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first it was a phony grunt . then came a welter of fake kiwis and chops . now the market is being flooded with counterfeit pekings . in recent months , beanie babies , the enormously_popular 5 beanbag toy that serious collectors buy and sell like rare coins , have become the object of increasingly skilled forgeries . the phonies often have subtle flaws , like slight variations in color , insufficient stuffing or labels that appear bogus on close inspection . the producer of beanie babies , ty inc . of oak brook , ill . , has joined with the better business bureau to alert customers to the fakes , most of which have been traced to china . but the real call to arms has come from a web based circle of beanie baby vigilantes , collectors who have taken on the task of spreading the electronic word . take peking the panda , a coveted ' 'retired'' beanie baby that sells in the secondary_market for as much as 2 , 000 . peking 's doppelganger is described in great detail on a beanie alert page at a site called beaniemom . com . the phony has an elongated snout and eyes that are larger and duller than those on the real thing . the web master at the beaniemom . com site , sara nelson , said she had received many pieces of e mail from grateful visitors to the site who avoided being duped by a counterfeit beanie after reading her alerts . another site , www . beaniephenomenon . com , offers an on line authentication service . the web is the most popular medium for beanie baby auctions and exchanges . for example , beanienation . com , one of several on line auction houses , has 2 , 000 beanie baby auctions going on at any one time . news watch

has a location of china

the buzz was palpable monday evening in manhattan at christie 's auction preview of the robert p . piccus collection of fine classical_chinese furniture . among those examining the folding stools and high yokeback armchairs were the dealers grace wu bruce and charlotte horstmann from hong_kong and nicholas grindley from london , along with collectors like george weiss of hartford , dr . marvin and pat gordon of san_francisco and robert blumenfield of los_angeles . until quite recently , the market for fine chinese classical furniture has been nearly invisible . while a small , select group of collectors including edward c . johnson 3d , the chairman of fidelity_investments the former hollywood agent michael ovitz charles b . wang of computer associates international bruce dayton , a trustee of the minneapolis institute of arts , and the contemporary_art dealer arne glimcher have been quietly willing to pay more and more for a dwindling supply of pieces , an appreciation for the masterworks of the late ming ( up to 1644 ) and early qing ( 1644 1750 ) dynasties surfaced in the public consciousness only last september . that is when christie 's sold the contents of the museum of classical_chinese furniture collection in california , for a total of 11 . 2 million , 3 million above the auction house 's top presale_estimate . it was the highest total for a single sale of chinese artworks this decade . christie 's piccus sale yesterday was the first in a series of asian sales that will continue over the next few days . as part of sotheby 's fall ''asia week'' in manhattan , an auction of chinese furniture and artworks will be held on tuesday . this weekend , 85 dealers are exhibiting chinese furniture , ceramics and bronzes at the new york arts of pacific asia show at the gramercy_park armory on lexington_avenue at 26th_street , through sunday . and a few new york dealers have organized special ''asia week'' exhibitions m . d . flacks ltd . , for example , is offering ''classical_chinese furniture ii'' through oct . 18 at its manhattan gallery at 38 east 57th_street . over the last decade , there has been ''a dramatic , steady increase in interest , '' marcus flacks said , in the finest classical_chinese hardwood furniture from the late ming and early qing dynasties . the furniture is highly prized , scarce , refined and elegant . although well proportioned and simple in form , ming furniture does not look like furniture from the west chairs have yoke or horseshoe backs , stools fold in the center , alcove beds have wood canopies . much of the furniture is made from woods in the rosewood family . most revered for its color , graining and depth is huanghuali , a wood found in hainan_island in southern china and also imported from southeast_asia . the other woods include the extremely rare jichimu , zitan , hongmu , tielimu and a variety of cedar , nanmu . ''the only reason this furniture is not more appreciated is that there is so little of it , '' said robert h . ellsworth , a longtime dealer in chinese artworks in manhattan and the author of ''chinese furniture'' ( random_house , 1971 ) , a standard work on furniture of the late ming and early qing periods . ''this furniture is more royal than versailles , '' he said . ''chinese furniture is the only true cosmopolite of the decorative_arts . it fits with any style if you give it enough room to breathe . '' mr . ellsworth has been collecting the furniture since 1956 . he says he does not sell furniture , only artworks . ''i 'm a dealer who collects , '' he explained . ''i refuse to be a collector who deals . '' the appeal of ming furniture lies in the richness of the wood , the simplicity of the design and the intricate construction . chinese furniture is made without nails . the wood is connected by a mortise and tenon system of joinery that requires great skill to master . it can be disassembled and reassembled fairly easily . ''at its core , this system is incredibly multifaceted , '' mr . flacks said . ''you are looking not at one man 's work but at the accumulated work of five or six centuries that reached its apex in the late 16th_century . the joinery remains unsurpassed to this day . '' people often say they find classical_chinese furniture very masculine in fact , most major collectors are men but as lark e . mason jr . , vice_president of chinese artworks at sotheby 's , said , the chinese designed some furniture specifically for women . ''it is on a smaller scale , '' he said , ''and has different decorations . there is pierced foliage on it and phoenixes instead of dragons . '' alice yuan piccus said that chinese furniture ''appeals to anyone with a sense of proper porportion . '' mrs . piccus said she introduced the style to raymond and mimi hung of hong_kong , who then went on to become serious collectors themselves . the hung collection will be shown at the asian art museum of san francisco in january . ''the demand for this furniture is increasing worldwide , '' said gisele groes , a brussels dealer who specializes in chinese works of art and shows at both the paris biennale and the international asian art fair held in the spring in manhattan . ''twenty years ago it was a matter of aficionados , '' she said . ''it was the rare person who was interested in ming furniture . my clientele now is french , italian , american , malaysian . people find the furniture very pure and modern . prices are going up dramatically . fifteen years ago , i could buy a pair of huanghuali ming chairs for 45 , 000 now the same pair is 80 , 000 . '' damon spilios , the owner of ming furniture ltd . on east 64th street in manhattan , attributes the increase in demand partly to the chinese themselves . ''i think the chinese had a high regard for this furniture even back in the ming period , '' he said . ''the chinese see furniture more as a craft than as an art . but after wang shixiang published his book 'classic chinese furniture of the ming and early qing dynasties' in chinese in 1985 , the chinese had their own reference book . the market has tripled since then . great pieces went from 5 , 000 to 15 , 000 . '' michael goedhuis , a london dealer who specializes in chinese artworks , said that not just furniture , but all chinese_art was becoming rarer on the market . ''this art is going to be the focus of the new rich in china , '' mr . goedhuis said . ''it 's part of a deep interest in being seen to be cultured . one way to show that is to have collections . chinese_art is going to be very expensive because there 's going to be an enormous push by the chinese to buy their own art , even as the supply declines . '' mr . goedhuis said he had new chinese clients from europe , singapore , vancouver , taiwan and hong_kong . james b . godfrey , director of the chinese artworks department at sotheby 's , agrees ''there are new collectors from china , taiwan , hong_kong and southeast_asia . it 's chinese people buying their own heritage . '' now , american mass market furniture companies are getting in on the act . century furniture is only one of the old north_carolina companies that is adding ming inspired pieces to its fall furniture line . can the pottery barn be far behind ?

has a location of china

chinese and american dancers were the top medalists in the 2002 usa international ballet competition , which ended on sunday in jackson , miss . in the senior category , for dancers aged 19 to 26 , the winners were wu haiyan of china ( women 's gold ) li jun , china ( men 's silver ) sarah lamb , united_states ( women 's silver ) mikhail ilyin , russia ( men 's bronze ) and katia carranza , mexico ( women 's bronze ) . in the junior category , for dancers 15 to 18 , the winners were joseph phillips , united_states ( men 's gold ) danny tidwell , united_states ( men 's silver ) sarah kathryn lane , united_states ( women 's silver ) yudai fukuoka , japan , and jiao yang , china ( men 's bronze ) and sang yi han , south_korea ( women 's bronze ) . no gold medals were awarded in the men 's senior and women 's junior divisions . the medals carry cash awards ranging from 500 to 8 , 000 . professional dancers from 25 nations took part in the competition , which is held every four years . eight special awards and scholarships were also announced . among them were the award for best senior couple , won by eve andre and sergei upkin of estonia . the robert joffrey award of merit went to emi hariyama of japan . the jury award of encouragement went to agnieszka szymanska of poland and troy schumacher of the united_states . jury awards went to melisa hough and ashley canterna , both from the united_states .

has a location of china

faced with growing criticism of its satellite exports to china , the clinton_administration is rethinking whether to allow one of the biggest sales to date , a 650 million deal president_clinton quietly approved two years ago . government officials said the pentagon and state_department were raising new questions about whether a chinese controlled company with close ties to china 's military should be allowed to buy the satellites , which contain some of the united_states' most sophisticated communications equipment . the satellites are the cornerstone of a commercial mobile_phone network planned for china and 21 other asian nations . american officials said their design included a powerful antenna that could eavesdrop on mobile_phone calls in china or other countries in the region . it could also be used by the chinese military to transmit messages through hand held phones to remote parts of china . antennas of these dimensions are a mainstay of the united_states' and russia 's eavesdropping satellites and have not previously been exported to china , though a sale to the united_arab_emirates is pending . they also can be used to extend the range of mobile_phones . mr . clinton leaves next week for china , and the administration had hoped to use the trip to showcase a variety of business deals and agreements , including cooperation on civilian satellite and rocket projects . meanwhile , the house continued investigating the export of space technology today . page_a6 . administration officials said concerns about the pending satellite sale had been deepened by american intelligence reports about shen rongjun , the chinese_army general who oversees his country 's military satellite programs . the reports quote the general as saying he planned to emphasize the role of satellites in gathering information . in an unusual arrangement , hughes space and communications hired general shen 's son , a dual citizen of canada and china , to work on the project as a manager . the company said it was aware of his familial ties it is not clear whether the clinton_administration knew . father and son were both directly involved in the project , and american officials said the intelligence reports said the general was pressing his son to move it forward . the new york times reported last week that the chinese military was sending many of its coded messages through american made commercial satellites sold to asian companies . china 's military satellite network collapsed in 1996 , when its first satellites wore out and the replacements failed to work as planned . president_clinton approved the hughes project on june 23 , 1996 , after advisers assured him the communications_satellite technology was readily available from european suppliers and would not contribute to chinese military capabilities . china already has a burgeoning cellular_telephone system , which relies on ground based transmitters . there are almost 1.5 million cellular_phones in beijing and shanghai , but the system is less developed in the country 's more remote areas , industry officials say . donald o'neal , a spokesman for hughes , said the satellites were ''inherently dual use , '' meaning that they have both civilian and military potential . ''the satellite is not designed for military application , '' mr . o'neal said . ''but i do n't know how you can prevent it . '' the federal_government could still stop the deal . mr . o'neal said hughes , which is part of hughes_electronics , a subsidiary of the general_motors_corporation , was waiting for the commerce_department to review its application to sell the satellite to the asian consortium , a.p.m.t . or asia_pacific mobile telecommunications . liu tsun kie , a spokesman for the consortium , said in a telephone interview from singapore that the satellite network would be marketed to civilians by regional telecommunications operators . it would be up to chinese government regulators , mr . liu said , to decide if china 's military could use the satellites . mr . liu predicted that the clinton_administration would eventually approve the deal . ''in view of the improving sino american relationship , as well as the close rapport established between the u.s . satellite industry and major industry leaders in china and the asia_pacific , '' he said , ''we are confident that a.p.m.t . will obtain all the necessary approval and export license to insure no delay in satellite launch . '' mr . liu said the project would attract more than 200 , 000 mobile_phone customers in china within its first two years . the two crucial steps in a satellite sale making a satellite sale to china involves two crucial steps that occur simultaneously . aerospace manufacturers must persuade the president to sign a waiver of the sanctions imposed on beijing after the tiananmen_square killings in 1989 . each project requires a separate waiver . at the same time , companies apply to federal_government agencies for permission to export specific technologies used in the satellites . satellite exports to the chinese military are banned , but sales to chinese companies are generally allowed , unless they would advance military development in areas like intelligence gathering and nuclear_weapons . mr . clinton granted the waiver for the hughes project two years ago and the company obtained the necessary export licenses . since then , however , hughes has changed the design to enhance the satellite 's capabilities , requiring it to return to the government for a new license . that decision is now before a government panel headed by the commerce_department and including officials from the pentagon , state_department , the arms control and disarmament agency and the department of energy . each department casts a single vote , with the decision made by majority_rule . a dissenting agency can appeal to the president , but that has never happened . a commerce_department spokesman declined to discuss the case , saying it involved confidential business information . privately , commerce_department officials are arguing that the deal should go forward because the design approved in 1996 is substantially the same as the current configuration , administration and congressional officials said . but some pentagon and state_department officials believe the license should face more scrutiny in light of the new information about general shen and the capabilities of the satellite . administration officials also said that the increased scrutiny by congress of the chinese military and american satellites has prompted officials to pay closer attention to exports to china . several congressional committees are investigating whether the policies on technology exports hurt the national_security . technical questions determine fate of deal the issue turns on highly technical questions . an administration official who disagrees with the commerce_department 's analysis said the hughes design is substantially different from what was approved two years ago . ''the antenna sent up the flags , '' the official said . ''it is more powerful than what we have licensed before . '' the antenna allows the satellite to receive incoming signals . but a sophisticated antenna , like the one currently under review , can become a listening device that is very effective against ground based interception efforts , government reports show . before 1996 , the pentagon could easily have stopped the license , because satellites were treated as military items and subject to state_department authority . that year president_clinton shifted jurisdiction to the commerce_department , easing the controls and lessening the influence of the pentagon , a senior government auditor told congress earlier this month . a.p.m.t . was organized in the early 1990 's . most of its stock was held by five chinese state owned entities china satellite launch and tracking control , a unit of costind , the scientific and research arm of the chinese military , the china aerospace corporation , part of the defense industrial complex , china resource holdings , a trading company that owns a bank in hong_kong with the riady family of indonesia , and subsidiaries of chinese electronics and telecommunications ministries . a small stake was held by a singapore company . in february 1996 , the consortium authorized hughes to proceed with the design and construction of a sweeping mobile satellite telecommunication network that would span 22 countries in asia and the pacific , from pakistan to indonesia . china 's own space_program both rockets and satellites was then under severe strain . a chinese rocket exploded shortly after liftoff in february . two months later , engineers from hughes and loral space and communications were brought in by insurers and china aerospace to help figure out what went wrong . the conversations that ensued between the companies and chinese technicians are now the subject of a criminal investigation , which is seeking to determine whether american export laws were violated . both companies deny wrongdoing . while china was trying to repair its rocket program , its satellites began to fail . the first domestically produced satellites , launched by the chinese military in the early 1990 's , were wearing out , and the first replacement , built in cooperation with the german company daimler_benz , had failed to achieve proper orbit after its 1994 launch . in early 1996 , all this led china 's most senior military official , gen . liu huaqing , to discuss his concern with general shen , who until a recent reorganization was a senior costind official and oversees china 's satellite and rocket launching programs , american officials said . general shen and general liu have publicly promoted satellite technology as crucial to the future development of china 's military capabilities . general shen has privately assured his colleagues about his ability to fix china 's satellite problems and improve the military 's surveillance and intelligence gathering capabilities , american officials said . at about the same time , there were concerns within hughes and a.p.m.t . over the how long it was taking president_clinton to make a decision about the deal , mr . o'neal and american officials said . commercial satellite exports to china have been banned since the killings in tiananmen_square in 1989 , but the president can waive the prohibition , which presidents george_bush and clinton have done 20 times . 'expedited handling' of waiver was sought hughes officials wanted ''an expedited handling'' of the waiver in order to meet a contractual deadline , mr . o'neal said . and recently released white_house documents show that the company hoped to have the president sign off on the deal before hughes' chairman left china on june 19 , 1996 . the staff memorandum that the president relied on to approve the deal made no mention of the loral hughes help for china 's rocket program . three weeks before the memorandum to the president , the state_department had alleged , in a letter to hughes , that there had been a violation of the arms export control law during the rocket accident review . the president granted the waiver on june 23 . soon after the presidential action , hughes received a license to export a satellite . later that summer , hughes applied for another export license that would allow shen jun , the son of general shen , to work on projects subject to united_states export controls , including the a.p.m.t . project , mr . o'neal said . ''we applied for and received an export license that allowed him to participate as a translator in the a.p.m.t . preliminary design review , '' mr . o'neal said . mr . shen was hired in 1994 by hughes for his computer expertise , though the company was also aware of his family_ties before he joined the company , mr . o'neal said . general shen has been involved in the a.p.m.t . project as the overseer of the chinese launch and tracking company and his son has given hughes marketing advice about china and technical advice about mobile_telephone networks , mr . liu and a hughes executive said . mr . o'neal said he had no comment on the shen family discussions because ''anything he said to his dad is personal . '' despite all the flurry of activity in mid 1996 between hughes and a.p.m.t. , the deal bogged down amid internal squabbles . but by this year the pace had picked up again and last month the consortium reorganized itself and signed another deal with hughes for an upgraded satellite . the new satellite will have greater power to transmit and receive signals . its payload includes a large scale antenna reflector and a digital on board processor , mr . liu and mr . o'neal said . the antenna and processor enable the consortium 's network to pinpoint low power hand held phones and simultaneously handle 16 , 000 phone conversations . mr . liu said that the regional affiliates ''will be able to intercept calls if required by local authorities'' but the consortium will not be able to intercept . as a result of the recent reorganization , the consortium is now two thirds owned by its chinese affiliate , china a.p.m.t. , said mr . liu , the consortium 's deputy president . china a.p.m.t. , in turn , is owned by the same five chinese entities , including the costind unit , and it will be the local a.p.m.t . franchise in china . the president of a.p.m.t . and china a.p.m.t . is li baoming and a.p.m.t . 's chief engineer is feng ruming . mr . liu said both men have senior posts with the china satellite launch and tracking control corporation , the unit of costind overseen by general shen . american intelligence reports say mr . feng and mr . li are top military officers , according to administration officials . mr . o'neal said that hughes was ''not aware'' of a.p.m.t . 's military ties and while ''there could be'' some , it was up to the federal_government to vet those connections . that is precisely what is now happening .

has a location of china

like millions of girls who had come before her , the choreographer yin mei was staunchly devoted to her diary . but the thoughts she poured onto its pages were drastically different from those of a typical angst ridden adolescent . she grew up in a town in central china during the cultural_revolution . at age 7 , she , along with her classmates , started a journal to record , as she puts it , ''her progress along the revolutionary road . '' ''we were the children of chairman_mao , '' ms . yin , now 42 , said recently . ''we wanted to offer our life to him . it was real . from the ages of 7 to 14 , i sincerely wanted to become a farmer or a soldier . during the cultural_revolution , everybody spoke the same meaningless words . but as i was reading my later diaries , i can tell i started to have other feelings and sensations . i started to think about myself . '' around the same time she began her diary , ms . yin watched a ballet film and fell in love with dance . one of her most treasured childhood memories occurred when her father surprised her with a pair of ballet slippers . ''as students , we had to work on the farm to help with harvest time , '' she said . ''we were basically doing all kinds of things except studying in school . i came home from the country and saw this pair of slippers . i was so excited that i did not even wash my feet . from then on , i was dancing . '' during the cultural_revolution , ms . yin , whose outward fragility belies a tougher inner core , performed with a traditional_chinese company before moving to new york in 1985 . in her newest piece , ''nomad the river , '' to be performed at dance_theater_workshop beginning on wednesday , she strives to resolve the experiences of her childhood , not through a linear depiction but through strange and bewitching imagery that is pieced together like a dream . ''nomad , '' a quartet , features a set by christopher salter so extravagant it could be taken for an installation . mr . salter collaborated with the choreographer william_forsythe and the director peter sellars before helping to found sponge , an art and research organization . he met ms . yin last spring at brown_university , where he was teaching a course in performance technology . he watched a showing of ''nomad , '' which she had staged with a group of students there , and was riveted . ''i 've worked on and seen a lot of dance , and what impressed me about yin mei 's work was the sheer visceral quality of it , '' mr . salter said . ''there 's very little work happening where you really feel it in your gut . i was also interested in the mix of vocabulary . you see edges of asian movement traditions , but you also see a lot of german expressionist dance and european influences . i was struck by the fact that it was very organic . it 's rooted in a real place . '' the title ''nomad the river'' refers to the yellow river in china and the ganges in india , both of which ms . yin considers at once sacred and destructive . the work begins and ends with voice overs taken from ms . yin 's diaries as well as revolutionary slogans , anchoring the dance in a concrete historical moment . the middle section wordlessly evokes horror and fantasy . ''i use words but not details in the piece , '' ms . yin said . ''it does n't become entirely personal . in the end , i want to establish a sense of place to make the audience feel something , but the work is very abstract . '''nomad' is about a journey on a spiritual path . to me , a journey causes you to look inward , and my experiences are in my memory . i wanted to look deep and to create something that would help me learn about myself . '' the set comprises 27 fiberglass screens , each three feet wide and seven feet high , which hang in three rows along bars that stretch the width of the stage . black and white images depict barren trees , snow scenes or light reflecting in a pool of water . ''we 've pushed the contrast ratio so they look like japanese or chinese woodcuts , '' mr . salter said . ''they 're very graphic and textural . '' the goal is to create something akin to a three dimensional forest . ''the screens are both opaque and translucent , '' mr . salter said . ''this way , they hold an image but also allow it to seep through to the next screen and the next . we 're being very judicious with how we use the images . they materialize very slowly . a white tree appears in a black field and then another and another , until the whole space seems to turn into water . we 're using technology to create a set of spaces that deal with consciousness and dreams and a kind of shifting reality . '' mr . salter 's score , which swells and recedes throughout , flitters between electronic and natural sounds . ''it opens up a world , yet you 're not sure what that world is , '' he said . ''you hear jungle noises and cicadas , but then there are strange low rumbles . at times , it will feel like there 's an earthquake erupting beneath you . '' the dancers supplement the score by striking pieces of sheet_metal , simulating claps of thunder . while much of the imagery in ''nomad'' is purposely mysterious , for ms . yin the alarming noise evokes a devastating childhood memory . one particularly hot july day when she was 12 or 13 , a young man was executed , and she and a friend , curious , followed the crowd to the scene . ''i saw an old lady hobbling by with bound feet , '' ms . yin said . ''i remember the way she tried to run . this was the mother collecting her son 's body . suddenly , very strong thunder started , and the sun started to shine as big raindrops began to fall . everybody started running backward , because they did not want to get wet . but it was also that nature happened , and they were afraid of ghosts . ''my mother always said when people do not treat others well , heaven will cry . how could the sun come out when it was raining ? it really meant that this man , whose only crime was that he was a counterrevolutionary , should not have been killed . so thunder is very strong for me . '' 'nomad the river' yin mei dance_theater_workshop , 219 west 19th street . chelsea . march 9 through 12 . dance

has a location of china

what does a makeover of 5 , 000 years of culture feel like ? ask china , because that 's what 's happening there . ancient cities are coming down new ones are going up . urban markets are spilling over with western style products . to a sizable segment of a youth heavy population , the cultural_revolution is a phantom , the tragedy of tiananmen_square , yesterday 's inexplicable news . such developments may register only casually on western attention . but the reality is that as china is transformed , the rest of the world will be transformed . the effects may be slow to unfold , even for china 's still predominantly agricultural society , but they will be profound . you can bank on that . ''between past and future new photography and video from china , '' a perspective altering show at both the international_center_of_photography and the asia_society , gives a panoramic glimpse of the continuing cultural_revolution after the cultural_revolution . it is the first such glimpse new york has had since asia_society 's 1998 survey , ''inside out new chinese_art , '' for which the new show provides a historical update . the history in question began a few years after mao_zedong 's death , in 1976 , when china expanded its contact with the west . overnight , it seemed , a generation of young artists , many of whom were trained in classical painting and calligraphy but reached maturity during the implacable heyday of socialist realism , gained access to western art , all of it , old and new . they went wild , scrambling through styles , ideas and forms with a kind of raucous , guerrilla energy . what resulted was less a new wave than a series of avant gardist firecrackers going off big_bang , little bang , silence , huge bang and so on . political pop painting in the 1980 's was like a socialist realism in reverse , with coke bottles instead of little red books . installation art had a tremendous impact it was cheap to make , required no special training and embraced all other forms , including performance . photography and video had similar advantages , the former , in particular , being easy to show and conceptually versatile it could imitate painting , adapt to installations or just be itself . most important , photography 's dual capacity for recording and inventing reality made it the ideal medium for an era of experimentation , chaotic variety and whiplash change . variety is instantly and somewhat disorientingly evident at asia_society , where the smaller segment of ''between past and future'' is so tightly installed that intended thematic divisions are hard to see . but one of these sections , ''history and memory , '' picks up more or less where ''inside out'' left off with images that make provocative references to cultural and political monuments . the great_wall , for example , becomes a stage for a nude performance by the androgynous artist ma liuming , captured in photographs and on video . and the totemic tiananmen_square portrait of mao is shot by the gao brothers ( gao qiang and gao zhen ) from directly below , so it looks like a guillotine blade descending . mao appears elsewhere , too , as do hints of the kind of political oppression associated with his name . in three pictures , sheng qi photographs his own left hand holding a snapshot one of himself as a child , one of his mother and one of mao . what 's arresting , though , is the fact that the little finger of the hand is missing . the artist cut it off in a gesture of protest before going into political exile at the time of the tiananmen massacre in 1989 . in a remarkable portrait series by hai bo , images come in pairs . the earlier picture in each pair , often a group shot of family or friends , dates from the cultural_revolution ( 1966 76 ) , while the second , taken recently , records the artist 's attempt to reassemble the original sitters . in some cases , he has been successful the same faces , now aged , are there . in others , empty chairs speak of lives lost and fates unknown . violence , implied in these pictures , becomes theatrically explicit in a second thematic section , ''reimagining the body . '' the nude figure , with its erotic potential , carries a disconcerting charge in the context of chinese classic art , from which it is all but absent . and for that reason , and others , rebellious young chinese artists have made much of it . it is presented with a kind of show bizzy flair in a 1995 shot by rong rong of the charismatic artist zhang huan , seen bound and bleeding in a performance he gave at the now demolished artists' enclave on the outskirts of beijing called the east_village . along with other figures who emerged as stars from that scene , he gave self torture an aggrandizing glamour . by contrast , in so called conceptual photography , the body plays a supporting role to ideas , literally so in huang yan 's landscapes painted directly onto his torso . here he presents himself as a physical vehicle of cultural memory and at the same time alludes to a connection between photography and painting . the body as a malleable social and personal emblem is the subject of ''performing the self , '' the first of the two superbly installed thematic sections at international_center_of_photography , where there 's room for the show to really open up . a funny , needling video by cao fei one of the show 's youngest artist and one of its unusually high number of women is set in a corporate office , though the performers are made up to look like a cross between humans and dogs . lin tianmiao , now in her early 40 's , turns a self_portrait in which she appears with her head shaved like a buddhist nun or an extraterrestrial into a towering photographic apparition anchored to the material world only by strings of yarn . old and new converge yet again in portraiture . the genre was a vital feature of classical painting , just as it is in wang qingsong 's photographic remake of the renowned 10th century scroll ''night revels of han xizai . '' in the new , digitally printed edition , song dynasty court officials are replaced by a beijing art world nobility , which includes the esteemed critic and curator li xianting and the much noticed mr . wang himself , a former painter whose history baiting tableau vivant photographs blend farce , nostalgia and world weariness in proportions that are hard to gauge . all kinds of contradictory emotions are mixed in the show 's final section , ''people and place , '' where the sense of traumatic change in china is most graphic . many pictures are of architecture . wang jinsong punctuates hundreds of black and white snapshots of bland modernistic facades with a few color pictures of the old buildings that survive . zhang dali chips a human profile out of the walls of half demolished structures , as if to give them faces . and in a remarkable video by song dong as outstanding here as he was in ''inside out'' the artist holds in his hands sheets of paper onto which video images of modern shanghai are projected . and every few minutes he abruptly crumples the sheets into a ball . the gesture is jolting every time , as if some terrorist god were obliterating a city as fast as it is built . other architectural images are more idealistic , as in the case of xing danwen 's dreamy filmstrips of beijing and xiong wenyun 's stirring shots of humble roadside houses in tibet that she fitted with cloth hangings the color of the buddhist rainbow . but a sense of vitality comes only in images of people . it 's certainly there in pictures by the hot young artist zheng guogu of slacker punk teenagers , for whom a westernized china is the only china they know , and in yang yong 's steamily noirish fashion shots . bai yilou 's hand stitched collage of photographic portrait negatives suggests the dense , roiling diversity of china 's population , in which everyone is at once unique and anonymous . such diversity becomes at once exhilarating and wrenching in the series titled ''the chinese'' by liu zheng . for several years this tireless artist traveled the country taking pictures of people old and young , poor and rich , living and dead . the complete series has just been published as a book , which i unreservedly recommend . i also recommend the exhibition catalog . it has solid essays by the show 's organizers , christopher phillips , a curator at the international_center_of_photography , and wu hung , consulting curator at the david and alfred smart museum of art , university of chicago , supplemented by artists' statements and interviews that are a revelation . among other things , they spell out the practical reasons for the popularity of photography and video media out of fashion in new york among non western artists . they also demonstrate how refined , after rough and ready beginnings , the approach to these media has become in china within just a few years . video in particular seems poised for a great_leap_forward , and on the evidence of work by xu zhen , song dong , wang jianwei and cao fei , its prospects look bright . finally , the artists in the catalog just sound different from those in the west , whether they are expressing longing for a culture perceived as lost or mingled excitement and exasperation about the one that confronts them in china today . no one ventures statements of political protest china is still a dangerous place for dissidents . but a critical sensibility is implicit in almost every word spoken and in almost every piece of art , just as it has been in chinese_art over thousands of years . indeed , the ties between contemporary and traditional_chinese art and culture , unsuspected only a few years ago , are apparent now . whether the next new generation will sustain and nurture them remains to be seen . but the dynamic they are producing today or at least when this show was selected is both elastic and finely tuned . its spirit is distilled in a photographic triptych titled ''tianyuan space_station , 12 december 2000'' by li tianyuan . in the central panel the artist himself appears , a blurred figure in front of a beijing high rise , staring up at the sky . the left panel is a satellite shot , supposedly of the very spot he is standing on , filmed from 500 miles above the earth . in the right panel is a microscopic closeup of a tiny section of his body , a fingernail . city and self , reality and fantasy , awesomeness and absurdity these are the active , volatile ingredients of chinese_art at the moment , and they give a vital , graspable shape to this important show . ''between past and future new photography and video from china'' remains on view at the international_center_of_photography , 1133 avenue of the americas , at 43rd_street , ( 212 ) 857 0000 , and at the asia_society , 725 park_avenue , at 70th street , ( 212 ) 288 6400 , through sept . 5 . the show then travels to the smart museum and the museum of contemporary_art in chicago ( oct . 2 to jan . 16 ) , to the seattle art museum ( feb . 10 to may 15 ) , to haus der kulturen der welt in berlin ( march to may 2006 ) and to the santa_barbara art_museum in california ( summer 2006 ) . art review

has a location of china

lead at first glance , the ballet barre appears to be made of wood , but upon closer examination , it turns out to be of cast_iron . this is a no frills dance studio . functional to be sure yet , by american standards , drab , cramped , cold and dimly_lighted . like almost everything else in china , it exudes an aura of hardship , stoically endured . at first glance , the ballet barre appears to be made of wood , but upon closer examination , it turns out to be of cast_iron . this is a no frills dance studio . functional to be sure yet , by american standards , drab , cramped , cold and dimly_lighted . like almost everything else in china , it exudes an aura of hardship , stoically endured . the studio 's one amenity a luxury virtually unheard of in capitalist countries is the abundance of live musicians available as accompanists on a variety of instruments . the studio is one of several similar spaces in the guangdong academy of dance in guangzhou ( formerly called canton ) , the southernmost of china 's major cities . like most southern cities , guangzhou is regarded by its northern neighbors as brash , hedonistic , uncouth and , culturally speaking , a bit of a backwater . to the cultural elite in beijing or shanghai , the guangdong academy is known ( if it 's known at all ) as a training ground for folk dancers . but this unremarkable looking school , with its rough_hewn dance floors , its bare light_bulbs and its frequent power failures is currently the focal_point of an extraordinary experiment , for it 's here that the chinese have begun to nurture a home grown variety of modern_dance . modern_dance in china ? the very idea will strike many people as an oxymoron . even those more knowledgeable about dance in china might conjure up visions of colorfully clad folk dancers , the bold , almost garish stylization of beijing opera , or odd amalgams of bolshoi style ballet , the chinese martial arts and go for broke acrobatic displays . furthermore , modern_dance would seem to celebrate everything that china , both before and after mao , discourages idiosyncratic and deeply personal ways of moving , gestures motivated by private , inner psychological concerns , a willingness to use the body in highly expressive , even sexually candid ways , varying levels of abstraction , sometimes outright formalism . thus , it took a particularly bold individual to initiate this current flirtation with modern_dance . her name is yang mei qi , the principal of the guangdong academy . according to mrs . yang , the idea was born , almost instantaneously , in 1986 during an eye opening and mind expanding visit she made to the american_dance_festival , held each summer in durham , n . c . ''yang mei qi had just come from a limon class , '' recalled charles reinhart , director of the festival , ''and she asked me , 'why do they fall to the ground in the limon technique ? ' when i replied , 'why not ? ' her eyes opened wide and she walked out of the room as if seized by some strange , new idea . and the next day , she came back and said , 'i would like to talk to you about a plan to start a modern_dance department in my school . ' '' from the beginning , both agreed that the goal of the project would not be to produce chinese clones of martha_graham or jose limon or merce_cunningham , but rather to transplant the compositional principles that would enable chinese choreographers and dancers to draw upon their own capacity for individual movement invention . according to mr . reinhart , ''in case there are accusations of cultural imperialism , the dancers can say , 'look , this is not ''swan_lake , '' it 's not ''the moor 's pavane'' ' it 's something unique to chinese bodies and true to their way of moving . by contrast , when you see 'the white haired girl' or 'the red detachment of women' two officially_sanctioned ballets from the era of the cultural_revolution , there is no way that 's not western ballet . i do n't care what they do to the story . '' mrs . yang was determined to recruit from around the country students who possessed not only great technical prowess but also innate curiosity and independence of mind . with financing from the chinese government , the american_dance_festival and the new york based asian cultural council , the students are to be exposed to a steady stream of international master teachers . some students will even be allowed to study at dance studios in new york . and at the end of three years , if all goes well , these dancers will form the core of china 's first modern_dance company . that was the plan , hatched during the summer of '86 , a period in which ' 'modernization'' ( in the western sense ) seemed to have fully supplanted ' 'revolution'' ( in the older maoist sense ) as the animating principle of chinese life . chinese students and intellectuals were openly advocating a democratization of cultural and even political life that would parallel chairman deng_xiaoping 's attempt to modernize the economy . but in december of '86 , tens of thousands of chinese students pressed these demands in street demonstrations , a sight that so horrified the hardline maoist conservatives that a period of retrenchment and in some cases outright repression set in . those who flirted too openly with things western were accused of ''bourgeoise liberalization . '' according to mrs . yang , ''there were many disputes in early '87 about what was and was n't bourgeoise liberalization . '' the man whose approval she most needed , the minister of arts and culture for guangdong_province , was initially supportive but turned hesitant as the political winds began to change . in the spring of '87 , zhao_ziyang , the party leader , made a speech in which he carefully circumscribed the scope of the campaign against bourgeoise liberalization , confining it to matters of political ideology and thereby exempting the arts from its edicts . mrs . yang brought a copy of this speech with her when she next met with the provincial arts minister . she received a tentative go ahead , but it was couched in cautionary terms ''you 're walking a tightrope , '' he told her , ''and if you fall , you drag all of us down with you . '' the atmosphere had relaxed considerably by the end of the 13th party congress the following october , at which time the reformers seemed to have once again gained the upper hand from the conservatives . this enabled the american_dance_festival to send the well known modern dancers sarah stackhouse and ruby shang to the academy for extended residencies . and mrs . yang has invited other choreographers and consultants , such as the los_angeles based asian_american choreographer yen lu wong . despite their highly developed sense of public decorum , the chinese display no compunction about staring ( especially at westerners ) , and recently at the academy a principal object of the students' curiosity was the new york based dancer and choreographer holly fairbank , a daughter of the celebrated american china watcher john k . fairbank . she had been invited for a month to teach a broad array of modern_dance techniques . the exercise that seemed to generate the greatest curiosity ( and the greatest sense of consternation ) is based on contact improvisation , in which two or more performers take turns supporting one another in a free flowing exchange of body weight and balance . just a few years ago , contact improvisation would have been ideologically unacceptable in china , for at least two reasons the fact that it involves so much body contact , and the fact that it 's improvised . china , after all , is a country whose taboos about touching in public preceded the official puritanism of mao by thousands of years . and the chinese communist party , determined until recently to centralize and regulate every aspect of chinese life , has sought to minimize the unpredictable in art as well as in life . understandably , the emphasis at the school thus far has been almost exclusively on the training program for dancers , rather than on the modern_dance company that mrs . yang hopes to see emerge . ''it 's like the story of the new york city ballet , '' says mr . reinhart . ''first , the school . '' that analogy may prove premature . but listening to mrs . yang rhapsodize about the future of modern_dance in china , it 's easy to imagine what it might have been like in the 1930 's to hear lincoln kirstein describe his equally improbable vision of a peculiarly american style of classical_ballet .

has a location of china

four years ago , modern_dance instructors from the american_dance_festival left durham , n.c. , bound for china and the provincial capital of guangzhou , the home of the guangdong dance_academy . their mission to teach modern techniques to chinese students recruited from some of the country 's professional dance troupes , students trained in traditional techniques but virtually unschooled in modern_dance . last summer , the newly evolved guangdong modern_dance company ( in photograph , rehearsing the work " bamboo and baskets " ) made its debut , in a performance that was enthusiastically received . now , american audiences will be able to sample the fruits of this joint cultural venture when the 13 member guangdong troupe performs in durham from july 18 to 20 . given the sensitivity of the political situation in china and the dissident nature of modern_dance in general , the flourishing of this art form in such a group oriented society could be considered something of a miracle . the visitors , all in their 20 's , will perform their own choreography , set to music ranging from classical_chinese sounds to rock . " their choreography is an amalgamation , a fusion of two cultures ancient chinese movements and techniques of martha_graham , jose limon and bella lewitzky , " says charles l . reinhart , the festival director . " it will be clear to american audiences that these movements are very much modern in interpretation yet based on chinese_culture . " summer festival dance

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lead to the editor to the editor richard bernstein refers at some length to pasqualini 's book , from which he quotes as follows ''over the years , mao 's police have perfected their interrogation_methods to such a fine point that i would defy any man , chinese or not , to hold out against them . '' may i suggest to mr . bernstein that he read the remarkable book by nien cheng entitled ''life and death in shanghai . '' true , she is not a man , but a woman who did defy her interrogators during the six and a half years she spent in prison . priscilla dabezies port_washington , n.y .

has a location of china

in the 1950 's and 60 's , china mobilized higher_education to produce physicists and rocket engineers capable of giving the communist_party leadership the ultimate in international prestige a thermonuclear weapon deliverable by intercontinental ballistic missile . it was an enormous achievement for a nation of peasant farmers led by rough_hewn revolutionaries . but mao_zedong , the communist_party chairman , then decided to tear it all down in the name of permanent revolution and class struggle , and higher_education was suspended during the years of the great proletarian cultural revolution . when it recovered in the late 1970 's , higher_education was still permeated by the tradition of excellence in hard sciences . today , after a wave of chinese immigration to the west following the reform policies of deng_xiaoping , the discipline and excellence of chinese students have made significant contributions to western universities . but at home , higher_education remains hobbled . chronic , crippling fiscal limitations coupled with draconian political_repression on campuses are eroding any prospects for serious education_reform . as a result , china 's stated goal of developing 100 universities of " international repute " by the 21st_century is little more than official sloganeering . since the late 1970 's , when higher_education began rebuilding , both the number of colleges and total enrollment have more than doubled . but state funding in real terms has made only small gains . the result bleak dormitories with six to eight students crammed to a room teaching material typed by hand and run off on archaic mimeograph machines , and libraries pathetically short of up to date books and periodicals . professors live on subsistence salaries , and an alarming percentage of them are leaving their posts to sell their talents in china 's burgeoning private_sector . " the more you teach , the thinner you get , " goes the ditty that is a play on the chinese_characters that stand for " professor . " life is little better for students , who are under increasing financial pressure to pay a greater share of their education costs . fees and other expenses now have risen beyond the income of an average public_sector worker . the number of " self paid " students has grown to nearly 15 percent of enrollment , and some professors bemoan the loosening of admission criteria that is evident for the children of china 's new wealthy . the commercialization of chinese universities has not loosened the ideological grip on history , the humanities , social and political sciences . textbooks are highly_selective , and sensitive subjects like tibet and the 1989 protest movement are banned from classrooms . but mandatory military training and manual labor for students have been eased . last summer , one class of sophomores was shepherded out of beijing to " engage in agricultural labor " for 10 days in a peasant village . upon returning , they confided all they had had to do was watch . patrick tyler international reports a changing world of education

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lead the joffrey_ballet has withdrawn from performances in beijing in mid september . a spokeswoman for the company said the decision had been made on tuesday ''because of the unrest . '' the company was invited in march by china 's ministry of culture to represent the united_states in the 1989 china arts festival , which is to take place throughout the country from sept . the joffrey_ballet has withdrawn from performances in beijing in mid september . a spokeswoman for the company said the decision had been made on tuesday ''because of the unrest . '' the company was invited in march by china 's ministry of culture to represent the united_states in the 1989 china arts festival , which is to take place throughout the country from sept . 15 through oct . 5 . the joffrey was to have opened the festival .

has a location of china

the chinese government publicly confirmed tuesday that it had conducted a successful test of a new antisatellite weapon but said it had no intention of participating in a ' 'space_race . '' the confirmation was made at a regular foreign ministry news briefing , 12 days after china used a medium range ballistic missile to destroy one of its own weather satellites 535 miles above earth . several countries , including the united_states , japan , britain and australia , pressed beijing to explain the test , apparently the first successful destruction of a satellite in orbit in more than 20 years . until now , chinese officials declined to confirm or deny that it had occurred , despite news reports last week that quoted bush_administration officials describing the exercise in detail . liu jianchao , the foreign ministry spokesman , issued the first official comment . ''this test was not directed at any country and does not constitute a threat to any country , '' he said . ''what needs to be stressed is that china has always advocated the peaceful use of space , opposes the weaponization of space and an arms_race in space . china has never participated and will never participate in any arms_race in outer_space . '' mr . liu did not say why the chinese_army had conducted the test . he also did not directly address concerns that the use of a missile to shatter a satellite in a low orbit might be perceived as inconsistent with china 's repeated calls to ban the use of weapons in space . beijing 's prolonged silence about the test , which american intelligence officials said took place on jan . 11 , raised speculation about its intentions and the circumstances surrounding the test . senior bush_administration officials raised the possibility that the silence might have reflected the autonomy and isolation of the chinese military . they said they could not be sure that president hu_jintao , who oversees the military as well as the communist_party , had personally authorized or overseen the test . on tuesday , mr . liu denied that officials had taken too much time before speaking publicly . ''china has nothing to hide , '' he said . ''after various parties expressed concerns , we explained this test in outer_space to them . '' japanese and american officials said china had not volunteered any information until they had made formal diplomatic inquiries , and then it had taken at least four days to get a reply . the first confirmation apparently came when christopher r . hill , an assistant secretary of state , visited his counterparts in beijing over the weekend to discuss efforts to revive six nation negotiations on north_korea 's nuclear_weapons program . sean_mccormack , the state_department spokesman , said monday that mr . hill had been assured that the test ''was not meant as a threat against anybody'' and that chinese officials had acknowledged that it had taken place . independent experts on the chinese military say china has sought a workable antisatellite weapon since the 1980s . one reason is that the united_states military depends heavily on satellites for missile_guidance , navigation and communications , and any widespread damage to that network could hamper military action overseas . china has long feared that the united_states might intervene in any military conflict with taiwan , and has invested heavily in new arms that experts say are intended to give it the power to attack taiwan while keeping american_forces at bay . but others say china 's intentions in conducting this test may have been more diplomatic in nature , intended to put pressure on the united_states to negotiate a treaty to ban weapons in space . russia and china have pressed for an international_treaty that would limit the use of space for military purposes . the bush_administration has declined to take part in such talks . over the summer , president_bush authorized a new space policy that seeks to preserve ''freedom of action'' in space , and he said the united_states reserved the right to use force against countries seeking to disrupt american satellites . xu guangyu , a former chinese_army officer and an official at the government run china arms control and disarmament association , said the antisatellite test amounted to an attempt to redefine the ''rules of the game'' and press the united_states into negotiations . ''what china is saying is , 'let 's sit down and talk , ' '' mr . xu said . ''there is a trend toward weaponization of space that no one , especially china , wants to see . ''

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three dancers who are from , or who have been associated with , hong_kong offered solos in a program called " hong_kong choreographers in concert " on friday night at the harry dejur playhouse . all the participants seemed familiar with both traditional_chinese dances and international modern_dance styles . but their works resembled private rituals . even when standing still as if lost in thought , wong kwan sun commanded attention in " vice_versa . " he proceeded to fall , rise , stumble and fall again . these serious activities were interrupted by a lively jumping dance . but this gave way to a sequence in which he thrashed as if attacked by an imaginary opponent . the piece ended with him as a shadowy figure moving through almost total darkness . despite its intensity , the solo remained thematically obscure . the other pieces were also cryptic . jocelyn chung darted shyly about in what looked like a schoolgirl 's uniform in " yaumo . " but when she wrapped herself in red ribbons , she failed to hint whether or not her actions possessed any symbolic significance . li chiao ping filled " tome " with enigmas . she dipped poles into containers of liquids and swept them across the floor . she balanced a book on her head as if doing a posture exercise and dropped piles of books on the ground . she spoke about superstitions and about problems of cultural_identity . like the other choreographers , she set her solo to a taped collage , in this case one that combined chinese music with mozart . but the sights and sounds never cohered . the event was part of the asian contemporary_dance festival , a series presented by the abrons arts center of the henry street settlement . dance review

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lead if they are not pushed too far , there are astounding parallels between the chinese students demonstrating for democracy in tiananmen_square in recent weeks and the american students demonstrating for an end to the vietnam_war at the democratic_national_convention in chicago in 1968 , before most of those if they are not pushed too far , there are astounding parallels between the chinese students demonstrating for democracy in tiananmen_square in recent weeks and the american students demonstrating for an end to the vietnam_war at the democratic_national_convention in chicago in 1968 , before most of those chinese students were even born . the most obvious is their shared conviction that ''the whole world is watching . '' that august in chicago , 21 years ago , it was the slogan most often repeated . in beijing , one american journalist reported its use , but that may be skeptically attributed to persistence in memory . more important were the outward signs . there were banners in english , surely not for the local population . there were plenty of competent english speakers available for interviews . there were volunteers to help identify who were the hunger strikers , who were the medical students , who were the demonstrators from the far provinces playing to the television cameras . playing to the television cameras was conscious , deliberate and fundamental . the presence of cameras alters the shape of events there need be no more argument about that . but is that necessarily bad ? should television cameras therefore stay away ? does it make things better to keep them away ? the cameras did not create the anger they shaped the protest . removing them would make no difference , except it might intensify the anger , which would have found other ways to express itself , perhaps more destructive ways because they would have to be more secret ways . but it was the physical presence of the cameras that shaped the events , not the journalists who accompanied the cameras . the big thing , in beijing as it had been in chicago , was that the cameras were there . in both cases , moreover , they had not been brought there to show the protest . they came to chicago to cover the democratic_national_convention . they came to beijing to cover the reconciliation of the two communist giants after three decades of hostility , that is , to report the visit of the soviet_union 's mikhail_gorbachev . the demonstrators knew the cameras would be there and planned their demonstrations to be where the cameras already were . there is a serious danger of reading too much future portent into this . such live coverage is possible under only the most specialized conditions . the site must be small enough to fall within the scope of a few cameras , and it must have boundaries , tiananmen_square or michigan avenue . ( in 1968 , the demonstration in chicago 's grant_park the night before the convention opened , vigorously broken up by the police , was out of range of live cameras and was not shown on television , except for some snippets of film on the next morning 's news programs . ) sports provide paradigmatic live_television a baseball or basketball or football game , a horse_race . they , too , must be within encompassable boundaries . the race for the america 's cup is within boundaries that are too vast . as a result , no picture ever tells you at a glance who is winning . it would be the same for live coverage of land or sea battles , the horrible prospect so often deplored by those whose chief interest in television is to deplore it . fighting on land quickly boils down to company or platoon action , while in modern sea battles everything is over the horizon from everything else . nor can equipment be hastily deployed for live coverage of future demonstrations . logistical plans for television coverage of the 1968 convention were complete to the smallest detail at least a year before the event months before mr . gorbachev arrived in china , networks planning to be there had received permission for camera locations and transmission facilities , submitted detailed lists of equipment complete to serial_numbers of camera lenses , and identified by name and passport number every reporter , technician and gofer who was coming . the storming of the winter palace by the bolsheviks in march 1917 could have been covered on live_television only if someone had attended to the planning no later than may day 1916 . both cbs and cnn are properly proud of having had their cameras in tiananmen_square . and it was the presence of those cameras that mattered . what was important to the demonstrators was that they present their case to television , which they were thus able to do . but the chinese authorities were aware of the subtle implications of being seen on television in a way that the authorities of chicago in 1968 were not . the mayor of chicago thought demonstrators were coming to disrupt the convention or start a revolution or both . to frustrate them , he took advantage of a strike of union telephone installers that applied to all television except that in the convention_hall itself . as a result , there could be no live coverage of action in the streets . television , however , was far enough advanced to put live cameras in the streets , record their pictures on videotape and supply the necessary power for both with portable generators . it was those tapes that america saw the suppression of the demonstrators which was called by the subsequent official inquiry ''a police riot , '' the first time that term was ever used . what much of the world saw in 1989 were live pictures of hunger strikers and their supporters in tiananmen_square . it also saw official representatives of the chinese government , embarrassed and clearly aware that they were losing face on live_television , order all transmissions shut down , a process exquisitely covered and painfully dragged out by the american television staffs themselves . the medium , which had been the message , was becoming the masseuse . next there were news reports , presumably from inside the government of china itself , of hard_liners versus moderates , that is , those who wanted to stop all this nonsense by force against those who were sure that in time the students would tire and the viewers get bored . that was as much as the outside world could see when the transmissions were stopped , but the news has plunged on . history is not limited to the eye of the beholder . the physical suppression of the 1968 demonstration by the chicago police certainly disrupted the democratic_party 's convention and may have defeated its candidate in the presidential_election that followed . it was many years , however , between the police being shown clubbing demonstrators on michigan avenue and the end of the war in vietnam . we do not yet know whether the demonstrations in tiananmen_square for more democracy will have parallel results . tv view

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it 's a little hard to imagine that a photographic show pegged to the 50th_anniversary of the people 's republic of china could give no idea of communist misrule . but the organizers of ''china fifty years inside the people 's republic'' at the asia_society have accomplished that feat . to be sure , the aim is not to offer a documentary but in the words of vishakha n . desai , senior vice_president for cultural programs and director of the asia_society galleries ''a highly personal , engaged , insiders' view of china and the chinese during a time of unprecedented change . '' so this group of images by 33 photographers ranging from those as well known as robert_capa and eve arnold to native born chinese whose work has rarely been seen outside the country is a misleadingly low key representation . it gives no hint of the violence at times engendered by the zeal of ''communist reforms . '' there is in fact a curious discrepancy between the show 's discreet visuals and the candid text for its catalogue by rae yang . ms . yang , 49 , the chairwoman of the east asian studies program at dickinson college in carlisle , pa . , was a red guard in her youth and she freely discusses the excesses of the mao decreed 1960 's cultural_revolution and her own ( small ) role in them . but from this show , you would scarcely know that the cultural_revolution and other depredations occurred , causing the death of millions . in fact , the only photograph of tiananmen_square which achieved international notoriety in 1989 when government soldiers fired on reformist supporters gathered there is a 1981 view by liu heung shing . it shows students studying in its vastness at night to prepare for high_school entrance_exams , which were allowed after years of official education bashing that made learning a dirty word . so aside from the work of antonin kratochvil , a czech photographer whose five exhibited pictures from 1978 , taken in guangdong_province , could be said to mildly reflect the angst and despair of the cultural_revolution 's aftermath ( compare these with eve arnold 's upbeat views on the same subject , taken around the same time ) , the show is squeaky_clean of politically embarrassing material . even operating under ms . desai 's rubric , one would think that in a half century of lensed images there might be a few that more sharply reflected the down side of the chinese government . the show , incidentally , is sponsored by the ford_motor_company , which does extensive business with china . it begins strongly with a historical section , a cluster of black and white images made before the founding of the people 's republic in 1949 ( including a rare close up of the young mao_zedong and zhou_enlai , already plotting revolution in yan'an , taken in 1937 by owen lattimore , a far east scholar who was a target of senator joseph r . mccarthy in the 1950 's . there are poignant photographs of refugees displaced by the civil_war between mao 's forces and those of chiang_kai_shek , and communist victory celebrations and even a shot of a smiling mao presiding at a swimming party with members of the communist youth league in the late 195o 's . but there mao 's visibility all but ends . the show shifts to become an often fascinating essay on the china of later years , but without much edge . grouped by individual photographers and unconcerned with chronological order , it concentrates more on china 's recent years , with many works dating from the 1990 's . they range from a 1998 essay on ''parents'' by a young chinese painter and photographer , wang jinsong , a look at older couples of differing social status whose children have flown the nest , to views of paintinglike landscapes in starkly beautiful black and white , taken from 1984 to 1995 by lois conner , an american photographer . several of the photographic essays here , by reagan louie , mark leong and richard yee , deal with the return of chinese_americans to the haunts of their immediate ancestors . the brazilian born photographer sebastiao salgado is represented by one of the liveliest ''takes'' nearly a dozen black and white views of shanghai , made in 1998 . skyscraper panoramas , street scenes , huge factory interiors , old style markets and the day and night life of its people show a city of vast ambition , future bound at a dizzying rate . the frantic pace and sprawling reach of cities is also forcefully portrayed by macduff everton , an american , in his big photo of a crowd crossing a garish hong_kong street ( 1997 ) and the broad boulevards of shenzhen ( special_economic_zone ) in guangdong_province ( 1995 ) . on the other hand , robert glenn ketchum 's beautiful explorations of the grand canal and affiliated waterways of suzhou ( 1986 95 ) , show a venice like city whose canal network forms one of the great industrial transportation systems of western china , but whose ancient houses , bridges and culture still resist the modernization that creeps in relentlessly . the persistence of tradition is cherished by richard yee , born in guangzhou and living in massachusetts since 1952 . he keeps returning to document old ways , and his 1997 essay on yunnan_province shows the land and people unchanged an infant slung over its young mother 's shoulder , both dressed in richly embroidered central_asian garments a straw basket roped to a man 's back , a gunny sack worn by a walker in the rain , a delicate snowy landscape that could have been painted a thousand years earlier . mark leong , born in california in 1966 , also revisits his family turf in guangdong_province ( 1989 97 ) to record an ancestor worship ritual , his oldest living relative in china , the life of a grungy street and the home of a village chief . more attuned to the present , brian palmer , an american who lives in beijing , has photographed some american style rites ( 1996 97 ) , including the crush at a subway stop and svelte young things at a modeling competition . to prove that religion is still alive in china , xiao ming li , a bejing based magnum photographer , searched out pockets of secret catholicism ( 1993 95 ) a nun preparing rice cakes for mass in shaanxi province a cluster of congregants saying funeral prayers aboard a fishing boat in jiangsu_province , a man carrying a statue of the virgin through an ancient , rubble strewn courtyard in yunnan_province . few countries are as photogenic as china , and the infectious empathy with which most of the photographers view their subjects makes for some compelling images . in short , the show undemonizes china , giving a very human dimension to the struggles of a vast population adapting to a tidal_wave of change . but in leaving out direct references to authoritarian brutality over the half century , it weakens itself , revealing only part of the picture . ''china fifty years inside the people 's republic'' remains at the asia_society 735 park_avenue , at 70th street , ( 212 ) 517 2742 , through jan . 2 . photography review

has a location of china

when two real_estate tycoons make preparations to start rival television shows within weeks of fighting each other in court , it has all the looks of an ego driven catfight . that perception is only reinforced when the tycoons are donald j . trump , new york 's brashest developer , and vincent lo , a hong_kong developer who has made a fortune in shanghai with a flashy formula worthy of mr . trump . but both developers are playing down their rivalry as they prepare to introduce similar sounding reality_shows on chinese television and as they continue litigating a 1 billion dispute over the proceeds from a once close property partnership on manhattan 's west side . indeed , mr . trump has become so solicitous as to suggest that mr . lo should be giving himself a larger role in his show perhaps a role as big as mr . trump plays in his show , ''the apprentice . '' word that a chinese edition of that program was under development first surfaced this week in the south_china_morning_post . ''he should be on the show , '' mr . trump said of mr . lo in a telephone interview friday . ''i think he 'd do very well if he were on the show . '' this summer , mr . lo has been preparing a show called ''wise man takes all , '' in which contestants reportedly will compete to set up their own businesses , with the results judged by a panel of judges , occasionally including mr . lo himself . mr . lo is being cagey about the details , however and he is ducking questions about any rivalry with mr . trump . ''what i can say about this project is that it is designed to foster healthy competition and entrepreneurship among the younger generation in the chinese mainland , and that is why my company , shui on land , has decided to sponsor it , '' mr . lo said in a terse written statement . ''this is in line with our longstanding commitment to the development of china , where we have a proven track record and have built relationships for more than 20 years . " mr . trump and mark burnett productions , which produces ''the apprentice , '' are in talks with pan shiyi , beijing 's best known developer , to serve as host of the chinese version . zhang xin , mr . pan 's wife and co chief executive , said in a telephone interview on friday evening that her husband was out at a meeting with representatives of mr . burnett , a leading developer of reality_shows and the namesake of the company , to go over the contract . soho china , the couple 's development company , specializes in building luxurious modern apartment towers in central beijing , courting designers , celebrities and the media . that has given their buildings a cachet similar to some of mr . trump 's properties although the personal lives of mr . pan , 41 , and ms . zhang , 39 , have not attracted the same kind of notoriety . indeed , the question is whether mr . pan , a low key , soft_spoken man , understands what a show like ''the apprentice'' will entail . ms . zhang said that the couple can already get ''the apprentice'' in english on their television in beijing , but were so busy that they had never seen an episode . ''i only know it 's a popular tv show , but i never watch tv , '' except the occasional news show , she said . ''he has never even watched the show and in fact today , he said to me , 'who is mark burnett ? ' and i said , 'i do n't know . '''

has a location of china

a chinese court recently announced that an internet democracy advocate charged with subversion would get a suspended_sentence instead of a long prison term , with the case drawing criticism from human_rights groups and serving as a rallying cry for this country 's growing number of online commentators . both in china and abroad , some commentators quickly applauded what seemed like an official show of leniency toward the accused man , du daobin , a prolific author of online essays on issues of democracy and free_speech . but many among china 's rapidly growing group of internet commentators are warning that what appears to be government magnanimity in this high profile case conceals a quiet but concerted push to tighten controls of the internet and surveillance of its users even though china 's restrictions on the medium are already among the broadest and most invasive anywhere . internet cafe users in china have long been subject to an extraordinary range of controls . they include cameras placed discreetly throughout the establishments to monitor and identify users and web masters , and internet cafe managers who keep an eye on user activity , whether electronically or by patrolling the premises . the average internet user , meanwhile , neither sees nor , in many cases , suspects the activities of a force widely estimated to number as many as 30 , 000 internet police officers . experts on china 's internet say the officers are constantly engaged in a cat and mouse game with equally determined web surfers , blocking access to sites that the government considers politically offensive , monitoring users who visit other politically sensitive sites and killing off discussion threads on internet bulletin_boards . the chinese government has also established a web_site where people are able to report fellow web users for suspicious or provocative behavior . web surfers who try to visit sites being blocked by the government receive messages announcing a page is no longer accessible , or their computer screen may simply go blank , or they may be redirected to unrelated sites . similarly , people who participate in web based discussions on certain subjects may be warned that in order to log on to a discussion group , real names must be used , along with genuine e mail addresses and even telephone numbers . as its first line of defense against what in another era china 's communist leadership might have called ideological pollution , beijing controls the internet by insisting that all web traffic pass through government controlled servers . now , coming on top of these measures , which are all deployed at the national level , china 's provincial governments are getting into the act , introducing regulations of their own that critics say severely impinge on privacy and freedom of speech . in recent weeks , shanghai , china 's largest and most internet connected city , has quietly introduced a series of controls , arguably the country 's most far reaching yet , and critics fear , a model eventually to be used nationwide . described by city officials as a measure intended to combat pornography and to bar entry for minors to internet bars , the shanghai regulations require customers to use swipe cards that would allow administrators or others to record their national identity numbers and track their internet use . the regulations have kicked up little public debate , in part because they have received little publicity here during the planning stage . but fierce protests have appeared online , where many active internet users are interpreting the new regulations as an extension of the police_state . ''we will hold press conferences during each step of the implementation , and the public can express their own opinions and the media could discuss and question it , '' said an official with the shanghai municipal administration of culture , radio , film and television , who spoke on the condition of anonymity . ''and we have made a priority of making sure that our actions are not against the law . that 's our bottom line . '' asked if the privacy of internet users could be infringed , the official said that the shanghai government had noted the issue , but added that ''internet bars are public areas , and some experts say that what one says in a public area should not be considered private . '' speaking in an interview , one online commentator rejected out of hand the idea that invasive internet controls had any legitimacy . ''i can see that china 's progress in the area of law is going very slowly , '' said su zhenghua , an economist who frequently posts his thoughts online . ''this is a situation that i really must regret , and i hope the chinese government will follow the spirit of the constitution and protect freedom of speech and the individual 's right to privacy . '' some experts on china 's internet censorship say that in releasing mr . du recently , the government may have been making a subtle bow to china 's own domestic public opinion , as expressed through online communication and debate . international analysts who follow china 's internet scene say that the government has been particularly taken aback by the explosion in a new form of online communication for china the weblog , or blog . it started last year with a celebrated case of a young woman who made a running online commentary about her own sex life , and now hundreds of thousands of people take enthusiastically to this form . indeed , mr . du himself earned the government 's wrath in this way when he wrote to condemn the jailing last year of another well known web commentator , liu di , whose online moniker was ' 'stainless_steel mouse . '' in turn , at least 1 , 000 people signed a petition in support of mr . du that urged the government to stop using antisubversion laws to hinder free_speech . according to the analysts , the country 's censors , always eager to contain waves of public opinion before they get out of hand , particularly in matters of politics , have become alarmed that despite their intense efforts , internet technology is quickly making free_expression far harder to control . ''with the du case , the government is saying , 'look , our actions may be nicer than in the past , but fundamentally , the judgment of the crime is unchanged , so do n't be fooled , we are also willing to be harsh , ''' said xiao_qiang , director of the china internet project at the university of california at berkeley . ''no matter how hard they try , though , it is a fact that the volume of online information is increasing vastly , and there 's nothing the government can do about that . you can monitor hundreds of bulletin_boards , but controlling hundreds of thousands of bloggers is very different . ''

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a fierce debate has erupted here over a government proposal to lengthen jail terms and increase fines for people who make ' 'seditious'' statements , even over the internet , and to allow some police searches and seizures without a warrant . the increasingly heated discussion has caught the attention of world leaders , including president_bush . after meeting with president jiang_zemin of china a week ago , mr . bush said he had offered his views on the importance of china 's ''preserving the rights of hong_kong citizens . '' china 's deputy prime_minister , qian_qichen , fanned the dispute when he said in a recent television interview that opponents of the new rules must have something to hide . the opponents must have ' 'devils in their hearts , '' he warned , a phrase that has angered and dismayed democracy advocates here . regina ip , hong_kong 's powerful secretary for security and a top aide to tung_chee_hwa , the chief executive , increased the controversy when she spoke to students at a local university last monday . mrs . ip questioned the value of democracy in protecting civil_liberties and contended that democracy in germany in the 1930 's led to the rise of hitler and to the holocaust . she said at a public debate on wednesday that the remark was a personal opinion , not a government position , but went on to cast doubt again on the usefulness of democratic processes . ''i do n't think democracy is the panacea for all problems , '' she said . ''if you look at the countries around the world , particularly in asia , there are many democratically_elected governments which fail even to protect human life , let alone human_rights . '' hong_kong was a british colony until 1997 , when it was returned to china . the territory enjoys some autonomy under its basic_law , which provides for a separate legal system and considerable autonomy in running its own affairs . tightened up by beijing after the tiananmen square massacre in 1989 , article 23 of the basic_law calls for the hong_kong_government to put in place laws against sedition and treason . the government put out a ''consultation paper'' last month that outlines in some detail the legislation it plans to introduce in february , with the goal of winning final passage by the legislature next summer . pro_beijing parties dominate the legislature , where only 40 percent of the members are directly elected . ( the others are chosen by special interest groups or a committee . ) the legislature virtually always passes government proposals , though sometimes with small changes . hong_kong 's government contends that its current proposal conforms to the international covenant on civil and political rights , as the united_states has urged . hong_kong currently has a sedition law dating from colonial times that prohibits people from bringing the government ''into hatred or contempt , '' but it has not been enforced for years . bob allcock , the solicitor_general of hong_kong , said the consultation paper called for narrowing the definition somewhat , to ''incitement to violence or public disorder which seriously endangers the stability'' of china or hong_kong . but the consultation paper does call for harsher penalties against people who engage in sedition , as newly defined . instead of two years in prison and a fine of up to 5 , 000 hong_kong dollars ( 641 ) , violators will face up to seven years in prison and fines up to 500 , 000 hong_kong dollars ( 64 , 100 ) . critics contend that expressing support or even sympathy for taiwan , which china views as a renegade province , could be interpreted as an incitement to violence . government officials dismiss these fears as exaggerated . seditious publications are already subject to confiscation , though the longstanding rule has not been used recently . but the consultation paper calls for the same longer jail terms and higher fines as for sedition for the responsible individuals and covers information published on the internet . the police would be allowed to search and seize evidence without a warrant in cases they deemed to involve national_security . all of these provisions have alarmed news organizations here . in a speech on thursday to four local chambers of commerce , mrs . ip did promise that the actual legislation , unlike the consultation paper , will have two limits on the police 's ability to conduct searches and seizures in national_security cases without seeking a court 's approval . the government has decided , she said , that the police should still be required to obtain warrants before they may conduct searches or seizures of financial information or of ''journalistic materials . '' the consultation paper also says that foreigners living in hong_kong would be subject to prosecution on sedition charges and that activities may be seditious even if they occur partly in other countries , as long as the hub of the activity is here . audrey eu , a politically independent member of the legislature , said at the debate on wednesday with mr . allcock and mrs . ip that the antisedition laws amounted to importing mainland_chinese laws , a contention mrs . ip denied . the debate was held at the foreign correspondents club here . speaking in cantonese , mrs . ip had said on monday ''hitler was returned by universal suffrage and he killed seven million jews . did he respect human_rights ? '' the statement has drawn growing criticism for being both callous and historically incomplete . hitler lost germany 's presidential_election in 1932 . while his nazi_party subsequently became the largest in parliament , it did not command the support of the majority of germans . partly by fomenting political violence , hitler ended up becoming the chancellor of a coalition cabinet on jan . 30 , 1933 , and was subsequently voted dictatorial powers by germany 's reichstag . ''for some reason people love to imagine hitler was voted into power , but it was far more complicated than that , '' said mitchell b . hart , the padnos visiting professor of jewish history at the university of michigan . he added that most experts put the number of jews murdered in the holocaust at five million to six million , not seven million .

has a location of china

an article in business day on saturday about a complaint filed by the united_states against china over the way it taxes imported computer chips referred incorrectly to the ones that qualify for a tax of 17 percent . they are those with a circuit feature size of 0 . 25 microns or less , not 2.5 microns . the article also misstated the date of an interview with senator max_baucus , democrat of montana , who commented on the dispute with china . it was on wednesday , not march 15 .

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lead a thousand years ago , china produced a series of technological achievements that , in the words of ''the genius that was china , '' put it ''at the cutting edge of knowledge of the medieval world . '' the nature of those achievements and the reasons for the country 's scientific somnolence after the 13th century make up an illuminating four part series from ''nova . a thousand years ago , china produced a series of technological achievements that , in the words of ''the genius that was china , '' put it ''at the cutting edge of knowledge of the medieval world . '' the nature of those achievements and the reasons for the country 's scientific somnolence after the 13th century make up an illuminating four part series from ''nova . '' the elegantly shaped opening hour , ''rise of the dragon , '' can be seen tonight at 8 on channel 13 . it 's an absorbing story . everybody knows the chinese invented gunpowder , but it may come as news to some viewers that the sung dynasty also brought the world printing , the compass and a remarkable array of astronomical instruments . using lovely paintings and diagrams as well as helpful re enactments , tonight 's program illustrates such accomplishments as the workings of the salt wells in sichuan_province around 250 b.c . and the elaborate system of canals and pumps for flood control and irrigation that gave china ''the most productive system of farming the world had ever seen . '' but running through scholars' accounts of innovations in medicine and the demonstrations of printing techniques that permitted the distribution of a unified body of confucian thought is the question of why the ''celestial empire'' was left so far behind by the emerging nations of europe and the middle_east . that will be explored next week in ''empires in collision , '' but some of the critical elements can be detected here the growing rigidity of china 's managerial class , rooted in tradition and prizing social stability the invasions of the tatars and mongols the awakening energies of european explorers and traders of the middle ages . while italian merchants were making fortunes in the china_trade , china 's own merchants remained at the bottom of a strict social hierarchy . in the 15th_century under the ming_dynasty , the narrator observes , china was still the richest , most advanced nation on earth , but the tide had decisively shifted . in a particularly arresting passage , the camera plays over a model of a complex 30 foot high clock that once stood in the imperial palace . designed by its inventor ''to organize the calendar , promote good government , predict good and bad fortunes and study the resulting gains and losses , '' this splendid machine with its carved figures and its trumpets and drums to sound the hours was the most accurate timepiece of its day . but the narrator explains that the precise measurement of time was irrelevant to the peasantry , the vast majority of the country , and so ''even the memory of the device was lost . '' the final episodes report on japan 's mastery of western methods of production in the 20th_century and china 's start and stop efforts to catch up . the series carries resonance for the united_states , where works like paul kennedy 's ''rise and fall of the great_powers'' have lately stirred intimations of even a superpower 's mortality . as this first hour notes , the ''vast military industrial complex'' of the sung dynasty could not hold back the powerful forces sweeping through their world . the cutting edge of the medieval world the genius that was china , a ''nova'' report , directed by david roberts written by john merson produced by mr . merson for film australia tom levenson , producer for nova paula apsell , executive_producer of nova richard kiley , narrator . at 8 p.m . on channel 13 .

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after months of belated preparations and testing , china is ''basically ready'' to enter 2000 with only minimal disruptions from computer breakdowns , a senior official said today . zhang qi , the information ministry official in charge of the program to prevent year 2000 computer problems , said elaborate tests and simulations had been run in 18 important industries and sectors that rely heavily on computers and microchips like telecommunications , aviation , power production , banking , water_supply and transportation . ms . zhang said those ''national lifeline'' sectors should be free of major problems . but she also acknowledged that poorer provinces in the interior and some sectors like business , health_care and public services ''lag far behind'' in testing and modifying computers , possibly causing local disruptions in commerce , the use of advanced medical machines or public utilities . she also noted that embedded microchips in systems or machines were often difficult to check and could possibly cause unexpected problems and that major industries were developing contingency_plans to cope with emergencies . ''china is a very big country , with more than 30 provinces , '' ms . zhang said at a news conference called to reassure the population and worried international businesses . ''we have n't checked every single place . so i ca n't say that china is 100 percent ready . but i can say we are basically ready . '' ''there will be no big losses'' in economic activity because of computer problems , ms . zhang added . china was stung this year when some international experts said that it was behind other major countries in efforts to prevent year 2000 disasters . ms . zhang has led a crash effort to catch up , and today she claimed important successes while conceding that some regions and enterprises had still paid little attention to the problem . computers and microchips can malfunction if their inner calendars do not recognize ''00'' as ''2000 . '' problems can be prevented through painstaking testing and modification . as one sign of confidence in the airline_industry , top executives of several chinese lines promised to ride their planes on jan . 1 . more developed coastal regions , which are more heavily computerized , have generally done a good job of preparing , ms . zhang said . although poorer interior provinces are less ready , computers are less widely used there , she said , and ''the impact wo n't be that great . '' hospitals and medical systems have lagged , she said , in part because they are not electronically integrated like banking , so that inspectors have to visit hospitals one at a time to check vital equipment . ms . zhang held out as a model shanghai no . 1 hospital , which has made enormous efforts to check machines with embedded chips and found that 7 to 8 percent required changes , she said . at the news conference , an official of the central_bank , chen jing , said extensive tests had all but eliminated problems in banking and securities . but banks have also made contingency_plans , mr . chen said , including preparations for manual clearing of transactions , if necessary . mr . chen said the central_bank planned to increase loans of cash to banks for the first three months of 2000 to head off public panic . ''the public should rest assured , '' he said , ''that no problem will occur in the supply of cash . ''

has a location of china

lead as the dance theater in westchester tries to bring to life the fantasy ''sleeping_beauty'' at the tarrytown music_hall on saturday , the ballet_company may also be giving life to another fantasy performing in china . as the dance theater in westchester tries to bring to life the fantasy ''sleeping_beauty'' at the tarrytown music_hall on saturday , the ballet_company may also be giving life to another fantasy performing in china . on that night , the company will be dancing for , among others , 22 guests from the chinese consulate in new york , including wang yulin , the deputy consul general . wang he , director of the consulate 's cultural division , who also plans to attend , said it would be the first time members of the consulate would have been official guests at a westchester arts event . while mr . wang said the delegation would attend the ballet at the personal invitation of the father of one of the members of the dance company , he acknowledged that it was part of his job to watch for ''high quality'' performing_arts groups to invite to china ''or unique american groups , '' he added . having the chinese officials as guests ''adds a tremendous amount of prestige in the county'' for the company , said its artistic director and founder , rose marie menes . the thought that consulate officials might be so impressed by the company to invite it to china remains a ''fantasy , '' she said , but it has added extra excitement to the show . the chinese , who will also be guests at a fund_raising gala for the dance theater after the performance , will see a cast of 21 professional dancers , led by a colombian ballerina who has studied in the soviet_union and israel , supplemented by five of ms . menes 's students and many volunteers . one volunteer is dr . peter wallack , a former dance theater board member who has a nondancing role in ''sleeping_beauty'' and who is responsible for inviting the chinese delegation . dr . wallack a teacher at public_school 111 in the bronx and an inveterate traveler toured and photographed china for three weeks this summer . ''i came back from china with pictures of a lovely people , '' said dr . wallack , whose doctorate is in education . ''i thought i 'd look into sharing the pictures with the chinese'' for them to use for the purpose ''of attracting more americans to the country . '' he contacted the consulate and eventually invited several officials to his mahopac home for dinner . at dinner , he said , jin xianhong , the education consul , said he would like to see dr . wallack 's daughter , samantha who is in the cast dance . ''so we invited them'' to the performance , dr . wallack said . ''i made it clear i 'd introduce them to rose marie so they could talk about rose 's fantasy that they might tour china . mr . wang indicated he 'd be happy to . '' mr . wang was cautious about the prospects of the company being invited to china . but he added , ''we are waiting for companies to come to us . '' mr . wang said the consulate sometimes suggested to officials in china that a group be invited there , but the performers must find a sponsor to cover costs . ''china is not rich enough to invite large companies to perform , '' he said , adding ''i know it is difficult for these groups to find sponsors . '' but it is not impossible . one of the dancers in ''sleeping_beauty , '' jerry premick , said he went to china last christmas with the manhattan ballet . in this performance at the tarrytown music_hall , mr . premick is dancing in what has become since its founding in 1979 a true regional dance company . ms . menes , 43 years old , has recruited 21 professional dancers from the new york city area for the cast of 40 . even the sets are designed and painted by a professional , shelley bartolini , who in a long career has designed sets for broadway shows , operas and major films , the dance theater , based in yorktown heights , is best known for its annual production of ''a colonial nutcracker'' an americanized version of the christmas favorite . ms . menes , who had danced in europe with the first american festival ballet and the ballet russe and was a principal_dancer with the new york city opera , set the tchaikovsky ballet in a colonial home in yorktown at the time of the american revolution . for the ''nutcracker , '' she has always hired professional dancers from new york city who dance with students from her own school , the westchester ballet center here , which she started in 1978 after giving birth to her daughter , sonya . each year , more and more dancers audition , she said . ms . menes said that dancers passed the word about the company . indeed , fabiola ariza , 24 , who landed the lead role , aurora , in ''sleeping_beauty , '' said ''i heard there were auditions through the newspapers and dancers . '' miss ariza , who is from cali , colombia , had recently moved to edison , n.j. , to study with a new york teacher , maggie black , she said . she has danced with the national company of colombia , studied two years at the choreographic school of kiev in the soviet_union , and danced for three years with the bad dor company in israel . ''she had a lovely quality about her , '' ms . menes said of miss ariza . ''she will be a different aurora than you usually see . she has a classical quality and yet is exotic looking . '' larry crabtree , who has danced with the new jersey ballet and the berkshire ballet and who is also new to the company , will dance the role of the prince in the production , which is being supported by a grant from the westchester council for the arts . ms . menes said these performers were examples of how , as the company had grown , ''we 've been able to hire better and better dancers . '' ''if you can present ballet of good quality in westchester , you can reach people who cannot afford to go to lincoln_center , '' she added . although the troupe is presenting a truly international night of dance in the county , ms . menes and her husband , bernard werner , who is president of the dance company 's board , are trying to keep their chinese guests in the back of their mind . ''i want to get to tarrytown , '' mr . werner said jokingly , ''and worry about beijing later . '' the dance theater will perform ''sleeping_beauty'' three times at 9 30 a.m . friday , for students from the county at 8 p.m . saturday and at 2 p.m . sunday . information on tickets , which are 15 , 12 and 10 , is available by calling the westchester ballet center at 245 2940 or the tarrytown music_hall at 631 3390 . tickets for the saturday night gala are 25 a couple .

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scores of chinese writers and intellectuals issued a petition protesting the closing of a moderate web forum , century china . it was closed by censors last week amid a government campaign to police the internet . operators of the forum , who refused an invitation by the authorities to voluntarily close the site , called the action ' 'simplistic and crude . '' howard w . french ( nyt )

has a location of china

a chinese spy_satellite falling from space disappeared harmlessly over the south atlantic late monday_night . air_force trackers here said they were not sure whether the two ton capsule survived re entry into earth 's atmosphere when its 17 , 000 mile per hour free_fall ended .

has a location of china

for the past month , as china 's propaganda machine has promoted the nation 's new space hero or the latest pronouncements from communist_party leaders , the chinese public has seemed more interested in a 25 year old sex columnist whose beat is her own bedroom . ''i think my private life is very interesting , '' said the columnist , mu zimei , arching an eyebrow and tapping a marlboro light into an ashtray . she added ''i do not oppose love , but i oppose loyalty . if love has to be based on loyalty , i will not choose love . '' mu zimei is both reviled and admired , but she is not ignored . the country 's most popular internet site , sina . com , credits her with attracting 10 million daily visitors . another site , sohu . com , says mu zimei is the name most often typed into its internet search_engine , surpassing one occasional runner up , mao_zedong . her celebrity which exploded when she posted an explicit online account of her tryst with a chinese rock star first seemed to baffle government censors but now has drawn a familiar response . her forthcoming book was banned this week . she has quit her magazine columnist job and halted her blog , or online diary . yet at a time when ''sex and the city'' episodes are among the most popular dvd 's in china , the mu zimei phenomenon is another example of the government 's struggle to keep a grip on social_change in china . her writings have prompted a raging debate about sex and women on the internet , where more people are writing blogs or arguing anonymously about a host of subjects in chat_rooms and discussion pages . ''she does bring a huge impact on chinese society , '' said zeng fuhu , a top editor at sohu . com . such sweeping talk does not impress ms . mu as she sits in a bistro in this south_china boomtown . women at a nearby table try to eavesdrop as china 's scarlet lettered woman estimates that she has slept with about 70 men , and counting . she said she never realized her that online diary would be so widely discovered , or that it would grow into a national controversy . but she defended her right to sleep with as many men as she pleased and to write about it . ''if a man does this , '' she said , ''it 's no big deal . but as a woman doing so , i draw lots of criticism . '' sex , and governmental anxiety about it , is not a new issue in china . in january 1994 , the government banned ''the abandoned capital , '' a sexually_explicit , best selling novel by an acclaimed author , jia pingwa . then in may 2000 , censors banned another sex soaked best seller , ''shanghai baby , '' by zhou weihui . but ms . mu 's case is notable because her most controversial work appeared on the internet . mu zimei ( pronounced moo zuh may ) is the pen name of li li , who began working in 2001 as a feature writer at city pictorial , a glossy magazine covering fashion and social trends . at the end of 2002 , editors overhauled the magazine and decided they wanted a sex columnist who could write about ' 'real life'' issues . ms . mu said she was chosen because editors knew she was familiar with the subject . her first sexual experience on april 30 , 1999 , she noted ended with an abortion and left her wary of the opposite sex . she followed that with a ''pretty normal boyfriend'' before concluding she was not a one man woman . ''personally , i felt i was suitable for temporary relationships , '' she said . her biweekly column in city pictorial began in january . her topics included recommendations on the best music for good lovemaking , the aphrodisiacal benefits of eating oysters and technical pointers on making love in a car . it was racy stuff for china , but hardly without precedent . what changed everything was her decision in april to start her own online blog at a new chinese site for personal diaries . she said she thought it would be fun . while writing her magazine column , she had hopped from man to man , sometimes hopping to two men at once , sometimes hopping to married men . her topics , though , remained more thematic than explicit . but in her online diary , she began writing explicitly about those encounters , or those of her friends , and on july 26 described her brief and apparently unsatisfying liaison outside a restaurant with a famous guitarist in a guangzhou rock_band . the entry was posted at a popular online discussion board , spread among china 's ''netizens'' like wildfire and was quickly picked up in the gossipy newspapers that feed china 's growing celebrity culture . eventually , she was featured in china 's edition of cosmopolitan magazine . in beijing , editors at sina . com and sohu . com also noticed . an estimated 68 million people surf the internet in china , with annual growth rates approaching 30 percent . internet users tend to be china 's most affluent and better educated citizens , and though government censors block certain web_sites , the amount of information available online is enormous . it is also a growing and fiercely competitive business . by early november , sina . com had bought the serialization rights to ms . mu 's book , a compilation of her magazine columns , poems and some diary entries . ( the diary entries included in the book are not explicit , ms . mu said . ) beginning nov . 11 , sina . com used its home page to promote the serialization , along with photographs and interviews with the author . the response was stunning . sina . com normally attracts 20 million visitors a day . company officials say that number immediately jumped to 30 million and stayed there for 10 days . she also became a hot_topic of debate in different internet chat_rooms and discussion sites . was she an amoral hussy peddling pornography ? or was she a liberated woman ? ''the most loathsome person in the world is not the woman who writes exotic words , but those sanctimonious men ! '' wrote one contributor to a discussion page . ''i despise mu zimei ! '' one critic countered . another added , ''this kind of diary will only serve as an excuse for more people who want to live a wild sexual life . '' sociologists weighed in , pro and con . a sina . com poll of more than 30 , 000 people found respondents about equally split . for months , the government had remained a bystander . but on nov . 16 , the state run beijing evening news strongly criticized ms . mu and accused sina . com of wrongly promoting her to attract more visitors . ''the blind pursuit after this kind of phenomenon , '' the newspaper stated , ''will mislead people into thinking that the government authorities over news are turning blind to this . '' sina . com quickly minimized , though did not remove , its promotion of ms . mu . ''when we saw the beijing evening news , we realized we might have gone too far , '' said chen tong , sina . com 's editor_in_chief . ''so we pulled back . '' sohu . com 's editors initially held worried meetings about sina . com 's popular serialization . but a day after the beijing evening news article , the sohu . com editors , citing the need for internet sites to maintain content standards , published their own criticism about ms . mu . asked if the sohu article was an attempt to undercut sina 's star attraction , mr . zeng responded , ''it had nothing to do with sina . '' ms . mu does not regard herself as peddling smut . she said her generation of chinese grew up with little or no sex_education . ''some learned it from videos , '' she said . ''why not from words ? '' the government has other ideas , it seems . the decision to ban her book was reported in the state run media on friday . ms . mu confirmed the ban . online booksellers , who had been swamped with purchase requests , said government officials ordered them not to sell the book , which had been scheduled to go on the market this week . in an effort to defuse the controversy , ms . mu said she quit her columnist job in early november and voluntarily shut down her web_site . she said she had other offers and hoped to continue writing , assuming the government does not ban her writing altogether . she also said the controversy had cramped her social life she has , she said , been celibate for two weeks .

has a location of china

when popeye ruled saturday morning television in the united_states and ''yellow polka_dot bikini'' was topping the music charts , the chinese were in the throes of the cultural_revolution , reading little red books , condemning bourgeois capitalists , especially american , and raising their voices in revolutionary song . so it is not surprising that the audience at the beijing exhibition center was perplexed recently when the paul_taylor_dance_company bravely took to the stage with ''funny papers , '' a work drawing on tunes and images from alley oop , popeye the sailor man and , of course , that famous bikini song . the work must have seemed doubly perplexing in a country where public dance performances tend almost exclusively to folk_dance and traditional ballet with a heavy russian influence . yet here were the taylor dancers this month , whipping across the stage in black and white clown suits , miming weight_lifters and dragging each other rhythmically across the floor . but urban china 's aesthetic is changing fast , becoming more adventurous and diverse by the day . it is a credit to the country 's cultural curiosity that the people who have seen the company perform and certainly the dancers who have attended its master classes were far more invigorated than perplexed . ''compared to chinese dance , it 's so free and casual , '' said tan xiaoshi , who works at the national_library and saw a performance with her husband and 12 year old son . ''but it 's fun . i really like it . '' since the paul taylor company 's last visit here in 1996 , interest in modern_dance has grown enormously , although performances are still limited . the number of state sponsored modern_dance companies has risen from one to three since then , and there are a handful of private companies as well . cities like beijing , shanghai and chengdu are now home to vibrant underground art scenes where performance_art thrives , although shows are still monitored and occasionally closed by the authorities . in fact , after the paul taylor company 's first performance in beijing , the beijing youth daily complained that the show was too staid , calling it an ''exhibition of live fossils of modern_dance . '' ''there was nothing avant_garde , nothing alternative in it , '' the reviewer said . on this trip , the paul taylor company spent more than three weeks in china , performing and giving master classes in six cities , including smaller cities like wuhan and qingdao . its shows included ''funny papers'' and the calmer and more picturesque ''dandelion wine . '' gao liting , a dance teacher who called the performance delightful , said , ''i think modern_dance will be popular here , but the audience has n't seen much before all they know is swan_lake so they are slowly expanding their vision . '' . dancers with the taylor company said they had noticed a sea change among chinese dancers since their first visit to china . then they ''were all ballet trained and traditionally trained , and that made it very difficult to get our ideas across , '' said patrick corbin , one of the company 's principal dancers . ''it 's clear that they 've been exposed to much more now . '' indeed , a master class at the beijing modern_dance company was a 90 minute session of controlled chaos , with three members of the american company teaching chinese dancers some of paul taylor 's unique moves . the dancers were taught one movement mimicking a ''high diver as he parts the water'' and another called bleh , in which the body seems to collapse on itself . there were high voltage backward passes and instructions on how to twist the body into a signature taylor pretzel form . ballet dancers with rigid notions of order and form would have had trouble handling these movements . but on this morning at least , the students mostly kept up and clearly had a good time . ''it was not so intense as most classes here , '' said wang chao , a young man in grey sweats . the students were all from a state sponsored modern_dance troupe in xiamen , a southern port . ''i feel very liberated , my body feels very relaxed , '' he said . originally a folk_dance ensemble , the xiamen company reinvented itself as a modern_dance troop in 1999 at the instruction of the local government . ''before , everyone had to be all the same you had to fit into a model , '' said ling yuan , a young woman with a pony tail . ''but modern_dance is more focused on the individual , its freer . '' a friend , yang ling , in a black tank top and bright red clogs , added , ''yes , and it liberates the mind as well . '' willy tsao , the artistic director of the modern_dance companies in beijing and xiamen , said interest among young dancers was tremendous now . he said that dancers from china 's many dance academies were well trained but had few outlets for expression and creativity . ''people always tell them how to dance , what to dance , '' he said . ''in modern_dance they find freedom . '' although the taylor company had planned a_10 day tour this year , it expanded its visit to nearly a month at the request of the government 's china performing_arts agency . and this time the master classes were hot tickets for ballet troupes and general dance students as well as modern dancers . ''in '96 we had to fight to give classes , '' said john tomlinson , the company 's general_manager . ''this time we 're turning people away . some of the students had little or no experience of modern_dance , and it was amazing how much they wanted to try it . '' there was some risk for the taylor company and for the china performing_arts agency in taking the troupe to smaller cities that had never had a modern_dance performance . ''in qingdao , modern_dance is an alien art form , '' mr . tsao said . but this turned out not to be a problem . ''the reception was incredible a full house and incredibly enthusiastic , '' mr . tomlinson said . afterward they were given a banquet .

has a location of china

i ca n't remember the last time i saw such a crowd in the metropolitan museum 's chinese painting galleries , where views of all but empty landscapes are the norm . i 'm not talking times_square at new year 's eve . but still , it 's a full house . office clerks and society swells rub shoulders with scholars lost in worlds of their own . actors and priests add spice to the mix , along with wild eyed types who seem to be straight from the new york streets . and then there are the real oddballs , folks with halos and banners and snappish pet dragons . how did they ever get by the guards ? they live at the met , that 's how . and they 're earning their keep in a populous exhibition called ''secular and sacred scholars , deities , and immortals in chinese_art . '' drawn entirely from the permanent collection , it 's a show with a big theme , namely , all three of china 's major religions confucianism , taoism and buddhism . little wonder it takes some 90 objects to tell its tale . the story is one of overlappings and intertwinings , from a culture in which one life could be many lives . the great song artist , huang tingjian , whose spectacularly zany calligraphy opens the show , started out as a confucian scholar , then later turned to taoism and chan ( zen ) buddhism . and had you been his urbane 11th century contemporary , you , too , might have subscribed to all three . in your public and domestic life , you would have observed the behavioral protocols set down by confucius in the fifth century_b.c . the bottom line is that if you revere your ruler , defer to your superiors and play ''father knows best'' at home , you will have done your bit to bring peace to the cosmos . however gratifying the idea , in private you may have yearned for harmony less prescriptive and more personal . that 's what taoism offers , with its vision of the eternally embracing energy of the natural world . and if you were anxious to have that eternity take concrete form , you might have added buddhism , with its promise of a bliss filled paradise , to your spiritual repertory . although often seamless in practice , in art these belief systems are often , at least at first glance , distinct . the famous 11th century hand scroll called ''the classic of filial piety , '' illustrated by the painter li gonglin , uses expressively painted narrative scenes to define a patriarchal universe of power relationships father to son , social superior to inferior , husband to wife , emperor to subject . with a little looking , it becomes clear that li approaches these hierarchies with ambivalence even legitimate power , he suggests , can be misused . more important , by giving an eloquent aesthetic face to the mechanics of morality , he caused a revolution . suddenly , in art , people were more than mere puppets playing out roles . instead , they acted from complex , sometime conflicted feelings . the message was that political ethics and personal emotions were interrelated . this sort of felt , introspective response to the world is the essence of that most rarefied of taoist pictorial forms , landscape painting . the show has superb examples , each a cross between a mirror and a mood ring . at the same time , taoist art could be raucously extroverted . that 's certainly one way to describe the 13th century scroll titled ''the demon queller zhong kui giving his sister away in marriage , '' with its parade of plug ugly nature spirits pumping iron and preening . these creatures may have had origins in buddhist art , which arrived in china with a developed pantheon of celestial and hellish beings . these ranged from the ethereal savior deity guanyin , to the burly , glowering kings of hell depicted in five extraordinary , high colored hanging scrolls at the met who processed the damned in the buddhist underworld with the cool dispatch of confucian court judges . although for centuries at a time , the three religions coexisted and even blended , sometimes they did not . there were factional wars and persecutions . lives were lost art was destroyed . ( of more than 100 recorded works by li gonglin , 3 are thought to survive . ) in the 20th_century , of course , the entire picture changed . in the 21st_century , with religious revivalism and market capitalism wrestling for souls around the world , it may change again . meanwhile , art creates its own picture , a reflection of reality , but also an alternative to it . in a 13th century hand scroll titled ''scholars of the liuli hall'' at the met , several gentlemen have gathered for a party . most of them are confucian officials you can tell from their look_alike caps . one is bareheaded he is a buddhist monk . the party is set in a landscaped garden , the taoist emblem of harmony in complexity , an ideal that the show itself , organized by maxwell k . hearn , successfully emulates . though all these men have presumably come together for the same reason , they are all doing different things . the monk is deep in conversation with his ebullient host . a man in vermilion sits alone at a table , reading . two other men examine a scroll and seem to be bickering . a third leans meditatively against a tree . and two men in the group , spaced far apart , look upward , as if their attentions were caught by a sound . what might it be ? chanting in a distant temple ? the murmur of more guests arriving ? midnight cheers for a brand new year ? the met 's chinese galleries are so resonant with so many voices that you can almost hear all three sounds . and they will continue to hang in the air through jan . 8 , when this show ends its run . ''secular and sacred scholars , deities and immortals in chinese_art'' remains at the metropolitan_museum_of_art , fifth avenue at 82nd street , ( 212 ) 879 5500 , through jan . 8 . art review

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changing sheets is necessary and changing clothes is fun , but people are much more comfortable if everything else stays the same . so said the sociologists robert s . and helen lynd in their 1929 study of middle america , ''middletown . '' ''it is characteristic of mankind , '' they wrote , ''to make as little adjustment as possible in customary ways in the face of new conditions the process of social_change is epitomized in the fact that the first packard car body delivered to the manufacturer had a whipstock on the dashboard . '' and yet the world keeps undergoing not merely change but major upheavals requiring immense shifts in life styles . this happens everywhere , but perhaps nowhere in this century has it happened more consistently and frequently than in china , where events have repeatedly altered everything as thoroughly as an avalanche . photographers both chinese and western have caught these changes as they happened if you pointed a camera at china for more than a decade , you were bound to capture some shift . such photographs , if carefully chosen and arranged , provide easy , almost palpable access to major historical realignments . photographs are splendid repositories of history , so long as historians explain what they are really about . right now , with hong_kong still fresh in everyone 's mind , it is hard to avoid some sort of visual record of china 's lurch through history . ''marc riboud forty years of photography in china , '' at the international_center_of_photography uptown , puts approximately 100 photographs from four crucial decades on view , including a few pictures taken in hong_kong this may . he chiefly chronicles the radical swing from a patched coat peasant culture that was first liberated and then decimated by mao , to a mad capitalist economy addicted to money and miniskirts . ( the exhibition , which runs through sept . 14 , was supported by kodak professional and ccf , a french bank . ) fifty additional pictures are available in ''marc riboud in china forty years of photography , '' published by abrams . the asia_society has a fine show of some 75 earlier samples of the history of a newsworthy city ''picturing hong_kong photographs 1855 1910 , '' which traces hong_kong from backwater fishing port to british merchandise mart , fiefdom and , some would have said , foreign concubine that show continues through aug . 17 . and late last year random_house published jonathan d . spence and annping chin 's ''chinese century a photographic history of the last hundred years'' with surprises from throughout the century , including a couple by riboud . as spence and chin demonstrate with some little known images , the chinese century was wrenched from imperium to republic to japanese victim , from triangular bound feet to high heels , from rickshaws to motorcars . ( there is a wonderful 1924 picture of a paper model a ford and chauffeur being carried to the cemetery for burning to insure transport for the dead man in the spirit world . ) nothing endures but change in the second half of the century , china swung from communism and mao worship to bloody tiananmen and the invention of leisure time for workers . westerners have heard many times that shanghai has grown rich and adopted western_culture but may be less aware that this is the second time round , the first being in the 1920 's , when jazz and western films held sway . riboud 's 40 year work maintains a traditional , almost classical style , strongly influenced by henri cartier bresson . not images to make you jump up and down , they are solid and sharply observed . this is , perhaps , a heritage of magnum , the agency founded in 1957 by cartier_bresson , david seymour and robert_capa that has been home to many of the finest western photojournalists in the last four decades . riboud photographed china in black and white , the revered documentary approach that magazines almost did away with in the late 70 's and only recently have begun to publish again . his pictures generally strive for clarity , lucidity , order and balanced compositions , with the subject frequently in the center . at times he even looks for beauty , a quality unfortunately thought infra dig by trendsetters today . some contemporary photojournalism rather frantically calls attention to its own cleverness , but riboud 's pictures are old fashioned enough to favor the subject , which gives them the advantage of being calm , informative and uninsistent . the style looks easier and more casual than it is , as anyone who has tried to do what he does for longer than a day will tell you . he catches a few decisive moments but more often decisive details , like the baby crawling up a step and revealing a bare bottom because chinese baby garments are , or were , made with a permanent , and convenient , opening . usually he makes a very specific point , although if ever photographs needed captions to confirm their thrust , these do . the book 's text explains and expands a laughing peasant , in 1995 , stands some distance from a white_house in what looks like a standard genre picture until we learn that the house is the show off domain of the local police chief , built with an enforced contribution from everyone in the town . and a windshield was adorned with a picture of chairman_mao in 1992 , not , according to the text , as a political statement but because in a recent accident the only uninjured person had been a driver with just such a photograph , so mao was now thought to have joined the pantheon of protector gods . riboud managed to enter china at the end of 1956 and was allowed to return often he writes at the i.c.p . that he is ''possibly the only westerner who has photographed china consistently since the 1950 's . '' there were some limits on him as a westerner . he speaks of a ''guardian angel'' ( a guide he sometimes gave the slip to ) and some restrictions he partially circumvented with devices like a wide angle lens . he has scant images of the bad news about the cultural_revolution , which the government was adept at covering up . for re education , famine , persecutions , executions , see ''the chinese century , '' where most of the pictures of that episode that even mao came to regret were taken by chinese photographers . in the light of today 's thinking , western images of china from colonial times betray the prejudices of their time , and someday riboud 's pictures and other recent western photojournalism may seem to do the same , either because the photographers are necessarily limited to their own backgrounds or because they were concentrating on what they knew the rest of us wanted to see . ''picturing hong_kong'' repeatedly points out the different approaches to and uses of portraits of europeans and chinese , the western insistence on the picturesqueness of the ''other , '' and photographers' studied avoidance of certain subjects . over time , people wise up and jettison certain stereotypes , yet new ones are always waiting in the wings for a chance to go on stage . a journalist photographs what he sees , but seeing involves preconceptions , and choices . riboud's personal predilection is for contrast , which perfectly suits his aim . his pictures frequently set old against new , rich against poor a picture of illiterates in a classroom in 1957 next to a photograph of computer workers in 1993 a ragged man with a sack over his shoulder in '93 opposite a young couple with a cell phone and a game boy . riboud also relishes contrast within a single frame , as in an image of a sexy ad for nylon panties the manufacturer 's label is ''three stacked rifles'' next to men steaming bread in the traditional wooden sieves . contrast is a rhetorical device , a shorthand way to make a point without bothering with transitions . it is especially useful in education and propaganda ''compare and contrast'' is a standard test question , ''before and after'' a standard sales pitch for plastic_surgery . china is so immense and various and its history so vertiginous that contrasts are unavoidable , and if the main point that you wish to make is the extent of change over four decades , then surprising juxtapositions are a natural teaching device . in china over that period , the changes amounted to dislocations . westernization accelerated in the 1980 's as the country set a door ajar for western businesses and made exchange agreements with western film and television companies . advertising and foreign styles poured across the great_wall , profoundly altering the urban and even the rural landscape . entertainment is becoming america 's largest export it does an efficient job of making the rest of the world look like us . riboud 's pictures are rife with advertisements , in a nation that until recently did not want to sell its people much besides ideology . riboud 's show opens with a 1965 picture of schoolchildren in guangxi walking to school with enormous straw rain hats on their backs . the photographer writes that it rains heavily in this southern_province , which is ideal for rice crops , and that the hats can be passed down from generation to generation . ''the chinese century'' has a photograph from hankou in 1927 of southern chinese soldiers wearing these same hats on their backs . ''foreigners mistook these for shields , '' the text says , ''contemptuously believing they were evidence of the primitive state of china 's forces . '' change or no change , many things stay the same the rain still rains , the hats still keep it out ( if plastic has not replaced them ) , and foreigners still look at pictures for evidence they may not be able to read . photography view

has a location of china

ming and qing in manhattan chinart , one chinese antiques gallery in manhattan that is not giving a fancy cocktail_party during the current round of auctions and shows known as asian art week , does n't need to . everyone shows up anyway . well known to the trade and to museum curators and unknown by nearly everyone else ruby chan 's shop , chinart , is a secret source of ming ( 1368 to 1644 ) and qing ( 1644 to 1912 ) dynasty antiques . you wo n't find any advertisements for chinart 's simple storefront at 273 fifth avenue , at 29th_street . ''i depend on word of mouth , '' ms . chan said . she does n't seem to spend much on decorating either . her crowded , street level shop has rows of 17th and 18th_century huanghuali and jumu altar tables arranged like pews in a church . haphazardly interspersed among them are a pair of 18th_century walnut horseshoe back chairs , a 16th_century huanghuali wine table with its original patina , a 17th_century tapered cabinet made of jumu wood , a 17th_century small huanghuali side table with a burl wood square inset in its top , and a rare 18th_century burgundy lacquered jumu sedan chair with its own footrest . the sedan chair retains its metal loops , through which poles could be threaded to allow bearers to carry their master through the streets . ''what i sell is classical , not country , furniture , '' ms . chan said . old fashioned glass cabinets display a han dynasty bronze tripod food container that once belonged to the chicago collector james alsdorf an 18th_century porcelain vessel for wine that is glazed a striking tea dust green a 19th_century carved ivory hairpin a late 18th_century blanc de chine goddess of mercy and a 17th_century wooden brush_pot . the brush_pot has holes where knots would have been . ''scholars or painters would have used this to meditate upon , '' ms . chan said . ''the holes look like clouds . '' a pair of salmon colored late 18th_century embroidered silk panels hang on the wall . in a chinese home , they would be displayed to celebrate a birthday . they depict the eight immortal taoist gods in animated poses . ''they are so joyful , '' ms . chan said . ''they are for good health and luck . '' robert jacobsen , curator of chinese_art at the minneapolis museum of art , had an appointment with ms . chan on sunday to see her new items . ''i go to look at her museum quality softwood furniture , '' he said . ''she looks for pieces with the same proportions as the earlier , classic hardwoods . in the 18th_century , when the chinese ran out of hard woods like huanghuali , they copied them in elm , walnut , burl and other indigenous softwoods . '' ms . chan 's prices are considered very fair . ''my rent is low compared to uptown , '' she said . ''i buy directly from china . there 's no middleman . '' ms . chan is a second generation dealer . her father left mainland_china to set up shop in hong_kong in 1943 . ''in the 1950 's he began to buy things from westerners who were leaving china , '' she said . ''missionaries and people working for western companies moved south when the communists took over in 1949 . he snapped up a lot of good things . '' in the 1960 's , when she was a girl , ms . chan accompanied her father and mother to beijing on shopping trips . ''the government wanted cash so they invited my father to government warehouses where the pieces were stored , '' she said . ''i helped him look at things and carry them out . '' the chinese government closed the market in the late 1960 's . ''everything stopped , '' she said . ''no one dared to bring things out . '' ms . chan came to america in 1974 , married and set up shop . her brother albert stayed in hong_kong , where he has his own independent operation . ''the chinese still do n't respect this furniture as much as westerners do , '' mr . jacobsen said . ''only a few museums in china are serious about collecting it . '' a texan 's trove sam bernstein , a texan who has specialized in chinese antiquities since 1976 , is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his san_francisco gallery with an exhibition in manhattan today through sunday . ''it 's my coming of age show , '' he said . it has taken him six years to assemble the 33 pieces of ancient chinese_art he is offering for sale at the four seasons hotel , 57 east 57th_street . he has titled the show ''within reach'' because the jade , bone , glass and bronze artifacts are meant to be touched and appreciated by both eye and hand . the pieces range from the neolithic a huan disc , an adz blade in jade and a mottled green stone disc to a tang period bone hairpin and a white qing imperial seal . he has a mythical beast in translucent white glass from the han dynasty ( 206 b.c . to 220 a.d. ) that fits into your hand . mr . bernstein says it is a bixie , a tomb guardian that wards off evil spirits . normally , a bixie is a composite animal , with attributes like wings or hooves or horns . this one looks like a horse , though it has wings . its four legs are tucked under it and its head is raised . the mouth is wide open in what mr . bernstein said was a typical han stance . ''for me , this beast is a metaphor for the entire han period in its power , aliveness and naturalistic carving , '' he said . it is the only known example of a han horse in glass imitating jade that is more than three inches long , mr . bernstein said . he said the glass horse was buried for hundreds of years . portions of it have a cloudy , purplish discoloration . ''the glass has devitrified , '' he said . ''there is an alteration to the surface when it interacts with its environment , whether it 's soil or water . '' discoloration does not disqualify a piece of jade or glass for serious collectors , who expect it , but the lack of original surface might . mr . bernstein said glass was an exotic material during the han . ''it was considered even more exotic than jade because it came from outside china , probably from the middle_east , beginning in the seventh century_b.c . , '' he said . ''there was a great demand for prestige objects by the elite . they were the patek philippe watches of their day . '' in china , glass served the same function as jade , which was associated with perfectibility and immortality . jade ''is always associated with mystery and exclusivity , '' he said . ''objects were made to indicate a person 's status . '' in conjunction with his show , mr . bernstein organized a seminar on collecting chinese_art , from 9 a.m . to noon tomorrow at the hotel . it is geared to collectors , and costs 55 . among those who have reserved places , he said , are collectors from china . ''i acquire chinese jade and early metalwork in the united_states and europe , '' mr . bernstein said . ''but about a third of my business is selling to collectors in taiwan , hong_kong and mainland_china . the chinese have a new interest in collecting their own history . that 's where the great collections are being formed today . ''

has a location of china

the sale two weeks ago of ming and ching chairs and tables at christie 's in new york that totaled 11 . 2 million did more than set records . it signaled the coming of age in the marketplace for chinese furniture , which had long been overlooked by collectors . ''chinese furniture is no longer the orphan of the art world , '' said theow huang tow , head of the department of chinese_art at christie 's . while the market in chinese_art had expanded steadily since the early 1970 's , the strong international interest in this furniture is unprecedented . for the most part , collectors of chinese_art had begun by buying small , readily available items like vases , boxes and paintings before moving on to bulkier , more substantial acquisitions like furniture . as the market grew , bolstered by several scholarly books and exhibitions , big name collectors and museums quietly began competing for the choicest pieces . they paid under 100 , 000 for pieces until 1990 , when prices began to escalate . christie 's sale on sept . 19 was the first auction of a comprehensive collection of chinese furniture in the west and was the highlight of a week of asian art sales in new york . the 107 chairs , tables , cabinets and screens sold at christie 's were from the ming ( 1368 1644 ) and ching ( 1644 1912 ) dynasties , the periods that inspired much that is distinctive and graceful in western furniture cabriole legs , claw and ball feet , tapered silhouettes and back splats on chairs . the collection was assembled in the 1980 's by the fellowship of friends , a philosophical and religious organization based in apollo , calif . it was sold in 1995 to johnny chen , a taiwanese businessman , who sent it to christie 's . the sale attracted buyers from around the world . most were americans , although asians and europeans were broadly represented . ''there 's never been this concentration of high quality material in a chinese furniture collection that also had an aura surrounding it , '' said maxwell k . hearn , a curator of asian art at the metropolitan_museum_of_art , in explaining the heightened interest in the sale . ''asian art has been undervalued , but that 's changing now , as asians become interested in owning their own heritage . '' the bidding was driven by several prominent museums but mostly by private collectors . michael ovitz , president of the walt disney company , bought a pair of tall , angular cabinets carved with figures of lions and dragons for a record 607 , 500 . he bought through nicholas grindley , a london dealer , with whom he sat during the bidding . mr . grindley was the most active buyer that day , spending a total of 1 . 6 million . he also acquired for mr . ovitz five horseshoe back chairs . the metropolitan paid 173 , 000 for a generously proportioned 300 year old painting table . that table , along with a more elaborate one carved with dragons and scrolls that the museum bought that week at sotheby 's for 310 , 500 , will go on view in may , when the museum 's chinese decorative_arts galleries open . the minneapolis institute of art paid 1 . 1 million , a record for chinese furniture , for the rarest object at christie 's , a screen with a marble plaque striated with an image resembling mountains . robert jacobson , the museum 's curatorial chairman , said the screen would be a centerpiece of its new chinese furniture galleries , part of a wing that will open in 1998 . mr . jacobson , who spent a total of 1 . 5 million at christie 's for eight pieces of furniture , also bought a horseshoe back chair for 453 , 500 at sotheby 's . coincidentally , an exhibition of ming and ching furniture , ''beyond the screen chinese furniture of the 16th and 17th centuries , '' is currently on view at boston 's museum_of_fine_arts . several pieces in the show were lent by edward c . johnson 3d , chairman of fidelity_investments , the mutual_fund giant , and a board member of the museum , who was a bidder at christie 's . ''americans have been the prime movers in collecting and showing chinese furniture recently , '' said wu tung , the curator of asiatic art at the museum . in fact , the interest in chinese furniture began in the united_states in 1970 with the publication of robert ellsworth 's ''chinese furniture , '' a book showing major pieces from american collections that is still considered the bible on the subject . mr . ellsworth 's second book , ''chinese furniture the mimi and raymond hung collection , '' which was published last month , documents a collection in hong_kong , one of five formed over the last 20 years in response to the growing interest of westerners . once the value of chinese furniture was raised in the west , renewed interest in such pieces could be seen in asia . mr . ellsworth said that even museums in china now recognized the importance of chinese furniture as art . the palace museum in beijing added furniture to its galleries six years ago , and the shanghai museum is opening a special gallery of furniture on thursday . arts artifacts

has a location of china

chinese authorities have announced their intention to step up their efforts to police and control the internet and other communications technologies , including instant_messaging and cellphones . speaking at a conference in beijing last wednesday , cai wu , director of the powerful information office of the state council , or china 's cabinet , said new control measures were needed ''because more and more harmful information is being circulated online . '' another senior official who spoke at the same meeting , wang xudong , deputy minister of the information industry , said his ministry 's next target would be developing technologies to regulate web_logs and search engines . the potential new regulations , which are still in the discussion stage , are being considered at a time of exploding internet and cellphone use that has created the freest atmosphere of communication this country has known under communist rule , despite strenuous government efforts to contain it . the measures contemplated reportedly include mandatory user registration for cellphones , according to reports from the conference . now , users can easily buy cellphone cards in stores , obtaining a new telephone_number without identifying themselves . web_sites , too , might be subject to registration . the government 's statement of intent is being seen as the beginning of its most ambitious effort yet to rein in high tech communication . analysts said the measures , introduced after a proposal to make the news_media 's unauthorized publication of ' 'sudden events'' a punishable offense , indicate an atmosphere of worry within the government about its ability to maintain power . ''of course we do n't want the government to do this , '' said zhan jiang , a professor at the china youth university of political_science . ''it is related to the earlier announcement about breaking_news , and it seems the government is trying to assert more and more control . '' isaac mao , a popular chinese blogger , said ''the government has found their political lives under pressure from the media , and they 've decided they have to strengthen their power . they are working on a variety of measures , which they will deploy one by one in order to reach their big goal , which is to take full control of things . they do n't want people to have any power . that 's the big goal of the government . '' according to the media blue book , a publication of tsinghua_university in beijing , china now has 36 . 8 million chinese blog sites and 16 million bloggers . according to a company called i research , china has 97 . 1 million search_engine users . invoking these numbers , mr . cai of the information office of the state councilsaid at the meeting , the sunlight and green internet conference , ''how could we not regulate such a huge market ? '' it is clear that chinese authorities see search engines as an important choke point for information on the internet , and they have won controversial agreements from microsoft , google and yahoo to filter the search_engine services they offer in china , screening out words the chinese authorities deem troublesome . the arrangements have received widespread criticism outside china , and among bloggers within the country as well . google executives have expressed discomfort with the filtering agreement . whether used for conversations or short messaging , cellphones have played a major role in the wave of social_unrest that has swept china in the past two years , allowing people to organize quickly and to spread news of police actions and other developments . the anonymous use of cellphones is a major loophole in the state 's effort to monitor communications of all kinds , and the authorities seem determined to close it . the rumors of new regulation have brought outrage from many internet users here . ''this free and beautiful kingdom created by bloggers finally has to face its anticipated cleansing , '' wrote a blogger whose online name is zheng . ''in the remote north , in that ancient city which is shrouded by yellow sand and dust , a force has gathered to begin the invasion of the homeland of bloggers , '' the blog continued , apparently referring to beijing . others , however , say efforts to require registration of blogs and web_sites have been announced in the past but have never gone very far , and they express confidence that technology will allow them to stay one step ahead of the censors . some are already exchanging tips online about how to frustrate the latest government efforts . ''i have noted the lifespan of new forms on the internet here has been about one or two years , '' said wang yi , a law professor at chengdu university and a prominent blogger . ''bulletin_boards were very free , and after one or two years , they were restricted . then we saw the emergence of personal web_sites , and after one or two years they were restricted . then we had blogs . after a year or two , they moved to restrict them , too . ''i think the internet in china will always find a way forward , because of technology and other factors . i am actually very optimistic . ''

has a location of china

at 11 a.m . on a recent morning , the temperature in manhattan was pushing 100 . inside the brick and mirror walled dance studio in soho , a petite blond woman was also putting on the heat . " run , run , run , push , push , push ! " she shouted to 10 dancers moving across the floor . the instructor , carol fried of the martha graham dance company , spared no sympathy for the dancers' glistening backs and dripping foreheads . the group , known as the purchase dance corps , was preparing for its debut in china , and ms . fried had only three days to perfect the piece they were rehearsing . back on their home campus at purchase college , the dancers , who ranged from first year students to recent graduates of the school 's dance division , had already spent three weeks learning the basics of the work , " a diversion of angels . " but they had studied the dance from a video with the help of their rehearsal director , kazuko hirabayashi , and now both ms . hirabayashi and carol k . walker , dean of the purchase dance division , watched intently as ms . fried turned what had been a sketch into a work of art . this will be the first time that " a diversion of angels , " choreographed by martha_graham in 1948 , is danced in china . traveling so far from home will also be a first for many of the students , most of whom have never been to the far east , although the purchase dance corps in previous years has performed in hong_kong , taiwan and amsterdam . catching the light it was a dual honor for the group , who would not only introduce a work by a major american artist to the chinese but would do so as the only american dance troupe invited to take part in the yearly international festival of dance academies in beijing . the dance division had to raise money to send the students to the festival , which runs from july 23 through 31 and includes groups from 12 other countries first fidelity bank and private contributors are the main sponsors of the trip . in addition to the graham work , the group will dance " a lake , " choreographed by mark morris , and " concerto second movement , " choreographed by kenneth macmillan . those rehearsals lay ahead , but it was time now to focus on the special genius of the legendary graham . ms . walker explained that ms . fried 's job was to develop " the accuracy and the intention of the movement " of the work , a lyrical dance about youth and the poignancy of first love . this she did with sharp , clear motions lowering her head to indicate modesty , rotating a shoulder to evoke pride , fluttering her fingers to show nervous excitement . her words were at times minimal " one moment you should be here . . . and then there , " she told a dancer and at times metaphorical . " you have to catch the light ! " she urged the women as they danced flirtatiously past the men . " this is not about secrecy ! " a subtle language ms . fried , co artistic director of the manhattan based graham company , might have been working as a sculptor , or have been manipulating a computer image with her masterful hand . but her medium was the human body and its ancient paraphernalia arms , legs and feet , whose subtlest gestures spoke a special language . sometimes a dancer could not absorb ms . fried 's instructions quickly enough , and the teacher would grow impatient . " some movements come more naturally than others , " ms . walker said later , sympathizing with the struggle of one dancer . " it 's a very personal art form . " so personal that even in an age of technology , not all choreographers prepare notated scores of their works . many dancers are taught " hand to mouth , " ms . walker said , much as ms . fried was doing . despite the heat and the tension in the studio , the young dancers kept their poise even one who was repeatedly corrected and rehearsed for hours without a break . showing temper or unhappiness is anathema for an aspiring professional , said ms . walker , who has worked as a performer , teacher , choreographer and administrator in her 40 years as a dancer . " you leave the rest of your life outside the door when you walk into a studio , " she said . " you have to park it , come in and be fully invested in what goes on at the moment . " graduates of the purchase college dance division dance worldwide with major companies , including the paul_taylor_dance_company , american_ballet_theater , the mark morris company and the martha graham dance company . terese capucilli , an award winning principal_dancer with the graham company , graduated from purchase in 1978 . four seniors this year were accepted into professional companies including the ballet hispanico and the bill t . jones arnie zane company even before their graduation . choreographers get to know the students by attending dance division performances and coaching students in reconstructions of their own works , ms . walker said . such contacts serve as " a beautiful bridge from purchase to the profession . " professional goals drive the students , leading them to spend summers in manhattan where they can take classes and audition for dance parts as well as for scholarships in major dance studios . " it 's an art form for youth , " ms . walker said , ticking off the part time jobs , long rehearsal hours , class time and auditions crammed into most dance students' lives . to increase their sophistication , ms . walker said she teaches " manhattan " as a freshman seminar , expecting students to learn the location of well known studios and shops that sell dancewear . the goal is to teach the young people , many of whom come from out of state , to " feel comfortable in new york city , " she said . dress rehearsals she is optimistic about dancers' prospects as the profession emerges from what she calls a " pretty desperate " few years . " i think the dance world creatively is in a very interesting place , " ms . walker said . " the ballet companies are doing modern works , the graham company is doing a piece by twyla_tharp , anything that works is going to be welcome . " it 's a wonderful time , if you can keep yourself fed . " two free dress rehearsals of the purchase dance corps' china program will be held , today at 5 30 p.m . and tomorrow at 7 p.m . in the dance theater lab of the dance building on the purchase campus .

has a location of china

if painting and writing can be seen as modes of thinking , and they can , then ''brush and ink the chinese_art of writing , '' at the metropolitan museum , is as much a brainstorming session as an art exhibition , crackling with ideas and arguments every step of the way . it is also a sequence of moods , with impassioned voices calling out from the 80 scrolls and inscribed fans spanning several centuries , including the 21st , that line the galleries . poor me , sighs an exiled scholar in a sad letter home . lucky us , sings an exultant empress at the height of her power . other voices , a whole chorus , chime in be joyous . be calm . beware . not all that long ago , a show like this one , made up mostly of handwritten texts in an unfamiliar language , would have been a daunting prospect for most museum visitors . it might even have given non chinese historians and curators trouble . but those days are gone . one of the healthful results of the late 20th_century culture as entertainment craze is that , just by showing up in museums and poking around , we have turned into cosmopolites . this does n't mean that we know everything there is to know about art . but it does mean that no art now seems entirely unknowable , in the sense of terminally strange . so , for example , if you were swept away by jackson pollock 's flung and dripped paintings in the museum_of_modern_art retrospective a few years ago , you are already primed to be similarly thrilled by the wild style calligraphy of the 11th century artist huang tingjian , whose hand scroll ''biographies of lian po and lin xiangru'' is at the met . and once you 've seen it , you might even feel that huang 's cursive masterpiece out pollocks pollock . certainly its 60 foot long flow of looping , swooping characters they twist and shout pump up , slim down leave skid marks behind them blurs distinctions between writing and painting , control and spontaneity , virtuosity and accident . on top of this , it dramatizes , in compelling , nonrepresentational terms , a complicated story of political intrigue and endangered friendship . the closest equivalent in western_culture would probably not be abstract painting , but specific kinds of music the scores for story ballets , say , or programmatic symphonies . in the end , though , it was huang who best described his writing . ''a picture of the mind'' is what he called it . if you choose , you can let that picture remain abstract , unattached to any narrative , a kind of psychic encephalogram . for that matter , you can approach the whole met show as optical joy ride . why not ? the sheer energy of the writing will carry you a long way , and the variety will make the trip diverting . alternatively , you can read the show 's lucid labels , which translate the calligraphy and offer basic historical information . by no means everything is wild and crazy . an exquisite eighth century manuscript called ''spiritual flight sutra'' is a paradigm of centered probity . its characters are uniform in weight , geometrically structured , meticulously aligned . designed for legibility , they also convey the pacific ethos of the taoist scripture they embody . the history of calligraphy itself , however , was not peaceful . trouble started once writing began to be valued as an aesthetic rather than utilitarian medium , and specific styles were tagged with social and political meanings . this dynamic was already in play by the time wang xizhi ( a . d . 303 61 ) was developing his famously expressive and endlessly influential styles . a century earlier , his writing would have been reviled as an assault on cultural orthodoxy . in the centuries after his death , it was revered as the paradigm of calligraphic correctness , closely identified with imperial orthodoxy . what was once radical became classical what was classical was the model to rebel against . huang tingjian was a rebel . he lived in an era of wrenching change . like other members of an intellectual elite , he rejected the moral_authority of a corrupt court , and he was shipped off to exile in remote sichuan . there , as a sign of sustained dissent , he adopted the antiestablishment style seen in the met scroll , in effect making the very act of writing a political act . this story recurs , with changes in names and dates , so often throughout the centuries in china that the met 's calligraphy survey might accurately be subtitled ''a history of politically activist art in china . '' if so , however , two things would have to be clarified . one , that such activism applied to a wide range of conflicting ideologies , conservative as well as progressive . and , two , that politics as expressed in calligraphy was n't a matter of speechifying it was deeply personal , a way of life . you wrote the way you lived . political expression could , it is true , be cartoonishly vivid . it comes as no surprise to learn that the lurching , sliding calligraphy on a set of scrolls by the 17th_century artist fu shan is the work of man who advocated intoxication as political protest . by contrast , only with close and lingering study can you discern debates and doubts being voiced in the sparse landscape paintings and poetic annotations of an artist like ni zan ( 1306 74 ) . a ruminative , possibly depressive man , he lived for many years in self elected banishment from centers of power . and even after he settled down , he could never entirely dispel a sense of isolation and vulnerability . only a surrender to the spirit of nature assuaged such feelings . and he worked his way into nature , you sense , through art . anyone who frequents the met 's chinese galleries will have seen the two ni zan pieces that are in the show little , scratchy landscapes with patchlike blocks of poetry a thousand times before . but they never lose their peculiarly unassertive , almost self effacing power . without raising his voice above a murmur , this artist thinker gives the condition of exile an existential , universalist weight . his profoundly meditated politics is the politics of experience . for viewers with a predominantly romantic view of classical chinese painting and calligraphy , all this talk of politics will be puzzling . for many westerners , political art in china automatically means contemporary_art , art that breaks with tradition . precisely this assumption has defined the boom market for new chinese_art in the past decade and more . but as our familiarity with the multifold phenomenon known as contemporary chinese_culture grows , we are discovering the many ways in which new art in china is addressing , reworking and refreshing existing traditions . the met show , organized by maxwell k . hearn of the asian art department , helps confirm this . although mr . hearn has drawn most of the material from the met 's collection , he has also borrowed a half dozen works by contemporary chinese artists , a significant addition . if the show that results is not the first to place contemporary calligraphy in the big historical picture , it is surely among the few to do so in so forthright a way . the very first thing we see in the installation is a colossal ink scroll by wang dongling , who was born in china in 1945 and gained early fame there for creating big character political posters for the cultural_revolution . his work is still calligraphic in style , still done with brush and ink , but under the influence of western modernism , has become entirely abstract , divorced from any language except the language of painting . his colleagues in the show , gu wenda , qin feng , wang tiande and xu bing all impressive , all chinese born , all with substantial careers in the west come at calligraphy from still other angles , obscuring it , further abstracting it , applying it to non chinese languages , to fictional languages , making it emulate the language of music . in doing so , are they honoring or undermining a tradition ? expanding it or emptying it ? their work raises such questions , provokes conflicting thoughts and has led to passionate debates between traditionalists and nontraditionalists . in all these ways , it remains true to calligraphy 's contentious past and argues for a provocative future . ''brush and ink the chinese_art of writing'' continues through jan . 21 at the metropolitan_museum_of_art , fifth avenue at 82nd street , ( 212 ) 535 7710 . art review

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what was supposed to have been a simple hearing on whether a scientist accused of mishandling nuclear_weapons secrets should be released on bail turned today into a bitterly contentious preview of his trial . bail hearings are generally brief , with decisions usually rendered with relative speed . but this is the third bail hearing for wen_ho_lee , a former nuclear_weapons scientist at the los_alamos_national_laboratory , and as it moves into a second day it has illustrated the unusual gulf between what is in the 59 count indictment and what the government contends that dr . lee actually intended . he is charged with illegally moving the secret data to an unsecure computer and portable computer tapes , some of which are missing , with the intent to harm the united_states . the government has said further that dr . lee , 60 , had been motivated largely by a desire to find a new job most likely with an american ally and intended to use the tapes to enhance his prospects . but most of the bail hearing today , and a previous one in december , focused on the question of espionage , of which he is not accused . at the heart of the issue is the significance of the trove of nuclear data that dr . lee is accused of downloading . two witnesses appeared in federal district court here today john richter , a former top nuclear_weapons designer and intelligence official at los_alamos , and c . paul robinson , the president of the sandia national laboratories . mr . richter , who is highly familiar with the obscure computer codes that dr . lee is accused of downloading , said perhaps 99 percent of the information had already been made public in various forums and would not be that useful to a foreign country . asked if national_security would be harmed if the tapes found their way into foreign hands , dr . richter replied , ''i do n't believe that it would have any deleterious affect at all . '' but dr . robinson maintained that if the tapes landed in hostile hands , the global balance of power could be shifted . ''i 've never seen anything even close to it in approximation of the potential damage , '' he said . the hearing is scheduled to continue on thursday before judge james a . parker .

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a picture caption in business day yesterday about the groundbreaking ceremony for a semiconductor plant in shanghai misidentified two men shown . those present were , from the left , chen liangyu , a shanghai vice mayor hu qili , vice minister of information industries mayor xu kuangdi of shanghai winston wang , a taiwan businessman who is chief executive of the company building the plant and jiang yiren , another vice mayor . the company 's vice chairman , who is the son of president jiang_zemin , was not pictured , and his family name was misspelled . he is jiang mianheng , not jian .

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lead one of the clearest effects of the government 's violent suppression of the democracy movement last summer is evident in the reduced number of new films , plays and art exhibitions permitted to appear and in their sharply narrowed subject matter . one of the clearest effects of the government 's violent suppression of the democracy movement last summer is evident in the reduced number of new films , plays and art exhibitions permitted to appear and in their sharply narrowed subject matter . cultural circles are bearing a large share of the repression these days , as the government tries to uproot the liberalization of the last few years and return to the revolutionary monotony of the past . ''i do n't think the repression is as evident as it was before , '' said a western diplomat , who spoke on condition that his name not be used . ''but i think it 's still going on a slow asphyxiation of the culture . '' the culture minister , wang meng , was among the highest officials to be purged , and under his replacement he jingzhi , a hard line ideologue best known for his poems and operas about the communist_revolution the chinese leadership is seizing on popular_culture as a way of re educating the masses . the purpose of art in china today is not to entertain or to probe the psyche , but to teach people to love socialism . china has always regarded culture as an instrument of propaganda , but in recent years some books and movies seemed to undermine the communist_party more than bolster it . now there is a return to the rigid revolutionary mold of earlier years . music little affected ''they know neither the economy nor the political system can go back in time , '' said a chinese painter who insisted on anonymity . ''but with culture , they can turn the clocks back more easily . '' music has not been much affected by the repression , and western classical performances are still presented . a rock singer , cui jian , whose lyrics are implicitly critical of the society , was even allowed to proceed with a concert tour in late january . literature seems to have suffered more . last spring , it was flourishing as never before under chinese communism , with several companies willing to publish works that were critical of the party . while china did not have an underground literary movement on the scale of that in the soviet_union before glasnost , a few small groups had started circulating unofficial literary magazines . even that limited literary freedom has now disappeared . but it is the film_industry that has been most affected by the new restrictions . some films in the 1980 's had portrayed the communist_party in a somewhat unfavorable light and had captured the alienation that was widespread among chinese youth . all that has changed . the state film bureau has announced that china this year will produce only 100 films , 36 fewer than last year . the reason given was that this would allow the industry to concentrate on films that extol ''the virtues of patriotism and heroism'' and revitalize ''the national spirit'' and ' 'morality and virtue . '' 24 films on the revolution the film scripts now under consideration by the film bureau include 24 on revolutionary history , compared to only three last year , a recent article in the new china news_agency said . the number of comedies , thrillers and detective stories has been cut from 92 last year to 66 this year . the title of a planned film about the formation of the communist_party reflects the spirit of the present times . the film will be called ''the creation of the world . '' li ruihuan , a member of the politburo 's standing committee , gave a speech in january that seemed to suggest greater tolerance of western influences in art . but last month , at a national film symposium , mr . li said there were still problems in the industry . ''influenced by bourgeois liberalization , guidelines on film production were confused to some extent and the unhealthy tendency of money worship resulted in the production of dull and low taste films , '' said mr . li , as paraphrased by the new china news_agency . budgets for film entertainment have also been slashed , but actors and professionals in the industry say that the greatest obstacle in producing films this year will be the censors . winning government approval ''we can raise money in hong_kong , and even in china , but the difficulty will be getting our films approved by the government , '' said one actor currently working on a film . the custom in china is to write the script , shoot , edit and produce the entire film , and then present the finished version to the government for approval . film scripts for state financed films seem to be screened first as well , but for movies by independent producers , whose number have been growing in the last couple of years , all the money is spent up front . last august , a film whose chances for approval had been good when it went into production well before the military crackdown in june was denied approval . it was not political , but it portrayed dissatisfactions and lack of purpose among young people . the problem is that people often do not want to see politically_correct films . so unless the government pays for making the film , the most common practice , the producers and individual investors risk losing money . such a film is also unlikely to earn foreign exchange , because a movie hailed by the government is also unlikely to be marketable abroad . the movies now being offered abroad include hagiographies of party leaders and histories , like a 31 part serial about the 18th_century emperor yong zheng . 'they reach everybody' ''films and plays are the most sensitive kinds of entertainment in this country , '' said a young aspiring playwright , who also refused to speak on the record . ''music , ballet and painting are considered more abstract , and painting is only viewed by a small number of people at a time , but movies and plays they reach everybody . '' contemporary painters say they are being denied outlets as well . the chinese_art gallery in beijing was closed in january for renovation and is to remain closed until 1991 , and avant garde art exhibitions are unacceptable these days . one contemporary painter said he had been denied permission twice to find space to exhibit his paintings , and then the third time , after relying on connections , he had been allowed to display his works at an otherwise closed temple . in the past , many of china 's best known modern artists held exhibitions at the homes of foreign friends , but the culture ministry now says thatis illegal . the result is that many artists have no place to display their work . as an example of the kinds of restrictions being imposed by the authorities , another artist said that the culture ministry issued a document late last year that specified how much nudity could be exhibited . only about 10 percent of the art in an exhibition can be devoted to nudity , he said , and almost all of that proportion must be painted from the side . only a tiny fraction of paintings are allowed to depict frontal nudity .

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lead no , the shoots of democracy that the world has seen springing up and being crushed in china during the last few astonishing weeks were not planted by television , but the presence of the cameras in tiananmen_square nourished them and may keep them alive despite the army 's guns . whatever the outcome in no , the shoots of democracy that the world has seen springing up and being crushed in china during the last few astonishing weeks were not planted by television , but the presence of the cameras in tiananmen_square nourished them and may keep them alive despite the army 's guns . whatever the outcome in beijing , the picture of a lone figure stopping a line of advancing tanks will remain an affirmation of the individual 's steadfastness before the might of the state . the medium has probably done no greater service in its half century of existence than to bring the struggle for democracy into millions of homes , reminding americans of their own ideals . it is the camera that does the job the correspondents , informative as they sometimes are , play catch up . the wonder is that when crackdown time came in beijing , the authorities did not pull the plug on satellite transmissions . the reasons are still unclear . it is no discredit to the young chinese who paid public homage to the statue of liberty to note that they knew how to win the hearts of american viewers . was it by accident that the tank stopper took his stand near the beijing hotel , home to foreign correspondents ? the students were worldly enough to realize that their cause was made for television . but the power of the tube is tied to weaknesses . in china , as in the soviet_union , the issue is clearly framed a longing for freedom set against dictatorship and television itself thrives on freedom . but it also thrives on strong pictures , and there are instances when a clash between little guys and big guys calls for something more in the way of knowledge than the images alone can provide . the israeli palestinian confrontation is a troubling case in point . here is meat for television 's love of uncomplicated drama boys armed only with stones against an army . just as the pictures of youths in belfast being dispersed by an occupying force compel sympathy for the demonstrators , so the pictures from the west_bank are inherently on the side of the stone throwers , those post biblical davids . it is no surprise that youngsters will act up in response to the presence of cameras or that the israelis will from time to time ban them as incitements or just bad public_relations . but in the image contest , the big guys cannot win . the hand of an israeli soldier blocking the camera lens reminds us of the hands of the south african police doing the same thing . the situations may be different . but the camera 's message is the same the soldiers have something to hide the gesture is an affront to the first amendment . that , however , is about as far as the television eye can see . the drama of the moment is like a hand that obscures complexity . what interests do those daring stone throwers represent ? what principles are at stake beyond the slogans ? would their victory in fact advance the cause of freedom , even their own ? would it bring peace or greater turmoil ? the answers provided by the pictures alone , in gaza as in belfast , are not enough . does anyone remember television 's enthusiastic welcome for the iranian revolution that brought down the shah and ultimately gave the world ayatollah_ruhollah_khomeini ? a hospital scene of a wounded child moves us in a way that makes concern for the future seem a mere distraction . how can an issue like stability in the middle_east seem anything but dry compared to the flesh and blood on the screen ? the camera chooses its favorites not on the basis of politics but on the basis of drama or personality . americans rooted for the filipinos who battled the marcos regime . now some filipinos demonstrate against the aquino government , and it is conceivable that the cameras will catch police or soldiers hosing down or hauling off the demonstrators , not so different perhaps from the treatment they got from the marcos minions . the camera friendly president corazon c . aquino will have to exert all her charm to counter such pictures . americans have reason to know better than most the strengths and weaknesses of television coverage . in vietnam , americans were the heavies , and the networks have deservedly taken some of the credit for getting the united_states out of that painful war . the evening news became a morality play the western giant bombing and burning a land of little people . it was intolerable , and to most americans , its ending came as a relief , a blessing . but unlike morality plays , this one did not end with the villain 's withdrawal . viewers bred on evening melodrama had no difficulty responding to the conflict as presented by television . but television did not help them look ahead to the kind of society that those brave fighters from the north would inflict on the country . for the camera , a protest is a protest . television is like some dumb pet that slobbers up to any guest who throws it a scrap of food . whether demonstrators march against democratic governments in germany and japan or against dictatorships in czechoslovakia and chile , the pictures are much the same the protesters are the protagonists . television needs heroes , and it does not come naturally to viewers watching a single student challenging a line of armor to look beyond the moment , beyond the image . if the networks had been around to film the encounters between right wing university students and the police of the weimar_republic , the young folks might well have engaged many americans' sympathies . so , all hail to television for capturing and encouraging the brave protests in china and the soviet_union . but beware of the medium 's tendency to simplify , to turn complicated matters into colorful pictures and black and white drama .

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the customs service today announced the arrests of two men suspected of trying to export highly sophisticated encryption devices to china . the men , eugene you tsai hsu , of blue springs , mo . , and david tzu wvi yang , of temple city , calif . , were charged with trying to buy encryption units from a maryland manufacturer and ship them through intermediaries to china , customs officials said . the units , produced by mykotronx inc . , a technology company in columbia , md . , are used by the united_states_government and its allies to transmit secret information by telephone or fax . the devices are relatively inexpensive about 8 , 000 a unit but are so important that their sale must be approved by the national_security_agency , the officials said . ''it 's some of the best encryption technology the u.s . government has , '' said allan j . doody , the customs special agent in charge in baltimore . according to the customs affidavit , mr . hsu contacted mykotronx in may to ask about the cost of the encryption units . a mykotronx security officer alerted customs to his interest in the top secret technology . customs then assigned an undercover agent who posed as an intermediary and corresponded with mr . hsu and two others mr . yang , the owner of a freight forwarding business in compton , calif . , and charlson ho , who represented a singapore company that sought to buy the units . the undercover agent notified mr . hsu that the technology he sought was on the state_department 's munitions list , and would require a license for export , the affidavit said . mr . hsu then asked if he could get a license , and the agent told him that no license would be approved for export to china . but mr . hsu persisted , discussing ways to repackage the units and disguise their ultimate destination , the affidavit said . mr . hsu is a naturalized united_states citizen , officials said mr . yang was born in taiwan and is a permanent resident alien . a relative of mr . hsu declined to discuss the case . a young woman who identified herself as mr . yang 's daughter said she had no information about the arrest . violators of the arms export control act face a maximum of 10 years in prison and a 1 million fine .

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the dance theater of harlem is to tour china from nov . 15 to 27 , performing in beijing and in the shanghai international arts festival . it will be the first arts group from the united_states to visit china since legislation establishing normal trade relations was signed into law on oct . 10 . arthur mitchell , artistic director of the harlem company , said that the company planned to return for a longer tour in 2002 . the repertory includes two reworked stagings of ballet classics . the company will perform the second act of its creole ''giselle'' and a ''firebird'' set in a tropical forest . mr . mitchell said that given chinese audiences' greater familiarity with narrative ballets , the company would also perform more abstract works like george_balanchine 's ''four temperaments'' and geoffrey holder 's ''dougla . '' the company will also teach master classes and participate in symposiums on stagecraft . the tour is being sponsored by the state_department , the national endowment for the arts , the president 's committee on the arts and humanities and several foundations and corporations .

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lead in a major blow to the authority of prime_minister li_peng , seven senior military figures formally objected on monday to the government 's plan to bring troops into the capital and suppress china 's democracy movement . in a major blow to the authority of prime_minister li_peng , seven senior military figures formally objected on monday to the government 's plan to bring troops into the capital and suppress china 's democracy movement . the signers of the strongly worded letter , among them a former defense minister and a former army chief of staff , command great prestige and influence , although they are no longer on active_duty . ''in view of the extremely serious situation , we as veteran soldiers demand that the people 's liberation army not confront the population , nor quell the people , '' the letter said . ''the army must absolutely not shoot the people . in order to prevent the situation from worsening , the army must not enter the city of beijing . '' rebuke to li and deng the letter was the clearest indication yet of the opposition within the military to the crackdown begun early saturday by prime_minister li and deng_xiaoping , china 's senior leader . it was not clear if the government would still be able to muster enough compliance in the army to bring troops into the center of the capital . for more than three days , troops have stood idly at barricades put up on the edge of the city by ordinary citizens . in another blow to mr . li and mr . deng , newspapers and television seemed on monday to criticize the leaders' call to bring troops into the capital . the tone of the criticism was indirect but its point was unmistakable . propaganda purge still , mr . li was in sufficient control of the communist_party on monday to replace the entire leadership involved in propaganda work , including those who control mass communication , chinese officials said . they said mr . li personally took charge of propaganda , which had been the responsibility of hu qili , a member of the politburo . it was not clear whether that move would lead to a tightening of controls on the television news programs and of the newspapers , which have grown much more independent in recent days . the reorganization of the propaganda bureau may also make it more difficult for the official party newspaper , people 's daily , to publish the letter from the seven military leaders . although the letter has not been publicly released , copies are circulating among officials in the capital , and people 's daily has received a copy . crouds grow thinner enormous crowds continued to demonstrate for more democracy on monday afternoon and monday evening , but the numbers seemed to be thinning . on monday_night , fewer than 50 , 000 people spent the night in the area around tiananmen_square , half the number of two days ago . as the risk of a direct military confrontation seemed to ease , many beijing residents apparently decided to sleep instead of staying up all night to challenge tanks that might never arrive . ''they are tiring us out , '' warned a new poster that students pasted all over the center of the city . ''now they plan to attack us by surprise . '' but the army did not attack , and there appeared to be little military enthusiasm for a fight that would draw swarms of citizens . on monday , military helicopters buzzed tiananmen_square and several univeristy campuses , dropping leaflets urging demonstrators to cooperate with the army and leave the square . each time the leaflets dropped , the crowds seemed to surge in every direction as demonstrators frantically grabbed at the sheets of paper . but after reading them , they mostly threw them down in disgust . the signers of the military letter include zhang aiping , a former defense minister xiao ke , a former deputy defense minister yang dezhi , a former army chief of staff song shilun , a former commandant of the academy of military sciences chen zaidao , a former commander of the wuhan military region ye fei , a former commander of the navy , and li jukui , a former leading member of the military academy . well known figures the seven leaders are among the best known figures in military circles , and their influence seems likely to make itself felt through networks of fellow officers in high military commands . in addition , about 100 military officials and members of the communist_party central advisory commission have signed the letter , said a chinese familiar with the efforts to prevent martial_law from being carried out . their names were not listed on a copy of the letter obtained in beijing , and their identities could not be determined . it could not be learned how many of those signers were on active_duty . ever since his call on saturday morning for a military crackdown was essentially ignored , there has been growing doubt about prime_minister li 's hold on power . although some troops entered the capital , they were stopped and in some cases turned back by large numbers of students and workers who blocked their way . most of the troops seemed content to be held up , and none tried very hard to keep going . stalemate in capital for the last few days , there has been an uneasy stalemate in the capital . tens of thousands of university students are occupying tiananmen_square , in the center of the city , and each evening hundreds of thousands of beijing residents turn out to guard local intersections and keep back army troops in the case of an attack . police and army troops are nowhere to be seen in the center of beijing , except for a few traffic policemen . at several locations in the suburbs , convoys of army trucks and armored_personnel_carriers have been sitting for the last few days , held hostage by large crowds who refuse to let the soldiers advance or retreat . many of the students in the square are showing the wear of more than a month of pro_democracy_demonstrations , and splits seemed to appear on monday among the student leaders . one leader , wuer kaixi , now seems to be widely criticized after trying twice on monday to convince students to leave tiananmen_square . parley falls apart negotiations between the students and the communist_party collapsed on monday afternoon when mr . wuer failed to persuade other students to support an agreement to leave the square , said an official familiar with the negotiations . the party proposal called for the students to leave the square in exchange for a pledge that troops would not enter the capital , the official said . student morale seems to be waning slightly , partly because of growing exhaustion and partly because of the increasing squalor on tiananmen_square . most of the tens of thousands of students who sleep each night on the square have not taken a bath or changed clothes in a week or so , and some are beginning to think of exams . now that the hunger_strike by 3 , 000 students has ended , there is not quite the sense of urgency that there was a few days ago , and the romance of living in the filth of the square is fading . nevertheless , many students and workers are clearly determined to continue indefinitely . ''almost all of us want to keep going , '' a woman who is a student leader said late monday_night . ''some will go home , but more are coming all the time . '' power struggle grows the crisis seems more likely to be resolved by the highest levels of the party or the military than by what the students decide in the square . the power struggle seems to be continuing between mr . li and the party leader , zhao_ziyang , but neither side has made any statement lately . there has been no indication that mr . zhao 's situation has changed , even though senior party officials say that in fact he has been stripped of his authority , although he retains his title as general secretary of the party . mr . zhao has requested a ''vacation'' but remains in beijing to plan what he hopes will be his comeback , officials close to the party leadership say . mr . li is also in the capital , and mr . deng may be as well , although there are scattered rumors about trips he is making to other parts of the country . army 's hallowed role mr . li has been vulnerable to several criticisms for his decision , with president yang_shangkun and mr . deng , to call in the people 's liberation army . the most obvious is simply that the army fills a hallowed role in china as helper of the people , and it is extremely reluctant to be used by one political faction to suppress the opposition . a senior chinese journalist said that the military is also upset about the use of field armies in the capital because of a long tradition , dating back to imperial times , that the capital would be protected only by the palace guard . the modern equivalent of the palace guard is the beijing garrison command , and military leaders are said to feel that intrusion of field armies into the capital suggests military interference in the political process . the reorganization of the propaganda structure , traditionally one of the most important areas of the party , suggests that mr . li is still calling the shots at the central party level . the loser in that power play appears to be hu qili , a reformist who now is believed to be supporting mr . zhao on the five member standing committe of the politburo . prime_minister li was said by the government official to have dismissed two top party officials associated with mr . zhao bao_tong and rui xingwen from the working group on propaganda . as new members of the group he has appointed two of his own associates , yuan mu and he dongchang , as well as zeng jianhui , a deputy president of the official new china news_agency . the group will have its work cut out for it , as there were signs today that news organizations were opposing mr . li 's call for a military crackdown . 'quite reasonable' the television news broadcast a long interview on monday evening with an army officer whose convoy had been blocked by local citizens . the officer said he had reported the problem to his superiors and was awaiting orders . ''since we arrived , we have seen that the students are quite reasonable , '' the officer said . ''those of us on both sides share the same feelings . ''

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china has blocked access to the popular internet search_engine google as the government tightens media controls before a shift in leadership expected in november . there was no official announcement of the blockage , but internet users said they could not reach google through chinese internet servers for the last two days . many of china 's 45 million internet users rely on the united_states based search_engine to link to documents in chinese and english . the government often seeks to restrict access to sites that carry material critical of the government , particularly around sensitive dates on the political calendar .

has a location of china

when xin ye returned to beijing after a 14 year absence to take a senior position at one of china 's most popular internet portals , sohu , he left behind his wife , two daughters , a california lifestyle and a job prospect at a silicon_valley start up . ''my heart at this point is still in silicon_valley , '' said mr . ye , 36 , a former senior technical manager at marimba , as he emerged from a meeting on his first day of work early last month . ''the ocean was five minutes away . the mountains were half an hour 's drive away . but how many times does an opportunity come up to build a leading portal in china ? just once , right ? '' mr . ye is not alone among overseas_chinese who have given up the advantages of life abroad , for the time being , to chase internet gold in a nation he no longer calls home . in growing numbers , first and second generation chinese from hong_kong , taiwan , singapore and the united_states are returning to china , many recruited to feed a hunger for bilingual senior managers in the country 's infant internet industry . ''it 's like a reverse brain_drain , '' said jay kuo , a lawyer who left his job as a marketing manager at bsem , an agricultural equipment manufacturer , in january to co found fudao . net , a finance site for families that is going online next month . ''a lot of my friends have come back for the singular opportunity to write the next internet chapter . many mainland friends who have the opportunity to go overseas now have n't gone for this reason . '' beijing has tried for years , without much success , to lure natives with technical and managerial skills back to china . but the explosion of the internet in china is finally ''bringing them back in droves , '' said charles zhang , chairman of sohu . still , while web entrepreneurs like tang haisong of etang , an online portal , and joseph chen of chinaren , a community web_site , are coming back waving their harvard and stanford m.b.a . 's and flush with millions of dollars in venture_capital what start_ups really need are senior executives with hands on management experience and technical talent , analysts said . norman liu , co founder of 51job . com , a job site , said , ''once companies pass their first three to six month periods , human_resources inevitably becomes the most important and most difficult problem for them . '' they will particularly have to to fill certain upper echelon spots . ''they need key senior people with the vision and capability to lead them to an i.p.o . , '' mr . liu said . ''the chinese are good at execution , but weak on problem_solving , and lack a keen knowledge of the business as well . '' though established multinational companies have lamented that there is a scarcity of executive talent in china , the rash of new dot com companies is fast turning this shortage into a cross industry regional drought . ''the internet industry is a big , sore open wound right now , '' said steve chiu , chief sales officer of zhaopin , another job site . ''we have over 500 companies advertising on our site now , many of them looking for the same people . it 's a really really crazy scene . '' a chief technical officer , with five to eight years of management experience , tops the wish lists of more than 100 start up companies . a talented vice_president for marketing is another highly coveted yet hard to find executive . longer established dot coms , including the popular portal netease , are beginning to recruit older executives , who can offer a depth of experience that their brash young founders lack . though well known sites like sohu and sina have the money and name recognition to lure talent from silicon_valley , many start_ups without these advantages are settling for employees with less experience , including managers from state owned enterprises and graduates with master 's degree in engineering . salaries for even less qualified chief technical officers can be as much as as 100 , 000 , plus stock options . ''it 's not the most rational hiring decision , '' mr . liu said , ''because they 'll hit a wall in six months . but companies nowadays are getting more and more desperate . '' with demand up and supply down , it is no surprise that recruiting firms like wang li asia resources , which culls talent from greater_china and san_francisco , has seen its net business explode 80 percent over the last six months . about 300 competing job search dot coms have also crowded into the recruiting field , mr . chiu said , all trying to capitalize on the expanding market . for example , sinobit , a site for technology entrepreneurs , prominently features a ''western returnee'' center , hoping to lure overseas talent . the site was co founded in january by zhang lei , who hastily packed his bags three months before finishing his m.b.a . from yale_university to return to china and join the internet rush ''before it was too late . '' others scoff at the perception that returnees are a sure fire bet , saying that some people come back with a superior attitude that offends their staff members , or have been away too long to immediately grasp the complexities of a business environment literally changing by the month . still , for now , many smaller start_ups from web development design firms to city guides are not worrying about an industry wide scarcity of senior managers . competent junior level and midlevel managers are plentiful , thanks in part to multinational firms that started promoting local employees five years ago . though more than a few executives are disappointed by the lack of creative graphic designers or talented and self motivated editors , which they attribute largely to an education system that does not foster creativity , many have devised innovative ways to deal with the problem . an american executive at menkou , a lifestyle and entertainment site , routinely does pull ups in his hallway or plays his stereo loudly to encourage his employees to do wacky things . fudao . net has built a jungle gym in its office to give its 27 employees a way to ''keep their creative juices flowing , '' as mr . kuo puts it . other internet start_ups , unhappy with local programmers and graphic designers , have contracted the work out to people in other countries . employees have also realized that they are in demand . with bidding_wars and raiding on the rise , salaries have increased in some companies as much as 50 percent for writers and 80 percent for junior level programmers since a year ago . across the industry , wages have generally risen a more modest 20 percent to 30 percent , but sudden promotions are also in vogue . one internet company lured a sales clerk from another start up by offering her a salary 12 times higher than her previous one , and the position of chief executive . ''we could n't even find good quality secretaries at average salaries , '' mr . kuo said . ''some even asked us for stock options . and we gave it to them . '' online overseas grace fan writes about business and the internet in shanghai .

has a location of china

textile gallery at hall knight 21 east 67th street through tomorrow chinese carpets surviving from the so called classical period the early 15th to mid 18th_centuries number in the hundreds rather than in the thousands . time , hard use and the vagaries of politics have taken their toll on these rather fragile luxury items . museum exhibitions of them are rare and gallery shows even less frequent , which makes this one , in town for a short stay at hall knight , a find . michael franses of the textile gallery in london , which is presenting the show , has ingeniously hung nearly 20 pieces dating from the 17th and early 18th_centuries in a narrow townhouse space , so that even the largest gets a full , grand display . a circular carpet with a honeycomb pattern looks as imposing as a mandala a great rectangular dais cover spills down the wall and out across the floor . the original design for many of these carpets involved dark blue and green patterns playing over sumptuous red fields . the red dyes have long since oxidized to tones of camel 's hair beige and wheat yellow , a more subdued effect than intended . but the ornamental compositions of stylized dragons , auspicious bats , geometric interlaces are as vivacious and as exquisitely balanced as ever . the show lets you see all of this close up , giving an immediate sense of the carpets as physical objects , with varied textures and hard to see woven subtleties , including baby blue highlights that lend certain decorative motifs an illusion of 3 d depth . most important , it offers art we are n't likely to encounter again in any similar concentration soon , beautifully mounted , free for the looking and gone by the end of tomorrow . holland_cotter art in review

has a location of china

for months now , the news about the news in china has been awful . carrying out its vow to tighten controls over what it calls ''propaganda , '' the government of president hu_jintao has busied itself closing publications , firing editorial staffs and jailing reporters . more noticeably , the government has clamped down on the internet , closing blogger sites , filtering web_sites and e mail messages for banned words and tightening controls on text_messages . last year , yahoo was criticized for revealing the identity of an internet journalist , shi tao , who was subsequently jailed . on wednesday , the committee to protect journalists said court documents posted on a chinese web_site showed that yahoo had done the same in 2003 , resulting in the jailing of another writer , li zhi . against this grim backdrop , the news that google had agreed to apply censors' blacklists to its new chinese search_engine might have seemed like the ultimate nail in the coffin for freedom of information in this country . chinese internet mavens were outraged at google for collaborating in the government 's censorship effort . ''for most people , access to more diversified resources has been broken , '' said isaac mao , a popular chinese blogger , in a typical sentiment . ''the majority of users , the new users , will only see a compressed version of google , and ca n't know what they do n't know . this is like taking a 30 year old 's brain and setting him back to the mind of a 15 year old . '' some threatened that internet companies that toed the government line would regret it someday . ''doing the bidding of the chinese government like this is like doing the bidding of stalin or hitler , '' said yu jie , a well known dissident writer . ''the actions of companies that did the bidding of stalin and hitler have been remembered by history , and the chinese people wo n't forget these kinds of actions , either . '' whether chinese will hold a long term grudge is arguable . but web specialists are far more confident that the government will fail in its efforts to reverse a trend toward increasingly free_expression that has been reshaping this society with ever more powerful effects for more than two decades . last year , china ranked 159th out of 167 countries in a survey of press_freedom , reporters without borders , the paris based international rights group , said . but rankings like this do not reflect the rapid change afoot here , more and more of which is escaping the government 's control . a case in point is the chinese government 's recent effort to rein in bloggers who tread too often into delicate territory , criticizing state policy or detailing official corruption . in december , the government ordered microsoft and its msn service to close the site of michael anti , one of china 's most popular bloggers . although mr . anti who is also an employee of the beijing bureau of the new york times had his site closed , any chinese web surfer can choose from scores of other online commentators who are equally provocative , and more are coming online all the time . microsoft alone carries an estimated 3.3 million blogs in china . add to that the estimated 10 million blogs on other internet_services , and it becomes clear what a censor 's nightmare china has become . what is more , not a single blog existed in china a little more than three years ago , and thousands upon thousands are being born every day some run by people whose previous blogs had been banned and merely change their name or switch internet providers . new technologies , like podcasts , are making things even harder to control . ''the internet is open technology , based on packet switching and open systems , and it is totally different from traditional media , like radio or tv or newspapers , '' said guo liang , an internet specialist at the chinese_academy_of_social_sciences . ''at first , people might have thought it would be as easy to control as traditional media , but now they realize that 's not the case . '' if the internet is at the center of today 's struggle over press_freedom , it is only the latest in a series of fights that the government has so far always lost . under the veneer of resolute state control , one sector after another , including book publishing , newspapers and magazines , has undergone a similar process of de facto liberalization , often in the face of official hostility . the first wave came in book publishing , where beginning in the 1980 's censors found themselves unable to suppress books that were critical of state policy or expressed divergent views on ideological matters . a big part of the reason for the weakening of the censors was the introduction of a market_economy , where publishers had to seek profits to support their activities . turgid , politically_correct books that delighted the censors sold poorly , so profit seeking publishers sought to get bolder , often provocative writing into print . changes in the news_media have also been driven by profit motives . with the state ending its subsidies for most publishing companies , publications have sought ways to build readership . saucy entertainment and sports journalism have been big hits for many magazines and newspapers . others , though , have hit on the idea of public affairs , uncovering corruption and writing about environmental problems and social inequality . as the readers' appetite for this kind of news has grown , the government has been hard pressed to force the genie back into the bottle . newspapers have been closed , reporters and editors jailed even killed , like wu xianghu , a newspaper editor who died last week after being beaten by the police , who reportedly were incensed by an article he published on abuses of power in their ranks . still , the trend has not been reversed . editors , like li datong of a recently closed beijing newspaper supplement , bing dian , officially owned by the communist_party youth league , have begun to use the courts to challenge government efforts to silence them . but many frustrated reporters have simply moved to blogs , which give them an outlet to write about what they are not permitted to in their day jobs . ''symbolically , the government may have scored a victory with google , but web users are becoming a lot more savvy and sophisticated , and the censors' life is not getting easier , '' said xiao_qiang , leader of the internet project at the university of california , berkeley . ''the flow of information is getting steadily freer , in fact . if i was in the state councils information office , i certainly would n't think we had any reason to celebrate . '' letter from china

has a location of china

a severe earthquake rocked a remote area along china 's far western border on monday morning , and chinese officials said it killed at least 261 people and destroyed thousands of homes and other buildings . seismology officials said the quake had a magnitude of 6.8 and struck an area around the city of jiashi , not far from the old silk road city of kashgar and china 's mountainous border with kyrgyzstan and tajikistan . it hit just after 10 a.m . on monday , as workers headed to offices and students started classes . authorities said in telephone interviews from the area that the people 's liberation army had mobilized troops to help dig through rubble to uncover the dead and injured . by this morning the reported death toll had risen to 261 , with estimates of the number of people who suffered injuries running at about 4 , 000 , said zhang yong of the xinjiang seismological bureau . ''not a single house in our area escaped damage , '' said li juan , an official in the heavily affected township of qiongkuer chake . ms . li toured the stricken area after her four story government headquarters buckled during the quake . ''the dead bodies are lined up all along the streets , '' ms . li said . ''it 's a horrible sight . '' residents reached by phone said that in accordance with local custom in the mainly muslim area , relatives scurried to cover bodies in white cloth and arrange immediate burials . many people who lost homes covered themselves in blankets against the sub freezing_temperatures . the epicenter was about 25 miles east of the city of jiashi , in bachu county . jiashi is about 35 miles east of kashgar , which felt the tremor but did not suffer significant casualties or damage . the official new china news_agency reported that nearly 9 , 000 buildings , including 900 classrooms and at least one large elementary_school , were flattened around bachu . one official blamed poor construction standards for the widespread damage . ''the quality of the buildings in that area is quite bad , '' said song lijun , also of the xinjiang seismological bureau . ''because schools were among the destroyed buildings , we fear that children are among the dead . '' mr . song said he was uncertain how far the rescue effort had progressed or whether the death toll would rise substantially . communications among small towns and villages in the area are considered poor , and officials suggested that it could be days before they knew the extent of the devastation . in beijing , officials initially played down the severity of the quake . before meeting secretary of state colin l . powell , president jiang_zemin of china told reporters he did not consider the quake a major disaster . it seemed likely that mr . jiang 's comments were based on early reports of light casualties . but as fresh reports came in on monday , the quake appeared to be one of china 's most severe in recent years . chinese officials are especially sensitive to the potential of tremors to wreak horrific damage since a huge earthquake in tangshan in 1976 killed an estimated 240 , 000 , one of the worst natural_disasters . official news_agencies reported on monday evening that the central government had dispatched a rescue team to the area and that wen_jiabao , the man expected to become prime_minister at the meeting this spring of the chinese parliament , had taken charge of relief work . the area affected in the quake lies about 1 , 750 miles west of beijing in the xinjiang region . the muslim uighur minority is the predominant ethnic_group in the region , which is one of china 's poorest . though a volatile fault lies under xinjiang , causing frequent tremors , casualties are generally light . relatively small numbers of people live outside the handful of big urban_areas in the expansive territory , which consists largely of deserts and highlands . chinese news reports suggested that this was xinjiang 's worst quake in decades . in 1997 , a spate of 11 earthquakes struck xinjiang . one of them , on jan . 21 of that year , struck only 12 miles from jiashi , where the tremor occurred , and killed 12 people . one of the largest in recent years came in march 1996 . twenty four people were reported killed when a quake measuring 6.9 hit an area about 75 miles north of jiashi . the united states geological survey in golden , colo . , reported that the quake measured 6 . 3 , less severe than the chinese measurement . it was unclear what accounted for the discrepancy .

has a location of china

lead these have been glory days for the cable_news_network . its coverage of the upheaval in tiananmen_square in beijing has won praise from press analysts and attracted thousands more viewers , especially in the six days last week that cnn was able to transmit from its own satellite facilities in beijing . these have been glory days for the cable_news_network . its coverage of the upheaval in tiananmen_square in beijing has won praise from press analysts and attracted thousands more viewers , especially in the six days last week that cnn was able to transmit from its own satellite facilities in beijing . the network , its admirers say , was simply doing what it does best showing a historic event unfolding live . and being a round the clock all news operation , it devoted many more hours to the story 30 of them live that week than could any of the three major networks . ''i think the cable_news_network really came of age , '' said fred friendly , a professor emeritus at the columbia graduate_school_of_journalism and a former cbs executive . ''it performed a great national and even international service . '' kudos for cbs cbs , the only one of the three major networks to send an anchor , dan rather , and to set up its own satellite facility in beijing , also performed ''an enormous service , '' he said . in an age when air time is enormously expensive and networks are cutting back , ''cbs did more than anyone else among the commercial stations , '' he said . ''but they did n't have what cnn has , which is unlimited air time . '' cnn , a network of the turner_broadcasting system , made its debut in june 1980 , and has been turning a profit in recent years . it has grown rapidly , and now has 21 news bureaus , of which a dozen are outside the united_states . it is seen in 83 countries besides the united_states . its ''prime news'' programs at 8 p.m . are normally watched by about 500 , 000 american households , roughly one tenth the size of audiences for each of the three major networks' prime evening newscasts . an order on a legal pad but 860 , 000 american homes watched cnn live last friday night between 8 and 10 15 p.m. , when a tense and curious exchange took place . chinese officials told cnn to stop transmitting and cnn staff members asked for that in writing . a chinese official complied on camera , writing the order on a legal pad . cnn members conferred with their network 's headquarters in atlanta , and the transmission ended . that same night , 12 . 2 million viewers were watching cbs ( and some called in to complain ) as the network broke into the season 's final episode of ''dallas'' with a 21 minute special report that showed chinese officials telling cbs to end its operations in beijing . during the past week , 400 , 000 american households tuned in daily to cnn on average an increase of some 150 , 000 from usual . 'logistical nightmare' the broadcasts from china were ''a logistical nightmare , '' said eason jordan , cnn 's acting international editor , although events such as the 1988 democratic_national_convention required a larger staff . cnn had 40 people in china last week , including the cnn anchor bernard_shaw mike chinoy , the beijing bureau chief , and three other correspondents . ''they were working without sleep , as long as 20 , 24 even 40 hours , '' mr . jordan said . ''even when they were told to get some sleep , they were too excited . '' in the view of ed joyce , a former president of cbs_news , ''bernard_shaw , and particularly mike chinoy , showed that nobody in commercial networks is doing anything better than they are doing . chinoy , i thought , really seemed to have a grasp on the subtleties'' of the situation . abc and nbc 'were not factors' ''what i found fascinating , '' mr . joyce said , ''was that the competition was between cbs_news and cnn . abc and nbc were just not factors'' which he called a ''watershed'' development . abc and nbc were hardly in accord with this assessment . ''we 're not at all ashamed we covered it well , '' said dick wald , the senior vice_president of abc_news . noting that the original reason for the coverage was the chinese soviet summit meeting , he said , ''the second story that captured the attention of the world was n't part of anybody 's planning . '' comparing cnn to a wire story and the networks to newspapers , mr . wald said , ''the wire_service is constant and constantly updating , but the newspaper creates a shape for things and a context . '' joseph angotti , a senior vice_president of nbc_news , said , ''i think its unfortunate that people have a perception that if your anchor is not there , you 're not covering a story adequately . '' on the camera 's presence ''the nature of cnn allows it to do things we simply ca n't do , '' mr . angotti added . describing the coverage by cnn and by all three networks as ''terrific , '' he added that ''we think our pictures have been the best . '' not everyone agrees on the impact of cnn 's presence . reuven frank , a former president of nbc_news , said the main point was that these days , ''the presence of the camera changes the nature of the event . '' students , he said , were very much aware of the coverage , and timed their protest to the summit talks , just as antiwar demonstrators chose the democratic_national_convention to capture the cameras' eyes in chicago in 1968 . and will cnn 's achievement affect the way the commercial networks cover news ? ''what i 'm afraid of , '' said mr . frank , ''is that it may allow the networks to cop out . they could say , 'well , if you want it , it 's there on cnn . ''

has a location of china

on a recent visit to tibet , a monk at a monastery outside lhasa , the capital , asked to borrow my travel guide to practice english . i gave it to him and went into the monastery , returning later to find the monk surrounded by a crowd poring over a scratchy illustration in my book of the dalai_lama , the tibetan spiritual and political leader now exiled in india . i did not know that images of the dalai_lama are banned by the chinese , occupiers of this remote mountain realm . whatever your take on the chinese occupation of tibet ( the chinese make the argument that , historically , tibet has long been part of a greater_china ) , you 'll find little evidence of social or political tension in the color photographs of tibet by the chinese travel photographer ge jialin , now showing at the mansfield freeman center for east asian studies at wesleyan_university . his vision , you might say , is the high gloss , eye_catching national_geographic version of tibetan life . in his defense , mr . ge 's photographs here were mainly taken in the eastern regions of tibet , areas long part of china 's informal sphere of influence . some are even from a tibetan autonomous prefecture in nearby sichuan_province . but even so , mr . ge 's images of smiling girls in spotless folkloric dress happily doing chores or staring admiringly up at elders look more like propaganda from the cultural_revolution than like realistic impressions of daily life in these remote , mountainous and largely poor rural areas . then there is the question , more pointedly , of the appropriateness of a chinese photographer ( mr . ge , born in 1941 , lives in chengdu , the capital of sichuan ) taking images of tibetans in traditional dress at festivals , on feast days or at the popular horse races . there is a whole genre of colorful chinese travel photography devoted to impressions of the country 's so called ' 'minority groups'' ( there are 56 official minority groups nationwide ) , and it is hard to see mr . ge 's photographs as anything other than more of the same breezy , voyeuristic exoticism . portraits are mr . ge 's specialty , and it is these that happily provide the bulk of the photographs installed here , somewhat annoyingly , without wall labels or titles . among the exhibits are some of his more famous photographs , like a close up of the heavily lined , shriveled , prunelike face of an elderly , toothless , pigtailed tibetan woman . she would have been beautiful once , or so i imagine from her strong , high cheekbones , wide eyes and big mouth . another well known image is the photograph of a smiling miller in simple work clothes , his hands and face dusted with barley flour . it is a feel good photograph , the artist capturing the good natured miller ( probably with a telephoto lens ) in the midst , perhaps , of a conversation with friends or squinting in the devilishly harsh mountain sunlight to consider an impending transaction . who knows , but traveling in tibet you really see this kind of person . then there is the photograph of a girl wrapped in a dirty , ragged coat surrounded by cows and yaks . her attire , bare feet , filthy matted hair and rosy red cheeks are all typical of the children you see in hill towns throughout central tibet . some like to chase after tourists and beg for money , food , pens and paper for school . it is hard not to oblige , given how poor and seemingly desperate are their circumstances . social comment , insofar as it can be found here , is in the details . the glint of a fake ( or perhaps real ) cartier watch on the slender wrist of a monk in a picture of three monks discussing scriptures attests to the intrusion of the outside world into this remote mountain realm , as does an image of a girl in traditional folkloric costume on a cellphone . both these pictures are clich s of a sort , but like all clich s , they contain a grain of truth . ''face of tibet photographs by ge jialin'' is at the mansfield freeman center for east asian studies , wesleyan_university , 343 washington terrace , middletown , through may 1 . information ( 860 ) 685 2330 or www . wesleyan . edu east mansfieldf mansfield . html . art review

has a location of china

china has the most extensive internet censorship in the world , regularly denying local users access to 19 , 000 web_sites that the government deems threatening , a study by harvard_law_school researchers finds . the study , which tested access from multiple points in china over six months , found that beijing blocked thousands of the most popular news , political and religious sites , along with selected entertainment and educational destinations . the researchers said censors sometimes punished people who sought forbidden information by temporarily making it hard for them to gain any access to the internet . defying predictions that the internet was inherently too diverse and malleable for state control , china has denied a vast majority of its 46 million internet users access to information that it feels could weaken its authoritarian power . beijing does so even as it allows internet use for commercial , cultural , educational and entertainment purposes , which it views as essential in a globalized era . only the most determined and technologically savvy users can evade the filtering , and they do so at some personal risk , the study says . ''if the purpose of such filtering is to influence what the average chinese internet user sees , success could be within grasp , '' said jonathan zittrain , a professor at the law_school and a co author of the study . the study offers fresh evidence that the internet may be proving easier to control than older forms of communication like telephones , facsimile machines or even letters . china can tap some telephones or faxes or read mail . but it cannot monitor every call , fax message and letter . the internet , in contrast , has common checkpoints . all traffic passes through routers that make up the telecommunications backbone here . china blocks all access to many sites , and it has begun selectively filtering content in real time even as viewers seek access to it and deleting individual links or web pages that it finds offensive . by regularly testing access to 200 , 000 popular web addresses , the researchers found that china blocked up to 50 , 000 sites at some point in the six month period . of those , the study found 19 , 000 sites that could not be reached from different places in china on multiple days . the study is at http cyber . law . harvard . edu filtering china . compared with saudi_arabia , which the team studied earlier , china exercises far broader though sometimes shallower control . beijing completely blocked access to the major sites on tibet and taiwan . a user who types ' 'democracy china'' into google , the popular search_engine , would find nearly all the top sites with those words out of reach . google itself was blocked in september , although access is now restored . chinese users cannot often reach the sites run by amnesty international or human_rights_watch . china also does not allow users to connect to major western religious sites . news_media sites are also often blocked . among those users had trouble reaching in the test period were national_public_radio , the los_angeles times , the washington_post and time magazine . though china says a main justification for censorship is the proliferation of pornography , its blocking of such sites is less dogged . the study found that china blocked fewer than 15 percent of the most popular sexually_explicit sites . saudi_arabia banned 86 percent of the list .

has a location of china

a pentagon review has concluded that two sensitive encoded circuit_boards that disappeared after a failed launching of an american communications_satellite in china two years ago were probably destroyed in the fiery crash . last month several defense_department officials said they suspected that chinese officials had stolen the devices from the wreckage of a 200 million loral space and communications_satellite that was obliterated when the chinese rocket carrying it exploded shortly after launching . but a review by the national_security_agency , the military 's super secret code makers and code breakers , found no evidence of wrongdoing by the chinese authorities . ''it is highly unlikely that the devices survived the crash because of the crash impact and high temperatures produced by burning rocket propellents , '' said the review , which noted that the devices were housed close to the rocket 's fuel tank . in the off chance that the chinese recovered the circuit_boards , each of which contained scores of individual computer chips , they would not have learned much , the review concluded . ''it is highly unlikely that these items could have been recovered in sufficient detail'' to enable the chinese to reproduce them , it said . moreover , clinton_administration and industry officials said the chinese would have had no way to know which of the chips were encoded because they all look_alike . loral employees could tell them apart by comparing company records with code numbers on the circuit_boards . none of the recovered chips were encoded , the officials said . the administration ordered the review after house republicans , notably representative curt weldon of pennsylvania , expressed fears at a hearing last month that the loss of the encoded circuit_boards might have harmed national_security . the encoded technology tells an orbiting satellite which way to point to receive and transmit signals . the case of the missing circuit_boards became part of congress 's multipronged inquiry into whether sensitive american satellite technology was given to china that might ultimately enhance beijing 's military . after the house hearing last month , the white_house released a statement from the national_security_agency that said the loss of the devices would have ' 'minimal'' impact on american security because the technology was 20 years old . even before the accident , the government had scheduled a routine upgrading of algorithms , the set of instructions that guide american satellite encoding equipment , the statement said . thus , encoded devices for one satellite could not gain access to or control other satellites . mr . weldon , who is a member of a house select committee looking into accusations involving china , today expressed skepticism over the administration 's explanation . ''the whole thing is very suspicious , '' he said . ''why did n't they have these answers a month ago ? '' the pentagon provided a copy of the one page review today after franklin miller , a senior pentagon official , testified before a senate governmental affairs subcommittee on the export of sensitive technology to china . mr . miller had expected questions on the missing circuit_boards , but none were asked . when asked about the issue after the hearing , mr . miller said , ''the government 's position is that the devices almost certainly did not survive . '' american officials had said that only one circuit_board was missing , but the report today made it clear that two encoded circuit_boards were involved . mr . miller said the administration never asked china for an accounting of the missing technology because an american team of industry and military observers concluded the day after the accident that the devices were probably lost in the crash . on feb . 15 , 1996 , at the launching of the loral satellite in southern china , the chinese rocket exploded 22 seconds after liftoff , showering debris and burning fuel on a nearby village . by american accounts , as many as 200 civilians were killed . for five hours , american officials said , the chinese authorities barred american monitors at the launching center from visiting the crash site , purportedly for their own safety . according to an industry official , an american inspection team , made up of representatives from the pentagon , loral and intelsat , the communications consortium that had planned to use the satellite , finally was able to comb the crash site for pieces of the satellite . the team recovered pieces that made up about one third of the satellite , but many parts were mangled or melted beyond recognition , the industry official said . the loral satellite contained about 100 circuit_boards that resembled trays . about 1 , 000 computer chips were built into the circuit_boards , but the industry official said only two chips each on a separate circuit_board were actually encoded . the american team found parts of 12 trays , and three of them were battered but mostly intact . loral sent these parts back to its laboratory in palo_alto , calif . , for analysis . the american inspection team concluded the chinese had not taken anything because they were too busy dealing with the emergency , and had made no apparent effort to pick up any of the circuit_boards . ''if they were trying to search the field for something , they 'd have collected every recognizable piece and sent it to a lab , '' an industry official said . the china investigation pushed ahead elsewhere on capitol_hill today . george j . tenet , the director_of_central_intelligence , and louis j . freeh , the director of the federal_bureau_of_investigation , testified before at a closed hearing of the senate_intelligence_committee .

has a location of china

play was evenly balanced in the two finals at the marlboro world_championships here today . in the bermuda bowl for open teams , the united_states led canada by the trivial margin of 1 imp after 64 deals of a scheduled 160 . the american team consists of nick nickell of raleigh , n.c. , dick freeman of atlanta , jeff meckstroth of tampa , fla . , eric rodwell of naperville , fla . , and bob wolff and bob hamman of dallas . the canadian players are joe silver , eric kokish , mark molson and boris baran of montreal and george mittelman and fred gitelman of toronto . the final of the venice trophy contest for women 's teams was equally close . after 64 deals , the match midpoint , germany led the united_states by 1 imp . the german team consists of sabine zenkel , daniela von arnim , beate nehmert , marianne moegel and karin caesar . the americans are kerri sanborn of stony_point , n.y. , karen mccallum of exeter , n.h. , carol simon of summit , n.j. , rozanne pollack of warren , n.j. , and kitty munson and sue picus , both of manhattan . france won the bronze medals in both events , defeating sweden in one playoff in the bermuda bowl and china in another in the venice cup . a brilliant inference allowed joe silver to bring home a game that failed at all other tables . in a quarterfinal_match against south_africa , he reached four spades after east had opened with a weak two bid in hearts . the heart jack was led and east overtook with the queen . silver let this win for a subtle reason . he was sure that east did not have seven hearts , for he would then have opened three hearts , and he wanted to see what east would return . east was likely to have a singleton somewhere , and if it was in a minor suit he would surely lead it at the second trick . but east continued with the heart king , a passive move , and silver won with the ace . east was now sure to have started with six hearts and some length in the minor suits . the chance of a singleton spade with east was now greatly increased . so silver cashed the spade king and finessed dummy 's ten with a happy result . the game failed in the replay , and canada gained 10 imps .

has a location of china

china limits 'idol' worship television watchdogs in china have run out of patience with extended singing competitions akin to ''american_idol'' after the news_media complained that many of the shows have artificially prolonged their runs to reap profits from text message voting , variety . com reported . hugely popular , the contests have dominated ratings in china and created a new generation of pop stars . but each of the latest series of the most successful shows ''supergirls , '' ''my hero'' and ''dream china'' stretched over more than four months . the state administration of radio , film and television is limiting them to 10 weeks . variety noted that reality_shows posed a problem for authorities concerned about western influence on chinese_culture , and that voting for pop stars was a hot_topic in a country without universal suffrage . france to sign abu_dhabi louvre pact the french culture minister , renaud donnedieu de vabres , is to sign an agreement tomorrow to build a satellite of the louvre on saadiyat island , a tourist development off the coast of abu_dhabi , capital of the united_arab_emirates , agence_france_presse reported . a spokesman for the ministry refused to furnish other details of the project , shown in a rendering above , which has prompted critics to protest in a petition that france was ' 'selling its soul . '' henri loyrette , the president and director of the louvre , has defended the project as a contribution to the spread of french culture and a financial benefit to france . the government has confirmed that it is to receive 800 million to 1 billion to rent the name , art treasures and expertise of the louvre to the satellite , designed by the french architect jean nouvel and scheduled to open in 2012 . under terms of the agreement , france would provide abu_dhabi with four exhibitions a year from major museums , including the louvre , for 10 years . 'wild hogs' tickles ribs ''wild hogs'' ( buena vista ) , the motorcycling male midlife crisis comedy starring tim allen , john travolta , martin lawrence and william h . macy , vroomed its way to the top of the movie chart in its first weekend in release , hauling in 38 million , according to estimates by the box office tracking company screenline . left in its dust , though with a firm if bloody grip on second place , was ''zodiac'' ( paramount ) , about a serial_killer , which finished with 13 . 1 million . last week 's no . 1 attraction , ''ghost rider'' ( sony ) , the flaming fantasy starring nicolas cage , dropped to third place in its third week , on a gross of 11 . 5 million . also in its third week , the pg rated ''bridge to terabithia'' ( buena vista ) , a tale of friendship between two unusually gifted children , attracted 8 . 5 million to take fourth place . the top five was rounded out by the jim carrey vehicle ''the number 23'' ( new line ) with 7 million in its second week . nigerian filmmaker awarded african oscar no shiny limousines or designer gowns were visible in the burning heat , but a red_carpet was laid on saturday night in the main football stadium in ouagadougou , the capital of burkina faso , where fireworks exploded and 20 , 000 people roared as the green robed president , blaise compaor , handed the 41 year old nigerian director newton aduaka , above , the golden stallion , the top award at the 20th panafrican film and television festival of ouagadougou , agence_france_presse reported . the climax of the festival , also known as fespaco , honored mr . aduaka 's ''ezra , '' a film that touched on blood diamonds and child soldiers in telling of the trauma of youngsters kidnapped and drugged to fight in the civil_war in sierra_leone . the event , held every two years , is the biggest film_festival in africa . at rock gala , who 's in and who 's out ? keith richards , jay z and eddie vedder will open the doors to the rock and roll hall of fame for new inductees in ceremonies at the waldorf_astoria in manhattan next monday , but according to billboard , the night 's big question is , when velvet revolver ushers in van halen , who will turn up to represent the band ? in late february , plans for a summer tour by that hard_rock foursome with its original lead vocalist , david lee roth , collapsed . at the induction , billboard reported , velvet revolver is expected to perform live in van halen 's place . meanwhile , mr . richards of the rolling_stones will induct the ronettes the rapper jay z will induct grandmaster flash and the furious five mr . vedder of pearl jam will induct r.e.m. , and the reclusive vocalist zach de la rocha of rage against the machine will induct patti smith . in addition , aretha franklin will perform a tribute to ahmet ertegun , who was chairman of the hall of fame foundation and spoke at the beginning of each annual induction ceremony before his death in december . vh1 classic is to broadcast the ceremonies live . footnotes hundreds of screaming fans turned out at narita international airport outside tokyo yesterday when michael_jackson , 48 , arrived in japan to play host at a party on thursday where admirers will pay 3 , 500 to spend 30 seconds to a minute with him , the associated press reported . he is not obligated to perform . promoters declined to comment on the fee for his appearance . john zorn , the iconoclastic new york composer who won a macarthur foundation award in september , has received another sizable prize the 50 , 000 william schuman award from columbia_university . given periodically to an american composer whose works are deemed to be of lasting significance , the prize was last given to steve reich , in 2000 . kerry butler , who played penny pingleton in ''hairspray , '' will take on the role of the muse kira in ''xanadu , '' the first musical of the 2007 8 broadway season . the show , with a book by douglas carter beane ( ''the little dog laughed'' ) , has postponed its opening to june 26 , from may . all the music comes from the 1980 film ''xanadu , '' which starred olivia newton john as the muse who inspires the creation of an enormous disco roller rink .

has a location of china

the story begins when the goddess nu gua , repairing the vault of heaven many millenniums ago , left unused one great rock , an an thropomorphized object of feelings and intelligence . the rock , longing to live a life of mundane pleasures on earth , turned itself into a stone . it dwelt for some time in the court of the goddess of disillusionment , where it showed particular kindness to a celestial plant that also wished to experience the pleasures of the earth . eventually , the stone was taken away by a taoist priest , who brought it to the sprawling_compound of the jia family near the city of nanjing . there the stone was born as an effeminate , sensitive youth named bao yu ( meaning precious jade ) , and the celestial plant appeared as black jade , devoted to bao yu 's love . these are the mythical origins of " a dream of red mansions , " the novel of manners , love and tragic ends that is widely considered to be the greatest of the classical_chinese works of fiction . few westerners , it must be admitted , have read this vast work a kind of chinese " remembrance of things past . " it is long , subtle , poetic and elusive , full of taoist and buddhist signs and symbols difficult even for many contemporary chinese to grasp fully . but over the next 36 weeks , television viewers in the new york area will have a chance to watch a comprehensive dramatization of the novel , made by chinese television . cuny tv , which specializes in unusual foreign fare it recently presented a series of post glasnost soviet made documentaries will begin broadcasting " a dream of red mansions " tomorrow , showing each segment several times on mondays , at 10 a.m . and at 2 , 6 and 10 p.m . the mini series , which took five years to produce and has 150 speaking roles , is the first chinese made series to be shown on american television . the story tells of a love triangle involving bao yu , black jade and another of bao yu 's cousins , this one called bao chai , or precious clasp set against the decline of the jia family , a victim of intrigues and scandals . the truth is that the television version of " a dream of red mansions , " like the novel , may not be for everybody . it is a long and stately procession of hundreds of incidents and characters , beautifully clothed in period costumes but , like the figures in a russian novel , a bit difficult to tell apart . a program guide , obtainable by telephoning cuny tv at ( 212 ) 719 9128 , might help a viewer follow the story . the subtitles contain many hilarious misspellings , and at times they flash by so quickly that watching the program becomes an exercise in speed reading . yet , certainly by the still developing standards of chinese television , this is an ambitious and lavish production , full of the suggestive richness of the novel and evocative of the elaborate , brocaded style of 18th_century chinese life . in the resplendent early years of the qing_dynasty , china was dominated by members of a scholar official class who rose to power in part by political intrigue but also by virtue of their mastery of the arts of philosophy , poetry and painting . there are scenes of scholars sipping wine on a moon viewing pavilion and writing poems to one another there are evocations of the courts of the all powerful local magistrates there are silks , ink brush paintings , latticed windows , bronze drinking vessels , elaborate banquets and , in the background , the sounds of cicadas and two stringed violins . the author of " a dream of red mansions " was one cao xueqin , whose biographical details are only sketchily known . cao was apparently an impoverished member of a once wealthy family from nanjing his first work , an 80 chapter opus entitled " the story of a stone , " was published in beijing around 1765 and proved enormously_popular . several decades after cao 's death , 40 more chapters were published in beijing under the title " hung lou meng " translated either as " a dream of red mansions " or , more commonly , " dream of the red chamber . " it has been a matter of intense scholarly debate whether the last 40 chapters were written by cao or are forgeries by later publishers . c . t . hsia , a leading scholar of chinese literature , says that the novel is china 's " supreme work of psychological realism , " a far more intimate look into the human mind , its inner turmoil , its desires and its contradictions than any other classical novel . is it a parable of buddhist resignation , an allegory of moral decline , a satire of aristocratic manners ? cao xueqin himself left a small hint of the novel 's ambiguity in an epigram to one of the novel 's 120 chapters pages of fantasy tears of despair an author mocked as mad none lays his meaning bare . tv view

has a location of china

tomorrow night 's two hour visit to what the producers title " the wild east " concentrates on the new capitalists who are running amok in communist_china . for this very small but growing group of entrepreneurs and operators someone calls them former red guards in armani suits life seems to be fun and games and moneymaking . the wisecrack going around beijing is that the forbidden_city has been turned into the for business city . mao_zedong , still an icon , must be spinning wherever the spirits of chinese marxists spin . it 's a somewhat unfocused tour , venturing here and there through time and space as if the producer , peter kaufman , were having difficulty filling up his own time and space . the program is most pointed when mr . kaufman 's chinese acquaintances tell of the persecution of the educated class during the cultural_revolution and speculate gloomily on the consequences of the capitalist revolution . attention is drawn to old fashioned but still current government repression , to up to date forms of corruption , to the unemployment that has turned millions into itinerant job hunters and to the industrial pollution that is being permitted to foul the air in the service of development . inhabitants of hong_kong , which is to return chinese rule in 1997 , voice their special worries , and ethnic and religious stirrings , especially among china 's big muslim population , portend other troubles . yet " the wild east " diverts as it moves somewhat eccentrically between dire news and cheery travelogue . you can see mongolian women on horseback slam dunking in an exhibition of horse basketball , and hear from russian women of the night who have been imported for the pleasure of the new chinese millionaires . you can also listen in on a discussion among young chinese women about the virtues of sex before marriage . flourishing enterprises restaurants , stock_exchanges , private clubs , religious temples , discos are seen in action . and in a change of pace , there is a time warped pop singer , who learned his craft from crosby hope and astaire rogers movies , crooning " on a slow boat to china . " nova can buildings make you sick ? pbs , tomorrow , 8 p.m . ( channel 13 in new york ) does being at work give you a headache ? do n't rush to blame the boss or the annoying person in the next cubicle . tomorrow 's offering from " nova " tells how brick and mortar sleuths go about detecting the causes of employee weariness , respiratory ailments , eye trouble and all round malaise in new offices and hospitals . is it the air_conditioning ? the ventilation ? the lighting ? the acoustics ? the fireproofing ? bugs in the ducts ? the program is a gift for people who need one more thing to worry about . season 's greetings from pbs . china the wild east tbs , tomorrow at 8 05 p.m . written and directed by peter kaufman produced by kaufman and xiaozhen jiang philip kaufman , executive_producer and narrator . music by tan dun ruby yang , editor . for turner original productions pat mitchell , executive_producer vivian schiller , supervising producer . television review

has a location of china

qing porcelain can be a neglected stepchild in the family of chinese porcelains . qing is the name given to porcelain produced during the manchu dynasty ( 1644 1912 ) . the pieces were made for the imperial court , for domestic use in china and for export to the west . they differ in quantity and artistry . ''the problem is that nonimperial qing porcelains vary in quality , '' said james b . godfrey , director of chinese_art at sotheby 's . ''there are pedestrian pieces and pieces of fine quality . it goes both ways . '' mr . godfrey was discussing the porcelains in sotheby 's auction of chinese_art on wednesday . ''the uninformed might focus on the glories of ming , '' he said , ''but qing imperial porcelains have always been highly sought after and reflect the highest levels of taste and appreciation . '' there are qing porcelains of all three types at sotheby 's , at doyle 's ''asian works of art'' sale on monday , at christie 's ''fine chinese_ceramics , paintings and works of art'' auction on thursday , and at the arts of pacific asia show at the 69th regiment armory ( lexington_avenue at 26th_street ) from thursday through sept . 24 . several pieces are also for sale at the chinese_porcelain company , 475 park_avenue , at 58th_street . china was successfully invaded from the north many times . in the 17th_century it was the manchus who conquered china , ending the long ming_dynasty ( 1368 1644 ) . the last ming emperor , chongzhen , hanged himself from a plum tree north of beijing , unable to deal with his warring generals and the pirates who dominated the southern seas and stole his exports . ( in 1984 in amsterdam there was a sale of 2 , 000 pieces of blue and white porcelain recovered from a sunken junk off the coast of china . the salvage specialist michael hatcher determined that the ship had gone down around 1644 . ) the manchus , nomads descended from the tangus tribes of northern china , were great warriors and traders , able to secure a monopoly in the sale of pearls , fur and ginseng . they surrounded themselves with chinese advisers and once in power adopted chinese_culture . they did not interfere with the chinese_porcelain factories , though they did change the colors used . they introduced a vivid sapphire blue that replaced the purplish blue of the ming period , the bright green seen in famille verte ware and the palette of pinks that appear in famille rose ware . the new colors were a hit in europe , and westerners especially prized works made under the second qing emperor , kangxi , a scholar and artistic patron who has been compared to louis_xiv . kangxi ware was collected by queen mary ii of britain , the sultans of the ottoman_empire and frederick iii , elector of brandenburg and prussia . the chinese_porcelain company is selling a pair of large blue and white kangxi jars depicting foliate panels and ladies in gardens . they were made for export , and cost 50 , 000 . sotheby 's is also selling a pair of blue and white kangxi period jars . the white baluster shaped jars with lids are decorated with petal shaped panels , each showing blue peonies , chrysanthemums and prunus ( cherry ) trees emanating from a rocky landscape . the estimate for the pair is 40 , 000 to 60 , 000 . as the paris dealer michel beurdeley and his colleague guy raindre write in their book , ''qing porcelain'' ( rizzoli , 1987 ) ''the quality of the blue and white ware made at this time attained a_level that fired the enthusiasm , first of all , of chinese connoisseurs and then , a little later , of european collectors . technically , these wares are unequaled the pure white and fine grained body is covered with a faintly blueish tinged glaze that sets off the decoration painted in sapphire blue . '' sotheby 's has a beehive shaped kangxi water pot in a strawberry pink glaze with dark speckles on it . it is lightly incised with dragons . such pots are scholars' wares , in the chinese taste . called peach bloom water pots , they have simple domed bodies rising to narrow rims . the estimate for the one at sotheby 's is 8 , 000 to 10 , 000 . china 's imperial factory continued to thrive under the following qing emperor , yongzheng ( 1723 1735 ) , and his successor , qianlong ( 1735 1795 ) . mr . beurdeley and mr . raindre say that jesuits introduced pink enamels into china in the early 18th_century , and the new pinks and purples were called yangcai ( foreign colors ) . the french referred to them as famille rose . sotheby 's has a pair of 32 inch high yong zheng famille rose baluster jars and covers that come with giltwood and marble stands . each has medallions depicting chinese figures at home and in the garden . the panels are surrounded by dense thickets of foliage , including lotus and peony blossoms in yellow , aqua , lime_green and periwinkle . ''these are the type you see on a staircase landing in a grand late 19th_century house in america , '' mr . godfrey said . the estimate for the two is 120 , 000 to 140 , 000 . sotheby 's is also selling a yellow yongzheng chrysanthemum dish . shallow like a saucer , it has sides molded to resemble a ring of petals , suggesting an open chrysanthemum flower . yellow was reserved for members of the court . the estimate is 10 , 000 to 15 , 000 . westerners will love a pair of qianlong cranes , with white bodies , dark blue and green plumage and small heads crowned by red crests . the crane , native to china , symbolized longevity and was sacred . nonetheless these winning cranes were clearly made for export . the estimate for the pair is 20 , 000 to 30 , 000 . christie 's two sales chinese decorative_arts at christie 's east on monday and fine works of art at its headquarters on thursday include about 60 pieces of qing porcelain consigned by the cleveland museum of art . the museum , which has had the collection since the 1930 's , is selling them to bolster its acquisitions fund . one of the exceptional pieces is a 29 inch tall famille verte vase from the kangxi period . it depicts a daoist scene , a day in the realm of the immortals . the daoist goddess xiwangmu , the queen_mother of the west , and her jade maidens are shown on the isles of the blessed . as two women fan her with peacock feathers , the queen watches a group approaching with a deer pulled cart filled with flowers and a giant peach . in the daoist tradition the queen 's peach trees bore fruit only every 3 , 000 years . anyone who ate a peach was granted immortality . ''the painting is exquisite , the enamels are in very good condition , and the story is wonderfully fantastical , '' said athena zonars , a specialist in chinese_ceramics at christie 's . the estimate is 30 , 000 to 40 , 000 . less expensive qing porcelains can be found on the web , for under 2 , 000 at sothebys . amazon . com , and at the arts of pacific asia show . one dealer at that show , midori gallery of miami , is selling a five piece famille rose qing garniture set from the late 19th_century for 20 , 000 . it has an incense burner , candle stands and flower vases decorated with dragons , phoenixes and bats of happiness . antiques

has a location of china

lead for the first time in years , propaganda loudspeakers boomed out today over the low_slung houses and orange tiled imperial monuments of beijing , all but submerging with the sheer power of sonic amplification the lesser loudspeaker belonging to pro_democracy protesters still occupying tiananmen_square . for the first time in years , propaganda loudspeakers boomed out today over the low_slung houses and orange tiled imperial monuments of beijing , all but submerging with the sheer power of sonic amplification the lesser loudspeaker belonging to pro_democracy protesters still occupying tiananmen_square . the government 's high decibel message urges the demonstrators to withdraw from the square . it repeats in thunderously syrupy tones what the newspapers have been saying lately that the student protesters are motivated by laudable patriotic sentiments . but it adds a note that , like amplified messages themselves , has not been heard in a number of years . ''why did this movement begin ? '' the voice asks . ''because , '' it answers , ''we have slackened our attention to political education . '' then the voice , shuddering backward over the forbidden_city , echoing forward toward the orange fringed mausoleum of mao_zedong , goes on ''if we do n't stop the movement , we will lose the gains made during 10 years of reform . our government and party have the power to solve the country 's problems . '' students' answering voice the students camped out in tiananmen_square were trying their best to keep up their end of the loudspeaker competition , broadcasting their own messages . and tonight , when a large , enthusiastic crowd cheered as a model of the statue of liberty was set up in the middle of the square , the loudspeaker blasting propaganda into the humid night air seemed a strange commentary , one obviously ignored by the excited throngs . but for the most part , the superior amplitude of the government 's loudspeakers seemed a not very subtle emblem of the balance of forces emerging in the confrontation between student protesters and the communist authorities of china . two weeks ago , when a million people took to the streets to prevent the army from entering beijing to enforce martial_law , it seemed as if ''people power'' was winning . but now , like a giant kicked in the stomach , the vast and powerful chinese state , with its total control of the propaganda apparatus , has regained its breath , showing that , if it cannot persuade the students to give up their pro_democracy_demonstrations , it can at least shout them down . from out of the past while the government 's renewed recourse to loudspeakers as a propaganda tool is probably only temporary , they are reminders that several features of life long gone have been resurrected lately . one is the very call for more ideological education being made over the loudspeakers . that harkens back to an era when mao was still alive and the effort to instill politically ''correct'' ideas in the population was constant and time consuming . another returned element of chinese life is the language of the power struggle at the top , particularly the incessant repetition of slogans intended to portray the losers of the struggle as secretive and scheming but numerically insignificant ''counterrevolutionaries . '' the newspapers and television news broadcasts , for example , are filled with a new phrase in the lexicon of chinese communism ''the very , very small number of people . '' the phrase refers to the party leader , zhao_ziyang , and a group of his lieutenants who have apparently been eliminated from power . a slight variation reminiscent of expressions like ''the gang of four'' a reference to the maoist group that was purged in 1976 the new term has the virtue of succinctness . more important perhaps , it conveys the impression that it was just a tiny , isolated fragment of the leadership that formed an ''anti party clique , '' endangering communism and striving to gain power for itself . ''the very small number of people who have instigated and created turbulence must be exposed , '' wan li , the chairman of the national people 's congress , said , varying the ' 'very , very small number'' formula just a bit . as in past power struggles , it is for the propaganda apparatus to give the impression of a great outpouring of support for what , in the present case , is being called ''the important decisions of the party center'' meaning prime_minister li_peng 's declaration of martial_law on may 20 and the move apparently to purge mr . zhao and his closest allies . 'resolute support' expressed the newspapers have been reporting that well known people , large organizations and octogenarian revolutionary veterans alike have expressed their ' 'resolute support'' of mr . li , making , virtually without exception , some reference to that ' 'very , very small number of people'' inside the leadership whose ultimate goal was said to be the overthrow of the communist system . for the dwindling numbers of students of tiananmen_square , the phrase has become an object of mockery . they repeat the words in chinese derisively over and over again . the students' notion is that the ostensible ' 'very , very small number of people'' includes the majority of people in china . ''they want to isolate us , '' a student from beijing_university said today . ''they want to separate us from the mass of the people . but , in fact , the very , very small number of people are the leaders themselves . '' square with a history some new things in old forms have also appeared in the last few weeks , not the least of them the very appearance of student protesters in the vast square in front of the forbidden_city . tiananmen , or the gate of heavenly peace , was created by the victorious revolutionaries in the years after coming to power as an open expanse where events like triumphal parades celebrating the revolution could take place . before , the square was smaller and narrower , encroached upon by traditional courtyards surrounded by walls and two imperial style arches , all demolished after 1949 . under mao , tiananmen was used for the mass rituals of fealty to the communist government that were an essential part of his governing style . the square became the place of annual military parades , of huge fireworks exhibits , and , most important , of supposedly spontaneous mass rallies to support the victors in struggles for power . the symbolism changes when , for example , the radical clique known as the gang of four was purged in 1976 , hundreds of thousands of well organized demonstrators_marched through the square under red banners , beating the drums of celebration . years before , during the cultural_revolution , tiananmen was where delirious teen_age red guards demonstrated their worship of mao . in 1976 , there was an anti maoist protest at the square , later known as the tiananmen incident , that drew hundreds of thousands of people . it was a one day affair quickly suppressed by the government of the time , the one led by the ill fated gang of four . but the demonstration showed for the first time that the square , intended for the ritual of mass fealty , could also serve opponents of the party and the government . now , its occupation for over a month by pro_democracy protesters has probably changed its symbolism forever , transforming it from the place to show support for the government to the place where official policies are protested .

has a location of china

chinese furniture made for villagers a century or more ago looks like a simplified version of palace pieces . compared with the elaborately carved and lacquered chairs , tables and cabinets produced in exotic woods for aristocrats , the folk furniture used common woods , had plainer surfaces and thinner finishes . the spareness of these folk objects surprises many visitors to " friends of the house furniture from china 's towns and villages , " an exhibition at the peabody essex museum here , through aug . 7 . the show presents 45 pieces of furniture against stark white walls and mesh screens , settings evocative of china 's rural architecture over the last 200 years . in sharp contrast is the larger show of formal furnishings , " beyond the screen , chinese furniture of the 16th and 17th centuries , " on view at boston 's museum_of_fine_arts through may 18 , 1997 . there are 130 richly embellished furnishings in court settings and a smaller display of 15 exquisite pieces of miniature ming furniture . warped but otherwise undamaged by the flooding in a tomb that was excavated in the 1960 's , these extraordinary chairs , tables , racks , cabinets and an alcove bed are among the simplest examples of the ming style extant fewer than 50 pieces of dated ming furniture survive . the tomb furniture was lent by the shanghai museum and will remain through sept . 16 . both shows were organized by nancy berliner , an independent curator from cambridge , mass . she was introduced to chinese furniture on her first trip to the mainland in 1982 . she stayed for two years studying art_history at the central academy of art in beijing , and while there , she bought some pieces of folk furniture , which is still ignored by most collectors and scholars in china . she has returned each year since for short visits , while completing her doctoral studies at harvard_university . the woods spell the biggest difference between chinese formal and folk furniture . exotic hardwoods , including rosewood and sandalwood , were reserved for pieces destined for the wealthy . softer woods native to china elm , willow , pine , cypress , camphor and bamboo were used in the folk furniture . both types of furniture were made the same way parts were mitered , dovetailed or doweled together and surfaces were lacquered . nails were used only occasionally to strengthen a repair . metal reinforcements were used to strengthen willow furniture , and hardware was pinned to the surfaces of cabinets and drawers . the strongest appeal of folk furniture is usually its practicality . a chinese folding settee for three would pass for an exotic park bench anywhere in the united_states . a street vendor 's repair bench in henan_province , looks like a boy 's shoeshine box here . and a red lacquer garment rack , embellished with lacy clouds and the heads of smiling beasts , would be right at home in the bedrooms of imaginative americans . chinese mythology adds meaning and fantasy to several folk chairs the dragon carving on the arms and curved back of one chair indicated the elevated status of the owner the spread winged bat boldly incised on the crest rail of another , was supposed to bring good fortune . root furniture takes different forms in formal and folk versions . a five legged stool made of a large root is an exceptional example of the rustic style , one that required very little help to shape it , once the tree was cut off at the base . the formal approach to making root furniture , seen in a pair of stools at the boston museum , used roots joined by wooden pegs to create barrel shaped seats . they look man made . since folk objects in many cultures tend to fussiness , the plain furniture in the salem show seems particularly distinctive . two cube stools with rattan seats , for example , appear as modern today as they must have when they were made in the 18th_century . each is a tour de force of joinery . the stools seem , in fact , surprisingly close in spirit to the ming miniatures shown in boston . ms . berliner explained that in 1589 , when the miniatures were made for the supervisor of a monastery , there were two schools of thought about how ornate court furniture should be . " there was a reaction against what some called ostentatious and vulgar furnishings , " she said . " they even wrote treatises on the subject , urging that people make simple furniture if there was too much decoration , it would appear made for a woman 's room . " she proposed that the ming miniatures be represented in the boston show because of their extraordinary simplicity . " some of the fine carvings on the formal furniture are exquisite , " she said . " some of the plain things are very moving , and they 're not really plain . someone thought about every line . " even more significant , she said , is the original meaning of the ming miniatures " furniture was so important to the society that people wanted to have it in the afterlife . " arts artifacts

has a location of china

in a country where the arts are expected to support government policy rather than exist primarily as independent forms , china 's still young and rapidly expanding modern_dance has a distinct advantage . it is a wordless means of individual expression , especially open to ambiguity and interpretation . when the beijing modern_dance company , founded in 1995 , makes its new york debut tonight at the joyce_theater , with ''rear light , '' a piece choreographed to music from ''the wall , '' the 1979 rock album by pink_floyd , viewers will certainly spot the general aura of alienation . it may be less easy to agree about specifics . the sight of young people placed ''up against the wall'' and of crime scene body silhouettes painted on the floor as well as dancing that veers between turbulence and regimentation may all evoke the 1989 repression of demonstrators in tiananmen_square . yet there is also an intimate male female duet and a wild disco scene , usually with audience participation onstage . for willy tsao , the company 's hong_kong born artistic director , this disco episode is not just a release but also a critique of mindless youth . ''it shows a wild bunch of kids enjoying themselves , '' mr . tsao said . ''they do n't know what 's going on around them . they hide from the truth . '' any recent visitor to china who has run into the night life in shanghai and beijing or seen the pop art in official museums that portrays maoists and punk rockers side by side will understand that artists who do not want a return to the past may also be unhappy with china 's rediscovery of materialist values . an allegorical transposition of the original tale about an alienated rock star in the 1982 movie version of ''the wall , '' ''rear light'' is at a far remove from a realistic dance about peasants in the fields that was included in the 1991 united_states debut of the guangdong modern_dance company , the seedbed of chinese contemporary_dance . reflecting a society in flux , professional modern_dance has spread beyond guangzhou , beijing and shanghai to attract budding choreographers in universities in other provinces . true to the essence of modern_dance anywhere , it is no longer limited to one kind of movement idiom or aesthetic . interviewed by phone during the company 's current united_states tour , mr . tsao said that li han zhong and ma bo , the husband and wife team who choreographed ''rear light , '' tend toward ' 'very angry pieces . '' but ''rear light , '' he insisted , is one of those works whose meaning changes with its viewer . he agreed that the body silhouettes refer to people who have been killed . ''but these things happen anywhere , '' he said . ''people were killed in yugoslavia and are killed in iraq . '' mr . tsao is aware that not all , especially in the west , will accept this wider view . the point he wishes to make is that it would be right to read ''a yearning for individuality and free_expression'' into such works . ''dancers are not afraid to say that they are not satisfied , '' he added , ''and they say it through the body . '' for ralph samuelson , director of the new york based asian cultural council , which has helped finance training and teaching for chinese modern dancers and choreographers both in the united_states and in china , ''china is very different from what it was . '' yet , he added , there are three subjects that are taboo there in modern_dance sex , attacks on political leaders and violence . mr . tsao said that the line was drawn at nudity and direct criticism of chinese leaders . but like mr . samuelson , he notes that much has changed since the guangdong modern_dance company , china 's first professional modern_dance company , was formed in 1990 . it was a carefully prepared birth , sparked by the 1986 visit of yang mei qi , head of the guangdong dance_academy , to the american_dance_festival at its summer home at duke_university in durham , n.c . the festival , through its international choreographers workshop , played a major role in helping ms . yang organize a three year program ( 1987 90 ) to train dancers and nurture new choreographers . mr . tsao , who advised the guangdong company until 1998 and is now its overall director , said the training struck local cultural officials as too american . looking back on these beginnings , charles reinhart , the american_dance_festival 's director , remains adamant about the project 's goal . ''our whole point was not to come in like the soviet balletmasters did in china and say , this is our 'swan_lake , ' copy it , '' he said . ''the idea was to provide them with modern_dance training and let them run with it to develop their own genius . '' the first generation in the guangdong troupe spawned china 's leading modern_dance choreographers in a remarkably short time . they include shen wei , highly acclaimed on the international festival circuit and based in new york . ''the seeds in modern_dance creativity have grown so fast in china that we have come full circle , '' mr . reinhart said , referring to mr . shen . ''you could say that one of the most talented choreographers in america today is chinese . '' mr . samuelson said that in the 1980 's chinese choreographers did n't want to go home but ''now mostly they do . '' guangdong alumni include wang mei , who heads the modern_dance program at the beijing dance academy , and jin xing , who showed indisputable talent when he choreographed for american_dance_festival students in the 1980 's and early 90 's . in 1995 the beijing cultural bureau asked him to become the beijing modern_dance company 's first artistic director just after he underwent a sex change to become china 's most publicized transsexual . retaining the same name as a woman , ms . jin now choreographs for her own company in shanghai . a major figure in fostering interest in modern_dance is mr . tsao , who is choreographer for his city contemporary_dance company in hong_kong and who is credited by american observers with donating his own money to the guangdong and beijing companies . ''willy saved the companies , '' mr . samuelson said . ''they could n't sustain themselves . '' whether mr . tsao 's taste influences these companies is open to debate . americans can judge for themselves when the kennedy_center presents the guangdong , beijing and hong_kong companies on the same program in october . ''i have apartments in three cities , '' mr . tsao said . there is no question that he has fostered the growth of different choreographers both in the companies and in the annual dance festival he established in beijing in 1999 and moved to guangzhou last year . ''if it is only one type of modern_dance , it will be a failure , '' he said . ''chinese modern dancers are finding a new language . i do n't see that in europe and america . ''in the second year of our festival , students from seven colleges asked to present their choreography . it was amateurish , but it opened a door . in 2003 we had 18 universities participating , with many painting and literature students . a computer science student formed a company , the young crops society , after he choreographed for the festival . his works were very calm and quiet , like a computer . '' mr . tsao sees greater freedom in the fact that arts financing is being cut back on the provincial and municipal levels . the beijing troupe is mainly underwritten by corporations , he said . mr . tsao said the company 's status as an independent group without subsidy left it free of censorship . ''no government official came to see the work we are presenting now in the united_states , '' he said . after mr . tsao succeeded ms . jin as artistic director in beijing in 1999 , he said , ''i had to spend time on radio talk_shows , explaining modern_dance . '' government officials suggested he present works that were ''traditional and chinese . '' ''my response , '' he said , ''is that modern_dance is not a cultural trait . if you have a sense of freedom , chinese modern_dance can come of age . if the perception is that you have only to create something different from the west , that is a limitation . ''

has a location of china

even after a year of conflict , photographs and television footage of the iraq_war are spellbinding . partly this is because of their subject the explosions , mob scenes and daily loss of life and partly it is because as viewers , we know that these photographers and news cameramen are documenting a revolution in progress . their images reveal a country in the midst of radical social , cultural and political change , with all the attendant challenges . but it is also true that imagery of other revolutions has the same mesmerizing effect , as two unrelated exhibitions at wesleyan_university attest . one is a show at the mansfield freeman center for east asian studies of photographs of northern china in the years before the communist takeover in 1949 the other is an installation at the ezra and cecile zilkha gallery by the new york artist ann messner using historical photographs of public protests . organized by ronald lim , elizabeth khoo and adelina halim , ''before the doors closed the u.n . in north china after wwii'' consists of 36 photographs by gay dillon ( 1912 92 ) , an amateur photographer who traveled in northern china from 1946 to 1948 with her husband , harald lund , a united_nations relief administrator . her captivating black and white photographs document a revolution in progress , the country on the verge of radical transformation . the images in the exhibition were prepared from among a cache of almost 600 of ms . dillon 's original negatives , donated to the center in 1993 . although numbered , few of these negatives had captions . to help identify subjects and the locations depicted in the images , the curators drew on ms . dillon 's surviving field notes , their own research and mr . lund 's archives , which are also housed at the center . for the most part , their efforts have been successful . northern china in the late 1940 's was a harsh , remote place . after a decade of japanese occupation , and years of civil_war , there was widespread poverty and famine . this is reflected in ms . dillon 's photographs , which portray subjects ranging from failed crops in parched fields to a chinese boy learning to spin wool at a welfare institution wearing a shirt made from a recycled u.n . food sack . another image shows a bunch of sullen looking protestors , the leader carrying a banner that says , in chinese_characters , ''we are hungry . '' evidence of conflict is everywhere . in one image we see a long column of nationalist troops marching through one of the taiyuan city gates , while concrete bunkers , trenches and fortifications litter the countryside . even temples and pagodas were used as bulwarks , as one picture of a tang_dynasty pagoda outside taiyuan shows behind the pagoda is an intricate system of trenches and military communication tunnels . other images document the u.n . 's fledgling relief efforts in what was still a war zone , and even young american_soldiers , stationed briefly in the area as peacekeepers , playing baseball with local children . but mostly the photographs celebrate the forbearance and humanity of the chinese people . one delightful picture of this kind shows a group of young women training to be midwives , all dressed in identical white coats . ms . dillon also had a tourist 's eye . the exhibition includes numerous images of temples , rickshaw pullers , traditional industries and other exotic sights , like a camel train carrying chunks of coal . although such images tell us more about her own preconceptions of china than about the lives of the people there , they nonetheless provide a fascinating record of a world few westerners could visit during this chaotic period . ms . messner 's installation , ''oracle'' ( 2002 2004 ) , consists of 57 large , blurry black and white photographs reproduced from the archives of mahatma gandhi , martin_luther_king and malcolm x . wrapping around the gallery walls , the photographs depict various subjects a crowd in the street , bleachers , speakers , microphones , a bullhorn , as well as close ups of the three latter day oracles at mass rallies . the blurriness of the images suggests movement , as if the pictures were taken rapidly in a volatile situation . but it also provides ''a visual analog for the way we remember , '' as the exhibition 's curator , nina felshin , explained to me . the first set of images show acts of civil_disobedience in india in the 1940 's , including wonderfully abstracted shots of crowds . they are followed by shots of civil_rights demonstrations in the 1960 's , and black power rallies . together they remind you of the price of conviction , capturing that selflessly passionate spirit of participation that propels people to risk all and take to the streets . ''before the doors closed the u.n . in north china after wwii'' is at the mansfield freeman center for east asian studies , 343 washington terrace , middletown , through today . it reopens on may 20 through may 23 . information ( 860 ) 685 2330 . ann messner 's ''oracle'' is at the ezra and cecile zilkha gallery , 283 washington terrace , middletown , through may 23 . information ( 860 ) 685 2684 . art review

has a location of china

china said tuesday that wealthier countries must take the lead in curbing greenhouse_gas_emissions and refused to say whether it would agree to any mandatory emissions limits that might hamper its booming economy . jiang yu , a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry , said china was willing to contribute to an international effort to combat global_warming but placed the primary responsibility on richer , developed nations that have been polluting for much longer . ''it must be pointed out that climate_change has been caused by the long term historic emissions of developed countries and their high per capita emissions , '' she said , adding that developed countries have responsibilities for global_warming ''that cannot be shirked . '' ms . jiang 's comments , combined with another briefing on tuesday by the country 's leading climate expert , represented china 's first official response to a landmark report issued last week by a united_nations panel of scientists that declared global_warming is ''unequivocal'' and warned that immediate action must be taken to prevent harmful consequences . china is the world 's second largest emitter of the greenhouse_gases contributing to climate_change , trailing only the united_states . last november , the international energy agency in paris predicted that china would pass the united_states in emissions of carbon_dioxide in 2009 . china had been expected to surpass the united_states as late as 2020 , but its soaring consumption of coal has rapidly increased the country 's emissions . china derives nearly 70 percent of its energy from coal_fired_power_plants , many of them equipped with substandard pollution controls . chinese officials have long noted that china 's per capita emissions remain well below the averages in wealthier countries , including the united_states . officials also argue that china remains a developing_country without the financial resources or technological prowess to make a rapid shift to cleaner , more expensive energy technology . china has not disputed the scientific rationale behind global_warming or denied the potential harm it could cause . later this year , china is expected to release broad policy goals on how it can reduce emissions and respond to global_warming . in december , it issued a report warning that climate_change posed a serious threat to the country 's agricultural output and economy . ''the chinese government is taking climate_change extremely seriously , '' qin dahe , chief of the china meteorological administration , told reporters at the briefing . ''president hu_jintao has said that climate_change is not just an environmental issue but also a development issue , ultimately a development issue . '' indeed , even if chinese leaders acknowledge the problem , they remain resistant to any sweeping measures that could threaten the country 's development . some efforts are already meeting with uneven results . mr . qin , who served as a co chairman of the united_nations panel that issued the global_warming report last week , noted that china had set an ambitious five year goal of improving energy efficiency by 20 percent . but last year , the country failed to meet the initial target in that schedule . china 's standing as both a huge developing_country and as one of the world 's fastest growing economies has given it prominence in the global_warming debate . along with india , china is exempt from the requirements of the kyoto_protocol , the agreement that calls on industrial nations to reduce emissions by 2012 . ( the united_states signed the agreement , but has not ratified it . ) asked if china would agree to mandatory , specific targets to reduce emissions , mr . qin did not answer directly . ''as a developing_country that 's growing rapidly and has a big population , to thoroughly transform the energy structure and use clean energy would need a lot of money , '' mr . qin said , according to reuters . ms . jiang , the foreign ministry spokeswoman , said china recently ordered a shutdown of dirtier coal_fired_power_plants that emitted 5.4 million_tons of sulfur_dioxide a year . meanwhile , china has been experiencing record warm temperatures this winter that scientists attribute at least partly to global_warming . temperatures in beijing have soared into the 50s in february , a month when the historical average is just below freezing . brazil 's leader speaks out rio de janeiro , feb . 6 ( reuters ) the president of brazil , luiz in cio lula da silva , said tuesday that wealthy countries were responsible for global_warming and that they should stop telling brazil what to do with the amazon rain_forest . ''the wealthy countries are very smart , approving protocols , holding big speeches on the need to avoid deforestation , but they already deforested everything , '' mr . da_silva said during the announcement of a public works project in rio de janeiro . mr . da_silva , a former factory worker , said wealthy countries should switch to nonfossil fuels , such as ethanol or biodiesel , an area where brazil is a pioneer . brazil is the world 's largest producer of ethanol , which they derive from sugar_cane .

has a location of china

here in the animation capital of the nation , computer artists dressed in cali casual are ensconced in a converted warehouse that could rightly be called the house that slime built nickelodeon studios , a hothouse of toon talent . walk through the lobby , past the basketball court theater , past the gratis cappuccino bar , and soon enough a visitor comes upon an area where the walls are awash in apricot , sunny yellow and fuchsia . lines of tasseled red lanterns hang overhead , the lighting is subdued , and , in a corner office , stands karen chao . she 's the creator of ''ni hao , kai_lan ! , '' an animated series for preschoolers based on her memories of growing up in a bicultural household with two overachieving brothers , a doting immigrant grandfather and a father with one foot in the old world and one in the new . ms . chao and her mother , hai lan ( helen ) , were outnumbered but unbowed , honoring some gender traditions that dated to confucian times while questioning others . ''ni hao'' means ''hi'' in mandarin , and kai_lan is the chinese name ms . chao was given at birth , later anglicized to karen . the series , which will make its debut on nick jr . in august , has been nurtured from what was a wisp of an idea four years ago , in experimental shorts called ''downward doghouse , '' then later into a series with asian influenced characters , settings and situations . conceived here in southern_california but animated and partly designed in taipei and shanghai , the 20 episode project is nickelodeon 's big ticket domestic and international television release for 2007 . what 's remarkable is that this highly personal , highly stylized , faintly feminist project has sprung from an artist whose previous experience in television was limited to watching it . what ms . chao , 29 , has lacked in experience , though , she has made up for in fortitude . ''my dad instilled in me at the age of 7 that as long as you put your whole heart into a project , the outcome will be magnificent , '' ms . chao said . her father , jack , fled the people 's republic of china in 1962 with a single hong_kong_dollar in his pocket . he immigrated to new york in 1970 , taking work as a delivery boy , and eventually moved to texas . he is now a multimillionaire seafood distributor in orange_county , calif . , who is so protective of his daughter that he once ran background_checks on a suitor she brought home to meet the folks . ms . chao , who earned a degree in digital art from the university of california , irvine , in 2000 , did n't quite follow the path her father preferred . ''he set me up for an internship at painewebber , but i doodled on the cold call sheets and taped the phone receiver down , '' she said . ''i was n't a very good worker bee , but dad was ecstatic because i was wearing business outfits with shoulder_pads and big pants . in chinese_culture criticism is love . so my dad must really , really love me , because he has a lot to say . '' in 2001 ms . chao , then working as a graphic artist , took an advanced course in adobe illustrator software . ''the first thing i drew was kai_lan , '' she said , a version of herself at 5 . after ms . chao created a web_site with a handful of other characters , her work was noticed by mary harrington , nickelodeon 's top animation executive from 1992 to 1997 , who had developed ''spongebob squarepants'' and ''rugrats . '' ''i loved her artwork , '' said ms . harrington , now the executive_producer of ms . chao 's show . ''there was no real story there , but there was a sensibility and heart . we connected creatively and decided to take the plunge . i tease her that when we go out on the streets , people think she 's my adopted chinese daughter . '' though ms . chao was signed to a development deal , she said that her parents refused to believe she could support herself in the cartoon business . ''my dad said , 'what are you doing there all day at nickelodeon ? ' '' she recalled . ''to him it was mind_boggling . i was goofing off and drawing pictures all day . '' mr . chao proposed that he and his wife meet ms . harrington over lunch . ms . harrington politely obliged . ''i never had someone ask me to go to lunch with their parents in my business life , but i was honored , '' she said . by the time dessert was served , jack chao had bestowed his daughter 's boss with the chinese nickname ''may me , '' which means ''pretty woman . '' as a child in texas , ms . chao collected bootleg tapes of japanese anime dubbed in chinese . she also was mad for hello kitty , whose graphic style has rubbed off on the ''ni hao'' characters . ''everything i draw is childish , '' ms . chao said . ms . harrington confirmed dryly , ''yes , preschool was the prime of her life . '' kai_lan inhabits a fantastical realm with an impulsive tiger , a koala who longs to be a panda , a pink rhino and a dumpling loving monkey . kai_lan is ''a born leader who makes affirmative connections with people and nature , paying attention to the feelings of others , '' said a consultant for the series , dr . janxin leu , a cultural psychologist at the university of washington in seattle who studies the dynamics of chinese_american families . she is part of an advisory team of educational researchers and social scientists that helped develop curriculum goals for a show that builds on the interactivity of ''blue 's clues'' and the bilingualism of ''dora the explorer . '' aspects of ms . chao 's father and her grandfather , wensang chao , are blended into the character yeye , a frolicsome patriarch who encourages kai_lan to discover why things happen . the kai_lan yeye relationship is at the core of fanciful stories meant to help young viewers understand the link between feelings and actions . ''every episode has kai_lan promoting respect for elders and the importance of family , '' ms . harrington said . in the premiere episode kai_lan and rintoo , the temperamental tiger , provide a lesson in the roots and ramifications of anger . the best friends enter a dragon_boat festival , only to lose in the first race . rintoo , agitated , says ''i do n't want to race anymore . we lost and it 's not fair . '' he then whacks the boat with his tail , and it lands atop a pagoda . he stomps off and the narrative pauses to allow kai_lan to think out loud . ''the series is about cause and effect , how feelings and behaviors are interconnected , and what language we can use to talk about feelings to bring them under control , '' said dr . laura g . brown , another of the show 's consultants . later in the episode , kai_lan teaches viewers to say ''jump'' in mandarin , china 's official language . vocabulary words will be a regular feature , which may be the right idea at the right time , as interest in the study of mandarin increases in the united_states . an estimated 50 , 000 american children are being taught mandarin in public schools , with an additional 50 , 000 studying in private settings . next month the first 2 , 000 high_school students will take the college_board 's new advanced_placement exam in mandarin . the number is small but an indication of big things to come , said tom matts , director of the board 's world languages initiative . ''we expect to see growth in this course unlike any other introduced in the last decade or so . '' by comparison , said marty abbott , director of education at the american council on the teaching of foreign language in washington , 300 million chinese are learning english , including every schoolchild 7 or older . ''all indications are that we are not getting our children prepared for the global economy , '' ms . abbott said . ''but we get a lot of calls from parents of preschoolers and elementary_school students asking how they can help establish language programs in their schools . they 've seen how engaged their children are with dora . there 's a natural curiosity and openness to language at that age . '' since 2000 viacom , nickelodeon 's parent company , has had channels in south_china 's economically booming pearl_river_delta . mtv and nickelodeon are available there , despite china 's strict policies controlling foreign media . ''ni hao'' eventually will be seen in asia , australia , latin_america and europe . ms . chao said she wanted kai_lan ''to be a chinese_american role model , to be independent , to have a voice , to take the initiative and to not always have to follow others . '' ms . harrington , the executive_producer , said she hoped the series would have a special resonance for the estimated 60 , 000 girls in the united_states who have been adopted from chinese orphanages . one such child is jade lianna peters , who voices the title character . abandoned at a shrine in infancy , she was taken to an orphanage and put up for adoption at 8 months old . john and kathleen peters , a childless couple from milwaukee , flew to china holding a photograph of her the size of a postage stamp . ''when they placed her in my arms , she stared at me for about five minutes , and i stared back , '' mrs . peters said . ''then , all of a sudden , she let out this big sigh , as if she were saying , 'if this is what i 'm stuck with , it will at least be interesting . ' '' now 10 , jade lianna , who is being tutored in mandarin , reads lines from a studio in suburban milwaukee , linked by high speed cable to the nickelodeon center in burbank , her sandpapery voice adding nuance and energy to a story about a backyard safari . listening in from california , ms . chao is thrilled by jade lianna 's interpretation of kai_lan 's exuberance and affection for yeye . ''in chinese_culture everything is expressed in terms of the heart , '' ms . chao says . ''when a child is happy , she is said to have an open heart . when sad , her heart has been hurt . my father often speaks of this . he says being part of a family means having one heart . '' ''whenever i go home , that 's when i feel the safest . '' she says . ''that 's the soul of 'ni hao , kai_lan ! ' '' television correction april 22 , 2007 , sunday an article last sunday about the forthcoming nickelodeon television_series ''ni hao , kai_lan ! '' misspelled the surname of the show 's creator . she is karen chau , not chao .

has a location of china

lead the bolshoi_ballet is to visit china next year for the soviet troupe 's first performances there in 30 years , the official new china news_agency said thursday . the bolshoi_ballet is to visit china next year for the soviet troupe 's first performances there in 30 years , the official new china news_agency said thursday . it quoted the visiting soviet minister of culture , vasily g . zakharov , as saying the performances would strengthen cultural ties . china and the soviet_union have renewed cultural , trade and technological ties after a 25 year dispute over foreign_policy and ideology .

has a location of china

for the past two years , china 's military has relied on american made satellites sold for civilian purposes to transmit messages to its far flung army garrisons , according to highly_classified intelligence reports . the reports are the most powerful evidence to date that the american government knew that china 's army was taking advantage of the bush and clinton administrations' decisions to encourage sales of american high technology to asian companies . the united_states has barred american companies from selling military equipment to the chinese military since the 1989 killings in tiananmen_square . the intelligence reports , which were described by administration officials , were recounted last year in a document compiled by pentagon intelligence officials and sent to hundreds of senior policy_makers at the white_house , state_department and other agencies . several congressional committees are examining whether the administration 's policy toward technology exports damaged american national_security by strengthening china . senator richard c . shelby , the alabama republican who is chairman of the senate_intelligence_committee , said last week that he planned to investigate use of american made satellites by china 's military . the house recently voted to ban future satellite exports to china , and the senate is scheduled to take up similar legislation soon . china turned to the american made satellites , which are owned by hong_kong companies with ties to the chinese government , when its own communications network collapsed and replacements built with help from the german conglomerate daimler_benz were not working . administration officials said it was impossible to prevent china 's army from using american made satellites sold abroad , and that their long term goal was to prevent china 's military from obtaining the technology needed to make the equipment on its own . in addition , they said , the arrangement had a side benefit it gave american intelligence agencies a better chance of intercepting china 's military_communications . clinton_administration officials said that if the united_states had barred american manufacturers from selling satellites in asia , the chinese would have eventually gained access to satellites produced in europe or elsewhere that have fewer limits on trade with beijing . ''the argument that we can block use of civilian satellite technology by the chinese military is simply unrealistic , given the widespread availability of other satellite options around the world . '' james p . rubin , the state_department spokesman , said in an interview . disclosure of the intelligence findings and the administration 's explanation of the information inject a new element into the broadening congressional investigation of the administration 's policy on satellite and technology sales involving china . the clinton_administration has publicly justified its satellite sales to chinese linked companies on grounds that they were being used solely for civilian purposes . this argument was the underpinning of mr . clinton 's decision in march 1996 to shift responsibility for satellite sales from the state_department to the commerce_department , which is charged with encouraging exports . administration officials said the intelligence reports were part of a document called the military_intelligence digest , which was distributed a few months before president_clinton approved the latest sale of a commercial satellite to a civilian chinese government ministry in february . the document said china 's army was making extensive use of the american made satellites to transmit its coded messages , administration officials said . the digest incorporates a host of reports about military developments around the world , and it is difficult to assess who read any individual item and how closely , given the numerous intelligence memorandums that policy_makers receive each week . critics of the administration say the export of american satellites to companies with ties to the chinese military has enhanced china 's military prowess , shoring up a crucial weakness in the army 's operations . the clinton_administration is weighing whether to allow another asian company with ties to the chinese military to buy a similar communications_satellite . american officials said china 's military has long made some use of commercial satellites , including those launched by the consortium of countries known as intelsat , of which the united_states and china are members . but officials said the army 's use of american made satellites sharply increased in the past two years , just as american aerospace manufacturers were placing much greater emphasis on their satellite sales to asia and just as the clinton_administration was easing export rules . the chinese have made no secret of the improvements wrought by increased access to the satellites . in an article last september , the daily newspaper published by china 's army said that officers once had ''cried themselves hoarse'' or run to distant post_offices to send urgent messages over the military 's antiquated communication system . ''those phenomena are now history , '' the article said , noting that satellite_communications had been used for such high profile operations as last year 's handover of hong_kong , the former british colony . last february , mr . clinton approved the sale of a commercial satellite made by loral space and communications to a chinese government ministry . the memorandum to mr . clinton outlining pros and cons of the deal made no mention of the recent intelligence about the chinese military 's growing reliance on similar american satellites . it did tell mr . clinton that the administration could deflect possible criticism of the sale by pointing out that it ''will not contribute to chinese military capabilities . '' a white_house national_security official , who declined to be identified , said this was meant to refer to the technology needed to launch the satellite , not the use of the satellite . congressional committees are closely scrutinizing that sale , which was approved by mr . clinton in the face of objections from justice_department prosecutors , who were investigating the company for possible violations of export law . loral 's chairman , bernard l . schwartz , was the largest individual donor to the democratic_party last year , and has given over 1 million in recent years . this week , the president defended his decision in that case as ''pretty routine . '' all modern armies transmit their messages through satellites , which are more reliable and provide broader coverage than radios or land lines . china launched its first generation of communication satellites , the dfh 2 series , in the 1980 's . the last of those satellites stopped working a few years ago . a second generation satellite , the dfh 3 , was launched in 1994 , but failed to achieve proper orbit and was not usable . china 's military turned to american made commercial satellites , which had been sold in the early 1990 's to hong_kong companies with ties to the chinese government and military . some of these exports were approved by president george_bush , others by president_clinton . according to american officials , the main hong_kong company used by the chinese military for its communication is apt , a public_company . its shareholders include a unit of costind , the scientific and research arm of the chinese_army . the satellite was built by hughes space and communications , which is part of hughes_electronics , a subsidiary of the general_motors_corporation , and the license for the sale was approved by the clinton_administration in 1995 . most of the technicians involved in operating the satellite came from chinese government agencies , including costind . in 1996 , the costind unit leased two receivers aboard the satellite , called apstar 1a , according to the prospectus apt issued in late 1996 when it sold stock on the hong_kong_stock_exchange . the prospectus said costind was using the satellite to broadcast news and entertainment programs to macau . but administration officials said that the chinese military was using it for other purposes and was relaying coded communications to command and control its forces . brian lo , apt 's secretary , said in a telephone interview from hong_kong that his company was a ''commercial entity'' that leased satellite time to ''broadcasters and telecommunications networks . '' asked whether this could include the chinese_army , mr . lo replied that the army ''has business enterprises . '' he declined to answer whether this did include coded , military_communications , saying the question was ''too prejudiced . '' donald o'neal , a spokesman for hughes , said that his company could not control the use of its satellites and that it relied on the american government to vet customers for any ties to the chinese_army . the successful launching of apstar 1a on a chinese rocket in july 1996 eased fears among chinese officials about the country 's rocket program , according to reports in the official press . the next year , china again tried to solve its satellite difficulties with its own equipment . on may 12 , 1997 , a chinese rocket launched another dfh 3 telecommunications satellite into orbit . it was built by china aerospace corporation and daimler_benz and contained some american parts . but according to roland klein , a daimler_benz spokesman , the satellite never worked . clinton_administration officials insist it is impractical for the government to require companies buying american communications satellites to certify that they will be used solely for civilian purposes . but some exporters already do just that . last month , a chinese rocket put a lockheed_martin_corporation satellite into orbit for a chinese telecommunications company . ''we got a certificate of end use from the chinese government saying the satellite would be used for commercial purposes only , '' said jim fetig , a spokesman for lockheed_martin .

has a location of china

on her fourth day of keeping a web_log , she introduced herself to the world with these striking words ''i am a dance girl , and i am a party member . '' ''i do n't know if i can be counted as a successful web cam dance girl , '' that early post continued . ''but i 'm sure that looking around the world , if i am not the one with the highest diploma , i am definitely the dance babe who reads the most and thinks the deepest , and i 'm most likely the only party member among them . '' thus was born , early in july , what many regard as china 's most popular blog . sometimes timing is everything , and such was the case with the anonymous blogger , a self described communist_party member from shanghai who goes by the pseudonym mu mu . a 25 year old , mu mu appears online most evenings around midnight , shielding her face while striking poses that are provocative , but never sexually_explicit . she parries questions from some of her tens of thousands of avid followers with witticisms and cool charm . chinese web_logs have existed since early in this decade , but the form has exploded in recent months , challenging china 's ever vigilant online censors and giving flesh to the kind of free spoken civil_society whose emergence the government has long been determined to prevent or at least tightly control . web experts say the surge in blogging is a result of strong growth in broadband internet use , coupled with a huge commercial push by the country 's internet providers aimed at wooing users . common estimates of the numbers of blogs in china range from one million to two million and growing fast . under china 's current leader , hu_jintao , the government has waged an energetic campaign against freedom of expression , prohibiting the promotion of public intellectuals by the news_media imposing restrictions on web_sites pressing search_engine companies , like google , to bar delicate topics , particularly those dealing with democracy and human_rights and heavily censoring bulletin_board discussions at universities and elsewhere . so far , chinese authorities have mostly relied on internet_service_providers to police the web_logs . commentary that is too provocative or directly critical of the government is often blocked by the provider . sometimes the sites are swamped by opposing comment many believe by official censors that is more favorable to the government . blogs are sometimes shut down altogether , temporarily or permanently . but the authorities do not yet seem to have an answer to the proliferation of public opinion in this form . the new wave of blogging took off earlier this year . in the past , a few pioneers of the form stood out , but now huge communities of bloggers are springing up around the country , with many of them promoting one another 's online offerings , books , music or , as in mu mu 's case , a running , highly ironic commentary about sexuality , intellect and political identity . ''the new bloggers are talking back to authority , but in a humorous way , '' said xiao_qiang , director of the china internet project at the university of california , berkeley . ''people have often said you can say anything you want in china around the dinner table , but not in public . now the blogs have become the dinner table , and that is new . ''the content is often political , but not directly political , in the sense that you are not advocating anything , but at the same time you are undermining the ideological basis of power . '' a fresh example was served up last week with the announcement by china of five cartoonlike mascot figures for the 2008 olympics in beijing . they were lavishly praised in the press and widely ridiculed in blogs that seemed to accurately express public sentiment toward them . ''it 's not difficult to create a mascot that 's silly and ugly , '' wrote one blogger . ''the difficulty is in creating five mascots , each sillier and uglier than the one before it . '' a leading practitioner of the sly , satirical style that is emerging here as an influential form of political and social commentary is a 38 year old beijing entertainment journalist named wang xiaofeng . mr . wang , who runs a site called massage milk , is better known to bloggers by his nickname , dai san ge biao , which means wears three watches . his blog mixes an infectious cleverness with increasingly forthright commentary on current events , starting with his very nickname , which is a patent mockery of the political theory of the former chinese communist party chief jiang_zemin , which was labeled san ge dai biao , or the three represents . in a recent commentary , as the government stoked patriotic sentiment during the commemoration of the defeat of the japanese in world_war_ii , mr . wang asked who really fought the enemy , making the provocative observation that only two communist generals had died fighting japan , while more than 100 of their nationalist counterparts had . ''in blogging i do n't need to be concerned about taboos , '' mr . wang said . ''i do n't need to borrow a euphemism to express myself . i can do it more directly , using the exact word i want to , so it feels a lot freer . '' another emerging school of blogging , potentially as subversive as any political allegory , involves bringing chinese web surfers more closely in touch with things happening outside their country . typically , this involves avid readers of english who scour foreign web_sites and report on their findings , adding their own commentary , in chinese blogs . several bloggers like this have become opinion leaders , usually in areas like technology , culture , current events or fashion , building big followings by being fast and prolific . one of the leading sites was run by isaac mao , a shanghai investment manager who had built a following writing about education and technology . his site , isaacmao . com , was later blocked by the authorities after he posted a graphic purporting to illustrate the workings of the firewall operated by the country 's censors . mr . mao , an organizer of the first national bloggers' conference in shanghai this month , recently went back online at isaacmao . blogbus . com s1034872 index . html . by far the biggest category of blogs remains the domain of the personal diary , and in this crowded realm , getting attention places a premium on uniqueness . for the past few months , mu mu , the shanghai dancer , has held pride of place , revealing glimpses of her body while maintaining an intimate and clever banter with her many followers , who are carefully kept in the dark about her real identity . ''in china , the concepts of private life and public life have emerged only in the past 10 to 20 years , '' she said in an online interview . ''before that , if a person had any private life , it only included their physical privacy the sex life , between man and woman , for couples . ''i 'm fortunate to live in a transitional society , from a highly political one to a commercial one , '' she wrote , ''and this allows me to enjoy private pleasures , like blogging . ''

has a location of china

a provocative news and opinion journal that was closed last month by chinese censors will resume publication in march but without the editor and top investigative_reporter who earned it a reputation for aggressive reporting , the editor confirmed thursday . the decision to restart the journal , freezing point , a weekly supplement of the official china youth daily , was made as the secretive propaganda department faced increased criticism for its aggressive censorship of newspapers and the internet . on tuesday in beijing , a dozen former high level party officials and senior scholars released a letter that denounced the closing of freezing point and called for a ''free flow of ideas . '' but if the rebirth of freezing point suggests that party censors have bowed to pressure , the sidelining of its top two journalists suggests that the publication will not be allowed to continue its combative style of journalism . li datong , the editor of freezing point , said that he and lu yuegang , the deputy editor and a well known investigative_reporter , had been told that the magazine would restart march 1 without them . the two were transferred to a research branch of the newspaper , mr . li said . he also predicted that a new , more compliant tone would be evident in the march 1 issue . he said that it would include criticism of yuan weishi , a professor at zhongshan university who had written an article in freezing point that said chinese textbooks soft pedaled the mistakes of qing_dynasty leaders in the late 19th_century . propaganda officials cited mr . yuan 's article in their jan . 24 order to close the journal , which had also published expos s of official corruption . at a regular thursday briefing with foreign news organizations in beijing , the foreign ministry spokesman , qin gang , said that mr . yuan 's article was the reason freezing point was being ' 'reorganized . '' mr . li and other editors at freezing point plan to release a rebuttal on friday , possibly in a letter to president hu_jintao . ''broadly speaking , this is an approach they 've used before , '' said kenneth g . lieberthal , who was a china specialist in the clinton_administration . ''you shut down a publication and move out of key positions the people that cause you the most concern . in the process , you send a shot across the bow to the remaining editorial staff . and then you reopen . '' in recent years , the amount of information available in chinese newspapers and on web_sites has soared , often leaving party censors scrambling to keep up . with most newspapers now required to meet their budgets with little or no government money , editors push for the sort of aggressive or titillating reporting that attracts readers . but in recent months , officials have sought to tighten censorship . in addition to the changes at freezing point , editors have been fired at three other publications known for muckraking . microsoft and google have been criticized for helping china to censor online content , while yahoo has been accused of providing information that helped the government jail dissident writers . in congressional hearings in washington this week , yahoo , google , microsoft and cisco_systems were rebuked for trampling on civil_liberties in china . mr . lieberthal said the censorship by chinese officials was a serious matter but did not necessarily mean that news organizations were facing a lasting chill . he said the chinese media network was now so vast that censors could only ' 'massage'' the system by choosing as their targets certain journalists and publications . in some cases , he said fired journalists turned up at other publications months later .

has a location of china

less than a month after thieves made off with more than 100 , 000 in jade objects from the victoria and albert museum in london , the british_museum in london has also fallen victim to theft . fifteen objects from its oriental antiquities gallery were stolen friday , it announced , although the loss was discovered by security staff on saturday . the police said they believed the medieval chinese jewelry , dating from 700 to 1400 , was taken during normal opening hours because no alarms were activated . the easily portable items included hairpins , fingernail guards , earrings , left , and other decorative pieces , taken from a glass cabinet that was forced open . the museum said that the huge gallery was being guarded , but because it is long and segmented by various cases , someone was able to take advantage of an area that was n't being monitored . pam kent

has a location of china

hong kong's 6.3 million people produce more wealth in a year per capita than their british counterparts , yet there is no globe theater here . hong_kong 's streets are clogged with more rolls royces than london 's , yet there is nothing akin to the british_museum . hong_kong , it is said , and it is widely believed , is a single minded place , and its mind is on money . hong_kong , it is widely believed , and it is routinely said , is a cultural wasteland . but tucked away in tiny studios or down red brick arcades or in small mirrored halls , canvases are being daubed with oils , actors struggle with new scripts , and dancers pirouette over worn boards . indeed , art is being born here , in solitude and collaboratively , in defiance , almost , of a social esthetic that prizes money above all else . and it is art , often , that is rooted not in any grand chinese tradition but in hong_kong 's peculiar circumstances and culture . it is art , as well , that at times shudders at the prospect of impending unity with the giant totalitarian neighbor to the north . ''for the true hong_kong artists , '' explains johnson chang , the owner of hanart , a gallery that displays both prominent mainland painters and hong_kong artists , ''it 's always in the back of their mind the awareness of this historical era , of this unknown , is very unsettling . but it is what makes hong_kong hong_kong . the one thing that has changed quite a bit in the last few years is that people are looking at specifically what makes hong_kong hong_kong . '' over the last 150 years , hong_kong has been ruled mostly by plumed , beribboned and brocaded emissaries from london who , over the decades , were buttressed by legions of mostly second_rate british bureaucrats ( filth , as they 've been known failed in london , try hong_kong ) , all in the service of the great british trading houses . nowhere in their thinking was there much room for hong_kong 's local population , whom until recent memory were barred from the clubs , management suites and halls of government . british colonial culture here consisted largely of chinese seascapes by british artists , and portraits , traveling string quartets and the christmas pantomime , which more often than not poked fun at local ways . to the colonialists , and the foreign traders and bankers who followed them , this was hong_kong 's culture . but here , as hong_kong grew from a cluster of villages to one of the world 's foremost economies , the territory 's culture evolved in ways neither completely chinese nor mimetically british in ways that were distinctly hong_kong , suffused by the transient nature of life here and by the influx of millions of refugees fleeing communism , and epitomized by a language that emerged at some distance from that spoken just over the fence in china . now , with china resuming sovereignty of hong_kong in less than five months , many of hong_kong 's leading artists are contemplating a future littered with more unknowns than certainties . questions of artistic freedom , sources of financing , the looming shadow of mainland artistry , whether state sponsored or not , all linger on a horizon that has grown startlingly close . and while some artists continue to work unruffled by the thought of impending chinese suzerainty , others find the prospect threatening , not only because of the censorship and pressures so prevalent on the mainland but especially because the nurturing of an indigenous culture and art scene is so very recent and , in the eyes of some , so very fragile . ''part of the colonial strategy , '' argues oscar ho hing kay , an artist who has moved gracefully from sculpture to drawing in charcoal , ''has been to get people to make money . this has been the whole model of educational philosophy here . look at how insignificant art courses are here . '' ( hong_kong does not possess a full time academy . ) ''and the nice thing about this for colonial rule is that you do n't ask ideological questions . you just make money . art is about asking questions , being rebellious . '' leafing through heavy ivory colored sheets dark with charcoal images of hong_kong , cornered with colophons in a dense tumble of chinese not the chinese of china , but the chinese of hong_kong mr . ho fingers a recent work . under a heavy sky with a hint of central hong kong in the distance , two flattened figures peer from beneath large boulders , a work he titles ''strange rock disease . '' in a choppy , vernacular cantonese that falls on local ears the way brooklynese may sound in los_angeles , a colophon explains ''a bizarre epidemic has broken out in a place near tuen mun . those struck down by it have a rock that grows out of their back . the rock gets bigger and bigger until it crushes the patient to death . it seems like this disease is spreading . the medical authorities are so worried that they 've classified this disease as highly confidential . '' this drawing , part of mr . ho 's series ''tales around town , '' is drawn from the cornucopia of local myths and folk tales that he has gathered in his explorations of hong_kong , or simply in his daily encounters . ''the 'tales around town' are almost like a diary , '' he explains . ''you hear them , and you come home and do them . '' mr . chang of hanart gallery , who has displayed mr . ho 's work , sees in it disturbing images of life and imagination . ''they 're more like paranoia and nightmares about hong_kong , '' he suggests . ''they are like folk ghost stories he actually did n't make them up . there is one in particular that is very dark , this one of the rumor about the stone lion in front of the old bank of china that devours people . '' ''stone lion turns into demon'' is the fifth in the ''tales'' series , a blackened , representation of a stone hewn lion stretching suddenly from its pedestal to snare a passer by . ''one of the pair of stone lions outside the old bank of china building in central has turned into a demon and has been attacking people around midnight . those in the know say that if you pour red paint on the lion 's head it can stop the lion demon . '' despite the apparent blatancy of the symbolism at work in this piece ( since 1949 , the bank of china has been beijing 's most prominent granite presence in this british colony ) , mr . ho emphasizes the oral taletelling of the work that is imbedded in hong_kong life . ''this is hong_kong mythology , '' he says , ''twisted around . '' visions of meaning from a windowless room gaylord chan , a snowdrift of white hair pushed back from his face , squeezed past a table of earnest children raptly brushing ideographs onto large sheets of paper and padded into a windowless room bathed by fluorescent tubes . easels with unfinished canvases crowded together , stacks of stretched canvases tipped against walls hung with framed and frameless paintings . ''this is where i work , '' he said , his hand flitting over the jumble before him . from this brightly lighted cave , hong_kong 's eldest , and perhaps its most important , artist has produced a formidable oeuvre . but it is not his paintings that have paid the bills it is the gaggle of children in the front rooms who come to his school for art and calligraphy , as well as older students . his paintings now are large , boldly defined acrylics on canvas , abstract shapes that suggest urban life and passions . the local critic tsong zung chang wrote that mr . chan 's canvases ''are inspired by the mundane signs and symbols of the city neon lights , billboards , traffic signs . '' ''these images speak to him , '' the review continued . ''they are suggestive of special meanings and hidden messages , secrets unbeknown to the graphic artists who created them . '' they show a world that mr . chan and many of his colleagues see as destined to be transformed . mr . chan contends that artists , and the art scene in hong_kong , will inevitably change under chinese rule . ''the audience will change to some extent , '' he says . ''some artists will respond to that . but those artists who do art for the sake of art , they would n't care less . some will be influenced by what comes from the north , of course . if hong_kong were suddenly taken by italians , you would see change in that direction . '' a return to roots to get ready for change yet other artists , like lucia cheung , stress the chinese roots of their work , roots inherent in the wash of chinese cultural and social forces . although she trained in italy , ms . cheung gradually moved in the last decade or so from a distinctly western style in her paintings to more discernibly chinese overtones . ''i found more and more i cling to chinese work , '' she explains , showing a visitor through a range of her work hung in her vast apartment . ''i found something that is so intimate , something more satisfying . there 's a lot to say through a flower , a petal . you can also write down a poem . in chinese painting it is not the process , but afterward . maybe because i am chinese . '' from a long series of somber ink wash paintings of austere , virtually lifeless landscapes huddled under scowling skies paintings reflecting deep angst over the death of her only son ms . cheung has in the last year or so produced a series of witty paintings of hong_kong on gold flecked handmade paper , pondering in many cases the territory 's return to chinese sovereignty . one , titled ''meeting as usual , '' depicts hong_kong 's skyline and race_track , with stylized tang horses on the track , all suggesting normal life . yet the sky in the scene is the red starred ceiling of beijing 's great_hall of the people , the vast hall where the chinese communist party meets every five years . the advent of chinese rule is but one constraint facing artists in hong_kong , according to ms . cheung . more troubling in some ways , she feels , is an esthetic indifference to hong_kong 's own artists , a feeling that the only thing of value in hong_kong is money and how it is made . ''before , nobody cared about art in hong_kong , '' she explains . ''now it 's changing a bit . but people pay much more attention to imported art . local art is not good enough . '' ''certainly artists in china face more difficulties than we do , '' she says . ''in hong_kong we are so free . there 's no lack of materials . but you do n't have the space , the atmosphere that gives you encouragement . hong_kong is a british colony . we are so free to receive everything . but you must be wise enough to chose what is good for you . to find the balance is difficult . you need to look for your identity . '' on an open stage , a wealth of styles at a gallery and theater space called the fringe , its director , benny chia , insisted that the diversity of artistic impulse and creativity , whether on stage or in galleries , were both important expressions of hong_kong 's identity and a vibrant sign of a blossoming , independent culture . indeed , the fringe , a tiny gallery and a somewhat battered stage in one of the few surviving colonial buildings in the high rent central district , is the one place in hong_kong where artists , whether widely known or not , or playwrights , whether working on first plays or on a string of stage successes , can display their work . but with chinese rule looming , mr . chia wonders what the landscape for artists will look like in six months . ''it must occur to every artist whether there will be the same degree of freedom after 1997 , '' he says . ''we know you can create impressive works of art in the most repressive environment . but as far as i can tell , the government has no wish to close its doors on the rest of the world . '' on the other hand , mr . chia argues , ''there are a number of things hong_kong will benefit from after 1997 . psychologically , you will feel like you belong to a larger space . in vision , hong_kong is a very small place . people will start to look at what you can do with china . '' mr . chang , of hanart , contends that hong_kong artists will continue to face obstacles simply because of the kind of society hong_kong is . ''in hong_kong , artists are really an underground , '' he says . ''nobody buys their work . nobody is interested in their work . nobody takes them seriously . there is no art scene in hong_kong , like you have in new york . the real reason is , hong_kong is an emigre society . most people consider the real native culture china , not here . 'true' chinese_art must be from the mainland . '' a focus on home while looking ahead nonetheless , the growth of hong_kong 's indigenous cultural expression does seem to be well rooted . although a product of british theatrical efforts , the chung ying theater company under its new artistic director and its first chinese director , ko tin lung , has dumped shakespeare in favor of the works of local playwrights like emily cheng , cheung tat ming and , most often , mr . ko 's own prodigious output . a former actor who worked for a time in the united_states , mr . ko returned to hong_kong in 1989 and was named chung ying 's artistic director in 1993 . in an early 20th_century red brick colonial building rimmed with graceful arcades , mr . ko puts his 17 professional actors through their paces for his newest production , ''a chronicle of lights and shadows , '' a play exploring the frenzied history of hong kong 's film_industry . written in the cantonese dialect of hong_kong , the play follows the career of a sometimes working , sometimes out of work assistant_director , and her loves and betrayals as the film_industry alternately soars and swoons . despite his central focus on hong_kong themes , mr . ko admits that hong_kong 's internationalism demands some foreign threads . ''i think we do focus very much on developing new playwrights and new plays , '' he offers . ''however i think we have to keep in contact with the world . i do think theater is a global village . '' a global village perhaps , but one that reaches the stage of chung ying very deliberately in cantonese . ''there 's a controversy about whether we should perform in mandarin after 1997 , '' says mr . ko , referring to the official dialect of china . ''this is an issue . of course you could have two versions of a play . but some people say that if you want to retain your identity , you must perform in cantonese . i do n't think chung ying will have mandarin versions of its plays . '' he laughs and then adds , ''very practically , my actors do n't speak mandarin . '' looking at china with hope and dread although his plays and those he commissions are hardly political , mr . ko feels that chinese rule does pose risks for hong_kong artists . ''i think whether we have problems in '97 or not , we will still do what we are doing . i think it is an artistic choice . if i chose a certain playwright and the play had a sensitive political issue in it , i would support it . i do think we in hong_kong are quite concerned about freedom of expression . '' even closer to the bone , though , is the potential to undermine artistic freedom by withholding government financing . corporate support of the arts is almost unheard of in hong_kong . rather , the arts are heavily subsidized by the government the chung ying company in particular receives about 1 million a year . mr . ko worries that this financing could be vulnerable to political pressure . ''in hong_kong , about 95 percent of local arts activities are either directly or indirectly supported by the government , '' he said . as the cadence of china 's march toward hong_kong grows louder , this territory 's almost newborn , and admittedly fragile , art world wonders about the future , as does the rest of the territory . and while there seems little that any individual artist is doing to prepare for the raising of china 's red flag , there is a general certainty that hong_kong is different from china , and different from everywhere else . ''we really do n't have any contact , emotional or otherwise , with china , with communist_china , '' explains oscar ho , the artist who draws local myths . ''now , this baby_boom generation here is at its prime just as hong_kong goes to china . '' ''we love to see the end of colonialism , '' exudes mr . ho , his boyish , somewhat lopsided grin cleaving his face . ''we rejoice . but at the same time , we dread the return to china . so , you see , with this complexity , things are not black and white . '' waiting for china anxious artists

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lead china is turning to an american foundation to help it overhaul its university system with a view to using such non socialist devices as an education tax and the imposition of tuitions . china is turning to an american foundation to help it overhaul its university system with a view to using such non socialist devices as an education tax and the imposition of tuitions . under an agreement to be signed tomorrow in washington by chinese educators and officials of the carnegie foundation , american educators will travel extensively in china chinese officials will study american universities . carnegie officials said the project , to last three years , was the largest of its kind ever undertaken by china and a private_foundation . no dollar value has been estimated for the project . the carnegie foundation for the advancement of teaching , an independent policy center in princeton , n.j. , will pay the expenses of the chinese officials here . china will pay for the expenses of foundation officials traveling in china . trying to 'change one concept' in an interview in princeton last week , the chief chinese delegate visiting in connection with the agreement , hao keming , who is also a member of the powerful state education commission , said through an interpreter that china was already considering imposing tuition at some universities , implementing an education tax and making concerted appeals to the wealthier members of communities to donate funds to their local institutions . ''the purpose of all these efforts is to change one concept that the state is responsible totally for education , '' mrs . hao said . ''education is an endeavor that the whole society should support . it affects the future and the happiness of everyone in society . '' talks between visiting chinese officials and american educators have centered around how to decentralize universities , how to give institutions more decision making powers , and how colleges and universities can best serve the social , economic and scientific needs of their own localities . key themes of the agreement more specifically , the agreement that will be signed tomorrow in the library of congress is organized around five themes finding a balance between central and regional authority . encouraging diversity among colleges and universities . examining ways to integrate institutions more closely with local economic and social needs . determining how responsive curriculums should be to changing economic and social needs and whether there should be a core of study for all students . examining how to measure excellence and ''above all , what is , or should be , higher_education 's impact on society . '' for the past two weeks , a five member delegation from the national center for education development and policy research in beijing has toured universities and met with american administrators and chinese scholars . they have visited the university of north carolina at chapel hill , the university of massachusetts at amherst , the state university of new york at albany and the city_university of new york and talked to chinese scholars at princeton . some of the measures the chinese are considering implementing are a departure from the expected practices of a communist_state . education and modernization the renewal of the education system from early childhood years to post graduate levels is part of the overall effort by china to double per capita income and improve living standards by the end of the century , mrs . hao said . the chinese are seeking a way to link education with modernization efforts so that higher_education can better serve social and economic_development , she said . by the middle of the next century , mrs . hao said , ''china aims to reach the level of medium level industrialized_nations . '' last summer educators from around the world were invited to an international forum of higher_education in beijing . after the meeetings , ernest l . boyer , president of the carnegie foundation , was asked by mrs . hao about the possibility of a collaboration between the carnegie foundation and the chinese to share information and help develop policy . since then , chinese educators have visited the soviet_union , west_germany , japan , britain and france . a collaborative agreement has been signed with the soviet institute of higher_education , mrs . hao said . the responsibility of parents mrs . hao said she had been impressed with the economic sacrifices that american parents make to educate their children . eyes twinkling , mrs . hao referred to a classic chinese text , the ''three character classic , '' which teaches that ''it is the fault of the father if the son is not educated . '' ''we hope to guide the parents to spend more money for the intellectual investment of future generations , '' she said . in the past decade , higher_education has undergone phenomenal growth in china as it recovered from the ravages it suffered in the cultural_revolution from 1966 to 1976 . in 1978 there were 600 universities in 1987 the number had grown to 1 , 063 . in that period the number of undergraduates grew from 860 , 000 to 1 , 960 , 000 . graduate education is also thriving . between 1978 and 1987 , the number of graduate students grew from 10 , 000 to 120 , 000 . in the last seven years , more than 50 , 000 master 's degrees and 1 , 000 ph . d . 's have been granted . 'a great sense of urgency' the first phase of the agreement includes the current visit of the chinese delegation and the signing of the agreement . in the winter or early spring dr . boyer , president of the carnegie foundation , will head a united_states delegation to china to visit selected campuses , discuss critical issues and share the successes and failures of united_states institutions in developing systems of higher_education . ''there is a dramatic shift to re establish integrity , '' dr . boyer said . ''they are asking how does one provide national leadership while allowing diversity . they have a great sense of urgency . '' mrs . hao said that because education was a national priority , major funding for the restructuring of the universities would come from increases in annual state expenditures . beginning next year , however , tuition fees will be charged . the process will start gradually with only a few universities taking part . an experiment is now being conducted in guangdong_province , in the south , where a tuition of 200 yuan about 50 is being charged a year . the annual per capita income in china is variously estimated at between about 400 and 600 . mrs . hao said that currently there is a surtax for education . a proposal is under consideration to change this to an outright education tax . asked if everyone would be subject to the tax , she replied , ''not necessarily . ''

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lead literature is like groceries , says ma feng , the earthy ''old revolutionary'' who is china 's new literary czar in both cases the government should encourage what is nutritious and ban what is poisonous . literature is like groceries , says ma feng , the earthy ''old revolutionary'' who is china 's new literary czar in both cases the government should encourage what is nutritious and ban what is poisonous . these days it is largely up to mr . ma , a lean man of 68 who joined the communist rebellion in 1938 at the age of 16 , to enforce that regulatory vision . it is a formidable task because many authors loathe the regime and develop a writer 's block when they are asked to ' 'serve socialism . '' this leaves mr . ma in an awkward position as the effective head of the chinese writers association . he comes from a different world the countryside of north central china and he made his name writing short stories and film scripts about peasants who brim with decency and enthusiasm for the communist_party . nothing could be further from the urban frustration and alienation that inspire many chinese writers today . ''i do n't like beijing too many people , '' he chuckled the other day while puffing on his beloved zhongnanhai cigarettes in an interview . mr . ma was living in his native shanxi_province , 260 miles southwest of beijing , when the crackdown on democratic impulses came last year and led to his summons to beijing . early this year , mr . ma was formally named vice chairman and party secretary of the chinese writers association , meaning that he would take charge of it . the nominal chairman , the writer ba jin , lives in shanghai and is 86 years old and infirm . he had few responsibilities even before he lost his influence by supporting the student demonstrators seeking democracy . not just a club there is no parallel to the chinese writers association in the west , for it is far more than simply an authors' club . in china , the association is the work unit of the country 's 3 , 500 authors it is the employer , the source of housing and salaries , the organizer of political study sessions and the arbiter of who can travel abroad . chinese publishers pay royalties , but these are less important than the association 's salaries , and in any case it is difficult to be published without the association 's blessing . mr . ma sounds a conciliatory line , asserting that chinese writers can write about whatever they choose , but they must not criticize their country or subvert communism . his catechism is taken from the works of mao_zedong , who argued that art is inseparable from politics and must serve the proletarian revolutionary cause . ''writers should serve socialism and they should serve the people , '' mr . ma said , adding that authors should leave the ivory_tower to understand the land they write about . ''if you write about society , you must study it , '' he said . ''if you write about a factory , you should work in a factory . if you write about the countryside , you should spend time in a village , rather than sitting around the house writing blindly . '' justifying curbs in the last few years , a group of young writers very different from the ''old revolutionaries'' has won prominence and acclaim for their attempts to probe the spirit of post mao china , but mr . ma asserts that they had only a small following . asked about bei dao , a highly respected poet who was one of this circle of younger authors , mr . ma said he found such writers unimpressive . ''they had an impact on some younger arts circles , but if you go to a factory in shanxi_province , no one will have heard of them , '' mr . ma said , adding that ordinary people do not want to read such books . ''they were just a small group of people , '' mr . ma said . ''many good writers are needed by the people , but in the late 1980 's only their writings could be published . now we want to publish books needed by ordinary people in factories and farms . '' talk of revenge many others see it differently and believe that the ''old revolutionaries'' behind the cultural purges leaders like vice_president wang zhen and acting culture minister he jingzhi as well as mr . ma himself now are relishing the opportunity to strike back at those who in recent years looked with contempt at their orthodox marxist view of culture . ''it 's revenge and it 's petty , '' said geremie barme , an australian scholar who recently visited china . one western diplomat said he thought the general attitude toward someone like ma feng was one of contempt . he said that mr . ma had stuck to his ideological line for many years and suddenly been vindicated , and that he was an opportunist turning that to his own advantage . some other diplomats and chinese are not so harsh , portraying mr . ma as a decent man placed in an impossible position . they say he is among the better revolutionary writers but that he has never been an intellectual , in the sense of possessing a doubting or inquiring mind , and that he is out of touch with the main current of writers today . a conciliatory sound mr . ma , well aware of the antagonisms in the field , takes pains to sound a conciliatory line . he even explained the ousting of liu_binyan , a dissident who was vice chairman of the association , not on the basis of mr . liu 's heretical views but on the ground that mr . liu is in the united_states and does not seem likely to return soon . ''in our association , some people took part in the turmoil , '' mr . ma said . ''they wo n't be punished they will be educated . i 'm sure they will change their minds . '' ''we 've received many manuscripts for publication , criticizing various writers , '' mr . ma added . ''but we do n't want to publish them and crush the writers . we want to join forces with them and help them write more things that people want to read . if we criticize them , who will write for us ? what will be left of the writers association ? '' the purge proceeds still , the authorities are going ahead with their purge in cultural circles . the top executives of several publishing houses and journals , including the most prominent , people 's literature , have been replaced . some writers reportedly may not be published , although mr . ma denies the existence of any blacklist , and others have had trouble going abroad . and there has been a yearlong process of investigations , self criticisms and political study sessions to return writers to the straight , narrow and sometimes winding path of marxist orthodoxy . so far this crackdown has had mixed results . in general , there is less experimentation and less writing about the problems of urban , alienated young people and about political discontent . but some works , like harvest , a shanghai literary journal , are still remarkably bold , and recent books are probably more lively and interesting than the leaders might have in mind . ''the new policies have had the effect of making people miserable and angry , and it 's harder to get things done , '' said a western diplomat . ''but at the end of the day similar things end up being written and published . '' a broader effort the selection of mr . ma to head the writers' association appears to be part of a broad effort to evoke the glories of the communist_party in its heyday in china in the 1950 's and early 1960 's . to read people 's daily , watch television or listen to official speeches is to find a resurrection of the themes that emerged in maoist days . lei feng , a model communist and heroic soldier , is again an object of official adoration songs like ''good socialism'' have been re released , and industrial heroes like ''iron man wang'' have been dusted off and hailed in the newspapers . mr . ma fits neatly into this backdrop . after joining the communist_revolution at the age of 16 , he won fame in 1944 with a novel about communist troops , ''heroes of luliang mountains . '' while his father was a scholar who won success in the old imperial examinations , mr . ma 's characters are largely simple , decent peasants who evoke tu the earth and an agrarian charm that goes with it . one of his books , a collection of short stories , has been translated into english . these days , however , mr . ma says he is too busy to write any new stories .

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as the class got under way , the diminutive teacher standing before an overcrowded lecture hall in this city 's most exclusive university handed out a survey . the first of several multiple_choice questions asked students what their feelings would be if they encountered two male lovers total acceptance , reluctant acceptance , rejection or disgust ? as a way of breaking the ice , the teacher , sun zhongxin , 35 , with a ph . d . in sociology and a fondness for powerpoint presentations , read_aloud some of the answers anonymously . in her survey , most of the 120 or so students said they would reluctantly accept gay lovers in their midst . the fudan_university class , introduction to gay and lesbian studies , is the first of its kind ever offered to chinese undergraduates , and ms . sun briefly wondered why it was so well attended , before providing her own answer . ''the attitude toward homosexuality in china is changing , '' she said . ''it is a good process , but it also makes us feel heavy hearted . what 's unfortunate about such heavy attendance is that it indicates that many people have never discussed the topic before . '' ''not only are people hiding in the closet , '' she concluded , ''but the topic itself has been hiding in the closet . '' a class like this would be unremarkable on most american_university campuses , where many students are quite open about their homosexuality and the curriculum has long included offerings reflecting their interests . but among china 's gay and lesbian population , which may be as large as 48 million by some estimates though it remains largely invisible , the new course is being portrayed as a major advance . less than a decade ago , homosexuality was still included under the heading of hooliganism in china 's criminal_code , and it was only in 2001 that the chinese psychiatric association removed homosexuality from its list of mental_illnesses . ''this is definitely a big breakthrough in the contemporary society , because for so many years , homosexuals , as a community , have lived at the edge of society and have been treated like dissidents , '' said zhou shengjian , director of a gay advocacy_group in chongqing , an inland city far from shanghai 's cosmopolitanism . ''for such a university to have a specific course like this , with so many participants and experts involved , will have a very positive impact on the social situation of gay people , and on the fight against aids . '' however much they welcomed the academic breakthrough , which is likely to spur similar courses on other campuses and perhaps eventually give rise to a gay and lesbian studies movement , many of today 's gay and lesbian activists say they are no longer willing simply to wait patiently for the society to accept them . in particular , gay activists have been able to leverage the rising alarm over the spread of aids to win more maneuvering space , including more acceptance from the government . today , for example , by some estimates there are as many as 300 web_sites in china that cater to the concerns of gay men and lesbians . some of the sites focus strictly on health issues . others tread into the delicate area of discrimination and human_rights , and these are occasionally blocked temporarily or shut down by the government . others feature downloadable fiction by gay writers , who deal candidly with matters of sexuality in ways that few publishers in china 's tightly_controlled book industry would allow . one of the most popular sites ( www . gztz . org ) includes detailed maps of gay entertainment areas , from saunas to nightclubs , in china and overseas . ''in each provincial capital there is at least one gay working group that is active on h.i.v . aids prevention , '' said zhen li , 40 , a volunteer for a gay hot line based in beijing . ''aids is not the main focus of our lives , though . we use the discussion of aids as a way of coming together on other issues , from getting coverage of gay life in the media to starting a discussion with the society . '' for the most part , activists say , the government 's attitude has been pragmatic . groups that say they want to work on aids get official support . those that focus on equal rights for gay people generally do not . in almost the same breath , though , many also acknowledge that their strategy of using aids to create greater freedom carries a risk that they will be blamed for the spread of the disease . ''this is a very sensitive issue among homosexuals , thinking that outsiders are equating them with aids , '' said gao yanning , a professor in the school of public_health at fudan_university , whose course on homosexual life for the medical_school was a precursor of the new undergraduate class . ''but we , the professors , have been very careful about this . when i was first thinking of a course called the theory and practice of homosexuality , i was approached by another professor who told me i should call the class 'homosexuality and aids . ''' mr . gao said he would have refused to teach the class if he had been forced to use such a name . many gay and lesbian chinese say that it is social conservatism more than the government , whose policies during the communist era have veered from repressive to prudish , that has discouraged gay people from publicly acknowledging their sexual_orientation . chinese are hard pressed to name a single celebrity or notable person from their country who has lived an openly_gay life , meaning that except for foreigners , young gay men and lesbians have no prominent role models . explicitly gay literature or cinema and television roles are equally scarce . a 52 year old lesbian in the northeastern city of dalian , who gave her name as yang , said she had discovered her sexual identity only at age 36 , after marriage , when she had her first relationship with another woman , a factory co worker . ''when we were together , people would talk about our relationship behind our backs or sometimes ask outright whether we were gay people , '' ms . yang said . ''i was just ashamed and did n't know what to say , so i avoided my girlfriend in public occasions . the young gay people in dalian today , though , seem to live in a very comfortable time . '' ''they 're not forced to get married , '' she said , ''and they take new partners one after another . '' many others , however , said the issue of marriage continued to weigh_heavily . ''if you tell your parents you have a boyfriend , that may be o.k. , but you 've still got to get married , '' said wang xieyu , a junior at fudan_university . ''the parents have their own concerns , their friends and their reputations . china today is like the u.s . in the 1960 's , but we are changing faster . what took 40 years in the states may only take 10 years in china . ''

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for shen wei , a 33 year old chinese choreographer who is attracting attention at international festivals , dance is essentially about one thing what he calls ''the beauty of human life . '' ''there are some moments like walking in the mountains after the rain when you feel it is so wonderful to be human , '' mr . shen said . all this may sound very chinese , especially from a choreographer who is also a painter more than familiar with his national tradition of landscape painting . when asked about the near nudity in his recent works , mr . shen responded in the same vein ''artistically , the beauty of the human body is important to me . not every piece has to have nudity . but sometimes to put clothes on the body is like covering a flower with a blanket . '' beauty is never one thing for mr . shen and his own life story is anything but ordinary . trained as a child in the fine_art of calligraphy and then a professional chinese opera performer in hunan_province , he became a founding member of china 's first modern_dance troupe , the guangdong modern_dance company . along the way , he read goethe and discussed van_gogh , gauguin and duchamp with his young painter friends . in 1995 he settled in new york , where he has continued to paint in his living room in a building frequented by drug dealers . slight of build but determined in all he does , mr . shen said ''i 'm not afraid of them . i understand them as human beings . '' after undergoing surgery a few years ago to correct a rapid heart beat , he feels that both he and his dances have become serene . as mr . shen repeatedly tells his dancers , beauty can be found in the grotesque or the apparently ugly his favorite painter is francis bacon . last summer , the american_dance_festival in durham , n.c. , presented the premiere of mr . shen 's ''near the terrace , '' which caused a sensation with its striking stream of draped figures often positioned on a stagewide staircase . before choreographing the work , mr . shen showed the dancers a book about the belgian surrealist paul delvaux . ''near the terrace ii , '' a sequel that will have its premiere at the festival next sunday and which will be performed at the kennedy_center for the performing_arts in october , is related to the first piece . but it is more about ''happiness and is more eastern with indonesian music , '' mr . shen said . he told the dancers in his new company , shen wei dance arts ''i see the piece as a lot of flowers and butterflies . everything is in transition . '' grotesquerie , as also seen in ''behind resonance'' in may at the performing_arts center at purchase college in purchase , n.y. , is often found in mr . shen 's concept of beauty . in the pieces he has choreographed since 1996 , when he shifted from a more realistic style and a conventional modern_dance idiom , one often sees near nude bodies in white makeup . these are apt to twist into contorted shapes or look like headless statues . others with large egglike heads might scoot around . in the equivalent of a sculpture garden , a sensual flow of figures on a lakelike surface might be interrupted by clownish interlopers who tumble into angular silhouettes . it is tempting at first glance to think of mr . shen 's choreography as having something in common with the images in the work of martha clarke , japanese butoh dance and robert wilson . yet if it is easy to label his pieces as image theater , surreal and dreamlike , they are in fact distinctive in their startling originality . mr . shen has a quality of haunting strangeness that others do not . ''quality of feelings'' is the central phrase that mr . shen used in an interview in new york . the specific meaning of his pieces may appear hidden , but not so their emotional resonance . ''i do n't want to tell audiences what to see , but i can control a visual image to give them a quality of what to feel , '' mr . shen said . ''everything is about what i feel in real life although i no longer choreograph about real life 's problems . i try to make this quality more intense so the audience can feel it . then later they can make up their mind about the piece . '' unlike most choreographers , mr . shen spends considerable time talking to dancers before creating a piece . he shows them paintings and art books . sometimes he shows films by fellini and the russian director andrei tarkovsky . ''my dancers must understand my artistic vision and what i believe as an artist and a human being , '' he said . ''if they trust what i do and they believe what they are doing is truthful , the quality that comes out is more honest . '' experience formed him , especially the fact that he left his family at 9 , he said . his father wrote scenarios and directed and acted in an opera_company in the xian opera style , an older tradition than the beijing opera . mr . shen was the middle of three brothers , born in xian ying , a town in hunan . ''we lived in the same building behind the theater , '' he recalled . ''as a boy i would watch the actors put on makeup and i would play with the costumes . '' because his grandmother on his mother 's side came from a wealthy family , she was ill treated during the cultural_revolution and lived in the countryside . paradoxically , there was more food there and mr . shen was sent to live with her . at 7 , he appeared onstage in his father 's productions and the three brothers practiced calligraphy every day . ''my life was already set up , '' mr . shen said . ''i was doing dancing and painting . '' in 1978 he was admitted to the opera department of the new hunan arts school in changsha . ''there were no pop stars in china as there are now . to be a hunan opera star was very prestigious . it was a very hard school because they were trying to get back the training lost during the cultural_revolution . '' the regimen was difficult . the children would rise at 5 30 a.m . to practice voice in the mountain air and go through classes , with an afternoon nap , through 9 p.m . in the art classes , mr . shen saw a reproduction of duchamp 's famous cubist painting , ''nude descending a staircase . '' ''i remembered i loved the movement in that picture , '' he said . in 1984 , he became a member of the hunan xian opera_company . today , he said ''i see chinese opera as an avant_garde form . many western people like robert wilson want to do it . '' in 1989 , mr . shen left the company and applied to the beijing fine_arts academy . when he was not admitted , his friends told him it was just as well ''you will lose your personality in this school by copying your teachers for four years . '' yet to raise money to go to beijing , mr . shen choreographed a solo , ''life , '' for himself to part of beethoven 's ninth symphony . he won a competition cash prize . ''i had seen a modern_dance company from canada , '' he said . deciding to become a dancer , he spent three months with an army song and dance ensemble before entering the guangdong dance_academy . yang mei qui , its artistic director , had attended the american_dance_festival . in collaboration with the festival 's directors , charles and stephanie reinhart , she founded the first chinese modern_dance troupe in guangdong . mr . shen was one of the students who graduated into the new company and choreographed many pieces for it . yet he was not allowed out of china when the troupe made its united_states debut in 1991 at the festival . he had taken a trip to the countryside with two taiwanese dancers sent to teach classes by an american teacher . mr . shen learned later that it was taboo at that time to make friends with taiwanese visitors . ''i left the company later because of these problems , '' he said . helen lai , a choreographer in hong_kong , obtained a scholarship for him in new york at the school founded by alwin_nikolais and murray louis . mr . shen arrived in january 1995 . the american_dance_festival invited him to choreograph the next summer , and the composer tan dun introduced him to ms . clarke , who cast him in the operas she directed . living on the edge during his first years , he nonetheless found new york city ''the best place for an artist . '' ''nothing is just one thing here , '' he continued , ''and you see a lot of art . in other countries you may be really good , but you do not know who you are . i see more clearly in this city . unless there are other colors around , you do n't know what color you are . ''i was in stockholm . it 's beautiful but i could n't live there because i would find an answer to what my life is . there would be nowhere to continue . but in new york , you still go on although you do n't know what you will go on to . ''i was affected by what happened to me in life leaving my parents at 9 and being independent . also thinking about death when i was so sick with my heart . now i have found myself as a human and i know what art means in life . it is to be a better person . '' dance

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lead networks in china networks in china with their cameras shut down by government decree , television news organizations struggled to keep information flowing from beijing over the weekend , sometimes at the risk of violating orders from chinese officials . ''we 're doing a lot of work over the telephone and keeping our fingers crossed , '' eason jordan , the acting international editor of the cable_news_network , said yesterday in an interview from the cnn headquarters in atlanta . bernard_shaw of cnn is the last american television anchor to remain in beijing . he will stay there , along with five other cnn correspondents , at least until tomorrow , mr . jordan said . dan rather , anchor of ''the cbs evening news'' and the only other news anchor in beijing , returned to new york over the weekend after on air confrontations with chinese officials friday night . three cbs_news correspondents remain in beijing . mr . jordan said that cnn had tried to get videotapes of the demonstrations in and around tiananmen_square , but that doing so was risky . ''technically , it 's illegal , '' he said . ''the government wo n't allow us even to pick up the chinese newscasts , although we can get it from hong_kong . i do n't understand why they do n't want us to have their own coverage . '' tom goodman , a spokesman for cbs_news , said yesterday that a full staff of producers , editors and crew were still in beijing with susan spencer , barry petersen and john sheahan , and that there was still hope that the chinese government would allow television news organizations to resume video coverage . whatever the outcome , sending anchors to beijing last week was a gamble that paid paid off handsomely for cnn and cbs . while the payoff is not likely to be reflected in higher ratings , which are rarely affected by breaking_news , it is already being felt in enhanced prestige in the industry and soaring morale in the news divisions . although abc and nbc correspondents also offered continuing live coverage of government meetings and the protests , cbs and cnn were on the scene with their heaviest heavyweights . by the end of the week , cnn had provided over 30 hours of coverage . on ''48 hours'' on thursday evening , mr . rather reported on the student protests live and in prime time from the square . cbs broke into its regular programming on friday with eight special reports , including four between 9 10 p.m . and 11 49 p.m. , when its last efforts to negotiate with the chinese failed . on the abc_news program ''nightline'' that night , forrest sawyer , the substitute anchor , used film from cbs and cnn in a program about the events in beijing , crediting the competition for its work demonstrating how good that work was as well as a certain gutsiness on the part of abc for using whatever coverage it could get for the program . in a memorandum to the cbs_news staff on friday , david w . burke , president of the division , congratulated ''the glorious people 's army of cbs_news in china . '' on friday morning , cnn , feigning outrage but undoubtedly delighted , accused nbc of swiping about half a minute of its satellite coverage and showing it without attribution . peggy hubble , a spokeswoman for nbc_news , denied the charge , saying that the network has a reciprocal arrangement with cnn , and that the cnn video was used only while nbc cameras were being recharged . ''i think it 's outrageous that they 're doing this over 10 or 20 seconds of footage , '' ms . hubble said . ''there are other ways to handle this than through a media blitz . '' the fierce competition among the networks was also reflected in other ways . at nbc on friday , mary_alice williams , freshly hired by nbc from cnn , was scheduled to substitute for tom_brokaw on the ''nightly news . '' but nbc decided to keep mr . brokaw out front as much as possible on the breaking china story , so ms . williams never appeared . farewell to radner steve martin , one of several comedians who rose to stardom on the wings of ''saturday_night_live'' on nbc , bid a brief but emotional farewell to gilda radner on the program this weekend . miss radner , a member of the original ''saturday_night_live'' company , died saturday morning of ovarian cancer . his voice choked with feeling , mr . martin , who was serving as host of the final show of the season , paid tribute to ''the people you get to work with'' on the program . then , forgoing the standard opening monologue , he showed a scene that he performed with miss radner on the show in 1978 . they locked eyes in a bar and danced to ''dancing in the dark'' in a parody of a hollywood musical romance . when the sequence was over , mr . martin said , ''gilda , we miss you , '' and the show proceeded as scheduled . the hot doctorates this is the season when film and television celebrities are seen as much on college campuses , receiving honorary degrees and expounding on the future , as on the big and small screens . beginning today , ''cbs this morning'' will present a weeklong series on this year 's hot commencement speakers . some are not even television personalities . e . l . doctorow , the novelist lee iacocca , the chairman of the chrysler corporation , and syd thrift , the senior vice_president for baseball operations for the new york yankees , are scheduled for the series .

has a location of china

the chinese often say students are the conscience of the nation . if so , the nation must be unusually concerned about traffic safety these days . an estimated 10 , 000 students at hefei industrial university in eastern china took to the streets earlier this week to protest the government 's failure to provide a safe way to cross a busy thoroughfare near their campus . the protest erupted after three students were knocked down by a truck that ran a red_light , killing two and putting one in a coma , students involved in the protest said . it may have been the largest student unrest in china since the tiananmen_square demonstrations of 1989 , which the government ended by shooting hundreds of unarmed demonstrators in beijing . but unlike the tiananmen protesters , who sought democracy and human_rights , students in the provincial capital of hefei say they want pedestrian rights . ''there is no background to this other than telling the government that traffic safety must be a priority , '' li pan , a student at the college , said in a telephone interview . ''some of our friends have died and this should be taken seriously . '' students said that the university had proposed building a pedestrian bridge over the intersection , but that the city authorities had rejected the request as too expensive . in china 's one party state , demonstrations of any kind are risky . but they get attention . wen_wei_po , a chinese_language newspaper based in hong_kong that has ties to the authorities in beijing , reported today that hu_jintao , the new chief of the communist_party , had intervened to address the students' concerns . that report could not be confirmed . students taking part in the online discussion said that the authorities in the provincial government of anhui had acted to mediate the dispute . as a result of the unrest , students said , the driver of the truck was arrested and the city agreed to build the pedestrian bridge immediately . ''we got results , '' one student said in a telephone interview . ''people are satisfied . ''

has a location of china

starting his career as a photographer in the early 1950 's , marc riboud was lucky enough to have the founders of the magnum photo agency as friends and advisers . while henri cartier bresson tried to broaden the young frenchman 's education , telling him what to read and what museums to visit , robert_capa encouraged him to learn english and even arranged his first professional assignment . yet despite the help of these role models , mr . riboud said he always felt uncomfortable among photographers . " they had their own jargon , they knew how to push , they were tough , " he recalled . " i was very shy . i had trouble looking people in the face . eventually i thought , i have to go somewhere else . " so in 1956 , he bought a second hand land rover from george rodger , another magnum founder , and drove from london to calcutta . for almost a year , working and traveling alone , he took photographs throughout india . but he wanted to go still farther east . and finally , on dec . 31 , 1956 , after months of waiting for a visa , he crossed from hong_kong into china and boarded a train for beijing . it was a major coup for him to become one of the first western photographers to enter china since the communist takeover of 1949 . but more relevantly , he was allowed to return at regular intervals over the next four decades and witness china 's transformation from a backward peasant land dominated by mao_zedong to a money driven society that seems ready to forget its ancient culture and customs in the name of profit . now white haired but still full of energy at 72 , mr . riboud is presenting his record of this astonishing metamorphosis at the centre national de la photographie in paris through july 29 . the show , " marc riboud 40 years of photography in china , " will go to beijing in the fall and to the international_center_of_photography in new york in the summer of 1997 . a book with 134 black and white photographs from the exhibition is to be published next year by harry n . abrams . mr . riboud insists that he is no expert china watcher . and he notes that he was not in china at many crucial political moments , including the height of the cultural_revolution in the late 1960 's , the deaths of chairman_mao and zhou_enlai in 1976 and the killing of pro_democracy students in tiananmen_square in 1989 . " i am not an analyst , " he said in an interview at his paris home . " i just collect impressions . " but he was nonetheless a rare western witness to both past and present of china , and his photographs serve as a memory . on his first four month trip , he was able to photograph mao and zhou at a banquet for a visiting polish prime_minister . but authorized to travel the country , he found he was more interested in the day to day lives of ordinary chinese workers , peasants and students . wandering the streets of beijing , which he remembers as still having the atmosphere of a village , he found circus performers , puppeteers and peddlers . a few years later , they were no longer to be seen . visits to factories and universities were more complicated , mr . riboud recalled , because he was invariably accompanied by " a guardian angel , " as he nicknamed his official guides . " i was shown students , but not those who were learning english , " he said . " it was tricky . i would try to 'get lost , ' but i could n't make the guide feel i had done it on purpose or else he would lose face and the next day i would have nothing . " still , in 1957 , after only eight years under communism , china was more relaxed than when he returned for another four month visit in 1965 . " by then the regime was consolidated , " he said . " huge stalinist buildings were going up everywhere . people talked even less to foreigners . street life was disappearing . everyone was being made equal , and they all seemed equally poor . " one photograph from that visit shows grim faced children undergoing military training with wooden rifles . at the time , though , mr . riboud felt sympathy for the chinese revolution . " coming from india , i could see a big difference , " he said . " there was less misery than in india . one had the impression of a bit more dignity . in the west , we had understood that the soviet_union was a complete failure . but i was tempted to believe that china could be the answer to societies where the rich become richer and the poor become poorer . " only later did disillusionment set in . " the big disappointment was the total failure of the great_leap_forward in the early 1960 's , which led to millions of people dying of starvation , " he said . " but in 1965 , we did n't know that . i wanted to visit the huang shan mountains in 1965 and was told it was not possible . i later learned that 1.5 million people died of famine in the region . girls were fed less than boys , so girls died first . " this disaster was followed by the cultural_revolution , when westerners were decidedly unwelcome . mr . riboud was able to return in 1971 , but he was refused a visa to cover mao 's funeral in 1976 . " they told me , 'we know you 're a friend of china , but our house is in disorder , ' " he said . after 1983 , when he was finally allowed to travel to huang shan , mr . riboud returned to china often . even then it was only in the late 1980 's that he began to see china change before his eyes . since 1992 , he has traveled there 10 times . " when i crossed into shenzhen for the first time 40 years ago , it was a fishermen 's village , " he said . " today , it has three million people and rivals hong_kong . " in the exhibition , the magnitude of china 's economic revolution is startlingly evident in photographs that show the old and the new side by side the uniformly drab mao suits and the latest western fashions , streets crowded with bicycles and today 's traffic_jams , traditional_chinese homes and glass covered skyscrapers . but the two faces of china also coexist a street scene in shenzhen photographed in 1993 shows an impoverished man walking past posters of a pinup girl and of a baby . mr . riboud finds the pace of change disturbing . " it 's a bit like someone who becomes a millionaire in one week , " he said . " if it 's not good for an individual , i ca n't believe it 's good for a country . today money is suddenly the only value . no one speaks about politics , no one speaks about tiananmen_square , no one speaks about confucius . it 's as if the mao period were one big dramatic parenthesis , and now the chinese have gone back to being tradesmen . " what worries him is the threat this poses to traditional_chinese culture . " the poetry , opera and painting that were part of the chinese identity for a thousand years have gone , " he said . " bookstores are closing . all the music comes from hong_kong . they 're selling all their antiquities abroad . everything in the west is being imitated . but their pride is still chinese . they 're all convinced that china will become the most important country in the world . "

has a location of china

the secret trial of an internet dissident on subversion charges began , but his lawyer was unable to appear because government officials gave too short notice for the proceeding , a human_rights group reported . the defendant , du daobin , is a civil_servant who wrote online about politics and also criticized the government 's arrest of other internet writers . more than 100 lawyers , intellectuals and others have signed an online petition on mr . du 's behalf , urging the government to define clearly the country 's anti subversion law . jim yardley ( nyt )

has a location of china

ratcheting up its campaign against an amorphous but fast growing spiritual movement , the chinese government is expected to announce today a nationwide ban against the movement , buddhist law , according to reports in three hong_kong newspapers . the papers said president jiang_zemin had decided to impose the ban at an emergency meeting of the politburo on monday . the independent daily sing_tao quoted the government directive as saying the group had ''engaged in superstition and disrupted public order , thereby damaging social stability . '' the government began a crackdown on monday , rounding up more than 100 prominent members of the sect in 14 cities , according to members of the group and a hong_kong based human_rights organization . that prompted protests in beijing and several other cities as thousands of followers vented their anger against the government 's actions , several members said . as they did once before , in april , members of the group , known in chinese as falun_gong , are taking their grievances to the doorstep of the communist_party . early_today and on wednesday , members tried to mass in front of the leaders' compound in central beijing , a member said . the police quickly herded them into buses and took them away . this morning , the police could be seen shooing a small crowd of people away from the sidewalk facing the ceremonial entrance to zhongnanhai , the walled_compound that houses president jiang_zemin and other leaders . it was a silent vigil near the compound on april 25 by 10 , 000 followers protesting harrassment and demanding official recognition that catapulted the group from obscurity to the top of the agenda for nervous party leaders . falun_gong had managed to mount the biggest illegal rally in beijing since the 1989 tiananmen democracy movement , without any warning to the authorities , suggesting formidable powers of mobilization . furthermore , the group says it has 100 million members around the world . that number is impossible to verify , particularly in a group that claims no formal organization aside from an allegiance to the teachings of its founder , li_hongzhi , who relies heavily on the internet to communicate messages to his followers . mr . li , 48 , a former grain bureau clerk in northeastern china who is now based in the united_states , started falun_gong in 1992 as a fusion of the ancient chinese practice of qigong the channeling of vital energies through breathing exercises with elements of buddhism and taoism . the group 's members insist they are interested only in physical and moral uplift and eschew politics . but if falun_gong 's rapid response to the crackdown is any indication , the chinese authorities may have reason to worry . crowds ranging from a few dozen to several thousand demonstrated wednesday in 30 cities across china , including shanghai , tianjin , dalian , guangzhou , shenzhen and wuhan , the hong_kong based information center of human_rights and democratic movement in china reported . those rallies came despite a blanket of silence about the detentions in the official chinese news_media . the police declined to comment on the detentions and protests . falun_gong is only one of several quasi religious movements that have emerged in china since deng_xiaoping began reforming the economy in 1979 and social controls were relaxed . with its mixture of martial_arts and mysticism , it bears enough resemblance to the popular movements that wreaked havoc in the final decades of the last imperial dynasty to make the communist authorities apprehensive . as china enters a period of fresh social and economic upheaval , with faltering state enterprises laying off millions of workers and rural incomes stalling , beijing may have concluded that falun_gong is too much of a threat . on wednesday , hundreds of falun_gong members began gathering at dawn in the tree lined streets near zhongnanhai . before a crowd could coalesce , the police hustled them on to buses and removed them quickly , said wang xiaoyan , the wife of one of the detained leaders , ji liewu . ''they wanted to tell the government that there 's no reason to arrest students of falun_gong , '' said ms . wang , who spoke to several participants by telephone . ''as people got near zhongnanhai , the police were ready . they forced them to leave , to get on buses to take them away . '' ms . wang said wednesday that more than 1 , 000 falun_gong members were being held in a football stadium outside beijing . the hong_kong rights group said people were also being held at two stadiums and other locations . from there , the group said , people were being sent back to their homes in the provinces . a hong_kong spokeswoman for falun_gong described a similar sequence of events in guangzhou , in the south . roughly 2 , 000 demonstrators congregated in front of a government building early wednesday morning , she said . the police forced most onto buses and they were taken to an unknown destination . in central beijing this morning , the fear of unrest hung heavy in the torpid air . hundreds of riot_police and soldiers maintained their positions around zhongnanhai . water cannon trucks were parked in courtyards across the street from the compound , while riot shields were lined up in gleaming rows . on wednesday , the police closed a main_thoroughfare on the western edge of the compound , causing traffic_jams that paralyzed much of downtown . today , pedestrians and bicyclists were allowed back , but cars were still blocked . on the streets nearby , scores of people squatted on the sidewalk , watching the scene curiously . one or two appeared to be meditating , but it was unclear whether they were acolytes of falun_gong . one reason the government is so wary of this group is that its members blend seamlessly into ordinary society . unlike the flag waving , slogan shouting students of 1989 , falun_gong followers tend to be middle_aged people a large percentage female , and many retired who make the most unlikely of rebels . ''we simply follow the law and principles that master li_hongzhi taught us , '' said sophie xiao , the spokeswoman in hong_kong . while the government has not yet commented on the crackdown , it continues its campaign of indirect criticism . the main television news program wednesday evening carried lengthy coverage of a speech by a senior communist_party ideologue , gong yuzhi , in which he denounced the spread of ''feudal superstition'' in chinese society . such denunciations will not persuade people like ms . wang to abandon her allegiance to falun_gong . ''i can only wait for news of my husband , '' she said . ''but i 'll definitely continue practicing falun_gong . we believe that teacher li is the truth . ''

has a location of china

throughout the ideological and cultural worlds , chinese are again testing the limits , and mostly getting away with it . bold films , plays and books are appearing , newspapers are virtually becoming readable , china 's foremost rock and roll star is back onstage , and sex and democracy ( in that order ) are again on the agenda . the kind and gentle face of communism , a young woman in a silk blouse who is the anchor for the evening news , has been opening the broadcast in recent weeks with a smile and a greeting that is startling in what it leaves out " good evening , viewers . " in one of those signals that the ideological winds have shifted , that the cultural world is opening up , she and the other news anchors have abandoned the previous greeting , " viewers and comrades , good evening , " which the hard_liners have insisted upon for three years . " comrades " is not just a word in china but a storm signal . whenever it is hoisted , it is a warning that the cultural commissars are on patrol . when it is dropped , people know they can have fun again . " the government 's lightening up , " said a chinese journalist who has been in political trouble for most of the last few years . " we can breathe again . " the novelty of having interesting or entertaining things to do has a political dimension as well . a few years ago , when the hard_liners were at the apex of their power , most ordinary workers and young people in towns around the country did not feel so much repressed by communism as bored by it . when pressed about the reasons for their alienation , they did not mention the lack of a vote so much as the lack of decent entertainment . the problem with the newspapers and television , in the minds of many people , was not so much that they lied but that they were so excruciatingly dull . soaps and tractors now that is changing . romantic soap_operas appear on television to supplement the documentaries on fine tractor factories . at the cinemas , hong_kong kung_fu films have replaced propaganda movies about gallant communist_party officials dying young . some of the new books and newspaper articles are about politics , including careful calls for more democracy , but the taboo that artists and audiences are breaking with the greatest zeal has to do with nudity and sex . " nudity " declared the culture ministry newspaper in a huge chinese character superimposed over a photo of a western woman 's partly uncovered torso . the accompanying article was a sober discussion of the lack of nudity in chinese films , but the photo could scarcely have been more out of place in a newspaper that until recently was a bastion of orthodoxy . " we 're now trying to reform the newspaper and push it onto the market system , " said zhang zuomin , an editor . " of course there may be a few problems here and there . but our direction is the right one . " theaters in both beijing and shanghai have experimented with partial nudity on stage , but in shanghai a couple simulated love making behind a glass panel and in beijing an actress wore flesh colored underwear . in the southern city of shunde , which has never been renowned for either culture or restraint , a floor show features a young woman disrobing under a strobe light for what purports to be an artistic shower scene . banned but profitable pornography is banned in china and yet is hugely profitable , so publishers have been searching for excuses to peddle lurid material . a company in the central city of wuhan seems to have hit the jackpot with a cheap booklet whose cover is a pastiche of tiny photos of naked buttocks and breasts . " selected cases of young women molested around the nation , " the headline reads in bold red characters . a one paragraph preface explains that the publisher 's purpose is to alert women to the dangers of rape and sexual_abuse . the next 75 pages provide examples . " the cultural environment reflects the fact that the overall political atmosphere is more relaxed now , and the economy is doing well , " said he xin , a social critic who is identified with the hard_liners and now appears to be trying to refurbish his image . " sure , the opening may generate some problems , but that 's o.k . the scale of the problems is very small . " controls over films have been eased , and chinese viewers have finally been able to see the movies of zhang yimou , the chinese director whose productions " judou " and " raise the red lantern " were banned at home while being nominated for academy_awards in the united_states . moreover , young film makers are learning that they can largely ignore the authorities . when a veteran chinese actor returned recently to beijing from an extended stay abroad , he marveled that young people were putting together rock and roll films without ever getting approval from anyone . " that never used to be possible , " he told them in awe . dancing in the aisles cui jian , china 's best known rock musician , was allowed to hold a large concert in beijing at the end of december for the first time in several years . every seat was taken , and the fans cheered and shouted and danced as the police watched stonily from their seats just a couple of years ago , a man who tried to dance at a rock concert was dragged off by the police . the authorities last month allowed chinese to operate private ham radio stations for the first time , and discos and karaoke bars are sprouting throughout the country . newspapers are starting weekend entertainment sections , and the afternoon tabloids in particular are writing about crime , scandals and pop stars . occasionally they even publish news . the communist_party has had to warn the new people 's evening news in shanghai three times in the last few months about its new found enthusiasm for publishing scoops . " journalism is changing extremely rapidly , " said a chinese journalist who is reporting about changes in the newspaper industry . " plenty of publications will lose their subsidies this year , so all of a sudden they 're scrambling for readers . they 'll never be the same . "

has a location of china

an article on monday about chinese efforts to regulate access to the internet misidentified the director of the center for modern china in princeton , n.j . it is chen yizi , not liu_binyan .

has a location of china

the lockheed_martin_corporation has agreed to pay 13 million to the government to settle a case involving the sale of satellite technology to china in 1994 , company and clinton_administration officials said today . the company was charged with violating arms export laws . the settlement , which officials said is likely to be announced on wednesday by the state_department , is the largest civil penalty ever assessed under the arms export control act , the primary law regulating sales of american technology . a criminal investigation is still under way over whether the loral space and communication corporation also violated export controls in a separate incident . the lockheed_martin settlement may put pressure on loral to settle that case . but it also allows the clinton_administration which has been charged with laxness in keeping sensitive technology out of chinese hands to argue in the midst of a presidential_election year that it is enforcing export control laws . in a statement tonight , lockheed_martin 's spokesman , james fetig , confirmed that the company , the world 's largest military manufacturer , had decided to settle the case , in which the state_department had charged the company with 30 violations of arms export laws . he said that under the agreement , lockheed_martin neither admits nor denies the allegations . the financial settlement came close to the maximum penalty of 15 million . but under the terms of the accord , officials said , the company is spared a far more costly fate a suspension of its rights to export satellite technology . in its statement , lockheed_martin said , ''the corporation appreciates the opportunity to enter into a settlement agreement with the department of state that resolves the charges . ''we are committed to full compliance with all export control measures and believe this agreement will allow us to assure the state_department that we will meet all of our export control obligations . '' at issue in the case was a series of interchanges between lockheed_martin rocket experts and the chinese about kick motors , which are small rocket motors that are used to lift a satellite into its final orbit . at the time of the exchanges , chinese made kick motors had suffered a number of failures . martin_marietta aerospace , which was later acquired by lockheed , provided help to asiasat , a satellite company based in hong_kong with heavy financial ties to the chinese government . asiasat was a client of martin_marietta . the technical transfers caused considerable concern within the state and defense departments . the same kick motor technology that helps china in launching commercial communications satellites , officials said , could help its military launch spy_satellites . in april , the state_department spokesman at the time , james p . rubin , said ''any assistance to chinese technical capability in space launch has the potential to be applied to missile development . '' moreover , the state_department charged that martin_marietta had failed to clear its technical_analysis of the rocket problems with washington before passing it on to the chinese , and had made no effort later to retrieve it . the company said at the time that it had violated no laws . at the time , the clinton_administration was encouraging more commercial interchanges between american and chinese satellite companies . but the rules on those transfers have since been tightened by congress , in reaction to disclosures that in 1996 , two years after the martin_marietta incident , loral had helped chinese rocket makers solve a different set of technical problems . those transfers , officials say , raised more security concerns than martin_marietta 's help to asiasat . under the civil agreement , lockheed_martin will be allowed to use 5 million of its fine to install computer systems that would give the american government access to all of its foreign space and missile deals . the access is to include data that might require licenses for export .

has a location of china

the energy department said today that it had suspended all scientific work on the computers containing america 's most sensitive secrets at its three nuclear_weapons laboratories over fears that security lapses make the computers vulnerable to espionage . energy secretary bill richardson said he ordered the suspension on friday as part of a new effort to improve security in the wake of charges that china has stolen nuclear_secrets from the labs . china denies the spying accusation . thousands of scientists and other researchers at los_alamos , sandia and lawrence_livermore national laboratories who rely on the classified computer networks have been forced to drop their work and instead attend new training sessions on computer security , energy department officials said . the computers are connected together in networks , but are not linked to the outside world . after the united_states stopped testing nuclear_weapons , the work of modeling the reliability of weapons designs has been done with these networks . one security flaw , according to officials , is that secret information about nuclear_weapons can be copied from the sensitive computers onto a computer disk and then sent as e mail among thousands of messages that leave the laboratory through separate unclassified computer systems . one proposal is to ' 'make it physically impossible to transfer classified_information from a classified computer to an unclassified computer , '' los_alamos officials said in a statement today . mr . richardson said he will not allow normal computer operations , except those needed to insure safety , to resume until he is satisfied that security has improved . ''the message is that i am dead serious about strengthening security at the labs , '' mr . richardson said . ''our computer security has been lax , and i want to strengthen it , and the only way to do that is to stand down . i want to demonstrate to congress and the american people we are serious about upgrading computer security at the labs , and that there will never be another lapse . '' general security has also been found to be lax at the weapons labs . the decision to suspend all work on sensitive computer networks at los_alamos , sandia and lawrence_livermore national laboratories is one of the most pointed actions taken by the clinton_administration since the furor erupted last month over suspicions of chinese atomic espionage . it also follows an internal review by the energy department , owner of the labs , which determined that security measures at los_alamos and lawrence_livermore were sub par . los_alamos and lawrence_livermore both received ' 'marginal'' security ratings , while sandia received a satisfactory rating , according to the report released last week . the report cited los_alamos management for failing to ''ensure that members of their organization implement , support and follow safeguards and security policies and procedures . '' last month , a taiwan born computer scientist at los_alamos , wen_ho_lee , was fired for security breaches after being interviewed by the fbi in connection with china 's suspected theft of the design of america 's most advanced , miniaturized nuclear_warhead , the w 88 . mr . lee had been one of los_alamos' leading computer experts on nuclear_weapons design , and had retained access to classified_information until just a few weeks before he was fired , though he had been under investigation by the f.b.i . for nearly three years . mr . lee has not been arrested or charged with espionage . mr . lee 's expertise was a factor in the decision to order the broad stand down of lab computer systems , mr . richardson said . the relatively poor ratings received by both los_alamos and lawrence_livermore in the security report also played a role , he added . ''yes , espionage is contributing factor , and the report is a contributing factor . '' mr . richardson said . ''the goals are to increase employee responsibility for security and to implement new measures for the handling of classified and sensitive information . '' the classified computer networks at the weapons labs are not connected to the internet , and are thus not supposed to be vulnerable to hacking by outsiders . the possibility of secret data being downloaded from the classified networks and then entered into the unclassified network and e mailed to the outside is a key security concern , according to one federal official . the lab plans to impose new audit procedures on unclassified computer systems in order to control sensitive information . los_alamos will also require that two people be involved in the transfer of files from classified computers . but john c . browne , lab director at los_alamos , cautioned that the labs cannot allow security to become so stringent that it prevents them from accomplishing their objectives . ''we have to look at threats to information security from a risk benefit standpoint and put in place additional procedures that make sense , '' he said . ''we ca n't raise the bar so high we ca n't get any work done . that affects national_security too . '' a select congressional committee investigating illicit transfers of high technology to china has been told that united_states officials saw an american high performance computer in use at a chinese technical center known to be involved in nuclear_weapons design in the early 1990 's . the congressional panel , chaired by representative christopher_cox , a california republican , has been told that the high performance computer was seen at china 's institute of applied physics and computational mathematics in beijing .

has a location of china

an article yesterday about the candidate steve_forbes in some copies misattributed a reference to him as " richie rich . " the comment was made by senator phil_gramm , not pat_buchanan .

has a location of china

the justice_department is investigating whether the central_intelligence_agency may have obstructed justice by giving an american aerospace concern information about a congressional inquiry involving that company , government officials said today . the justice_department investigation involves the hughes_electronics corporation , the officials said . the company has been under congressional scrutiny regarding the transfer of sensitive american rocket technology to china . ''we are cooperating fully with the justice_department , '' a c.i.a . spokesman , bill harlow , said tonight . he declined further comment . as many as eight high ranking c.i.a . officials , including its general_counsel , robert mcnamara , have agreed to testify next week before a federal grand_jury in washington about information that the spy agency supplied earlier this year to hughes , officials familiar with the justice_department operation said . a threshold question for justice_department investigators is whether the c.i.a. , in giving some information to hughes about the inquiry of the senate_select_committee_on_intelligence into technology transfers , might have enabled the company to anticipate the next moves of the panel 's investigators , thereby thwarting the committee . details of the justice_department 's investigation into hughes , , a division of the general_motors_corporation , were first reported in saturday 's editions of the washington_post . one c.i.a . official , speaking on condition that he not be identified , said some agency officials had themselves called attention to the possible improper transfer of data . therefore , that c.i.a . official contended , the agency 's culpability may be less than suggested by the words ''obstruction of justice , '' and may amount to little more than carelessness or a mix up in communications . the latest investigation , however it turns out , casts yet another spotlight on the murky terrain where high tech commerce and national_security issues intersect . hughes , which has supplied the c.i.a . with satellites and ultra sensitive communications equipment for decades , has been under increasing scrutiny in recent months . like other aerospace companies hughes launches commercial satellites atop chinese rockets because they are much less expensive than many western launchers . but some intelligence experts have been concerned in recent years that hughes has been too aggressive in selling high tech equipment in china , which for decades was an adversary of the united_states and which has major differences with the united_states on human_rights issues . the senate_intelligence_committee asked the justice_department to begin an investigation after committee staff members became uneasy about the nature of information the c.i.a . shared with hughes , said those officials who confirmed the outline of the justice inquiry . congressional investigators have been looking into hughes in part because it and another aerospace company shared extensive data with chinese engineers after two failed rocket launchings in 1996 . the congressional investigators were sensitive to possible national_security implications involved in the accident post mortems . when separate suspicions later arose that chinese interests may have tried to use campaign donations to meddle in the 1996 united_states elections , dealings with chinese business interests became ever more sensitive . while not playing down the significance of the justice_department inquiry , one government official cautioned tonight against premature conclusions . ''it may look worse than it is , '' the official said . another official characterized the relaying of information by the c.i.a . to hughes as unsurprising , if unfortunate , in view of the extensive routine business contacts between the spy agency and a major contractor .

has a location of china

lead two american studios have signed a major television licensing agreement with china 's only national television_network , an arrangement that will beam such shows as ''star_trek'' into chinese households . two american studios have signed a major television licensing agreement with china 's only national television_network , an arrangement that will beam such shows as ''star_trek'' into chinese households . the studios mca and paramount will program about two hours of prime time television for tuesday nights , supplying about 100 hours of programming the first year , an mca vice_president , charles s . paul , said last week . the content of the overall package is still being decided , but in addition to ''star_trek'' it is expected to include such american shows as ''columbo , '' ''marcus welby , m.d . , '' ''family affair'' and the mini series ''the winds of war . '' ''the studios recommended titles , but the chinese network ultimately chooses them , '' said a spokesman for mca , janet yang . the studios will derive revenues from the sale of advertising time to american and foreign companies seeking exposure in the chinese marketplace , a paramount statement said . the studios will split profits with the chinese network .

has a location of china

in november , a performance of a sensationally popular acrobatic version of ''swan_lake'' in shanghai was abruptly_canceled . refunds were issued to more than 3 , 000 ticketholders . and the show 's two lead performers were summoned here to the nation 's capital . ''we flew to beijing and arrived on saturday , '' said wu zhengdan , the female lead . ''we knew we were going to perform for someone special . we just did n't know who it was . '' that sunday evening , ms . wu and her partner , wei baohua , performed at a banquet in the great_hall of the people , one of china 's landmark government buildings , for dignitaries who included president_bush and china 's president , hu_jintao . demonstrating the unconventional blend of classical_ballet and traditional_chinese acrobatics they perfected for the new ''swan_lake , '' the delicate ms . wu , 24 , did a pirouette , aloft on the shoulder and outstretched arm of the muscular mr . wei , 34 , who is also her husband . she also rose up , stunningly , on pointe on mr . wei 's head . there followed a gymnastic pas de deux . such bravura moves have delighted crowds in china over the past year , helping turn this radical reworking of ''swan_lake'' by the guangdong military acrobatic troupe into a box office hit and transforming the couple into stars . now , the acrobatic ''swan_lake'' featuring ms . wu and mr . wei is preparing for a world tour that will include russia , japan , germany and the united_states , where the couple already won high praise last october when they took part in the ''festival of china'' at the kennedy_center in washington . what audiences will see is not your usual ''swan_lake . '' although this 19th_century russian ballet has been a fixture on the chinese stage for decades , the current version contains several decidedly chinese twists . it opens with prince siegfried dreaming of a beautiful girl who has been transformed into a swan by an evil eagle , a vision that propels him into a quest that takes him from europe through africa , the middle_east and south_asia before landing him in beijing a journey that provides the acrobatic troupe with ample_opportunity for displays of local color . there , in the forbidden_city , he meets the young chinese swan woman he will make his bride . this west meets east take on ''swan_lake'' is emblematic of the broad shift under way in china as state sponsored cultural institutions move toward more market oriented offerings . film producers , dancers , musicians even military performing groups that long depended on the government for financial support are now aggressively pursuing commercial opportunities . they are seeking private sponsors and hoping to profit by luring bigger audiences at home or exporting cultural extravaganzas to the rest of the world . filmmakers , often backed by state owned production houses , are now trying to make hollywood blockbusters . even the monks of shaolin temple , famed for their martial_arts skills , have gone commercial , forming their own for profit company to produce kung_fu movies and promote the shaolin brand . the choreographer behind the new ''swan_lake , '' zhao ming , says china 's state run performing_arts system is packed with hidden talent waiting to be discovered . ''there are a lot of people with great technique here , but because they 're in the military troupe , they have less chance to let people know , '' said mr . zhao , who also choreographs the beijing military troupe . both ms . wu and mr . wei are products of a similarly rigid system , the socialist era sports school programs that are still geared toward producing olympic champions . they grew up in liaoning_province , in northeast_china , and first met at the shenyang sports school , one of the region 's premier sports schools , when he was 16 and she 6 . the school typically recruits children as young as 5 to spend the rest of their youth in the boarding_school , training for national and international competition . but ms . wu and mr . wei say they went by choice . mr . wei was introduced to the sport through his father , an accountant at the local acrobatics school . ms . wu responded to an advertisement for a gymnastics program . she was among 3 , 000 youths who tried out for 20 slots , but she did n't make the cut . ''the teacher said i was not very tall , and a little fat not good , '' she said in a backstage interview before a performance here in beijing . but a teacher from the local sports school saw her routine and asked her to join a eurythmics program . and so she became a nearly full time child athlete , usually training 10 hours a day . the teachers were strict , ms . wu recalled , forcing children to run endless laps around the track or to do splits by placing their legs on two separate chairs and holding a perfect position for 30 minutes at a time . at 12 , she joined the provincial sports school and began teaming up with mr . wei to compete in sports acrobatics , which involved human pyramids and synchronized athletic movements . three years later , in 1995 , the pair won the national championship . in that same year , in germany , they were crowned world junior champions . but a year later , ms . wu fell during an event , injuring her neck . for a year , they did n't compete . in 1997 , they placed a disappointing third in the world_championships in britain . ms . wu was discouraged and weary of the training regimen . she considered quitting and entering a university . mr . wei was ready to leave the school and the sports acrobatic team himself , but he was also determined to win the world title . eventually , the two joined the guangdong military acrobatic troupe , in the far southern city of guangzhou . their careers picked up . they won another national championship . in 2001 they were asked to perform for the asia_pacific economic cooperation forum in shanghai before mr . bush and jiang_zemin , china 's president at the time . troupe officials say mr . bush left before the couple 's performance , but mr . jiang was so impressed he later presented mr . bush with two dvd 's of the show , one for the president and another for his father . that year , the couple had begun to add some ballet and dance elements to their acrobatic routine with the help of mr . zhao , the choreographer , who was recruited by the guangdong troupe to help develop routines in preparation for the world title event at the xxvi international circus festival of monte_carlo in 2002 . they took first prize . ''they both have very good technique , '' mr . zhao said , explaining the difference he made in their first collaboration . ''the most difficult thing was to get them to have the feeling of a dance . i told them to be beautiful , to have rhythm and listen to the music . '' by then , the couple 's gradual evolution into dancers was apparent . they were mixing ballet moves with acrobatics , training with mr . zhao and the national ballet of china . and officials at the guangdong military acrobatic troupe were looking for a market opportunity after they struck a deal with shanghai city dance company to create a new show . they came up with the acrobatic ''swan_lake , '' a show featuring dozens of acrobats swinging from ropes , juggling balls and tumbling and hopping across the stage as siegfried seeks his beautiful white swan . whether they are acrobats or ballet stars , no one is sure . but ms . wu and mr . wei , who were married in 2003 , say they 're willing to see where this strange act leads . ''i 'm not sure what it is , '' ms . wu said of their performance , gazing at mr . wei in their dressing room . ''i ca n't leave the acrobatics world , but i 'm not 100 percent in ballet . i guess we 'll just see where it goes . if people like the performance , i 'll continue to do it . ''

has a location of china

lead chinese students in the united_states say they have been harassed by representatives of the beijing government and threatened with reprisals if they take part in demonstrations on sunday to show support for the democracy movement in their homeland . chinese students in the united_states say they have been harassed by representatives of the beijing government and threatened with reprisals if they take part in demonstrations on sunday to show support for the democracy movement in their homeland . a state_department spokesman said today , ''we have informed chinese officials that harassment of students in the united_states is completely unacceptable to us . '' but , he said , it is unclear whether the activities violated american law . the students said officials from the chinese embassy and consulates infiltrated meetings of chinese students on american college campuses , made threatening telephone calls and paid unannounced visits to them at their homes in an effort to discourage them from protesting against the policies of the beijing government , which violently suppressed the democracy movement in june . ''they have been calling students nationwide and threatening them , '' said haiching zhao , a postdoctoral fellow in biochemistry at harvard_university , who is also a leader of chinese students in the united_states . he said that chinese students had been told that their passports might not be extended and that their relatives back home might suffer if the students expressed support for china 's democracy movement . similar complaints were voiced by some students after the killings around tiananmen_square on june 4 . merle goldman , a professor of chinese history at boston_university , said today that efforts by the chinese government to exert political control over chinese students in this country were nothing new , but had ''gotten much worse'' in the last few months . she said chinese diplomats were ''trying to replicate what goes on in china , where the government interferes in student activities . '' mrs . goldman said that some of her chinese students received telephone calls and visits from officials of the chinese embassy and its consulate in new york . the chinese officials told the students that there would be ' 'repercussions'' for their relatives in china if the students did not curtail their political activities in the united_states , she said . 'blacklists' reported representative jack brooks of texas , the chairman of the judiciary committee , said the chinese government was ''keeping blacklists of pro_democracy students here in america . '' chen defu , press counselor at the chinese embassy , said today that there was no basis for the students' complaints . ''our consistent policy is to oppose monitoring , harassing or intimidating overseas_chinese students , '' he said . ''the chinese embassy and consulates have never been engaged in such activities . '' he said the chinese government had promised to take ''a lenient attitude toward students who , without knowing the truth , participate in demonstrations or rallies in the united_states . '' the state_department estimates that there are 40 , 000 chinese students in this country , and it says that 80 , 000 to 100 , 000 have studied in the united_states in the last decade . by many accounts , the ideas and values they absorbed here contributed to the outpouring of support for democracy that was evident throughout china before the military crackdown in june . students in washington and other american cities plan to hold protests , fasts and demonstrations on sunday , the 40th_anniversary of the establishment of the people 's republic of china . in china , the authorities have been beefing up security to make sure that protesters do not disrupt official celebrations of national day on sunday . a report prepared by the independent federation of chinese students and scholars , which has members at 200 colleges across the united_states , said , ''the chinese embassy and its consulates around the country have dramatically stepped up their efforts to intimidate chinese students . '' ''some students are now afraid to participate in the march'' from the lincoln memorial to the chinese embassy in washington on sunday , the report said .

has a location of china

lead it takes a lot to stop barbara_walters in her tracks . but when jiang_zemin , china 's party leader , declares in an interview to be shown on the abc_news program ''20 20'' tonight that the massacre of hundreds of chinese in beijing last june was ' 'much ado about nothing , '' even she is taken aback . it takes a lot to stop barbara_walters in her tracks . but when jiang_zemin , china 's party leader , declares in an interview to be shown on the abc_news program ''20 20'' tonight that the massacre of hundreds of chinese in beijing last june was ' 'much ado about nothing , '' even she is taken aback . ''well , '' she finally says after rolling her eyes , ''we feel it 's a great deal to do about something . '' the television interview , being shown at 10 o'clock tonight on channel 7 , is the first by mr . jiang since he was named general secretary of the chinese communist party last june to replace zhao_ziyang , who was sacked after he sympathized with the pro_democracy_demonstrators . it is also the first interview with any of china 's senior leaders since the massacre in tiananmen_square a year ago . mr . jiang 's sudden appearance in american living rooms is probably no coincidence . beijing is worried about whether president_bush will continue most favored nation trade status for china when it expires june 3 . many members of congress , still angry about the chinese_communists' violent repression of their students last spring and their continued crackdown on all dissent , feel washington should strip china of its preferred trading status , which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars to china for its exports to the united_states . in the interview , which was filmed may 2 in the state guest house in beijing , mr . jiang does make a pitch for president_bush to renew china 's favorable trade status . ''i hope the u.s . government would consider this matter from a long term perspective , '' mr . jiang says blandly . but mr . jiang 's appearance on ''20 20'' is unlikely to sway any votes , because the 64 year old soviet trained engineer displays a stunning cynicism about tiananmen . ''i do n't have any regret about the way in which we dealt with the events which took place last year in beijing , '' mr . jiang tells ms . walters . ''i do n't think any government in the world will permit the occurrence of such an incident as happened in beijing , '' with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered around the headquarters of the government . in fact , mr . jiang , whose full round face , swept back black hair and receeding hairline give him a superficial resemblance to the late mao_zedong , says the army behaved ''with great tolerance and restraint . '' mr . jiang blames the demonstrators , who he says burned ''nearly 10 , 000 armored_personnel_carriers , army trucks and tanks . '' that is a far higher number than the government claimed at the time . ms . walters never asks mr . jiang about one of the major unresolved questions from last june how many chinese were killed when the army began firing on the crowds on the night of june 3 . but when she does question him about how many people were arrested and how many were executed after the crackdown , his response is telling . ''i ca n't give you an exact figure about this because i 'm not clear about it . '' it is the quintessential chinese bureaucrat 's answer , but it also seems to reflect a casualness about the human toll at tiananmen_square . should n't china 's leader know such sensitive figures ? mr . jiang does go on to deny that anyone has been executed for activity ' 'directly related to the student unrest . '' and he has an aide get back to ms . walters to report that only 42 college students are still being held and are ''under investigation'' for their role in the demonstrations . judging by accounts from chinese , that seems a very low figure , and it may include only students in beijing . there were protests throughout china 's big cities . mr . jiang gives little reason to expect any improvement in chinese_american relations soon . he says that fang_lizhi , the prominent dissident and astrophysicist who took refuge in the american embassy last june , will not be allowed to leave china until he admits he was one of the ''behind the scenes plotters of the disturbances'' last spring , a charge few chinese believe . but just as many chinese go through life wearing_masks to hide their real feelings , the program is as interesting for what it does not say as for what it does . at a time of acute political struggle behind the scenes , with china 's leaders jockeying for position when the 86 year old deng_xiaoping dies , mr . jiang insists , ''i have no sense of insecurity . '' since mao 's death in 1976 , there have been three heads of the chinese party , and all have quickly been ousted or lost power . ms . walters , accepting the official version , says mr . jiang was handpicked by mr . deng . but knowledgeable chinese think mr . jiang was at best a compromise choice . still , the interview is a good introduction to the problems facing china watchers . does mr . jiang really expect americans to accept his utter lack of remorse for the tiananmen massacre or to believe that he is fully in charge ? the answer lies hidden behind his ever present smile .

has a location of china

ever since yang liping won first prize in a national dance competition in 1986 , she has been delighting chinese audiences with her signature dance , ''spirit of the peacock . '' now , ms . yang , one of china 's best known dancers , is the director , choreographer and star of a new show that is drawing sellout crowds all over the country . the show , ''dynamic yunnan , '' which is expected to travel to europe and the united_states later this year , features ms . yang and about 70 other performers from yunnan_province , in southwestern china , staging ritualistic folk dances , beating drums , stomping , singing and floating elegantly across the stage like butterflies . the show is the latest coming out party for ms . yang , who , though not well known outside of china , is known here as a stern but creative and independent force in chinese dance . and even at 47 , she can dance like a spirited youth , contorting her slender frame and whipping her arms , legs and fingers in vivid representations of animals and other aspects of the natural world . ''i just love to dance , '' ms . yang said over dinner after a performance here in kunming , yunnan 's provincial capital . ''my nature is to dance all the time . after i eat , i want to start dancing all over again . '' to prepare the show , ms . yang said she spent more than a year traveling to remote villages in her native yunnan , studying local dances , recording disappearing folk songs and recruiting dozens of young people from ethnic minority groups . yunnan is china 's most ethnically_diverse province . many of the villages she visited were wedged between mountains and seemingly lost to the modern world . there she encountered the folk rhythms of farmers and villagers who seemed to have a natural aptitude for song and dance . ''in these villages , people have songs and dances for every event when they 're happy , at harvest time , when they 're getting married or mourning , '' she said . ''it 's not a choice , it 's a lifestyle . '' ms . yang is also a dancer by nature . she was born about 100 miles northwest of here , in the town of dali , the eldest of four children . her parents and grandparents , members of the bai ethnic minority , were farmers in a nearby village . as was true for everyone in their village , she said , singing and dancing were a part of their lives . ''my grandmother was the best singer in the village , '' ms . yang said , grabbing a bowl of rice at a restaurant near kunming 's performing_arts center . ''i clearly remember , when i was 6 years old , waking up and hearing my grandmother 's voice . my grandfather had died and she sang all day long all the details of their life together . this was our life . my family loved to sing and dance . '' from an early age , ms . yang loved to dance , too . at 11 , after the family had moved to xishuangbanna , a region in southern yunnan , she joined a local dance troupe and fell in love with a popular dance that imitates the movements of the peacock , a totem of the bai people . in her early 20 's , after she moved to beijing to dance with the central nationalities song and dance ensemble , she made the peacock dance her own , recasting parts of it with deft arm and finger movements . in 1986 , that choreography and dance won her first prize in a national competition . ever since , she has been dubbed the peacock princess . experts say ms . yang has not only developed a highly personal style , but has popularized yunnan 's folk dances as well . ''she 's in the first rank of dancers here in china , '' said zhang jianmin , a leading choreographer in beijing who devised the dance sequences in zhang yimou 's film ''house of flying daggers . '' ''she 's a folk dancer , but she 's also come up with a lot of original movements , particularly with her arms and fingers . '' ms . yang said she had little formal training and prefers folk dancing to modern_dance , which she associates with the expression of anguish and pain . ''my dances are just showing the beautiful side of life , '' she said . indeed , her dances are infused with grace , emphasizing the intricacies of expression possible with the hands and arms . abruptly , she will freeze in place . then her body snaps to life . she is by turns robotic , then fluid . her long , slender arms and fingers capped by extremely long fingernails that accentuate her moves are the wings of a bird , the branches of a tree , sparks bursting into a raging fire . ''nature is simply the best teacher , '' she said . ''i watch the motions of the peacock , birds , animals , anything that moves . that 's how i 've taught myself . '' now , after years of performing solo and appearing on television as the nation 's leading lady of dance , ms . yang is returning to her roots , seeking to preserve and promote folk dances with her new show , which she financed almost entirely herself . so many beautiful ethnic dances are being lost or are disappearing with the advance of commerce and modernization , she said . and so she has devoted years to re enacting or evoking the dances she grew up with or discovered during her travels . ''dynamic yunnan'' is filled with songs and dances that celebrate the sun , the moon and the region 's folk legends . ms . yang said part of the show 's popularity stems from its authenticity nearly all the performers are young people from yunnan 's ethnic minorities . and like her , few have had formal training . one young man , she said , was selected after she heard him crying out for his runaway cow . a young girl was chosen after pleading for the opportunity to dance so she could earn the 48 it would cost her family to buy a cow . ms . yang said the girl 's story moved her to tears . ''i picked her even though i thought she was too short , '' ms . yang said , laughing . ''but she works hard . i can always hear her singing in the back . she puts all her energy into it . you see , this show is nothing but real life . '' as for her own life , ms . yang is far more circumspect . though she acknowledges being married but without children , she prefers to talk about dance , and the prospect of performing in europe and the united_states . and when asked whether her dances offer any messages , she snaps ''i do n't think about messages . i just love to dance . it 's my nature . ''

has a location of china

a sexual revolution of sorts is under way in china , not because the world 's largest population has just discovered sex but because it is discovering how to talk about it . in newspaper columns , on radio talk_shows and over dinner , the chinese are discussing sex , how to enjoy it and how to deal with its consequences more than at any time in this century . and what they are discovering is that even though millions have already thrown off the constraints of the orthodox communist era , china is still struggling against huge pockets of ignorance as it tries to normalize the role of sex in society . some chinese " are still very shy about sex , " said wen jingfang , the proprietor of beijing 's only shop for sexual aids , the adam and eve health_care center . " with so much shyness , scientific_knowledge about sex cannot spread widely , " he said . the chinese couple that everyone seems to be talking about may be most famous not for what they did but for what they failed to do during more than a year of marriage have sex . their story has been publicized on the front pages of official newspapers and has been tittered about on late night radio shows . the official legal daily , which reported their amorous ineptitude , spared them the mortification of public identification . but their loss of face occurred when the newspaper reported that after months of trying to conceive a child , the couple sought the advice of a doctor , who discovered the wife was still a virgin . both highly educated university lecturers , they thought that sleeping together , literally just sleeping in the same bed , was a reproductive act . " it 's no joke , " the official guangming daily reiterated this week in retelling the story . a 22 year old female university graduate , who like most of her classmates giggled through mandatory sex_education videos as a freshmen and decided by her third year that having sex with her boyfriend was o.k. , said , " maybe this couple is the only one that could make such a mistake . " maybe , maybe not , say chinese officials who want to reinforce sex_education programs that began in the mid 1980 's . in guangdong_province , one magazine devoted to sexual topics gave out 16 essay awards for the best version of " my story of contraception . " the winner was a man in his 50 's whose contraceptive bunglings had brought him " psychological trauma " through two marriages . the popular southern weekend newspaper now carries a regular column on sex , which this month posed the question . " what do women need from sex ? " in mandarin , the answer is a " high tide , " or orgasm . the newspaper said that women reach high tide 40 percent of the time but that one sixth of the women surveyed had never experienced a high tide . " husbands should understand women 's needs about sex , " the article said . " sexual high tide not only benefits women 's health , but also benefits women 's spirit . " such openness was not only unheard of a decade ago but it might also have been illegal . for decades under mao , prudery was the ideological fashion , at least out in the open . but in deng_xiaoping 's era of reform , sex like capitalism has enjoyed a huge resurgence . not only is there enormous public interest in sex , but the old icons of communist restraint have been toppled as well , most recently in the account of mao 's prolific private sex life , as revealed by his personal physician , li zhisui . on a trip to shanghai in 1976 , martin wollacott , a british journalist , wrote that he remembered " gasps of astonishment when journalists saw that a young woman shipyard worker " was " wearing a pink blouse under her mao jacket . " " that scrap of cloth sticking out from under her collar , a tiny signal of a forbidden femininity , was the basis for many an essay on how the wind was shifting in china , " he wrote . and indeed it was . " the majority of chinese have experienced a great change in their attitudes toward sex in the last 10 years , " said liu dalin , china 's best known sex researcher . but he adds , " feudal ideas still exist , but they are getting less and less influential . " as the legal daily pointed out in a recent front page commentary " lots of people still think sex is a crime . under china 's traditional education system , people are afraid of talking about sex . " but now there is growing evidence to the contrary . china 's airwaves are awash with " sex talk " radio shows , like the pioneering " secret whispers " program that is heard after midnight in shanghai . before a live radio audience , young and old bare their anxieties about finding a mate , discovering venereal disease and coping strategies for the humbling effects of nature 's endowments to human anatomy . in may the official new china news_agency reported that " radio stations in such major cities as tianjin , shanghai , guangzhou and jilin have invited experts to answer listeners' questions " about sex . one recent survey of 100 , 000 callers to shanghai 's information radio line showed that " sex " and " banking " were the two topics most often asked about . mr . liu 's landmark sex survey of 23 , 000 respondents in 1990 revealed what many chinese instinctively understood about their country more people were having sex and were also enjoying it . although only 60 percent of the respondents said they were " often or sometimes " naked during sex , nearly 75 percent of them said sex was necessary for both emotional and physical health . in a society were 120 million chinese live without electricity , the removal of clothes and foreplay does not seem to be a critical issue . the communist_party leadership has been more ambivalent about eradicating sexual taboos than the masses , who seem to be pursuing their sexual liberation with vigor . because of china 's large population , some conservative_party cadres argue , the less people know about sex the better . official revulsion over the return of prostitution and pornography virtually eradicated under communism incites the authorities to crack down on vice . security forces have executed dozens of pimps and pornographers this year , though there is no definition of what constitutes pornography . yu jisheng , a researcher at the chinese academy of sciences , said " people often put the blame for sexual_misconduct " on sex_education . therefore , mr . yu added , " a considerable number of cadres have a strong bias against sex_education . " for now , prudery and promiscuousness exist side by side , as they do in many developed nations , and this may be the most important indicator of china 's evolution .

has a location of china

you cannot just glimpse at zhou hai 's photographs the grimy factory workers and miners in them catch your eye and peer into your soul as you are drawn to look into theirs . the weary faces do not show bitterness , but they do seem to say , ''this is the underworld of china 's miracle , and i exist . '' the scenes in these black and white photographs , part of a touring exhibition called ''the unbearable heaviness of industry , '' seem from the industrial_revolution at its worst . but they are very much part of today 's china , where glitzy electronics and the crudest of mechanical industries coexist . ''as our society has developed , so many workers have been marginalized , and fewer and fewer people care about them , '' mr . zhou said last month at the 798 photo gallery , appropriately housed in a renovated factory space in northeast beijing . ''so i felt a need to record this era and these people . '' ''it 's a bit like in the western countries in the 1920 's and 1930 's , '' he said . ''some of the scenes are very similar . our country is now at a similar stage . '' mr . zhou , 33 , who works independently from a base in beijing , happily acknowledges influences from the great_western photojournalists of the 20th_century . his pictures , in their classical composition , atmospherics and subject matter , have been compared to those of sebasti o salgado , whose work mr . zhou admires . ( the industrial pictures will travel in january to the bates college museum of art in lewiston , me . , as part of a documentary photography show . they can also be seen on mr . zhou 's web_site www . zhouhai . com . ) some are candid shots . in one , a worker painting the underbelly of a towering structure dangles precariously in a cloud of smoke , the factory grounds just visible hundreds of feet below . in another , workers whose tiredness is palpable eat lunch from plastic cartons , take a smoke or just rest . a lone man , his shoulder pressing against a mass of giant steel girders as he performs some impossible task , takes on sisyphean stature . many of the most haunting images are posed . black faced coal miners just emerged from hell , their eyes small points of white , might be deer caught in a headlight . a steel worker 's dignity seems to emerge right through the crude mask and goggles he must wear in the fiery , poisonous mill . ''i like posed pictures , with a certain formality , '' mr . zhou said . ''by posing , you let them reflect their own state of being , their humanity . '' the intimacy of the pictures is no accident . mr . zhou said he usually stayed at least two weeks in a location , gradually starting to shoot he uses a 35 millimeter leica as he gets to know the people and place . ''i needed to understand their work and their lives , their inner lives , '' he said . mr . zhou 's newest project should capture china in a broader way . he has been manning a booth in a beijing train_station , where he asks travelers to pose quickly for a shot in front of a plain backdrop . travelers include business people , migrant_workers from the countryside , students and others . ''each type has different clothing , luggage and expressions , '' he said . ''so i think that together , the photos will capture this era . ''

has a location of china

lead from radio afghanistan to the voice of zaire , more official government radio stations than ever before are broadcasting abroad on shortwave , and many have started downplaying strident propaganda and overt ideology in favor of more candor in their official newscasts . from radio afghanistan to the voice of zaire , more official government radio stations than ever before are broadcasting abroad on shortwave , and many have started downplaying strident propaganda and overt ideology in favor of more candor in their official newscasts . the trend reflects the recent movement toward greater political and cultural openness in the soviet_union and china , which has encouraged other countries to follow suit . it is also a response to the proliferation of other forms of communication in the developing world , which has fostered greater competition for listeners , government and private analysts say . ''the winds of openness are blowing in more ways than one , '' said lawrence e . magne , the editor of passport to world band radio , an annual publication for shortwave users published by international broadcasting services , a private company in penns park , pa . ''there 's been a decline in hard propaganda and a rise in more objective news . '' but with about 100 countries broadcasting abroad , the shortwave spectrum is becoming so congested that countries are building more powerful transmitters and taking other steps to insure that their official voices are heard abroad . the new candor people who monitor international shortwave_radio say the new candor has been evident in several countries , especially in the soviet_union and china . ''both are now surprisingly frank when it comes to dealing with domestic problems , '' said kim elliott , the director for audience research of voice of america , which is operated by the united_states_government . ''they 're doing a much better job of talking about themselves . '' during the recent earthquake in armenia , for example , moscow radio provided extensive news coverage . shortwave monitors say the coverage included not only detailed reports of the estimated damage but also criticism of the government 's response . in general , criticism of official institutions in the soviet_union , the result of mikhail s . gorbachev 's attempt to implement a sweeping reform program , is most apparent in the two official stations charged with external broadcasts , moscow radio and radio peace and progress . the economy , with its lack of consumer goods and lethargic industrial sector , has also been a subject of recent critical newscasts . coverage of nanjing riots beijing radio , which once began broadcasts with quotations from mao_zedong , has similarly moved away from heavily ideological broadcasts . its recent coverage of the riots in nanjing , where chinese students demonstrated against students from africa , suprised western analysts of shortwave programming . ''they hinted that there was racism in china , '' said g . alex batman , who monitors broadcasts for international broadcasting services . ''that would not have happened in the past . '' and vilnius radio , the official voice of lithuania , a baltic republic in the soviet_union , has recently broadcast calls for more political autonomy . apart from the new openness , competition from other foreign stations , cassette players , videocassette_recorders and improved domestic radio and television has forced countries to adjust their programming abroad to ''provide an attractive alternative to domestic media and cater to the international interests of the listener , '' mr . elliott said . in many cases , he said , listeners wanted objective news about a country and would listen to stations they thought were providing it . this , he added , explained in part the vast international audience of the british_broadcasting_corporation . ''one reason it 's so powerful is because it 's credible , '' mr . magne said . ''propaganda does n't sell anymore . people wo n't listen . '' medium for propaganda but ever since the late 1910 's , when bolsheviks used radio to try to foment revolution among vastly dispersed peoples , addressing broadcasts to , as its announcers intoned , ''all , all , all , '' propaganda has been and remains a key reason for broadcasting . because of shortwave_radio 's range , countries have used it to project their messages across geographic and often ideological and religious divides . some countries have not been affected by the trend toward more candid and self critical programming . extremely strident propaganda can still be heard on albania radio and pyongyang radio , the official station of north_korea . and analysts in the west stressed that moscow radio has not abandoned propaganda in its broadcasts its message has simply become more subtle , they say . despite the soviet_union 's decision to end jamming of the united_states radio free europe and radio_liberty , radio warfare is not dead . the soviet_union , for example , is still jamming foreign broadcasts aimed at afghanistan in the pashto and dari languages , said jonathan marks , a dutch shortwave expert at netherlands radio . a crowded spectrum the medium 's primary constraint , however , is the increasingly crowded shortwave spectrum . the number of national broadcasters has risen over the last 20 years to about 100 the number of hours broadcast has risen to about 30 , 000 hours annually , almost double the number in 1960 . this has left too many countries competing for too few frequencies . ''it 's a very crowded spectrum , '' said mr . marks . ''in order to be effective , countries are looking at ways to get their signal closer to their foreign audiences . '' several countries , notably the united_states and britain , have embarked on ambitious programs to expand their broadcasting ability , building more powerful transmitters and establishing far flung radio networks . but budgetary constraints will almost certainly delay the american expansion program . exchange agreements in addition , several countries have recently signed agreements to exchange radio facilities , essentially using one another as relay stations for broadcasting . a country transmits a program by satellite to another country 's station , which then rebroadcasts the program by shortwave . this allows a country to broadcast from a position closer to its target . ''it 's much cheaper than building a relay system overseas and then managing it , '' said mr . marks , who has counted more than 30 of these agreements , the majority of which developed in recent years .

has a location of china

lead the cable_news_network has reached an agreement with china_central_television to broadcast cnn news in china . the cable_news_network has reached an agreement with china_central_television to broadcast cnn news in china . under the agreement , chinese television will receive the 24 hour cnn channel and use selected reports during its daily newscasts . in return , cnn will be given the right to sell advertising time on chinese television . sidney pike , senior vice_president of turner program services , would not disclose the financial terms of the agreement , but he said revenues were expected to be ''in seven figures . '' the atlanta based turner_broadcasting system owns cnn . mr . pike said that chinese stations were free to broadcast the cnn programming live but would probably not do so because of the time needed for screening and translation . he said negotiations were under way for live , uninterrupted 24 hour broadcasts of cnn to hotels in beijing within a year . other broadcasters notably cbs inc . and the disney channel already send programs to china , but most of those are entertainment . the cnn transmissions will be the first regular news transmissions to the country , mr . pike said . there are 80 million television sets in china , 20 million of them color , and the number of sets is increasing by 10 million a year . the chinese television audience is estimated at 400 million each day .

has a location of china

a report in the world business briefing column yesterday about a plan to build a high technology industrial_park in hong_kong misstated the projected cost . it is 2 billion , not 2 million .

has a location of china

an article in science times yesterday about china 's particle physics program misstated the title of the chinese leader deng_xiaoping , who presided at a groundbreaking ceremony in 1982 for a particle accelerator in beijing . he was called the paramount_leader from 1978 until his death in 1997 he was never president . the article also misstated an affiliation for chen ning yang , a nobel laureate in physics who was born in china and has spent most of his career in the united_states . he is a longtime professor of physics at stony_brook_university he was not at brookhaven national laboratory in the 1970s .

has a location of china

for almost two decades , chinese citizens have been defined , judged and , in some cases , constrained by their all purpose national identification_card , a laminated document the size of a driver 's license . but starting next year , they will face something new and breathtaking in scale an electronic card that will store that vital information for all 960 million eligible citizens on chips that the authorities anywhere can access . officials hope that the technologically_advanced cards will help stamp out fraud and counterfeiting involving the current cards , protecting millions of people from those problems and saving billions of dollars . providing the cards to everyone is expected to take five or six years . but the vagueness and vastness of the undertaking has prompted some criticism that the data collection could be used to quash dissent and to infringe on privacy . the project comes at a time when china is doggedly remaking itself into a leaner economic machine in line with the standards of the world_trade_organization . but china is also struggling to track a restless and poor rural population that continues to gravitate toward the cities . so officials are no doubt gambling that the cards can help them juggle two important if conflicting interests promoting economic_liberalization , while monitoring citizens in an increasingly fluid society . there has been little public discussion or news about the new cards . brief but rapturous accounts in the official press say the cards will ''protect citizens . '' yet many of china 's toughest critics , at home and abroad , are skeptical , objecting to the concentration of so much information at the government 's fingertips . ''given the record of the chinese government on protecting the privacy of its citizens and given the prevalence of corruption , how can we ensure that this information will be managed properly ? '' asked nicolas becquelin , research director at the hong_kong office of human_rights_in_china . ''it 's scary what the chinese government is doing , because there is no counterweight . '' the original identification_card , introduced in 1985 , contains such personal data as one 's nationality and birth date and an 18 digit identification number . it also indicates a person 's household registration , which has traditionally tied a person to his or her province of birth . in june , china 's top legislative body , the standing committee of the national people 's congress , passed the national citizen id law , approving the cards . they are to have a microchip storing personal data , but the face of the card is not to contain details any more personal than what is on the current cards . the cards are to be tested early next year , first in shanghai , shenzhen and huzhou , a city in zhejiang_province . the agency in charge of the program , the ministry of public security , declined to answer written questions seeking details . but in an interview published in july with cards tech and security , a magazine of the smart card forum of china , a trade group , two public security officials , guo xing and liu zhikui , said the current cards were too easy to forge and did not take advantage of technological_advances . they also said the new cards , which will feature a rendering of the great_wall , would not look much different from the old ones . ''the id card and the id number are mainly going to be used to verify a resident 's identity , safeguard people 's rights , make it easier for people to organize activities and maintain law and order , '' mr . guo said . the use of electronic cards is not particularly new . other governments and companies issue them . hong_kong began issuing its own electronic id cards in june . with the olympic_games approaching in 2008 , china expects a growing demand for various cards , including transit cards , bank cards and social_security cards , said jafizwaty haji ishahak , an analyst in kuala_lumpur , malaysia , with frost sullivan , a consulting company . the social_services cards that are to be phased in should be able to track all the government services an individual receives , from health_care to welfare . ''if you want to live in the fast lane , you have to deal with technology , but you cannot have total freedom , '' said frank xu , executive director of smart card forum of china , who is from huzhou , one of the test cities . ''there have to be conditions . '' but detractors say freedom has a far different meaning in china , a place where security officials have never been shy about following or using listening_devices on dissidents , journalists or students . while it may make sense to track would be terrorists , the cards would also make it much easier for the government to monitor political or religious dissidents . after china 's 1989 crackdown on pro_democracy_demonstrators , the government televised photographs and identification_card numbers of student leaders being sought . under the new system , tracking dissidents would be much easier , said mr . becquelin of the rights group in hong_kong . there are concerns that the technology could be prone to abuse , corruption or the whim of the local authorities who routinely thumb their noses at beijing . this may be particularly true with china 's surging population of rural migrants , now estimated at more than 120 million and growing by 13 million a year . ''this new card will make it possible to locate people who have n't registered , so i think the migrants will be more subject to abuse , '' said dorothy j . solinger , a professor of political_science at the university of california at irvine . so far , anyway , most chinese who have heard about the new cards do not seem to mind indeed , many are enthusiastic . yes , they say , there is always the possibility of corruption . yes , one 's privacy may be invaded from time to time . but many chinese said they liked the idea of guarding against identity_theft and ensuring that someone who claims to be , say , a nanny , is telling the truth . besides , there is also a sense of resignation . ''our security officials already have all the information about us , anyway , so this is not a big change , '' said one man , surnamed sun , who is a science professor in beijing .

has a location of china

lead the joffrey_ballet has been invited by the chinese ministry of culture to perform in this year 's china arts festival in beijing . the joffrey is to serve as the official representative of the united_states . the joffrey_ballet has been invited by the chinese ministry of culture to perform in this year 's china arts festival in beijing . the joffrey is to serve as the official representative of the united_states . the festival , from sept . 15 through oct . 5 , is sponsored by the ministry of culture

has a location of china

a court here sentenced a computer engineer to two years in jail today in a case watched closely by people monitoring official efforts to control china 's growing use of the internet . the shanghai no . 1 intermediate court ruled that lin hai , 30 , committed a subversive act last year when he sent 30 , 000 chinese e mail addresses to vip reference , an electronic publication based in the united_states that the chinese authorities consider hostile to beijing . mr . lin , who was arrested last march , ran a software company that set up web_sites and offered other internet related services . mr . lin 's wife , xu hong , said her husband was not interested in politics and had simply been exchanging e mail addresses to build a database for his on line business . but prosecutors argued that the names provided by mr . lin had been used to distribute ''large numbers of articles aimed at inciting subversion of state power and the socialist system . '' vip reference , one of many electronic publications that distribute news about china , is compiled by chinese democracy advocates in washington . editors of the newsletter say they send information to 250 , 000 e mail accounts in china . efforts to restrict the exchange of political information on the internet , these editors contend , are fruitless because of the volume and variety of electronic_commerce . chinese officials formally embrace use of the internet as a necessary part of efforts to modernize their economy and society . at the same time , special task forces monitor political content on the internet and block some web_sites carrying information that beijing deems unfriendly . although no one knows the true size of internet use in china because many users share accounts , one recent official estimate said 2.1 million people in china were on the internet by the end of 1998 , up from 670 , 000 a year earlier . in such a fast growing environment , the case against mr . lin looks like a throwback to an earlier era , when beijing had tighter control of the spread of information . it may also reflect a decision by the authorities to make an example of someone seen to be helping a publication like vip reference , if only indirectly . mr . lin 's two year sentence , harsh by any international standard , is relatively light for a charge of political subversion in china . in a recent crackdown on efforts to set up a democratic political_party , three leading dissidents were given sentences ranging from 11 to 13 years in prison . in a country where the official media offer dull versions of the news , some chinese on line services feel freer to provide flashy news accounts that do not go through the same official censors as newspapers , television and radio . although the communist authorities would clearly like to maintain their once firm control over access to information , they are steadily becoming overwhelmed by the growth in more open communication by telephone , fax and now by internet that has come with efforts to modernize china 's economy . the official new china news_agency reported today that a recent survey of young people , ages 14 to 28 , found an overwhelming hunger for access to the intenet . but 69 percent of those surveyed said they had no way to get on line . only 3.4 percent of the young people said they surfed the internet regularly . at the same time , only 7 percent said they had no interest in the internet , and 6 percent said they had not heard of it . ''there is still a long way to go before the internet becomes truly popular among chinese youth , '' the news_agency concluded .

has a location of china

for many china watchers , the holding of a national people 's congress beginning this weekend is an ideal occasion for gleaning the inner workings of this country 's closed political system . for specialists in china 's internet controls , though , the gathering of legislators and top political leaders offers a chance to measure the state of the art of web censorship . the authorities set the tone earlier this week , summoning the managers of the country 's main internet providers , major portals and internet cafe chains and warning them against allowing ' 'subversive content'' to appear online . ''some messages on the internet are sent by those with ulterior motives , '' qin rui , the deputy director of the public information and internet security supervision bureau , was quoted as saying in the shanghai daily . stern instructions like those are in keeping with a trend aimed at assigning greater responsibility to internet providers to assist the government and its army of as many as 50 , 000 internet police , who enforce limits on what can be seen and said . ''if you say something the web administrator does n't like , they 'll simply block your account , '' said bill xia , a united_states based expert in chinese internet censorship , ''and if you keep at it , you 'll gradually face more and more difficulties and may land in real trouble . '' according to amnesty international , arrests for the dissemination of information or beliefs via the internet have been increasing rapidly in china , snaring students , political dissidents and practitioners of the banned spiritual movement falun_gong , but also many writers , lawyers , teachers and ordinary workers . already the most sophisticated in the world , china 's internet controls are stout even in the absence of crucial political events . in the last year or so , experts say the country has gone from so called dumb internet controls , which involve techniques like the outright blocking of foreign sites containing delicate or critical information and the monitoring of specific e mail addresses to far more sophisticated measures . newer technologies allow the authorities to search e mail messages in real time , trawling through the body of a message for sensitive material and instantaneously blocking delivery or pinpointing the offender . other technologies sometimes redirect internet searches from companies like google to copycat sites operated by the government , serving up sanitized search results . china 's latest show of growing prowess in this area came in january after a major political event , the death of the former leader zhao zhiyang , who had been held under house_arrest since appearing to side with students in 1989 during the tiananmen demonstrations . when the official new china news_agency put out a laconic bulletin about his death , placing it relatively low in its hierarchy of daily news stories , most of the rest of china 's press quickly and safely followed suit . on their web_sites , one newspaper after another ran the news_agency 's sterile bulletin rather than take risks with commentary of their own . what happened on campuses was far more interesting , though . university bulletin_boards lit up with heavy traffic just after mr . zhao 's death was announced . but for all of the hits on the news item related to his death , virtually no comments were posted , creating a false impression of lack of interest . ''zhao 's death was the first big test since the sars epidemic , '' said xiao_qiang , an expert on china 's internet controls at the university of california at berkeley . but if the government is investing heavily in new internet control technologies , many experts said the sophistication of chinese users was also increasing rapidly , as are their overall numbers , leading to a cat and mouse game in which , many say , it is becoming increasingly difficult for the censors to prevail . at 94 million users , china has the world 's second largest population of internet users , after the united_states , and usage here , most of it broadband , is growing at double_digit rates every year . ''what they are doing is a little bit like sticking fingers into the dike , '' said stephen hsu , a physicist at the university of oregon who formerly developed technologies for allowing ordinary chinese to avoid government censorship . ''beijing is investing heavily in keeping the lid on , and they 've been pretty successful at controlling what appears . but there is always going to be uncontrolled activity around the edges . '' as with the policing efforts , the evasion techniques range from the sly and simple aliases and deliberate misspellings to trick key word monitors and thinly_veiled sarcastic praise of abhorrent acts by the government on web forums that seem to confound the censors to so called proxy servers , encryption and burying of sensitive comments in image files , which for now elude real time searches . for those reasons and others , some chinese experts have publicly advocated that the government gradually get out of the business of internet censorship . ''all of the big mistakes made in china since 1949 have had to do with a lack of information , '' said guo liang , an internet expert at the chinese_academy_of_social_sciences in beijing . ''lower levels of government have come to understand this , and i believe that since the sars epidemic , upper levels may be beginning to understand this , too . '' the most eagerly watched key word in china today is probably falun_gong . ''i do n't know the number , but i would guess every chinese has received a falun_gong e mail , '' mr . guo said . ''there is no way to stop it . you can shut down the web_site , but you cannot kill the users . they just go somewhere else online , sometimes keeping the same nickname . ''

has a location of china

to the editor i read with interest your article on feb . 12 headed " old victorian style , but computer ready housing " about the village of montgomery being built at orangeville , ontario . but nowhere , in that article or anywhere else , have i read about the similarities between this neo traditional trend in new communities and certain planned communities built by the federal_government during world_war i to house defense workers . the village of montgomery , especially , bears a strong resemblance in the underlying concept of its design to the former war housing_project for 200 families called colonial terraces , where i live , in newburgh , n.y . at both places one sees short rows of attached houses and groups of semi datached housesalong tree lined streets , with common driveways to the rear both have a town_square ( of sorts ) with some commercial space . and , happily , at both places the houses are affordable yet exude considerable charm all in a quaint village atmosphere . my community is also interesting as an early example of the work of the community planning pioneer henry wright , before he teamed up with clarence stein to design sunnyside gardens in queens and radburn , n.j . it is a tribute to the timelessness of the war housing communities that key elements of their design are being rediscovered by a new generation . brian flannery p.o . box 2981 newburgh , n.y . 12550 9998

has a location of canada

canada is proud that it is one of the world 's most welcoming nations to immigrants , so tolerant that several major cities have populations that are more than one third foreign born without producing a political backlash . but gurbaj singh , a_12 year old sikh boy who immigrated here from a small village in the punjab , learned the limits of canadian tolerance in the schoolyard of his new elementary_school last november . while gurbaj was playing basketball , his 4 inch kirpan the ceremonial curved dagger sikh men are obliged to wear at all times , even while sleeping jostled loose and fell to the ground . a startled parent noticed the blade , and reported the incident to the principal . gurbaj found himself facing his principal , who ordered the boy to hand over his kirpan . since the age of 5 , gurbaj said , he has never taken off his kirpan , which in the sikh faith symbolizes the sovereignty of man and serves as a reminder to go to the defense of others in distress . so he walked home instead , igniting a legal struggle that has embroiled the working_class neighborhood of lasalle and tested the limits of religious_freedom in this multicultural society . gurbaj 's act of conscience has caused him to miss months of school , and it has made him a celebrity of sorts here and as far away as india , while igniting months of radio talk show debate and fierce dueling editorials in both french and english_language newspapers over minority_rights . the case has been winding its way through the courts . the provincial government of quebec announced in late may that it would appeal a superior court ruling that said gurbaj could wear his blade to school as long as it was securely enclosed in a wooden sheath tied tightly shut and remained tucked under his shirt . ''the maintenance of security in schools , '' said the quebec justice minister , paul b gin , ' 'requires zero tolerance for the carrying of knives . '' gurbaj and his family say that they will go all the way to the supreme_court , if necessary , and that if they lose there they will be forced to move to either ontario or british_columbia , provinces with large sikh populations where schools do not prohibit kirpans . ''i cannot part with my kirpan because it is part of the obligation i accepted when i took my baptism , '' gurbaj said in an interview . ''i am determined to stand up for my rights . '' in april , when the court order allowed gurbaj to return to school with his kirpan , he was met by dozens of angry parents , many of whom kept their children home for several days in protest . accompanied by a police escort , gurbaj was forced to endure a shower of racial and anti immigrant insults from some of the adults . for a boy of 12 in a new country , gurbaj appears remarkably composed under all the pressure . he has an easy wide smile and curls his brow thoughtfully before answering questions . he appears to have blended his native and canadian cultures , spending his spare time playing basketball and searching the web on his computer in his bedroom , which has pictures of the sacred sikh gurus and his kirpan collection . he wears his hair tied up in a scarf called the patka and , under religious law , promises never to shave , drink alcohol or eat meat . he says he has never gotten into a fight , and would never think of using his kirpan as a weapon . ''the kirpan is not a knife , it is a religious symbol , '' he said . gurbaj 's defenders say that many sikh students have been wearing kirpans in schools in the united_states , britain and canada for years without any violent incident . the school administration and many parents at the ste . catherine laboure primary_school have a very different view . for them , gurbaj 's claim to religious_freedom is a potential threat . ''he is a very pacific boy but we are concerned about the dagger , '' said danielle descoteaux , the school principal . ''an object like that has no place in a school . '' real nadeau , a sales manager and parent of two children at the school , noted that dozens of other sikh children at ste . catherine laboure wore pendants representing the kirpan to fulfill their religious obligations . ''with all the violence that appears in schools these days , '' mr . nadeau said , ''why allow a weapon in school ? '' gurbaj said his religious conscience would not allow him to wear a kirpan facsimile . with the sikh population in canada having reached nearly half a million and growing rapidly , the presence of kirpans in schools is not a new issue . the peel board of education in ontario province , for instance , was ordered in a 1990 court ruling to allow students to carry kirpans to school , as long as they were no more than seven inches long and thoroughly secured in a sheath . only about 12 , 000 sikhs live in quebec province , a fact that may partly explain why the kirpan is still an issue here . but quebec canadians have a different view of multiculturalism than much of the rest of canada , with many preferring the french republican tradition of the melting_pot over the concept of people from separate cultures living in harmony while retaining their differences . ''quebec believes in a dominant quebec culture , '' noted julius grey , a civil_rights lawyer representing gurbaj . ''other cultures are welcome but they must move in a constellation around the sun . '' montreal journal

has a location of canada

in the latest indication that a warming climate has significantly affected the northernmost regions of the earth , scientists reported today that the extent of ice in the arctic sea declined about 2 percent from 1978 to 1987 . three separate studies in the last year have found that the part of the northern hemisphere covered by snow has been shrinking , that sea_ice near greenland has become substantially thinner and that alaskan snow melted two weeks earlier in the 1980 's than in the 1940 's . a fourth study found that a warmer climate has profoundly disrupted ecosystems in northwestern ontario , threatening lake trout fisheries , cutting the flow of water into lakes and making them more fertile but less able to flush out pollutants . now the latest study , appearing in today 's issue of the british journal nature , shows that sea_ice in the arctic receded slightly toward the north_pole in the 1980 's . the finding is based on an analysis of measurements made every other day from october 1978 to august 1987 by a sensing instrument aboard a satellite . no ice change in antarctic the analysis was performed by dr . per gloersen of the national_aeronautics_and_space_administration 's goddard space flight center at greenbelt , md . , and by dr . william j . campbell of the united states geological survey ice and climate project at the university of puget sound in tacoma , wash . in contrast to the arctic , the study found no significant changes in the extent of antarctic sea_ice . the authors of the study said they did not know the reason for this difference . but there is more ocean in the southern hemisphere , other scientists say , and the ocean absorbs heat and tends to delay warming . dr . gloersen and dr . mitchell note in their report that computerized simulations of the atmosphere 's workings show that the southern hemisphere warms more slowly than the northern hemisphere when atmospheric concentrations of carbon_dioxide are doubled . carbon_dioxide , which traps heat in the atmosphere , causing the earth to warm , is increasing because of the burning of fossil_fuels like coal and oil . many scientists believe that growing amounts of the gas in the atmosphere will cause the global climate to warm significantly , perhaps even catastrophically , over the next few decades . the last decade , on the whole , was the world 's warmest since people began keeping temperature records in the latter part of the 19th_century . but scientists disagree on whether this recent warming was caused by the increase in heat trapping gases or is a result of the climate system 's natural variability . " the smoking_gun has not been identified yet , " dr . john e . walsh , an atmospheric scientist at the university of illinois at urbana champaign , said in an interview . nevertheless , he noted in a commentary in nature , computer simulations suggest that the warming would be noticed sooner in the arctic than elsewhere in the northern hemisphere . dr . gloersen said in an interview that the observed decrease in arctic sea_ice could be an indicator of long term climatic change and consequently " bears close scrutiny " for the next 10 to 20 years . in looking at all the recent studies involving warming and the northern latitudes , dr . walsh said , " you begin to think that something 's really going on , but if you look closer , there 's usually a caveat that goes with each one . " for example , he said , the gloersen campbell study shows that although the area of sea_ice receded toward the poles , the area of open water within the ice area has also decreased . retreating ice fills holes " the position of the ice edge has gone north , " he said , " but north of that ice edge , some of what used to be open water is filled in with ice . so you ca n't say we 've lost 2 percent of the ice on the basis of their results . we 've lost some , but a little less than 2 percent . " dr . gloersen 's explanation is that as the ice retreats , its distribution becomes more compact . there is a further puzzle . computer simulations show that with global_warming , arctic areas should warm more than temperate areas , dr . walsh said , adding , " but the arctic has not warmed any more than the rest of the northern hemisphere . " despite all the qualifications , dr . walsh said , " there 's certainly some evidence accumulating " of an arctic impact of a warming_trend . if what is happening in the arctic is a sign of a global_warming trend , scientists say , that trend could be interrupted by the eruption last month of the mount pinatubo volcano in the philippines . climatologists expect that sulfur_dioxide spewed into the stratosphere by the eruption will react with water to produce a long lasting global haze . the haze is expected to reflect and scatter some sunlight for perhaps three or four years , cooling the earth and largely counteracting any further warming in that period .

has a location of canada

the supreme_court on thursday struck down a quebec law banning private medical_insurance in a decision that represents an acute blow to the publicly financed national health_care system . the high_court stopped short of striking down the constitutionality of the country 's vaunted health_care system nationwide , but specialists across the legal spectrum said they expected the decision to lead to sweeping changes in the canadian health_care system . ''the language of the ruling will encourage more and more lawsuits and those suits have a greater likelihood of success in light of this judgment , '' said lorne sossin , acting dean of the university of toronto law_school . patrick monahan , dean of the osgoode hall law school of york_university in toronto and a well known critic of the national health_care system , was even more emphatic about the import of the decision . ''they are going to have to change the fundamental design of the system , '' he said . ''they will have to build in an element of timely care or otherwise allow the development of a private medical system . '' the canadian health_care system provides free doctor 's services that are paid for by taxes . the system has generally been strongly supported by the public , and is broadly identified with the canadian national character . canada is the only industrialized county that outlaws privately financed purchases of core medical services . but in recent years patients have been forced to wait longer for diagnostic_tests and elective_surgery , while the wealthy and well connected either sought care in the united_states or used influence to jump medical lines . the court ruled that the waiting_lists had become so long that they violated patients' ''life and personal security , inviolability and freedom'' under the quebec charter of human rights and freedoms , which covers about one quarter of canada 's population . ''the evidence in this case shows that delays in the public_health care system are widespread , and that , in some serious cases , patients die as a result of waiting_lists for public_health care , '' the supreme_court ruled . ''in sum , the prohibition on obtaining private health_insurance is not constitutional where the public system fails to deliver reasonable services . '' the case was brought to the supreme_court by jacques chaoulli , a montreal family doctor who argued his own case through the courts , and george zeliotis , a chemical salesman who was forced to wait a year for a hip_replacement while he was prohibited from paying privately for surgery . dr . chaoulli and mr . zeliotis lost in two quebec provincial courts before the supreme_court decided to take their appeal . in a news conference , dr . chaoulli declared a victory and predicted that the decision would eventually apply to all canada . ''how could you imagine that quebecers may live , '' he asked , ''and the english canadian has to die ? '' there was no immediate impact on the national system outside quebec , since the justices split by a vote of 3 t0 3 on the question of whether the quebec ban on private medical_insurance violated the canadian charter of rights and freedoms , canada 's bill of rights , as the two plaintiffs contended . however , specialists predicted that the decision would have widespread importance . margaret somerville , professor of law and medicine at mcgill_university , said the ruling ''is extremely important'' in large part because ''the provinces that want to run some form of a complementary private system would probably be able to do so now . '' alberta provincial officials have long suggested that they wanted to develop a private health_care system , while private diagnostic and special surgery clinics have been cropping up in quebec , british_columbia and ontario in recent years . the federal_government has threatened to hold back financial aid to provinces that pressed ahead with private health_care , but ms . somerville said ottawa would be less likely to do so now . dr . chaoulli , who was born in france , has long called for canada to adopt a two tier , public private health_care system similar to those in france , germany and switzerland . supporters of the current system , however , have argued that a two tier system will draw doctors away from the public system , which already has a shortage of doctors , and only lengthen waiting_lists . dr . chaoulli has long been viewed as a gadfly in political and medical circles . he went on a hunger_strike in the streets of montreal in 1997 after he was forced to abandon a private emergency house call service . prime_minister paul_martin responded to the decision by saying that his government was making progress in shortening waiting times for medical services . ''what today 's decision does do , however , is accentuate just how important it is to act immediately , how urgent this situation is , '' he acknowledged . but he rejected the notion that the ruling would bring about fundamental change . ''we are not going to have a two tier health_care system in this country , '' mr . martin told reporters . ''nobody wants that . what we want to do is to strengthen the public_health care system . ''

has a location of canada