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China vs. Disney: The Battle for Mulan

Feng — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:21:25 +0000

China is moving to take back one of its own — even if it is legend. Mulan is the Middle Kingdom’s gender-bending heroine, its Joan of Arc. The character from folktale is a daughter who disguises herself as a male soldier to take her father’s place in the conscription army. The problem for the Chinese is that, since 1998, the definitive version of the story has been Disney’s.

Indeed, because of the animated Disney film, the character Mulan has become one of the most recognizable symbols of Chinese culture worldwide. Baby girls adopted from China have been named Mulan by their American parents. Disney has staged musical versions of the movie Mulan from Mexico to the Philippines. And posing for a photo with Mulan is a must for hordes of tourists at Hong Kong Disneyland.

China’s economic boom struggling with English barrier

Feng — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:24:09 +0000

Sun Liyuan surprised herself with her passion for teaching English as a volunteer in northwest China’s impoverished Qinghai Province, not far from where she grew up as the daughter of a rural schoolmaster.

The Tsinghua University junior was initially ambivalent about the program that her school, one of the top universities in China, had set up to help educate farmers bypassed by China’s 30-year economic boom.

But Ms. Sun soon postponed preparations for the Graduate Record Exam she’d planned to take in order to study in the United States. The chemical engineering major liked the idea of giving back.

China pledges to build 2 nuclear power plants for Pakistan

Feng — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:33:46 +0000

China has won new friends in Pakistan with its pledge to build two nuclear power plants in the energy-starved nation just weeks after rival India signed an atomic deal with the United...

CHINA AVOIDS NSG WAIVER INITIATIVE IN FAVOUR OF PAKISTAN

Feng — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:09:23 +0000

President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan, who paid a bilateral visit to China from October 14 to 17,2008, was to return to Pakistan on October 17 and go back to Beijing on October 23 to attend the summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) being held in Beijing on October 24 and 25,2008. It remains to be seen whether he goes back himself as originally scheduled or deputes Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani to attend it.

Are Robots Mirroring Human Evolution?

Feng — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:16:14 +0000

“I see a strong parallel between the evolution of robot intelligence and the biological intelligence that preceded it. The largest nervous systems doubled in size about every fifteen million years since the Cambrian explosion 550 million years...

Sleep Deprivation, Behavior, and the Young

Feng — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:29:21 +0000

These days, sleep is often seen as an expendable resource. With so much work to do and limited time to accomplish tasks, going to sleep later and waking up earlier seems so...

China shuts down Mount Everest after Tibet protesters target Olympic torch

Feng — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 04:57:40 +0000

China has shut its side of Mount Everest to stop Tibet activists disrupting plans to carry the Olympic torch to the world’s tallest peak.

Mountaineers are being denied permission to climb Everest’s north face this spring.

A letter setting out the move has been sent by the government’s China Tibet Mountaineering Association to expedition companies.

It said climbs up the Chinese side of Everest and nearby Cho-Oyu, which straddle the border between Chinese-controlled Tibet and Nepal, should be postponed.