As part of a global anti-piracy initiative, Microsoft announced that it would launch an updated version of the anti-piracy systems Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) and, for the first time in China, also introduce the Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) which is aimed at targeting pirate versions of Microsoft Office including Office XP, Office 2003 and Office 2007. The company made the announcement last week and the new system came into effect at midnight on Monday.

A wave of consternation swept through Internet chat rooms after the announcement, with netizens worried that the constant appearance of a “black screen” would interrupt their ability to use their PC. Forum and BBS users came up with satirical black screen-themed desktop backgrounds to display their opposition to the new anti-piracy measures and various online polls registered strong opposition to the move.

Another battle in the ongoing struggle to enforce music copyright regulations in major cities across China got underway yesterday as 100 of Beijing’s KTV establishments were threatened with a lawsuit by the China Audio-Video Copyright Association (CAVCA) for failing to pay royalties owed since Jan, 2007. At the end of  2006 the National Copyright Administration introduced new rules that required the owners of all KTV clubs to pay a copyright fee for the use of the music videos played in their venues. The new regulations were to be trialed in three of China's biggest cities, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing. The new regulations became effective on Jan 1, 2007 and apply to all the KTV venues in Beijing. Despite the offer of a preferential rate for those who got in and paid their dues early, the vast majority of KTV places in all three of the trial cities have refused to hand over a single mao. On Monday, CAVCA announced that they intend to officially file a copyright infringement lawsuit against about 100 of the KTV clubs.

From Sep 12 when the scandal first broke to the start of this week, more than 180,000 free examinations of infants have taken place in the capital’s hospitals at a cost of millions of RMB. The tab has been covered by the city’s medical institutions but the city government haa set aside emergency funds to reimburse the medical institutions so that free checks can continue to take place until Sep 23. Among the 180,000 infants examined, 30% of them have Beijing residence papers and 30% are children living in Beijing without a Beijing hukou, the other 40% came to the capital especially for an examination. According to the official statistics, of the 181, 320 health checks that have been under taken in Beijing’s hospitals from Sep 12 to Oct 6, 3,159 resulted in patients being diagnosed with kidney stones. Currently there are 54 infants receiving medical treatment at Beijing hospitals. No deaths have been reported.

On Wednesday the Chinese government released strict new standards for melamine levels in milk and associated food products, while six more people were detained on Tuesday over the milk adulteration scandal. It seems that melamine, the chemical villain of the piece, just can’t stay out of the headlines. Here are some questions and answers for the worried or the just plain curious.

According to a recent article in The Beijing Evening News and translated here, 50 new Chery A5 hybrid taxis are now in service across Beijing. The Beijinger photographer Simon Lim caught this photo of one of the new cabs over at Jiaodaokou earlier this morning, but was beaten to the cab by another passenger.

Seven of Beijing's various taxi companies have been running the taxis, the first batch of "weak-hybrid" vehicles to enter China's taxi market, since late June. The taxi's have

Hybird Electric Vehicle (混合动力汽车 Hunhe Dongli Qiche) written across the door. According to the article:

The 'weak-hybrid' model uses gasoline as its main power, and its working engine will recharge a special cell in the vehicle. The electric power will start to work for the vehicle at idle or initial speed. When the speed reaches 5km/h and above, the power program will switch back to gasoline. This power system, which is suitable for cars on the often-congested Beijing roads and streets, can reduce a vehicle's fuel consumption by 15%.

In other taxi news:

Due to a recent rise in petrol prices, the subsidy paid out to Beijing's taxi drivers has been increased by 525 kuai to RMB 1,305 a month. Despite this, there have been anecdotal reports of an increase in late night cab fares and the price rate jumping once the meter passes 50 kuai.

Special taxis that are able to transport passengers in wheelchairs were also unveiled this week. The new cabs resemble the shape of a black London cab but come in Beijing's own distinctive two tone color scheme. The cabs can be booked by calling 961001. Only 15 of the 70 cabs on order have been released so far. Non-disabled passengers will also be able to ride in the spacious cabs, which cost the same as a regular cab and can sit 5 people in the rear.

Beijing's traffic police have announced that they’ll be cracking down on the city's cabbies for the rest of the month. They’ll be making sure that drivers, among other things, keep their cab clean, only accept passengers in designated taxi zones and are also threatening drivers with a fine of up to RMB 2000 if they deliberately take passengers on a longer route than is necessary.

Update: Comments on this post have now been closed - we encourage readers who'd like to continue to discuss visa queries to head to either this section of the Beijinger forum or to Nadine's page devoted to visa issues - which can be found here - http://fxzl.blogspot.com

"We have made some arrangements according to usual international practice. That is, in the approval process we are more strict and more serious with the procedure"

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang

Beijing saw a marked drop in the number of overseas tourists in April, which fell by 5.3 percent year-on-year, according to official statistics revealed on Tuesday. Yu Xiuqin, the bureau's spokeswoman attributed the decrease partly to Beijing's tightened business visa approvals on foreign visitors for international exhibitions and conferences, because of safety concerns for the coming Olympic Games.

China Daily: Beijing sees marked drop in overseas tourists in April

An enormous amount of confusion currently exists throughout Beijing's expat community in regard to the Chinese government's apparent, but not officially announced, recent tightening of visa policies. The lack of an adequate response from government departments and spokespeople to the increasing demand for clarification of the gap between the existing regulations and commonly observed practices, has only added to the frustration felt by both business people and those hoping to travel to China during the Olympic period. As applications are being handled on a case-by-case basis, it’s almost impossible to make absolute and irrefutable statements about what’s going on, still, patterns have begun to emerge and below I outline what is known and what can be suspected to be the case in regard to the new visa situation.

What we know for sure:

The government office in charge of monitoring illegal taxis (or heiche) yesterday destroyed 313 vehicles as part of a major campaign to crack down on illegal taxi drivers. The campaign has seen more than 1,000 vehicles destroyed in recent weeks. Authorities have also announced that if heiche drivers are caught a second time (the first time they simply get off with a warning), they risk serious consequences including fines and being detained by the police.

The Beijing police pulled off a strike on certain shady Sanlitun venues, ostensibly for drug-related offenses. The targets were the four Pure Girls, Phoenix Cafe, and Sunset Grill. Eyewitnesses around 10:30pm reported "cops everywhere." One who observed the raids on Sunset and the Pure Girls, reported official-looking cops, accompanied by dogs and a team in what appeared to be rubber gloves and yellow lab coats. An area bar-owner claimed to have seen the other owners led away in handcuffs, and those establishments have remained closed since. The owners of targeted bars could not be reached. Apparently some of the patrons seized were international school rats as young as high school freshmen. One of these rats reported that everyone without ID in the bars were taken away. This raid was filmed and documented extensively by police cameras, at least in the Tongli area, and we have heard no reports of violence.

International Pillow Fight Day, a three-year-old event which originated in the US and has since spread to cities as far flung as Budapest, Sydney, and last year for the first time, Shanghai, is what it sounds like – a random meet-up of hundreds (or thousands) bearing pillows for a five-minute sploff with total strangers. How cute.

This year was Beijing's first attempt to join in the fun. But at 3.03 under the huge screen that covers the plaza of The Place at Guanghua Lu, who showed up? Not only a hundred-odd pillow fighters, ready for battle, but also upwards of 60 policemen who alighted from five vans, two cop cars, and an Escalade. They were quick to break up one of the most innocent gatherings imaginable.

From early March, Beijingers have been unable to access their Yahoo Group accounts. It now appears that the groups are available again and once more people can get access to such groups as the Beijing Organic Consumers Association, Beijing Cricket Club, TangoRen, BGLAD and Foreigners in Beijing.

Youtube, which has been unavailable since Mar 15, is still down.

In places like the UK, the US or Australia, even on domestic flights, it's not uncommon to spend more time checking in, passing through security, and waiting than you spend on the actual flight. So the idea of flying domestic in China tends to be a welcome change for most foreigners. Passengers can show up for a domestic flight in China 30 minutes before departure and still be confident that they will make the flight – admittedly this is often due to the fact that most planes take off well after official departure times. Indeed, taking a flight in China has often been compared to catching the bus: "if you miss this one, just take the next." All that, however, is about to change …

Although in place for years, China had decided to strengthen its policy of prohibiting the carrying of liquids on flights. The original policy, which prohibited the carrying of liquids on international flights, was strengthened in December of 2006 as the result of a thwarted plot to sneak explosive liquids onto a flight from Britain to the United States. However, as of March 14, the General Administration of Civil Aviation (CAAC) has now prohibited liquids from being taken on domestic as well as international flights.