Despite losing almost a dollar for every dollar of revenue last year, Chinese Facebook clone Renren (人人网) made a spectacular launch on Wall Street last week, raising U.S.$743.4 million in a crazed initial public offering. So it’s no surprise that Wall Street is on our agenda again today, along with Chinese reactions to the assassination of Osama Bin Laden and a curious foreign investment play by a shady Chinese company. We also touch briefly on China’s new Internet regulatory overlords and the long-gone May Fourth movement.
With Kaiser away in New York, Sinica is chaired this week by Jeremy Goldkorn of Danwei fame, who is joined in our studio by the ever-stalwart Gady Epstein and China public relations expert Will Moss. We’re also privileged to be joined by Charles Custer of the China Geeks translation blog, as well as Jeremiah Jenne, Dean of Chinese Studies at the IES program in Beijing.