Blog Posts
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- May 21, 2010
- China
- by Christy George
Tiananmen Square
I did a lot of reading before I left for China.
* Out of Mao's Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China - Philip Pan
* China Road: A Journey Into the Future of a Rising Power - Rob Gifford
* China: Fragile Superpower - Susan L. Shirk
* Oracle Bones - Peter Hessler
* Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China - John PomfretThese helped me remember something I was tempted to forget once I got here: despite the appearance of U.S.-style
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- May 21, 2010
- China
- by George Judson
Dispatch from China: Polluted Lakefront Property
Reporter's Notebook
A high-end housing development next to one of China's most polluted lakes is just one example of the country's battle between economic progress and the environment
On our last official day we drove to the outskirts of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, to look at a dead lake.
Yunnan, in China's southwest, touches Tibet, Burma, Laos and Vietnam. As a border province, it has many ethnic minorities. Green Lake Park, in Kunming's center, is filled with music
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- May 19, 2010
- China
- by Christy George
Systemic problems infect Chinese health care
Today, we visited a modern and well-equipped teaching hospital in Kunming, in Yunnan Province, on China's southwest border.
It has a cardiac care unit, a neonatal intensive care unit and plenty of diagnostic tools like MRIs, but it also uses traditional Chinese medicine. For instance, we saw an arthritis patient getting acupuncture to help reduce her pain and a stroke patient getting acupuncture to increase her mobility.
The administration told us that officially, the hospital has
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- May 18, 2010
- China
- by George Judson
Dispatch from China: Pandas and the Rural Economy
Reporter's Notebook
Managing editor George Judson is off to Panda country in China's rural city of Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan Province where poor residents are struggling to keep up with China's roaring economy.
We arrived a few days ago in Chengdu, a municipality of 6 million that is the capital of Sichuan Province. This is "rural" China -- due west is Tibet.
Compared with Beijing, Chengdu does feel provincial. It's a feeling... Chengdu lacks Beijing's monumental avenues
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- May 17, 2010
- China
- by Trudy Rubin
It’s Panda Time
CHENGDU, China -- I’m here with the International Reporting Project to look at environmental issues in China. The most fun stop so far has been a visit to the Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center, home to 87 pandas (an estimated 1,500 more live in the wild).
The Center no longer takes in pandas from the wild (unless they are injured), nor does it return pandas bred in captivity to their natural habitat, because they would die. Pandas from this center are loaned out to many
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- May 17, 2010
- China
- by Christy George
IRP Gatekeepers visit Chengdu & earthquake zone
Spent two days in the countryside outside Chengdu in Southwest China.
Chengdu is famous as the home of China's beloved giant pandas. We visited the panda breeding center just outside the city yesterday and yes, they are adorable. (I'll post video of the pandas when I'm back in Portland next week.)
We also visited the Baishuihe Nature Reserve north of Chengdu, where pandas live in the wild, munching bamboo (we didn't see any wild pandas).
The reserve is very near the epicenter of
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- May 16, 2010
- China
- by Trudy Rubin
Travelling in China
I'm in China on an International Reporting Project Gatekeeper Editors trip which is focusing on economic, environmental and health issues.
This is not my normal political beat, but these issues are crucial to China's economic development, and are increasingly important to the world as China's breathtaking pace of development creates huge global warming issues.
Having seen Beijing when it was a dumpy low rise city whose most exciting shopping was the Friendship Store for people with
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- May 14, 2010
- China
- by Christy George
China’s booming solar industry
Got a glimpse of China's booming solar industry this morning at the Beijing Hope Solar Power Company outside the city. This private company makes photovoltaic panels and fun apps (solar backpack!).
It's the kind of company Gov. Kulongoaki most likely wants to lure to Oregon, to set up shop and employ Oregonians.
With a free afternoon before we fly to Chengdu in Sichuan Province tomorrow morning, a few of us went to Beijing's glorious Temple of Heaven.
Despite the modern Jumbotron
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- May 14, 2010
- China
- by George Judson
Dispatch from China: Powered by Solar
Reporter's Notebook
A tour of the Hope Solar factory in Beijing reveals a budding business in alternative energy and tough competition for global competitors, especially in the U.S.
Today's destination: the Beijing Hope Solar Power Co., about 25 miles southeast of the central city. Far enough out, there were rice paddies in the neighborhood.
China is first in the world in hydropower, first in solar, third in wind but with a bullet. As it turned out, Hope Solar is not why China
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- May 13, 2010
- China
- by Christy George
IRP editors talk internet censorship with Chinese gov’t officials
Our delegation of editors sat down for green tea and talks with several central government leaders today: Dr. Zhu Chen, China's Health Minister; Zhenhua Xie, Vice-Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission; and Chen Wang, the director of the State Council Information Office (SCIO), the International Reporting Project's official host in China.
Why Is China Important To Oregon?
Christy talks with OPB Morning Edition host Geoff Norcross
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