of the philosopher's 2556th birthday anniversary, which falls on September 28.

Revolt in Chinese village reflects rising tide of discontent: A telltale scent of insurrection wafts across parts of rural China, and it's filling the air of this industrialized Pearl River Delta village.

Renminbi

New print of RMB in use: 100-yuan bill of the new print of the fifth version of the Renminbi.The People's Bank of China declared at the press conference in Beijing on August 30 that the new print of fifth version of Renminbi (1999 version), in 100 yuan, 50 yuan, 20 yuan, 10 yuan and five yuan notes and one jiao coins, will be in circulation as of August 31.