What's in the News

What would be the fun in living in a place like that?  I much prefer being the only white guy in the village. 

Going swimming in the rivers?

China’s government on Tuesday unveiled its most detailed survey ever of the pollution plaguing the country, revealing that water pollution in 2007 was more than twice as severe as was shown in official figures that had long omitted agricultural waste.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/world/asia/10pollute.html?sudsredirect=true

Author to sue James Cameron over Avatar06:00 AEST Fri Mar 5 2010

Beijing man Zhou Shaomou claims he wrote a science-fiction novel called Tale Of The Blue Crows in 1997 which bears striking similarities to the plot of Cameron's film, Sky News reports.

The book centres around a group of explorers who travel to a distant planet inhabited by blue-skinned beings, he said.

"I wrote in my novel that their space journey took them six years but in Cameron’s movie the journey takes them five years nine months and 22 days," he said.

"I was shocked when I first saw that — it is too close."

Zhou said he never thought he would get a publishing deal for the book so he released it online, where he claims it has been read by more than 10 million people.

He now plans to sue Cameron for $162 million in copyright infringement.

Zhou has reportedly tried twice to get his case heard in China but was denied both times.

Beijing-based lawyer Yang Huipeng told Sky News that Zhou would be better off taking his case to a US court, where any legal judgement would have greater effect.

Author to sue James Cameron over Avatar06:00 AEST Fri Mar 5 2010

Beijing man Zhou Shaomou claims he wrote a science-fiction novel called Tale Of The Blue Crows in 1997 which bears striking similarities to the plot of Cameron's film, Sky News reports.

The book centres around a group of explorers who travel to a distant planet inhabited by blue-skinned beings, he said.

"I wrote in my novel that their space journey took them six years but in Cameron’s movie the journey takes them five years nine months and 22 days," he said.

"I was shocked when I first saw that — it is too close."

Zhou said he never thought he would get a publishing deal for the book so he released it online, where he claims it has been read by more than 10 million people.

He now plans to sue Cameron for $162 million in copyright infringement.

Zhou has reportedly tried twice to get his case heard in China but was denied both times.

Beijing-based lawyer Yang Huipeng told Sky News that Zhou would be better off taking his case to a US court, where any legal judgement would have greater effect.

he should sue the smurfs as well

Boy oh boy...

...RIP to greed. I hope.

What if he's right? It wouldn't be the first time.

On the other hand, the folks who brought us Pocahontas and Fern Gully are still in discussion with Cameron

The Last Samurai has the same plot.

gullivers travels, robinson crusoe etc

princess mononoke, dances with wolves...

it's a standard narrative trope

Professor charged over 'wife-swap' parties

A professor in east China's Jiangsu Province has been charged with assembled pruriency after allegedly operating an online partner-swapping community that organized 22 illegal orgies.
The professor, 53, surnamed Wang, allegedly joined 18 of the games, becoming the oldest and highest educated participant, Xinhua news agency reported today.
Another 21 members of the community also faced the charge by Qinhua District People's Procuratorate in Jiangsu's capital Nanjing, Xinhua said.
Under Chinese law, assembled pruriency constitutes organizing sexual activities for a group of men and women.

Wang faces up to five years in jail if convicted.

Wang, an assistant professor at a Nanjing university, had been living with his mentally ill mother after being divorced twice, the report said.
He launched an online community to promote the games, where he encouraged couples to swap partners, Xinhua said. At its peak, there were 190 members, prosecutors said.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2010/201003/20100311/article_430882.htm#ixzz0hrfDLDJs

Some students raised this in class today...took me a while to figure out what they were talking about. Apparently this man is very famous in China these days.
http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/news10678.html

That's a pretty crazy story...

Some students raised this in class today...took me a while to figure out what they were talking about. Apparently this man is very famous in China these days.
http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/news10678.html

China Smack (http://www.chinasmack.com/) is an interesting site, English summaries of hot topics on Chinese blogs and net forums. Fascinating.

They covered "Brother Sharp", the cool-looking homeless guy, a week or two back. A current story says the net.buzz about him enabled his family to find him. He's had a shave and is back in the home town.
http://www.chinasmack.com/stories/brother-sharp-family-reunion-netizen-photoshops/

Hope everything works out for the poor guy.
BTW - How is the state of China's mental health services?

Should we be surprised that Professor Wang was arranging sex parties?