Hao Hao ReportThe best China news and blog posts

You know media pirating has ingrained itself into a country or culture when a lawyer stands up and challenges Microsoft for denying him access to his pirated version of Windows.

U.S Senator Sam Brownback, claims that some Beijing hotels had their arms twisted on their back and was forced to install surveillance equipment to spy on their guests Internet usage.

I'm never exactly surprised by the extent to which stuff is pirated in China (I'm still a little boggled that it's easy to purchase films that have been outright banned by the government - bootlegged, of course), but it does make me wonder exactly how much companies can do when the motto seems to be 'If you make it, they will come and pirate it (sometimes with the help of government entities!

This CBC article outlines how pro-Beijing politicians have just given Hong Kong police Big Brother-like powers to monitor people.

"The Interception of Communications and Surveillance Bill will allow authorities to tap phone lines, screen e-mails and monitor private communications in homes and offices. The law requires any surveillance operation to be approved by judges appointed by Hong Kong's leader."

I put together this little RSS feed for China's pirated movies. I'm not saying you should watch them.

I'm just reporting the piracy. :)

Christmas goods from a Yiwu, Zhejiang Province jumped 42.6% over last year to $37.90 million, or 9,869 tons of goods, up 35.5%. These goods account for half of the Christmas gifts that Santa brings, and also for the terrible mileage he gets on reindeer feed.

Apple's iPods are made by mainly female workers who earn as little as ?27 per month, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday yesterday.

The report, 'iPod City', isn't available online. It offers photographs taken from inside the factories that make Apple music players, situated in China and owned by Foxconn.

The Mail visited some of these factories and spoke with staff there. It reports that Foxconn's Longhua plant houses 200,000 workers, remarking: "This iPod City has a population bigger than Newcastle's."

Do Free Trade Agreements which are generally intended to favor the bigger country, end up forcing the other country into economic conditions which hinder quality, being that it's clear the Multinational corporations go to third world countries to enhance their profits, and give less attention to quality, due to industrial rules infancy in the third world countries?

This USA Today article shows just how far China is willing to go to show the world how great their country is at the 2008 games. With Taiwan and Japan tensions cooling, China's turning their anti-aircraft guns on their nebulous neighbours, the clouds.