China’s New Chief

By Evan Osnos on November 15, 2012

When it was all over this morning, and the seven men had returned once again to the secluded backstage of the Great Hall of the People, trailed by their security, and the stage where they had stood was suddenly empty. I walked up to the spot where Xi Jinping had stood to deliver his remarks. It was carpeted in a brilliant shade of red, and at his feet there was a small piece of tape in the shape of the number one, to indicate where the most powerful man in China should stand. He looked out over a line of poinsettias and ferns, to a wall of cameras, and a world of expectations from his people. It must have been terrifying.

 

Politics
Leadership Transition, Xi Jinping, 18th Party Congress, Great Hall of the People

An Insight into the Green Vocabulary of the Chinese Communist Party

on November 15, 2012

After years of neglect, the environment is gradually gaining more attention from China’s leaders. The most noticeable manifestation of this is in their vocabulary.

Six months ago, Hu Jintao, speaking at the opening of a study session for provincial and ministry-level cadres, spoke at unusual length about the “ecological civilization,” a concept he first put forward in 2007.

China’s Low-Carbon Zones Lack Motivation, Guidance, and Ideas

on November 15, 2012

None of China’s so-called low-carbon industrial zones currently live up to the name. That’s the conclusion to draw from the work of the U.S. Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC), which this year released a guide for the development of green industrial parks in China. The organization attempted to rank China’s leading industrial zones against a set of low-carbon criteria; not one reached the pass mark of 60 percent.

The Future of Legal Reform

China’s Leadership Transition at the 18th Party Congress

By Carl Minzner on November 14, 2012

Carl Minzner, Professor of Law at Fordham University, talks here about the ways China’s legal reforms have ebbed and flowed, speeding up in the early 2000s, but then slowing down again after legal activists began to take the government at its word, attempting to use the letter of the law, the Chinese Constitution, to push the envelope for change.

Change in Historical Context

China’s Leadership Transition at the 18th Party Congress

By Peter C. Perdue on November 14, 2012

China’s Communist Party has only ruled the country since 1949. But China has a long history of contentious transfers of power among its ruler. In these videos, Yale historian, Peter C. Perdue, an expert on China's last dynasty, the Qing, puts China’s current leadership transition at the 18th Party Congress into historical context.

Are You Happier Than You Were Ten Years Ago?

China’s Leadership Transition at the 18th Party Congress

By J. Michael Evans on November 14, 2012

“Many Chinese feel that they have not participated in the economic benefits of an economy that has been growing very rapidly,” says Michael Evans, a vice chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group and head of growth markets for the Wall Street investment bank. Nowadays, many Chinese even believe that they are “entitled to a broader participation in all aspects of the economy, but also in greater representation.”