Hao Hao ReportThe best China news and blog posts

Howard French: China's chief censor has launched another round of crackdowns to eliminate what he labeled the "four fakes."

. . . In this case, it was definitely a matter of denouncing the wicked, to wit: sham publications, sham news bureaus, fake journalists and bogus news reports.

From ESWN:
"The following is a translation of a blog post by Southern Weekend reporter Fu Jianfeng (???). This is about the FoxConn-versus-China Business News case that Fu and his colleagues were working on, but never go to publish it after a ban was issued on further coverage. So this is yet another case in which an unpublishable case found itself on the Internet instead, with all sorts of delicious details that could not have been published either. This is a perfect illustration of how the Internet has transformed China ..."

China gives in to criticism from Olympic officials, foreign journalists and Western political leaders, lifts some restrictions blocking Web sites at the Main Press Center for the Summer Games.

China is number one in everything these days. Now, China is number one in the number of journalists it has in prison.

Reporters Without Borders says China has as many as ....

Riots broke out recently in Southern China's Zhejiang province with students and citizens protesting the death of a local teacher. The teacher's death was labelled a suicide, but the protestors believe that it was foul play by her husband, and a police coverup to boot.

Additional information and Chinese news reports about the incident can be found at ESWN (http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20060826_2.htm).

Danwei gives a rundown of the Net response to the 'slave labour' case that has been the storm in Chinese news this week. For anyone just tuning in, brick kilns in Shanxi province were found to be using slave labour (including abducted children) to make their stackable product.

This Danwei article also contains the original note from the father's of the children that was sent to the central government and sparked the investigation in the first place.

Amid reports of the collapse of the middle schools during the Sichuan earthquakes, the blame of corruption and bad government officials have been focused on China. Here, we are reminded that such corrupt practices are present in our own backyard as well. A few bad seeds, poor funding, under paid staff and no oversight can cause the same problems in any country.

American journalist Tim Johnson reveals what everyone has long suspected: Chinese leaders know exactly the questions that journalists are going to ask them at press conferences.

A coalition of advocates met at City Hall in Lower Manhattan to announce the launch of a 24-hour appeal for China to release prisoners -- including journalists, bloggers and artists -- before the Olympics opening ceremony on Aug. 8. "It would show goodwill toward keeping promises they made in 2001 to the International Olympic Committee that they have not yet kept," said Lucie Morillon, Washington director of Reporters Without Borders, which helped organize the appeal.

Campaigns also were launched in Melbourne, Australia; Toronto and Vancouver, Canada; Hong Kong; Berlin; and other cities.