Chinascope – Page 1153

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

Briefings | | June 4, 2010 | Information/Technology

Major Chinese Internet Media Embrace Red Culture

In late May 2010, more than 70 CEOs, chief editors, and senior management personnel of 35 major websites including Sina.com, 163.com, Sohu.com, Baidu.com, ifeng.com, and tom.com went on a tour in China’s southwest Chongqing City to pay tribute to the “revolutionary martyrs” who died during the communist’s upheaval from 1921 to 1949 against the then ruling KMT.

The trip is the regime’s 7th organized event to spread propaganda on the Internet media about the “red culture.” Sites visited include Jinggangshan and Mao Zedong’s residence. [1] Forums were held to discuss the “direction of the Internet.”

Chen Yizhou, the CEO of China Inter Active Corp., an Internet media group, said after the tour, “We would like to learn from the older generation of proletarian revolutionaries … and firmly put national interests first. In addition to doing a good job with the company, we will also comply with the requirements of Internet culture buildup and more proactively make contributions.”

Source: Xinhua, Chongqing channel, June 3, 2010

http://www.cq.xinhuanet.com/2010-06/03/content_19973527.htm

[1] Jinggangshan, a mountain located in Jiangxi Province, is known as the birthplace of the Chinese Red Army (the People’s Liberation Army of China) and the "cradle of the Chinese revolution." After the Kuomintang (KMT) turned against the Communist Party in 1927, the Communists either went underground or fled to the countryside. Following the unsuccessful Autumn Harvest Uprising in Changsha, Mao Zedong led his 1000 remaining men to Jinggangshan, where he set up his first peasant soviet.

Briefings | | June 4, 2010 | Information/Technology

A Fourth Navigation Satellite Launched, China’s COMPASS

China launched a fourth satellite into space at 23:53 Wednesday June 2, as a part of its satellite navigation and positioning network known as Beidou, or Compass system. The satellite was launched from the Long March 3 carrier rocket.

China has a three-step plan to build up its own satellite navigation system to break its dependence on the U.S: the first step, already done, from 2000 to 2003, was to launch three satellites to test the system; the second step is, by 2012, to enable the system to navigate, position, and communicate throughout the Asia Pacific region; the third and final step is to build a network eventually consisting of 35 satellites to cover the whole globe.

Source: China News Service, June 3, 2010

http://www.chinanews.com.cn/tp/news/2010/06-03/2320012.shtml

Briefings | | June 4, 2010 | Defense/Military

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

Briefings | | June 3, 2010 | Government/Politics

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

Briefings | | June 3, 2010 | US-China Relations

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

Briefings | | June 2, 2010 | Grapevine

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

Briefings | | June 2, 2010 | Information/Technology

Xinhua Commentary Series: Spotlight on the U.S. Presidential Election

Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”