One out of every three cigarettes is lit in China, and respiratory disease is on the rise. Some are asking what the future of smoking will look like in China. US-China Today clears the haze [...]

Think the Chinese government only became interested in stopping spitting after SARS? Think again! They’ve been promoting an anti-spitting stance since before the Cultural Revolution. Unfortunately, if our frequent walks around the city are any indication, 50 years of no spitting propaganda has had very little effect on the behavior.

JLM Pacific Epoch reports the Chinese government “has rejected two applications by the second expansion for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King since China’s Spring Festival (January 25 – February 1).”

[China, Internet] Quotable quotes: online questions for Chinese Premier Wen (Wen Jiabao chat with Internet users.) http://tinyurl.com/asmapb # China admits corruption still a serious problem in some areas (Corruption still a problem in “some” localities) http://tinyurl.com/adgobw # [China, Shanghai] “Expats like living China… but not the spitting!” http://tinyurl.com/ceajbx # [China, Women] Reading “The Plight of [...]

Money is moving in a new direction in China — out: Some Chinese are so eager to turn their yuan into other assets that when an online real estate brokerage organized a tour of foreclosure auctions in the United States, it received so many applications that it had to turn away nearly 400 people. In Shanghai, cash-rich Chinese companies are buying high-yield bonds issued by distressed American companies at a time when most investors are steering clear of bonds even from solid companies [...]

The Chinese government will start real-name registration for online game players this year, said Zhang Yijun, director of the Chinese General Administration of Press and Publication‘s technology and digital publication department. It’s unclear if this means character names will be required to reflect the player’s real name, or if the account must use a name registered with the government. Zhang says at the end of 2008, an anti-addiction test was implemented on 59 online games run by influential Chinese game companies and the pass rate reached 95%. Only four companies were closed for failing to meet the standards…

China-based blogs total 107 million, with more than 42 percent of netizens running a blog, a senior information official said here on recently. Cai Mingzhao, deputy director of the Chinese State Council Information Office, made the comment at the 2nd U.S.-China Internet Industry Forum. The number of blogs was about 40 million just a year ago [...]

Chinese President Hu Jintao said on recently that his country will take substantial measures to cope with climate change. Hu made the remarks at the Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change, which gathered leaders from Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea and the Group of Eight (G8) nations at Toyako, a resort town on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido…

Industries with high energy consumption and emissions are developing too fast in China, along with the quick economic growth, the Chinese State Council, or Cabinet, warned on recently. The traditional industry structure remained unchanged, while the service sector and high-tech manufacturing weighting fell in the national economy, State Councilors heard at a meeting focusing on energy saving and emission reduction, chaired by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao [...]

China has promulgated its own intellectual property strategy, which is aimed at promoting innovation and the use of new technologies by China’s industries. It’s hoped that via the implementation of the strategy, all innovations will be respected and more wealth will be created…