Features
09.27.24Is China’s Cultural Outreach to Muslims in Indonesia Working?
Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country. So as Beijing ramps up its engagement with the Global South and with the Muslim world, it is unsurprising that it has been reaching out to various Muslim organizations and strengthening its...
Features
09.26.24Can China’s Scholarships and Cultural Diplomacy Efforts Succeed in Pakistan?
In Washington, D.C., China has a bad reputation for the way it treats its Muslim minorities. But views differ greatly in many majority-Muslim countries in Asia. Educational programs and exchanges are a key part of this. Pakistan is an exemplar:...
Viewpoint
03.05.24Studying in China May Have Gotten Harder for Americans, But We Shouldn’t Stop Trying
The U.S.-China relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world, but it is at its worst point since President Richard Nixon visited in 1972—more than 50 years ago. Getting the relationship right is not easy, but getting it...
Viewpoint
02.02.24New Security Measures Curtailing the Study of China Alarm Educators
Late last year, The New York Times reported on a new state-level bill in Florida that was creating unintended consequences for prospective Chinese graduate students. The bill restricts universities from accepting grants from or participating in...
Conversation
10.24.23What Is the Future for International Students in China?
In the last several years, an under-appreciated element of China’s retreat from the global stage has been diminished educational exchange, and particularly that exchange’s impact on students. During the height of the pandemic, tens of thousands of...
Conversation
07.21.20Is There a Future for Values-Based Engagement with China?
A key feature of current debates over U.S.-China relations is the proposition that “engagement failed,” in light of the Chinese government’s increasingly aggressive posture towards liberal values at home and on the world stage. Already on the...
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10.19.17Move over, America. China Now Presents Itself as the Model ‘Blazing a New Trail’ for the World.
Washington Post
American presidents are fond of describing their nation as a “city on a hill” — a shining example for other nations to follow. But China is now officially in the business of styling itself as another polestar for the world, with a very different...
Media
06.21.17American Universities in China: Free Speech Bastions or Threats to Academic Freedom?
from Asia Blog
In 1986, Johns Hopkins University opened a study center in Nanjing University, making it the first American institution of higher education allowed to establish a physical presence in China during the Communist era. Since then, dozens of other...
04.23.17
How Does the Law Apply to Non-Profit Performing Arts or Other Cultural Groups?
According to the NGOs in China blog’s summary of guidance provided by the Ministry of Public Security at a 2016 Q&A session, “Article 21 [of the law] permits foreign NGOs to use ‘other funds legally acquired within China’ for their...
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02.09.17China’s Transgender Oprah
Economist
As an army colonel who became a woman, she exemplifies a society in flux
Features
02.04.17Why’s Beijing So Worried About Western Values Infecting China’s Youth?
In early December, Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered the country’s universities to “adhere to the correct political orientation.” Speaking at a conference on ideology and politics in China’s colleges, he stressed that schools must uphold the...
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01.14.17Zhou Youguang, Architect of a Bridge between Languages, Dies At 111
NPR
Zhou Youguang, the inventor of a system to convert Chinese characters into words with the Roman alphabet, died Saturday at the age of 111.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.10.17‘Is This What the West Is Really Like?’ How It Felt to Leave China for Britain
Guardian
Desperate to find somewhere she could live and work as she wished, Xiaolu Guo moved from Beijing to London in 2002.
Sinica Podcast
09.07.16Yiwu, a City at the Core of Cheap Chinese Goods
from Sinica Podcast
Renowned as a trading town during the Qing dynasty, the eastern city of Yiwu again became famous for its markets after China’s economic reforms kicked in during the 1980s. Since then, the metropolis of 1.2 million people has transformed into a hub...
ChinaFile Recommends
06.24.16When Walt Went to China
Financial Times
Disney’s theme park in Shanghai promises a ‘rain of renminbi’—but also fuels paranoia about American cultural dominance.
Conversation
06.03.16Should I Stay or Should I Go?
It’s graduation time, and Chinese graduates from American colleges are now pondering what to do next: return to China or stay in the U.S. We reached out to recent graduates to ask about their decision-making process and how they view their prospects...
Media
02.22.16Leave China, Study in America, Find Jesus
Shelly Cai was 18 years old when she left the southern Chinese metropolis of Nanjing to enroll in the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In August 2010, after a 13-hour flight from Shanghai to Chicago and a three-hour bus ride, Cai finally arrived in...
Media
02.11.16Chinese Students Are Flooding U.S. Christian High Schools
It is no secret that Chinese students are pouring into the United States; over 300,000 of them attended U.S. colleges and universities in 2015 alone, and Chinese are filling up spots in U.S. secondary schools in search of a better education and an...
Culture
08.11.15Japan’s Soft Power Leader in China is a Fat Blue Cartoon Cat
On July 28, costumed in vibrant colors, throngs of fans flocked toward the early morning light of Victoria Harbor, queueing outside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center for the last day of the 17th Ani-Com & Games Hong Kong. The...
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03.31.15Why Chinese Students Find it Hard to Make Friends on US Campuses
Hong Kong Economic Journal
Chinese students complain that American students are misinformed, prejudiced and offensive on Chinese current events.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.22.15Study Examines How Overseas Chinese Students Respond to Criticism of Their Country
Inside Higher Ed
Do conversations between domestic and foreign students result in mutual understanding and friendly feelings?
Caixin Media
10.14.14Sounds of Distinction
The Peking Opera star Mei Lanfang (1894-1961) is generally acknowledged to have been the greatest performer of female dan roles in the history of his art. He was also a renowned theatrical innovator whose performance style is carried on as the...
Conversation
07.01.14The Debate Over Confucius Institutes PART II
Last week, ChinaFile published a discussion on the debate over Confucius Institutes–Chinese language and culture programs affiliated with China’s Ministry of Education—and their role on university campuses. The topic, and several of the...
Conversation
06.23.14The Debate Over Confucius Institutes
Last week, the American Association of University Professors joined a growing chorus of voices calling on North American universities to rethink their relationship with Confucius Institutes, the state-sponsored Chinese-language programs...
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06.18.14Chinese Directors on Winning Global Box Office: ‘Attacking Hollywood Is the Best Way’
Hollywood Reporter
At the Shanghai Film Festival's most popular forum, leading local film figures debate whether Hollywood is friend or foe.
ChinaFile Recommends
08.05.13“‘Homeless for a Month’: U.S. Interns in China Learn to Reset Expectations
Marketplace
Rowland Madson traveled 10,000 miles around the planet so that he could greet visitors at the front gate of a Chinese amusement park. His job was to wear a candy cane striped suit and collect entrance tickets from Chinese tourists.
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01.14.13International Schools in China Point Students to the West
Reuters
Some Chinese pay as much as 260,000 renminbi, or about $42,000, a year for a Western-style education and a possible ticket to a college overseas for their children.