The China Teaching Web

The Weekly China Roundup from Sino News on TeachAbroadChina.com

1. Forced abortions are still taking place in China according to some of my close friends here. A lady explains to me this week that having to pay fines for a child that has already been born is one thing;having the government find out that you are pregnant with an ‘illegal’ child is quite another. She tells me that women can be arrested and ‘forced’ to have an abortion. Are such cases less frequent in China than before? Absolutely, she says. But is it still happening here frequently? Unfortunately yes, she answers.
2. This week, I appeared on Wisconsin Public Radio to debate whether or not President Bush’s plan to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing is the right decision. You can find out what side I came down on by clicking here to read an article that I wrote earlier in the week…
3. My students tell me this week that some people in the Central Chinese province of Hunan still worship the man who came from their midst to bring the People’s Republic of China into existence. “People still pray in front of Chairman Mao’s pictures in Hunan,” one of my friends explains. Apparently, Hunan is one place in China where numerous pictures of Mao Zedong can still be found. What do they pray for? “Wisdom,” a student answers. They want to be wise like him.
4. Are you tired of carrying that heavy guidebook around with you everywhere you go in China? This week in our travel section of the website, I write about how you can ditch these ‘brick’ books and rely on the internet to be your best traveling companion ever. Click here to read this article…

See you next week!