Why War is Not a Possibility

on September 14, 2012

There won’t be a war in East Asia.

The United States has five military alliances in the western Pacific. Its allies are South Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, and Singapore. And American battleships are busy patrolling the seas.

Without a go-ahead from Washington, there is no possibility of a hot war involving battleships of sovereign countries here. As for conflicts between fishing boats and shore patrol boats, that’s not really a big deal.

Keywords: Preserving Stability

By Qian Gang on September 14, 2012

The two-character Chinese phrase weiwen is an abbreviated form of the full phrase, weihu wending, meaning to preserve or safeguard stability. The Chinese Communist Party has many such shortened phrases, compact verbalisms that pack a political punch, invoking whole histories of policy and practice. For those versed in China’s political vocabulary, these are important shibboleths.

 

Media, Politics
Social Stability, Propaganda, Governance, Newspapers

Web Posts Spur Free-Speech Debate in China

By Austin Ramzy on September 14, 2012

With his thin frame, shabby suit and graying hair, Chen Pingfu, who played his violin for handouts on the streets of the northwestern Chinese city of Lanzhou, hardly seemed to be a threat to anyone. But after he wrote a series of online essays criticizing the country’s ruling Communist Party, the 55-year-old laid-off teacher was accused of “inciting subversion of state power” — a criminal charge generally reserved for China’s most prominent dissidents.

Media
Dissidents and Activists, Sina Weibo, Caixin

Winter For Chinese Media: Why So Many Respected Journalists Are Leaving the Field

By Yueran Zhang on September 14, 2012

Although the government’s control over news media has always been tight, the range and intensity of the purge this year has been rarely seen, suggesting that the censors’ controlling hand is tightening. As Wang Keqin, a former investigative journalist famous for his coverage of AIDS spread and illegal mining plants, comments, “It’s getting colder. The winter is approaching.”

Media
Newspapers, Journalism, Censorship, People’s Daily, CCTV

Off-Script Scramble for Power in a Chinese Leader’s Absence

By Ian Johnson and Jonathan Ansfield on September 14, 2012

With still no sign of China’s designated new leader, Xi Jinping, who has not been seen in public since Sept. 1, many insiders and well-connected analysts say the Chinese political ship is adrift, with factions jockeying to shape an impending Communist Party conclave.

Politics
Leadership Transition, Party Politics, Xi Jinping

TED Talk: The Voices of Chinese Workers

By Leslie T. Chang on September 14, 2012

n the ongoing debate about globalization, what's been missing is the voices of workers -- the millions of people who migrate to factories in China and other emerging countries to make goods sold all over the world. Reporter Leslie T. Chang sought out women who work in one of China's booming megacities, and tells their stories.

Economy, Society, Urban Life
Labor, Migration, Women, Apple

Review: Ai Weiwei's Blog (The Book)

By Alec Ash on September 14, 2012

On May 28, 2009, the readers of artist and activist Ai Weiwei's blog — hosted on Sina, a popular Chinese internet portal — logged onto blog.sina.com.cn/aiweiwei to find the message "This blog has already been closed. If you have queries, please dial 95105670." That message is still there, although the number has changed. Dialing it takes you to an unfolding origami of recorded options that would frustrate the most hardy call center veteran. When human contact is finally made, an explanation as to why the blog was shut down is not forthcoming. Nor, for those who've been following Ai's career, is it necessary.

Arts, Media, Politics
Internet, Censorship, Ai Weiwei

Moneyless Pensions Yield No Gold for the Old

on September 14, 2012

SHENYANG—Morning breezes turn chilly in late August, signaling fall’s approach in the Tiexi factory district.

For the unemployed men and women standing on sidewalks between a labor bureau office and a park every day at 6 a.m., the change of seasons is a reminder that searching for jobs will grow more desperate as cold weather nears.

Most of these streetside job-hunters in this section of Shenyang, an industrial city in Liaoning province, are more than forty years old and have been jobless for years.

Hollywood Comes to China

By Jeremy Goldkorn, William Moss & more on September 14, 2012

When Xi Jinping headed to the United States earlier this year in what everyone assumed was a pre-coronation victory lap, one of the more surprising outcomes of his visit ended up being a stopover in Los Angeles, where China agreed to increase the number of Hollywood films released in mainland theaters each year and significantly hike the percentage of box office revenue allocated to overseas producers.