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Saturday, June 21, 2024
By Dr. Steven Taylor

Via Reuters: Kung pao chicken made official for Olympics

If officials have their way, local newspapers reported on Wednesday, English-speaking visitors will be able to order “beef and ox tripe in chili sauce,” an appetizer, rather than “husband and wife’s lung slice.”

Is is just me, or that name change only a slight improvement?

Another example:

“Bean curd made by a pock-marked woman,” as the Beijing Youth Daily rendered the spicy Sichuanese dish, is now “Mapo tofu.” And “chicken without sexual life” becomes mere “steamed pullet.”

I must confess, I do prefer that terms such as “pock-marked” and “without sexual life” are not part of the names of my lunch.

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Thursday, May 15, 2024
By Dr. Steven Taylor

Via the BBC: China quake toll ‘to top 50,000′

More than 50,000 people may have died in the earthquake that devastated parts of China on Monday, state media say.

The warning came after the government confirmed the death toll had risen to 19,500, as rescue efforts continue to search for thousands still trapped.

About 10 million people across Sichuan province have been directly affected by the 7.9 quake, state media said.

The BBC has posted some amateur video of the quake and some of the immediate aftermath here.

Meanwhile, the LAT notes One-child policy adds to the grief of China quake.

Source of map: BBC. A more detailed map can be found here.

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Sunday, March 16, 2024
By Dr. Steven Taylor

Via the BBC: ‘Eighty killed’ in Tibetan unrest

At least 80 people have been killed in unrest following protests by Tibetans against Chinese rule, the Tibetan government in exile says.

[...]

Chinese troops were out in force in Lhasa, Tibet’s main city, on Sunday.

Hong Kong Cable TV reported that about 200 military vehicles, each carrying 40 to 60 armed soldiers, had driven into the city.

Loudspeakers broadcast messages, such as: “Discern between enemies and friends, maintain order.”

Orwell would be so proud…1

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  1. Actually, he would be cringing in horror, but one, hopefully, gets the point []
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Wednesday, November 7, 2024
By Dr. Steven Taylor

Scientists say the beads contain a chemical that the human body metabolizes into the so-called “date rape” drug gamma hydroxy butyrate. When eaten, the compound — made from common and easily available ingredients — can induce unconsciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death.Via the AP: Australia pulls ‘date rape’ drug toy

Australian officials ordered a popular Chinese-made children’s toy pulled from the shelves after scientists found it contained a chemical that converts into a powerful “date rape” drug when ingested.

Three children have been hospitalized over the past 10 days after swallowing beads from Bindeez, named Australia’s toy of the year at an industry function earlier this year.

[...]

Not only is it Toy of the Year, but it’s an illicit substance!

This qualifies as the oddest thing I have read/heard today.

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Tuesday, August 14, 2024
By Dr. Steven Taylor

Via CNN: Mattel recalls 9 million toys

Toymaker Mattel is voluntarily recalling 9 million of its toys including popular characters such as Batman, Barbie, Polly Pockets and a toy from Pixar’s “Cars” movie because of hazards to children, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Tuesday.

[...]

All of the toys were manufactured in China.

The issue at hand appears to be magnets that can be swallowed:

if more than one magnet is swallowed they could cause intestinal damage and other injuries.

I have noted in the past that consumers may start balking at Chinese made products . However, if Chinese manufacturers are going to start costing big companies like Mattel and Fisher-Price big bucks, then the pressure is going to come from those companies to fix these problems or else they will take their manufacturing contracts elsewhere.

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Tuesday, July 10, 2024
By Dr. Steven Taylor

Via the BBC: China food safety head executed

The former head of China’s State Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, has been executed for corruption, the state-run Xinhua news agency reports.

He was convicted of taking 6.5m yuan ($850,000; £425,400) in bribes and of dereliction of duty at a trial in May.

The bribes were linked to sub-standard medicines, blamed for several deaths.

China has been criticised over a number of recent cases involving tainted goods, and correspondents say Zheng had become a symbol of the crisis.

[...]

Zheng’s sentence was seen as unusually harsh for such a senior figure, but the BBC’s Dan Griffiths in Beijing says the government hopes the execution shows it is getting to grips with the crisis.

Looks like the various negative stories about Chinese exports have gotten the government’s attention. This comes across as much as a PR move/damage control as it does the dispensing of justice.

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Sunday, March 11, 2024
By Dr. Steven Taylor

According to the Great Firewall of China, PoliBlog is able to evade the censoring power of China’s firewall system. (And, actually, I am inclined to believe it, as I had some trackback spam attacks that came from mainland China this weekend….hmm, maybe I should get them to start filtering me…).

h/t: Unlocked Wordhoard

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Sunday, March 4, 2024
By Dr. Steven Taylor

Via the BBC: Jump in Chinese defence spending

China’s military budget will increase by 17.8% in 2024, the spokesman for the National People’s Congress has said.

[...]

Mr Jiang said the money would be used to increase wages for military personnel and to upgrade weapons, but gave no further details.

China says its military budget rose by 14.7% last year to $36.6bn (£18.6bn), but the US and other observers believe the actual figure may be two or three times that amount.

Correspondents say China is seeking to modernise its huge but often poorly-equipped military forces by building or purchasing new ships, missiles and fighter planes.

This should hardly be a surprise, given China’s goals for both regional and global significance.  Similarly, it is hardly surprising the the US (and the Japanese, amongst others) would look askance at such a move.  Welcome to the world of international relations, where everyone is a rational hypocrite:  weapons for me, but outrage aimed at thee.

I also wonder as to the degree to which the Chinese government is using the military as a way of upping the economic status of the vast number of peasants who live outside the growth zones of the country.

I further wonder as to the sustainability of massive spending increases for defense and what percentage of Chinese GDP is spent on this front.

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