Hero pig of China’s earthquake is cloned [Telegraph]

China’s favourite swine Zhu Jianqiang, survivor of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake gets cloned. Could this be another icon for Chinese willpower? From the pig’s efforts to survive  ‘by chewing charcoal and drinking rainwater’ to the efforts to clone it , it sounds like a compelling narrative there already.

For more on Zhu, check out the youtube video below –

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Hero pig of China’s earthquake is cloned
A heroic pig who survived more than a month buried under rubble after the 2008 earthquake in China’s Sichuan province has been successfully cloned, according to a report Sunday.
Source – Telegraph, published September 18, 2011

File image of Zhu Jianqiang Photo: REUTERS

Scientists in the southern city of Shenzhen performed the experiment on Zhu Jianqiang, or “Strong-Willed Pig”, and produced six offspring with DNA identical to their dad, who was hailed as a national hero following his harrowing ordeal, the Sunday Morning Post reported.

The births over the past few weeks of six piglets happened even though Zhu had been castrated before the quake, suffered severe trauma from being buried for 36 days, and is five years old – or about 60 in human terms.

“But the wonderful pig surprised us again,” Du Yutao, the leader of the cloning project, told the Post.

Filed under: Culture, Disaster, Domestic Growth, Nationalism, Natural Disasters, Population, Social, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, The Independent

Beijing curbs online dissent by menacing social network’s owner [Independent Asia]

A step back in the democratisation of the flow of information in China? This opens up a multitude of questions. I wonder what the international community might think. Will the politicians step forth to state a case, or the citizen journalists? Or has the world come to accept that China has its own characteristics with dealing in domestic affairs? Perhaps the Chinese netizens themselves will be savvy enough to get around this.

China’s hybrid of Twitter and Facebook, Sina Weibo 新浪微博 comes under ‘attack’ in order to “create a healthy online media atmosphere” (Beijing municipal Communist Party boss Liu Qi who visited Sina last week). Commanding 56% of the Chinese microblogging market, the Independent argues that ‘this platform too [has shifted to] the wrong side of the vast system of control known as “The Great Firewall of China”.’

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Beijing curbs online dissent by menacing social network’s owner
By Clifford Coonan in Beijing
Source – The Independent, Asia, published 29 August 2011

In a country where Twitter and Facebook are banned, the microblogging website of choice for 200 million Chinese is Weibo, but tightening restrictions on dissent mean that this platform too is on the wrong side of the vast system of control known as “The Great Firewall of China”.

Fearful of the spread of Middle East-style protests against authoritarian rule, and of any destabilising influences ahead of a change of leadership next year, Beijing has been asserting itself among online outlets.

Weibo’s operator, Sina, a private company, is cracking down on “the spread of false rumours” after the Communist Party told internet companies to tighten control over information online. Sina has set up a channel called “Weibo Refutes Rumours” to spread denials of false information.

Filed under: Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Communications, Culture, Democracy, Domestic Growth, Education, Environment, Great Firewall, Great Wall, Greater China, History, Human Rights, Influence, International Relations, Internet, Media, Modernisation, Nationalism, People, Politics, Public Diplomacy, Reform, Social, Soft Power, Strategy, Technology, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, The Independent