You ever hit the “send” button prematurely and allow an email with embarrassing content to go out to the wrong person? That’s the nearest analogy I can come up with for this tale of woe about an editor at the People.com.cn site, but even then it does not do this story justice.

The poor bastard put up a story on an individual suspected of human trafficking. The cops were on the lookout, and a photo of the suspect was available. The web editor posted the story and intended to embed the suspect’s pic. The finished product was supposed to look like this:

Unfortunately, that’s not what ultimately ended up on the site. No, instead, this is what was uploaded along with the story about the human trafficker:

Yeah, that’s a big ouch for that editor. Guy must have pissed himself after he found out what had happened.

The explanation from Ren Min Wang (People.com.cn) is perhaps the most entertaining part of this whole episode. According to them, the editor (who has been suspended) is such a big fan of Chairman Mao that his computer was riddled with Mao pics (whose isn’t?). It was therefore not surprising that when browsing his PC for the suspect’s photo, he mistakenly selected one of the many Mao pics instead.

Been waiting for some guidance from the government on this issue for several years now, ever since Tencent was smacked around by the government regarding QQ Coin related practices. At the time (2003?), the banking regulators were freaking out, worrying that virtual currencies were acting too much like the RMB.

From JLM:

China’s Ministry of Culture (MoC) and Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) issued regulations on June 26 to strengthen the supervision of virtual currency in online games, after receiving approval from The People’s Bank of China, reports 163.com. Virtual currency is defined as prepaid cards, prepaid currency and points, but not virtual items, the report said.

Companies already involved in the trade or issue of virtual currency must register with provincial culture departments within three months of the regulation’s release, the report said. Under the regulations, virtual currency issued by one company cannot be used to purchase products or services from another company; and operators may not require real or virtual payment to enter lucky draws or other random selections for virtual currency or items.

In addition, operators: can only accept legally approved currencies for the sale of virtual currency; must keep records for at least 180 days of funds added to and transferred to or from user accounts; should offer related records if disputes occur, and may not offer virtual currency trading services to juveniles, according to the report.

Operators who suspend products or services must inform gamers 60 days in advance and refund un-used virtual currency with legal tender or another method approved by the user, the report said.

The regulation is primarily aimed at virtual currency issued by large online game companies including Tencent (700.HK) and Shanda (Nasdaq:SNDA), in order avoid virtual currency influencing the national financial system, reports Sohu quoting an MoC marketing department chief.

I haven’t seen the regs and probably won’t read them in detail. As the only companies effected by this are large local enterprises (who do not usually hire foreign lawyers like me), I doubt that I will be called upon to opine professionally about the new rules.

That being said, it’s nice to see the regulatory authorities step up and address issues in the new technology area. It’s difficult as a regulator to keep up with this stuff, and you have to feel for the poor bankers at the PBOC or the officials at the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Commerce who have to deal with tech they’ve probably never heard of before. I do wonder, however, why the MIIT is not involved with this.

Anyway, I appreciate the effort.

Now this is great news (from China Briefing):

The local government is set to launch a program that will give foreign finance specialists incentives to work in Shanghai including lowered taxes, reports Shanghai Daily. The financial talent award is just one of the government’s policies aimed at turning Shanghai into an international financial and shipping hub by 2020.

I have an even better idea. Let’s dismantle Beijing’s Financial Street, close all the financial service firms’ Beijing representative offices, and ship all their staff to Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Yes, there will be negative repercussions on the Beijing economy. A few Starbucks outlets will no doubt close. There will be a drop in demand for mobile phones and Blackberry-ish devices, as the finance types at a minimum must have:

1. Mobile phone for China;

2. Blackberry with China data plan;

3. Hong Kong mobile phone;

4. Blackberry for Hong Kong;

5. Mobile phone for the U.S. (Manhattan or Silicon Valley phone number); and

6. Blackberry for U.S.

Note: Device for emails must be “Blackberry” brand, and at least one of the mobile phones must be an iPhone (second one can be Nokia or Motorola). During meetings, social or otherwise, all devices must be placed conspicuously on table where everyone can see.

Perhaps I’m being overly harsh. Given the incredibly valuable contribution to U.S. economic growth over the past 15 years from the financial services industry, I’m sure the Chinese government wants to make them as welcome as possible over here. What’s the worst thing that could happen?