at home… in China

Global Times, June 29, 2009

The flu is never a joking matter, yet it is easy enough to make fun of seemingly exaggerated measures when one is just sitting at home. Seen through the PC screen, this pandemic pales in comparison to what disaster movies make us think a pandemic should be like. Getting on an airplane in times like this brings the issue much closer, and makes some things appear in a different light.
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Different approaches on patrolling the Internet, Global Times, June 18, 2009

The announcement that PCs sold in China after July 1 will have to include “Green Dam” Internet filtering software has caused a lot of reactions, both in China and abroad. Of course, some of the fears raised abroad are the usual ones, of a China that is trying to control its citizens too much.
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Another commentary of mine published in the Global Times: China’s Climate Change Opportunity

On the occasion of the “China and Global Climate Change” conference I’m participating in, at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, today and tomorrow – and it even made it into their “Top Stories” links…

Full text below the fold:
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Global Times, May 14, 2009

Walking through shopping areas in China is an interesting experience. There is a combination of brands that is quite peculiar. What one does not find elsewhere, and what catches the foreigner’s eye most, are those labels that try to look like a Western brand, but obviously aren’t.
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