Earlier this summer, Beijing News ran an interview with Associated Press reporter Liu He[ungs[hing along with photos of his from the Tia[na[nmen Square cra[ckdo[wn in 19[8[9. Copies of that issue were recalled and the story was taken offline, but then nothing was heard about the editors who brought us this.
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So if the Olympics symbolized the tipping point between private and public economies in China, will the 2010 Asian Games be a good time for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Special Cooperative Region free trade zone to come into effect?

Just two snippets:

According to Liang Guiquan, director of the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, as the comparative advantages of the Pearl River Delta continue to weaken, the previous mode of cooperation between Guangdong and Hong Kong in form of “shop in front, factory at rear” no longer works and is fast deteriorating.
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EVERYONE who knows me knows that I’m all about The Cantonese Experiment, which isn’t even an experiment anymore of course but the best example mainland China has to date of what a regional/provincial government administration (or three) can accomplish when it comes to the remarkable conclusion that revolutionary political games of the sort Beijing and Shanghai seem so fond of are actually really bad for business and clean government and all sorts of 21st century frills.

So as long as Guangdong continues to pump out companies like QQ and NetEase (yes, inland China, they’re yours now; you can thank the long strong arm of Beijing, please just don’t let it make you drive them into the ground) and defining the de facto model of mature government in modern (no Jiang Zemin types here, right?) China, I’ll most likely stay stuck on this high horse. Though, in a bind, I harbour no illusions that Beijing wouldn’t seek to suck us dry in a snap, but let it remain to be seen whether or not Beijing would be able to handle the ensuing fight; CEPA was, after all, designed for and continues, primarily, to serve us.
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早抖, joe funtau, does not mean ‘we knew we were going to do well’ as I guessed, or ‘give up while you still can’, but something more along the lines of ‘the earlier you die the more of your energy you’ll save’, as I learned today it means…[see here]. It was Long Hair’s final jab at the DAB as he grabbed his flowers and walked off stage on election night.

I haven’t been following this Legco election too closely, most of what I do know now I’ve learned from Facebook, and of course a few years of reading HK election-watch on EastSouthWestNorth. How big a role Facebook plays in progressive politics for the (online) youth vote in Hong Kong is something in itself, and now that this election is over, I can say at least that more than a few media workers/bloggers in Guangzhou are now taking close notes of how it figured into things: past experiences led netizens to this time vote for LSD (or whoever) and at the same time one-up the DAB by agreeing en masse to tell their underhanded exit-pollers that they all voted DAB, classic move of letting your enemy think he’s winning and then catching him off-guard. When you’re up against a Beijing-backed political party willing to bend any rule it can to win and is able to get away with that, I guess you do what makes sense given the circumstances.
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Day 112 since I packed up my stuff underneath the old bridge and relocated to this one, but they’re still building it and don’t seem to know how much longer it’s going to take to complete. So I’m thinking about moving back; that and my three free months are almost up.

Popped by good old BOFTEC’s website to see what the deal is on getting an invitation for a business visa and while the initial application can be submitted online (don’t let the foreigner see it, it actually says), these are all the documents that are listed as things the invited and inviter need to be prepared to provide:

×application report from the local company printed on company letterhead, must outline all events the foreign businessperson will take part in

×inviting company’s up-to-date business license

×’PRC & National Organization Code Certificate’

×valid bank statements for the past 3 months (originals and photocopies)

×copies of the foreigner’s valid passport (must be able to clearly see the name, DOB, nationality, passport number, passport expiry date, etc, no exceptions)

×copies of visas and entry/exit stamps from previous visits to China

×copies of the trade contract between the applying company and the foreign company or letters of correspondence

×original copy of notarized proof of employment from the foreign company

×if visa is being applied for from country other than country of residence, proof of the foreigner’s residency permit from country from which visa is being applied must be provided

The things a blogger’ll do for the bridges he loves!