Thought the Oscars and the 12th National People’s Congress had nothing in common? Think again. This week, as movie stars were making fashion headlines at the biggest film event in the world, a Japanese reporter at the NPC drew attention for his NPC-themed hairstyle. For five years in a row, this reporter has arrived at the NPC with new -- and relevant -- designs etched into his hair.
It's the political season in China, with the dual National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) swinging into annual two-week sessions. The period is normally a huge gift-giving event and a tremendous boon to the luxury goods industry. Businesspeople hoping to curry favor with officials shower them with preposterous presents, from overpriced cigarettes to "Gucci handbags, Hermès scarves, Montblanc pens and $30,000 diamond-studded Swiss watches" so ostentatious they would make Kim Kardashian blush, as New York Times reported a few years back.
Although the skies were conveniently blue for the first day of the National People’s Congress on March 5, by the next day the AQI was already creeping back above 300. In an interesting twist, a prominent member of the National People’s Congress has criticized the Chinese government for its anti-pollution efforts. In an interview with... Read more »
The environment is everyone's concern, because we all live under the same sky -- in Beijing, often a dark, dirty one, rife with health hazards. It's our collective duty to take care of it, but what can anyone -- an individual, particularly one with power -- do to spur a collective response against man-made threats to our natural world?
What would they do?
Wen Jiabao gave his final speech before the National People’s Congress on Tuesday among a crowded room of delegates, then bowed three times to the audience and took his leave. At the end of the 12-day session, he, Hu Jintao and other party leaders will step aside as new leadership takes the reins, led by... Read more »
The Xinhua News Agency is reporting that sources say Hangzhou mayor Shao Zhanwei, a deputy at the 12th National Party Congress, died of a “sudden illness” in Beijing this morning. All other details are sparse, but another report identifies the sudden illness as a heart attack. It was just yesterday that Shao spoke about Wen... Read more »
Few will accuse Hu Jintao of being photogenic (note: some have tried), but the above picture takes the cake. By Jason Lee of Reuters, captioned via Yahoo: “An attendant serves tea to China’s President Hu Jintao (L) next to China’s Communist Party Chief Xi Jinping (R) during the opening ceremony of the National People’s Congress (NPC)... Read more »
The Two Sessions is upon us once again, "formulat[ing] policies that have significant impact on the world, foreign experts say," according to Xinhua.
You know what else foreign experts say? Watch the above.
Hey look, a Mo Yan sighting. It looks like the floodgates have opened as far as interviews, too. It wasn’t long ago that his first interview since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature was published by Der Spiegel.
“Highlights” from the 2012 Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference are after the jump. I just want you to know I nearly lost an eyeball to my own prying fingers while compiling this. Unless otherwise noted, links (plus above picture) are via Global Times.
