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China’s Red Song Singing Contest Expands Overseas

On May 3, 2011, the government kicked off a national singing competition The “Red Song” Singing Contest. The contest focuses on singing “Red Songs” composed for the purpose of glorifying the Communist Party. This year, in addition to last year’s Australian and New Zealand sites, a new site will be added in Great Britain. The contest will mainly be broadcast on TV. However, more channels will be introduced this year, such as text messaging, the Internet, and microblogs. The contest has been going on for five years. The first international site, which was San Francisco, was introduced into the competition in 2009.

Source: China News Service, May 3, 2011
http://www.chinanews.com/cul/2011/05-03/3013588.shtml

Shanghai Jiao Tong University Recruits Communist Party Members from Haigui

"Haigui," or sea turtle, is a Chinese language slang term for Chinese people who have returned to mainland China after having studied abroad for several years. 

Shanghai Jiao Tong University, a top public research facility in Shanghai, has stepped up efforts to recruit haigui. Currently the Ph.D. haigui faculty members account for 12.8 percent of the teaching positions. At the same time, the Chinese Communist Party committee of the university has made recruiting Party members from haigui a “strategic priority.” The committee regularly sends Party members to talk with haigui faculty members so as to “understand their thoughts”; have CCP faculty members “partner with” the haigui so as to exert daily influence; and carry out training session for the haigui to “help them understand the country, the Party, the city, and the university.” In the last two years, 6 haigui professors have joined the Party.

Source: People’s Daily, May 5, 2011
http://dangjian.people.com.cn/GB/14560314.html

The Party’s Loyalty Campaign for the Young Generation

The Communist Youth League (CYL) is the youth movement that the Chinese Communist Party runs for young people between the ages of 14 and 28. The ongoing nationwide campaign to glorify the Party’s rule also includes education programs for the younger generation so as to reinforce their allegiance. 

  
The headquarters of CYL recently issued a directive to carry out activities between May 4 and July 1 – forums, conferences, visits, ceremonials, cultural performances – at all levels to “study the Party’s history, understand the Party’s situation, and follow in the Party’s footsteps.” The Party established May 4th as Youth Day as it is the date that the anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement grew out of the 1919 student demonstrations in Beijing. July 1, 2011 marks the 90th anniversary of the CCP.

Source: People’s Daily, May 5, 2011
http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64093/64387/14553758.html

Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Foreign Companies Should Use Their Own Advantages to Succeed in China

In response to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke’s critique of China’s investment environment in his talk on May 4, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jiang Yu, stated that China has an open market. Companies from around the world should achieve success in the market by using their advantages and strength. 

Jiang cited measures that China has taken to improve the investment environment, but also stressed that, “The competition is fierce. We welcome foreign companies, including U.S. companies, to participate in China’s reform and open process.”

Source: Xinhua, May 5, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-05/05/c_121383473.htm

The Fight for Oil Interests between China and the U.S.A. Will Be a Protracted War

[Editor’s Note: A China Reviews News article expresses the belief that the intent of the U.S., U.K., and France’s air strikes in supporting the rebel forces in overthrowing the Qaddafi regime is to drive the Chinese companies out of Libya. The article further states that Western countries led by the U.S. are doing the same thing to China that they did to Japan in the 1940s, i.e., cutting off Japan’s access to oil, rubber, minerals, and other resources. The author believes that was the cause of the Pacific War in World War II. The entire article is translated below.] [1]

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China Demands Apology from the Norwegian Government

Recently, at a Confucius Institute in Norway, Tang Guoqiang, China’s Ambassador to the Nordic country, demanded that the Norwegian government apologize to Beijing for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to political dissident Liu Xiaobo. “Bilateral trade is not impossible, but as (the Norwegian government) has not apologized for the Nobel Peace Prize, it is more difficult than before,” said Tang. After the Nobel Committee honored Liu Xiaobo with the Prize in November 2010, China indefinitely suspended bilateral trade negotiations. Norway is the world’s fifth largest oil exporter.

Source: BBC Chinese, May 4, 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2011/05/110503_china_norway_nobel.shtml

China Establishes the National Internet Network Information Office

On May 4, the General Office of the State Council issued a notice about establishing the National Internet Network Information Office (NINIO). The office’s main responsibilities include: enforce the Internet network information broadcast policies; advance legal control over Internet network information; direct, coordinate, and monitor corresponding offices on Internet network information control; review and monitor businesses such as online news; oversee corresponding offices on planning and developing the network entertainment industry, covering online games, online video, and online publishing; plan and develop key news websites; organize and coordinate Internet propaganda work; take punitive action against websites that violate the law; and direct corresponding offices on overseeing the work of IP address distribution, website registration, and other Internet management activities from telecom companies, ISPs, and URL registration and service providers. Wang Cheng, the current director of the State Council Information Office (SCIO) will head NINIO, which will not have its own office, but will reside in the same building as SCIO with an added name plate.

Source: Xinhua, May 4, 2011
http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/2011-05/04/c_121375571.htm

Hanban’s Initiatives on Promoting Chinese Literature Overseas

At a recent forum at Beijing Normal University (BNU), Ma Jianfei, Deputy Director of the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (Hanban), elaborated on China’s efforts to promote its literature around the world. Since 2006, BNU, jointly with the U.S. magazine World Literature Today and the Confucius Institute at the University of Oklahoma, has compiled a special issue of Chinese Literature Today, launched the Chinese version of World Literature Today, and held international forums on “World Literature Today and China.” In January 2010, the Center for Promoting Chinese Literature Overseas was newly established at the School of Chinese Language and Literature at BNU. 

Ma told the forum that the “Promoting Chinese Literature Overseas” project was fully funded by Hanban. It includes publishing an English magazine, Chinese Literature Today, in the U.S. (The first issue was published in 2010 with global distribution). Within three years it will translate and publish 10 books. The project also includes regular and intermittent forums on “Promoting Chinese Literature Overseas.”

Source: China Review News, April 29, 2011
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1016/7/7/0/101677028.html?coluid=154&kindid=0&docid=101677028&mdate=0429105453