The China Blog Awards 2008 are on, and I’m holding a baby Panda hostage in order to get your votes.

Now, some of you may think I’m not serious, or that I’m bluffing. You may even suspect I’m pulling your leg somewhat, so in order to show you how wrong you are, here’s what’s been done to the little XiongMao already:

I’m not kidding around here. So just you get yourself over to Chinalyst and cast your vote for me. Or else.
Voting now open.

MyLaowai: defending Democracy; not practising it.

Cai Wu, China’s information minister, said at an event sponsored by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank, that international claims that his country tramples internet and media freedoms stem from a cultural misunderstanding of the role the press plays in Chinese society, where news media must work with the government.

In his view, Chinese websites “offer probably the freest forum for opinion in the world”. Hence, Mr Cai rejected the US State Department’s annual global human rights report which accuses China of clamping down on print, broadcast and electronic media and censoring internet content.

– RFC

Dear Top Gear,

You guys are great, you really are, and now I can honestly say that I’ve seen every episode up to the beginning of Season 11, thanks to illegal downloads. Well, you’d do it too, if you lived in China and were otherwise forced to watch endless repeats of China inventing the Olympics during the Tang Dynasty and winning WWII single-handed.

China… Hmmm… Did you know that Audi sell more cars here than in the US? Or that 4.7 million cars were sold here last year? All of which leaves me wondering why you don’t head over, under, or through the Bamboo Curtain for your next safari.

I mean, yes, the North Pole – very cool. Africa, the whole redneck USA experience – awesome. But it would be as nothing compared to the ‘roads’ here. China: 1.4 billion people, yet not a single capable driver. Ever. Surely that’s a record?

Don’t worry about challenges – the lads and I would have no trouble at all getting a short list together. Starting with being able to actually buy a car here and then be allowed to bring in anything as evil as a BBC television camera…

Give it some thought chaps, martini’s are on me.

MyLaowai
http://www.mylaowai.com

Police are seeking an Anhui man they believe is connected with a homicide in Shigatse, Tibet on 28 January 1989.

Authorities were called to a Shigatse residence around 2 a.m. There they found Choekyi Gyaltsena, the Tibetan Panchen Lama, dead from an alleged heart attack.

Police are looking for Hu Jintao (a.k.a. 胡锦涛; a.k.a. 胡錦濤), 66, in connection with the murder.

Investigators believe Hu was involved in a confrontation with Gyaltsena five days after he delivered a speech in Tibet in which he said: “Since liberation, there has certainly been development, but the price paid for this development has been greater than the gains”. That incident then escalated into the murder, police said.

According to the Police, “Hu told a friend at this time that he felt pessimistic about his future. It seemed that he had reached a dead end in his career and would never rise beyond the level of provincial Party secretary.”

Hu is described as a 5-foot-11-inch, 110-pound oriental male. He is charged with murder, use of poison in the commission of a murder, malicious wounding and use of poison in the commission of a malicious wounding.

Anyone with information about Hu’s whereabouts or who has information about the murder is asked to call Detective MyLaowai at 0800-MyLaowai

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