Hong Kong Tycoons Descend on Beijing for Xi Meeting

Joyce Ng and Jeffie Lam
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

China’s Measured Embrace of India

Minghao Zhao
Project Syndicate
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to India, the main leg of a recent tour of Central and South Asia, sheds new light on China’s emerging approach to its neighbors, particularly Asia’s other giant.

Dalai Lama: Chinese President Xi Jinping is ‘More Open Minded’

Vibhuti Agarwal
Wall Street Journal
India's support of the Dalai Lama, who fled to India after a Chinese crackdown in the Himalayan region in 1959, has been a source of friction between the two countries.

Sinica Podcast

09.19.14

LGBT China

Jeremy Goldkorn & David Moser from Sinica Podcast
This week on Sinica, Jeremy Goldkorn and David Moser are joined by Fan Popo for a discussion of the way life works for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual (LGBT) community in China. For those who have not heard of him, Fan is an accomplished...

Towards an Asian Century of Prosperity

Xi Jinping
Hindu
The combination of the world’s factory and the world’s back office will produce the most competitive production base, writes Xi Jinping , President of China

Video

09.18.14

Collecting Insanity

Joshua Frank
Every country has a past it likes to celebrate and another it would rather forget. In China, where history still falls under the tight control of government-run museums and officially approved textbooks, the omissions appear especially stark. An...

Misunderstanding China

Michael Pillsbury
Wall Street Journal
How did Western policy makers and academics repeatedly get China so wrong?

Q. and A.: Yong Zhao on Education and Authoritarianism in China

Didi Kirsten Tatlow
New York Times
Yong Zhao, a professor of education at the University of Oregon, is the author of "Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon: Why China Has the Best (and Worst) Education System in the World.”

Sex in China: An Interview with Li Yinhe

Ian Johnson from New York Review of Books
Li Yinhe is one of China’s best-known experts on sex and the family. A member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, she has published widely on sexual mores, women, and family issues. Li also runs a popular blog, where she has advocated for...

The China Wave

Economist
Chinese management ideas are beginning to get the attention they deserve.

Foreign Journalists in China See Decline in Reporting Conditions

Andrew Jacobs
New York Times
Conditions for foreign journalists working in China have gone from bad to worse over the past year, according to a report issued on Friday by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China.

Majority in China Expect War with Japan

Demitri Sevastopulo
Financial Times
China and Japan are heading towards military conflict, according to a majority of Chinese surveyed on ties between the Asian powers in a Sino-Japanese poll.

China Asks U.S. to End Close-Up Military Surveillance

Jane Perlez
New York Times
The United States should halt its “close-in” aerial and naval surveillance of China, a senior Chinese military officer told Susan E. Rice, President Obama’s national security adviser.

Japanese People Hate China More Than Ever

Megumi Fujikawa
Wall Street Journal
More than half of Japanese respondents who had a negative impression of China thought the country’s actions were incompatible with international rules.

Could China’s Anti-Japan Propaganda Hurt Alibaba’s Image at Home?

Offbeat China
With Alibaba's IPO price set between $60 to $66, the company’s market valuation could hit as much as $200 billion, if everything goes as planned.

Xi Calls for More Strategic Trust Between China, U.S.

Xinhua
Xi said China stands ready to build a new model of major-country relations with the United States based on non-confrontation, non-conflict, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

U.S. Group Says China Could Be Violating Trade Accords

Neil Gough
New York Times
The US Chamber of Commerce, which is based in Washington, raises the possibility of a new approach to China’s increasingly vigilant antitrust actions: lodging a complaint at the World Trade Organization, which China joined in 2001.

'Capture' of Chinese national fighting with ISIS gives China jitters

Jaime FlorCruz
CNN
It's not clear how many Chinese nationals may be fighting with the ISIS. Wu Sike, until recently China's special envoy to the Middle East, earlier stated that there could be about 100 of them.

The Struggle for Hong Kong

Economist
The territory’s citizens must not give up demanding full democracy—for their sake and for China’s.

Iraqis Identify Prisoner as Chinese Islamist Fighter

Edward Wong
New York Times
Chinese officials have in the past expressed concerns about citizens’ venturing abroad to join ISIS or other jihadist groups in the Middle East, or of their being influenced by such groups to carry out attacks within China.

Viewpoint

09.02.14

The Danger of China’s ‘Chosen Trauma’

Harry W.S. Lee
When we see young Chinese people at a state event collectively chant, “Do not forget national humiliation and realize the Chinese dream!” we may be tempted to dismiss it as yet another piece of CCP propaganda. But we may also find ourselves...

Conversation

09.02.14

Hong Kong—Now What?

David Schlesinger, Mei Fong & more
David Schlesinger:Hong Kong’s tragedy is that its political consciousness began to awaken precisely at the time when its leverage with China was at its lowest ebb.Where once China needed Hong Kong as an entrepôt, legal center, financial center,...

Hong Kong’s Democracy Dilemma

Margaret Ng
New York Times
In a huge rally on Sunday in Hong Kong, democratic groups already were declaring a new era of civil disobedience.

China Opposes Proposed EU Sanctions Against Russia

Sui-Lee Wee
Reuters
EU proposed sanctions against Russia over accusations Moscow was sending troops into Ukrainian territory, saying the European Union's push to draw up more measures would only complicate the crisis.

China Accuses MPs of Hong Kong ‘Interference’

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC
The Chinese authorities have accused British MPs of interfering in Hong Kong's affairs.

Mongolia's ‘Rebalance’ Towards Russia and China

Gabriel Dominguez
Deutsche Welle
In a bid to boost its ailing economy, Mongolia is refocusing its foreign policy on its traditional partners Russia and China. But experts warn Ulan Bator runs the risk of becoming increasingly dependent.

China’s Hong Kong Mistake

Evan Osnos
New Yorker
The Beijing government has rejected demands for free, open elections for Hong Kong’s next chief executive, in 2017, enraging protesters who had called for broad rights to nominate candidates.

Will China Vet Hong Kong Election?

Robert Marquand
Christian Science Monitor
The occupation of Hong Kong's central financial district could start early next week, after Beijing releases its guidelines Sunday on how the city's next leader will be elected.

China’s Toilet Paper Makers Flush With Cash

Shu-ching Jean Chen
Forbes
China’s invention of toilet paper in the 6th century, came well ahead of the availability of modern toilet paper in the United States, where inventor Joseph Gayetty first marketed it in 1857.

Xi Eyes Mended China-Vietnam Ties

Xinhua
China and Vietnam will earnestly implement a basic guideline for the resolution of China-Vietnam maritime issues signed in October 2011.

China Says 8 Executed in Western Region; Charges Stem From Separatist Attacks

Chris Buckley`
New York Times
The executions were the latest in a succession of displays of might and resolve by the Chinese government, which is trying to extinguish increasingly violent discontent among Uighurs in Xinjiang.

Xi Jinping Wants to be Seen As on a Par with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping

Cary Huang
South China Morning Post
Xi Jinping has amassed more power in 20 months than his two immediate predecessors, but it may be premature to call him China's new strongman.

New Map Shows China’s True Expanse, General Says

Edward Wong
New York Times
A new vertical map of China issued in June by the Hunan Map Publishing House, uses 10 dashes around the South China Sea to broadly delineate China’s claims to contested waters, shoals, rocks, reefs and islands there.

Under the Knife

Christopher Beam
New Yorker
 Why Chinese patients are turning against their doctors.

Reading Howl in China

Guo XIaolu
Aeon Magazine
My generation, once impassioned by the Western literature of rebellion, is now lulled by ‘Wealthy Socialism.’

Wang Lixiong and Woeser: A Way Out of China’s Ethnic Unrest?

Ian Johnson from New York Review of Books
Woeser and Wang Lixiong are two of China’s best-known thinkers on the government’s policy toward ethnic minorities. With violence in Tibet and Xinjiang now almost a monthly occurrence, I met them at their apartment in Beijing to talk about the issue...

Chinese Rights Lawyer Grilled by Police Over Meetings with US Envoy, ‘Insults’ to Officials

Reuters
Lawyer says timing of police questioning about well-known events could mean that authorities plan to charge Pu Zhiqiang with collusion.

China’s Xi Jinping Seeks Launch of New Media Clusters

Patrick Frater
Variety
Xi said that the new groups should be “diversified,” “advanced,” and “competitive” and said that state authorities should properly integrate and manage traditional and new media.”

China Chides U.S. Over Ferguson Violence, American Racism

Stuart Leavenworth
McClatchy
State media of the world’s largest country has stepped up coverage of the Ferguson violence and protests, publishing commentaries accusing the United States of hypocrisy in seeking to be a global guardian of human rights.Read more here: http://www...

China Said to Deploy Drones After Unrest in Xinjiang

Didi Kirsten Tatlow
New York Times
Three days after an eruption of violence in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang this summer left nearly 100 people dead, the region’s “antiterrorist command” asked the country’s biggest space and defense contractor for help.

Mao’s Little Red Book, Meet Xi Jinping’s Collected Speeches

Te-Ping Chen
Wall Street Journal
Since its publication not quite two months ago, the somewhat turgidly named “A Reader of General-Secretary Xi Jinping’s Important Speeches” has already sold 10 million copies, its publisher reports.

Japan’s Abe Avoids Yasukuni Shrine

Anna Fifield
Washington Post
Japanese prime minister skips visit to controversial shrine to war dead in hopes of meeting with China’s Presidnet Xi Jinping.

In China’s Shadow, U.S. Courts Old Foe Vietnam

Jane Perlez
New York Times
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, courted Vietnam over the past several days.

Vietnam and China—Through a Border Darkly

Economist
Relations between two Communist neighbors are at their lowest point in decades.

My Chinese Education

Tsering Woeser
New York Times
One Tibetan recounts how Beijing’s education system suffocates minority culture serving to unify the country under the rule of the dominant Han ethnic group. 

Conversation

08.11.14

Simon Leys Remembered

Isabel Hilton, Perry Link & more
Isabel Hilton: When I heard the news of the death of Pierre Ryckmans, better known by his pen name, Simon Leys, I began to hunt in my bookshelves for the now yellowing and grimy copies of Chinese Shadows and The Chairman’s New Clothes: Mao and the...

Culture

08.11.14

The Bard in Beijing

Sheila Melvin
At the end of a rollicking production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream—directed by Tim Robbins and staged in China in June by the Los Angeles-based Actors’ Gang—the director and actors returned to the stage for a dialogue with the...

China Says Japan Fighter Jets Shadowed its Planes over Disputed Waters

Michael Martina
Reuters
Tension has been high between Asia's two largest economies in recent months, with each accusing the other of flying military aircraft too close to its own jets in a long-running territorial dispute.

China Says Can Build What it Wants on South China Sea Isles

Ben Blanchard
Reuters
China can build whatever it wants on its islands in the South China Sea, a senior Chinese official said, rejecting proposals ahead of a key regional meeting to freeze any activity that may raise tensions in disputed waters there.

Zhang Tiesheng: From Leftist Hero to Multimillionaire

Tania Branigan
Guardian
Zhang was 22 when he came to national attention in 1973, after he wrote to leaders excoriating the examination as a return to the capitalist model of education. Now 63, he is a major shareholder in the publicly-traded Wellhope Agri-Tech.

Conversation

07.31.14

Zhou Yongkang’s Downfall

Sebastian Veg, Roderick MacFarquhar & more
On July 29, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Chinese Communisty Party announced it was investigating ex-security czar Zhou Yongkang “on suspicion of grave violations of discipline.” Zhou, who retired from the Politburo...

Beijing Begins Apparent Corruption Probe Into High-Level Official

Anthony Kuhn
NPR
China has begun investigations into one of the country's senior politicians. Zhou Yongkang was a former domestic security chief, and he's suspected of "serious disciplinary violations" — a phrase which usually stands for...

China’s Leaders Draw Lessons From War of ‘Humiliation’

CHRIS BUCKLEY
New York Times
The lessons from the twilight of the Qing Dynasty have become all the more pointed today, when Chinese-Japanese ties are tenser than they have been for decades, and President Xi Jinping of China has embarked on an ambitious program to overhaul the...

Defining Taiwan’s Status Quo

Timothy Rich
Thinking Taiwan
This month, the Democratic Progressive Party chairperson proposed a controversial amednment to the party charter that includes a freeze on the party’s independence clause.

Japan’s Opposition Leader Visits Beijing, Vows Candid Talks

Li Xiaokun
China Daily
Banri Kaieda, who arrived in Beijing on July 15, told journalists that he would discuss with high-ranking Chinese officials ways to break the impasse in ties and smooth out disputes China has with current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Environment

07.10.14

U.S.-China Climate Cooperation More Crucial Than Ever

from chinadialogue
As the governments of the United States and China meet in Beijing this week for the Sixth U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), one area worth watching closely is clean energy and climate change cooperation. While this topic may...

Tibet Resists

Jonathan Mirsky from New York Review of Books
Tsering Woeser was born in Lhasa in 1966, the daughter of a senior officer in the Chinese army. She became a passionate supporter of the Dalai Lama. When she was very young the family moved to Tibetan towns inside China proper. In school, only...

Conversation

07.09.14

The U.S. and China Are At the Table: What’s At Stake?

William Adams & Zha Daojiong
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew are in Beijing this week for the sixth session of the high level bilateral diplomatic exchange known as the Strategic and Economic Dialogue. We asked contributors what's likely...

China’s Rise and Asian Tensions Send U.S. Relations Into Downward Spiral

Simon Denyer
Washington Post
Hundreds of rocky islands, islets, sandbanks, reefs and cays lie scattered across Asia’s eastern waters, unimportant-looking to the naked eye but significant enough to spark what may be the most worrying deterioration in U.S.-China relations in...