ChinaFile Recommends
12.08.14What China Has to Do with the Mysterious Death of an Indigenous Leader in Ecuador
Quartz
Last week the leader of an Ecuadorian indigenous group, José Isidro Tendetza Antún was found by his son in an unmarked grave. The outspoken critic of a controversial Ecuadorian mining project had been due to speak at the United Nations climate talks...
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12.08.14Labor Movement ‘Concertmaster’ Tests Beijing’s Boundaries
Reuters
When local officials warned striking shoe factory workers in China's Pearl River Delta this summer that they were breaking the law, a slight, bespectacled figure barely 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 meters) tall faced them down.
"Where is the...
Media
12.08.14On First Annual Constitution Day, China’s Most Censored Word Was ‘Constitution’
On December 4, China’s first annual Constitution Day, Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily posted the complete text of the Chinese constitution to its Weibo microblogging account, accompanied by the upbeat hashtag: “Let’s all read the...
The China Africa Project
12.06.14The BRICS Bank: China’s Drive to Shake Up Development Finance
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (aka the ‘BRICS’) are moving forward with an ambitious plan to shake up the clubby world of development finance. The new BRICS bank announced over the summer 2014 is expected to have a profound impact on...
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12.05.14China Watchdog Says TV Censorship Rules Should Apply Online Too
Hollywood Reporter
A more censorious environment coincides with a boom in tie-ups between China and Hollywood. HBO and Tencent have agreed to make HBO content available on a broad basis in China, including shows like The Newsroom, Boardwalk Empire, Rome and Band of...
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12.05.14China Arrests Ex-Security Chief Zhou Yongkang
BBC
The most senior Chinese official to be investigated for corruption, has been arrested and expelled from the Communist Party, state media report.
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12.05.14China Expels Ex-Security Boss Zhou Yongkang From Communist Party
Agence France-Presse
Zhou became ensnared in President Xi Jinping's much-publicised anti-corruption drive in July when he was put under investigation for "serious disciplinary violation".
Media
12.05.14Repeat After Me: Taiwan’s Recent Elections Had Nothing to Do With Hong Kong
If China was in fact the invisible candidate in Taiwan’s local elections, it just lost in a landslide. On November 28, voters on the self-governing island, which mainland China considers a renegade province, selected candidates for over 11,000...
Infographics
12.05.14China’s Fallen Mighty [Graphic]
Over the past thirty-eight years, twelve of China’s top leaders have been purged. This infographic and the bios of these leaders explain how and why these mighty men fell. Download the high-resolution graphic.
Features
12.05.14China’s Fallen Mighty [Updated]
Political infighting and purges have been hallmarks of the Chinese Communist Party since its earliest days but came to a peak during Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, damaging the country and paralyzing the Party itself. When Mao died in 1976, it...
Environment
12.04.14Indian Critics of Tibet’s First Dam ‘Exaggerating’ Dangers
from chinadialogue
Tibet’s first major dam, the Zangmu hydropower station, started generating electricity at the end of November. This prompted complaints from Indian media that Chinese dam building on the Yarlung Zangbo River could reduce water flow and cause...
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12.04.14Barack Obama “Would Not Want Your Kids Growing Up in Beijing”
Beijinger
Ouch. It was bad enough when Louis CK described Beijing as a "giant Dayton, Ohio" on David Letterman's show, following his visit to our fair city for a secret performance.
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12.04.14Days After We Interviewed These Former Cops Chinese Authorities Arrested Two of Them
Washington Post
Many lived under constant government surveillance and were detained whenever they try to leave their home towns to bring their complaints to Beijing.
The NYRB China Archive
12.04.14China’s Brave Underground Journal
from New York Review of Books
On the last stretch of flatlands north of Beijing, just before the Mongolian foothills, lies the satellite city of Tiantongyuan. Built during the euphoric run-up to the 2008 Olympics, it was designed as a modern, Hong Kong–style housing district of...
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12.03.14China Will Be Banishing Its Creative Class to the Countryside
Vice News
Chinese President Xi Jinping is channeling the late communist revolutionary Mao Zedong in a potential crackdown on China's burgeoning creative class.
Reports
12.03.14Warring State: China’s Cybersecurity Strategy
Center for a New American Security
Research Associate Amy Chang explores the political, economic, and military objectives of China’s cybersecurity apparatus; reveals drivers and intentions of Chinese activity in cyberspace; and analyzes the development of Beijing’s cybersecurity...
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12.02.14Hong Kong Protests Have Produced No Real Winners
Guardian
There appear to be no real winners from Hong Kong’s umbrella movement: not the demonstrators—who have failed to win the concessions for which they have fought so persistently—nor the authorities, who have veered between aggressive intervention and...
Caixin Media
12.02.14Clearing the Air With a Sino-U.S. Climate Pact
A long-anticipated, Sino-U.S. agreement aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions was announced on November 12 at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Beijing.The deal marked a surprise turn toward compromise for the world's largest...
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12.01.14Teachers’ Strikes Spread Across Northeast China
New York Times
Teachers are asking for raises and for the government to end a requirement that teachers make payments to a pension plan as part of an experimental policy. China National Radio reported that one teacher was making less than $400 a month after...
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12.01.14How Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement Folded
Al Jazeera
An effective boycott by the relevant interlocutors, in the form of government officials, and for two months the lack of a face-to-face oppressor, in the form of police—who until last week appeared to have learned that gassing protesters was the...
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12.01.14Leader Asserts China’s Growing Importance on Global Stage
New York Times
Sounding confident after a burst of high-profile diplomacy, President Xi Jinping told Communist Party officials in a major address here over the weekend that China would be nice to its neighbors in Asia but that he would run an active foreign policy...
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12.01.14Gregarious and Direct: China’s Web Doorkeeper
New York Times
When a major Chinese-American Internet conference convenes in Washington on Tuesday, a middle-aged Communist Party propaganda chief will be seated amid a room full of tech industry executives, American officials and web luminaries.
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12.01.14China’s Crackdown in Hong Kong May Fuel a Long-term Democracy Movement
Washington Post
China's Communist authorities are nothing if not predictable. With a high-profile international summit hosted by President Xi Jinping this month behind them, they are ready for authorities in Hong Kong to crack down on a pro-democracy protest...
Environment
11.26.14The People’s Republic of Chemicals
from chinadialogue
The name of China is almost obscured by a grey smudge on the title page of The People’s Republic of Chemicals, and this image proves to be apt. This book examines the crisis caused by toxic&...
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11.26.14LIVE: Stand-off Ensues Between Protesters and Police in Mong Kok
South China Morning Post
Crowds of protesters are involved in stand-off with police in Mong Kok after officers earlier took control of the junction of Shantung Street and Sai Yeung Choi South Street by forcing people back on the pavement.
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11.26.14Despite Persecution, Guardian of Lake Tai Spotlights China’s Polluters
New York Times
ZHOUTIE, China — By autumn, the stench of Lake Tai and the freakish green glow of its waters usually fade with the ebbing of the summer heat, but this year is different. Standing on a concrete embankment overlooking a fetid, floating array of...
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11.26.14China Fires Journalist Who Tweeted In Support of Occupy Central
Radio Free Asia
Wang Yafeng, who wrote editorials for Communist Party mouthpiece the Jiaxing Daily in the eastern province of Zhejiang, lost his job after sending out tweets highly critical of state media's line on the Hong Kong protests on his personal...
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11.26.14As Chinese Duo Perform at American Music Awards, Those at Home Are Skeptical
Wall Street Journal
In an indication of how fragile domestic confidence is in the country’s cultural exports, many Chinese commentators were immediately skeptical of the award’s authenticity. By the next morning on Weibo, the phrase “Chopstick Brothers bought an award...
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11.26.14China Corruption Watchdog Launches Inspections, Eyes Sinopec
Reuters
The inspectors, part of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), will focus on senior figures within Sinopec who may be promoted to leadership roles.
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11.26.14Paper Published by Communist Party Endorses Charge Against Veteran Journalist Gao Yu
South China Morning Post
Gao, 70, denied the charges in a closed-door hearing on Friday. She faces a maximum sentence of death. The document in question is believed to outline curbs on the spread of Western civil liberties in China.
Viewpoint
11.26.14Three Views of Local Consciousness in Hong Kong
Hong Kong has been in turmoil. The 2003 demonstration in which more than half a million demonstrators successfully forestalled the Article 23 anti-subversion legislation, as well as the 2012 rally of 130,000 and the threat of general student strikes...
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11.24.14Xi and Peng Now Have a Song of Their Own
South China Morning Post
After a series of high-profile events highlighting their marriage bonds, China’s president, Xi Jinping, and his wife, Peng Liyuan, now have a song praising their relationship.
Caixin Media
11.24.14At Factory Waste Ponds, Fumes Choke Fantasies
Deep in the Tengger Desert, near a community of cattle herders about 700 kilometers west of Beijing, pipes from a complex of coal processing and chemical factories once spewed slimy wastewater into six ponds.The "evaporation ponds" were...
Viewpoint
11.21.14What Will Make the U.S.-China Climate Deal Work
Nearly everyone agrees that the U.S.-China climate announcement is a big deal, but most observers have overlooked what truly makes it a game-changer: if the world’s two climate change superpowers limit their greenhouse gas emissions, it will have...
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11.21.14China Detains an American Who Assists North Koreans
New York Times
The aid worker, Peter Hahn, who is 73 and escaped from the North many years ago, is suspected of embezzlement and possession of fraudulent receipts, said the lawyer, Zhang Peihong.
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11.21.14Los Angeles Mayor Presses China to Allow More Hollywood Films
Reuters
Hollywood producers, eager to build ties to the world's second-largest film market, have embraced an influx of Chinese capital in recent years, leading to a series of high-profile partnerships.
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11.21.14China Commits $45.6 Billion for Economic Corridor with Pakistan
Reuters
The Chinese companies will be able to operate the projects as profit-making entities, according to the deal signed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during a visit to China earlier this month.
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11.21.14Google Looks to Get Back Into China
Wall Street Journal
Google Inc. is considering bringing a version of its Play mobile-app store to China, a tentative but important step back into a country that Google mostly exited in 2010.
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11.21.14Political Surgery
Economist
This year is unlikely to be remembered fondly by Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou. He entered it with opinion polls at record lows. Spring saw students occupying the legislature for more than three weeks in protest against his efforts to forge...
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11.21.14“Hunger Games” China Release Date canceled, Likely Due to “Revolutionary” Political Content
That’s
The film's sudden withdrawal may be due to the film's apparently incendiary content, depicting a fictitious revolution aimed at toppling a dystopian future government. It's feared that movie-goers might draw parallels to Taiwan's...
Viewpoint
11.21.14“Getting Pantsed” by the “Central People’s Court”
In December of last year CCTV producer Wang Qinglei wrote a post on his Weibo account criticizing the Chinese government’s campaign-style attacks on prominent social media figures and arguing the media had also been drawn in and was “sidestepping...
Media
11.20.14The Invisible Candidate in Taiwan’s Elections
Almost 80 percent of Taiwan, an island of 23 million off the coast of China, is expected to head to the polls November 29 to vote in local elections with more than 11,000 seats up for grabs. Voters will choose candidates ranging from mayors in...
Infographics
11.20.14Who Really Benefits from Poverty Alleviation in China?
from Sohu
A series of reports issued by China's National Audit Office highlights problems in 19 counties that have received funding from national poverty alleviation programs. News of "impoverished counties’" constructing luxurious new...
The NYRB China Archive
11.20.14‘China Strikes Back’: An Exchange
from New York Review of Books
Letters in response to: “China Strikes Back!” from the October 23, 2014 issue of The New York Review of Books.To the Editors:In “China Strikes Back” [NYR, October 23], Orville Schell sounds a much-needed wake-up call about China’s recent attitude...
Conversation
11.19.14Was the U.S.-China Climate Deal Worth the Wait?
Last week, Ann Carlson and Alex Wang, environmental experts at UCLA Law School, called the November 12 U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change "monumental." "No two countries are more important to tackling the problem than the...
Environment
11.18.14Four Reasons Why the U.S.-China Climate Statement Matters
from chinadialogue
The joint U.S.-China statement on climate change is both inspiring and historic. The two parties have sought common ground, set aside their differences, and put global interests first—as responsible great powers should.The agreement will have four...
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11.17.14China vs. America: Brinkmanship and Statemanship
Age
After Barack Obama's Air Force One touches down in Brisbane, and the American president fulfills the day's G20 obligations including the prime ministerial barbecue, Obama will make his way to Queensland University and deliver the sequel to...
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11.17.14Newspaper Calls on Chinese Academics to Cut the Criticism
New York Times
Liaoning Daily, a Communist Party-run newspaper in northeast China, published the article, “Teacher, Please Don’t Talk About China Like That: An Open Letter to Teachers of Philosophy and Social Science,” last week in response to a comment it...
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11.17.14China's ‘Fox Hunt’ Grabs 288 Suspects in Worldwide Anti-Graft Net
Reuters
China has conducted activities in 56 countries, including the United States, Canada, Spain, South Korea, and South Africa, it said, citing Vice Minister of Public Security Liu Jinguo.
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11.17.14China’s New Old Financial Capital
Wall Street Journal
Hong Kong’s democracy protests are often said to be futile because the city is no longer China’s golden goose, protected from Beijing’s wrath by its economic importance. But Monday’s big news shows that things aren’t so simple: The opening of a “...
Caixin Media
11.17.14Visa and MasterCard Confront China’s Stacked Deck
Visa and MasterCard executives eager to expand in China were thrilled recently when Premier Li Keqiang seemed to suggest that a door would open to them for bank card yuan business in the country.But they had read Li wrong: The premier's...
Viewpoint
11.14.14The Domestic Politics of the U.S.-China Climate Change Announcement
The news from Beijing this week that the U.S. and China are committing to ambitious goals on climate change is, we think, monumental. No two countries are more important to tackling the problem than the largest carbon emitter over the past two...
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11.14.14Leaders of U.S., Australia, Japan to Meet, With Eye on China
Wall Street Journal
The meeting risks antagonizing Beijing, which bristles at perceptions that its rise in the region is being challenged, but also comes as the U.S. and Japan are working to repair ties with China.
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11.14.14Out of the Deep Freeze
Economist
The thorn in the side of relations is Japan’s Senkaku islands, which China claims and calls the Diaoyus. Chinese aircraft and coastguard vessels have greatly raised tensions from 2012 onwards, by making incursions around the Senkakus.
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11.14.14China Anti-Graft Watchdog Finds Gold, Cash in Official’s Home
Reuters
The amount seized in the home of Ma Chaoqun, the former manager of the Beidaihe Water Supply Corporation, was so large that state news agency Xinhua called it "shocking".
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11.14.14In China, Blunt Talk to Reporters on Access
New York Times
Mr. Xi’s comments come as several journalists for The New York Times and other news organizations have been forced to cover the country from outside its borders, after producing articles that were embarrassing for the Chinese leadership.
Sinica Podcast
11.14.14Behind the Curtain at APEC
from Sinica Podcast
With tensions between the West and Russia running high over Ukraine, China and Japan still wrangling over the Diaoyu islands, and America and China fighting over pretty much the same old petty stuff, it's easy to be cynical about APEC. But this...
Conversation
11.12.14Xi Jinping’s Culture Wars
Given China’s tightening restrictions on film, TV, art, writing, and journalism, and the reverberations from President Xi Jinping’s recent speech on culture, we asked contributors why they think Beijing has decided to ramp up its involvement in the...
Media
11.12.14“Having a Second Kid Isn’t as Simple as Adding Another Pair of Chopsticks”
When China loosened its family planning rules a year ago in November, allowing more couples to have a second child, it was big news. It marked the biggest reform of China's strict family planning rules—which limited most urban couples to one...
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11.11.14What Brookings Experts Are Saying about Obama in Asia
Brookings Institution
Experts recently joined together in a full-day conference to examine the economic, environmental, political, and security implications of President Obama's trip to China and his interactions with President Xi Jinping.