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The electronic trash that most Americans deposit at center for recycling toxic materials often ends up polluting towns in developing countries. China has become the favored destination for the world's discarded computers and peripherals and the main source of used computer parts. In 2002, China banned the import of many used electronic items due to the electronic waste and hazardous waste it's causing. However, implementing the ban has been difficult because the shipment have created jobs for the underclass. China's import of electronic trash has given birth to towns whose economies are completely dependent on the trade. The trade might be easier to stamp out if it weren't actually improving the town's economy.

China, now the world's second largest consumer of electricity, behind the United States power grids are seriously straining, and black outs are becoming more common. Two dozen of China's 31 administrative units had rolling blackouts this year. The problem is worst in the summer, when temperatures of 40 °C are common in some areas. On the hottest days, Chinese officials predict total power demand could top 420 gigawatts, which would mean a shortfall of 30 GW, or twice the estimated deficit in 2003. Although provincial governments are enforcing conservation on industry and scrambling to get power plants built, many observers wonder how the world's most populous country can meet its energy demands.

It's been more than a year since China gained entry into the World Trade Organization (Geneva), and now the question is whether its leadership will put its mouth (and muscle) where its money is and enforce rules against piracy of intellectual property. In markets for high-tech hardware, respect for intellectual property may be slowly growing. Foreign companies and organizations like the Business Software Alliance (Washington, DC) campaign relentlessly against white-collar piracy. On this front, the most closely watched case is the one launched earlier this year in the United States by Cisco Systems Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) against a Chinese rival manufacturer of Internet routing equipment, Huawei (pronounced Hwa-way) Technologies Co. Cisco alleges that Huawei illegally copied and misappropriated software associated with Cisco networking equipment, including source code and user manuals, and infringed several Cisco patents. After months of denying any wrongdoing, Huawei admitted that an employee had copied 2 percent of the router operating software from Cisco but insisted that the company didn't know of the violation. Cisco's goal is simply to get Huawei to stop its "unlawful copying" of Cisco's intellectual property. The outcome of this court battle could have wide ramifications.

The situation in China mainly boils down to a contest between two versions of code division multiple access (CDMA). One is Europe's wideband CDMA (WCDMA), which was designed to be as compatible as possible with Europe's hugely successful second-generation Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM). The other, CDMA2000, is preferred by US manufacturers like Motorola Inc. and Lucent Technologies, as well as Qualcomm. The picture has been complicated, however, by China's development of an indigenous alternative, combining elements of other standards. China's Ministry of Information Industry has been working with Siemens to develop a system it calls TD-SCDMA, for time-division synchronous code-division multiple access.

With the Beijing Olympics coming up in 2008, Beijing has made it a priority for digital TV to be available nationwide by then. One of the first areas in China to launch digital TV is the seaside town of Qingdao. Resistance among Qingdao residents was minimal since they were given free digital set-top boxes which substantially lowered the cost. With Qingdao going completely digital in some areas, the Chinese government is calling the Qingdao model a success that should be copied in other cities.

When North Korea admitted in mid-October that it had been actively developing nuclear weapons, in violation of international agreements, it put several big diplomatic players in awkward positions: the United States, because it wanted to keep the focus on Iraq; Japan, which was eager to keep improving relations with the Koreas; but most of all China, nominally an ally of North Korea, but with plenty of good reasons to be unhappy with the prospect of its erratic neighbor's acquiring weapons of mass destruction. On the surface, relations between Asia's two Communist countries still seemed cozy at the time the United States confronted North Korea with intelligence on the latter's clandestine nuclear program. But in fact, the fast-industrializing People's Republic has had less and less in common with its mostly pre-modern neighbor. So it is perhaps no wonder that China seized on Pyongyang's surprise admission as an opportunity to improve its relationship with the United States.

Judging China an electronics superpower in the making, large corporations like Japan's NEC, as well as independent Taiwanese investors, are racing to set up semiconductor wafer fabrication lines within its territory. This paper examines how, all the same, given the overall downturn in the chip sector, some observers wonder whether this is the right time for companies to start building expensive fabs in China.

This paper reports on the growing problem of Internet addiction among Chinese teenagers. The problem has become so widespread that an Internet addiction center has been established at the Beijing Military Clinic where Internet addicts can be treated with a combination of counseling, physical activity, antidepressants and even electrical treatments. The lack of open space for sports and recreation due to the crowded urban environment is seen as the major contributor to the problem.

As part of its effort to expand its academic system, the Chinese government invited the Stevens Institute of Technology to conduct an 18-month program towards a master's degree in telecommunications management at the Beijing Institute of Technology. Using a curriculum similar to the one offered at Steven's Hoboken, NJ, campus, the program involves on-campus classes as well as Web-based tutorials. In return, Stevens is provided with the opportunity to tap into a fast-growing, technology-hungry market.