Alibaba announced its partnership with five agencies at a news conference Tuesday. On the same day, Xinhua reported that China’s top legislature is considering amending the country’s consumer-rights law to protect online shoppers.
Japan and China faced off anew over a group of disputed islands after visits to a controversial war shrine by Japanese politicians rankled Tokyo’s neighbors, raising concerns that tensions may be returning after a period of relative calm.
Over time, the Grand Canal did more than move grain—it was a potent political symbol in being the country’s unifying feature and acted as a cultural conduit connecting North and South. Johnson deatils his journey with one barge on a southbound coal delivery.
More crosscutting dialogues are in order, more effort needs to be directed at concrete steps, not just talk, and both sides must be more creative about how to get senior leaders more time together to engage on 21st-century challenges.
The Red Cross Society of China, a state-run organization that is one of the country’s largest charities, has yet to recover from a 2011 scandal that struck a serious blow to China’s nascent notions of philanthropy.
Parents are confining sons and daughters to their homes, even if it means keeping them away from friends. Schools are canceling outdoor activities and field trips. Parents with means are choosing schools based on air-filtration systems.
Shai Oster:
It’s Pilates diplomacy—work on your core. China’s diplomats keep talking about China’s core interests and it’s a growing list. In 2011, China included its political system and social stability as core interests. This year, it has added a vast chunk of the South China Sea to its core.
China’s certainly appearing more assertive in defining and defending that growing core.
A listing of upcoming ChinaFile events. Each of the events will be live-streamed here.
China today boasts a collection of ninety-five environmental courts, all of which were set up over the past six years. It is a trend that promises to re-shape Chinese environmental law.
But simply trumpeting this initiative is no guarantee the environmental courts will live up to their name by making pro-environment decisions. Indeed, initial evidence from Guiyang city in southwest China suggests that ordinary people are pursued by the courts far more often than major polluters are held to task.
It was a typical workday morning at Wanjia Asset Management Co. in Shanghai’s downtown financial district, but the firm’s star bond trader Zou Yu was not at his desk.
Zou, 31, had mysteriously failed to report for his job as head of Wanjia’s fixed-income department. And his whereabouts remained unknown until five days later when the firm, on April 16, announced that the police had taken Zou into custody for alleged unspecified financial crimes.
