The China Blog

Another Big, Unanswered Question About Events in Urumqi

Simon Elegant — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:34:44 +0000

In my post on the recent shootings below, I posed a couple of big outstanding questions about what exactly has happened in Urumqi in the last week. After the jump I am posting an excellent AP story that has one of the most detailed accounts of the awful night of July 5th that I have [...]

Our New Design: Comments and Answers

Simon Elegant — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:11:42 +0000

An answer to some queries on the new design from our tech honchos in New York. The RSS feed apparently is designed to only display a few lines and that won't --and can't because of the design of the reader itself-- change. For the commenter who didn't like clicking back and forth between posts, it seems [...]

Two Shot Dead in Urumqi: Accounts Vary Widely

Simon Elegant — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:57:56 +0000

Two Uighur men were shot dead by police yesterday in Urumqi. Unfortunately, as the South China Morning Post story reproduced here in full (it's behind a paywall) after the jump lays out, the official account is at wide variance with what reporters and other witnesses saw. Having allowed reporters fairly open access to Urumqi in [...]

Heads Up: Latest from Austin in Urumqi II

Simon Elegant — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:10:30 +0000

The last link was somewhat belated and to yesterday's piece. Here are today thoughts.

Does Poker Stand a Chance in Asia?

Ling Woo Liu — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:35:49 +0000

A 2006 ban on Internet gambling in the U.S. is prompting poker promoters to take their card game across the Pacific in hopes of setting down roots in Asia's Las Vegas, Macau. Read the full story here.

Heads Up: Latest From Urumqi

Simon Elegant — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:09:52 +0000

Here's Austin latest dispatch from Urumqi.

The China Blog's New Look

Simon Elegant — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:20:20 +0000

As you'll see, we have a new look which feels fresher and cleaner. Let us know what you think. Meanwhile, a reminder to commenters: no profanity please. I am perfectly happy to have lively debate and to be called all sorts of names, would be doing something wrong if it was all sweetness and light, [...]

Hu Jintao Returns Home From G8 Early

Simon Elegant — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:43:03 +0000

...to deal with the situation in Xinjiang. This is a pretty huge deal. For President Hu to leave Rome and hurry home is a significant loss of face for him in front of the assembled world leaders and that means that there must have been an extremely pressing reason for him to do so. And [...]

Urumqi: Han Chinese Revenge Mobs Appear

Simon Elegant — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:36:21 +0000

This is a very worrying development indeed. Story below from Xinhua, but Austin and other reporters have seen mobs of Chinese in the streets of Urumqi up to a thousand strong armed with staves and shovels, out for revenge. I've seen these sort of race riots before and at this point it is up to [...]

Foreign Reporters Visit Prompts New Demonstration in Urumqi

Simon Elegant — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:37:33 +0000

Austin Ramzy, who is in Urumqi called to report that he is witnessing a new protest that is currently underway, apparently sparked by the presence of foreign reporters. He says that the Foreign Ministry and local government officials took six buses of reporters, about 50 in all, on a trip to see a burned out [...]