China, the Olympics and the Swimmer

By Evan Osnos on July 31, 2012

The People’s Daily, the flagship of China’s state-run media empire, tried, in all honesty, to make sense of the opening ceremony at the London Olympics—an event, the paper noted, that cost not only a fraction of the opening ceremony four years ago in Beijing, but even less than a quarter of what Qatar spent on the opening of the Asian Games in Doha. “This might have something to do with British frugality,” wondered the voice of the paper’s official social-media feed. Or, it went on sympathetically, “it could be the result of the European debt crisis.” The government news service was less generous in its assessment, headlining its review: “Opening Ceremony Very British, Not Very Olympic, Lacking Vital Elements.”

Health, Society
Sports, Nationalism, Swimming

Torture in the Name of Treatment

on July 31, 2012

More than 350,000 people identified as drug users are held in compulsory drug "treatment" centers in China and Southeast Asia. Detainees are held without due process for periods of months or years and may be subjected to physical and sexual abuse, torture, and forced labor. International donors and UN agencies have supported and funded drug detention centers, while centers have systematically denied detainees access to evidence-based drug dependency treatment and HIV prevention services. "Torture in the Name of Treatment," summarizes Human Rights Watch’s findings over five years of research in China, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Lao PDR.

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Shedding Light on the Solar Crisis

on July 31, 2012

After Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd., a Wuxi-headquartered photovoltaic cell producer, went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005, China’s solar industry grew at an astonishing speed. More than 200 photovoltaic product manufacturers are operating in Zhejiang province alone, and most are less than five years old.

After the global financial crisis in 2008, solar producers suffered from dwindling demand and increasing supply. This seriously challenged industry development.

Sound Kapital

By Matthew Niederhauser on July 31, 2012

China exists today in a liminal realm, caught between the socialist idealism of old and a calamitous drive for wealth spurned by recent free market reforms. This seemingly unbridgeable gap tears at the country’s social fabric while provoking younger generations to greater artistic heights. The unique sound emerging from Beijing’s underground delves deeply into this void, aggressively questioning the moral and social basis of China’s fragile modernity even as it subsists upon it.

A formidable new wave of Chinese musicians is taking the city by storm. Revolving around four venues spread across Beijing, a burgeoning group of performers are working outside government-controlled media channels, and in the process, capturing the attention of the international music community. They now constitute a fresh, independent voice in a country renowned for creative conformity and saccharine Cantonese pop. In Sound Kapital, photographer Matthew Niederhauser captures the energy of the personalities and performers at D-22, Yugong Yishan, 2 Kolegas, and Mao Livehouse. These revolutionary Beijing nightclubs remain at the core of the city’s creative explosion by hosting an eclectic mix of punk, experimental, rock, and folk performances.

Included with the book are concert posters and illustrations that encapsulate the underground scene in Beijing, as well as a CD sampler of the new music being produced. There is no doubt that these musicians will continue to break ground within Beijing’s nascent artistic landscape, helping to push the boundaries of an already expanding realm of independent thought and musical expression in China.—powerHouse Books

Book Review: 

Erin DeJesus, The Economist More Intelligent Life
Keith Axline, Wired (December 14, 2009)
David Malitz, The Washington Post (November 13, 2009)

Asahi Shimbun

on July 30, 2012

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The Asahi Shimbun AJW is the English-language digital version of The Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s leading daily newspaper. Founded in 1879, The Asahi Shimbun is the nation’s most respected daily Japanese-language newspaper. It has a circulation of nearly 8 million. The Asahi Shimbun prides itself on its investigative reporting and analyses of business and political coverage, as well as insightful stories on Japan’s fascinating subculture. 

China's Bridget Joneses

By Sarah Keenlyside on July 30, 2012

In case you hadn’t noticed, Chinese women have become quite a force to be reckoned with in recent years. According to Forbes magazine, 11 of the 20 richest self-made women in the world are Chinese, and now 19 per cent of Chinese women in management positions are CEOs, the second highest percentage worldwide (after Thailand’s 30 per cent).

In fact, so undeniable is the rise of women in China that there is even a phrase for their sudden blossoming: yin sheng, yang shuai, which means the female (yin) is on the up, while the male (yang) is on the way down. But there’s one thing that’s holding them back – and even making them ditch their careers altogether – and that’s the fear of being single.

Unfortunately for China’s women their new-found confidence has incited a backlash from men, the government and even their own families. The popular Chinese label shengnu (leftover women), regularly perpetuated in state-controlled media and on internet message boards, refers to women who are smart, successful and moneyed but still not married by the age of 28. That’s right: in China, if you're 30, female and single, you’re considered well and truly on the shelf.

Society, Urban Life
Women, Marriage

Politics and Crime in China: The Final Act

By The Economist on July 30, 2012

As weeks have passed without news of the fates of Bo Xilai, a suspended Politburo member, and his wife, Gu Kailai, a suspect in the murder of a foreigner, some speculated that party leaders were having difficulty agreeing on the verdicts, both political and criminal—and, in a case such as this, the criminal becomes political. Now, however, It appears unlikely  that there was ever much doubt as to the outcome. A scripted downfall seems assured for the most controversial and ambitious political figure China has produced in recent years. 

Law, Politics
Bo Xilai, Gu Kailai, Corruption, Crime, Party Politics

Minxin Pei: What China's Leaders Fear Most

By Minxin Pei on July 30, 2012

The news that Chinese prosecutors have filed formal murder charges against Gu Kailai, the wife of disgraced former Communist Party boss of Chongqing Bo Xilai, has conjured up tantalizing images of a sensational trial at which the dirtiest laundry of the Bo family would be mercilessly aired.  But before aspiring writers of a political thriller rush to purchase the rights to the Bo saga, its obvious entertaining value notwithstanding, we need to pause and reflect on one dimension of the Bo story that has not received sufficient attention: the insecurity of China's top rulers.

Law, Politics
Bo Xilai, Chinese Communist Party, Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping, Gu Kailai, Mao Zedong