Dongtan, Shanghai

Welcome to the World’s First Sustainable City

Dongtan, located on an island in the mouth of the Yangzte river, is slated to be made over into the world’s first “sustainable city.” Dongtan will produce energy from wind, solar, bio-fuel and recycled city waste; hydrogen fuel cells will be used to power public transport; a network of paths will encourage bike travel; while farms will use organic methods. The ultimate goal is to create a city with an ecological footprint of 2.2 hectares per person, meaning that it would take 2.2 hectares of land and sea to supply the resources each Dongtan resident needs to live each year. To put it in perspective, Beijing is currently 4 hectares per person, London 6.6, while the average for U.S. cities is a whopping 18 hectares per person.

China

Holidays Cancelled!

Well, it’s not quite that dramatic, but the Chinese government did announce that the current holiday schedule would be revised in 2008. The big loser was May Holiday which has been scaled back to a single day while three traditional holidays—Tomb-Sweeping Day in April, Dragon Boat Festival in June and Mid-Autumn Festival in September—have all been upgraded to official holiday status. Spring Festival stays the same, except that New Year’s Eve day is now the official start. Make your holiday travel plans accordingly!

U.S.

Yahooligan

Yahoo founder Jerry Yang may be worth US$2.2 billion, but in the eyes of United States Congressman Tom Lantos he is a “moral pygmy.” This was the term he used to batter Yang during Congressional testimony in November as part of a probe into the part Yahoo played in outing two Chinese journalists accused of subversive activities. Yahoo finally settled a lawsuit brought by the mother of one of the jailed journalists. She sat behind Yang at the hearing and wept after Yang haltingly turned and apologized to her.

Nanjing

Iris Chang Documentary Premieres

December 13 marks the 70th anniversary of the infamous Nanjing massacre, when Japanese troops instigated a reign of terror which would go down in history and not in a good way. Iris Chang put a face on this atrocity with her 1997 best-selling novel “The Rape of Nanking.” A documentary has been made about the author, who committed suicide in 2004, detailing her successes and struggles. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in November and will make its mainland debut on December 13 in Nanjing to coincide with the re-opening of the newly refurbished Memorial Hall of the Victims.

Hong Kong

"Wolf Totem" Wins Prize

Beijing-based writer Jiang Rong won the Man Asian Literary Prize for his novel “Wolf Totem,” a fictional account of life in the 1970's that draws on Jiang's personal experience of the grasslands of China's border region. The book will be published in translation by Penguin Books early next year.

World

Yellow Fever a Myth

A recent study on dating sheds some light on “yellow fever." The study showed that women prefer to date within their racial category, while males tend not to care about race when it comes to choosing mates. At the same time, Asian women displayed a prejudice against dating men with darker skin, but were “neutral” toward white men. Hence, “yellow fever” can finally be attributed to a cause: Asian women don’t dislike us while we have no barriers to hooking up.

Guangdong

Recycled Condoms

In a new twist on the term “jimmy hat,” officials in Guangdong have issued a warning that used condoms were being recycled into rubber hair bands. “These cheap and colorful rubber bands and hair ties sell well ... threatening the health of local people,” exclaimed the China Daily. The hair bands are so popular because they sell for just 25 fen.

Shanghai

Propagandabots

“Smart” robots debuted at the Shanghai International Industry Fair last month. The one meter tall humanoid has an interactive TV screen and voice-recognition capability, allowing it to do such things as go into the kitchen, change the TV channel and, apparently, propagandize. When demonstrators asked the robot to "tell us something about the 17th Party Congress," video of Hu Jintao's speech immediately appeared on the robot's chest.