Headlines
- China issues white paper on Internet policy
- Govt shuts down Internet bars before entrance exam
- China Mobile to invest in People’s Daily Online
- Welcome to the i-Party
- Dating show contestant banned for sexy modeling?
- World Cup poses a challenge for studios (world)
- Games are going 3D in wake of Hollywood’s success (world)
China issues white paper on Internet policy
The Chinese government Tuesday published a white paper on its Internet policy, stressing the guarantee of citizens’ freedom of speech on the Internet and more intensive application of it. The white paper, released by the State Council Information Office, introduced facts of the development and use of the Internet in China, and elaborated on the country’s basic policies on the Internet.
The Chinese government actively advocates and supports the development and application of the Internet across the country, it said, stressing the government’s basic Internet policy: active use, scientific development, law-based administration and ensured security. By the end of 2009 the number of netizens in China had reached 384 million, 618 times that of 1997 with an annual increase of 31.95 million users. The Internet had reached 28.9 percent of the total population by the end of 2009, higher than the world average. Its accessibility will be raised to 45 percent of the population in the coming five years, it said. There were 3.23 million websites running in China last year, which was 2,152 times that of 1997.
Of all the netizens, 346 million used broadband and 233 million used mobile phones to access the Internet. They had moved on from dialing the access numbers to broadband and mobile phones. “These statistics make China among the top of the developing countries in developing and popularizing the Internet,” the paper said. The Internet has become an engine promoting the economic development of China. Information technology （IT） including the Internet and its industry has made significant contributions to the rapid growth of the Chinese economy, it said. In the past 16 years, the average growth rate of the added value of Chinese IT industry grew at over 26.6 percent annually, with its proportion in the national economy increasing from less than 1 percent to 10 percent, according to the paper. Meanwhile, the Internet has become an indispensable tool in people’s every-day life, it said.
According to a sample survey, in 2009 alone, about 230 million people in China gathered information using search engines, and 240 million communicated through real-time telecommunications devices. Also, 46 million Chinese people received education with the help of the Internet, 35 million conducted securities trading on the Internet, 15 million sought jobs through the Internet, and 14 million arranged trips via the Internet. The Chinese government is determined to further promote Internet development and application so that more people can benefit from the Internet, the paper said. “Chinese citizens fully enjoy freedom of speech on the Internet,” it said, adding that China’s websites attach great importance to providing netizens with opinion expression services. Over 80 percent of China’s websites provided electronic bulletin service. And there are over 1 million BBSs and some 220 million bloggers in China. According to a sample survey, over 66 percent of Chinese netizens frequently place postings to discuss various topics, and to fully express their opinions and represent their interests. “The Internet’s role in supervision is given full play,” the paper said.
Over the past few years, a great number of the problems reported through the Internet have been resolved. In order to facilitate the public’s reporting of corrupt and degenerate officials and suchlike, the central discipline inspection and supervision authorities, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and other relevant bodies have set up informant websites. The informant website of the Communist Party of China （CPC） Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Ministry of Supervision, and the website of the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention are playing an important role in preventing and punishing corruption and degeneration among officials. A sample survey found that over 60 percent of netizens had a positive opinion of the fact that the government gives wide scope to the Internet’s role in supervision, and considered it a manifestation of China’s socialist democracy and progress, the paper said. “The Chinese government believes that the Internet is an important infrastructure facility for the nation. Within Chinese territory the Internet is under the jurisdiction of Chinese sovereignty,” it said, stressing that the Internet sovereignty of China should be respected and protected.
According to the paper, computer crimes in China have been on the increase in recent years.
Public security departments dealt with 142 computer crime cases in 1998, 29,000 in 2007, 35,000 in 2008 and 48,000 in 2009. “China is one of the countries suffering most from hacking,” it said.
According to incomplete statistics, more than one million IP addresses in China were controlled from overseas in 2009, 42,000 websites were distorted by hackers. Besides, 18 million Chinese computers are infected by the Conficker virus every month, about 30 percent of the computers infected globally. National situations and cultural traditions differ among countries, and so concern about Internet security also differs, the paper said. “Concerns about Internet security of different countries should be fully respected,” it said.
The Chinese government will constantly adjust relevant policies to better match the inherent law and the objective requirements of the development and administration of the Internet, according to the paper. The 31-page document is divided into six sections: Endeavors to Spur the Development and Application of the Internet, Promoting the Extensive Use of the Internet, Guaranteeing Citizens’ Freedom of Speech on the Internet, Basic Principles and Practices of Internet Administration, Protecting Internet Security, and Active International Exchanges and Cooperation. (Xinhua 08/06/2010)
Govt shuts down Internet bars before entrance exam
The government of Linchuan district in Fuzhou, Jiangxi province, has temporarily closed down all Internet cafes in its jurisdiction in a bid to prevent students from getting distracted ahead of the college entrance examination.
The move implements a document issued by the district’s cultural affairs bureau last year, which stipulates that the business of Internet bars should be suspended during the college entrance exam, which takes place on June 7 and 8 every year, the Jiangxi-based New Legal News reported. Some local Internet cafe owners have been asked to shut down for nearly a month, the report said. A local cafe owner complained on tianya.cn, the country’s biggest online forum: “I will lose 10,000 yuan （$1,460） if my business is suspended for a month, when the cost of running the shop remains the same.” An insider at the Linchuan telecommunications office said Internet bar owners were notified before their web connections were snapped on May 10. A notice from the district government said the compulsory suspension of Internet cafs between May 10 and June 9 was to “protect Linchuan’s image as an education-developed region”.
Linchuan district, known for its outstanding educational tradition, attracts a lot of students from all over the province to go to school there. But Xiong Guanghui, head of Linchuan Internet Bars Plural Executive, denied there was any enforced action to close down Internet cafes. “We’re not authorized to shut down the cafes. Most of the owners suspended their business voluntarily,” he told China Daily on Monday. According to local media reports, the culture affairs bureau of Linchuan has been forcing Internet bar owners to sign an agreement every year since 2005, which claims they voluntarily agree to shut down their business temporarily. Residents of Lincheng county in Shanxi province are faced with a similar situation. Online complaints report that cables in all Internet bars in the county have been unplugged.
Unlike in Linchuan, this is the first time in Lincheng that Internet bars have been shut down ahead of the college entrance exam, said the local authority. Lincheng residents argue that students can also get distracted by karaoke bars, which remain open. A Lincheng government official surnamed He said he was not aware of the issue and refused comment. Although the suspension has triggered some criticism, parents whose children will be sitting for the coming exam are happy with the move. A Fuzhou resident surnamed Wang said he’s always worried his son will be distracted by Internet bars, and considers the government’s move “appropriate and effective”. Yi Shenghua, a lawyer from Beijing Yingke Law Firm, said forcing Internet cafs to shut down is against the law. “Government action should be restricted by law. It is illegal for the government to force the caf owners to suspend business without reaching agreements beforehand.” (China Daily 01/06/2010)
China Mobile to invest in People’s Daily Online
China Mobile will invest 20 million yuan ($2.93 million) to become a strategic investor in the People’s Daily Online, a government-backed online news portal planning a mainland listing, the Wen Wei Po reported on Thursday, citing mainland media reports.
China Mobile spokeswoman Rainie Lei told Reuters that the parent company had not heard of the investment plan, but an official announcement would be made in a timely manner if there was any major investment or acquisition. The People’s Daily Online may restructure its shareholding and speed up its listing process, the Chinese newspaper said, citing sources. People’s Daily Online President He Jiazheng declined to comment on the report but said the company was focusing on restructuring, the newspaper said.
Beijing had selected a number of state-backed online news platforms including Xinhuanet and Eastday.com to list shares to reduce government’s financial burden and to enhance competitiveness, the newspaper said. At least two online news platforms could issue A shares before the end of the year, the paper added. (Reuters 10/06/2010
Welcome to the i-Party
The Communication University of China’s branch of the Communist Party of China has launched a party newspaper for mobile phones. Intended as a way to “effectively harness the university’s professional strengths in the media realm to explore new avenues of party-building work,” the new paper was given a trial publication in 2009 before its formal launch at the beginning of this year.
In Chinese, the paper’s name is fairly straightforward: CUC Institutional Mobile Party Newspaper (ä¸ä¼ 机关手机党报). In English, the paper is called by the trend-chasing name i-Party. According to the university’s news portal, this name carries multiple levels of meaning. An explanation of “i-Party”: The letter “I” means “me” in English. It is the first letter of words such as “Internet” and “Information,” one of the symbols of the Information Age, a symbol of “me-media” in the New Media era, and is a sound-alike for “love” (爱). The lower-case “i” says that I am a member of the party, and the capitalized “Party” refers to the Communist Party of China in particular. “i-Party” means the party in the age of new media, that our party is keeping pace with the time. It also means that I and the Party are inseparable. Finally, it expresses love for the Party. Twelve issues have been published to date. A total of 3,600 MMS messages have been distributed to an audience that includes not just party members at the school, but students, teachers, and media professionals as well.
The reports on i-Party do not claim that it is the first party newspaper prepared especially for mobile phones. But I’d be willing to bet that it’s the first to put a heart atop an “i” in its nameplate. (ww.Danwei.org 08/06/2010)
Dating show contestant banned for sexy modeling?
If You Are The One (éžåŸŽå‹¿æ‰°), a dating program on Jiangsu TV, has produced some dodgy contestants, some of whom admitted afterward to pretending on be outrageous characters the show. Now, it is rumored that a Beijing model, Ma Nuo (马诺), who has modeled for Gome Electrical Appliances and for magazines such as Cosmopolitan, has come under fire for her remarks about only dating super rich guys. The rumor making the rounds is that SARFT has banned her appearances on future reality TV shows.
Ma Nuo’s famously said that she’d rather weep in a BMW than go for a ride on the back of a poor contestant’s bicycle. Then ï¼ shock! horror! ï¼ it emerged yesterday that a set of her ‘revealing’ lingerie photos has been found! The headline precludes that the two (getting banned and the sexy photos) could be related.
The proposed report is from Qingdao news net, via cqnews.com:
Ma Nuo became the center of attention after saying on If   You Are The One that she would rather ‘sit and cry in a BMW’ (å®æ„¿å在å®é©¬è½¦ä¸å“æ³£). These sharp words made her more popular than ever, and after she left If You Are The One many TV stations fought after her, including Guizhou TV and Zhejiang TV. It is rumored around town that Anhui TV is proposing a rate usually given to a B-List actress to sign up Ma Nuo, and she is indeed a guest on the new version of Sunday Best (周日我最大) and its dating segment, It Was You (缘æ¥æ˜¯ä½ ). The first series of the successful new version of Sunday Best, together with Ma Nuo’s participation, saw viewing rates and click-through rates on the Internet go up steadily. Just as the production team were making the second series in secret, they were told that they had to halt Ma Nuo’s participation in the production of the programs.
It was also heard that the production crew of Zhejiang TV’s Singing and Dancing (越跳越美丽) will pause the making of episodes that shows Ma Nuo participating. Both Ma Nuo and her assistant claim that they haven’t heard about this, and that whatever comes next, they will arrange their
The most amusing part of this news report, however, is the headline, which reads: “Again Ma Nuo exposes large quantity of pictures taken in her underwear, rumored ban from SARFT” (马诺åˆæ›æµ·é‡å–·è¡€å†…衣照 ä¼ å·²é广电总局å°æ€) The accompanying pictures to the article has no less than 30 pictures of Ma Nuo in underwear. Those who are familiar with online shopping for lingerie know that these are a series of photos she took for Lamiu, a Tokyo brand selling online in the mainland. The first one displayed on the Qingdao news net article is a shot of a Lamiu bra used in plunging dresses often seen on celebrities. Every subsequent photo comes from the Lamiu website, and the variations of
(Anhui TV’s Sunday Best program logo)
her turning around, her back, and the different sets of underwear modeled, which can hardly be constituted as clandestine photos, are reposted on the news website.
(Zhejiang TV’s Singing and Dancing program logo)
(ww.Danwei.org 08/06/2010)
World Cup poses a challenge for studios
The greatest show on turf, the World Cup soccer tournament, kicks off Friday in South Africa for a month of sporting highs and lows. And for recession-dazed Europeans, the event is a welcome dose of free entertainment as government austerity measures sweep across the continent.
The organizers earn more than $3.4 billion from rights fees and sponsorships, while the billions of viewers will boost networks’ advertising revenues. Commercial channel ITV, which is sharing World Cup rights in Britain with the BBC, is forecasting a 25% rise in advertising revenue thanks to the tournament — more if England’s squad does well. The 25% revenue hike could amount to a $100 million windfall. While small-screen providers are caught up in World Cup fever, the U.S. studios view the event as a monthlong headache. The first two weeks of the tournament are the worst, since there will be matches at lunchtime, the afternoon and in primetime across Europe. “It’s a massive distraction, and if the country in question is playing, the business (in theaters) drops like a stone,” said Duncan Clark, Universal Pictures International’s executive vp distribution. “Counterprogramming is something we’ve done in the past because there are four or five other days between the games played. So you can do good business on those days if you’re prepared to accept a couple of down days.”
Female- and family-focused pictures are in favor as a Cup alternative. Disney opens the Kristen Bell romantic comedy “When in Rome” in Italy, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands in the first week of the tournament. (The picture earned just $33 million in North America after opening in January.) Paramount is offering “She’s Out Of My League” (released three months ago in North America to $32 million) in the major territories, including the U.K., Italy and France, and penciling in the European rollout of “Shrek Forever After” during the World Cup‘s quarterfinal stage. “It’s a tough one,” said Andrew Cripps, president of the studio’s international arm. “We certainly felt there’s an opportunity for a family-orientated film to get an audience, but there’s no question it’s a big challenge.” Fox is the only studio taking the Cup head-on by opening its male-oriented action tentpole “The A-Team” this weekend in 34 territories, including markets with teams in the tournament such as the U.K., Australia, Brazil, the Netherlands and Mexico.
To combat the drought in moviegoing, many theater owners have chosen to embrace the beautiful game and will screen matches in theaters. Countries such as Spain and Italy will offer 3D screenings of the games. International distributors will face another challenge after the July 11 World Cup final. The pack of top titles crammed into the first post-soccer weeks, including “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” and “Toy Story 3,” risk creating a blockbuster bottleneck. (Reuters 11/06/2010)
Games are going 3D in wake of Hollywood’s success
With 3D movies boosting both audience experiences and box office coffers, videogame publishers are following Hollywood’s lead and developing 3D games to immerse players more into virtual worlds.
Game makers like Sony Computer Entertainment, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, Capcom, Take-Two Interactive, and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will unveil stereoscopic 3D video games at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles next week where over 45,000 game industry professionals check out the big titles of the next year. “Gamers are the early adopters and once they experience games in 3D, they’re not going to want to go back,” said Oscar-winning producer Jon Landau, who worked with Ubisoft last year to release the first 3D console video game, “James Cameron’s Avatar.” Sony Computer Entertainment will publicly unveil its first big 3D PlayStation 3 video game, developer Guerilla Games’ Killzone 3, at E3 which is running from June 15-17. The latest installment in the bestselling science fiction shooter franchise has been developed from the ground up to take advantage of stereo 3D.
Developer Polyphony Digital is enhancing the upcoming “Gran Turismo 5” PS3 racing game into a 3D experience, which will also be on display at Sony’s booth. “3D is the natural progression of video game technology and it allows us to replicate the experience you have when driving a real car,” said Taku Imasaki, producer of “Gran Turismo 5,” Sony Computer Entertainment America. Anyone who owns a PS3 can download a free firmware upgrade to turn the game console into a 3D machine that will play both 3D video games and Blu-ray 3D movies. “When you play a (2D) video game today, it’s almost like you’re playing with one eye closed,” said David Coombes, platform research manager, Sony Computer Entertainment America.
Sony is practicing synergy across its electronics, video game and home entertainment divisions to get 3D into homes. Consumers who purchase any of the new 3D Bravia TVs, which will be released in the United States next month, will get a copy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” Blu-ray 3D and a voucher for four PS3 games. Gamers can log onto the PlayStation Network Store and download 3D demos of “PAIN” and “MotorStorm: Pacific Rift” and full 3D versions of “WipEout HD” and “Super StarDust HD.” “3D gaming is an immersive experience that adds a new dimension to home entertainment and will help drive adoption of new 3D HDTVs like Sony’s Bravia,” said Mike Abary, senior vice president of Sony’s televisions and home audio video business.
Michael Cai, vice president of research at Interpret, authored a new report called “3D State of Union: Are Consumers Ready?” He found that 3D TV purchase interest among current PS3 and Xbox 360 owners doubles that of the general population. Overall, 13 percent of American households are interested in purchasing a 3D TV over the next 12 months. “Based on consumer data, we anticipate more than 4 million 3D TV sets to be sold in the United States in the next 12 months,” said Cai. When it comes to video games, Cai said big titles in the first-person shooter, racing, and action/adventure genres will drive consumer adoption of 3D gaming, as these genres will provide the most significant enhancements to the gaming experience.
Nintendo will make a big splash at E3 with the unveiling of its Nintendo 3DS portable game device, which will feature autostereoscopic 3D technology that allows viewers to experience 3D games without wearing special glasses. Thanks to its broad spectrum of gamers across all demographics, Cai found that 27 percent of male gamers and 19 percent of female gamers plan on buying a Nintendo 3DS when it comes out this fall. An additional 35 percent of male gamers and 37 percent of female gamers may buy the gaming device.
NVIDIA is another company that has been pushing stereo 3D experiences for PC games through its GeForce 3D Vision technology. The introduction of 3D laptops from companies like Asus and Toshiba has made it easier for gamers to get a 3D experience on the go. NVIDIA’s 3DTV Play, which allows 3D PC content to play on any 3D TV, has helped encourage more game developers to add stereo 3D to their games. “3D is becoming increasingly important in the gaming world, with 3D compatibility a function of all leading titles, and as we move forward content will align with a developing base of 3D-enabled consumer electronics devices,” said Patrik Pfandler, senior market analyst, Futuresource Consulting. (Reuters 10/06/2010)
Edit by Jackie Fang YIN
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