Hao Hao ReportThe best China news and blog posts

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.

A blind "barefoot lawyer" has infuriated half the officials in Shandong Province with a case that highlights many of China's unfinished civil reforms: humane treatment, due process, and rule of law.
For Chen Guangcheng - who has been under siege and arrest for a year - the problem is that he is that case.

The new Minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, who was the old Minister of SEPA, Zhou Shengxian, announced yesterday that setting up a law enforcement system of “iron and steel” is at the top of his agenda. So is the rule of law about to grow through this announcement? Maybe not.

New IP lawsuits! Yes, there is a silver lining in the advancement of the rule of law: it’s that the lawyers profit most. The more that law becomes integral to Chinese society, the more lawyers will become more important. That’s an already established fact in America –- expect the same in China.

An interesting post from Jeremiah at the Granite Studio. While out shopping with his fiancee and her mom, J. holds back and shams "ting bu dong". This assumption of no-understanding leads to a street debate about his ethnicity and then a bold statement that he's not a "real" American.

The new product identification and tracking system, which has been in the spotlight recently over concerns it may raise production costs, has been written into the draft food safety law. It is very encouraging that the government is stepping up to the plate regarding food safety regulation.

The nanjing city government is offering one real DVD in exchange for 3 fake ones...

HOT ROCKS! Not knowing what they had actually bought, the tourists sliced off a piece of the stone and took it to experts from Beijing's Tsinghua University. After identifying the souvenir as a piece of depleted uranium, the scientists called the police.

A very long analysis by Joel Martinsen about the Beijing Mayor's recent criticism of extravagant real estate advertising. Includes a good translation of a Wang Xiaofeng post, who points out changing the ads ain't going to make housing more affordable.