China cracks down on football violence

Cui Peng

The state of the game in China is pretty poor. The athletic standards are low and most games turn into impromptu martial arts tournament, forcing the decision makers to pull Chinese football from domestic TV. So the authorities brought in Nan Yong to shape up the game and one of his first moves was to suspend young star Cui Peng for five games along with a record fine after he threw and elbow in a game - one which didn’t receive a red card. Just adding to Cui’s pretty impressive, and strange, rap sheet at the tender age of 21.
“We are taking zero tolerance to any unethical behaviour to ensure the healthy development of the sport,” Nan told reporters on the eve of the new season.

So what does Cui’s unethical rap sheet include?

Cui, 21, was kicked out of the China under-23 team for playing internet games all night during the 2006 Asian Games, and has also been fined by his club for crashing his car when drunk and returning late from national duty.

Massive Chinese computer espionage network uncovered

A mystery electronic spy network apparently based in China has infiltrated hundreds of computers around the world and stolen files and documents, Canadian researchers have revealed.

The network, dubbed GhostNet, appears to target embassies, media groups, NGOs, international organisations, government foreign ministries and the offices of the Dalai Lama, leader of the Tibetan exile movement. The researchers, based at Toronto University's Munk Centre for International Studies, said their discovery had profound implications.

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10 Fakes That Look Real

Who needs Nokia? The spirit of shanzhai rules the phone-pirate's cove in Shenzhen. There's no shortage of counterfeit items made in China. If a product can be branded, it can be copied..

Clothes, Jewelry and Accessories

Handbags by Coach and Louis Vuitton, watches by Rolex, bracelets by Tiffany, suits and ties by Zegna, winter jackets by North Face. Knock offs of these products abound at Chinese markets, where outfitting yourself with the finest (fake) name brands will cost you as little as $10 to $20 for some of these items--even less if you know how to haggle.

Movies and TV Shows

Despite years of rhetoric from Beijing about crackdowns, pirated DVDs remain ubiquitous in China, selling for as little as $1 per disc. Whether it's The Dark Knight or the latest season of Heroes, cheap copies are not hard to find.

Music
In the age of digital piracy, there's still nothing like a genuine fake compact disc for some consumers. CDs of all kinds of music, including rock, pop, classical and jazz, are widely available for less than $1 each.

MP3 Players
After they've burned their fake CDs onto their hard drives, consumers of counterfeits can play their music on knock-off music players. It's piracy's answer to vertical integration of the marketplace.

Phones

From the cheapest models of Nokia to the latest iPhone, virtually no model of mobile phone is immune from piracy, especially in the age of "shanzhai." Many of China's fakes are made and distributed wholesale in Shenzhen, then sold in markets all around China and Southeast Asia.

Software

Microsoft products, from its operating system to its Office suite, continue to be a staple of the always abundant market in pirated software, mostly priced at pennies or nickels on the dollar.

Pills and Potions

Cheaper than Canadian generics, but also much more dangerous, are Chinese fakes of pharmaceuticals. Sophisticated fakes of Viagra, Lipitor and high-end cancer and heart drugs have made their way from factories in China to drugstores around the world.

Cars

Established automakers have long accused China of copying their models. A popular example is the Chinese car maker Chery's QQ, a low-end minicar that General Motors has complained looks exactly like its Chevrolet Spark, which is also sold in China.

Sports Equipment

Aside from the high greens fees at many Chinese courses, golfing doesn't have to be an expensive pursuit in China. Not when a full set of the latest-model knock-offs of Ping, TaylorMade or Callaway clubs can be had for $100 to $200

Luggage

As they leave a well-stocked, fake-goods market like the famous Silk Alley in Beijing, scofflaw tourists can help themselves to fake luggage for packing all of their illegal bounty. A Samsonite case that sells for more than $1,000 in a retail store in Beijing can be had in its knock-off version for $20 a few blocks away.

AP

Romance - and recession - in the air

After agonizing for weeks over what to give his girlfriend this Valentine's Day, Beijinger Li Mingyu, 27, decided on the "perfect present for the season" - a personalized notebook carrying all 99 cell phone text messages he exchanged with his 26-year-old partner Wang Min over the last year, topped with a nice meal at home to share their "sweet memories".

"I am sure this is going to be a different, less costly present for Wang, compared with the pricey flowers I spent 800 yuan ($117) on last year," the consultant at a Beijing-based management consultancy company told China Daily on Friday.

Wu Li (left) and Dong Hao tie the know on the eve of Valentine's Day in Chengdu, Sichuan province. [Asianewsphoto]

From home-cooked meals to rock-bottom bouquet deals, many young Chinese like Li and retailers in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai are celebrating this year's Valentine's Day with tightened belts and purse strings amid the global financial crisis.