Jonathan Pomfret argues: "For better or worse, it's safe to say that we're at the doorstep of a new era of China bashing in the West. The post-Tiananmen Square crackdown honeymoon where the zeitgeist was 'we can all get rich together' is over. It's been replaced by China = bad guy."

Part III of expat Turner Sparks' journey into the relief effort underway in Sichuan. In this post Turner talks about the contrast between what the media is saying and what the feeling on the ground is. Includes a number of photos from the front lines.

An additional first-hand account of the Sichuan quake from a English-language Chengdu blogger, KMM. "But even though I’m convinced staying in the fifth floor of my apartment is perfectly safe, I’ve moved back outside, sitting in the grass, because damn it when the floor keeps moving under your feet, it doesn’t matter how much you know your safe, you still feel you better get out as fast as possible."

On April 9, 2008 at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, two high-profile student 'protests' for and against Tibetan independence took place. Grace Wang (Wang Qianyuan 王千源), a 21 year old girl from Qingdao, Shandong, joined in the protest on the campus. Wang is a student at Duke University.

Quote: “I feel superior when having sex with Japanese women because their country invaded China in the past. This is a kind of payback.”

A man attacked two Americans at the Drum Tower on August 9, killing one and injuring the other. The man then committed suicide by jumping from the second storey of the tower.

Beijing subway's line 2 was closed to passengers on the morning of July 21. The closure coincided with the introduction of a new system whereby cars are only allowed to drive on alternate days depending on their license plate numbers.

Caijing editor Hu Shuli calls for the Chinese people to build a comprehensive disaster management system.

The Chinese government’s decision to allow the seemingly unrestricted flow of information out of Sichuan this week in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake has surprised many. However, the general assumption that the Chinese government ‘all of the sudden’ decided to pursue a policy of transparency and openess is incorrect. This decision was in fact made last year when the State...

I was happy to come across today’s China Daily article reporting some immediate health benefits from the May 1 smoking ban that I mentioned in my prior post . Though perhaps not the type that immediately comes to mind, we’ll take what we can get.