South China Morning Post - Society

Coronavirus: infection rate in US and Wuhan higher than previously thought

Wed, 30 Sep 2020 04:00:10 GMT

A new coronavirus carrier in town could pass the virus to eight other people, significantly more than previous estimates, according to a new study by Chinese scientists.Such a high reproduction number occurred in the central Chinese city of Wuhan early this year when people were caught by surprise by an unknown virus, and it is still happening in the United States “in the absence of control measures”, the researchers said.Modelling from a team led by data scientist Zhu Hongjun from the…

Genshin Impact works its magic to become biggest global launch of a Chinese game ever, analysts say

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 21:00:16 GMT

Grossing more than China’s TikTok and nabbing more views on Twitch than Fortnite on launch day, the free-to-play action adventure game Genshin Impact marks the biggest international launch of a Chinese game in history, say industry experts.Launched on mobile, PC and PlayStation 4 on Monday, the much-anticipated Genshin Impact, developed by Shanghai-based miHoYo, is off to an explosive start in China and across the world. Just hours after launch, the game had more than 110,000 concurrent viewers…

Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou is wasting court’s time with doomed extradition manoeuvres, Canada ...

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 20:38:28 GMT

A Canadian government lawyer representing US efforts to have Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou extradited to face fraud charges has accused her lawyers of wasting “precious court time” with legal manoeuvres that are doomed to fail.Robert Frater told Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes of the British Columbia Supreme Court on Tuesday that she must not allow the extradition hearing to be turned into a trial, and that she should “cut off at the knee” applications by Meng’s team to have the case…

Greta Thunberg criticises China after climate striker Ou Hongyi held over protest

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 12:50:14 GMT

China’s “first climate striker” Ou Hongyi was detained in Shanghai’s main shopping district on Friday after organising a silent protest, prompting teen environmentalist Greta Thunberg to criticise China’s treatment of activists.Hongyi, 17, said in an Instagram post on Sunday that she and three other protesters, were detained after three hours of “silent resistance” in front of the Shanghai Exhibition Centre.“Billions of people will die, and children will die while parents lose their jobs…

Artificial intelligence expert Zhu Songchun to return to China from US

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 12:34:02 GMT

A leading Chinese artificial intelligence researcher in the US has returned to China as Beijing strives to become a global leader in the field.Professor Zhu Songchun, an award-winning expert in computer vision at the University of California at Los Angeles, has joined Peking University to lead its Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the university said in a statement last Friday.The university said it was working with Beijing city and the central government to set up a new and separate AI…

iPhone 12 production at China factory ramps up to 24 hours a day ahead of new model launch

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 10:00:11 GMT

Apple’s main iPhone manufacturer in China is running 24 hours a day to produce the new iPhone 12, cancelling workers’ holidays and introducing mandatory overtime with juicy bonuses for longer-serving staff, according to employees, recruitment ads and local media.The all-hands-on-deck approach at Foxconn’s massive Zhengzhou factory reflects China’s resilient manufacturing capabilities and deep connection between the Chinese and US economies, despite a push from Washington for decoupling.China’s…

Taiwan threatens to punish singers Angela Chang and Ouyang Nana for taking part in mainland ...

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 09:00:17 GMT

The Taiwanese authorities have threatened to fine two singers for taking part in a mainland Chinese state media show. Ouyang Nana, a Taiwanese cellist and singer, will join singers from Hong Kong and the mainland to perform the patriotic song My Motherland, which will be broadcast on CCTV on Wednesday. The gala will also feature Angela Chang in a chorus celebrating the contributions of those who helped fight Covid-19. The grand gala performance will be aired on Wednesday, the evening before…

US misled Canadian court about its case against Meng Wanzhou so badly she must be freed, say ...

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 18:31:13 GMT

Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou returned to court in Vancouver on Monday, with her lawyers claiming that the American bid to have her extradited on fraud charges should be thrown out because US authorities misled the Canadian court about their case against her.The hearing got off to a chaotic start as Madam Justice Heather Holmes halted proceedings because of repeated audio interruptions on a media phone line. The phone line was set up to listen in on the proceedings because Covid-19 precautions…

Could China take the lead in setting new worldwide conservation goals?

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 15:00:12 GMT

President Xi Jinping is set to outline China’s plans to protect biodiversity in a speech to a UN summit on Wednesday.Next May, Kunming in southwest China will host a summit where the UN will try to agree a framework for protecting biodiversity for the next 10 years. The event was postponed from October because of the Covid-19 pandemic.Nature is declining globally at unprecedented rates, but campaigners have criticised governments around the world for failing to act.The last set of targets…

Chemical plant explosion in central China kills 5 people

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 13:29:41 GMT

An explosion at a chemical plant in the central Chinese province of Hubei has killed five people and injured one.The incident took place around 2.15pm on Monday at a plant inside the Yuekou Industrial Park in the city of Tianmen, west of the provincial capital Wuhan, according to a notice from Hubei’s emergency management department.Search and rescue efforts were under way, and the injured person was taken to hospital.The notice said the plant was owned by the Tianmen Chutian Fine Chemical…

China says it has completed development of CAP 1400 third-generation nuclear technology

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 13:15:07 GMT

China has completed the development of a third-generation nuclear technology that could help cut greenhouse gas emissions by millions of tonnes a year, the State Power Investment Corporation announced on Monday.The announcement that work on the CAP 1400 reactors had finished came days after Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to make the country carbon neutral by 2060.Analysts said it meant it could now sell the technology, based on a US design, to other countries without getting approval…

Coronavirus in China: rebound and reflection in Wuhan as global death toll nears 1 million

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 08:55:54 GMT

As the coronavirus comes close to claiming its millionth life, people in Wuhan expressed sadness on Monday at the continuing global impact of the pandemic, more than nine months after it emerged in the city in central China.Pride at the city’s resilience in the face of the calamity is tinged with sadness at the mounting death toll elsewhere.“One million people dead, maybe relatively speaking in terms of the total global population, it’s not a lot,” said Hu Lingquan, a scientist and Wuhan…

Tiny Muslim community in China’s Hainan becomes latest target for religious crackdown

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 04:00:09 GMT

While the attention of the world is increasingly focused on China’s treatment of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, Beijing’s restrictions on religion are spreading to other areas of the country – including a small community of Muslims thousands of kilometres to the south.The latest moves banning traditional dress in schools and government offices targeted the Utsuls, a little-known population of around 10,000 people based in Sanya, a city on the island province of Hainan, almost 12,000km (7,400…

Chinese schoolchildren missing out on sex education, observers say

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 02:30:13 GMT

A lack of suitably qualified teachers and conservative family attitudes mean Chinese schoolchildren are missing out on a formal sex education, observers say.According to Li Hongyan, national programme officer at the Unesco Beijing cluster office, demand for sex education “far exceeds supply”.“Family should be where sex education is first taught, but parents tend to shift the responsibility to schools because of their limited knowledge or personal values,” she said.“But schools also face many…

China coal mining disaster kills 16 in Chongqing, with one survivor hospitalised

Sun, 27 Sep 2020 12:00:13 GMT

Sixteen people were killed and one survivor was sent to hospital after being trapped in a coal mine accident in southwest China on Sunday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.There were excessive levels of carbon monoxide as a conveyor belt burned, trapping the 17 miners inside the Songzao mine, which belongs to a local energy company in Chongqing municipality, the Ministry of Emergency Management said in an online statement on Sunday morning.A team led by officials from the National Coal…

China stages solemn ceremony to welcome home remains of 117 soldiers killed in Korean war

Sun, 27 Sep 2020 09:54:01 GMT

China held a high-profile ceremony on Sunday to receive the remains of more than 100 soldiers killed in the Korean war, as Beijing continues to push its nationalist campaign amid deteriorating relations with the United States.A PLA Air Force Y-20 transport aircraft carrying the remains of 117 service personnel arrived at Shenyang Taoxian International Airport in the capital of northeast China’s Liaoning province about 11.20am after leaving Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea…

Border tensions and Covid-19 leave India’s Chinese-language tourist guides lost in translation

Sun, 27 Sep 2020 08:00:07 GMT

Pankaj Kavde believes he is the last Chinese-language tour guide in Aurangabad, a city in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. And even he is “not speaking it any more”. “I don’t see that many Chinese tourists,” says Kavde, who grew up in Ellora village – a 45-minute drive from Aurangabad – surrounded by what the Lonely Planet calls the “pinnacle of Deccan rock-cut architecture”. The Ellora Caves, a Unesco World Heritage Site, are one of the largest rock-cut cave complexes in the world, a…

China’s state-owned media pour vitriol on ByteDance-Oracle deal, indicating Beijing approval ...

Sun, 27 Sep 2020 05:30:08 GMT

Ever since news hit that ByteDance had agreed a deal with Oracle Corp and Walmart for its US TikTok operations to satisfy White House demands, there has been a stream of critical commentaries from China’s state-owned media, throwing the agreement into further doubt.The state-owned China Daily, which calls itself “the national English-language newspaper”, in an editorial on Thursday described recent White House action against ByteDance as “banditry” and that “Beijing is unlikely to condone the…

Eyes wide open, a ‘cool girl’ looks for peace in Harvey Weinstein’s aftermath

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 22:30:13 GMT

I met Harvey Weinstein in 2014. I was reporting on politics for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong when a friend of a friend asked me to translate during his dinner meeting. At the restaurant, Harvey introduced himself with brio. He was charming and tenacious and said he was in town working on several important projects. He wanted to talk to the press. We agreed to an interview and his assistant took my information.A few days later, at the Mandarin Oriental, his assistant arrived 30…

Coronavirus: 178,000 people given the all-clear in mass test sparked by asymptomatic port workers

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 08:50:08 GMT

More than 178,000 residents of an east China city have been given the all-clear after a mass coronavirus testing programme was launched in response to two local port workers being identified as asymptomatic cases.A total of 178,475 people were tested and there were no positive results, the Qingdao Municipal Health Commission in Shandong province said on Saturday.The programme was initiated after two male workers at Qingdao port tested positive for Covid-19 in a routine test arranged by their…