News Roundup: Chinese stuff, Asian faces.

I like reading stories about Chinese adoption… but I also think it’s important for traveling families to keep up with what’s going on in China right now, and for families at home to know what’s going on with Chinese people that they (parents and children alike) might be running into or looking up to.

So here are a few of those stories, fresh off the wires:

• The Cincinnati Post reports on teenagers from America returning to their birthplace in Changzhou. Funny, my first reaction to that is: maaan, teenagers. I’m so dooooomed! My second reaction is to pick up on this line: “But another change made the trip especially emotional. Four of the five families would be unable today to adopt: In May, China barred adoption by foreigners who are single, obese, depressed, homosexual or older than 50.” And my third reaction is a big “Awwww” at the girls meeting one of their old caretakers from the welfare institute.


• On the “heading for war!” front (is that a mixed metaphor?) New Scientist asks: Did China hack the Pentagon? Because it looks like people using People’s Liberation Army computers were messing around with Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ email… and then got into some German government systems, too. Possibly just to see if they could.
• Shanghai Daily dishes the dirt on pet ownership in China’s most cosmopolitan city. Under the headline “You must be nuts!” In case you were wondering. It’s interesting looking at dogs as “exotic pets” like ball pythons or scorpions. The links at the end to Shanghai vets and animal shelters are even more fascinating along those lines.
• Worried about food safety? That’s the problem! Yes, China’s government officials have actually described the concerns over tainted foods and lead paints as “an allergy.” Because it’s caused by over-sensitivity. I’m not sure if I’m more stunned by the audacity or awed by that use of metonymy. I mean, that’s the poetry of spin.
• Overseas Chinese Mei Mei Yap becomes Queen of the IKEA hackers. I’m placing this one squarely in the “Asian cultural heroes” category, because, well, just look around that site. Amazing. I never even knew “IKEA hacking” was, like, a skill to which one could aspire. And now I do. I kinda doubt Daughter will “get” this one until she’s… shudder… a teenager.

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