Since the last tiger year 12 years ago, the worldwide population of the animal has almost halved to 3,200. China has been among the worst affected. The South China tiger has not been seen for years and is feared extinct. Small numbers of Amur tiger remain in the northeast, but they are threatened by poaching and economic development.
Meanwhile, pressure is growing for a relaxation of the ban on trade in tiger products, particularly from the owners of tiger farms. Given these trends, the panel will consider what can be done to save the animal in its natural habitat.

Fan Zhiyong, species program director at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), will share findings from a new report on tiger habitat in China and discuss efforts to control the trade in tiger parts and the impact of captive breeding. He recently made headlines with a warning that the tiger could soon be extinct in the wild.

Carter Brandon, Head of the World Bank’s China environment program, will discuss the options for international cooperation with the Chinese government on a new  program to conserve the Amur tiger. This comes ahead of a Tiger Summit in Vladivostok, Russia, this September, expected to be hosted by Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and co-chaired by the World Bank’s President Robert Zoellick.

Xie Yan, China Country Program Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society and an Associate Research Professor at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, will look at grassroots problems and solutions, particularly the concerns of people living in Tiger areas and new initiatives to promote Tiger eco-tourism, tiger
festivals and awards for tiger conservation heroes.

DATE: Monday 8 February 2010
TIME: 11:30-13:30 (changed)

VENUE: Culture Wing of the Embassy of India (NOT at the Embassy of India)
Floor 11, East Tower, LG Twin Towers, Jianguomenwai Dajie (opposite Dongdaqiao Lu)
建国门外大街LG双子座大厦(东大桥路的对面)
Tel-6568 3218/3518/3618

ENTRANCE: free to FCCC members, 50 rmb on the door to non-members

REGISTRATION: email fcccadmin@gmail.com so we know numbers and for security clearance
**Bring passport or photo ID**


ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Fan Zhiyong is the species program director at the WWF.

Carter Brandon oversees the World Bank-China program in Environment, Agriculture, and Forestry. Given the depth of the challenges, issues related to the environment, natural resources management, climate change, and rural poverty are central to the World Bank’s activities in China. From 2003 to 2008 he managed the World Bank environment, rural and social development programs in the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay), and before that, managed environment projects in both South and Southeast Asia. Prior to joining the World Bank, he started and ran the Development Economics Group (1985-1993), specializing in trade and sector policy analysis. He graduated from Harvard University (B.A.) and Oxford University (DPhil, ABD, Agricultural Economics), where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Yan Xie is the China Country Program Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and an Associate Research Professor at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She leads the WCS China Programme working in Qiangtang and Pamir in western China, Amur tiger habitat in north-east China, and a long-term programme on controlling wildlife trade. She served as coordinator of biodiversity studies under the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, a high level governmental advisory body, for over 10 years, where she made a great contribution to the country’s conservation policy. She is dedicated to provide biodiversity information for better conservation decision making — the Conserving China’s Biodiversity website and the China Species Information Service (CSIS) have become the most important biodiversity information hubs in China. Yan also led the evaluation of more than 10,000 species for the China Red List. She is a prolific writer with many important conservation books under her belt including A Guide to the Mammals of China published in 2008 and Biodiversity Atlas of China in 2009.

Foto: source, source 2

Presented by:

Pier Carlo Padoan, Chief Economist and Deputy Secretary-General, OECD
Richard Herd, Senior Economist, Head of China and India Desk, Economics Department, OECD

The OECD’s first survey  of the Chinese economy in five years looks at how the country has weathered the global crisis and assesses the challenges ahead. Its recommendations cover a range of issues from monetary policy and financial market opening to competition and social security. The report also looks at reforms needed to boost labour mobility, improve health care and ensure a sustainable pension system.

DATE: Tuesday 2 February 2010
TIME: 12:00 – 13:30
VENUE: Delegation of the European Union, Beijing
No.15 Dongzhimenwai Dajie, Sanlitun, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100600 (map)

ENTRANCE: free to FCCC members, 50 rmb on the door to non-members

REGISTRATION: email fcccadmin@gmail.com so we know numbers and for security clearance
**Bring passport or photo ID**


ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Pier Carlo Padoan
Pier Carlo Padoan joined the OECD as Deputy Secretary-General in June 2007. He has subsequently taken on the additional post of chief economist. An Italian national, Mr. Padoan has been key to the development of the OECD’s response to the economic crisis and to the organisation’s  work on innovation and green growth.

Prior to joining the OECD, Pier Carlo was Professor of Economics at the University La Sapienza of Rome, economic advisor to the Italian Prime Minister for international economic policies, and Director of the Fondazione Italianieuropei, a policy think-tank focusing on economic and social issues. From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Padoan was the Italian Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund, with responsibility for Italy, Greece, Portugal, San Marino, Albania and Timor Leste.  He served as a member of the Board and chaired a number of Board Committees.  During his mandate at the IMF, he was also in charge of European Co-ordination.  Mr. Padoan has held various academic positions in Italian and foreign universities, including at the University of Rome, College of Europe (Bruges and Warsaw), Université Libre de Bruxelles, University of Urbino, Universidad de la Plata, and University of Tokyo.

Richard Herd
The main author of this survey, Mr Herd is currently responsible for economic analysis of the Chinese and Indian economies in the Economics Department of the OECD.
He wrote the first OECD economic surveys of both of these countries in 2005 and 2007 respectively and supervised a report on Chinese public expenditure policies.
He was previously in charge of analysis of the United States, Japanese and Korean economies.
He was a visiting scholar at the former Economic Planning Agency in Tokyo in the 1990s and has written a number of papers that have been cited in many countries. Prior to working at the OECD, Mr Herd was employed by the Foreign Office and Bank of England in London. He is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and is British.

Winter is not quite over, but come celebrate anyways at our monthly Happy Hour. It will also be a good chance to see friends before the Spring Festival break.

DATE: Friday, February 5
TIME: 6-10pm
VENUE: The Bookworm  www.beijingbookworm.com

ENTRANCE: Free. Non-members very welcome as always

DIZZY DRINKS DISCOUNT: FCCC members wielding a valid FCCC membership card get the usual crazy discounts on drought Carlsberg and Yanjing, bottled Tsing Tao, house wine and mixed drinks.

This is an opportunity to pay your FCCC membership 2010 renewals. Please let us know in advance so we can get your card ready.

Here is how you can check if your Gmail has been compromised:

• Log into your Gmail account
• Click “Settings” in the upper right hand corner. Then click on the “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” tab.
• Look at the forwarding section. If there’s a mysterious email address you can’t recognize, then
  that’s cause for concern.
• You can check “disable forwarding” to stop future emails from being sent to this address, though other steps may also be necessary to make your account secure.

We remind all members that journalists in China have been particular targets of hacker attacks in the last two years. Please be very careful about what links you click on, what email attachments you open, and do run virus checks regularly.

If you have been hacked, please let the FCCC know at fcccadmin@gmail.com. We can help put you in touch with experts to run diagnostics.

Some things you can do generally to improve security:

• Access Gmail through a secure HTTP connection: https://mail.google.com. (The extra ’s’ means secure). Make sure always use https is checked in Gmail’s settings, under General>Browser connection.
• Change your passwords.
• Keep up to date with software patches and updates.

Estimates suggest that by 2050 the proportion of the population over 60 will double to 24 per cent. Officials have already sounded the alarm bell over the “grave trend” of an aging population while care services for the elderly are inadequate.

Even as traditional filial piety dictates that children care for their parents, China’s one-child policy has fundamentally altered its demographics, making the question of how to provide long term care for its growing greying population increasingly pressing.

Ms Wang Xiaoyan, founder and director of local non-governmental group Community Alliance, which focuses on the elderly, will share some research findings and discuss solutions raised at a conference her NGO organised in October 2009 for government and civil society representatives.

She will also discuss a survey done by her group to measure the effectiveness of a pilot project the Beijing municipal government started in October 2008 to help old people continue to live in their own communities.

DATE: Monday, January 11th
TIME: 12:30pm

VENUE: cafe Zarah

42 Gulou Dongdajie,
Gulou
near Jiaodaokou
Dongcheng District
鼓楼东大街42号
8403-9807
Click here for map

ENTRANCE: free to FCCC members, 50 rmb on the door to non-members
REGISTRATION: capacity is limited so priority will be given to those who register at fcccadmin@gmail.com

About the Speaker

Ms. Wang Xiaoyan is the founder and director of local NGO Community Alliance, which focuses on the elderly (http://www.communityalliance.org.cn/).

She was recently appointed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs to China’s National Committee for Long-term Care and also serves on the National Commission on Social Welfare Standards and Regulations.

Educated at Columbia University in New York, Ms Wang’s expertise includes management and elder care. After gaining corporate management experiences in the United States, Ms Wang returned to China to join the non-profit sector.

In January 2006, she founded Community Alliance, one of the first non-governmental groups in China pursuing social justice and welfare for the elderly in China.

Ms Wang has published papers in Journal of Comparative Asian Development, Ageing Today. Her latest book “Rural Aging in China” was published last year.

It’s that time again when we  make all those New Year’s resolutions that we truly believe we are going to stick to. Give yourself a break – leave your promises at home for just one evening and join us for a relaxing drink (or ten) at the bar.

DATE: Friday, January 8th
TIME: 6-10pm
VENUE: The Bookworm http://www.beijingbookworm.com/
ENTRANCE: Free. Non-members very welcome as always
DIZZY DRINKS DISCOUNT: FCCC members wielding a valid FCCC membership card get the usual crazy discounts on drought Carlsberg and Yanjing, bottled Tsing Tao, house wine and mixed drinks.

FCCC membership renewals

This is the last opportunity to pay your 2010 renewals before being removed from the membership mailing list. Please let us know in advance so we can get your card ready.

“The Swiss TV team of four traveled to Yunnan province to produce the last part of a documentary about the Mekong River from Nov. 30-Dec. 9. After filming in Mengsa town, Gengma county and interviewing people relocated for the Xiaowan dam, we were stopped by local officials. Although I have a press card issued by Beijing and my cameraman was traveling on a journalist visa, we were told that we are not allowed to film in Yunnan as there are special rules. They failed to specify the rules. We had an official invitation from the state-owned Huaneng Group (headed by the son of former premier Li Peng) to visit the dam, yet we were escorted by a police car five hours away from the dam to Dali. We were told that we are not allowed to come back to do an already arranged interview with the Huaneng deputy CEO. The foreign affairs official from Lincang, Mrs. Yang Fengmei, told us that she has never seen a press card before and did not know about the new reporting rules for foreign media. When we asked her to show us the special rules they were referring to, they said the rules are not written down.

We left the hotel in Dali at 3 a.m. to avoid detection and drove back to the dam for the interview. We got a warm welcome from the management of the Huaneng Group. They knew about our filming with the relocated people and were still very happy to receive us. They would have been very upset if we would not have made it as they flew in from Kumning to talk to us. During the day and over dinner they thanked us for coming and filming, and invited the Swiss TV to report on the dam opening party next year.

The next day we drove to Weixi County where we had an oral invitation from the school master of the state-operated school. We wanted to show the live of the Lisu people and how they are integrated and supported by the government. We started filming in the morning and soon we started to be followed by a policewoman, and four officials from the local government. They were with us all day and observed filming. When we wanted to leave and continue our journey along the Mekong River to Deqin, they said we were not allowed. We had an invitation letter from Mr. Awa, head of tourism in Shangri-la, inviting us to film scenic spots in Deqin and Shangri-la. Despite that official invitation, the officials from Weixi blocked our way and forced us on an eight-hour drive away from the Mekong to Shangri-La town. The whole trip was very dangerous as they made us drive at night and our driver was very tired and started to fall asleep. We did not plan on an eight-hour trip in a different direction. The team who came from Switzerland was very upset as our whole purpose was to travel along the Mekong. Also, the Weixi officials had no clue about the new rules for journalists, did not know what my press card was and ignored our official invitation.

They eventually brought us to Shangri-la but using a different route than that we needed for our documentary. There, we were again followed and controlled by local officials. Our interviewee, a local scenery photographer was harassed and told not talk to us. The boss of the tourism office in Shangri-la who invited us, Mr. Awa was not in town and his deputy had no clue how to deal with the situation. Every night they came to the hotel and wanted us to write letters promising not to say anything negative about the region. It was completely absurd as we are doing a tourist piece on Shangri-la.

When we finally reached Mr. Awa over the phone he was very angry with his office and his deputy and his crew came to the hotel to apologize for the way they treated us.

We had to endure harassment during the whole trip. Twice we were forced to drive hours away from our intended locations. We were guarded in hotels by local police and authorities. The whole trip became much more expensive than planned and we filmed only a portion of what was needed. We all had proper accreditations and official invitations. Various local officials repeatedly broke the 2008 rules for foreign journalists.”

From Tomas Etzler of Czech TV, who later flew in to attempt to finish filming:

“I traveled to Yunnan with my assistant on Saturday, December 12. I was supposed to film for half a day some material for the Swiss National TV, which their team could not do because of harassment and interference. I was also filming the Mekong River for the Czech TV.

We flew to Lincang, where we were picked up by a local farmer from Mengsa, Gengma county, his cousin and a driver. After driving for two hours, on the way to the farmer’s village, we stopped for a dinner. Immediately after entering the restaurant, two men followed us in and showed us Public Security Bureau badges. They must have been following us from the airport in Lincang. They took us to the Public Security Bureau office in a nearby town of Fengqing, Lincang County. In a conference room, there were officials from Public Security Bureau, Foreign Office, Propaganda Office, County Leaders, Environmental Protection Bureau and Construction Bureau already waiting for us. They were ready — that’s why I think they picked us up at the airport and had time to get ready for us. First, they claimed they have no idea about new reporting rules. Later, they switched to saying that the new rules do not apply to Yunnan. Then they told me that we broke the law. When I asked them which specific law, the answer was that we misunderstood them that we broke not a law but a rule.

When I asked them which rule, they replied it is an unwritten rule, regarding the threat of H1N1 virus and that’s why no foreigners are allowed there. When I asked them when I am allowed back, they said they do not know. At the end I was told that when: “You foreign journalists show up somewhere, crowds gather around you and may cause social disturbance.”

The whole conversation was filmed. They told us it was for local TV, but I find that hard to believe. At the end the county leader called a taxi for us and told us to leave immediately. There was no way to reason with these people. When I told the main speaker, Mrs. Yang Fengmei, the deputy chief of the Foreign Affairs Bureau in Lincang (the same woman who harassed the Swiss crew some 10 days earlier) that she is breaking the rules on foreign journalists and that I will complain to MOFA and IPC, she laughed at us and said “Please, do so.”

They also attacked my assistant that she should be ashamed to work for foreign media. I do not know exactly what was said but she looked very upset and frightened.

I did not film a frame of video. I did not even have an opportunity to take camera out of my back-pack. I was in Yunnan barely for a few hours when I was picked up. Me and my assistant had all the accreditations needed to work as journalists in China.

The farmer who picked us up was also questioned but was later released without harm.”

North Korea is often described as ’strange’ or ‘paranoid’ country. Nothing can be further from the truth, leading North Korea-watcher Andrei Lankov argues. North Korea’s leaders are rational and far-sighted, and they are successful survivors and master diplomats who have outsmarted even the most formidable adversaries.

They know that doing as many tell them to — surrender the nuclear programme and emulate Chinese reforms — will be almost suicidal. The existence of the rich (and free) South makes their situation completely different from that of China. Their stubborn unwillingness to abandon the old system, however inefficient and brutal it might be, is a rational strategic choice.

That said, North Korea is changing — often against the clearly expressed wishes of its rulers, says Dr Lankov. The North Koreans have discovered markets and the old hyper-Stalinist system of surveillance lost much of its efficiency. In the long run, these changes will probably be decisive.

For all the predictions of North Korea’s impending collapse, Dr Lankov, who is based in Seoul, argues that the endgame is probably years ahead — and is unlikely to be smooth.

DATE: Tuesday, December 15th
TIME: 11am
VENUE CONFIRMED: German embassy, details below
ENTRANCE: free to FCCC members, 50 rmb on the door to non-members
REGISTRATION: email fcccadmin@gmail.com so we know numbers and for security clearance, as it’s likely to be in an embassy

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Leading North Korea-watcher ANDREI LANKOV is Associate Professor of History at Kookmin University, in Seoul.

He was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) in 1963. Dr Lankov graduated with a PhD from the Leningrad Sate University and then studied at Pyongyang’s Kim Il-sung University between 1984 and 1985. He taught Korean history and language at the Australian National University, and since 2004 has been teaching at Kookmin University. He researches North Korean history and politics.

Dr Lankov has written columns for the New York Times, Financial Times, and Newsweek, and has had a number of articles in academic journals, including the latest issue of Foreign Affairs.

His books in English include From Stalin to Kim Il Sung: The Formation of North Korea, 1945-1960; Crisis in North Korea: The Failure of De-Stalinization; North of the DMZ: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea; and The Dawn of Modern Korea.

Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany
17, Dongzhimenwai Dajie, Chaoyang District,
Beijing 100600
德意志联邦共和国驻华大使馆
北京市朝阳区东直门外大街17号
100600

Tel: 8532 9000   

Click here for map

Italian journalist Beniamino Natale, traveling with a photographer friend, attempted to check in at the Seaman Hotel but was refused and sent to Qini Bagh, told it was the only hotel allowed to host foreign reporters. Natale recalls: “The morning after my arrival a policeman was waiting for me in the lobby. He asked me if I was on holiday. I said yes.”

“He said Kashgar has a particular situation and there are particular rules. I told him that I am a guest of China holding a J visa and that I respect the law of China. The day after, as we were walking in the old city, he came shouting after me with another guy. I told him he was abusing his power and that I am a guest of China, and went on walking and shooting photos with my friend.”

An officer from the local foreign affairs office showed up, was very polite and told the journalist the same thing. Later, Natale hired a local guide and noticed on the way back to the hotel, the guide followed him. The guide admitted that he was instructed by police to follow Natale and report back. Earlier in the week, Natale was blocked from entering the Id Kah Mosque to watch prayers for the Kurban Festival, when the mosque and square are packed with people. Natale was barred, while his photographer friend with a tourist visa was allowed in.

“In my view the important thing is that you get more freedom of movement with a tourist visa than with a J visa, a situation similar to that of other authoritarian countries like North Korea and Burma,” said Natale.

In a similar case the same week, an American journalist traveling with a British photographer managed to escape police notice several days in Kashgar by not using her passport, which contains a journalist visa, at the hotel. On the final day she was forced by a cancelled flight to stay an extra day and check into the International Hotel on her passport. Within 20 minutes of check-in, five men (two uniformed police, two without uniform and one from the local foreign affairs office) showed up at her hotel room demanding to know why she was in Kashgar and when she was leaving.

The officials left her room after the journalist repeatedly told them it was improper for five strange men to beat on a single woman’s door at 10pm, with no complaint that she had done anything wrong. The men went to the lobby, where they used a copy of her passport in the automated airline check-in system to check her in for the next day’s flight to Kashgar. The hotel night manager later admitted he had to call the police when he saw the journalist visa on her passport.

“They gave no reason for the disturbance, and seemed to back off when I told them I was calling the Foreign Ministry,” she said. “Yet it was clear this was standard practice when a journalist checks into a Kashgar hotel.”

Chinese officials called  Frankfurt the “Cultural Olympics”: a showcase for its new strategy of exporting “soft power” and bringing China´s culture to the world – to complement China´s global economic and political rise.

For the rest of the world this was an unprecedented opportunity to get up close and personal with Chinese contemporary authors and their work.

But the question of censorship proved to be the elephant in the room right from outset. Officials, Frankfurt Book Fair organisers, authors and journalists did not always find common ground.

Journalists Kristin Kupfer and Zhou Wenhan as well as Michael Kahn-Ackermann of the Goethe Institute in Beijing were in the thick of things at the fair. At this panel discussion, they will talk about their experiences and publishing expert Jo Lusby will share her observations.

DATE: Friday, December 4
TIME: 7.30pm
VENUE CONFIRMED: Sequoia cafe, beer and wine available, click here for map
ENRANCE: free to FCCC members, 50 rmb on the door to non-members
REGISTRATION: capacity is limited so priority will be given to those who register at fcccadmin@gmail.com

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Zhou Wenhan is a freelance author in Beijing who focuses on arts and culture. He contributes to Nanfang Zhoumo (Southern Weekend) as well as travel and art magazines. He was was with Xinjingbao (The Beijing News) until 2008.

Kristin Kupfer is a German freelance journalist based in Beijing. She has studied and lived in China for many years. Her articles appear in a wide range of publications in Europe including Profil magazine and Die Zeit online.

Jo Lusby is General Manager (China) of the Penguin Group, the international publishing comany, in Beijing since 2005. She has lived in Asia for the last 14 years. Her work with Penguin encompasses establishing local publishing partnerships and aquiring Chinese titles for international publication.

Michael Kahn-Ackermann is head of the Goethe-Institute in Beijing. He first came to China as a student in 1975. In 1988 he opened the German Goethe-Institute in Beijing — at that time was the first western cultural institute allowed in China. After stints in Moscow and Rome, he came back to Beijing in 2006 to his old posting.