News

Nothing says love like matching nose jobs: China's obsession with plastic surgery is finding fresh demand from couples who are going under the knife to get their noses and even their eyes done as a sign of their love for one another.

Blogger Nation: Wang Xiao Feng hails from northeastern China, a region known for its freezing winters and for its theater, in which performers improvise banter to musical accompaniment. . . . In 2004, a friend introduced him to blogging. Wang was delighted. For the first time since childhood, he got in touch with his inner smart aleck.

Photo of the Day

Plum blossom blanketed in spring snow: A couple enjoy red plum blossoms covered with early spring snow at the Xixi national wetland park in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. The snow adds charm to the plum blossom and many locals go there to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

NPR -- China's Internet

Getting Past China's Government Firewall: Steve Inskeep talks to Bennett Haselton, an American software developer who has figured out a way for computer users in China to get around the Chinese government's Internet firewall.

Local Story

Doctor to share lessons on adoption in a blog: Dr. Ellen Kempf is getting ready to travel to China for what she calls the "ultimate continuing medical education." And she plans to share the lessons on international adoption that she learns with readers worldwide through the Web. Kempf, a pediatrician who heads the Oak Adoptive Health Center at Akron Children's Hospital, leaves today for a nine-day trip to tour Chinese orphanages. While there, she'll also meet and follow families who are in China to adopt children through Oregon-based Holt International and Family Adoption Consultants of Macedonia. She plans to journal daily about her experiences on a blog that will be posted on the hospital's Web site, www.akronchildrens.org.

China Related TV

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

Featured Flickr Photo

Green Scene
Rice fields everywhere on the valley floor.

(Courtesy of Rob Millenaar)

Slacker

Sorry for the gap in blogging last week. I knew I would be unable to post, but somehow thought I had noted that I would be taking a week break. Anyway, sorry to those who repeatedly returned only to find nothing updated!

China Adoption News is back to its normal programming! . . .

Photomax

Heads Up . . . I don't expect that I'll be posting regularly for the next couple of weeks. Until then, here is something I found that may be of interest to a number of people.

I found a nice site for printing digital prints -- Photomax.com. Their prices are lower than Wal-Mart's photo printing service, plus they have tons more you can order, everything from poster-sized prints (the one shown below -- hanging in our living room -- cost a little over $20), photo-etched jewelry, photo-scanning services, etc.

You can click the button below and it will take you to the free registration page. You get 15 free prints for registering.

What is also attractive about Photomax is that you can earn commissions by referring people. So, this could be a potential fund-raising activity for adoption expenses. Anyway, shoot me a note of you are interested!

News

'Made in China' labels don't tell whole story: Hundreds of workers here at a huge factory owned by the Japanese company Hitachi are fashioning plates of glass and aluminum into shiny computer disks, wrapping them in foil. The products are destined for the United States, where they will arrive like billions of other items, labeled "Made in China."

A 'Single' Church: Despite a serious illness two years ago, Aloysius Jin seems in fine form. He switches continuously between French and English, and cracks a joke about Prince Charles's succession to the British throne ("He's impatient, he's been waiting so many years"). Jin also speaks German, Italian and Latin—languages he mastered while studying theology in Rome in 1949 and 1950, just as the Chinese Communists were taking power in his homeland. Today, Jin, 89, heads the Archdiocese of Shanghai and is a key figure in China's state-sanctioned Catholic Church.

Snow

Auspicious snowfall visits central, eastern China: The first snowfall in the year of dog visits Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province on Feb. 5, creating a cheerful atmosphere in the city. Photo taken on the same day shows local citizens enjoy the auspicious snowfall, which promises a good harvest and a fruitful coming new year in traditional sense.