2. Discovery and its crew of seven glides safely back to Earth
3. Lacking enough experience makes the mistake on weather forecast about Typhoon Matsa
4. Mainland starts selecting giant pandas for Taiwan
5. 84 hospitals publish illegal medical ads
As news has spread very rapidly over the past day, Google News has added RSS feeds to their offering. And as has been observed, their RSS package has a good way of handling duplicate stories as related links. So here’s what I’ve been waiting for since I released the ScrappyGoo Google News RSS scraper.
On Friday, Danwei noted that these new 'rules', issued by a handful of different Chinese government bureaus, were not called laws, rules or regulations, but rather mere 'suggestions' (see link at bottom of this post).
Yesterday Xinhua published a report on the "State Council's several Decisions on guiding non-public capital into the cultural industry."
There is nothing new in the Decisions — they seem to be an attempt to codify what is already standard practice. They allow Chinese private companies (called 'funds' and 'investment' in the State Council document) much more leeway than foreign investors. However all methods of information transmission are restricted: the state must own 51% or more of any such operation. Information transmission includes: book and periodical publishing, running radio or TV stations, operating regular TV programming, and operating news websites.
So what's really going on?
It appears that the intention of these Decisions is to encourage private investment to rescue moribund state-owned media and cultural enterprises, but not to allow anyone to get control of any powerful information distribution systems. These Decisions will help ensure that China's media and cultural industries continue to grow, but also continue to remain mediocre.
Below is a rough translation of the "State Council's Decisions on private funds in cultural industries":
1. Encourage and support private funds entering the following areas:
Performing arts troupes, performance venues, museums and exhibition halls, Internet service venues, art education and training, art and cultural exchanges, travel cultural services, cultural entertainment, art object management, cartoons and Internet games, advertising, production and distribution of films and TV programs, broadcast technology development, movie theaters and movie theater cables (i.e. digital delivery of movies to cinemas), film screenings in rural areas, retail and distribution of books and periodicals, retail and distribution of audio and video products, printing of packaging and decorative printed items.
2. Encourage and support private funds engaged in the export of cultural products and services.
3. Encourage and support private funds participating in the reconstructing of state-owned work units that run performance troupes and venues; private funds can own controlling stakes in such companies.
4. It is permissible for private funds to enter the areas of publication printing, production of blank and recorded optic disks and other such cultural industries.
5. Private funds can participate in the following types of state-owned enterprise: publication printing and distribution, advertising and distribution for news publications, production of programs about music, technology, sports and entertainment for radio and TV stations, production, and distribution and screening of movies. The above mentioned cultural enterprises must be at least 51% state-owned.
6. Private funds can construct and operate cable TV networks, and participate in establishing or digitalizing cable TV networks, but the above mentioned cultural enterprises must be at least 51% state-owned. Private funds can own controlling stakes in parts of cable TV networks that serve communities [e.g. apartment complexes].
7. Private funds can set up advertising services outdoors, on buildings, transportation, in shops, and on screens, and in hotels that meet requirements, may provide audio-visual programming services. The relevant departments must strictly enforce scope and quality of such services and strengthen day to day supervision of them.
8. Private funds entering cultural industries must obey the relevant existing regulations, of which the 5th, 6th and 7th clauses which specify that approvals are necessary from the relevant departments. The examination and approval of relevant investments must be completed according to the regulations of the State Council's Decisions on Investment for Structural Reform (National Law (2004) No. 20). The approval process must be strictly examined and perfected to ensure the orderly development of cultural industries and protect the lawful rights and interests of businesses, and prohibit operations which are illegal or contrary to regulations. Privately funded cultural enterprises enjoy the same treatment as state-owned enterprises during the application, approval and funding processes.
9. Private funds are not allowed to invest in, establish or operate news agencies, newspapers, publishing companies, radio stations or channels, TV stations or channels, broadcast relay stations, broadcast satellites, satellite ground stations, transfer stations, microwave stations, monitoring stations, cable TV network backbones etc.; they are not allowed to use information networks to develop audio-visual programming services and news websites; they are not allowed to operate editorial sections of newspapers, TV broadcast frequencies and programs, operate books and newspaper publishing, movies and TV, audio-visual productions and such cultural product import operations; they are not allowed to operate state-owned museums.
10. The Ministry of Culture, The State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (SARFT), and the General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP) must, on the basis of these Decisions, establish concrete measures that make explicit the list of investment projects that are encouraged, permissible, restricted and prohibited respectively, and guide the fast healthy development of cultural enterprises.
Each district and department must arrange, sort out and revise regulations that conflict with these Decisions. Foreign investment entering cultural industries must be carried out in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations.
前几天广岛原子弹爆炸爆炸60周年的时候，纽约时报请Joi Ito为其写一篇纪念文章。答应下来以后，他在自己的Blog上这么描述自己的写作过程：
一开始的时候，我想我应该断开网络静静的思考才能写好这篇文章。结果我却发现网络是促使我获得灵感的重要来源，并且能让我迅速地得到对文章的反馈。
在传统的写作中方式中，一个人只有单独呆着，不受打扰的才能写出好文章来。那些大作家们每天把自己关上几个小时的故事早已屡见不鲜。现在呢？ 闭门造车是不行了。作为Blogger，必须抱着一个开放的态度，不断的与他人交流才行。
写Blog前，你必须通过网络阅读积累素材；写的时候，你保持与你的朋友乃至读者的联系，他们随时可以给你好的意见，这个社会化的交流在你开始写作的时候就在进行了；最后当你发表了以后，通过评论,Trackback的方式，会有更多的人参与到你的写作后的过程。你可以从别人对你的评论中学习到很多东西，并且你还对写过的文章有着修改和更新的权力。这样一来,写作Blog就变得社会化起来。
在.com时代，一个人是单独的，静止的，网易那句“网聚人的力量”中的所指的人，充其量不过是一个个不那么真实的ID而已。而在"The Web"的时代，网络联系起来的是一个个真正的人。每个人既是教导者也是学习者，只有一个社会化的人，才能写好Blog。这就是Social Network真正带给我们的：人与人之间，贯穿始终的对等的交流，同时个体保持自由的思考以及态度。
An open letter to Time magazine from Danwei reader Hu Yue:
Dear Time Magazine,
Symantec’s Norton Anti-Meme 2005 Software has detected the presence of the virus/meme CREALTAGOI in the article “Return of the Bourgeois Dogs” in your magazine. Please read the article again and note our virus/meme definition and removal instructions below.
----------------------------------------------------
Time Magazine: Return of the Bourgeois Dogs
Massacred in the Cultural Revolution, pet pooches reemerge to signal the triumph of capitalism
Cassius is a Miniature Schnauzer with oversized ears, who joined my household courtesy of the Naughty Pets store in Shanghai. The idea of keeping pets — naughty or otherwise — had long been taboo in the People's Republic of China. During the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao's Red Guards killed pet dogs by the tens of thousands, seeing them as symbols of the pampered bourgeoisie his Communist regime was out to eradicate. Even dogs being bred for their meat in southern China were exterminated, and gourmets dissuaded from tasting the rich flesh lest they become infected by class depravity.
But China's booming free market experiment has brought the bewhiskered icons of capitalist decadence back to the nation's cities, tails held high. Given that the requisite annual dog license in Shanghai costs $240, it's no surprise that pet ownership is largely confined to the new moneyed classes. Although Cassius still gets curious looks when she goes on her morning jaunts — one local was convinced she was a rabbit, another that she was a furry robot — Shanghai is now home to more than 100,000 licensed pooches. The Shanghai Jinli Pet Company, one of the city's oldest, offers breeds like the Welsh Corgi for $1,800 — five times the annual income of an average Chinese farmer. Although small dogs are more prevalent due to the city's cramped living quarters, a massive Saint Bernard comes to Naughty Pets for his biweekly pedicure, trailed by a maid whose primary job appears to be wiping away his slobber with a towel.
An entire industry now caters to China's pets, who, like the spoiled offspring of the country's one-child policy, lap up the attention. Animal salons shape dogs into brilliantly hued canine topiaries; orange and pink are the most popular colors, especially for poodles whose dyed coats complement their owners' wardrobes. Naturally, you can buy doghouses with certified "relaxing and comfortable fengshui." There's even a cremation service specifically for dogs, which makes sense since some Buddhists believe the animals are the reincarnation of humans who were a bit too naughty in their previous lives.
Canine coddling has gotten so out of hand that many Baobaos and Baobeis — two of the most popular dog names in Shanghai, translated as "treasure" and "baby" respectively — are carried around in little tote bags to protect their pedicured paws from sidewalk dirt. Cassius still prefers to use her own four legs, but the port-a-pup scheme does help evade a municipal decree that bans dogs from walking the streets during daylight hours. The official rationale? Modern cities shouldn't have doggie poop. Apparently, the Shanghai officials who devised the regulation haven't been to Paris.
VIRUS DEFINITION: CREALTAGOI (AKA, “Cultural Revolution ended a long time ago, get over it.”)
This virus-meme is especially virulent and considered to be dangerous to accurate reporting.
COMMON SPECIMENS OF CREALTAGOI-GENERATED SUBHEDS:
- The Chinese drank mud during the CR, and now they're drinking Perrier.
- The Chinese rode bicycles during the CR, and now they're driving Benz's.
- The Red Guards ate human flesh during the CR, now they're eating sushi.
- Chairman Mao must be rolling in his...
-Men from South Carolina were averse to cleaning their toe cheese during the American Civil War, but now they’re waxing the insides of their ears.
- Plato was alive in the 4th Century B.C., but now he's dead.
SUSPECT PHRASES:
“long been taboo,” “triumph of capitalism,” “booming free market,” “farmer” and “now.”
REMOVAL INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Download a calendar from the 20th century. [If you’re not sure what the 20th century is, it is widely considered to be the one that happened before the one we’re stuck in now.]
2. Count the number of years since 1976. (Yes, 2000 counts as an actual year. Don’t get confused by all the zeroes)
3. Take a deep breath. Get over it. Let it go. See if you could perhaps try comparing 2005 to 2000. Let the Cultural Revolution be. (Unless you can actually afford the wordcount and depth to somehow get us from the CR to now in a meaningful way that neither distorts the CR nor distorts the present.) Yes, a lot has indeed happened since the Civil War, the last Ice Age and the Big Bang. It will be okay. Things do change. And they certainly didn't stop or start changing in 1976.
Sincerely Yours,
The Symantec Anti-Meme Team