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Briefings - 1016. page

China’s Nebul’ Named World’s Second-Fastest Computer

The Nebulae system at the National Supercomputer Centre in Shenzhen in southern China has been ranked the world’s second-fastest machine in a list issued by U.S. and European researchers, highlighting China’s ambitions to become a global technology center. 

Nebulae, only behind the U.S. Department of Energy’s Jaguar, is capable of sustained computing of 1.271 petaflops or 1,271 trillion calculations per second, according to TOP500, a semiannual list compiled by Hans Meuer of the University of Mannheim, Germany; Erich Strohmaier and Horst Simon of NERSC/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; and Jack Dongarra of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. 
China has risen to No. 2 overall on the TOP500, having 24 of the 500 systems on the list and 9.2 percent of global supercomputing capacity, up from having only 21 systems on the list six months ago. 
Source: China News Service, June 1, 2010 
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2010/06-01/2316577.shtml

China’s Rich Moving Overseas û Fear of Losing their Wealth

2009 saw a 100% increase of EB-5 category applications for immigration to the United States, with the intent to be an investor. In 2008 the number was 500. According to the Economic Observer, there are two reasons for China’s rich to immigrate overseas: children’s education and finding a of safe haven. The latter pertains to the lack of social stability. The domestic investment environment is far from the rule of law. More importantly, “the rich people are on pins and needles because the ever widening income disparity has led to public challenges of their ‘original sins’ [getting wealthy through illegal or unfair practices] and to ‘hatred of the rich.’” “You never know. Maybe one day people will rob the rich to give to the poor. It is too unsafe,” said a rich Mr. Li.

Source: Huanqiu, May 30, 2010
http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2010-05/833734.html

Xinhua on the U.S. National Security Strategy: What has changed?

Xinhua commented on the United States National Security Strategy, which was released May 27, 2010. “The United States has not changed it strategic goal of maintaining its leadership position; it merely changes the means. The U.S. has not changed its militarism; it merely changes the manner. The U.S. has not given up the right to use force; it merely changes the time when it will use force.” “For China, we should see both sides of this new strategy: we should see that the new strategy emphasizes international cooperation, especially the part relating to cooperation with China, but we should also see that it contains the potential for the U.S. to shirk its responsibility to China. Further, we should see the new strategy presents a clear expression of U.S. military power against China and an emphasis of the ‘human rights card.’”

Source: Xinhua, May 31, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2010-05/31/c_12161645.htm

Public Diplomacy on the Offensive

The Public Diplomacy Division, located under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been advanced to the Office of Public Diplomacy, indicating an elevated importance to the Chinese government. While the staff has increased from a dozen to sixteen or seventeen, the workload has doubled,” said its director, Wei Xin. Its responsibilities include hosting major open house events for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, maintaining the Ministry’s official website and its 204 sub-websites, monitoring online foreign affairs forums, and coordinating public diplomacy at the embassies and consulates. To push the agenda of the Party, China’s diplomatic missions have been aggressively pursuing public diplomacy activities, which include public speeches, op-eds in mainstream newspapers, interviews, forums, and conferences.

Source: Xinhua, May 31, 2010
http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/world/2010-05/31/c_12160553.htm

“People’s Forum” magazine: China May Have Become an M-Type Society Due to High Apartment Prices

"People’s Forum" Magazine, which is under People’s Daily, published an article on June 1, 2010, titled “High Apartment Prices Make the Middle-class Fall – China may have become an “M-Type” society." Here is a partial translation from the article:

  1. "Recently, ‘the ant race’ has become one of the most frequently used terms on the Internet and in society. “The ant race” refers to the college graduates who have no jobs or low-income jobs after graduation and have to live together in a crowded place at the outskirts of a big city, near the countryside. These people were born in the 1980s. The growth of the “ant race” is primarily caused by high apartment prices."
  2. "China’s social structure may have turned into an ‘M-type’ differentiation one due to the growth of the ‘ant race.’"

Source: "People’s Forum" Magazine, June 1, 2010
http://house.people.com.cn/GB/11753145.html

Tang Jianhua: Chongqing City Has Built the Largest Police Intelligence Center in China

According to Tang Jianhua, the deputy director of the Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau, Chongqing has built the largest police intelligence center in China. As of today, the "big intelligence" system has classified 1.28 billion intelligence items into 200 categories and issued 140,000 orders capturing “Internet fugitives,” reported China News Net on May 28, 2010.

Tang Jianhua said, “Chongqing’s ‘big intelligence’ system operates 24 hours per day, closely tracking the activities of the targeted people, which has raised the level of dynamic control and improved the ability to analyze the intelligence data comprehensively …”

Source: China News Net, May 28, 2010
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2010/05-28/2311025.shtml

Guangming Daily: Use Communist Dramas to Educate College Students

On May 26, 2010, Guangming Daily reported about a forum held recently, that discussed how to use Communist dramas to instill Communist values in college students minds. The participants recognized the creativity of the Henan musical opera “Daughter of Dabie Mountain” based on the old movie “The Party’s Daughter,” [1]

The following people spoke at the forum: Yan Zhenfen (the former Party secretary of the Chinese Drama Society), Jiang Zhitao (Chinese Opera Association Fellow), Li Peilun (Teaching and Research Division Director, Minzu University of China),  Du Gao (President of the Chinese Drama Society) and Zhao Weimin (Director of the Graduate Office, China Conservatory).

[1] Editor’s Note: The movie “The Party’s Daughter,” first shown in 1958, told the story of how, in 1934, a CCP member divorced her husband in order to be loyal to the Party and fight fearlessly against the Kuomingtang, led by Chiang Kai-shek. 

Source: Guangming Daily, May 26, 2010
http://www.gmw.cn/content/2010-05/26/content_1128877.htm

Over 30% of China’s Richest People Involved in the Real Estate Industry

A report by the Chinese Alumni Association website showed that 30% of the Chinese whose assets are 100 million Yuan ($17 million) or more are involved in the real estate industry. The report analyzed China’s magnates based on Hurun’s China’s top 100 richest people and Forbes’s China’s billionaire club from 1999 to 2009. The report also showed that over 50% of these richest people concentrated in three industries: real estate, energy, and IT. The number of elite without overseas experiences is significantly more than those with overseas experiences.

Source: Xinhua, May 26, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2010-05/26/c_12144157.htm