Hello. Welcome back to 后视镜, Rear View Mirror, your chance to reflect on another week of English programming here on China Radio International.

Programme 1 - http://english.cri.cn/4026/2007/08/30/1241@267914.htm

Let's start with a thought-provoking story in Wednesday's CRI News:
Police in Beijing will start new ways to fight against pornography and other illicit activities online.
China Daily reports two animated cartoon police officers, one man and one woman, will start surfing the internet from the start of next month.

The Beijing Internet Police will be on the watch for websites that incite secession or promote superstition, gambling and fraud. They will first appear on China's major Internet portals, including leading dotcoms, such as Sohu and Sina. By the end of the year, they will monitor all websites and online forums based in Beijing.

The virtual police will pop up on a user's browser every half hour, and walk, cycle or drive across the screen to remind them of cyber security.

Netizens can report illegal activities and harmful information to police by clicking on the icons, which will connect the users to the website of the Internet surveillance center of the Beijing municipal public security bureau.
Programme 2 - http://english.cri.cn/4406/2007/08/30/1122@268128.htm

We have a couple of stories from Beyond Beijing this week, each good for quite different reasons. The first is an article about disposable chopsticks.

Every year it takes about 10 million cubic metres of timber to produce these disposable chopsticks. It accounts for about 18% of the total timber consumed by the whole country per year. And what's worse is that the only way Chinese people deal with used chopsticks is to burn them. So, the question of whether or not to continue using disposable chopsticks has become a heated topic among common people.

"I use my own dishware in the cafeteria every day. And I also suggest my colleagues to do the same."

"I resolutely combat the use of disposable chopsticks personally. To abandon it is a must-trend, I think."

"Some people don't realize that they are wasting timber resources. They think they only use one pair a day, but how many people are there and how many days that people are using them? Trees are not countless. Everyone lives on the same Earth. If the environment is destroyed, everyone is a casualty."

The article acknowledges that, no matter what the government does, ordinary people remain important players in such environmental matters. This is a moral issue. And Beyond Beijing doesn't lay out its moral case childishly here. Rather than presenting a model figure or an idealised code of behaviour, it invites the opposing arguments. It recognizes human nature.

Obviously, there are reasons why it is so hard for some people to say goodbye to these disposable chopsticks.
"Many people have little trust in the sanitary condition of restaurants, especially some small street food stands. That's why they prefer to use disposable chopsticks."

"To completely abandon them is impossible. Because of its convenience, under some situations, people have to use it. But limitations are necessary."

Programme 3 - http://english.cri.cn/4406/2007/08/30/1581@268123.htm

China's Champion is a section of Beyond Beijing often prone to idealizing its subjects and their society. You won't find any awkward interview questions in this extract. But the subject-matter is nonetheless admirably brave and the content quite revealing.

"Jin Xing was born a boy into an ethnic Korean family in 1967 in Northeast China's Shenyang City.

At the age of 6, he saw a film about dance and asked for a ballet outfit, a request both parents took as a childish quirk. But, when Jin went on a hunger strike at the age of 9 to force his parents to allow him to attend a ballet school, they realized that their son's enthusiasm for dance was more than just a passing phase.

"I think it's the attitude, the sincere attitude, the true expression of body movement in stage creativity. I think the true attitude is the charming part of modern dance. "

Life really began for Jin after he completed basic military training and became a member of the Chinese army's dance troupe. At the age of 17, he won the national dance contest with a piece of Central Asian ethnic dance.

While tasting the joy of success on the stage, Jin Xing underwent strong transsexual desires at the same time. He said he would stay outside during the rain, and wish that a lightning strike would turn his body female.

The young dancer then went to the United States.
 
Now, Jin Xing has adopted three young orphans and has found the man of her life - a man of German origin. She never hid any part of her history from her young kids, even when they found their mommy's childhood picture.

"She said, 'what's this'. I said, 'this is Mommy.' She said, 'oh, Mommy was a boy.' I said, 'yes, Mommy was a boy, then became a woman, and then I had you to become a mummy.' I think they can take the (sexual) change very easily. When they grow up, they have no stress from society at all. There's nothing to hide. Also we discuss many issues, like where they were adopted and why. Even my son found the answer (by) himself. He asked where his sister and younger brother were adopted from. He said, 'oh, I've got an idea. A lady gave birth to them but she had too many problems. She couldn't take care of her own children, so she gave them to you, right?' I said, 'that's correct.' It was as simple as that."

That's the feature. Now have a listen to Beyond Beijing's introduction:

"Alright, well in today's Champion, we'll introduce you to a very special ballerina. He was born a boy. At the age of six, he saw a movie about dancing and asked for a ballet outfit from his parents. Parents should have given him a toy trumpet!"

"Are you blaming the parents for this sex-change? But its, like, homosexuality, it's born in the genes, right. It's the genes. Is that true?"

"No, I don't believe that whatsoever. Seems like plenty of conscious decisions there. I mean Heaven forbid what would have happened if my parents gave me a Barbie doll. Thank you very much, mum and dad. You gave me a toy trumpet."

Programme 4 - http://english.cri.cn/4026/2007/08/29/1481@267369.htm

In our final part, we hear from a recent webcast on a new business phenomenon. At times, the prodigy founder of Mosh.cn is treated with sentimental admiration. And I hope it won't devastate any listener over the age of 30. But it’s nice to hear a well-produced interview without airtime restrictions.

"So, what is Mosh all about?"

"The name Mosh comes from an English expression, 'Moment Sharing'. We're trying to build a social networking website to help young people find interesting events in their city and meet interesting people through those events. That's our differentiating characteristic from other social networking websites."

"Inspired by Mosh, active users have also given themselves a proud shared identity label---Moshers. Everyday, a browse of Mosh finds a mass of messages on activities in the city from singing karaoke to playing games, from trying a restaurant to visiting a museum. By posting and responding on the internet, Moshers never fail in finding good company in doing these things."

That brings us to the end of another episode of Rear View Mirror. I do hope you'll be able to join the programme again next week. But, for now, from me, Matthew Stedman, it's goodbye.