CSG news update -- 2007-05-27

[China Study Group <chinastudygroup@gmail.com>]

China Study Group news update

Now They Speak Out
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18753949/site/newsweek/
Newsweek | 2007-05-26
Sarah Schafer
May 28, 2007 issue - When critics accuse U.S. companies of moving jobs to China to exploit cheap labor and sweatshop conditions, businesses always argue that their presence has helped improve labor standards and even forward democracy. Now the same companies that pat themselves on the back are lobby...

Drawing a Blank on a Party Hero
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/25/AR2007052502475.html
Washington Post | 2007-05-26
Edward Cody
DALIAN, China -- The Fang Yonggang inspirational message went out loud and clear from the Communist Party Working Committee in Dalian's crowded Renminlu neighborhood.  "We should earnestly organize party members, officials and people who live in this neighborhood to study the advanced achievem...

Why rich list is no longer a kiss of death
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070526.wxchina26/BNStory/International/home
Globe and Mail | 2007-05-26
Geoffrey York
SHANGHAI — In his hunt for China's richest tycoons, Rupert Hoogewerf has fought his way through layers of secrecy, threats of lawsuits and menacing visits from hired thugs.  But over the past year, his detective work has become a lot easier. As he tracks down people for his annual lists,...

Waiting for death in fetid cancer villages
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/waiting-for-death-in-fetid-cancer-villages/2007/05/25/1179601668622.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
Sydney Morning Herald | 2007-05-26
Mary-Anne Toy
IT HAS been a long time since the Feng Chan He, the River of Fertility, in Xiditou ran clear and locals could swim and fish.  Today it is fetid and silted up, a casualty of the factories that line its banks and that brought unprecedented prosperity to this poor farming district near the port city ...

Wary China Allows Production of Two Films Based on '37 Nanjing Massacre
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/25/AR2007052502055.html?sub=AR
AP | 2007-05-26
HONG KONG -- For decades, Chinese filmmakers haven't made a major feature film about one of the biggest wartime atrocities suffered by their country: the Nanjing massacre of 1937. Now two directors are preparing to make movies set against the Japanese military's brutal killings in the former...

Pension chief says market needs bubbles, like a beer
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=1&art_id=45333&sid=13790239&con_type=1&d_str=20070526&sear_year=2007
The Standard | 2007-05-26
Katherine Ng
China's pension fund chief has tried to ease mounting fears among international investors that the mainland stocks bubble is about burst, saying it is too hasty a conclusion, just days after former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said he sees "dramatic contraction" in the mainland mar...

Farmer breached China family rules, house ransacked
http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2007-05-25T192724Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-299956-1.xml&archived=False
Reuters | 2007-05-25
John Ruwitch
BOBAI, China  - Bu Feng's one-storey brick and concrete farmhouse in southwestern China lies dark and nearly empty.  "There used to be glass on all these windows," a neighbour said. "There used to be a wooden door, a nice one. And, look, the electric fan is gone," he added, pointing through a ...

French Veolia expands water business in China
http://en.ce.cn/Business/Enterprise/200705/25/t20070525_11488024.shtml
Xinhua | 2007-05-25
French group Veolia Environment, the world's largest water company, has reached an agreement with a Chinese counterpart here to set up a joint venture, bringing the number of joint projects it is involved in China to 22.  The new joint venture, Tianjin Teda Veolia Water Co. Ltd., will speciali...

A wrecking ball for Beijing's history
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0525/p06s01-woap.html
Christian Science Monitor | 2007-05-25
Peter Ford
On the latest of Beijing's ancient lanes to be scheduled for demolition, a tale of two cities is unfolding. Their diverging stories have probably sealed the leafy alleyway's fate.  At No. 21, Li Xiaoling cannot wait for the bulldozers to roll up. After 17 years living with her daughter in ...

Chinese Officials Extol Benefits of U.S. Relations
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/25/business/worldbusiness/25trade.html
New York Times | 2007-05-25
Steven R. Weisman
WASHINGTON — Chinese leaders traveled from the White House to Capitol Hill on Thursday, trying to persuade skeptics of the benefits of the Chinese-American relationship. But they appeared to make little headway in quelling Congressional anger over China's economic practices.  The delegat...

China's leaders confront their own manic market
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/25/business/25yuan-chistock-bradsher.php
New York Times | 2007-05-25
Keith Bradsher
HONG KONG: WANTED: Central banker who can curb "irrational exuberance" among stock market investors. Statesmen with international credibility preferred. Availability soon.  Too bad Alan Greenspan, who does not speak Chinese, can't apply. One of the biggest challenges for Chinese leaders these ...