Asia Times Online - News from greater China; Hong Kong and Taiwan

More on China Unrest:

The Asia Times has a piece on several major riots, street battles, and demonstrations from the Middle Kingdom. The police appear to be taking it on the chin -- which is not very surprising, as they are often not armed in China. "The People's Armed Police" is actually a wing of the military. The regular police are run by the Ministry of Public Safety, and are usually unarmed.

The people of China are not armed either, at least, not with firearms. You'll see some impressive knives in China, though, since people have to do their own butchery on a daily basis. For the same reason, the Chinese know how to use those knives. The relative lack of refrigeration technology means that fresh-killed meat is the standard even in large cities. It's quite common to see people wandering around with live ducks or large fish, or even pigs that have recently been killed and split into quarters so that they can be lashed to a bike.