“Beijing,China” on The Daily Caller

Eight gold medals in a single Olympics and now a video game. That’s the new project for record-breaking athlete, Michael Phelps, who is set to release “Push the Limit” this June. (more)

Former President George W. Bush said Monday that he did not make a mistake in his initial and often-ridiculed assessment of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, when they first met in 2001 and Bush said he got “a sense of [Putin’s] soul.” (more)

Why do foreign policy insiders and political analysts incessantly refer to Kim Jong-il as irrational? He epitomizes the phrase “rogue dictator,” but that provides no insight into the man’s mental stability. If anything, he behaves perfectly rationally — he acts as a petulant child that has never been disciplined for behaving badly. The West has already cut off much of Pyongyang’s aid, so Kim has literally nothing to lose. He has a country on the brink of famine and economic collapse yet shows no sign of ingratiating North Korea to the international community. The question isn’t why Kim comports himself this way, it’s why shouldn’t he? (more)

BEIJING — It was just before Christmas 2009, and Ding Xiaowen was not happy. (more)

A Los Angeles woman, traveling by air the day before Thanksgiving, did not want radiation from an airport full-body scanner; she also did not want TSA goons to grope her. So she wore a revealing bikini and avoided both radiation and groping. The Obama White House is not nearly so clever.  China groped the missile defenses of our homeland and President Obama said and did nothing. No one noticed. Well, almost no one. (more)

(AP) — Mike Krzyzewski has a commitment from another top recruit: Kobe Bryant. (more)

In his October 20th “Inside the Ring” column, Bill Gertz of the Washington Times reports on the current China-policy debate within the Obama administration. He identifies two opposing groups — the “kowtow” group and the “sad-and-disappointed” group. Twenty-five years ago we called them the “convert-them-to-Christianity-and-democracy” group and the “let’s-just-outsmart-them” group. The U.S. players in the perennial China-policy debate change as administrations come and go, but the fundamental differences between the two classic approaches to China remain the same. (more)

BEIJING — Thousands of Tibetan students in western China have protested since Tuesday against proposals to curb or eliminate the use of the Tibetan language in local schools, according to reports from Tibet advocacy groups and photographs and video of the protests circulating on the Internet. (more)

Fast-forward to Beijing in the year 2030. A professor is discussing “why great nations fall” and brings up the United States. (more)

“Mao’s Last Dancer” (2009). Bruce Beresford, director. Great Scott Productions, 117 minutes. In English and Mandarin with English subtitles.  (more)

Thousands of vehicles were bogged down Monday in a more than 100-kilometre (62-mile) traffic jam leading to Beijing that has lasted nine days and highlights China’s growing road congestion woes. (more)

Reporting from Beijing — Judging from billboards and television commercials in China, film star Jackie Chan has never met a product he wouldn’t endorse. Travel the country and you’ll see the Hong Kong native’s handsome visage hawking electric bikes, anti-virus software, even frozen dumplings. (more)

BEIJING (AP) — A man wielding a knife killed three children and a teacher in a kindergarten in eastern China, residents said Wednesday as the government muted information in a bid to allay public fears and forestall more school attacks. (more)

The Obama administration has adopted a tougher tone with China in recent weeks as part of a diplomatic balancing act in which the United States welcomes China’s rise in some areas but also confronts Beijing when it butts up against American interests. (more)

Flooding from torrential summer rains, which has killed at least 700 people and displaced millions, is the worst China has suffered in more than a decade, officials said Wednesday. (more)

(Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama’s defense chief begins a visit to South Korea on Monday in one of the strongest shows of support for its military ally locked in a bitter feud with North Korea over a deadly torpedo attack. (more)

BEIJING—Google Inc. said Friday that China’s government renewed a license the company needed to continue using its Chinese Web address, despite tensions over censorship requirements. (more)

Google Inc has been given the green light by Beijing to continue operating its Chinese search page, averting a potential shutdown of its flagship search site in the world’s biggest Internet market. (more)

Google gave no details of the licence renewal. (more)

China has at least $2.5 trillion in foreign exchange and must, due to its own balance of payments rules, invest it all overseas. Most unavoidably goes into American bonds, the only market big enough to absorb it.[1] However, since the beginning of 2005, the PRC has invested almost $200 billion in foreign assets outside bonds. Official Chinese data are unhelpful, but The Heritage Foundation’s China Global Investment Tracker sorts non-bond spending by country and sector. The tracker is current through June 30, 2010. (more)