Tolerance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals appears to be rising in Mainland China, at least among the digital generations. A February 2013 poll of users on Sina Weibo, one of China’s leading social networking sites, showed a majority favoring an amendment to China’s Marriage Law to allow for same-sex marriage.
When debating China’s one-child policy, China’s domestic media and observers overseas mostly focus on its impact on the population structure or incidences of inhumanity involved in the implementation of the policy (such as forced abortion). Almost unmentioned is the fact that the government is profiting fiscally from the policy by collecting so-called “social support fees” (社会抚养费).
Can it have been merely a few weeks ago that we sequestered Evan “The Turncoat” Osnos in our studio and grilled the celebrated writer on his decision to leave China for what must have myopically seemed like greener pastures? At the time, we intended our podcast to act as a deterrent against further defections among the Beijing literati and set a forceful example of why journalists should love China and stop hurting the feelings of the Chinese people.
In a five-year clean air action plan (2013-2017), the Beijing municipal government said 1,200 polluting companies will be ordered to upgrade or close parts or all of their facilities in the coming years to 2016.
To get inside the system, professor Gary King and two Ph.D. students started their own fake social network over the past year, which—while it never formally went online—allowed them to reach out to some of China’s many companies offering censorship software.
The earthy Deng, father of reform-era China, favored a Chinese phrase to describe the current anti-corruption maneuvers being undertaken at Xi Jinping’s behest: killing a chicken to scare the monkeys.
As the Chinese public is eagerly awaiting the verdict of Bo Xilai, China’s anti-corruption agency is taking down another target: the 70-year-old Zhou Yongkang, dubbed by overseas media as China’s security tsar, has been put under house arrest, says a source in Beijing.
A Chinese police investigation into drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline has discovered that alleged bribery of doctors in China was coordinated by the British company and was not the work of individual employees, state media reported on September 3.
State prosecutors have accused former Minister of Railways Zhang Shuguang of accepting graft payments of around 47 million renminbi, or nearly $8 million at current exchange rates, according to reports.
Wen Yunchao, who has been monitoring arrests and convictions in this year in China from New York City, insists his records show a growing trend of repression under Xi Jinping.
