Consineo

Local public libraries seems to be pretty rare in BJ... And experiments with 'Lending Kiosks' not successful...

Which library is that?

YouTube video by Steve Rosenberg Russia: wage arrears growing, cucumber prices jump 43% in a month

From today’s Russian papers: cucumber prices in Russia jump 42.85% in a month, number of loss-making companies rising, wage arrears growing, “…gap between pensions & wages increasing.” #ReadingRussia

What if China could control the on-off switch of Europe’s energy system?

Chinese-made connected device could enable remote access to solar installations, creating a real risk of disruption to Europe’s electricity systems.

More: ow.ly/aZx150XXfzC

McGregor was found liable for sexual assault in 2024 and the jury ordered him to pay the victim $257,000. He lost all his appeals.

Secret Filming of Women Thrives in China as Officials Silence Activists Hidden cameras capture women in intimate moments without their consent, yet the authorities do little to stop it.

"Standing up for women’s rights is increasingly sensitive in China where the government views feminism as disruptive, especially as officials push women toward more traditional roles in hopes of reversing falling birthrates."

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Secret Filming of Women Thrives in China as Officials Silence Activists Hidden cameras capture women in intimate moments without their consent, yet the authorities do little to stop it.

"People share and trade photos and videos of their girlfriends, wives, relatives and acquaintances — a practice known in Chinese as “toupai chumai,” or “secret filming betrayal.”"

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The Great Chinese Vibe Shift A country once obsessed with success is taking things slower.

"Well-off urbanites used to look down their noses at migrant workers and gripe about their lack of suzhi, or quality. Today, as people begin to grapple with the unfairness of life, those judgements have softened."

foreignpolicy.com/2026/01/23/c...

'I felt like the only person in the universe': The quiet rise of living alone in China As one-person households rise across China, more young adults are finding freedom in living alone - and confronting the emotional costs that come with it.

"According to government statistics, they now account for around 20 per cent of households, up from fewer than 3 per cent in 2000.
By 2030, the number of people living alone in China could reach between 150 million and 200 million - more than 30 per cent of households "

shorturl.at/zDc5a

Every now and then we get a reminder that in addition to stealing from their own supporters, MAGA leaders really don’t care if their supporters live or die.

Yes, the tech is not new, but I was wondering if it is a standard feature in cars in China nowadays? It is not elsewhere I think (only on some high end models)

UCLA law professor Alex Wang has been studying one of the critical ways China has been making inroads around the world. The US has been ceding this ground.

Interesting. Is some kind of "Automatic parking" option (not only a specific programmed in advance parking space) common as well? I mean parallel parking in a street for example

Rock. Home. Village.
That’s literally what the Chinese characters for Shijiazhuang — 石家庄 — actually means.
This place used to be a total nothingburger. Two rail lines crossed paths. The rest is history.
My first #Chunyun city for 2026 — Shijiazhuang. And the main station.

hmmm? want to hear more!
Or do they have a driver? 😜

Putin appears in the Epstein files 1,000 times. Masha Drokova (here) and Jagland, former prime minister of Norway, coordinated their financial plans. These alliances—between oil and sex, pedofiles and crypto-utopians, corrupt and ‘clean’ governments—paved the way to the current ordeal

"Russians" in #Beijing 😜

Shanghai, 1978. A so called:“status photography.”
A man, a car, in front from a modern hotel, expensive Mao suit (56 RMB = 2+ months’ salary). This was not propaganda, but aspiration longing for change. The first visual language of reform for: individual success will replace collective identity.

This might be the most China story I've seen all year.

Villagers paint a patriotic Tiananmen mural.

State media praises it.

Tourists arrive.

Officials panic.

….So they paint it over in blue.

#Shanghai’s Huangpu River is still a busy working river. Large ships pass the gleaming financial towers.
#China #UK

The view from the Weihaiwei (Weihai) city wall, c.1908, probably by Reginald Johnston

Sacrificing the health of your children to own the libs and because nobody is the boss of you

U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies

Incredible self own for the US. The damage being done to the US scientific enterprise is generational. We will look back on this as a tipping point where the US chose all on its own to stop leading the world in science.

www.science.org/content/arti...

Google has agreed to pay $68M to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged the technology giant's voice assistant had illegally recorded users (even if they didn’t activate it with “Hey Google”) and then shared their private conversations with advertisers.

Shrine of a local deity, northern China, c.1905, by Missionary Arthur H Smith

The G. B. Lee Archive

#China #1980s
In case you are not aware of it, you can find my podcasts and historical, China films (8mm) on The G.B. Lee Archive on Youtube.

www.youtube.com/@theg.b.leea...

Demolition of hoarding in Beijing. This is on my website homepage. It shows the demolition of a Beijing concrete propaganda billboard in late September 1979. This taking-down of a Mao-era slogan was to demonstrate the Cultural Revolution was truly over. Also one my favourite shots in terms of composition. ©GBLee

#photography #China
This is on my website homepage. It shows the demolition of a Beijing concrete propaganda hoarding in late September 1979. This taking-down of a Mao-era slogan was to demonstrate the Cultural Revolution was truly over.
Also one my favourite shots in terms of composition.
©GBLee

This must be weird news to see if you’re one of the literally hundreds or even thousands of university administrators who preemptively censored faculty, scrubbed websites, changed the names of centers, etc.