Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg (马克·扎克伯格) may want to come to China, but the company’s IPO filing certainly lowers expectations. In its recent IPO filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Facebook says: China is a large potential market for Facebook, but users are generally restricted from accessing Facebook from China. We do not know […]
Real Name Requirements Drive Online Opinion
Posted February 2nd, 2012 at 3:32 am (UTC+0)
Even though real-name ID registering on Sina microblog hasn’t been made official yet, and there are few signs of implementation, real name ID is a change that is gaining attention. The reason for real name registration is for the greater control on the Chinese internet. Wang Chen, minister of the State Council Information Office, justified […]
Spring Festival Rush, Online and Off
Posted January 22nd, 2012 at 9:45 pm (UTC+0)
The Spring Festival (春节) is very near －this year New Year’s eve (除夕) falls on January 22. Many netizens, like the rest of the nation, are traveling back for the holidays. At this time, not only do the country’s offices and shops shut down, but migrant workers and ordinary people working in the cities are […]
Foxconn Suicide Threats Stir Debate
Posted January 16th, 2012 at 9:06 am (UTC+0)
This month, the Taiwanese-owned manufacturing factory Foxconn (富士康) was in the news again. At one of the company’s factories in Wuhan, more than 100 workers amassed on the roof and threatened suicide to protest poor working conditions. The corporation, responsible for manufacturing popular products such as the Apple (苹果) iPhone and the Amazon Kindle, saw […]
Chinese Official: Pop-up Ads Necessary for the Internet
Posted January 8th, 2012 at 11:30 pm (UTC+0)
Even though new Chinese rules for internet companies were just released, one major item was missing for many. Pop-up ads were not banned. The reason? China’s internet services are based on free ads, said Li Guobin, an industry inspector for Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (工业和信息化部). Jean Chen, who is a consultant for cyzone.cn, […]
Falling Property Prices Create Net Buzz
Posted December 6th, 2011 at 12:05 am (UTC+0)
Through-the-roof housing prices (房价) is one of China’s hottest topics. Recently, Ren Zhiqiang (任志强) a property developer (开放商) who is big user of Sina microblog (新浪微博), angered a lot of people by blogging “Is there any country in history that has managed to grow its economy stably after a property bust?” As many property owners […]
SARFT Bans TV Adverts During Dramas, Online Comedy Follows
Posted December 1st, 2011 at 12:58 am (UTC+0)
This is a news report from Dragon TV, a major Chinese television network. It’s been embedded onto Youku, China’s leading online portal. This might be future for Chinese television, as SARFT (广电总局 State Administration of Radio Film and Television) announced on Monday that beginning in January, 2012, ads will be banned from the middle of […]
China’s Largest Telecoms Probed by Anti-Monopoly Investigation
Posted November 16th, 2011 at 10:15 pm (UTC+0)
China’s two biggest telecom companies are being probed by an anti-monopoly (反垄断) investigation that is being publicized in the state media. China Telecom (中国电信) and China Unicom (中国联通) are suspected of using their domination of the broadband market to charge higher prices to consumers. The two companies control well over half of the country’s broadband […]
O-pen Magazine Closed
Posted November 7th, 2011 at 6:11 am (UTC+0)
O-pen magazine (大方) was set up in March 2011 by Annie Baby (安妮宝贝), a popular novelist who got her start on the Internet. On November 1, however, she announced on her Sina microblog that they had received a notice to stop publishing. The first issue of O-pen is the beginning, the second is the end. […]
