Atlantic senior editor Corby Kummer draws a straight line from China’s food scares today to America’s “Jungle” 100 years ago:

So far there’s no evidence that U.S. products contain milk powder tainted with melamine, a toxic chemical used in plastics (think 1950s tableware) whose nitrogen raises protein levels in tests. But the day isn’t far off. Already the FDA has issued warnings to avoid poor White Rabbit, and also Mr. Brown brand instant coffee and tea.

The Chinese government hasn’t executed anyone connected with the scandal, which has killed four infants and sickened 53,000 people. But it will have to do something to convince people that it wants to keep its promise last year to crack down on lax inspections and corruption. And a long article this weekend in The New York Times about the reports of sick babies the government squelched in order to avoid negative publicity leading up to the Olympics will only make the world less confident in any food from China they buy…

James Fallows writes about an ambitious project to modernize China’s westernmost areas:

“The villagers’ fundamental problem was their isolation. The Internet could solve that! Lin’s branch of Inventec could give more computers and software to the school. It could work with the local government to bring in a broadband line and set up a computer center that everyone in the village could use. The students could take courses far beyond the range offered by their impoverished school. They could communicate with people they had not known all their lives. The local farmers could use the Internet to learn about the weather and market conditions. Local craftsmen could offer items for sale to distant customers. Working-age people could look for good factory jobs elsewhere. ‘The shackles that had bound their spirits had been taken off,’ Lin wrote after he had, within a few weeks of his first visit (things happen fast in China), established the computer center, declared Yellow Sheep River an ‘Internet village,’ and created the Yellow Sheep River Web site…”

James Fallows says goodbye to the Beijing Olympics, with a few last impressions:

“It’s the first day of the rest of Beijing’s life. I have no further thoughts to offer about the Games and their aftermath, so I bid them adieu with these few notebook items. …
Note in the shot below the Chinese participants who I think edge out the opening-ceremony cheerleaders for the gold medal in stoicism. During the entire match, they had to look constantly into the crowd. This was presumably to be on guard if anyone tried to charge the field or — much worse! — take out some kind of banner. How you could sneak a banner in through the security screenings is mystery on its own. Not once did I see a one of them turn around, even when the crowd roared and the stadium seemed to pulse with excitement. They didn’t move or flinch at all. Assuming that they were actual people and not mannequins, I say: Well done! Jia you!”

James Fallows watches a traffic accident unfold in pictures and captions:

“The taxi driver, partly visible, is the man she is looking daggers at, who is also looking at her. And a white van marked Gong An, ‘public security,’ has just rolled up.” …

“I don’t know enough about Chinese traffic-court jurisprudence to be able to say what will happen to whom later on. But this kind minor traffic mishap, with attendant crowd scene — and all parties leaving the vehicles where they are, in the middle of traffic, till the cops arrive — and then eventual inconclusive drifting-away is familiar enough to be worth one specimen example.”