Does anyone else in the world know about this?

There seems to have been no mainstream news reporting about the most recent student murder case at Virginia Tech. Last Wednesday, January 21, a Chinese graduate student, Yang Xin (female), was decapitated by a fellow Chinese graduate student in the cafe on the university. Zhu Haiyang is charged with first-degree murder and is currently in custody. Motives are still unclear. See Shanghaiist post and youtube clip here. The youtube clip is a tape of local news.

Of course I'm very curious about why the crime happened, but what really disturbs me is why no one in US media seems to care about it. Here are the only two mainstream sources I found: a Chicago Tribune article that doesn't even talk about the victim or murderer and a Huffington post article from AP reporting that provides a smidge more detail on the crime. Both articles focus on the trigger and use of the "crisis notification system" installed after the massacre at VTech in 2007 (where 30 students died at the hands of Seung-Hui Cho). No biographical details about the individuals involved in the 2009 case are provided. Were these reports too immediate (too "breaking") to release those details? If so, why haven't subsequent reports disclosed more information? Or is there no medida attention because it's just seen as an ethnic case? (Chinese on Chinese doesn't matter.) Or because it's just one death, not 30? Or am I just making this a bigger deal than it really is?

Please share your thoughts!


Linda Li '09

Eating Humble Pie

Last month, I pondered the usefulness of an entire new rifle platform based on a rather unrefined bullpup layout and an entirely new type of ammunition.

Well, it turns out the PLA is having second thoughts as well. Enter the QBZ03, a new, more conventional rifle that resembles the lovechild of a FAL and a SIG. It still uses the proprietary 5.8x47 ammunition.

Also, it seems to have three rings on the flash-hider, which wouldn’t be a surprise considering PLA’s fetish with rifle grenades.

PS: could someone translate the Chinese for me?

--Kane Hsieh '12

Fakes ONLY in Shanghai

After my trips to Asia, I've come to the conclusion that if fake brand name items is your thing, China is the place to go! From Furberry to Lois Vuitton to Puna to Diore- take your pick! It looks like a Fakes Only Mall is set to open in Shanghai. Read this short article for more info. Enjoy!

- Eva Luo '08

NYT: China Censors Part of Obama's Speech

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/world/asia/22china.html?hp

Interesting, huh? The controversial section seems to be Obama's mention of "communism." While I was listening to Obama's speech, the thought of China did cross my mind when Obama said "communism."

Is China overreacting? What kind of message is the Chinese government sending to the world and its own people in censoring part of Obama's Speech? Thoughts?

-- Eva Luo '08