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From the Editor

In its relatively short existence, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has shown a remarkable resiliency. It has managed to survive one major crisis after another, evolving and emerging largely unscathed from each, a phenomenon that has baffled many China analysts. To name a few examples, CCP has withstood the economic fallout from the Cultural Revolution, the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the fiasco of the SARS cover-up.

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About Arafat

[Editor’note: After the death of Arafat — the Palestinian President, major Chinese newspapers widely reported the news with lengthy feature articles. Xinhuanet, the official website of xinhua news agency, the Chinese government news agency, published on November 12, 2004, a report that quoted Chinese President Hu Jintao in his condolence letter. Hu said that president Arafat made great contributions to consolidating and developing the friendship between the two nations.  Arafat’s passing away is not only a great loss for Palestinians, but Chinese people also lost a great friend.  The following contains excerpts from this and other feature articles related to this topic.] Continue reading

Reports on the Presidential Inauguration

[Editor’s note:  During the U.S. 2005 presidential election, China’s state media reported the whole process very extensively. Those reports reflect, to certain degree, the attitude of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to the election and  how CCP would like to influence the Chinese people. Below is a commentary article published on Xinhuanet on Bush’s inauguration speech. The titles of related articles are also listed.] Continue reading

Oriental Pearl or Oriental Hoax?

Lured by a seemingly attractive investment opportunity, Ying Jiuqing, a wealthy individual from Suzhou, a charming ancient city 50 miles away from Shanghai, China, spent close to 5 million yuan (US$570,000) to purchase 190,000 admission cards issued by the Oriental Pearl’s “Space City,” an entertainment outlet that claimed Joan Chen, a Hollywood actress whose stardom budded in Shanghai, as one of its investors.  What he did not expect was that, instead of raking in millions of dollars as he had dreamed, he woke up to a six-year-long nightmare with no positive end in sight.  These little plastic cards with a magnetic stripe would wipe out all his savings, suck up his business, and drag him into a government sanctioned fleecing of consumers.
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Product Piracy and Fraud in China

On January 12, 2004, the outgoing secretary of commerce Don Evans made a visit to China.  Among other things, one of his major issues was asking China to stop product piracy, which is estimated to cost U.S. companies 3 billion dollars a year.

The number sounds alarmingly serious, but the reality is even far crueler.  Product piracy and fraud in China is so widespread that it can be found almost everywhere, and in nearly all categories.  As a popular saying describes, “everything is fake in China, only swindlers are true.”

The poster is meant as a joke, but sadly it also happens in real life. On January 15, China’s Quality News Network (http://www.cqn.com.cn) exposed the “Big Ten product quality frauds in 2004 (in China).” Below are some highlights:
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