China’s Communist Party will boost measures to make sure government officials don’t flee the country or transfer money abroad, the party said on its website.

The Central Disciplinary Inspection Commission will set up a “flight-prevention coordinating mechanism” for every province and enhance “passport management” measures, according to a statement on the party website posted May 24, citing Gan Yisheng, vice secretary of the commission.

My name is Sergei Skorobogatov (Сергей Скоробогатов), I was born and grew up in Moscow, Russia. I received a graduate degree (M.Sc.) in Automatics and Electronics (Engineering Diploma) from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI, МИФИ) in March 1997. Then I worked (part time) as an Engineer in MEPhI and as a contractor for the Ophthalmic Centre "Prozrenie" in Moscow, where I designed several electronic devices for eye sight diagnostic and correction.
I won a Computer Laboratory Research Assistantship at Cambridge and since April 2000 I have been working on a Ph.D. project in the Security Group at the Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge in the UK. As a part of this research I participated in EU funded G3Card project aimed to design a new generation of smartcard chips. This project was finished in January 2003 and since that I had an independent research grant. I submitted my Ph.D. thesis in September 2004, defended my dissertation in November 2004 and graduated in February 2005. In September 2004 I was promoted to the Research Associate position for my postdoctoral research here and in July 2006 I was promoted to the Senior Research Associate position. My research grant was extended several times and it is currently until the end of 2012

Huge implications if true//
Current issues. UK officials are fearful that China has the capability to shut down businesses, military and critical infrastructure through cyber attacks and spy equipment embedded in computer and telecommunications equipment. The Stuxnet worm is the most famous and best case example of a cyber attack on a network which wreaked devastation having easily compromised conventional software defensive systems. There have been many cases of computer hardware having backdoors, Trojans or other programs to allow an attacker to gain access or transmit confidential data to a third party. Considerable focus and expense has been invested in software computer networks and system defences to detect and eradicate such threats.
However, similar technology with antivirus or anti Trojan capability for hardware (silicon chips) is not available. The computer or network hardware underpins and runs all the software defence systems. If the hardware has a vulnerability then all the energy in defending at the software level is redundant. An effort must be made to defend and detect at the hardware level for a more comprehensive strategy.
Our findings. Claims were made by the intelligence agencies around the world, from MI5, NSA and IARPA, that silicon chips could be infected. We developed breakthrough silicon chip scanning technology to investigate these claims. We chose an American military chip that is highly secure with sophisticated encryption standard, manufactured in China. Our aim was to perform advanced code breaking and to see if there were any unexpected features on the chip. We scanned the silicon chip in an affordable time and found a previously unknown backdoor inserted by the manufacturer. This backdoor has a key, which we were able to extract. If you use this key you can disable the chip or reprogram it at will, even if locked by the user with their own key. This particular chip is prevalent in many systems from weapons, nuclear power plants to public transport. In other words, this backdoor access could be turned into an advanced Stuxnet weapon to attack potentially millions of systems. The scale and range of possible attacks has huge implications for National Security and public infrastructure.
Key features of our technology:

article on resentment of princelings. 20 YEARS AGO

the bank said it has injected an additional 2.5 billion yuan ($395 million) into its China subsidiary, bringing the total registered capital of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank (China) Co. to 6.5 billion yuan, according to a statement.

zinger from global times on need for brave intellectuals to stand up, fight for healthy public opinion, fight against the attempts at imposition of western values on china...
摘要：中国需要一批有勇气、有水平的知识分子站出来，敢于同当前不健康的舆论倾向公开斗争，敢于在舆论场上反对西方价值观对中国社会的简单灌输，帮助中国公众建立符合国家现实的价值判断体系。

中国或是以强有力的改革避免经济硬着陆，或是在饱受硬着陆之苦后以超高成本重启改革，我们期待前者

Ferrari's China car owner list would be interesting//
Luxury sports car manufacturer Ferrari will recall another 56 vehicles imported to the Chinese mainland due to defective crankshafts, China's quality watchdog said Friday.

People's Daily P 3 on latest developments in Syria

铁道部、卫生部、交通部、证监会、国资委、银监会等部委先后发布民资进入相关文件，支持民资进入相关领域。

Some say was not monks but young people. Either way, first protests like this in Lhasa in a while. Grim

The deceleration in corporate profit growth underscores concerns that the slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy is deepening. China’s State Council said on May 23 that downside risks to growth are increasing and the government will intensify “fine-tuning” policies as needed, signaling it may take more aggressive steps to support the nation’s expansion.

A pilot project aimed at reforming how land is managed in Shenzhen was officially launched on May 25. The pilot, which could see changes to the status of "minor property rights," is likely to set the path for broader nationwide reforms of land management, according to Securities Times, a financial paper published by the People’s Daily Group.

Summary：One entrepreneur's quest to become a delegate to the Communist Party's National Congress and how it was more difficult than steering his company's IPO.

Officials from the Yibin city government announced at a press conference earlier this week that in addition to moving and rebuilding the city's airport, they will also change its name to Yibin Wuliangye Airport in honor of the well-known brand of alcohol that is produced in the city.
The company, which employs thousands of people in the city and submits a large chunk of the city's government revenue, is a state-owned group with a subsidiary listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange.

Economic Observer discusses the coming stimulus for China's economy
导语：5月23日召开的国务院常务会议明确“把稳增长放在更加重要的位置,根据变化加大预调微调力度”。经济学家们纷纷将此次会议看成是中国政府的一次行动信号——为防止经济放缓过快，更多刺激经济政策将出台。

A badly damaged pot donated to a charity shop has thrilled the art world after it sold for £360,000.

Police arrested an ex-Communist Party official in central China on suspicion of raping at least 10 underage girls

Concerns are raised about possible fatal design flaw in green vehicles after deadly collision in Shenzhen..At about 3am on Saturday, a speeding sports car rear-ended a BYD E6 electric taxi, causing the cab to catch fire, killing the driver and two passengers, according to The Southern Metropolis News

After sweeping economic reforms, which in three decades have lifted China into the world's second-largest economy, the country is moving ahead with reform of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) by inviting private investment in their restructuring.

Beijing is considering allowing foreign tourists a 72-hour window to explore the capital without a visa.

Fu Zhenghua, the city's director of public security, has confirmed that authorities are mulling over the move, saying it would represent a crucial sign that Beijing is open to the world.

An elderly man hanged himself last week in the run-up to the 23rd anniversary of the June 4, Tiananmen Square crackdown, after growing desperate from what he and others called years of "injustice".
Ya Weilin was a 73-year-old retired hospital worker and member of the Tiananmen Mothers, a group largely comprised of victims' families who advocate a change in the government's position over the suppression of the pro-democracy protests in 1989.

nvestors, however, remain sceptical that genuine change is in the air following so many false starts

Creation of 1,500 hectares of land in the region is flawed on environmental and demographic grounds, say experts

The widespread presence of counterfeit Lafite wine in China has pressured its producer to launch a campaign to fight fake products in the country, after the price of Lafite wines tumbled last year.

Michel Negrier, export director of Domaines Barons de Rothschild Lafite, told China Daily on Friday that the group has hired legal professionals to fight counterfeit products.

Beijing Public Security says foreigners will be able to visit Beijing for up to 72 hours visa-free

Within 24 hours of consultations between officials from the Chinese embassy and the US State Department, a revised policy directive was sent out on Friday to clarify the visa status of Chinese-language teachers.
The new version clarifies that the Confucius Institutes run by accredited US universities and colleges do not need to apply for another accreditation.

U.S. consulting companies are increasingly selling their services in China.  This is part of the general trend towards sales into China that we have noted.  In confirmation of this trend, we have recently worked with several U.S. based consultants in selling their services into China. The approach taken by U.S. consultants is consistently naïve and almost guarantees problems in China.

The most important issue in selling services to Chinese clients is how to get paid. The payment issue with service providers is far more complicated than with those who sell goods.

After a prolonged chill, security ties between Israel and China are warming up.

With Israel offering much-needed technical expertise and China representing a huge new market and influential voice in the international debate over Iran's nuclear program, the two nations have stepped up military cooperation as they patch up a rift caused by a pair of failed arms deals scuttled by the U.S.

The improved ties have been highlighted by this week's visit to Beijing by Israel's military chief and a training mission to Israel by the Chinese paramilitary force

Boxun is always entertaining//
（世界日报） 中、美兩國在香港爆發間諜戰。來自北京的消息說，中國國家安全部一名副部長秘書，在香港落入美國情報機關設下的「美人計」陷阱，與女諜幽會時遭拍照勒索，變節後為美方提供大量重要中國的國家機密，於年初落網。由於此人接近中國高層，掌握國家領導人才能看到的核心機密，因此成為中國近年來最大間諜案，牽涉到350多名官員。

據稱，這是自1986年中國國安部北美處長俞強聲叛逃美國事件以來，國安部內部最嚴重的間諜案。有消息指該案令中國最高層震怒，已下令徹查，涉案的國安部副部長已被停職。該名間諜料將遭最嚴厲懲處，以叛國罪處決

On the morning of April 25, one of them called the US embassy and asked the Americans to take him in. Harold Koh, the State Department’s legal adviser (who was called back just as he was boarding a cruise ship on the Yangtze river), advised that Chen be taken in for humanitarian reasons because of his blindness and his leg injury. By the end of the day, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had approved the plan. On the night of April 26, an embassy car set out to pick him up.
“The activists who were helping Chen were being followed and the embassy car going to meet them was also possibly being followed, but both cars lost the people following them and then they made the transfer,” says a state department official. One person involved in smuggling Chen in says it was “almost as if [the police or state security officers] were helping us to get Chen into the embassy”.

Because Beijing is a relatively safe place to live when compared to many foreign cities, expats tend to settle into a comfort zone. However, a recent escalation of violence in Sanlitun has brought expat safety concerns to light.

from 2007 he became a leading player in China's online-gaming industry, with tens of millions of yuan in assets, expensive cars and a luxury house. Yet by the end of 2010 he had been jailed for his involvement in internet crimes.

The story of Cai's rise from poverty was revealed during the recent review of his case by the Chongqing Yubei District People's Court. Cai is said to have recruited a group of young people born after 1980 into a hacking team called "Knight." This team attacked the private servers of the online game Legend, forcing the server company to hand over its advertising agency rights.

The policeman yanked the black hood over Ai Weiwei’s head. It was suffocating. Written in white across the outside was a cryptic phrase: “Suspect 1.7.”

Eric Li (Chengwei Capital), “Why Democracy is Not the Answer for China” (May 28th)

Buying the Swedish car company in 2010 was easy – maybe too easy – for increasingly frustrated executives at Zhejiang Geely

Those are the words that Ma Chi chose to greet people with on his instant-messaging service.
Then, while living in Singapore three weeks ago, the 31-year-old businessman from Luzhou , Sichuan province, sped through a stop light in his red Ferrari 599 GTO and crashed into a taxi. Ma was killed instantly. The taxi's driver and passenger, a Japanese woman, died later in hospital.

全国山河一片红／／
The unissued, large-sized "The Whole Country Is Red" stamp was sold by China Guardian Auctions after more than 20 rounds of bidding at its spring auction on Monday, becoming the single biggest stamp sale ever at a Chinese auction. The final price: 7,302,500 yuan.

Jim Chanos vs. Chen Zhiwu

Yesterday AFP reported that ‘Police have detained a man suspected of murdering more than a dozen boys and young men, chopping up their bodies and selling the flesh to unsuspecting consumers’.

local Henan official arrested for raping 10+ underage girls

I don't think he surfs Chinese sites. Blazing fast if you stay inside the Chinese Internet//
After another several-month stay in China last year, I came up with one proxy for China’s ability to take this next step: how slow its Internet service is, compared with South Korea’s or Japan’s.
In much of America, the Internet is slow by those standards, but mainly for infrastructure reasons. In China it’s slow because of political control: censorship and the “Great Firewall” bog down everything and make much of the online universe impossible to reach. “What country ever rode to pre-eminence by fighting the reigning technology of the time?” a friend asked while I was in China last year. “Did the Brits ban steam?”

WalMart Investee Yihaodian has data leak, user info found for sale

SOEs spending 700B RMB to control resources in Shaanxi

Ministry of Construction sends out inspection team to investigate shoddy public/subsidized housing construction

On the relative failure of Chen Tianqiao and Shanda. Relative compared to Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba etc

I am a patriot. I would love to see a little island added to our vast territory of this great nation. But I would much prefer to see the names of countless of extinguished souls engraved on humble memorials in my country.

Li Chengpeng is a writer and a blogger who has over five million followers on Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter. This article was adapted from a longer article posted online on the fourth anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake earlier this month. It was translated from the Chinese by Jane Weizhen Pan.

Yang Rui's Lost Tweets Part 1: Foreign Trash and Foreign Bitches

At the time of its re-creation as a ballet, “The Red Detachment” was credited to a collective creation group of the Central Ballet of China – individuals did not get creative credits during the Cultural Revolution.  However, named or not, it still had individual creators – and Mr. Liang was clearly one of them.  When China’s first copyright law came into effect in 1991, the China Daily reports, Mr. Liang contacted the ballet to negotiate a royalty payment; he eventually received RMB 5,000.  The lawsuit has come about because Mr. Liang – who is now in his late 80s – and his daughter and son-in-law say that the initial agreement was for a ten-year term; they are asking for RMB 550,000 in compensation for royalties unpaid since then.

A war of words subsequently began online between Qihoo 360 CEO Zhou Hongyi and Xiaomi founder Lei Jun. In a microblog post, Zhou called Lei the bully of the market, who thought no one else could enter the budget smartphone sector.

Firefighters were brought in to inflate a bouncy tarp and position it underneath the man.

With almost no chance to win government contracts or those related to infrastructure projects, Huawei has been forced to limit its business focuses to sectors like retail, education,and medical services, said Shen Jingyang, CEO of Huawei's US subsidiary

Infrastructure construction has replaced real estate development as the major consumer of land plots during the first three months of 2012, the latest official data shows.

Li Ka-shing, the 83-year-old owner of Hong Kong's biggest supermarket chain and with assets globally in telecommunications, oil and real estate, remains actively involved in the operations of his flagship blue-chip companies. On Friday he said he had no plans to retire anytime soon, but sought to put to rest frequent media speculation in the city on the future of his multi-billion dollar companies.

The growing unease toward foreigners in Beijing may have claimed an unexpected casualty: a community theater production of "Oklahoma!"

Last week, a cast of foreign and local thespians were told by Beijing authorities just before they hit the stage that they wouldn't be able to perform the 1943 musical about two cowboys in love with a pair of farm girls.

They are not about Confucius.  Rather, the PRC government has chosen to use the name of Confucius as a trademark of sorts for a global soft power branding project.  The Institutes, most of which in the US are hosted by colleges or universities, focus on language learning, with a variety of other cultural activities: Lunar New Year parties: calligraphy; a little Peking Opera; etc.  As far as I can tell - and I have been in conversation with many US academics who have CIs on their campuses (my college does not have one) - there is no systematic effort to engage with Confucian thought in any serious manner. 

Indeed, I find no direct reference to Confucius the man and thinker on their English language web page;

The China Securities Regulatory Commission will modify rules to help privately owned companies to raise capital, part of government efforts to aid smaller businesses struggling for funds.

If, as is likely, the post-18th Party Congress PBSC will continue to take wei-wen as the party’s overriding task, the chances of the nationwide application of the reforms that Wang has so painstaking eked out in Guangdong may be relatively slim.

IN the latest round of medical capsule inspections, 204 batches made by 56 pharmaceutical enterprises across the nation were found to contain excessive chromium.

Discussion of how pla might use high speed rail. How does that for
into bears' spreadsheets who say high-speed rail a white elephant?

China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, followed by the
United States, the European Union and India. Although China's emissions
rose significantly because of its coal consumption, the increase would have
been more substantial had the country not taken steps over the last decade
to improve energy efficiency and deploy cleaner power sources, Birol said.
Carbon dioxide emissions in the United States fell by 1.7 percent, or 92
megatonnes, in 2011, as more power companies switched to natural gas from
coal and a mild winter reduced heating demand. Emissions in the United
States have now fallen by 7.7 percent since 2006, according to the IEA,
which called it "the largest reduction of all countries or regions."
Read more here:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/25/2817382/carbon-dioxide-emissions-reach.html#storylink=cpy

Beijing looking for Internet "supervisor" volunteers

The U.S. Department of State is backing down from its insistence that 600
Chinese-language schoolteachers affiliated with university-based Confucius
Institutes leave the country by the end of June because of visa problems.

Recent data from exporters, bankers, realtors and others points to a slump
in loan demand that may be here to stay

(Beijing) – Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is in talks with China
Development Bank (CDB) to get two loans for as much as US$ 2 billion
to help with a stock buyback deal with Yahoo, a source close to the
negotiations said on May 23.

A German maker of railway building materials is caught in a debate over
bullet train contracting and safety