Danwei Noon Report is a daily roundup of new and old media coverage about China from Chinese and English sources.
Videos of Rui’an protests
Short videos of clashes between protesters and armed police in Rui’an are circulating online. The protests stem from student dissatisfaction over the official response to an alleged suicide of their teacher, Dai Haiqing, but have expanded into a large, occasionally destructive popular demonstration in front of Rui’an government buildings (see ESWN for details and photos). A popular video hosted on the Tudou server was pulled for content-related reasons, but other videos are popping up elsewhere – here are some hosted on the photobucket
site; Youtube also has one. There is also a bbs linked off of the memorial site for Dai Haiqing on the online obituary website Netor. There’s also a story about the affair on the International Herald Tribune website here.
UPDATE: ESWN has more reportage from Chinese bloggers about this affair.
Tesco in China
The Financial Times reports on yet another foreign retail chain’s China plans:
Tesco is preparing to bring its own brand of noodles to Chinese consumers as part of the British retailer’s plans to launch up to 500 own-label “value” products through its Chinese joint venture in the coming months.
The supermarket retailer, which paid $260m for a 50 per cent stake in local operator Hymall in 2004, also said it was planning to launch pre-packed and convenience foods in China in the longer term, using its experience in Britain where ready-meals are a staple of weekly shopping trips.
The launch will be the first time that the Tesco name will be seen in Shanghai and Beijing, given the jointly owned stores trade under the Hymall name…
…However, Jean-Luc Chéreau, chairman of Carrefour in China, said ready-meals would not appeal to Chinese consumers. “You have a small market for ready-to-cook but it is not very important,” Mr Chéreau said. In his opinion, a typical Chinese family would buy fresh products in the local street market or go to restaurants because it was so cheap to eat out. (Link)
9-11 in Beijing
Joanthan Ansfield looks at Chinese reactions to 9-11, in 2001 and this year. Excerpt:
It seems to me that people in China bear the same general mix of sentiments toward America. Fewer and fewer hold our country’s political system in high esteem, though, and seldom does anyone question whether the Bush Administration is getting what they deserve in Iraq and Afghanistan – baoying. In fact, that’s practically a non-issue. (Link, see also this People’s Daily page about 9-11)
Mao’s son resurfaces for 30th anniversary of father’s death
From Daily Telegraph correspondent and blogger Richard Spencer:
Chairman Mao’s son made an unexpected reappearance into public life at the weekend with a long eulogy to his father on the 30th anniversary of his death. (Link; the eulogy is on the People’s Daily – in Chinese )
Feng Xiaogang’s Banquet, Jia Zhangke’s Still Life etc.
The Times correspondent abd blogger Jane Macartney looks at recent Chinese cinema, focusing on Feng Xiaogang’s new film Banquet (link). This film is a martial arts epic that is a new direction for Feng who is best known for his light hearted comedies.
Penguin books in China
The China Daily has a feature story on Penguin Group’s chairman John Makinson and Penguin’s plans for China (link).