No Leniency on Organized Crime and Corruption

＂The crackdown on Chongqing＇s underworld is part of a united deployment of the central authority.＂     

China By Design Amy Gendler

EMPATHY,＂ Amy Gendler said to her mostly American companions in a social group one Sunday this spring, ＂represents one of the most significant developmental challenges my Chinese design students face. Being able to put yourself in another person＇s shoes is key to being a good designer.＂ Of the social import of the students＇ success, she is also clear, ＂It is imperative that China thinks about design in a new way.＂ By that she means embrace strategic, research-based, problem-solving approaches, because ＂Design is not about making beautiful things; it may not even be about things. It＇s about strategic solutions for sustainability. China needs to think of it this way, and this way now.＂     

Nadam

Editor＇s Note： China＇s vast territory and long history have engendered a profuse and colorful intangible cultural heritage. Wang Wenzhang, president of the China Art Academy, and his staff have spent years on comprehensive research into China＇s intangible heritage with the aim of salvaging aspects of it that are in danger of dying out. Talking to Wang Wenzhang on the subject truly brings home its universal significance. As Wang says, ＂The intangible cultural heritage immanent in folklore, ballads, festivals and handicrafts constitute the quintessence of a nation.＂ Folk festivals are a main aspect of the cultural heritage of China＇s various ethnic groups, one that we will explore and bring to our readers throughout 2008. To quote Wang Wenzhang once more, ＂History enables knowledge of a nation; knowing its intangible cultural heritage gives insight into its spirit.＂     

Chris Buckley： Extreme Textiler

EXTREME textiles is a name we might associate with a carpet that can report the footsteps of an intruder or the heat of a fire （don＇t laugh; they exist!）. But that＇s not the sort of extreme we have in mind when discussing Chris Bucktey＇s work. It＇s more along the lines of Mathilda McQuaid＇s lecture on high-tech textiles at the Copenhagen Conference ＂Avantgarde - Innovative Cooperation Between Craft and Businesses.＂     

Iian Longxin＇s Musical Journey

Tian Longxin is known today as the ＂living soul of Tu-jia music＂ and ＂leader of aboriginal Tujia tblk music in China.＂ Born in Hunan Province, Tian is fluent in the Tujia language and an expert in Tujia folk music. Having devoted himself to preserving traditional Chinese culture, Tian has amassed a library, of more than 3.8 million char-acters on Tujia folk music and operas. He has also composed tunes and performed many times for international audiences. In 2008, he was recognized as an ＂inheritor of national intangible cultural heritage.＂     

People＇s Communes

CHINA＇s individual agricultural economy based on private ownership was transformed into cooperative economy based on public ownership between 1949 and ＇ 1956. During this time span the ＂communistic commune;＂ the ＂col ective farm＂and the ＂people＇s commune＂ successively appeared in rural areas. In 1958, shortly after Chairman Mao Zedong said, ＂It is good to establish people＇s communes,＂ the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China established people＇s communes throughout the country. Documents at that time stated： ＂The realization of communism in our country is not a thing of remote future. We must actively establish people＇s communes and explore a concrete way to communism.＂ By the end of October 1958, more than 26,000 people,s communes housing 120 million rural households -- 99 percent of all rural households in China - had been set up.     

Shanghai Prepares to Tango with the Financial Tornado

THERE is an old Chinese saying, ＂A man＇s greatest woe is entering thewrong trade; a woman＇s is marrying the wrong man.＂ In that case, in an era where both men and women, married and single, need to work, women must be cautious on both counts.     

The Eternal Couple Taishan Mountain and Tai＇an City

TAI＇AN City is located in the center of Shandong Province, home to the ancient states of Lu and Qi. Built in homage to Taishan Mountain （Mount Tai）, one of China＇s sacred peaks, the city was named after an old saying： ＂If all is well on Taishan Mountain, the world will be at peace.＂ ＂Tai＇an＂ literally means ＂peace upon Taishan.＂     

Cost Pressures in the Pearl River Delta

IF China has become the world＇s manufacturing center over the past 30 years,then the Pearl River Delta（PRD）in Guangdong Province is undoubtedly the nation＇s＂factory.＂But despite decades of rapid development and dizzying economic growth,the area s labor-intensive industries are now facing growing cost pressures.How have the enterprises of the PRD reacted？     

Ancient Town Tengchong

IN China＇s relentlessly beautiful southwest there is a place that stands out for its unbelievable perfection： Tengchong. An American writer called it a ＂living landscape painting.＂ Seeing it, I felt the same way.     

The Ascent of a Magic Family Business

AChinese family long rooted in the magic business has devised an aerial ＂vanishing in the plate＂ stunt unlike anything seen before anywhere in the world. Despite the heat and humid- ity of Beijing＇s summer, Fu Yandong is immersed in daily rehearsals for the show＇s debut performance at the World Championship of Magic. Entitled Blueand-White Porcelain, FU elaborates, ＂it revolves around the dream of a chinaware artisan, In a fantasyland the man meets two elves, and makes a trip back into history with them. The story line is not complex, but much of the performance has to be done mid-air.＂     

Messages Encoded in Bird-and-Flower Paintings （Part I）

THE free-hand painting Liu Zhongxin （1948-） did to celebrate the beginning of a new business has encoded in it best wishes for the proprietor＇s success in the years to come. A litchi branch loaded with crimson red fruit signifies a prosperous business, for the branch conveys an image that stands for a ＂line＂ of business, while the fruit is a play on the word ＂profit,＂ which in Chinese is a homonym for ＂litchi.＂ ff a rooster is added under the tree, the artist said,     

Saving Energy in the MiyunEcological Industrial Park

IN the courtyard of Beijing Ren- chuang Technology Co., Ltd. the ground is covered with colorful water-permeable bricks -- the same bricks that have been used in Olympic venues such as the ＂Bird＇s Nest,＂ ＂the Water Cube＂ and Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. Renchuang is loeated in an eco-industrial park in Miyun County on Beijing＇s outskirts. Office supervisor Yang Shihu explains, ＂Our company holds the patent on the ecological brick both in China and abroad. The permeated rainwater is used as a coolant on production lines, or for landscape irrigation.＂     

China＇s Monocameral System Opens Up

DEMOCRACY is a topic often mentioned when certain Western people talk about China. China has chosen to practice a form of democracy that is different from that in Westem countries. As early as in 1987 Deng Xiaoping said, ＂In the West, democracy means separation of the three powers and multi-party elections. We have no objection to their doing so, but in the Chinese mainland we don＇t practice multi-party elections, separate the three powers, or use a bicameral system. We practice the monocameral system - the National People＇s Congress. This bests suits China＇s realities.＂     

City of Oil

THE terrain of Dongying is relentlessly flat, and on the vast plain that surrounds it nodding pump jacks are ubiquitous. They have become a symbol of the city, hence Dongying＇s nickname, ＂City of Oil.＂ This place was settled by people who consider themselves ＂oil pioneers.＂ Shengli Oilfield is located here, in the Yellow River Delta of northern Shandong Province, arid covers an area of over 2,500 square kilometers.     

Fabulous Dragon Stone

THERE is a Chinese saying, ＂Gold is expensive but jade is priceless.＂ In other words, gold represents wealth and jade elegance. Gold inlaid with jade traditionally symbolizes happy marriage. This precious combination in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games medal design conveys the host city＇s respect for the games and best wishes to Olympic athletes.     

＂Poverty Alleviation through Cultural Progress＂：Achievements,Problems and Expectations

To mark the 30th anniversary of China＇s reform and opening, the Communist Party of China, the country＇s ruling party, called for ＂promoting the development of cultural undertakings in the coun- tryside and running rural education well.＂ This came at the Third Plenary Session of the Seventeenth Central Committee of the CPC held in October 2007, which set a series of guidelines and policies for the task of building a ＂new, socialist country- side.＂     

Migrant Workers Begin to Demand Equal Rights

Over the past 20 years, 210 million Chinese farmers and rural dwellers have abandoned the countryside in search of a better life in China＇s burgeoning cities. By comparison, the combined labor force of the United States and Europe is a mere 300 million. Writing in The New York Times, Ted C. Fishman a China commentator and contributing editor to Harper＇s Magazine, called it, without exaggeration, the ＂largest human migration in history.＂     

Valentine＇s Day Cynicism

THE debate on whether to observe Valentine＇s Day on February 14 heats up every year with as much intensity as a new romance. On the Intemet both supporters and opposers are many. On the evening of February 12, 2009, two men in Changsha City, Hunan Province erected a banner on the pedestrian thoroughfare of Huangxing South Road with the slogan, ＂It is everyone＇s duty to boycott repugnant Valentine＇s Day.＂ On the banner are the many signatures of netizens who agree to do just that.     

Chinese Economist Steps into World Financial Spotlight

BEFORE Zhu Min took the podium at the Beijing Symposium on World Economy and China： Post-crisis Global Economic and Financial Situation, in mid November 2009, the chair made an intriguing introduction to the newly appointed deputy governor of the People＇s Bank of China： ＂Though we haven＇t as yet got official confirmation on Mr. Zhu＇s next post, one thing we＇re certain of is that he will be assuming a bigger role in international affairs.＂