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Aric Queen to tell the story of his exile from Shanghai

Some of you will remember him for his messy hair, and others will remember him for his tight ass, but Aric Queen is back, this time with a hairband. The former City Weekend nightlife columnist, one time Shanghaiist contributor and serial podcaster found himself wanted by the police for a series of videos that he had been filing for Current TV under the name Shanghai Diaries (not to be confused with Dan Washburn's 2002 blog of the same name). Aric is going to tell the story of his exile from Shanghai in a new series which we presume is starting pretty soon.

Here's what we already know from a post in his personal blog dated Aug 12:

I’ll never forget the intersection I was at yesterday when I got the message, as it will always be associated with a sick feeling. Kind of the way I can never listen to Inner Circle’s ‘Rock With You’ as that was the last song played in my car before I walked up to greet (name removed), my junior-year girlfriend, back from her summer holiday, and she broke up with me…I digress.

There I was, enjoying (as you can see from the previous post) the wonderful town of Solo and I get an SMS from someone who is not known for their over-dramatics saying ‘Please call. Urgent’. This person has never said ‘urgent’ about anything. In fact, this person isn’t the ‘urgent’ type. 3 seconds later they called to inform me that the police had just shown up at their office looking for me, as I had done a few projects out of there. They confiscated my phone number, email address and bank records claiming I was somehow involved with Tibetan support. No doubt this comes down to ‘the diaries’ , but thank God I walked when I did. I don’t think I’m headed back. Anyone who knows anything about the current climate knows they could make my life hell, as they have done for countless others. One friend thrown in prison for 10 days without his contacts (rendering him legally blind…in a cell with 10 others) and the police did not notify the consulate for 5 days (it’s supposed to be 2). Another friend of a friend had her passport confiscated (highly illegal) without given a reason why. This is happening all over China, so when I say it’s becoming a police state I’m not exaggerating.

So why go back? Sure, my stuff is there, but thankfully, a friend of mine helped out and it’s now in a safe place. Clothes? Yeah, sucks, but only a few things were worn enough to justify a moment of silence. Books and DVD’s, sure, it’s also a pain, but I’d read/watched most of them. The important stuff is safe. I don’t think I’m headed back. I didn’t like it there. I have a few weeks left on my flat (one of the things I’ll miss the most, not the apartment itself, but the coffee talks with Scott, that’s what hurts) so I might just have a big ole free yardsale and let those who I’ll soon call ‘old friends’ inherit my ever-changing tastes. I’m still pulling in a tiny bit each month, might even be enough to get me over to India instead of rent (half, actually, Scott was paying the other half as ‘it was worth it not to have anyone else in there’) and a phone bill. I’d like that. Even Nepal. Maybe Sri Lanka. Could work out nice. I’d be eating rice and drinkin’ water, but hey, Mom promised me her enchiladas if I can get home soon. What was it Proust said, ‘We are healed of a suffering only by expressing it to the full’, right? Who wouldn’t trade some dirty cots and a dance with dysentery in exchange for sunrise on the Ganges and a sore neck from the Taj? Fuck it. I’m doin’ it. At least, I’ll try. Seems strange though, having just given my Facebook a peek that I might not see these people ever again. That’s weird. But goodbyes usually hold more cliches than a fraternity brunch, so I’d be okay with that. The people that matter I will either see again, or know I’ll miss them. Man, talk about ‘when one door closes’ (oops - see you at brunch) mine just got slammed shut. But it’s kind of the same feeling a girl slapping you after you just requested break-up sex is. In the overall sense of things, it’s over - but man, it would have been cool to end it slightly differently.

It hadn’t really sunk in until I wrote this whole thing…now it’s surreal. This could be it. Wow.

Wow, what a difference in life 24 hours makes if you let it.

We're still not sure what specifically did Aric in, but there were some things he said on his show during all the pre-Olympic madness that one really shouldn't say out loud even if you really, truly, sincerely believe it with all your heart. Case in point is this video below filed June 5 on a day when he clearly wasn't in the best of moods which totally made us go "Woah! Where did he get that from?!". In it, Aric famously declared that "nobody wants China to fail in the Olympics more than the foreigners living here do". When he published the video, Aric described it as being the one that might get him into trouble, and we think it did:

Xinhua does it again: Space mission report hits the Internet before launch of Shenzhou 7

This is just such a classic you'll have to read the entire AP story for yourself:

A news story describing a successful launch of China's long-awaited space mission and including detailed dialogue between astronauts launched on the Internet Thursday, hours before the rocket had even left the ground.

The country's official news agency Xinhua posted the article on its Web site Thursday, and remained there for much of the day before it was taken down.

A staffer from the Xinhuanet.com Web site who answered the phone Thursday said the posting of the article was a "technical error" by a technician. The staffer refused to give his name as is common among Chinese officials.

The Shenzhou 7 mission, which will feature China's first-ever spacewalk, ended up launching Thursday from Jiuquan in northwestern China late in the evening.

The article, dated two days from now on Sept. 27, vividly described the rocket in flight, complete with a sharply detailed dialogue between the three astronauts.

Excerpts are below:

"After this order, signal lights all were switched on, various data show up on rows of screens, hundreds of technicians staring at the screens, without missing any slightest changes ...

'One minute to go!'

'Changjiang No.1 found the target!'...

"The firm voice of the controller broke the silence of the whole ship. Now, the target is captured 12 seconds ahead of the predicted time ...

'The air pressure in the cabin is normal!'

"Ten minutes later, the ship disappears below the horizon. Warm clapping and excited cheering breaks the night sky, echoing across the silent Pacific Ocean."

Video of Shenzhou 7's liftoff from Youku

Canadian discovers Skype surveillance in China

The New York Times reports that a Canadian human-rights activist cum researcher at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto has discovered that instant messaging (IM) conversations over the Tom-Skype network were being blocked, tracked and recorded on a cluster of eight computers located in China.

The system will block messages containing restricted words, record the message that contains the words, record the personal information of the person in China or caller ID's of voice conversations. The research did not find that actual voice conversations we being recorded though.

Sounding like an extension of the Golden Shield Project or Great Firewall (GFW) that blocks web sites containing similar restricted words, it seems that Chinese censors once again have big business by the balls. Tom Group is a Hutchinson Whampoa / Cheung Kong Holdings JV and Skype is owned by online auction giant eBay, certainly not organizations who would voluntarily expose themselves to law suits by unwittingly collecting and leaking user information.

The recorded chat conversations were discovered on the Tom Online computers due to a misconfiguration that allowed the files to be viewed with just a browser. This news comes only a week after Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales got face time with Cai Mingzhao, Vice Director of China's State Council Information Office, the office responsible for unblocking Wikipedia during the Olympics.

Oh and for the uber-geeks, here's the report by the guy from the Citizen Lab.

Photo by SarahNaomi

UPDATE: Josh Silverman addresses the privacy breach

Gay expat teen in Shanghai shares his coming out story with the world on Youtube

Kids really do say the darndest things! We almost fell off our chair watching this vlog. Basically this 16 year old gay expat teen in Shanghai has just come out to his parents and he decided to share his story with the world on Youtube. After telling his mother on Tuesday over Skype, Zach was half expecting to get a good lynching, as all gay teens do when they come out. What he got was a surprise of his own — his mom turned around and came out to him! Okay, we won't spoil the rest for you. Watch it for a good laugh!

As markets tumble, Party censors financial media

“I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, Sir, because I'm not myself you see.”
~ Alice, from Alice in Wonderland

According to the South China Morning Post (subscription required), the Chinese government has taken to censoring the financial media in effort to stem the floodgates of discontent brewing over dismal market sentiment.

With the craziness of the financial meltdown in the United States, the Shanghai Stock Exchange has followed the rest of the world down the rabbit hole. Within 10 minutes of the opening of the SSE on Tuesday morning, right after the declared bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the SSE Composite fell by almost 5% but slowly steeled itself back around the 2000 mark.

The idea of the SSE breaking the 2000 barrier might have seemed impossible this time last year but the stock market has been free-falling, losing more than half its value since January. Frustrations have been mounting despite varied efforts by the regulators to stem the volatility (loan controls, bank reserve rates, administrative fiats, etc). Calls for government intervention have grown louder as fund managers, academics and regulators debate the efficacy and timeliness of a Chinese-styled bailout. The US Federal Reserve’s recent rescue package for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and now insurance AIG have only raised the volume of why-them-not-us, whens and hows among Chinese investors.
SCMP reports that perennial fears of social disunity have led the Communist Party's Publicity Department (rather than the securities regulator) to verbally inform major financial websites to sift out negative and sensitive commentaries, reports and headlines about the hard-hit markets. There is no paper trail backing up such claims, but editors of online financial media have confirmed them.

Sound familiar? Regulators had warned fund managers not to say anything publicly that could harm the stability of the market weeks before the Summer Olympics. The gag worked only because international financial markets were quiet since half the world was actually in Beijing at the Olympics.

While we do not underestimate the power of censor, it may not work as well this time round. For one, the market doom and gloom is palpable as Asian economies, many of which have tight trade links with China, are tumbling faster than Jack and Jill. China’s capital markets may not be completely open, but some of the problems it has suffered thus far are of its own doing as well. Couple that with twitchy and inexperienced dealers currently panic-selling and a significant portion of Chinese investors who lack proper financial education, a shiny gold-plated band aid is surely not enough to address the roots of the problem.

EU Trade Commissioner UK Business Secretary Peter Mandelson drinks Chinese milk, then gets diagnosed with kidney stone 9 days later

On Sept 26, in Tianjin at the World Economic Forum, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson drank a glass of milk (click to see video) in front of the media to show his support for the Chinese dairy industry and said:

The Europeans will continue to expect the highest standards, just as Chinese consumers are demanding the same…. But in the meantime I shall continue drinking my own favorite, er, milk, er, product, er, er, which I enjoy and which does not make me nervous.

His action, it was reported in the China Daily, touched Premier Wen Jiabao:

Wen said he was very moved when he saw in television European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson drinking a cup of Chinese milk on Friday to show his trust in China-made products. “It's because he not only sees the present, but the future as well,” Wen said.

Just nine days later, Peter Mandelson, who now has a new job as Business Secretary back in the UK, has been diagnosed with a kidney stone:

"Over the past few days, Peter Mandelson has been experiencing some kidney pain," a spokesman said.

"Hospital tests yesterday confirmed that there is a small stone. This will be dealt with by the normal procedures later today.

"He will be attending the National Economic Council meeting this morning as expected."

Now, just because Event A happened before Event B doesn't necessarily mean one caused the other. Global Voices Online has translated a spectrum of views from the Chinese web. Netizens, it would appear, are divided. Some like Lao Wan (老碗) have remarked:

中国奶的确没让世界人民失望

Chinese milk didn't disappoint the world. [Translation by GVO]

Others like Song Shi Nan (宋石男), who we're told is a pretty well-known blogger, smell a conspiracy to do China in:

在我看来，事件真相有两个可能：

1、曼德尔森早就知道自己有肾结石，故意当众喝中国牛奶，是在落井下石。

2、曼德尔森不知道自己有肾结石，勇敢地当众喝中国牛奶，是好心办了坏事。

In my opinion, there are two possibilities of the truth:
1. Mandelson had known his kidney stones long ago, but simply drank Chinese milk at public to further ridicule China.
2. He had no idea with his kidney stones, and drank milk out of good intention, but just worked out something awful. [Translation by GVO]

While debate continues to rage on the Chinese internets over just what happened, the British media at this point appear to be completely clueless about Mandelson's milk drinking episode in Tianjin — which was repeated ad nauseum throughout the Chinese media but found limited coverage back in the UK. Neither The Guardian nor The Telegraph (nor any other British paper that we checked) mentioned Mandelson's little milk drinking adventure in reporting his kidney stone diagnosis. The first paper to make a clear link between Mandelson's Tianjin trip and his current health problems as far as we know is The Australian, which noted on Oct 8: British politician Peter Mandelson ill after yoghurt in China.

Did Mandelson know about his kidney stone before his China trip? Or was his ailment caused by drinking melamine-tainted milk? Did he know he was going to quit as EU Trade Commissioner and that he would be getting a new job as Business Secretary? These are all interesting questions that inquiring minds will ask. After all, this guy isn't just another ordinary politician. The Guardian describes him as one of the key architects of New Labour together with Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. In 1994, Mandelson had had a very public falling out with Brown when he chose to back Blair for the Labour leadership and his invitation to rejoin the cabinet is a move that has stunned Westminster, and apparently surprised Mandelson himself.

Many British citizens, are not amused at Mandelson's reincarnation as a cabinet minister. Here are a few letters sent in to The Telegraph that give you a picture of what they're thinking:

Peter Mandelson has a coffee on Thursday, is offered a new job in government and accepts there and then.

We have someone who is so good at his job he can leave when he wants, start a new job immediately and get a place in the House of Lords all in a single day.

No wonder we are in a mess.

Rob Price, Cressage, Shropshire

Dismissed, not once, but twice. Unelected, but handed a peerage and returned to the Cabinet.

Is this the type of democracy that our brave troops are dying to introduce to Iraq and Afghanistan?

John Beadle, Cobham, Kent

How shrewd of Gordon Brown to remind us that he isn't the most despised politician in Britain.

Cyril Berkeley, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Will the China Investment Corp get a slice of Morgan Stanley?

The President of China Investment Corp, Gao Xiqing, has made his way to the U.S. with Wei Christianson, CEO and Managing Director of Morgan Stanley China, sparking rumours that the Chinese sovereign wealth fund may buy up to 49% of the beleaguered investment bank. Gao has been scheduled to meet Morgan Stanley executives in San Francisco after the New York-based company plunged 42% after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch sold itself to Bank of America.

AFP reports that the Chinese are pragmatic about their prospects:

When asked by China's state-run Xinhua news agency, an unnamed CIC official did not rule out the prospect of buying a stake in Morgan Stanley but pointed to political hurdles in the United States over such a deal.

Even if the CIC intended to buy a stake, it could be very hard now as the purchase of a stake, even one smaller than 10 per cent, could be subject to the US government foreign investment review,' the official said.

Meanwhile, conflicting reports are swirling around on CITIC's interest in Morgan Stanley. Reuters reports that after CITIC's near miss on Bear Stearns earlier this year, Beijing began Beijing began tightening approvals of investments by Chinese financial institutions overseas and any foreign investment worth “a considerable amount of money” will now require approval from the government before a legally binding agreement can be confirmed.

In a related development, the Government of Singapore Investment Corp, another of the world's largest sovereign funds, has taken a more high-handed approach by suggesting it will explore an investment in Morgan Stanley if it is approached.

Crisis hits the liquid milk industry — Starbucks China stops working with Mengniu; All Yili products now recalled in Hong Kong

Okay, stop drinking milk now, all of you, or anything that has any form of dairy content in it — unless it comes from some foreign brand. While four babies have already died from Sanlu's tainted milk powder, and over 6,000 remain sick (including over 150 critically ill), the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) has now announced that liquid milk sold by three top Chinese producers has also been found to be tainted with melamine. From AP:

A report posted on the agency's Web site said test results show nearly 10 per cent of samples taken from Mengniu Dairy Group and Yili Industrial Group - China's two largest dairy companies - contained up to 8.4 milligrammes of melamine per kilogramme.

Milk from Shanghai-based Bright Dairy also shows melamine contamination.

'AQSIQ will strictly find out the reason for adding the melamine and severely punish those who are responsible,' the notice said.

It said all the batches that tested positive were being recalled.

Almost immediately, Starbucks China announced that it would stop working with Mengniu with immediate effect and find alternate milk suppliers:

STARBUCKS on Thursday said its 300-plus cafes in mainland China have pulled out milk supplies by Mengniu Dairy, one of the companies whose product has tested positive for melamine contamination.

Starbucks said that no employees or customers were sickened by the milk.

In a statement, Starbucks said it removed the milk from supplies voluntarily after it learned that Mengniu had confirmed that certain lots of its liquid milk were tainted.

'Though we believe based on assurances from the supplier that the milk we received from Mengniu is not included in the contaminated lot, due to the serious nature of this warning, Starbucks has voluntarily pulled all Mengniu milk offerings until further notice,' Starbucks said.

Starbucks said it continues to work closely with Mengniu to further confirm that the milk it supplied to the company was not affected.

The company said it is working to find alternate milk suppliers until the issue is resolved.

Meanwhile, AP reports that Hong Kong has recalled all products produced by Yili:

The recall covers milk, yogurt, ice cream and all other products made by Yili Industrial Group and distributed in Hong Kong, Ms Constance Chan, controller for the territory's Food Safety Centre, said on Thursday.

'I call on the public not to consume any products of this brand,' Ms Chan said, adding that the government has asked the company to stop supplying products in Hong Kong.

The government found the banned industrial chemical melamine in eight of 30 sample products tested by regulators in Hong Kong, said Ms Chan.

The products include milk and ice cream bars coming from two production lines.

Yili expressed its 'deep regret for any distress' caused to Hong Kong consumers in a statement issued on late Thursday.

The company said it was investigating the contamination of its products and working with government authorities to find out the source.

It was the second time Hong Kong food inspectors called back Yili products.

On Tuesday, one sample of a yogurt-flavoured ice bar was found to contain melamine.

The chemical has been discovered in milk powder that has killed up to four babies and sickened 6,200 others in mainland China. There have been no reports of infants sickened by milk powder in Hong Kong.

Yili, one of the mainland's two biggest dairies, was among companies forced to recall baby formula in China on Wednesday in the widening scandal.

So far, all the sick infants in China were found to have consumed milk powder produced by another company.

Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang said the government will order further recalls of any Chinese dairy products if they are found dangerous to health.

'We will closely monitor dairy imports from China. We will fully sample these products and test them independently,' Mr Tsang said.

Angry Korean gamer cusses at Chinese gamers

The video of this young Korean gamer who launches into a 5 and a half minute long diatribe against Chinese gamers and their supposed lack of game knowledge and gaming ethics has riled thousands of Chinese netizens, and apparently a few of their Korean counterparts are not amused either. Read translations of comments from Chinese and Korean gamers here.

Photos: Daedelus plays to full house at The Shelter

Last night's gig was much welcomed after a long drought in Shanghai's experimental/ indie electronic music scene (think DJ Krush back in December 2006), judging by the large turnout ready to party on a week night. Daedelus, outlandishly dandy as ever with massive sideburns (that would do well to give Gaz Coombes a run for his money), certainly did not disappoint.

He started off his set with pop-infused electronica then improvised onward to harder sounding, experimental abstract beats. For those who were lucky enough to squeeze to the front, it was definitely fun watching him work the Monomes. Thumbs up to new party organizers on the block, FREE the WAX who brought Daedelus in. Mark your calenders, their second event takes place Oct. 9 at The Shelter featuring Aussie instrumental hip hop duo, Hermitude.

The Sanlu milk scandal widens

Zhang Zhenling, Sanlu's vice president, has made a public apology (see video on right) but did not explain why the company took so long to take proper measures in letting the public know about the contamination.
A second baby has died and 1,253 infants have been diagnosed with illnesses linked to the contaminated milk powder. The Health Ministry expects a 'possibly rising' toll. (Update: Three babies have died, more than 6,244 others have fallen ill, with 158 strickened with kidney failure)
Sanlu Group has sacked Tian Wenhua, the board chairwoman and general manager of the group. Tian has also been stripped from her post as the secretary of the corporation committee of the Communist Party of China.
Melamine has also been found in dairy products from 22 Chinese brands (or about 20 percent of Chinese dairy producers), including Olympic sponsor Yili. Hong Kong supermarket chain Wellcome has announced its recall of the Yili Natural Choice Yoghurt Ice-bar with Real Fruit from retail outlets across the city.
Meanwhile, New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra which partially owns the Sanlu Group has voluntarily recalled one batch of its Anmum Materna milk.

World's smallest man meets world's leggiest woman

He Pingping (何平平), the world's smallest man from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, meets Svetlana Pankratova from Russia, the world's leggiest woman in London's Trafalgar Square to celebrate the launch of the 2009 edition of the Guiness World Records. [Source]