China Rises - McClatchy Newspapers

I???ve just returned from a holiday in Japan, and I???ve seen China???s future.

The Chinese taikonauts are whirling around space.  I soon will also be up in the ether, on a plane bound for Japan. I???m taking the next week off, which coincides with the Oct. 1 national holiday week in China. So no blog postings until I get back Oct. 4. See you then.

The Dear Leader may or may not be on his sick bed, the nuclear talks are on the rocks, so what does North Korea do? It holds its major autumn air exercise.

A well-known TV host in Shanghai, Liu Yiwei, has written a rather plaintive essay asking why China???s inspectors for products like infant formula don???t do their jobs as rigorously as the nation???s film censors.

Less than a month from now, we will find out if China will maintain its attitude of greater openness with the foreign media. My bet is that it won???t.

I???ve just got off an Air China flight from Nanjing to Beijing. It was a smooth flight. The only inconveniences were the usual fellow passengers occasionally clearing their throats noisily and spitting into the motion sickness bags.

I???m celebrating, of sorts. For the first time in maybe a year, this blog and others on the typepad.com host can now be seen within China. They are no longer blocked.

Heading into election season, it???s worth looking at how both major candidates look at U.S. China relations and the future of China.

A man self-immolated a few hours ago on the Bund, the famous riverside promenade, right in the heart of Shanghai. The state Xinhua news agency is reporting the news in detail, and other media are picking it up.

I???ve just returned from a short trip to parts of Sichuan province that were jolted by a cataclysmic earthquake back in May.

To listen to the huffing and puffing coming out of North Korea lately, one would think a major crisis is in the offing again.

Some curious things get by the internet censors in China, and sometimes that raises a lot of questions.

Taiwan insists its diplomatic relations with Paraguay are secure. That probably means they are shaky, and Paraguay is "weighing offers" in the dollar diplomacy that marks the constant battle between Beijing and Taipei for allies.

The beautiful actress Gong Li appears to have taken out Singaporean citizenship, if news reports from the city-state are to be trusted.

The stories I write sometimes catch the attention of editors at Xinhua, the state-run news service. If the stories are positive, Xinhua sometimes snatches them and distributes them.   Far as I know they don???t pay a dime. What they do is, er, polish them. That is, they take out anything negative.

Put off those plans to head to Tibet in a luxury train.

Why are the Chinese not better at team sports?

One of the most special feelings I had during the Olympics came right at the end. The closing ceremony was a memory. The torch had been passed to London. I finished my story in the press gallery of the stadium and was walking along the Olympic Green.

Chinese companies go where others fear to tread.

I was in the Wukesong basketball arena last night watching the U.S. ???redeem team??? take on the Australians in Olympic basketball.

I was at the BMX cycling course today, which is quite breath-taking. It???s out at the Laoshan cluster of cycling venues in far western Beijing.

Skepticism seems to pervade these Olympic Games against winners.

The following exchange occurred earlier today at a daily press conference that senior spokespeople of the International and Beijing Olympic committees offer to the foreign media.

A couple of Olympics jokes are making the rounds in Beijing.

Xian Dongmei is a ???mommy??? gold medalist, and she???s caused a sensation for it in China.

The Chaoyang Stadium that is a venue for beach volleyball is a beaut. I went there yesterday and spent a few hours to report on weather conditions at the Olympics (click here for the story), and, naturally, to take a look around.

The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games was squeaky clean, free of any overt politics. Or at least that’s the impression I got from watching the main channel of China Central Television.

Just a few days ago, Muslim militants killed 16 policemen in China’s far west. An Islamic group has made new threats against the Olympic Games.