Note 12 - Short-term Bank Loan (Details Textual) $ in Thousands, ¥ in Millions		3 Months Ended
		Mar. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2017 CNY (¥)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 CNY (¥)
Short-term Bank Loans and Notes Payable	[1]	$ 725		$ 721
VIEs [Member]
Short-term Bank Loans and Notes Payable		$ 725		721
VIEs [Member] | Benchmark Rate of People’s Bank of China [Member]
Debt Instrument, Basis Spread on Variable Rate		20.00%
VIEs [Member] | Loans Payable [Member]
Short-term Bank Loans and Notes Payable		$ 700	¥ 5
Short-term Debt, Weighted Average Interest Rate, at Point in Time		5.22%	5.22%
VIEs [Member] | Loan Payable Maturing on July 18, 2017 [Member]
Short-term Bank Loans and Notes Payable				$ 400	¥ 3
VIEs [Member] | Loan Payable Maturing on October 30, 2017 [Member]
Short-term Bank Loans and Notes Payable		$ 300	¥ 2

[1] All of the VIEs' assets can be used to settle obligations of their primary beneficiary. Liabilities recognized as a result of consolidating these VIEs do not represent additional claims on the Company's general assets (Note 2).