Jacki Chan: freedom not beneficial for China

Taken from the AP story

HONG KONG - Action star Jackie Chan 's comments wondering whether Chinese people "need to be controlled" have drawn sharp rebuke in his native Hong Kong and in Taiwan .

Chan told a business forum in the southern Chinese province of Hainan that a free society may not be beneficial for China 's authoritarian mainland.

"I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not," Chan said Saturday. "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want."

He went on to say that freedoms in Hong Kong and Taiwan made those societies "chaotic."

Chan's comments drew applause from a predominantly Chinese audience of business leaders, but did not sit well with lawmakers in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

"He's insulted the Chinese people. Chinese people aren't pets," Hong Kong pro-democracy legislator Leung Kwok-hung told The Associated Press. "Chinese society needs a democratic system to protect human rights and rule of law."

Another lawmaker, Albert Ho, called the comments "racist," adding: "People around the world are running their own countries. Why can't Chinese do the same?"

Former British colony Hong Kong enjoys Western-style civil liberties and some democratic elections under Chinese rule. Half of its 60-member legislature is elected, with the other half picked by special interest groups. But Hong Kong's leader is chosen by a panel stacked with Beijing loyalists.

In democratically self-ruled Taiwan, which split from mainland China during a civil war in 1949, legislator Huang Wei-che said Chan himself "has enjoyed freedom and democracy and has reaped the economic benefits of capitalism. But he has yet to grasp the true meaning of freedom and democracy."

Chan's comments were reported by news outlets in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but were ignored by the mainland Chinese press.

Although Chan was a fierce critic of the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in June 1989, which killed at least hundreds, he has not publicly criticized China's government in recent years and is immensely popular on the mainland.

He performed during the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics and took part in the Olympic torch relay .

Chan also is vice chairman of the China Film Association, a key industry group.

Swat the mosquitos computer game

Here in Tianjin, we are pestered nine months a year with mosquitoes. They sneak in through the gaps in our windows, the gaps in the door jams that lead to the outside, the gaps in the drains. They come from every direction. You may not notice them until night. But trust that just as you lay you down to sleep, pray the lord your skin to keep. The mosquitoes will getcha if you don't watch out!

Somehow they're faster here than in America. They're cunning and conniving and seem to elude even our attempts with electric fly swatters that are like giant porch lamps attracting them with light only to electrocute their exoskeletons.

So if you can't swat them in reality, swat them virtually. Try this game! You are the giant fly swatter and you must swat the skeeters, winning only a larger swarm of them when you swat one.

Try it! See how many mosquitoes you can swat here!

Only in China: Weddings account for 10% of GDP

How good was business at last week's Beijing Wedding Expo?

The ATM machines ran out of money.

"I didn't bring enough cash," lamented 26-year-old Wang Lin, attempting to console his fiancee, Zhao Yue, as they waited in line at one of the few machines that was still operating.

"I never thought we'd make so many spur-of-the-moment decisions," said Wang, an IT worker, as he and Zhao leafed through brochures for gifts, photo albums, clothing, banquets and honeymoons.

They were not alone. An estimated 34,000 couples mobbed the Expo over three days. They spent an estimated $29 million, 30 percent more than last year, as more than 1,000 merchants promoted everything from Lincoln Limousines to tours of France.

Weddings have always been big business in China, and this year is no exception.

More than 10 million people marry annually in China. Expenditures totaled $220 billion, or 13.36 percent of GDP, in 2006, the last year for which statistics are available, according to the Ministry of Commerce and the China Wedding Industry Investigation and Research Center.

Read the rest of the story here

Tianjin makes the front page of New York Times!

TIANJIN, China — Chinese leaders have adopted a plan aimed at turning the country into one of the leading producers of hybrid and all-electric vehicles within three years, and making it the world leader in electric cars and buses after that.

The goal, which radiates from the very top of the Chinese government, suggests that Detroit’s Big Three, already struggling to stay alive, will face even stiffer foreign competition on the next field of automotive technology than they do today.

“China is well positioned to lead in this,” said David Tulauskas, director of China government policy at General Motors.

Read the rest HERE.