Category Archives: Information and Reference Sources

US State Department Visa Staff (Officers?) To Work on Saturdays (For a Couple of Weeks)

For those in China who find visa application at US embassies and consulates a difficult and lengthy process: The U.S. Embassy in Beijing, along with four U.S. consulates general across China, is opening on Saturdays over the next few weeks … Continue reading

Posted in American Faux Pas, Imports and Exports, Information and Reference Sources | Leave a comment

Chinese Corruption and School Construction — No Longer A Suitable Media Topic

Here is Caijing magazine’s attempt to explain in English the causes of the collapse of school buildings during the Sichuan earthquake. Yes, construction standards existed, goes the article, but weren’t implemented. That English language translation — intended to be the … Continue reading

Posted in Information and Reference Sources, Media | Leave a comment

Guest Analysis: Yunnan Province and the Hukou Registration System

[Editor's Note: I'm grateful to Carl Minzner, author of the China Law and Politics blog, for permitting the reposting of his analysis below. His post represents a scarce example in modern Chinese Studies of a laudable skepticism towards a claim, … Continue reading

Posted in Information and Reference Sources, Legal | Leave a comment

Is What You Read About China Remotely Reliable?

In the 1980s, the Chinese government discredited Steven Mosher, a scholar of modern China and PhD candidate at Stanford University, and expelled him from the country. China’s claims are immaterial — it was clear that he was punished for documenting … Continue reading

Posted in Ideas in Chinese Life, Information and Reference Sources, Scandals | Leave a comment

Uh, oh. A New Enemy.

No, I haven’t read the book, and I intend to avoid doing so. The author’s precis of his apocalyptic, decades-long, multi-fronted conflict theory with perceived enemy China is itself sufficiently off-putting. We can chalk it up as just another iteration … Continue reading

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Food and Beverage Franchising Study Available

Among the more useful of the quasi-marketing documents put out by the big firms is one entitled “Franchising Opportunities in China, Japan and Singapore,” prepared by PWC for the APEC Secretariat. Please don’t spend the $60 APEC wants you to … Continue reading

Posted in Business Opportunities, Information and Reference Sources, Investment | 6 Comments

China Environmental Business Newsletter

The US-China Environmental Business Newsletter, containing business opportunities, conference announcements and new, is available free of charge from the U.S. Commercial Service. A sample of its content from the March, 2005, issue: 1) New ADB Procurement Notice on Jilin Water … Continue reading

Posted in Business Opportunities, Information and Reference Sources | Leave a comment