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China Government Hardware Hacking Build

Shanghai Government Proposes 100 Community Hackerspaces 76

Posted by timothy from the let-100-flowers-bloom dept.
taweili writes "According to a tweet from Shanghai Morning Newspaper's Weibo account, the Shanghai Government Technology committee has issued a call for a proposal to build 100 community hackerspaces with government funding for equipment and a community managing the spaces. Hackerspaces have been growing rapidly in China since the first one, XinCheJian, was started in Shanghai last November as reported here by CNN Go. Currently there are three hackerspaces in China, with XinCheJian in Shanghai, Maxpace in Beijing and Chaihuo in Shenzhen. It looks like the governments are paying attention to the trend and are getting into supporting (or 'regulating') the movement."
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Shanghai Government Proposes 100 Community Hackerspaces More

Shanghai Government Proposes 100 Community Hackerspaces

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  • But the XinCheJian and CNN Go links are perhaps worth checking.

  • New destination for the trailer. (Score:5, Funny)

    by sgt scrub ( 869860 ) <saintium@NOSpAM.yahoo.com> on Thursday November 10, 2011 @10:08AM (#38011766)

    “You forget we're in China, there are tons of iPad clones available for a pittance in the local markets,” he says. “We modify them to match our specifications.”

    Ah, to be free. Chinese couldn't be any more difficult to learn than Australian. Could it?

  • They have space left there?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Pope ( 17780 )

      When I was in Shanghai a few years ago, they had whole empty towns built outside the main city area, just waiting to be filled.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • China is doing the exact same thing that Japan did in the 90's. Banks are offering loans to create make work projects for which they will never get repaid. Eventually it will bite them just like it did with Japan.

          That somehow that this is just working fine is fairy tale thinking.

          • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • There were NOT 1 billion plus Japanese.

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by Yvan256 ( 722131 )

            Banks are offering loans to create make work projects for which they will never get repaid.

            From what I've heard on TV shows, it's exactly what happened in the USA.

          • Japan isn't exactly crumbling into violent oblivion, so in other words it will be a bump in the road that a few people will bemoan and then get back to life as usual?

            The problem with China isn't construction projects or lending per se, it's that farmer Wang is having his land seized by corrupt officials for said projects. More and more peasant farmers in China are being driven off of their land with minimal compensation, and it's sowing unrest. Rural unrest among farmers is where every popular uprising in

            • The Chinese government needs to do like the South Korean government and buy the land from the farmers - create a whole new class of nouveau riche that are willing to consume like mad.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Yvan256 ( 722131 )

      No, that's why they're hacking it to get more.

  • Bizarro world (Score:4, Insightful)

    by dyingtolive ( 1393037 ) <brad.arnett@NOsPaM.notforhire.org> on Thursday November 10, 2011 @10:23AM (#38011898)
    China, land of innovation and engineering.
    USA, land of draconian restrictions and propaganda.

    • Re:Bizarro world (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ArhcAngel ( 247594 ) on Thursday November 10, 2011 @11:15AM (#38012480)

      China, land of innovation and engineering.

      USA, land of draconian restrictions and propaganda.

      USA, land of engineering AND draconian restrictions and propaganda AND a minimum wage higher than China.

      China, land of cheap labor for manufacturing products based on designs engineered in US.

    • Yes, have you seen the latest processors, stealth fighters, and trains produced by China? Oh wait, its the west that does all that stuff well.

      China is making big strides, but acting like the west isnt leading in most technology areas is just ridiculous. High-tech is what we do BEST.

      • I would say that High-tech is what corporations do best, not us. Remember the corporation is only here because it's convenient to them; there's no "Magic Western Civilization Fairy" keeping them here. China could replace us, and all we have to do is sit by waiting for it to happen. We're too busy fighting ourselves over whether specific plants and certain relationships are moral or not. When was the last time you heard someone encourage someone to read a book or try something new? We suffer from major

        • I would say that High-tech is what corporations do best, not us. Remember the corporation is only here because it's convenient to them; there's no "Magic Western Civilization Fairy" keeping them here. China could replace us,

          All of the top microprocessor firms are US-based: Intel, AMD, the former ATI, nVidia. All of the top router companies are US-based: Cisco, Juniper (Alcatel-Lucent is also western, but based in France). All of the major OS efforts are based in the west: BSD, Linux, Windows, Unix, OSX-- all came out of the west, and the biggest of those on a consumer level (Windows, OSX) are both US based. All of the major web browsers, and the major plugins (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Flash, Silverlight, Java, Quicktime) are US

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by vik ( 17857 )

        Like the famous US maglev train, and the amazing US manned space fleet? We get to see who p0wns the top 10 supercomputers tomorrow. China has more engineering graduates than the US has graduates, and real currency to back them up with.

        • You mean the Maglev that was constructed by Siemens? Yea, thats totally Chinese technology.

          You will find that most of the best examples of technology in China are either based off of western tech, or implemented by western companies.

  • A lot is getting lost in translation:

    "[Shanghai is the proposed "innovation house" to promote public hands lathe machine tool has everything you will] newspaper reported use of machine tools, lathe? Are not interested in DIY a stool? Shanghai Science and Technology Commission plans to "second five" during the construction of 100 "innovation house", each area of not less than 100 square meters, equipped with wood lathes, metal lathes, saws and drill grinding combined machine, milling machine and other too

  • What the hell... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 10, 2011 @10:37AM (#38012058)

    ...is a "hackerspace".

  • If it were the USA each would need a patent lawyer to make sure nobody made something tablet shaped, with buttons that can be clicked more than once [slashdot.org], had wheels [newscientist.com] or anything else covered by patents.
    • Making for personal use and research is protected. It's only if you then attempt to sell the product that patent law comes into play. So if this is all for personal use patents don't matter.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Chrisq ( 894406 )

        Making for personal use and research is protected.

        I don't believe it is

        Brown & Michaels Frequently Asked Questions on PATENTS [bpmlegal.com] says: "It [A patent] is a right to stop others from making, using or selling - any one of these. Thus, even if an infringer were to make the invention in a foreign country, he could not sell it in the USA. Similarly, it is still an infringement if the invention is made in this country but exported immediately, or if a person buys the invention overseas and uses it in the USA for their own use - there is no "personal use" excep

      • Not in law. There is in practice, because patent lawsuits are generally based on actual losses, and it's hard to demonstrate that you've made a real loss from someone making something for personal use. The cost of the lawsuit would generally be prohibitive, especially when combined with the bad PR that it would cause.

  • Is this going to work? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BigSlowTarget ( 325940 ) on Thursday November 10, 2011 @10:42AM (#38012128) Journal

    My experience with hackerspaces and government officials is that they really don't think the same way. One is all about breaking the rules and the other is all about living within them. I suppose it's possible for government to fund them and let them loose but it is certainly out of character. Big money tends to draw corruption too and that's death to a knowledge sharing environment.

    • Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Why try figuring out who the hackers are when you can befriend them and let them expose themselves to you (yes you read that right). That way the next time there is a crackdown it can be more surgical.

    • better to keep your enemies close...by building them spaces where they can do there thing, fully observed and understood.

    • China is run by an engineer. The US is run by a not-terribly-successful lawyer. That's all you need to know. I bet Obama (let alone his predecessors) doesn't even know what a "hackerspace" is and what it could be useful for.

  • China needs to do some thing about there cheap knockoff copy's of others stuff.

    And what makes you think if some one in this space does some thing that china does not like that they well will live to much longer the gov can make there death look like accidents and then say the hacker spaces need people on site to make them safer (read cops ready to stop some from thinning the wrong way)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Anonymous Coward

      China needs to do some thing about there cheap knockoff copy's of others stuff.

      And what makes you think if some one in this space does some thing that china does not like that they well will live to much longer the gov can make there death look like accidents and then say the hacker spaces need people on site to make them safer (read cops ready to stop some from thinning the wrong way)

      The U.S. needs to do something about their educational system if they want to stay in the game.
      China doesn't have to do anything, especially not care about foreign patents.
      They are eating your lunch and there is nothing you can do about it until you are willing to work twice as hard for half the wage. Whining about rules and rights is not going to take you anywhere.

  • planning/thinking and action are two different things, we've witnessed a lot of thinking at XinCheJian..

  • FUCK! I sponsor the hosting for xinchejian.com, I wasn't expected it to be slashdoted ... :(

  • Hey, can I get some of that over here? Subsidizing a group to foster technical innovation in the general population is just what this country needs. I'd totally join a hackerspace, but the $50+ / month doesn't sound like a good deal to me. If gov't spending were to bring that down then maybe I'd be ready to join, and who knows what could happen from there?

  • From what I can tell the original announcement was about creating incubators for start up companies. Don't know who said it should be translated hackerspace.

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