August 2, 2006 – Danwei Noon Report, a daily roundup of new and old media coverage about China, from Chinese and English sources
• Sina has a story about two city patrol teams in Shenzhen meeting each other and getting into a fight. City patrol teams (城管队) are crews of minor officials who are supposed to keep order in the streets, but they often seem a little like gangsters when they close down street food stalls, and harass vendors and vagrants. The image reproduced here is taken from the Sina report.
• Today Xinhua and most Beijing newspapers are fronting with photos and reports about the Chinese UN observer who was killed in Lebanon. His body arrived in Beijing this morning. The story is on The Beijing News website and in English on Xinhua (Xinhua Chinese article with photos is here).
• After the ban announced yesterday on treatments for breast enlargment and other medical products, The Beijing News reports that there are still 12 provincial TV stations broadcasting such ads.
• Australia’s SBS Radio interviewed the Director of the China Media Centre at the University of Westminster, Professor Hugo De Burgh about Chinese media. An MP3 of the interview can be listened to or downloaded here.
• Sohu has a report titled You can’t even buy a house with money. It’s about an area north of Beijing where apartment prices are so low that that money alone won’t get you a place: you have to wait in line.
• Netease reports that last year’s winning Super Girl, Li Yuchun, failed an entrance exam for graduate studies. The article says that it was probably her results for the English and Politics sections of the exam that led to the failure. Teenage girls nationwide are weeping.