The essence of China's thinking about cyber warfare is the concept of shi, he says, first introduced in Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" about 2, 500 years ago.

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In a statement on March 4, Suntech named Susan Wang as chairperson to replace Shi but said he would remain chief strategy officer.

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In addition to the singing, dancing and comedy routines that populate the official CCTV gala, Mr. Shi's show will feature elements that even he finds difficult to categorize.

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That means Shi would probably lose the 30% of Suntech shares he owns.

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When he received the notice to kill his unsold chickens, Mr. Shi and co-workers grabbed the yellow birds one at a time, cut their necks and removed their feathers, then tossed the remains into one of two large, blue plastic containers for disposal.

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Shi founded Suntech in 2001 after returning to China from Australia where he had obtained his PhD from the University of New South Wales and worked in the Australian solar industry.

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Mr. Zhou has thrown himself into Mr. Shi's broadcast and has plastered "shanzhai" labels across his bicycle, which he points out is old and banged-up.

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