A World Bank study shows that 600 million Chinese have been lifted out of poverty since 1981 — roughly, since the 1978 market reforms. Shanghai’s stock market dropped 7% in May and 35% for the year so far. The Wall Street Journal predicts that, warned not to sell off bad stocks too soon, Chinese investors may “speculate more on the next government intervention than on the relative merits of stocks, leading to misallocated capital.”

The world will need to invest $45 trillion to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. An International Energy Agency analyst said that “about $27 trillion.. would be borne by developing countries, which will be responsible for two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.” By that time, the icy area on the Chinese side of the Himalayas will have shrunk by more than a quarter since 1950. China rejects Sir Nicolas Stern’s recommendation of slowing economic growth. US conservatives, now less in the mainstream, still dispute global warming’s reality, and a Senate bill failed to reach consideration. The IPCC’s 2007 report is authoritative on the issue of climate change, and is available online in English and Chinese. The Economist sees promise in Western incentives for China. Currently, they are few:

“Chinese refrigerant factories, for example, produce a lot of trifluoromethane, which is a potent greenhouse gas, but one that can be easily isolated and destroyed. Yet the government does not regulate the stuff, so that its makers can exploit the CDM to sign lucrative contracts, which the government then taxes heavily.”

China has banned sex workers and terrorists for the upcoming Olympics. Some Beijing brothels are already disappearing.

Uighurs reportedly threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at a police station in Xinjiang. An April report from Time magazine concluded “The one thing equally shared, today in Khotan, between Uighur and Han Chinese, is fear.”

A doctor in Nanning places over 2008 pins in his head to welcome the Beijing Olympics. Chengdu residents make their own homemade earthquake detection instruments. A Chinese commenter writes: “Disadvantages… a cough becomes a suspected earthquake.” The animated comedy “Kung Fu Panda” reaches #1 in US theaters on its opening weekend, earning $60 million. Apple introduces the iPhone 3G today and announces coverage in Hong Kong and Macao after July 11. ❑