What we’ve been reading recently:

Orville Schell on Moving Beyond Old Wounds - 2008 Olympics - The NYT’s Olympics blog interviews China scholar Orville Schell on whether the Olympics have, or can, alter China in any way. His answer: “Yes, I believe it can … potentially both for the worse and the better.”

China Firms Dial Up Debt Issues - WSJ.com - Corporate China becomes interested in bonds | none

Black and White Cat › How the New York Times (should have) covered the Olympics - A New York Times article, before and after "translation" | none

Subscribe to our recommended reading feed for things China and business-related, or browse our previous recommendations at del.icio.us

As a former resident of Chengdu*, the sustained coverage of my ex-home in English-language media (which I suspect has only just begun) has caught my attention. For those looking for good on-the-ground coverage of what is going on in Chengdu, Dujiangyan, Wenchuan and the surrounding area, might I suggest the following links:

This report and this audio slideshow on the effects of the earthquake by FT correspondent (and China Economic Review alumnus) Jamil Anderlini:

In Dujiangyan, two rows of soldiers and police held distraught parents back from the site of the collapse, where scores of soldiers sifted through rubble looking for more of the estimated 900 children buried in the rubble.

Each time a child’s body emerged, four soldiers covered the face with cloth and carried it on broken doors or other makeshift stretchers down a human corridor of panicking relatives and deposited it in the mud for the family to claim.

“I can’t take this,” said one soldier as he hurried away from a corpse and back to the rubble.

National Public Radio’s Chengdu Diary blog. By sheer coincidence, the NPR crew have been in Chengdu since the start of the month, joined recently by Robert Siegel (”Support for NPR is provided by the Ford Foundation …”), in preparation for a full week of broadcasts from the city scheduled for next week. Needless to say, what started out as a run-of-the-mill show on daily life in China (complete with snippets on traditional Chinese instruments) took a dramatic turn for them on Monday (here’s a recording of one of Melissa Block’s interviews being interrupted by the actual quake. I couldn’t hear the clip myself, though I mainly blame that on the woeful RealPlayer software).

I’ll be listening next week.

Photo by Art Silverman, NPR

Other posts from Chengdu Diary:
Caught in the Earthquake
A Horrific Scene at a Middle School in Dujiangyan
Meeting Survivors on the Road

*I admittedly have a soft spot for the area, and heartily encourage everyone to contribute what they can to the Chinese Red Cross (info here on how to donate) to help in relief efforts.
UPDATE: With thanks to the China Law Blog, Cn Reviews has a comprehensive list of ways to donate (36 and counting) here.

A friend of mine is riding a motorcycle across China for charity.

The bike he rides is China’s famous Chang Jiang sidecar model, pictured here in Zhejiang province about two weeks ago. Since then Chris has had the bike repaired innumerable times, crossed the Three Gorges Dam, rode through Yeti country in Hubei (forbidden for foreigners), seen a Muslim funeral and a noodle factory, and met many a kind-hearted stranger. His goal is to reach Xining, Qinghai.

Chris is riding to raise awareness and money for Hands on Shanghai’s Rising Stars program, which helps students from migrant worker families in Shanghai by pairing them with young tutors and mentors from more affluent circumstances. Sort of like a Big Brother/Sister foundation for Shanghai’s poor. You can donate by visiting Chris’s website.

Chris is blogging about his adventures on Shanghaiist and his latest report is here, with links to earlier reports. Also, check out his pictures on Flickr.

His trip reminds me of an editor at our own paper who is currently walking to Tibet.

A while back I posted about the Tibetan Tea Caravan, a recreation of tea trading along the old silk road, organized by a friend of mine from my days in Kunming. The Menghai Tea Factory in Yunnan province is involved in a lot of charity work benefiting schoolkids in poor southern regions. My friend, Jeff Crosby, sends this latest note:

On August 18th they held a charity fundraiser in the city of Zunyi, famous as the location of the Zunyi Conference, where Mao Zedong was selected as the leader of the Communist Party and the Red Army. At the event, seventy sets of Long March Heroes commemorative tea were auctioned off by Cui Yongyuan, raising a grand total of RMB3.23 million. The company has already selected two locations in poorer regions of Guizhou province to build schools with Project Hope.

“Philanthropy has always been a headache in China, with the lion’s share of donations coming from international foundations and corporations”, says Jeff Crosby, the company’s media spokesman, “we’re hoping that through this success, other Chinese companies will see the benefit of jumping on the philanthropy bandwagon”.

The company hopes to raise a minimum of RMB10 million for their charity fund through these auctions. To donate, click here.

An old friend of mine from Kunming is involved in a project that is recreating the old Southern Silk Route in Yunnan province. The project involves a caravan of yaks, horsemen, and many ethnic minorities following the old trail from Xishuangbanna up through Zhongdian and into Tibet, promoting their various brands of teas. But it is more than a mere marketing ploy. The caravan has raised over US$100,000 to build schools in the very poor regions through which they have traveled, mostly through auctions of the tea, some of which is rare and treasured. And they throw huge parties along the way. For more information about the caravan and some great pictures, visit my friend’s blog here.