Hao Hao ReportThe best China news and blog posts

A little insight into the rather topical and useful Chinese slang term: chaozuo, or fried work. As the article states, 'chao' is used in a number of common slang terms, but chaozuo in particular has an ever-increasing meaning in how it relates to Chinese media.

"Chao is now often combined with zuo (work). So chaozuo (fry work), or cooking or creating a buzz is now being practised by some who are becoming experts in the field.

They do whatever it takes to ensure that chaozuo can be applied extensively.

China is a major force in all but one of the five major areas of cultural products recognized by UNESCO -- recorded media, printed media, visual arts, audiovisual media and heritage goods.

With the Central Government and IOC in Beijing this week to mark the one year countdown before the start of the Olympics, problems are starting to surface concerning a variety of issues over the events, and in particular the 'soft' issues that are so important in making a success of the Games.

Tomorrow will mark one year until the Beijing Olympics. The games, which have been called everything from China’s great coming-out party to the genocide Olympics, will undoubtedly put the country under a media spotlight the likes of which most people living here have never seen.

China, no stranger to voicing its disapproval, has condemned such international outrages as the refueling of Chen Shui-bian’s plane on American soil in January (a crash landing would have been OK, I guess), foreign leaders’ meetings with the Dalai Lama, western media ‘bias’, the rights of non-Chinese peoples to protest in their own countries, and the cultural price of a Starbucks in the Forbidden City. Weighty matters indeed.

Of China's more than 120 million Internet users, 43 percent are using online message boards, 76 million are using online video sharing sites and 24 percent are using blogs. Social media is alive and well in China, says CIC CEO Sam Flemming. CIC is the leading Internet word-of-mouth consulting firm in China. But is it a culture one where listening is promoted, and relationships are encouraged? How do companies "do" social media in China? What works best for American companies trying to use social media in China?

Air China has been named “Best China Airline”. It’s the third time in a row that Air China has received the prestigious award by ‘Business Traveller’.

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?

It seems that Olympic preparations are going smoothly in Beijing (621 days to go!), but then no-one is really able to complain. Not so in London, where questions about rocketing costs and grave doubts over the usefulness of staging the games are being voiced. This is just the start... There are about 2000 days of complaining and protests to come...