Features
07.10.23For Beijing, Putting People Back to Work May Prove a Tough Job
In a small Chinese town where unemployment has run high during the COVID-19 pandemic, the local government has embraced a surprising remedy to joblessness: public toilets. Fugong Village, in Guangdong province, usually sees nearly half of its small...
Viewpoint
07.18.19‘See, They Are So Happy with Our Generosity!’
On June 22, in Sihanoukville, a port city in southwest Cambodia, a Chinese-owned building under construction collapsed, killing at least 28 people, all Cambodians. The owner had undertaken the construction without the required permit, and defied...
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08.07.18How Taming the Mekong Could Give China Unprecedented Power
Bloomberg
The deadly collapse of one of the dozen or so dams dotted along the Mekong River and its tributaries has highlighted the rapid development of a waterway that is increasingly important strategically for China and its neighbors.
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11.27.17Early China Indicators Signal That Economy Cooled This Month
Bloomberg
Confidence among China’s sales managers and steel producers waned in November, matching the mood among international investors, while sentiment among small businesses improved, according to the earliest available indicators.
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10.19.17Chinese Property Boom Props up Xi’s Hopes for the Economy
Financial Times
Ocean Flower Island is a vision of luxury, Chinese-style. A man-made archipelago off the coast of the tropical island of Hainan in the South China Sea, it will boast thousands of apartments, 28 museums and 58 hotels including one which is “7-star...
Caixin Media
06.27.17Is China Building Too Many Airports?
Over the next three years, local authorities in China are planning to build more than 900 airports for general aviation—the segment of the industry that includes crop dusting and tourism. The figure is nearly double the central government’s goal of...
The China Africa Project
03.31.17China Spends Billions in Egypt to Woo the Middle East
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz’s recent state visit to Beijing is the latest evidence that China is maneuvering to play a bigger role in the Middle East and Persian Gulf. The two countries reportedly signed deals worth upwards of $65 billion during...
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09.22.16‘Botched’ Repair to China’s Great Wall Inspires Outrage
New York Times
The shoddy paving over of a stretch of the Wall criticized for effacing the ancient monument
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09.20.16Is China Building a Road to Ruin?
Wall Street Journal
China beats the U.S. on infrastructure but at a heavy cost
Features
09.13.16The Destruction of Baishizhou
Early this spring, the Chinese character for “demolish” (“拆”) showed up in red spray paint on a strip of shops in Shenzhen’s Baishizhou neighborhood. Wang An, 41, has been selling women’s underwear from one of these shops for the last 10 years. “...
The China Africa Project
08.17.16China’s Undeserved Reputation for Building Bad Infrastructure in Africa
The Chinese build more infrastructure than any other country (foreign or African) in Africa. Chinese banks are financing billions of dollars in new loans, aid packages, and other deals to build badly-needed infrastructure across the continent, and...
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07.14.16China, Sweltering, Doles Out Subsidies for High Heat
New York Times
The government appears to be trying to raise consciousness of the heat subsidies.
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07.07.16China’s Devastating Floods Can Be Traced Back to Corruption and Overbuilding
Quartz
Scandals are not uncommon in China’s flood-control projects.
Green Space
05.18.16Time Traveling Through Dramatic Urbanization in China Over Decades
Twenty-six years ago, only 26 percent of the Chinese population lived in urban areas. Since then, China’s urbanization rate has risen to almost 56 percent, meaning hundreds of millions of people have packed themselves into the country’s 662 cities...
Caixin Media
04.05.16No Point in Ramping Up Personal Debt to Help Property Market
Having banks and local governments deleverage and trim overcapacity are part and parcel with central government efforts to maintain stable growth by nurturing the supply side of the economy. But even as this is happening, the housing market has been...
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04.01.16A Dull Roar from a Hungry Chinese Lion
Bloomberg
Chinese construction companies loaded up on machinery as part of a massive stimulus package. With a slowing economy, developers face mountains of debt.
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10.16.15China to Build $5 Billion High-Speed Rail Line in Indonesia
Bloomberg
China Railway International Co. Ltd and a consortium of Indonesian state companies will build the rail line from Jakarta to Bandung.
Infographics
09.29.15China’s New Roads Are Taking a Toll
from Sohu
On July 21, the Ministry of Transport issued a revised draft of its “Regulations on Toll Road Administration,” outlining planned adjustments to toll collection periods.Four Important Changes:{photo, 19386, 3}How Many Toll Roads Are There in China...
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07.01.15Airbus Wins $18 Billion China Deal, Plans Jet-Completion Site
Bloomberg
Airbus Group SE wins an order from China for 75 A330 jets worth $18 billion as it finalizes an agreement to open a facility for fitting out and painting the plane.
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06.24.15Gas Leak Raises Fears Over China Network
Financial Times
A brand new natural gas pipeline operated by CNPC in Yunnan sprung a leak, raising worries about the safety of China's network of oil and gas pipes.
The China Africa Project
06.04.15NO! China is NOT Exporting Convict Labor to Africa!!!!
Fifteen minutes into almost any conversation about the Chinese in Africa, the question about Chinese labor invariably comes up. “The Chinese are exporting convicts to work on construction sites,” according to one of the pervasive myths, or, “Chinese...
The China Africa Project
03.18.15Cameroon Highlights Pros and Cons of Chinese Infrastructure Development
When finished, the new deep-sea port in the southern Cameroonian city of Kribi will likely become a major gateway for all of Central Africa. This will be Cameroon’s only deep-sea port that can accommodate the larger inter-continental trading ships...
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01.15.15Pictures of the Day: January 15, 2015
Telegraph
A man walks along a newly built rainbow-colored tunnel in Zhengzhou, Henan province. The 400-meter-long tunnel is the first of this kind in China, local media reported.
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01.12.15In China, Projects to Make Great Wall Feel Small
New York Times
The plan here seems far-fetched—a $36 billion tunnel that would run twice the length of the one under the English Channel, and bore deep into one of Asia’s active earthquake zones. When completed, it would be the world’s longest underwater tunnel,...
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11.24.14Journeys Along the Seventh Ring
That’s
The story of Beijing’s Ring Roads is in many ways the story of Beijing’s urban development. The original ring (known confusingly as the Second Ring) was constructed in the early 1980s, at the behest of city planners, who, in embracing reform-minded...
Caixin Media
11.11.13How Ambition Buried an Official Known As ‘The Digger’
Cranes and bulldozers were quieter in the ancient city of Nanjing on October 16.News broke that day that the city’s fifty-seven-year-old mayor, Ji Jianye, was being investigated for “suspected serious discipline violations,” the Communist Party’s...
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09.03.13Across China, Skyscrapers Brush the Heavens
New York Times
China is home to 60 of the world’s 100 tallest buildings now under construction. But the skyward aspirations of Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, have inspired incredulity tinged with hostility.
Reports
01.01.08China’s Green Buildings and Sustainable Cities
Natural Resources Defense Council
The National Resources Defense Council is documenting the way in which it is promoting environmentally friendly growth principles in urban planning in China. This includes it partnership with Chinese governmental organizations in promoting and...