Friday Links: Bloomberg reporters get visas, liquid nitrogen to clean up Beijing smog, and Chinese materialism

Via Deadspin (article here)

Thank god it’s no longer any other day links.

Good for Bloomberg. “Financial news agency Bloomberg says Beijing has issued the company’s China-based reporters their press credentials. // The Chinese government’s earlier delay in doing so had been seen as official retaliation for the agency’s investigative reports on China and prompted public criticism from U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. // Bloomberg’s spokeswoman in Singapore, Belina Tan, confirmed Thursday by email the company has received all of its China press cards and was operating as usual.” (AP)

Liquid nitrogen. “Scientists are researching whether pumping super-cold gas into Beijing’s atmosphere can help reduce air pollution in the capital. // He Hui, a researcher at the government’s Beijing Weather Modification Office, said liquid nitrogen, an industrial coolant nearly three times as cold as dry ice, was promising as an anti-smog agent though it was in the early stages of development.” (SCMP)

Corollary: “Why 2013 was another year of disappointment for the environment in China.” (China Dialogue)

Surprise? “According to a new Ipsos survey, most Chinese people – 71% – measure their success in life by the things they own. China topped the list, compared with 58% of people in India, which came second, and just 7% of people in Sweden. The global average hovered at 34%.” (BBC)

Corollary: “China may actually be the most materialistic country in the world.” (Quartz)

Test, test, test. “Early next year, Chinese journalists will have to pass a new ideology exam to keep their press cards, in what reporters say is another example of the ruling Communist Party’s increasing control over the media under President Xi Jinping. // It is the first time reporters have been required to take such a test en masse, state media has said.” (Reuters)

Big missile. “Beijing has just deployed its latest ballistic missile, the Dong Feng-12 (DF-12), an 880-pound solid-fuel monster with some tricky countermeasures designed to beat the U.S.’s most modern defenses. Formerly named the M20, the missile recently arrived in the arsenals of the Second Artillery Corps of the People’s Liberation Army, which handles all of China’s nuclear and conventional missiles.” (Medium)

On art fraud. “In the 1980s, Pei-Shen Qian, the painter at the center of an $80 million art forgery case, used to set up his easel near Manhattan’s West Fourth Street and hustle. // Qian, a Chinese national living in the U.S. on a student visa, competed with other artists to convince people walking by that they needed their portraits painted. His rate started at $15 and on a good day he’d go home with $200, though he might have to work past midnight to get it. One day, a man offered him $200 to do an imitation of a modern art masterpiece—he can’t recall which master. It was impossible to say no.” (BusinessWeek)

Gah. “A man accused of gouging out his wife’s eye barehanded was detained in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Nanguo Morning Post reported today. // The man, surnamed Long, turned himself in on December 13 after the attack, which caused his wife to lose her left eyeball, police said.” (Shanghai Daily)

Video game. “Chinese state media has taken aim at recently released video gameBattlefield 4, accusing it of ‘demonising the image of China in a new form of cultural aggression.’ // In an editorial published last week in military newspaper Zhongguo Guofangbao, Battlefield 4 was criticised for ‘discrediting China’s image abroad and distorting the truth in an effort to mislead young people.’ // ‘[In the game], American soldiers attack Shanghai [and] exchange fire with the People’s Liberation Army,’ the editorial read. ‘Set in the year 2020, China’s domestic unrest is the [game’s] backdrop, and the US military must fight for peace and uncover China’s conspiracies.’” (SCMP)

“Top 7 Panda Cheese Commercials” interlude:

Finally…

Ten China stories to watch next year. (The New Yorker)

“Xinhua’s Top Ten Popular Words of 2013.” (The China Story)

“Chinese water treatment plants are breeding drug-resistant superbugs.” (Circa)

“The fall guy: Bad emperors get all the credit for crumbling dynasties. What of the incompetent functionaries who do all the work?” (The Economist)

“Photos: Orange truck overturns on road, surprisingly doesn’t get looted.” (Shanghaiist)

“Chinese cartoon producer blamed after kids burned.” (AP)

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