REFLECTIONS IN A CHINESE EYE

The Ancient Chinese Game of Go

Weiqi, known in English as Go or Encirclement Chess, is one of the four most refined skills that an ancient Chinese intellectual could possess. It has a history of well over 4000 years in China and remains popular to this day in China, Japan and South Korea. Culturally, this may be one activity that really is "more than just a game".

Go is a game of encirclement and capture, which takes place on a board of 361 squares. The object of Go is not to capture the opponent's actual pieces but rather to surround empty territory on the board. This is done by building encircling "walls" around these empty spaces. The game is played by two people, with a black and white set of pieces, just as in chess.
It's pretty certain that Go was invented by Chinese ancestors, yet nobody knows exactly when. The Encyclopedia Britannica records that the game originated from China in 2306 B.C. According to legend, a Chinese ruler of some 2200 years ago, Emperor Yao, invented Go to help enlighten his son Dan Zhu.

Wu Yulin is a Go professional, and coach for young players in the National Go Team. He explains how the game is historically another high-brow art-form. 

"In ancient China, Go was mostly favored by intellectuals, especially those from the upper class and the bureaucracy. The ordinary people would seldom take a liking to this game. However, now we have people from all circles playing Go, as a result of government efforts to popularize this ancient art."

Secretary General of the China Go Association, Hua Yigang, explains the reason why this game has predominantly been played by intellectuals.

"Only those with some degree of education can approach this game, because it's so complicated. It has too many variations of play and requires a great deal of calculation. An ancient scientist once calculated that the board positions in a single game can be a number that is 768 digits long."

Read more at China.org.cn

New PLA video game pits Chinese against U.S. soldiers

By Ed Flanagan, NBC News

BEIJING – In 2005, I was deeply engaged in an extended military campaign on battlefields across China. Thousands of Chinese and Americans fell each day, but the only real casualty suffered was my bruised ego as I was easily picked off time and again in a blaze of glory playing the videogame, Battlefield 2.

Battlefield 2, a popular first-person multiplayer shooter released that year, pitted U.S. Marines, Chinese forces and a fictional Middle Eastern Coalition against each other in imaginary locations around the world.

The game’s Chinese maps and scenarios were incredibly popular among Chinese players who took great pleasure in blasting me and countless others with a variety of different weapons regardless of whether my character was wearing a Chinese or American uniform.

Which is why it is surprising to see the recent release of Glorious Mission (also known as, Mission of Honor), a military simulation jointly developed by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and Chinese software developer, Giant Interactive Group. It has generated waves in the U.S. not for its graphics or game play – but for the fact that American soldiers are the main adversary.

Objections don't appear to be focused on the game's existence. After all, the U.S. military is heavily invested in its own acclaimed military training and recruitment game, America’s Army, but it features a generic enemy, so as not to offend anyone.

Read MORE at BEHIND THE WALL

Room for Hindu prayers at Guangzhou Asian Games in China

Nevada (US): Hindus have lauded People's Republic of China for provision of religious service center to provide spiritual assistance for participating athletes, coaches, and officials of different faiths at the 16th Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou from November 12 to 27.

Commending the provision of free access to resources for religious practices round-the-clock, eminent Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) on Tuesday, described it as a "step in the right direction".

Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism , said that we must take religion seriously as it was a most powerful force in human society. Religions stress the wholeness of existence and the significance of loving and peaceful inter-relationship.

According to reports, this Center in the Athletes' Village has six rooms adorned with religious paintings and statues for prayers of Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Christianity, and Hinduism, and a serenity room for adherents of other faiths. It has 24 clerks and 46 religious volunteers able to lead prayers in English and other foreign languages and it will hold celebrations of Eid al-Adha falling on/around November 16.

Apart from the Center, an additional 28 churches and temples in the city of Guangzhou, which have completed renovations and expansions, will also accommodate worshipers during the Games.

These Games, whose vision is "Thrilling Games, Harmonious Asia", will attract 11,700 athletes from 45 countries and regions in Asia. Liu Peng and Zhang Guangning are President and Secretary General respectively of Guangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee while Zhong Zhiyan is the head of the Games' religious service office. Hu Jintao is President of world's most populous country China.

Economic Times

Lenovo Plans to Sell Video-Game Console in China

Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Lenovo Group Ltd., China’s biggest maker of personal-computers, said it plans to sell a video-game console in the country by year-end as the company expands the range of its products for consumers.

Lenovo set up a venture, Beijing Eedoo Technology Ltd., this month to operate the game-console business, Jay Chen, a company spokesman in Beijing, said by phone today. Other investors in Eedoo include Legend Holdings Ltd., the controlling shareholder of Lenovo, he said.

The maker of Thinkpad laptops will enter a market where Nintendo Co. and Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. have struggled as Chinese players mainly subscribe to play games online on their PCs. Software piracy in the world’s second- biggest economy has also limited growth of the game-console industry, according to analyst Zhao Xufeng.

Read more at BusinessWeek

Lenovo Developing Game Console for China

Lenovo, China's largest PC maker, is developing a new gaming console for China called the eBox, an employee familiar with the product said Friday.

The console is being developed by Beijing eedoo Technology Ltd., which is owned by Lenovo. Eedoo was founded in July with the goal of providing entertainment and gaming to Chinese families.

A staff member with eedoo confirmed that the eBox was in development, but declined to offer details. Eedoo's website, however, says the eBox has been in development for more than two years and is being built to connect with the Internet and operate by reading body gestures. Games for the eBox will not require the use of controllers but will use physical motions, the website says.

Read more at PC World

Big in China: Brands import foreign celebrities

BEIJING — Kevin Garnett wore his affection for China's booming sportswear market on his back as the NBA star arrived in Beijing in August.

"Love China" declared the Boston Celtics power forward's T shirt. On the front: The angular red slash logo of Anta, the athletic shoe producer that brought Garnett to China for a weeklong promotional tour.

"Garnett in China is the definition of a basketball superstar. His image and influence among Chinese young people are very big," said Zheng Jie, Anta's senior vice president.

To reach worldly young Chinese consumers, the country's new but ambitious brands are scouring the globe for athletes, film stars and other celebrity spokespeople like Garnett who might have no personal link to China but are stars here.

Chinese companies' embrace of foreign spokespeople is especially striking in a country that had almost no advertising industry 20 years ago. But after three decades of breakneck economic growth, accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers forecasts that China should pass Japan by 2014 as the second-biggest advertising market after the United States.

China's advertising spending on TV, radio, newspapers and magazines rose 14 percent last year over 2008 to 597 billion yuan ($88 billion), according to research firm Nielsen Co. This rapid growth is also making China attractive as a business opportunity for sports stars and other celebrities.

"Lord of the Rings" star Orlando Bloom and English fashion model Agyness Deyn appear in advertising for Me & City, a 2-year-old Chinese fashion brand. NBA player Baron Davis and Russian pole-vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, a gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, smile down from billboards for Anta's sports gear rival, Li Ning.

Chinese companies that competed a decade ago on price alone are becoming more savvy about brand-building, said Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group in Shanghai.

Read more at Google hosted news

In Race for Global Dominance, China Is Gaining on Russia

There was little doubt why the Soviet Union was so dominant in chess — the government poured money and other resources into programs that cultivated players. Yet even after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Russia remained the world’s leading chess country. Its strength might be a vestige of the Communist-led system, or of the country’s historical affinity for the game.

If there is one nation that seems able to displace Russia, it is China, which created its own state-run chess-training program about two decades ago.

China has already narrowed the gap, finishing ahead of Russia in some team competitions and producing several women’s world champions. One measuring stick of China’s progress has become its annual match with Russia.

This year’s competition, which ended on Monday, was epic. The two teams of five men and five women played a total of 250 games.

Read more at The New York Times

Old Lady Goes Undercover as Garbage Collector to Investigate Illegal Cybercafés

Translation: 七旬老太扮破烂王暗查黑网吧 绘王八地图送工商

The map

Around 9AM on April 28, an old woman came to the office of Li Fuxiang (李福湘), director of Hebi Administration for Industry and Commerce.

The 72 year old elder's surname is Huang. She left home village 10 year ago to be with her only daughter in Hebi (鹤壁). Because both daughter and son-in-law regularly conduct business in Anyang (安阳), Mrs. Huang and her husband are in charge of caring for the 11 year old grandson Xiaohui (alias) while the couple is away. Xiaohui used to be an excellent student.

Things became strange around middle of March. Xiaohui started to return home late, and his pockets were filled with "rigid cards." When questioned, the normally well-behaved child appeared impatient and even swore. On March 18th, Mrs. Huang learned from the teachers that her grandson lately was often absent-minded in class.

What happened? The old lady felt very perplexed.


Old Mr. Huang has trouble walking due to his leg disability. Old Mrs. Huang decided to do some investigation alone.

On the afternoon of March 19th, Mrs. Huang surreptitiously followed Xiaohui who had just left school. He and two classmates went to an unmarked store instead of taking the usual route home. Mrs Huang was stopped at the door and could not go in. She then questioned her grandson's buddies, but the children were tight-lipped. After a week of persistent stalking, she was shocked to find out that Xiaohui had become addicted to internet gaming under classmates' influence. Mrs. Huang felt awful but knew that without concrete evidence the government would not interfere. She decided to gather direct evidence.

She learned from neighbors that legitimate cybercafés do not entertain children customers. Only illegal cybercafés let them in. The elder now had a special mission: guard the route that the children must take, and secretly follow them until she finds the "target." A few trips later she found the destinations but was not allowed to enter. Thus she had no specific proof that these were illegal.

On one such trip, an empty beverage bottle inspired Mrs. Huang. Starting from end of March, she began walking the streets with a plastic bag half-filled with empty bottles. Unlike other garbage collectors, she specifically asked for and lingered around places that had cybercafés. Under the pretext of garbage collection, she was able to go in any suspicious buildings and verify the nature of the equipment inside.

 

Read more at Veggie Discourse

 

Asian Chess: Wesley So shares lead with 2 other GMs

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines’ top rated chess player Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So stopped compatriot International Master (IM) Oliver Barbosa in Round 3 of the 2010 Asian Individual Chess Championships to tie with 2 others in leading the tournament on Friday.

The 16-year-old So defeated Barbosa in 56 moves of the Slav defense to hike his score to 3 points after 3 rounds of play.

“He made a slight mistake in the opening,” So said of his opponent.
“Napilit ko yung exchange of queens kaya medyo nakalamang sa endgame. Before the exchange, unclear pa yung position.”

Tied with So at the top place are GM Yu Yangi of China and GM Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia.

Yu subdued IM S.P. Sethuraman of India while Megaranto trounced 2nd seed GM Krishnan Sasikiran of India.

Half a point behind the 3 leaders are four other Chinese players – GM Ni Hua, GM Li Chao, GM Ding Liren and untitled Yu Ruiyuan. They have with 2.5 points each.

Read more at ABS - CBN

Why is "Happy Farmer" so popular?

"Happy Farmer" now is China's hottest web game, attracting roughly 80 million Chinese netizens since its establishment in 2008. Why is the game so popular? Newsweek's reporter Isaac Stone Fish gives this explanation: "The game's success reflects a deep and growing nostalgia for China's traditional agrarian way of life."

In an article published by Newsweek on April 9, Fish pointed out that, as 225 million Chinese peasants flocked to big cities for better jobs over the last 30 years, "cities spring out of nowhere, and social networking games like Happy Farmer have become a tangible reminder of the sense of community that many migrants believe has been lost."

In addition, the popular game also reflected the urban middle class' concerns over the country's poor air and food quality, said the article, and "Happy Farmer reflects a wistfulness for a rural China that at least in the romantic image does not suffer from such problems."

While an increasingly popular tourist trend called "Farm Family Fun" meets this need for a taste of the rural, the Happy Farmer game has taken that faux-agrarian lifestyle to a new level, and "its success is changing the way some city dwellers behave in real life. Urbanites have started leasing farmland and are building vegetable plots across South China, where urban residents volunteer and tend their sections of the garden."

Fish concluded that there are no statistics on the size of the game's spillover effect, "but one thing is clear: China's peasants are migrating to the cities in search of a better life—while a growing urban middle class is looking back toward its roots."

China Daily

RockYou Looks Past China’s Internet Users

China has the attention of RockYou, one of the earliest developers of widgets for social networks. But it isn’t China’s nearly 400 million Internet users that are the main draw—it’s the nation’s developers.

RockYou CTO and co-founder Jia Shen said at a social game summit in Beijing Friday that the company, which plans to expand its presence in Asia, is “actively” looking at acquisition targets in China rather than more users because social games are less lucrative here than in other markets, mostly due to a lack of openness of Chinese social networking sites.

According to Shen, companies that operate social networking Web sites in China, including Tencent Holdings Ltd., have huge user numbers, but demand an average of 40% to 50% of revenue from the games distributed on their Web sites, or more than is standard in other markets. And though a higher rate of Chinese users pay to play the games, they spend much less, he said.

“For something a Chinese user is willing to pay one Renminbi [for], a user in the U.S. would pay $1,” he said. “It’s almost a one-to-one comparison.” (One dollar is the equivalent of almost seven Chinese yuan.)

Read more at The Wall Street Journal

Pearl Research Publishes "Online Games in China" Report

Leading business intelligence and consulting firm Pearl Research forecasts the online games market in China will exceed $6 billion in 2012.  In 2009, the online games market grew 35% to reach $3.9 billion, which is on top of a 63% increase in 2008. These findings are contained in Pearl Research’s new 160-page “Online Games Market in China” study.  Please visit this link to view the table of contents:

http://www.pearlresearch.com/files/TOC_PearlResearch_Chinareport_201004.pdf 

Similar to the US, a major trend in China is the growth of social networking sites such as QZone, Renren and Kaixin001, all of which host social games, which is discussed in the report. These games are starting to cannibalize some of the advanced casual games on the market.

Pearl Research’s findings:

Read more at Redline

CDC Games Launches East Fantasy

ATLANTA & BEIJING, Apr 09, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- CDC Games, a business unit of CDC Corporation /quotes/comstock/15*!chin.a (CHIN.A 3.16, +0.06, +1.94%) and a pioneer of the "free-to-play, pay for merchandise" model for online games in China, announced today the commercial launch of its new local game, East Fantasy Online.

East Fantasy is one of two local games planned for the first half of this year. Developed by Chengdu, China-based BL Interactive Net Co., East Fantasy is a cartoon type 3D massive multiplayer online action role playing game (MMOARPG) featuring a humorous story line, six characters, and voiceovers from prominent voiceover actors who also provide voices for well known anime characters like Naruto, a popular Japanese manga series. East Fantasy already is operated by other companies in the Hong Kong and Taiwan markets.

CDC Games believes East Fantasy stands apart from other online games in the China market by integrating advanced 3D graphics techniques, voiceovers from prominent voiceover actors and shock controller support, where gamers can feel as if they are actually fighting by sensing vibrations. Players can either use a controller or keyboard to play the game and can join teams of four to go on missions together. The game features player versus player (PvP) in three modes, team contest, team death match and survival mode.

Read more at Market Watch

China's Social Gaming Landscape: What's Coming Next

It's no longer a secret that China's online gaming industry is booming, and growth is set to continue with companies such as Shanda Games, Netease and The9 leading the way. In 2009, China's online gaming industry earned nearly $4 billion, growing 39.5% from 2008.

Each day, millions of high school students trying to forget the pressures of college entrance exams and young adults discontent with their jobs flock to Internet cafes to play online role-playing games. They're part of China's 384 million netizens, and they sit in front of rows of computers in dimly lighted smoke-filled rooms for upwards of eight hours at a time, living in virtual worlds to escape the pressures of contemporary Chinese life.

Guest author Joel Backaler writes The China Observer, an award-winning blog focused on Chinese technology trends and consumer culture. His writing has appeared in and he has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal China Journal, BusinessWeek, and Seeking Alpha. Joel is a Mandarin-speaking former Fulbright Fellow who has worked and lived in Taipei, Beijing and Singapore with Frontier Strategy Group. Follow Joel on Twitter.

But beyond the Internet cafés, social games have emerged as a convenient alternative for students and workers alike to gain a sense of release and revitalize themselves before tackling the next assignment of the day in their everyday lives. They take breaks to tend to their garden on 5 Minutes' Happy Farm (Kaixin Nongchang) farming game, or steal their friend's car parking space on Kaixin001's Qiang Chewei. RenRenWang (formerly Xiaonei), Kaixin001 and Tencent's QQ Xiaoyou are leading SNS portals, and are the go-to sites to access China's most popular gaming applications.

Read more at readwriteweb.

Warcraft row: An industry game-changer in China

Popular online game highlights sector bogged down by dueling bureaucracies

BEIJING (Caixin Online) -- NetEase is a veteran of Chinese online gaming, with seven years of industry experience. So it was stunned when a seemingly straight development path suddenly descended into a dark maze after the company sought government permission to operate China's version of "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade," an online role-playing game enjoyed by millions of Chinese.

NetEase eventually succeeded. But along the way, the company lost a lot of money and had to play games with a pair of competing bureaucracies that each sought an upper hand in regulating the online gaming business.

Now more than ever, NetEase understands how necessary it is to play the government's license game and the regulatory contest between the Ministry of Culture and the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP). The company also learned that good government relations are the key to winning in the online gaming sector.

And NetEase is not out of the woods. World of Warcraft is back online after a long blackout, but the dispute between the culture ministry and GAPP over gaming regulation has yet to be settled.

Moreover, NetEase /quotes/comstock/15*!ntes/quotes/nls/ntes (NTES 39.86, +0.11, +0.28%) is facing the possibility of another regulatory run-in, while at the same time trying to restore revenue levels, as well as peace, over World of Warcraft.

View Complete article at MarketWatch.

Ding had a really hard time after being defeated by O'Sullivan in 2007 and had to struggle to stay within the top 16 rank. His performance deteriorated and he looked down the cue with a loss of confidence and the specter of losing every time he played. (Photo: Shanghai Daily)

BEIJING, March 7 -- Ding Junhui picked up a snooker cue when he was a young boy and was relentlessly breaking records until two years ago when he hit a slump. But last year he scooped up the UK championship title and is back in the winner's frame with a new lease on life, Elise Fu reports.

Ding Junhui is probably the best snooker player in China. Ever. He first picked up a cue when he was eight-and-a-half-years old and won his first championship title at the Asian Games at age 15. He is the youngest player in the game to shoot 147, the maximum break possible.

A prolific breakbuilder when on form, it took him only five seasons to compile a century of centuries, a record he shares with England's Ronnie "The Rocket" O'Sullivan. As China's first world snooker champion, he achieved all these milestones before turning 20.

Ding, 23 and known to the foreign media as "China Ding," looks like the boy who never grew up, baby-faced and dressed away from the snooker table in T-shirt and jeans.

But in the past two years, the golden boy's luster had faded and a string of poor performances rankled with the fans.

At the Wembley Masters Snooker Championships in January 2007, The Rocket's dominance in the 12th frame combined with the boisterous and hostile nature of the audience drove Ding to tears.

His reaction earned him the derisory title of "the boy who cries when losing."

View complete article at Xinhuanet.

China's Videogame Makers Battle Bureaucrats, Pirates

As Ranks of Online Players in China Surge, Companies and Investors Try to Overcome Big Hurdles

Activision Blizzard

Forgotten (Undead Warlock) and his pet (succubus) standing in the bank.

HONG KONG—Videogame companies and investors are rushing to tap the promise of China's game market, but many of them are discovering that a slow-moving bureaucracy and rampant piracy remain significant hurdles.

"World of Warcraft," the online role-playing game that is by far China's most popular, is one example. Regulators continue to hold back the latest edition of the game, hobbling what had been expected to be a major driver of growth for the game's maker, Activision Blizzard Inc., and its local partner, NetEase.com Inc.

Companies, meanwhile, must fend off bootleg versions of their games. Diana Li, former chief executive of Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd.'s game unit, said hackers and other forms of piracy reduced the industry's profitability by roughly $1.5 billion last year.

Unlike console games in the U.S. and elsewhere, China's game market is dominated by online role-playing titles such as "World of Warcraft" that hundreds of thousands of people can access via their personal computers or Internet cafes.

Some of the games are free, particularly those made by Chinese developers, but players buy virtual accessories, such as weapons, or pay to play enhanced versions of the games.

The market is attracting increased government attention and software pirates because of its rapid growth. China is expected to see its ranks of online gamers reach 230 million over the next two years, more than three times the current estimated level of 69 million, according to the China Internet Network Information Center, a government agency, in a December study.

That's expected to add to already heady market growth. Revenue from the Chinese game market rose 39% last year to 25 billion yuan, or about $3.7 billion, according to the Ministry of Culture

View complete article at The Wall Street Journal.

Chinese game devs eyeing Facebook, Facebook eyeing rest of Asia

Even though Facebook is blocked by The Great Firewall of China, many of the country's social game developers are looking at the social network as a way to extend their reach into the West, according to a recent post on Inside Facebook. Companies like 6waves (Give Hearts), Five Minutes (Happy Farm), Rekoo (Animal Paradise) an ELEX (Happy Harvest) are already attracting millions of monthly users on Facebook, and some of the biggest players in the Chinese social gaming market -- including Shanda, Changyou and NetEase -- are reportedly gearing up for a serious push onto Facebook in 2010. The transfer works both ways, as some unnamed Facebook developers are reportedly looking to establish themselves in China as well.

Meanwhile, Facebook itself has been making a big splash throughout the rest of Asia, according to the Inside Facebook report. In Indonesia, Facebook is apparently becoming nearly ubiquitous on the country's millions of cell phones, while Taiwan has seen 900% growth in use of the service in just six months. The service is so popular in Taiwan, in fact, that restaurants there are reportedly offering coupons for Facebook currency along with meals (pictured, right). And you thought Farmville was big in the U.S.

games.

In English-Crazy China, 8D World Teaches Kids To Speak In Virtual Worlds; Lands A Deal With CCTV

In China, learning spoken English is giving rise to a huge and growing market. For instance, in addition to English classes in public schools, parents send their children to about 50,000 for-profit training schools around the country, where English is the most popular subject. Instead of American Idol, on CCTV, the national government-owned TV network, they have the Star of Outlook English Talent Competition. This is possibly the largest nationwide competition in China. Last year, 400,000 students between the ages of 6 and 14 took part in it.

View article at Tech Crunch.

'World of Warcraft' Registration Suspended In China

The ongoing conflict between Chinese "World of Warcraft" operator NetEase and China’s General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) just kicked up a notch, as the company has suspended new user registration while it tries to get approval to run the "Burning Crusade" expansion pack in the country.

"We recently submitted our application to operate World of Warcraft (The Burning Crusade) to the General Administration of Press and Publication for review," the company said, according to Reuters.

View article at MTV Multiplayer.

Hendon: No place for midnight finishes

Eurosport commentator Dave Hendon is happy to see Ding Junhui win the UK Championship - but less happy that it came so late into the night.

The emergence of China as a force in snooker was one of the most important developments of the decade, so it was perhaps apt that Ding Junhui won its last ranking event.

His victory in the UK Championship was hard fought. He beat four members of the world's top five in Telford, culminating in a dramatic 10-8 victory over John Higgins in the final.

Ding's fourth ranking title makes him the most successful player to come out of Asia.

EUROSPORT

China investor finalizes deal on NBA's Cavaliers

CHICAGO, Dec 14 (Reuters) - A Michigan investment firm has finalized a deal to sell its 15 percent stake in the Cleveland Cavaliers to Albert Hung, bringing LeBron James' team a step closer to adding the National Basketball Association's first big Chinese investor.

Morality Play

Universal concerns, not cultural values, may shape kids’ developing notions of right and wrong

A 10-year-old Chinese boy listens intently as a visiting researcher tells him a story. It begins pleasantly enough: A boy named Xiaoming goes to a park and meets a child playing with a new ball. But after joining in the fun, Xiaoming decides that he wants to play with the ball alone. So he hits the other child, knocks him down and lunges for the ball. The victim hangs on to the ball and runs home crying.

Meanwhile, Xiaoming’s mother witnesses the whole encounter.

Not surprisingly, she is horrified. The researcher describes four possible actions taken by Xiaoming’s mother. In one, she reasons with the boy, telling him to remember how it felt to be hit by another child and to imagine how his playmate in the park now feels. In another, she says it’s shameful to hit other children and asks why Xiaoming can’t behave as well as his friends do. In a third, the mother says that Xiaoming’s behavior embarrassed her and makes their family look bad.

For her final go-round, Xiaoming’s mother says that she loves him less when he misbehaves. She’s so upset about the park incident that she tells the boy to “just go away.”

Some of these tactics hit close to home for the real-life Chinese boy. He lives in a mountain village with no computers and few televisions. Adults there teach traditional Chinese values of maintaining harmonious relationships and fulfilling duties to family members. Village parents often talk of the shame that children bring to their families by acting disruptively and of the difficulty in loving a bad son or daughter. Many urban Chinese have gravitated away from these traditional principles over the past 20 years, but not most rural folk.

So it comes as a surprise that the village boy ranks reasoning as the mother’s best tactic for setting Xiaoming straight. His explanation: Someone who knocks down other children needs prodding from Mom to realize how it feels to be bullied. That insight will make Xiaoming a better person.

A parent who appeals to family shame, makes unfavorable comparisons with others or threatens to deny love can emotionally burden her child, the boy asserts. In the boy’s opinion, Xiaoming “will weep painfully in a corner” after hearing that his mother loves him less for pushing another child. He’ll suspect that his mother doesn’t really care about him and will be sadder in the future even if he is better behaved.

Finish here:

Culture wars - Science News

Net addicts may 'self-injure'

If this is true, then the mental health of youthful Chinese netizens in the foreseeable future is not good.  Further compounding the problems is the huge number of internet users.  The last numbers I saw for internet usage were in the 300,000,000 range and that was nearly one year ago.  Internet users in China roughly equal the entire population of the United States.

A very large percentage of those users are the young.   

Very big health problems loom.

China Daily

Teenagers who are addicted to the Internet are more likely to engage in self-harming behavior, an Australian-Chinese study has shown.

Researchers surveyed 1,618 adolescents aged 13 to 18 from Guangdong province about behavior such as hitting themselves, pulling their own hair, or pinching or burning themselves, and gave them a test to gauge Net addiction.

Internet addiction has been classified as a mental health problem since the mid-1990s, with symptoms similar to other addictions.

The test found about 10 percent of the students surveyed were moderately addicted to the Net, while less than 1 percent were severely addicted. The students classified as moderately addicted to the Net were 2.4 times more likely than students without an addiction to have injured themselves one to five times in the past half year, said Dr Lawrence Lam from the University of Notre Dame Australia. The moderately-to-severely addicted students were almost five times more likely than non-addicted students to have self-injured six or more times in the past six months, Lam and his colleagues from Sun Yat-sen University, in Guangdong's capital Guangzhou, reported.

"In recent years, with the greater availability of the Internet in most Asian countries, Internet addiction has become an increasing mental problem among adolescents," the researchers said in their study published in the journal Injury Prevention.

"Many studies have reported associations between Internet addiction, psychiatric symptoms and depression among adolescents," the researchers said.

China has the world's largest online population, surveys by the China Internet Network Information Center have shown.

China Daily-Reuters

Microsoft Offers Twitter-style Service in China

A PLURK* knockoff? 

China has for years been 'knocking off' Western 'high-profile' brand names and products.  Copycats are everywhere.  

Can we not say the same of Microsoft?  You decide.

Microsoft has launched a microblog-style service in China based on Windows Live Messenger, expanding the social-networking functions linked to the chat software in a country where it is a hit.

The new service, which is called MSN Juku and is now in beta, lets users post 140-character messages to an update screen that slowly scrolls old messages to the right. The service automatically links users with people on their Live Messenger contact lists, whose updates also appear on the scrolling timeline. Posts are also stacked top-to-bottom and display only their first few words when they appear close together. Pointing the mouse at a condensed message shows its full version.

MSN China, the Microsoft joint venture that developed the new product, insisted it is not a microblog service. "Juku is a local innovation developed by MSN China ... based on Windows Live Messenger networks," a company representative said in an e-mail.

But Juku, whose name uses the Chinese characters for "gathering" and "cool", is similar enough to a microblog site that one local media report called it a "bandit" version of Plurk, a Twitter-like service popular in Asia. The Chinese term for "bandit" is slang for a product similar to that of an established brand and is most often used to describe knock-off mobile phones.

PCW

* About Plurk

Noun. plurk (plüer-kh) - A really snazzy site that allows you to showcase the events that make up your life in deliciously digestible chunks. Low in fat, 5 calories per serving, yet chock full of goodness.

Verb. plurk (plüer-kh) - To chronicle the events of your always on, action-packed, storybook, semi-charmed kinda life.

Example use: 'Gee golly, my children are plurking all day long, what's a mother to do?'