Hao Hao ReportThe best China news and blog posts

Everything has been prepared, all tickets have been sold, yet Beijing is not ready for the games. The majors issues, air pollution, freedom of speech and journalistic freedom as well as the whole visa thing cast a dark shadow above these Olympics. What will the Olympics be under these circumstances? Doing a review later is easy... therefore I do a preview. What will happen during the Olympics, what will be the outcome?

Freedom-house, "an independent non-governmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom in the world", has issued its annual report this week called "Freedom of the World" detailing ranking for freedom in countries around the world. The article gives a summary ranking on Asian countries.

China's not the only one taking a narrow view of free speech these days. Global Voices links up stories from Turkey and France with the Middle Kingdom.

The rule of law increasing through mass public participation? And not triggered by the party or a few activist lawyers? Sounds like a dream. But apparently, it’s happening. What happens in China when you can’t get your own lawyer to fight your cause? Learn the law yourself.

“Free Tibet” has become the cry of the backward and the reactionary. Across the West, it has been turned into the pet cause of poor little rich girls (and boys) who feel disillusioned with modernity and the evil forces of progress. "Free Tibet" activists expend much of their energy campaigning against anything that smells modern—especially Chinese jobs, industry, and infrastructure.

In the aftermath of the Olympic Games, Benoit Vermander reflects on both short-term and long-term prospects for China. He emphasizes the themes of ecology, freedom of speech and solidarity as the key factors for China to meet its future challenges.

They are fleeing a living hell but often meet an even more nightmarish fate. Michael Sheridan on the Chinese border with North Korea meets the ragged, desperate refugees Christian groups are trying to smuggle to safety.

While the Dalai Lama is yelling at China accusing it for repressing religious freedom in Tibet, he himself is being sued in India for heavy-handedly persecuting followers of a deity of Tibetan Buddhism deemed by the Dalai Lama as "non-spiritual" allegedly out of political necessity. As such, the Dalai Lama is accused of being more like a "totalitarian dictator", rather than a reincarnation of the Buddha of Compassion that he proclaims himself as.

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