China Beat Turns 1!

China Beat has been in operation now for a full year. And what a year! We started this blog with the inkling that 2008 might be eventful, if only because of the Olympic Games. But the past year turned out to be one of China’s most eventful and traumatic in modern history.

It’s been an honor for us to be able to add our thoughts and ideas into the mix. We’re enormously grateful to our many contributors, as well as you, our readers, for stopping by regularly and letting us know your thoughts and sharing your own knowledge.

Here are some fun facts and lists from a year of China Beat…

In the past year, China Beat has had:
300 Posts (This makes 301!)
148,784 Visits
84,612 Unique Visitors
221,294 Pageviews
Most visits in one day: July 15, 2008 (1,509 visitors)
Fewest visits in one day: February 9, 2008 (61 visitors)
Total countries of origin for China Beat visitors: 168 (see below for the top ten)

Our most viewed stories in 2008:

1. Kung Fu Panda, Go Home!, by Haiyan Lee, July 17, 2008 (3,651 views)

2. Obama Elected, China Reacts, by China Beat, November 5, 2008 (2,542 views)

3. China: Democracy, or Confucianism?, by Xujun Eberlein, June 6, 2008 (2,493 views)

4. Writing Factory Girls, by Leslie T. Chang, May 24, 2008 (2,459 views)

5. Five Chinese Historical Events That Don’t Get Much Attention, by Kate Merkel-Hess, February 11, 2008 (2,350 views)

6. The Taelspin on Tibet: The Chinese response to foreign media coverage of the 3.14 unrest, by Jeremiah Jenne, March 27, 2008 (2,075 views)

7. WoW in China and the US, by Miri Kim, October 28, 2008 (2,020 views)

8. Beijing Olympic FAQ #1: Politics and the Olympics, by Susan Brownell, January 25, 2008 (1,883 views)

9. Rumor and the Sichuan Earthquake, by Steve Smith, May 22, 2008 (1,779 views)

10. Five Sites for Lesson Plans and Teaching Materials on China, by China Beat, April 25, 2008 (1,775 views)

Almost 44 percent of our traffic in the last year came from referring sites. Many thanks to these sites, who sent readers our way:
1. EastSouthWestNorth (12,998 visitors)
2. Danwei (3,696 visitors)
3. Salon (specifically Andrew Leonard at How the World Works) (3,079 visitors)
4. Jottings from the Granite Studio (2,829 visitors)
5. China Digital Times (2,287 visitors)
6. Peking Duck (1,874 visitors)
7. China Journal at the Wall Street Journal (1,642 visitors)
8. Frog in a Well (1,619 visitors)
9. China Law Blog (1,477 visitors)
10. James Fallows at the Atlantic Monthly (691 visitors)

The top keyword searches that brought visitors to China Beat:
1. china beat
2. the china beat
3. charter 08
4. china beat blog
5. leslie t. chang
6. rana mitter
7. obama china
8. china
9. chinabeat
10. wolf totem

Top ten countries of origin for China Beat visitors:
1. United States
2. China
3. Canada
4. United Kingdom
5. Australia
6. Hong Kong
7. Germany
8. Taiwan
9. Singapore
10. Japan