Conversation
01.20.24
Managing the Taiwan Election Aftermath
Lai Ching-te is now president-elect of Taiwan, after a hard-fought race in which Beijing made its preference for his opponents clear. Lai is an outspoken advocate for Taiwan’s sovereignty, though he has said he wants to keep the status quo with...
Viewpoint
07.02.20
It’s True That Democracy in China Is in Retreat, But Don’t Give up on It Now
China’s popularity in the world is plummeting, and antagonism between China and the United States is growing. Many blame China for allowing a series of new viruses to emerge, for failing to stop COVID-19 when it first appeared, and for not sharing...
ChinaFile Recommends
11.16.16“We Have a Fake Election”: China Disrupts Local Campaigns
New York Times
Local elections are democratic in name only. The party picks its preferred candidates and leaves no room for an upset
Features
11.11.16
Watching A Chinese Professor Watching American Democracy
On the morning of Election Day, I joined He Haibo, a legal scholar at Tsinghua University in Beijing, as he spent several hours observing a polling station in the upscale Graham and Parks public elementary school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “If I...
ChinaFile Recommends
11.11.16China is Also Going to the Polls. But You’d Barely Know It.
Washington Post
Between August and December, China is holding staggered local elections all across the country – an exercise in “grass-roots democracy” on a daunting scale
ChinaFile Recommends
11.07.16In a First, China Moves to Bar 2 Hong Kong Legislators From Office
New York Times
The extraordinary intervention in the affairs of this semiautonomous former British colony could prompt a constitutional crisis and incite more street protests
Features
10.19.16
Why Newly Elected Hong Kong Legislators Cursed and Protested—At Their Own Swearing-In
There’s a bit of a nanny state in the city of Hong Kong. The government is quick to issue advice and admonitions about all matter of hazards—high ocean waves, food waste, incense burning during the annual grave-sweeping festival. One night in late...
Depth of Field
10.18.16
Over-Protective Mothers, E-cigarettes, Sports Hunting, and More
from Yuanjin Photo
A photojournalist’s job is to capture the unique and the universal—to portray brief moments that tell individual stories, yet are instantly relatable to a wide audience. The delightful task of curating that type of Chinese photojournalism is the...
ChinaFile Recommends
09.23.16Provincial Boss Ordered Crackdown on China's 'Democracy Village' with Eye on National Power
Reuters
Wukan is Hu Chunhua's tryout for the Politburo Standing Committee
Media
09.14.16
The Chinese Democratic Experiment that Never Was
Protesters in southern China are up in arms. They feel that Beijing’s promises that they’d be able to vote for their own local leaders have been honored in the breach. They’re outraged at the show of force in the face of peaceful protest, and...
Conversation
09.07.16
The Hong Kong Election: What Message Does it Send Beijing?
On September 4, Hong Kong elected a batch of its youngest and most pro-democratic lawmakers yet. Six new legislators, all under 40, won on platforms that called for Hong Kongers to decide their own fate. The youngest is 23-year-old Nathan Law, a...
Media
06.22.16
‘Wukan,’ Once a Byword For Chinese Democracy, Now Censored
A fishing village in southern Guangdong province, once a standard-bearer for small-time democracy in China, has now become a political disaster—and the most-censored term on Chinese social media.In September 2011, amid protests over land sales in...
Viewpoint
05.24.16
“It’s Time for Us To Set a New Political Agenda for Hong Kong”
Last month, midway through a whirlwind tour of United States universities, Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong took a break for a crab cake and mac-and-cheese lunch at a Manhattan brasserie. Wong, 19, came to international prominence during the...
Media
03.15.16
Taiwan’s New Direction
from Asia Blog
In January, Taiwan’s voters handed the traditionally pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) a landslide victory, giving it control of both the parliament and presidency for the first time ever. The victory came at the expense of the...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.19.16For U.S, Taiwan Vote Changes Calculus over 'One China'
Wall Street Journal
Washington less likely to indulge Beijing over its policy after victory of island’s pro-independence party
ChinaFile Recommends
11.30.15China-Africa Summit: What To Look For Beyond The Hype And Hypocrisy
Mail & Guardian
The Africa-China summit will provide an opportunity to see how the Chinese President is responding to democratic developments in Africa.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.02.15Troubles for the ‘China Model’
Wall Street Journal
Meritocracy has worked for Beijing, but to survive, the system needs more openness.
ChinaFile Recommends
06.18.15Hong Kong Vetoes China-Backed Electoral Reform Proposal
Reuters
The rejection was expected and will likely appease activists who demanded a veto of what they call "fake" reforms.
Conversation
06.17.15
Has China’s ‘One Country, Two Systems’ Experiment Failed?
As Hong Kong’s legislature began debate this week on the reform package that could shape the future of the local political system, the former British colony’s pro-democracy lawmakers swore again they will reject electoral reforms proposed by the...
Features
04.02.15
Frank Talk About Hong Kong’s Future from Margaret Ng
Following is the transcript of a recent ChinaFile Breakfast with Margaret Ng, the former Hong Kong legislator in discussion with Ira Belkin of New York University Law School and Orville Schell, ChinaFile Publisher and Arthur Ross Director of the...
ChinaFile Recommends
09.22.14Hong Kong Students Lead Democracy Fight With Class Boycott
New York Times
Thousands of Hong Kong university students abandoned classes on Monday to rally against Chinese government limits on voting rights, a bellwether demonstration of the city’s appetite for turning smoldering discontent.
ChinaFile Recommends
09.22.14Hong Kong Tycoons Descend on Beijing for Xi Meeting
South China Morning Post
Tung Chee-hwa leads 70-strong delegation to Beijing; members come out strongly against Occupy Central, saying don't harm Hong Kong
ChinaFile Recommends
06.12.14Anson Chan on Beijing’s Pressure Tactics in Hong Kong
New York Times
In an interview, Anson Chan talked about what she sees as increasing control from Beijing, which had guaranteed Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy until 2047 under the “One Country, Two Systems” formula.
ChinaFile Recommends
05.27.14International China Welcomes New Indian Government
Associated Press
China is "ready to work with the new Indian government to maintain high-level contact, strengthen cooperation and communication in all areas," former Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told Ambassador Ashok Kumar Kantha.
Sinica Podcast
07.12.13
Ripples from the Egyptian Revolution
from Sinica Podcast
In Egypt in 2011, what was by all accounts a free and fair democratic election resulted in the victory of Mohammed Morsi, a controversial figure whose brief rule ended last week after being overthrown by the Egyptian military. With Western media...
ChinaFile Recommends
11.09.12Opinion: Meritocracy Versus Democracy
New York Times
Without much fanfare, Beijing has introduced significant reforms and established an elaborate system of what can be called “selection plus election.”
Photo Gallery
05.09.12
Wukan Daily Life
While village elections are widespread in China, it’s rare for the Party not to exert pressure over the selection of candidates. When the Guangdong province village of Wukan held elections in February and March 2012, however, they were notably free...
The NYRB China Archive
05.27.04Taiwan on the Edge
from New York Review of Books
The events in Taiwan since March 19, the day before the presidential election, can be seen as a Taiwanese version of the long wrangle between Al Gore and George W. Bush more than three years ago. No matter how the election is resolved, something...
The NYRB China Archive
05.23.96How China Lost Taiwan
from New York Review of Books
1.For foreign correspondents who had been present in Peking’s Tiananmen Square in June 1989, the events of the night of March 17, 1996, in the plaza in front of the Taipei city hall, showed more clearly than any other what the China-Taiwan crisis is...