Tweet from @ybbswc

Shanghai metro has exploded? Please confirm.

Then retweeted:

Tweet from @xiao_su

Explosion!!!

@DavidFeng

A search in Twitter reveals the micro chatter of netizens on this topic:

Twitter chatter

Even the Chinese BBS and Weibo caught on the frenzy:

Weibo chatter

More Chinese micro chatter

Shanghai metro explosion? Rumor has it that it did. Heard it resulted from gas explosion. Another source.

But later it was confirmed that it was just a false alarm:

At 1.30pm June 25, a fire occurred at a construction site for a dormitory in Lujiazui, Pudong. The fire completely destroyed the 2-floor dormitory building. But no injuries were reported.

Xinmin.cn also released a confirmation on this incident with an exclusive video on what actually happened:

Some important points from this few hours of excitement–

What do you think?

So therefore I conclude, this must be some crazy Expo meme that some bored netizen started. (Our friend Ryan from LostLaowai also posted an Expo meme on the Expo Trial Run.] Because I am a bored netizen too, let me share this translated version here in CNReviews. This is actually a fun guide when you go to the Expo Park soon.

Secrets About The Shanghai World Expo

(Which No Will Ever Tell You)

Secret No. 1: The Most Intriguing-Against-Each-Other Pavilions

Luxembourg Pavilion

Belgium Pavilion

The Most Intriguing-Against-Each-Other Pavilions simply must be Luxembourg and Belgium due to their geographical locations. Luxembourg though small is at the heart of Europe. Their pavilion maybe small but the name they are using is big—“Grand Duchy of Luxembourg”. Not really buying Luxembourg’s claim, Belgium has always deemed Brussels to be Europe’s center. And so these two countries are at each other’s throats and are not seeing each other eye-to-eye. In order to strengthen their claim as Europe’s center, Belgium spent a lot of their hard-earned capital to get one-third of the exhibition space with the European Union (the EU has never been part of the World Expo outside Union’s territory). Belgium also has their famous chocolate in the pavilion which they give away to visitors. Pavilion activities give visitors opportunities to win Belgium diamonds too.

Secret No. 2: The Most “I-Want-To-Be-The-Number-One” Pavilion

In the current Expo, the pavilion who really wants to be number one is none other than the Australian Pavilion. Due to the global financial crisis, many countries have experienced delays with regards to their pavilion constructions. But from the very first day, Australian was the first country to complete their pavilion. Although the Canadian Pavilion had similar goals, their materials were all ready and laid out and even invited Mark Henry Rowswell (also known as Dashan) who is an actor and well-known TV personality in China to boost the morale of the Canadian staff, in the end, Australia was still the first country which successfully completed their pavilion. As the first to be completed, they were unhurried, calm, and gave more attention to details and quality. Most importantly, because they were the first one to finish, President Hu Jintao visited the Expo site and the Australian Pavilion. He was the first one to sign the guest book.

Secret No. 3: The Most “I-Want-To-Be-Number-One-At-Night” Pavilion

In the 100 days duration of the Expo Pavilion contest, many have done their best. That is why certainly it is difficult to declare a winner. Consequently, many pavilions took notice of the night. The British Pavilion saw this as a decisive opportunity.  During the design process, they have this vision of simulating it at night and to see the effect during the evening. The outside of the British Pavilion has more than 60,000 tentacles attached pointing to different directions. At the end of each tentacle is a light-emitting diode. These LED tentacles will change color and play with lights and shadows to create a breathtaking feast at night. The British Pavilion looks strange during the day and can only earn points for being avant-garde. But at night, the British Pavilion, when lighted, can attract more visitors. It is exclaimed that the British Pavilion is new and different and definitely shows originality. You will appreciate that no smoke is used; only the lights and the visions will compete with each other. This is a battle of technology and innovation among countries.

Secret No. 4: The Most Intelligent Pavilion

Australia and UK are really remarkable. Also their exhibits reflect Eastern culture and wisdom. The Heilongjiang Pavilion is actually a strategist and paints a bigger picture through their pavilion. As part of the many exhibits in the China Pavilion and because of the many strong competition outside, winning the respect and favor of the other pavilions is a great challenge. The Heilongjiang Pavilion is not number one during the day or night. However, it wants to be first for the season. The theme of their pavilion is “the most beautiful snow and ice in the world.” Think about it, the Shanghai World Expo will run for a long six months, and the longest season for that period is summer. The Shanghai summer sun during the day and night is notoriously hot. With the sun scorching the visitors from June to September, who would not want to enjoy the snow in Heilongjiang world? The Northeastern Chinese certainly do not lack in the intelligence area.

Secret No. 5: The Most Stylish Pavilion

When it comes to fashion, how could you miss the French Pavilion? The French Pavilion is also one of the pavilions which will be retained. The catchphrase of the French Pavilion when they arrived in Shanghai is to give a gift to the Chinese people and let them experience the delicious French lifestyle. The French Pavilion has prepared lots of interactive activities really focusing on the people’s basic needs. They will invite the audience to put on the latest Paris fashions and strut their stuff in the catwalk. Those who dare model the latest underwear fashions get a special prize too. They are also giving away the most expensive perfume to those who have an urge to marry.

Secret No. 6: The Friendliest Pavilion

We must give top priority to the Saudi Arabian Pavilion. Because Saudi Arabia not only is the pavilion hall who gave the largest investment (RMB 1.3 billion), among the 50 self-financed and self-designed pavilion in the Expo, they were the only ones whose top priority is friendship.  The Saudi Arabian Pavilion’s theme is “Continuing on the Friendship of China and Saudi Arabia”. The fact that Saudi Arabia shipped everything from their country—from the palm trees and basically the entire pavilion—is like a representation of the Silk Road. Saudi Arabia has always been the friend of China. During the Wenchuan Earthquake, Saudi Arabia was one of the first countries who responded quickly.

Secret No. 7: The Most Attractive-To-Children Pavilion

Russian Pavilion

Dutch Pavilion

Summer is the time when the children will visit the Expo. It will be the busiest time during the Expo. Not only are the children the future of the country, they are also the future of the Expo. The Russian Pavilion and the Dutch Pavilion are competing in this category of being the most attractive to children, because they are the two venues that kids will find interesting. Most will be attracted to the 12 white and gold towers that are suspended in air. The Dutch Pavilion not only has a windmill with traditional Dutch-style houses but it also has a special spiraling section called the Happy Street.

Secret No. 8: The Most Similar-To-Chinese-Culture Pavilion

The most similar-to-Chinese-culture pavilion is the Polish Pavilion. Although the Polish president was the first who said he will not attend the Olympics, the Polish Expo organizers have repented and decided to use the Chinese paper cut as its pavilion façade. The paper cut tradition [supposedly] is similar to both Poland and China. If this is true, then the Polish president really is something (in Chinese, even death cannot wipe out your crimes).

Secret No. 9: The Most High-Tech Pavilion

There is no other way; even though we hate Japan, their people really have something to show. The Japanese Pavilion’s own investment is RMB 900 million. Although the pavilion is just a runner-up, but the Pavilion will debut 14 of the world’s most high technologies. Japan has attached great importance to the tradition of the Expo. Because they know that in the area of innovation and technology, they will become the pioneer in the coming decades in the use of leading technologies. From the telecommunications, construction and other industries of view, previous expos have proven this.

Secret No. 10: The Most Gimmicky Pavilion

The main image of the Danish Pavilion is Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid’s shipment from Denmark to Shanghai caught the attention of the whole nation. The media even followed it for live tracking news. Because The Little Mermaid, for centuries, have never left home. Also, not only does the Little Mermaid carry the symbol of friendship to the Chinese people, it also brings with it a secret. The Little Mermaid has a hidden camera system, and she will record everything that passes by it. Expression of all visitors will be transmitted back to the people of Denmark. In addition, Shanghai artists will attempt to recreate The Little Mermaid.

We must be careful! Cannot lose face!

Secret No. 11: The Lowest Pavilion

The Mexican Pavilion has no construction at all. There is only one large and abstract kite fest. The exhibition itself is literally under the ground. The Mexican originality can be seen through a tunnel dug below.  Pictures of the lives of Mexicans, dressed in national costume, singing and dancing can be seen in the subterranean component. Because, according to points of latitude and longitude, directly opposite of Shanghai is Mexico.

Secret No. 12: The Sexiest Pavilion

Perhaps, there are a lot of pavilions who wants to go sexy. However, until now, Brazil’s hot and sexy performance group has been the sexiest so far. The Brazilian Samba dance troupe has participated for several years in the Shanghai Tourism Festival parade, therefore, how sexy is sexy—that’s on top of their pursuit.

Secret No. 13: The Most Unnecessarily-Complicated Pavilion

The Germans say their pavilion is based on the essence of the Chinese’s “I Ching” or the “Book of Changes”. I brought along a teacher who knows a great deal on the “I Ching” to check out the site. Friends who have been observing a long time said to me angrily: “What is this stuff? How is this the “Book of Changes”? This is simply obscene!” I think the teacher is over-the-top and offending, as a result I criticized him: “The benevolent see benevolence and the wise see wisdom; in front of ‘I Ching’ everyone is equal!” German Pavilion! Go your own way, and this is what the “I Ching” says.

Secret No. 14: The Most “I-Want-To-Take-The-World-Cup” Pavilion

The Spanish Pavilion highlights Spain’s national dance which is the flamenco thus taking on the contour of the flowy skirt used in the dance. They really need that place to be a no-smoking zone as by looking at the material, it is just made of rattan. However in that Spanish-straw-walls hides a huge secret. They are holding the European champions of the World Cup that which is the Spanish football team. This June when the World Cup will be held in South Africa, the Spanish football team will go to the Expo for an “eyeball match”. (Enough of the inside news already!) When the time comes, Casillas, Fernando Alonso, Cesc Fabregas, Xavi, Fernando Torres will visit the Shanghai World Exp. Football fans would not really believe their eyes.

Secret No. 15: The Most Ridiculous Pavilion

It is still the French Pavilion who wins this award! The French went as far as to dispatch 7 charter flights to transport van Gogh and 7 other artworks of artists who have never been exhibited abroad. These are the rare treasures of the French Pavilion. The Pavilion will be on full 24-hour security protection by the Chinese armed police force. You may be wondering why the 7 artworks have to be transported in separate charter planes. This is the answer of the curator of the French Pavilion: “The 7 artworks are France’s national treasures. We cannot place them in one charter plane only. In the case of a crash, all 7 of them will go away just that. I would be the greatest sinner in France’s eyes afterwards.” Enough ridiculousness. So this is the Western way of acknowledging risk and providing a sense of security.

But the nitty gritty news like what’s happening in the pavilions, etc.–you got to read the local dailies in China to know about them (or watch a lot of CCTV news). Even at least CCTV 9 (because that’s the one in English).

Probably Josh from FarWestChina says it best–

If you don’t live in China and haven’t kept up with daily news here, there’s a slight chance you haven’t heard much about the 2010 Shanghai Expo.  If you do  live in China and have no clue about the Expo, then…that’s a pretty big rock you’re living under.

What I’m going to do here (aside from writing about my China rants and what-nots) is to post and highlight interesting Expo news from the Chinese dailies and/or blogs (in English because we’re an English-language China blog after all) so that at least we’re a little bit more informed. And it’s going to force me to practice my Chinese too.

Excuse me while I browse and snoop around. In the meantime, why not subscribe to our RSS feed (or subscribe through e-mail) and/or follow us on Twitter to keep updated on our ramblings here in CNR?

I suggest that the Shanghai World Expo urgently construct a Yushu memorial hall to grieve the victims of the Yushu earthquake incident. This will also show that the Chinese people are indomitable in the face of natural disasters. After all, the time of the World Expo and the Yushu earthquake incident is not far from each other, just less than a month. The World Expo can not ignore this incident. If you agree, please pass. – Zheng Yuanjie, 10:09am

The many pavillions in the Shanghai World Expo will be torn down once the event is over. Regarding the time for house reconstruction of the victims’ homes and because the Expo will run until the start of next winter, I propose that the demolition be suspended for the meantime and to prioritize the moving and settling down of the victims. First do the rebuilding so as to send the victimes to their new homes. Afterwards, deal with the dismantling. The World Expo will therefore be known as the World Expo for Love. If you agree, please pass.  – Zheng Yuanjie, 10:22am

After the first weibo was posted, within 4 hours, more than 640 fans have forwarded it to more than 300 users. For his second post made on 10:22am, it was observed that by 13:50, it was forwarded to 1952 people already thus producing 819 comments and giving him a total of more than 3000 weibo fans.

Some of the netizens responses were not that positive:

When during the construction there will be no water, what will you, Zheng Yuanjie, do? Why not just let the victims live in your place?

Is that Zheng person not thinking well? I think there are many insincere people taking advantage of this situation. The earthquake victims do not need a memorial hall. What they need is real help.

Zheng Yuanjie, you’re better off writing fairy tales. Regarding this, who do you think you are? You’re just useless.

I’m a fan of his fairy tales when I was a kid. But right now, looking at him taking advantage of this news interest, it’s all very unrealistic–just some ego-boosting idea that’s looking for trouble.

Better spend the money in areas that are more in need.

Zheng Yuanjie, are you making an exhibition out of yourself in this World Expo?

There are some rich people who will use their money to help solve a problem. But there are others who just use it so that peope will notice them.

Don’t you need money to build that memorial hall??? Better use it in other areas that are truly in need.

He has written too many fairy tales already.

This man just wants to be famous!

Can this memorial hall save people?

Only idiots with brain problems can think up of this proposal. This type of people will just bring more economic problems to the country.

The completion of the Qinghai Pavilion showing the 3 great rivers of China is not affected. As of press time, the project will still push though.

From the official 2010 Shanghai World Expo site–

Qinghai Pavilion demonstrates how the Yantze River, the Yellow River and the Lancang River originating from Qinghai have nurtured riverfront cities and civilization, and reveals the supportive and restrictive role of the ecological conditions at the source of the three great rivers in urban development.

What do you think of Zheng Yuanjie’s proposal?

My readers here on CNReviews have probably noticed that I haven’t blogged in quite some time. One of them probably wonders what happened. The other is probably hoping I’m actually dead.

Actually, I’m still around, as most of my hard-earned enemies and trolls rue whenever I pop up making the odd comment or 20 on my favorite garden of low-hanging fruit, chinaSMACK.

Oh boy, some of you are going to chafe at that one.

Heh, good.

However, the main reason I haven’t been posting much here on CNR is because I’ve been busy organizing a crack team of royal ass-kickers excellent bloggers and developing a new China blog.

But before I introduce this new blog, I want to publicly thank Elliott and CNR for having me here.

Kai and CNR, sitting in a tree…

I’ve been contributing posts to CNR for almost exactly two years now and last April, I had taken over as the main blogger and a part-time lead editor of sorts. Elliott and I had re-envisioned CNR and then rebooted it with a new design. At the time, we were getting ~30k visits a month. Today, CNR is enjoying 50k+ visits a month, which is not bad, considering that we haven’t updated recently nor have we been updating regularly over the past few months.

Even so, we had made the mistake of positioning CNR to be too much too soon, a harsh reality that set in over the subsequent months. Elliott spawned his third child and it, along with his day job, prevented him from blogging much about China. Min, through whom I first met Elliott, had retired into becoming a full-time quant, deciding that she wasn’t too keen on English blogging. As for me, as time went on, I realized that most of my posts revolved around socio-political commentary about contentious, divisive issues involving China and the Chinese. Yet CNR was to be more than just my personal opinions and rhetoric on cross-cultural politics and perceptions. The more I posted, the more my personal interests skewed what CNR professed to offer and deliver.

We had planned to scout and recruit other writers to join our little party, and over the past year, we’ve been blessed with contributions by Baoru, mollie, the BloggerInsight team (Ying, Lucas, and Kai Lukoff), Elizabeth, Aimee Barnes, voodikon,  and finally C. Custer. Unfortunately, we never managed to develop and keep the right team of people to adequately cover the many broad fields we so over-enthusiastically committed ourselves to.

And then…?

Several months ago, faced with this cognitive dissonance, I began rethinking my relationship with blogging on CNR. I had always wanted to build a reasonably “successful” blog.  By “successful”, all that meant was that the blog would be notable for something. I had also always wanted to accomplish this with a team of like-minded individuals, a group of people who would push each other, challenging each other to become better, all towards the goal of developing a notable blog. Why a blog, as opposed to, say, “curing world hunger?” Because a blog fulfills my personal interest in writing commentary, reacting, responding, and influencing the world I live in and the people I share this world with, even if it’s a wee tiny bit.

How very democratic of me, right?

I decided that CNR wasn’t the right platform for me to pursue my goals, despite my immense purely heterosexual love for Elliott. Even if I redesigned and rebooted it to be focused on the socio-political commentary I wanted to spend most of my free time writing, I would always be annoyed with the domain name. While CNReviews or “China Reviews” is perfectly fine for a blog broadly covering “People, Business, and Life in China”, but it doesn’t quite convey “socio-political commentary”. Blogging under CNR is like wearing boxers that are 10 times too large.

I’m Asian, I know my genetic limitations.

As such, I sought out fellow bloggers that shared my interest in writing socio-political commentary about issues facing and involving modern China. They also had to occupy a similar position as me on the ideological spectrum. They couldn’t be unrepentant “panda huggers”, nor unrepentant “panda bashers”. If they were, we’d end up clawing at each other’s faces too much to really cooperate. A good sense of humor wouldn’t hurt either.

Fortunately, I’ve been following the English-language China blogosphere for quite some time, and have come to know and admire quite a few people. So, I set some large steel traps where I knew they’d frequent and then waited in the bushes for the tell-tale clank of triumph.

Within days, I had caught me a Custer and an Abrams. While the Abrams is a bit more mangier than the younger Custer, both are fantastic specimens of bloggers who regularly and consistently publish critical, incisive, and nuanced commentary about modern China issues. After they agreed not to run away, I let them out of the traps and attached the collars.

CNR, compared to many other well-known small English-language China blogs, is pretty successful given the amount of traffic we pull, even when we’re sitting around twiddling our thumbs doing absolutely nothing. Of course, we’re no chinaSMACK or Shanghaiist, nor Danwei. Hell, we’re not even an ESWN. All blogs I — and we — admire and respect.

But 50,000+ visits a month is pretty decent for a small blog like CNR, and it suggests we’ve done something right. Therefore, giving up this built-in traffic up is hard, but it only makes sense for my captives and I to start a brand new blog, from square one, fresh, with a clean sheet.

And that’s exactly what we’ve done.

Entering the already crowded “English-language China blogosphere”, is china/divide, a daily updated group blog publishing social and political commentary on news and issues involving modern China written by Charles Custer, Stan Abrams, and your’s truly. We’re like the Three Amigos, except I’m not white bread. And, if everything goes according to plan, we won’t remain at three.

The first post is by Stan, titled “Goat Meat, Loose Women, and the Imperfect China Dialogue“, and it delivers. Of course, over the next few days, Custer and I will also rear our ugly heads, and henceforth, china/divide will be the place to read what much of what we think, and then proceed to disagree and hate us for it.

Please, do come and take a look.

As for CNR, given that I will be spending most of time and energies on china/divide, I’m formally saying “so long, and thanks for all the fish.” Ironically, and much to his consternation, just as Elliott’s starts a stint in Shanghai and may have more time to regularly blog on CNR, I’m seemingly abandoning him. I wouldn’t quite put it that way though. I can’t make any promises, but I don’t think this is the goodbye forever between CNR and myself, and I may guest post here in the future, especially if the subject-matter falls under CNR’s umbrella more than china/divide‘s.

But then again, which one of you actually enjoyed my non-socio-political commentary posts anyway?

See you in the divide.

Kudos to Kai Pan for all the work he did in laying out his argument. The winner, however, is Chinayouren.

Bastard! *shakes fist*

Richard also summarizes:

“Freedom of choice” sounds wonderful. It sounds a little less wonderful when it’s “freedom of manipulated choice.”

…except the thrust of my argument is that “no choice and no freedom” sounds a whole lot less wonderful than “freedom of manipulated choice”.

Fortunately, Richard also left a comment going into detail with his disagreement, which I’ll quote below and respond to. Before doing so, I do want to state very plainly that I’ve been a fan of The Peking Duck for a long time. I usually agree with Richard’s point of view and I generally respect him, even if we have and have had some very strong disagreements (mostly over rhetoric).

Here we go with Richard’s comment:

I have to disagree. First, since the results are manipulated and the deck well stacked, it won’t leave such a terrible void in most Chinese people’s lives.

Agree it won’t leave such a “terrible void” in “most” Chinese lives, just the market share of Chinese internet users Google commanded, which I personally feel is a significant amount of people. I’m worried for those people and any Chinese netizen that could’ve been a future Google convert. Unfortunately, I really don’t think many people are thinking much about them or what they want.

The market will fill that void soon enough if it’s so gaping.

I agree the market will fill it if it’s so gaping. Yet given how “well stacked” the deck is, I personally feel Google is better equipped and positioned to deliver more to the Chinese internet user even in such a hostile, unfair, stacked-deck environment. It’s not that I don’t expect someone to fill the void, it’s that I have more confidence in Google doing it better and thus offering significantly more value to the Chinese netizen.

Second, if google does indeed end up leaving China (a big if) it will do far more than merely cause Westerners some brief self-satisfaction. It will create a serious dilemma for other companies doing business with China and will force the world to rethink what it means to cooperate with China.

I agree that Google leaving China will do more than just give some Westerners some brief self-satisfaction. I just don’t think it’ll result in as much dilemma and rethinking Richard thinks it will. Foreign companies have been working in and with China long before Google agreed to self-censorship. I respectfully think Richard is overestimating the relevance of Google’s departure to the vast majority of industries and businesses. I’m not saying it won’t cause ripple effects. It will. I just don’t think it’s going to be as revolutionary in the business world as Richard (and many other journalists, commentators, and pundits) think it will be.

Richard also says Google leaving China is “a big if”. I actually suspect likewise, but right now we still have Google saying it is going to uncensor Google.cn, possibly to probably playing a game of chicken with the Chinese government censors, seeing who will flinch first. If and when Google uncensors Google.cn, I’m curious as to what people, especially Richard, think will happen next. Will it get blocked but Google.com won’t? Or will it get blocked and then so will Google.com? We’re all making educated and reasoned predictions here, but I’m trying to figure out what will happen in the context of how it hurts the Chinese internet users.

I’m not saying that these are necessarily good things, but they would almost certainly happen. It would create all sorts of issues among China’s educated classes, whose support China counts on.

I agree that Google’s departure will create issues among China’s educated classes. Unfortunately, I think they can be mollified so long as the most practical tools Google offers, that may be so integrated into their professional lives so much that it would be a monumentally painful loss if they could not longer access and use them, remains accessible. And this wouldn’t be web search. This would be Google Apps like GMail, Google Docs, etc.

There would have to be considerable loss of face for China as well, though it’s hard to say how much they care about that.

I agree that there will be a considerable loss of face for China. But is that what we’re after? To embarrass China? To make it lose face? Without a question, I believe China has done many–too many–shameful and embarrassing things. It deserves what it gets. But this isn’t China forcing Google to leave. It’s Google forcing China to force it to leave by reneging on an agreement. The only argument against that is to say China is now breaking its part of the agreement and making it so uncomfortable for Google that Google has to leave, which I can accept if Google tells us just what it is. Until then, it’s more like a girlfriend threatening to leave until she gets something her boyfriend isn’t willing to give but she previously was fine with. Again, she’s free to change her mind, but what about their pooch (the Chinese internet users)? What happens to the dog?

So while it would be a shame for the Chinese who use google to be deprived of a choice, no matter how manipulated and bastardized it may be, the greater effect would be on China’s reputation both among its own citizens and among the global community China has been eagerly courting. It would be a painful step backwards. Compared to this full-frontal assault on China’s reputation, the “self-satisfaction” that may be felt by some Westerners can only be described as trivial.

I’m not comfortable with the attitude of using this as a “full-frontal assault” on China’s reputation. I think there’s a huge amount of “self-satisfaction” underpinning even the desire to do so. It’s retribution for all perceived slights, disagreements, and frustrations. I understand the inevitability, even necessity, of geo-political hardball, but cheering this on over how much face China is going to lose and how much trouble it will cause the Chinese government amongst not just the international community but also its own people is a little disturbing. This is the attitude that fuels China’s argument that foreigners are trying to destabilize it, trying to keep it down.

That might be playing into China’s hand.

The most amusing thing in the Google crisis is all the commentators crying about the loss of Google.cn and its negative consequences for the freedom of the Chinese.

No.

Wrong.

At least for this English-language China blogger.

I don’t believe that a censored Google.cn is far better than no Google.cn, much less cry about it.

I believe that Google in China is better than no Google in China. I cry about the loss of Google in China and its negative consequences for the freedom of the Chinese. It isn’t about the loss of Google.cn itself. There are several reasons, which I’ll get to in a second.

Evil is Search Engine Manipulation with Google’s name on it

But first, Uln’s argument is that the loss of Google.cn is a good thing for Chinese users because Google.cn engages in search engine manipulation (SEM). In other words, while the “engine” underneath Google.cn is the same as Google.com, the results shown are different, manipulated under agreement with the Chinese government censors to hide results the Chinese government finds objectionable and doesn’t want its populace to see. An internet user in China using Google.com would be able to see all the results but might get blocked when he or she tries to click on a result that leads to a blocked website. The user would be reminded of the government’s censorship. However, an internet user in China using Google.cn would see only manipulated results, effectively hiding both the information and the censorship. That Google.cn explicitly notifies users when results are manipulated is dismissed by Uln as being largely inconsequential because users begin to ignore it or it is often placed below the list of results.

These are all valid criticisms of Google.cn and, by extension, Google itself. Uln argues that this compromises the integrity of the Google brand name and value proposition (do no evil, we provide information, etc.) thereby betraying the trust of its Chinese users who see the Google name slapped on Google.cn as meaning something about the information Google.cn will provide. Uln writes:

When you type a “sensitive” term and G.cn removes all the results except the People’s Daily and Xinhua, Google’s responsibility is double: not only it supports those often objectible views on the first page, but it also implicitly states that it is the ONLY opinion existing in the World.

And the worse is, the Chinese who believed that would be right to do so, because Google’s well known principles clearly specify their commitment to give all the information available  in a democratic way.

G.cn is a shame for Google and it is probably the single most evil page on the Chinese internet (because it manipulates just like Baidu, but lends the brand name of Google to the manipulation).

But is a loss of Google.cn a good thing?

No.

Google.cn is Choice

Google.cn represents choice. It gives Chinese internet users another option for searching the web other than Baidu. Yes, there is Yahoo and there is Bing but neither of them are remotely as big as Google.cn, even if Google.cn is second place to Baidu. It gives Chinese internet users access to Google’s internet indexing and search methodology and algorithms. Even as Google.cn suffers the same manipulation of potentially displayed search results as Baidu, it provides different ordering and ranking of displayed search results.

This different ordering and ranking is precisely one of the main reasons why Google beat Yahoo and other search engines (MSN Search, Ask.com, etc.) elsewhere in the world. Google’s search engine returned better sorted and more relevant search results to users. Why continue finding your answers in the 3rd or 5th Yahoo search result when Google gave it to you in its first result? People started using Google because it delivered what they were looking for more efficiently.

That’s what a good search engine is about, providing the best search results for any given user inputted query, and Google is a good search engine.

Yes, having incomplete search results due to government-mandated self-censorship is bad, but Chinese users are not searching for potentially censored or blocked material all day long on Google.cn. They, you know, use it to do other fairly mundane things that don’t get the Chinese government censors’ panties in a twist. They look up news on celebrities, research product information, find the latest scores to last night’s NBA game, etc. etc. etc. Google.cn provides a valuable service to its users in China because it still helps them find the information they are looking for using qualitatively different and valuable methodology and algorithms than Baidu.

Google.cn gives Chinese internet users a choice.

Choice is freedom.

Losing Google.cn is a loss of choice.

Less choice is less freedom.

Therefore, loss of Google.cn is arguably a negative consequence for the freedom of the Chinese. It may even be something worth crying about.

The reason why “a censored google.cn is better than no google.cn” is exactly this. Google.cn still provides different results of value in the vast majority of Chinese web searches. This was very much part of the whole utilitarian argument that Google gave for agreeing to market and censor Google.cn in the first place. Even with the same scrubbed search results as Baidu, Google still has some competitive advantage worth offering to Chinese netizens through Google.cn.

No, the competitive advantage isn't only Chinese-specific Google logos.

Without Google.cn, its users will switch to Google.com, which is better anyway

Uln argues that…

Google.com is a Search Engine that is:

1- Exactly as good quality as Google.cn (identical index)
2- Without the manipulation of Google.cn
3- AND much less censored than Google.cn

…which is definitely true.

So, like Uln, some people may be asking why Chinese users use the self-censored Google.cn instead of the freely accessible Google.com? Uln answers:

And the only reason why Chinese don’t use it is that Google.cn sounds more Chinese to them, and they just don’t care enough.

No, it isn’t because Google.cn sounds more Chinese to them, it is because Google.cn is more Chinese to them.

I don’t think there’s enough emphasis given to display language being a major reason why people prefer Google.cn over Google.com. The vast majority of Chinese internet users instantly feel intimidated and overwhelmed by any website that is not written in Chinese. This is a big reason why Chinese people say “Google.cn is for the Chinese”. We can’t underestimate the importance of first impressions.

“But you can change the interface language of Google.com to Simplified Chinese…”

Never underestimate the importance of first impressions.

Hell, people even cite “google” being hard to spell for Chinese people as being a reason why Google is behind Baidu. Ever wonder why Google owns g.cn?

I feel there’s a tenuous compromise between the CCP censors and Google right now that allows Google.com to remain freely accessible despite it not providing the same manipulated search results as Google.cn. This is as long as the majority of Chinese internet users willingly head for Google.cn, as long as they see Google.cn as being tailored specifically for them, the Chinese. It’s like the GFW still allowing proxies to work so long as it achieves its mission with blocking the vast majority. The CCP information control scheme is not about preventing everyone from knowing certain things, it’s about preventing too many people from knowing certain things.

If Google.cn is no more and this leads former Google.cn users to simply migrate to Baidu, then maybe — just maybe — Google.com will remain freely accessible in China. However, if it results in too many former Google.cn users subsequently adopting and using Google.com, the CCP will indeed worry.

So a question then is how much will Google push the envelope with an unblocked Google.com. After all, Google will still have a business necessity and plan for capturing Chinese internet users, right? Even if Google does nothing to appeal to mainland Chinese users, leaving it the way it is, it could still get blocked if too many mainland users flock to it. If Google, however, intentionally seeks to make Google.com user-friendly enough to bring in substantial Chinese people to search and get its non-manipulated results, then it will be seen as a threat to the Chinese government’s efforts to control information and thus it will definitely face the possibility of being blocked outright.

And when that happens, Uln’s conclusion here…

Most probably the disappearance of G.cn will push the present G.cn users to switch to G.com, and the outcome will be increased freedom in the Chinese internet.

…will definitely look short-sighted and naive.

His argument isn’t hard to understand, though. Uln argues that this forced migration from a shut-down Google.cn to Google.com is a good thing because Google.com at least offers non-manipulated search results. Even if the Chinese users still can’t click through to the blocked websites due to the GFW, at least they can see and read the search result excerpts and, more importantly, know that such information exists out there. They would at least be aware of the existence of those dissenters and dissenting opinions that the Chinese government ideally doesn’t even want them to be aware of. That’s more freedom, right? That’s good, right?

That’s more freedom, right? That’s good, right?

Yeah, that’s good. It’s better than nothing.

Yeah, except until the Chinese government realizes that, blocks Google.com, and it indeed becomes nothing.

Nothing for the Chinese internet user. No Google.cn, no Google.com, no Google search methodology and algorithms. Only Baidu.

No choice.

No freedom.

Of course, Uln acknowledges such near the end of his post:

On the other hand, some commenters are already saying that I am too optimistic, and that the CCP will quickly come to the same conclusion I have come and block Google.com.

Without Google.com, the Chinese will learn of the Great Firewall and how to get around it, which is better anyway

But Uln continues:

The good news is that EVEN if they do block Google.com, the situation will still be better than today. The Chinese Google users will start to miss the G, and they will start to use web proxies to access Google.com, expanding their use and making the Chinese net population more conscious of the GFW and of the ways to cross it.

I’m not so sold on that situation still being better than the situation today. It is extremely optimistic, almost unreasonably so, to think a blocking of Google.com will by itself, or through the former Google users, make the general Chinese internet populace more conscious of the GFW and of the tools that could be used to cross it. Remember, most of the Chinese internet doesn’t use Google. It wouldn’t be a loss for most Chinese netizens because it wouldn’t directly affect their internet lives. If they aren’t inconvenienced in a practical manner, how can we expect a meaningful expansion of GFW-consciousness or use of GFW-circumventing tools?

Are we really hoping former Google.cn and then Google.com Chinese users are going to be freedom fighters? That they’ll become internet freedom and anti-censorship activists, handing out information on proxies and VPNs to the masses, enlightening them all?

For web searches, Baidu is the easy alternative. The one stickiness point will be Google productivity tools like Google Apps and, most notably, GMail. It will probably be easier to use a proxy or VPN than to accept losing one’s e-mail account, and this is definitely more so for companies and organizations. Yes, we’ll get a lot of these people but they’re likely and already plenty aware of the GFW, of proxies and VPNs. The real coup is not in these people expanding their use of proxies and VPNs or hoping they’ll help the general Chinese net population become “more conscious of the GFW and of the ways to cross it”, it is in them being inconvenienced so much that they demand the government unblock Google.com.

Yet, even then, it may only go as far as so they can use their productivity tools, not necessarily Google’s web search.

So where’s the “increased freedom in the Chinese internet” in that?

How is that situation really better than now?

Because a few more people will learn about the GFW and fewer still will bother to find out how to use proxies and VPNs? All this at the expense of broader daily practical choice and productivity for all the existing Chinese Google users and future would-be Google converts?

Some people surely see this trade-off as being worth-it, as being acceptable, as being desirable.

Me? I’m not so sure.

Why Google.cn is Evil and should leave China

That’s the title of Uln’s post.

It’s also a straw man.

This was never about whether or not Google.cn would or should leave China. It was about whether or not Google would or should leave China. I hope everyone caught onto the difference from the beginning. Everything is hinging on whether or not Google.cn is what allows Google, and also Google.com, to remain in China. We cannot approach answering this question without considering Google being blocked from China entirely if it doesn’t play ball with the Chinese government on Google.cn. If Google refuses to play ball on Google.cn, by uncensoring it or just shutting it down, we have to consider what may happen to Google.com. We should even expect the worst. In fact, that’s what we do best when it comes to Chinese government censorship, right? Why are we even entertaining that Google.com will remain unscathed and freely accessible in mainland China at all?

I’m not going to say there are only two possibilities. Life can surprise us at times. But requiring Google to censor its Google.cn search results was always, at heart, about the Chinese government’s insecurities with letting its citizens know too much information it fears will bring chaos to their order. It was not about dicking with Google just because it could. How reasonable is it to even suggest that access to an unrestricted Google.com can persist in mainland China, behind the Great Firewall, without a restricted Google.cn running cover?

Uln declares:

In fact, I maintain that Google.cn is the most evil product to ever have existed in the Chinese internet, and the World will be a better place without it.

No, I strongly disagree. I think it offered Chinese internet users valuable choice in most practical matters. Yes, I wish it could do so without manipulated search results but life is not black and white and sometimes we have to make the best of what we can control. You have to be in a game to win it.

No, I don’t think “the World” will be a better place without Google.cn. I think certain people in “the World” will rejoice for about a week and then continue on living their merry lives, using Google as they always have, and not really care one way or another that nearly 400 million internet users in China no longer have a user-friendly version of Google at their disposal. So no, “the World” will not be a better place, just temporarily more smug.

China, on the other hand, will definitely be a worse place without it and Chinese internet users will definitely be worse off for it.

Recommended Reading:

• “Google China cyber espionage saga” from ZDNet’s Zero Day (h/t ESWN)

The Chinese government seeks a harmonious society. But it’s Facebook’s social games that are cooperative, while China’s closer resemble the Ultimate Fighting Championships. Of China’s top 10 social games, 9 feature competitive actions that hurt other players (see graphic); the one exception is Renren Restaurant, an exact copy of Playfish’s Restaurant City on Facebook. Of Facebook’s top 10 games, only 1 features competitive actions. Chinese players cherish intense competition.

The post has more details on the game actions, which include enslaving and humiliating friends, bombs in the hospital, and looting at the farm.

Mischief Accomplished: worms added to friend's farm

Why all the Schadenfreude, Stealing, and Status?

Three speculations as to why Chinese games are more competitive.

1) Chinese Education System

Are Chinese children hard-wired for competition at a young age? Do Chinese become accustomed, even fond, of the tools required to succeed in a hyper-competitive education system? Are social games a lifelong detox from the gaokao?

2) Culture

Though ambiguous and slippery, culture is often cited as a source of societal differences (and even geopolitics, in Samuel Huntington’s Clash of the Civilizations) But real-life crime rates, including theft, are not notably higher appear in China (though harsher punishments and lackadaisical reporting muddle the issue). So why should they be in social games? Luxury goods, booming in China, help make the case that status is especially important in Chinese culture.

Nasty actions in the Wonder Hospital game

3) Specific to Social Games

Perhaps Chinese are more apt to add “friends” on social networks, even if there’s no close personal relationship. That could lead to fewer reservations about stealing from your “friends.” China’s prolific online friendships are evidenced by the finding that Chinese have more online than offline friends. Or perhaps Chinese netizens simply have a better sense of humor than Westerners when it comes to the value of virtual goods.

The new China Social Games Blog

China Social Games is a blog dedicated to tracking the hottest games, networks, and trends. Though already wildly popular in China (and on Facebook), social gaming is still in its infancy. Games are just starting to become truly social, so the China market is evolving, innovative, and yes, extremely competitive. China Social Games offer up-to-the-minute coverage as the market grows, consolidates, and Western players enter.

Our latest guest posts:

• TechCrunch: China To Police Social Games
• VentureBeat: China’s growing addiction: online farming games
• VentureBeat: The year it exploded: 10 hottest Chinese social games of 2009

China Social Games is brought to you by the BloggerInsight team, regular contributors to CNReviews. Follow @CNsocialgames on Twitter.

What was interesting and memorable about 2009?

Interested in your answer to this question.  To jog your memory, we compiled our “best” posts of the year.  Here’s part two of our “CN Reviews Best of 2009,” covering the topics we touched on in the second half of 2009 (including some stuff in June).  Part one is here.

People

In June, Kai brought us up to date on what happened to Chai Ling, the controversial TAM incident protester turned software company executive.  She brought defamation charges onto the filmmakers of the award-winning documentary “The Gate of Heavenly Peace” where “she arguably came across as a sniveling self-centered, power-hungry, emotional wreck quoted as secretly desiring bloodshed to advance her ends.”

In June, Kai also covered Barcamp Shanghai (coverage overview) and TedxShanghai (coverage overview), including some write-ups of:  Jenny Bai on Youth Pop Culture and how make China cool;  Renee Hartmann of enovate on selling to the China youth Market;  John Fan on the challenges of serving the China’s internet market from a Taiwan base;  Toine Roojimans on payment systems in China;  Gang Lu, on the overall state of the social internet in China;  Stefano Negri of McKinsey on China’s rapid urbanization; and Andrew Yu on how travel can be transformative, and his NGO 1kg.org

In July, Kai met up with Tania Branigan, correspondent of the Guardian, and spoke about her experience covering the Urumqi riots and the general topic of Western coverage of China.  The Guardian also did an excellent piece called China at the Crossroads which includes video and photography from colleague Dan Chung who also posts at DSLR News Shooter blog and did a great timelapse and slow-motion video on the National Day parade in October.

In August, I met up with Rebecca MacKinnon and wrote about her perspective on the internet’s uncertain future globally and US-China relations.  I also noted that prominent Chinese tech blogger Keso was suspended from Twitter, probably because the use of VPN services, and shortly after we publicized this, his account was reinstated.

In September, Thomas Friedman wrote an editorial contrasting China’s “one-party autocracy” with the U.S.’ “one-party democracy.”  Here’s an excerpt of his post:

Watching both the health care and climate/energy debates in Congress, it is hard not to draw the following conclusion: There is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy, which is what we have in America today.
One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century. It is not an accident that China is committed to overtaking us in electric cars, solar power, energy efficiency, batteries, nuclear power and wind power.

This drew some reaction from Richard Berger at Peking Duck who felt that Friedman was papering over the significant flaws in the Chinese system:

Namely, that that kind of authority comes only with a very heavy price, and that while the CCP may be “reasonably enlightened” about energy, natural resources and ensuring sustainability, these benefits are balanced, and sometimes far outweighed, by its knee-jerk self-protective tendencies, which put the party’s survival on the very top of its priority list…

We felt that Western reactions to Friedman were largely defensive and overreacting, in a way the flip side of the “easily hurt feelings of the sensitive Chinese netizens defending China’s fragile online honor.” (paraphrasing Kaiser Kuo).

In September, I wrote about Jack Ma‘s speech at the Clinton Global Initiative (see below).  Kai also rounded up the usual suspects in his post about great China blogs that translate Chinese news content, including:  Roland Soong, Oiwan Lam, Bob Chen, et al; Fauna, and Key.

In September, we were 2nd after the WSJ in breaking the news on Kai-Fu Lee‘s resignation from Google, and we broke the news (in English) on the name of Kai-Fu Lee’s new firm, Innovation Works.  We also interviewed Keso on Lee’s transition. BloggerInsight followed up with a poll of bloggers that uncovered a sense of the constraints that Lee was under at Google.

In October, we discovered David Moser’s Blue Ocean Network who profiled Jeremy Goldkorn & Michael Anti and the Chinese blogosphere.

In November, we wrote about Kaiser Kuo‘s speech at TedX Honolulu entitled “Red Guards vs. Rednecks” and the effects of online extremism creating a growing rift between Chinese and the West.

During the 2nd half of the year, Kai also experimented with CNReviews Quotes, where we featured short quotes from:  Elaine Chow, Roland Soong, Josh from Cup of Cha, Alec Ash, Charles Custer, Col. Timothy Reese, Paul Carr, Jeremiah Jenne, Carol Bartz, Andy Keller, Kelly Hammond, and Howard French.

Business

In July, Kai highlighted an Ogilvy China report on the opportunity in 4th-6th tier cities and encouraged entrepreneurs to get out of Beijing and Shanghai to see how life is different in these other cities.  I didn’t even know cities were tiered beyond 1st and 2nd tier!

In August, BloggerInsight posted on the top 4 reasons why Chinese social networking is different.  One insight I appreciated: “Young Chinese netizens view their SNS profiles as representations of themselves to the world, establishments of self territory outside of their parents’ and schools’ oversight. For them, social networking is about standing out and building a reputation in an online world. Local social networking sites do a great job of catering to this need for self-expression.”

Meanwhile, in August I was invited to attend a Churchill Club roundtable hosted by Symbio.  Speakers included: Linda Chen (Partner, KPMG), Jacob Hsu (CEO, Symbio), Harry Shum (Corporate VP, Search Development; Microsoft), and Lip-Bu Tan (President & CEO, Cadence Design Systems, Inc.). My coverage in two parts (part 1, part 2) included some discussion of the nature of innovation in China, the myth of cheap labor (in certain industries), the cost advantages of China eroded by the high cost of senior people and “always having to have a Plan B,” and techniques for retaining staff through rewards on one hand, and guilt on the other.

In September, I attended the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting (CGI) and seemed to be the only blogger/journalist covering the China related news (all CNReviews CGI posts tagged cgi2009).  I posted on the fact that Jessica Alba was there, but no China.   Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group, was the only major representative of China.  Together with Grameen Trust, Alibaba announced its involvement in Grameen China.  Also in attendance was  Calvin Chin of Qifang.  Wang Yusuo of ENN Group announced a partnership with Duke Energy to work on clean coal and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).  There was extensive discussion about approaches toward innovation in social entrepreneurship.

In September, BloggerInsight continued to cover social game trends featuring iPartment, which was designed to appeal to teen girls who, you guessed it, would attract pimply teen boys.  As a result of that post, we now rank #3 in Google for the term “hot teen girls China.”  Thanks a lot, BloggerInsight!

In December, Ying Xue (founder of BloggerInsight) wrote about the future of microblogging in China and her talk at Ad:Tech China.  She was later quoted in a CNN piece about trends in this space.

Life

In June, Baoru (Katherine) posted on a report that Chinese students have longest study hours.  During the Gaokao examination season, Kai pulled together a review of some posts from Wang Jianshuo (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), James Fallows, and Jeremiah Jenne.

In July, Kai commented on the widely read spoof of Chinese journalism by The Onion.  Kai’s take: “While most of the pieces are pretty amusing (some are pretty lame, as if they were trying too hard), I have to agree with Elaine when she concludes that the satire overall falls a bit short from the ludicrous content of genuine state-sponsored Chinese journalism and rhetoric.”  I thought it rang pretty true!

Kai also wrote about Transformers in China and how Chinese netizens saw it as American propaganda.   Roland Soong comments “outlines three arguments for how Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was a big showcase advertisement for the sale of American arms, propaganda for all countries to cooperate with the United States, and an idealization of American soldiers.”  Will Moss followed up with an Imagethief post aptly entitled “Hard robots, soft power.”

Kai also highlighted a post about FLG persecution by Charles Custer at ChinaGeeks:

There is nowhere on earth we can learn about or read about without bias, but even given the assumption that bias exists everywhere, China might be the worst country in the world to attempt to study if you’re trying to assess the veracity of anything remotely controversial.

In July, the Urumqi riots were well underway, and Kai covered an interesting story about why the Uighurs didn’t get the same love as the Tibetans from the West.  One writer concluded that they were simply “less photogenic.”  Whatever that means.

In September, Kai followed up with a post that talked more about Han discrimination toward Tibetans, inspired by a Chinese writer at Alec Ash’s 6 blog who said “it is not easy to comment on Tibet [for Han people]”

In September, we continued to muse about manufacturing reality with media with an excellent follow up post about The Onion spoof and some commentary from a blogger called the Last Psychiatrist, which basically talks about the propaganda power of media.

We also followed the blowback from the Lou Jing incident.  Lou Jing is a Shanghainese girl who’s father was African-American and mother is Shanghainese.  After appearing on DragonTV’s Jia You! Oriental Angels, she was faced with online racism in Chinese BBSs, translated by chinaSMACK.  However, Kai noted that foreigners attacking Chinese racists reveated their own racism:

Just as the examples of Chinese racism were outrageous were the foreigner comments predictable. In the face of ridiculously ignorant and malicious racism by many Chinese netizens, many foreign netizens flooded chinaSMACK’s comment section with equally ignorant and malicious racism against the Chinese. “A hah! I knew Chinese society was racist!” the chorus crooned.

Chinayouren also offered some commentary on racism in China.

Kai also generated some discussion around Taiwan’s status, weaving between the Straits to say that while eventual reunification is in Taiwan’s best interests, Taiwan currently is a de facto, independent state.

October was the scene of National Day celebrations, which we reported would be larger than the Olympics.  Kai shared a contemplative piece about Shanghai side streets, away from the manufactured excitement of the parade itself.

November brought more commentary on American interference with China’s internal affairs, and Kai’s general indifference to that.  We also talked about the movie 2012 and whether or not it was really praising the Chinese (more youth reaction to 2012 reported by enovateChina).

Yes, Obama made his first visit to China, but we (and Chinese netizens) were more entranced by a beautiful girl wearing red and black.  Wonder if her name is “Creamy.”

In December, Kai shared his experience on overnight trains between Shanghai and Beijing and whether or not to take it vs. flying. Min also wrote about 2010′s Chinese holiday schedule.

Well, that’s what we blogged about.  Pretty sure a lot of interesting stuff happened in 2009 that we didn’t blog about.

What did you find interesting and memorable about 2009?

Photo credit: ED Jones/AFP/Getty Images via Boston.com

So what did you find interesting and memorable about 2009? In April, we (led by Kai Pan) rebooted CNReviews with the goal of focusing on interesting people, business opportunities, and aspects of life in China.  Here’s part one of two of “CN Reviews Best Of 2009″ from my perspective (Kai may differ), covering the first half of 2009.

People

In January, Rebecca MacKinnon wrote a great letter to Obama (in Huffington Post) that highlighted four key misunderstandings that Westerners have about China, namely:  (1) popular opinion does actually matter to the authoritarian CCP, (2) that young Chinese don’t see the West as liberators, (3) that popular support for the government is greater than most Western people think, and (4) the Chinese are not “an undifferentiated mass of brainwashed drones.”

In April, Jackie Chan created a Western media sh1tstorm with his comments that “Chinese need to be controlled.” Translated by the AP (via Taipei Times):

I’m not sure if it’s good to have freedom or not,” Chan said. “I’m really confused now. If you’re too free, you’re like the way Hong Kong is now. It’s very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic.”  Chan added: “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.

Kai Pan took issue with this translation (as did ESWN) and argued that the Western media is mistranslating his words and ignoring the context of Chinese history:

Any person with a passing interest in Chinese history should be aware of the Chinese people’s preoccupation with order and chaos. Unification and revolution throughout China’s much boasted 5000 years of history has almost always bore the cause of bringing order to a China plagued with chaos. As a Chinese person, however Hollywood-ified, Chan is deeply aware of this, and his comments regarding his uncertainty over more freedom or less freedom are made with reference to what balance would best serve the interests of developing China forward as a whole.

So please, for the love of God, stop trying to make his comments into some sort of high-profile betrayal of — or backtracking from — the unassailable righteousness and immutable pinnacle of human enlightenment that is “Freedom.” Doing so says more about the colored-lenses you’re wearing than it does about Chan’s personal thoughts regarding individual rights and liberties. It also says your Chinese sucks, or you’re allowing yourself to play stupid.

In April and May, we also highlighted the progressive development of the English-language China blogosphere.  First, we noted  the growing trend of translating Chinese BBS and social media by chinaSMACK, ChinaHush and others, joining old stalwarts like Global Voices Online and Danwei.  Kai also profiled some of our favorite bloggers, including Charles Custer of ChinaGeeks and Rand Han of LittleRedBook.cn.  I then highlighted 10 Ecletic China blogs including Adam Schokora’s 56minus1, Alec Ash’s 6, Zafka Zhang’s China Youth Watch, street fashion blog Stylites in Beijing, and many others.  Finally, we compiled a list of 72+ women English-language China bloggers to prove (to ourselves) that not all China bloggers are culturally-sensitive white guys in China (many of whom we know and love, and whose Chinese is much better than mine).

Business

In March, I attended a panel at SXSW about Entrepreneurship in China that was surprisingly well attended considering it was in Austin, TX.  Kris Krug, Robert Scales, Andrew Lih, Sage Brennan, and Kaiser Kuo (from the audience) contributed some great points for Westerners interested in going to China.  Some of my favorite points were as follows:

1. Take your time to understand China.
2. You simply cannot succeed without a trusted and capable local Chinese partner
3. Question your assumptions about how things work in China.  Always.
4. Learn to handle more nuance and complexity than you are used to in the West.  Evaluate China on its own terms
5. If you want to truly change China, you must also localize your approach (in reference to the Tibetan activists during the Olympics)

In March and April, I also fretted about seeing the first clear signals that US dollar hegemony is coming to an end, with People’s Bank of China governor Zhao Xiaochaun asking the International Monetary Fund to begin playing the role that US has historically played in providing an international reserve currency.  I later wrote about 5 signs the Chinese government is preparing an escape route from the US dollar.  I’m afraid this story is far from over.

In May, our partner BloggerInsight translated a post called “Taobao is Toxic” by prominent Chinese blogger Keso which highlighted Alibaba’s push into transforming university graduates into businesspeople through becoming Taobao sellers.  The only problem is that Taobao is brutally competitive and that this initiative would merely enslave students into becoming part of the Taobao system, with little hope of success.

In May, I also took the opportunity to observe a bit of “parachute journalism,” with Sarah Lacy of TechCrunch swooping into the China VC community in dramatic fashion and writing an expose of alleged bribe-taking at Sequoia China.  The post was later quietly edited with all the major claims removed.

In June, internet control continued to be in the news with the proposed Green Dam initiative and then CCTV attacks on yellow content (aka porn) on Google (which include a “fake” student as an interview subject).  BloggerInsight then polled Chinese bloggers on their opinion regarding the CCTV attack.  Bloggers sardonically noted that Baidu also received negative CCTV press until they spent 40 mm RMB in advertising, at which point the reports went away.

Finally, we and BloggerInsight also highlighted the opportunities in the Chinese travel industry, and mused about the future of travel metasearch in China.

Life

We captured some of the current events that affected people living in China in 2009 and covered some other random topics along the way.

What’s life without food? In January, I reposted a version of Min Guo’s excellent slideshow of regional differences of Chinese New Year food.

In February, David Feng committed an act of journalism by breaking the news on the CCTV fire (TVCC building, actually) on Twitter and driving to the CCTV building to live-tweet and take photos of the fire which burned the TVCC/Mandarin Oriental building to a crisp.

In April, Kai waded into the discussion on racism in China. Kai also stirred up some controversy by highlighting the fact that many expats come to China and then not really make an effort to develop “real” friends who are local Chinese.  Min Guo also translated a few posts from overseas Chinese community site Wenxue City highlighting a Chinese returnee’s experience coming back to Shanghai after time outside of China.

In May, Kai also provided an exceptional news summary on the Swine Flu response in China. We also remembered the victims of the Wenchuan earthquake on the 1 year anniversary on May 12.

June 4 was Chinese Internet Maintenance Day in China, with over 390 sites down for scheduled maintenance.  I blogged about edited memories and consensual amnesia on this sensitive anniversary.  Kai also commented on Mark Anthony Jones‘ Fools Mountain blog post that questioned the dominant Western narrative of the TAM Crackdown.  We also remembered where we each were in 1989, and highlighted some newly released Tiananmen photos of the event.  Finally, BloggerInsight blogged about Chinese bloggers’ perspective on the 20th anniversary June 4.  I’m proud of our coverage on this important historical event.

That’s it.  In the vastness of the topical areas we broadly covered, what happened in the first-half of 2009 that we should remember?