Caixin Media

10.27.16

Shanghai Enforcing Ban on Overseas Curricula at International Schools

Education authorities in Shanghai have sought to reaffirm a government rule that bans international schools attended by Chinese students from using imported curricula in their entirety. The action comes amid official concerns over the erosion of...

Conversation

10.27.16

What Does Xi Jinping’s Top-Down Leadership Mean for Innovation in China?

Matthias Stepan, Anna Ahlers & more
One of the hallmarks of Xi Jinping’s leadership has been a centralization of power across a whole range of areas of domestic politics. This week, the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership meets in Beijing for the sixth plenary session of its 18th...

China’s Communist Party Declares Xi Jinping ‘Core’ Leader

Chris Buckley
New York Times
The term suggests Mr. Xi has already joined the same revered league as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping before a big shake-up in the party’s top ranks next year

China Does Itself No Favors With Its Threats

Richard McGregor
Nikkei Asian Review
If its economy keeps on growing, China's sheer size, wealth and military reach may make a kind of Pax Sinica in the region inevitable

And the Award for ‘Best Corruption Apology by a Chinese Official’ Goes To…

Zheping Huang
Quartz
The winner so far is Li Chuncheng, former deputy party chief of Sichuan province, who is now serving 13 years’ jail time for abusing power and bribery

China: The Virtues of the Awful Convulsion

Ian Johnson from New York Review of Books
For decades, Beijing’s Beihai Park has been one of the city’s most beloved retreats—a strip of green around a grand lake to the north of the Communist Party’s leadership compound, its waters crowded with electric rental boats shaped like ducks and...

LegCo Drama Rages On

Jeffie Lam et al
South China Morning Post
LegCo president Andrew Leung adjourns meeting after B. Leung and Yau force way into chamber; protest organizer estimates 10,000 came to denounce the duo

China Officials Stuff Cotton Gauze into Air Monitoring Equipment to Falsify Results

Neil Connor
Telegraph
The environmental officials had also tampered with computers to alter the results of pollution monitoring in the northern city of Xi’an

How One City in China is Trying to Avoid a Property Boom and Bust

Christian Shepherd
Financial Times
Chongqing mayor’s star rises thanks to scrutiny of real estate market

Shanghai Seeks to Enforce Ban on Overseas Curricula at International Schools

Li Rongde
Move comes as officials voice fears over erosion of values that result from imported syllabuses

Conversation

10.25.16

How Many U.S. Allies Can China Turn?

Zhang Baohui, Richard J. Heydarian & more
Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Philippines since June, visited China this week and signaled his interest in shifting Manila’s allegiance away from Washington toward Beijing. While his predecessor sued China in an international court to contest...

Resettling China’s 'Ecological Migrants'

Edward Wong and Josh Haner
New York Times
These are the people the government has relocated from lands distressed by climate change, industrialization, and poor policies to hastily built villages

China’s Latest Deadly Industrial Explosion Spotlights Dire Workplace Safety

Charlie Campbell
Time
Explosion that killed at least 14 came during a key meeting of the Chinese Communist Party and was swiftly censored

Duterte’s Fling With China Could Prove Fleeting

Andrew Browne
Wall Street Journal
Beijing will soon discover that Manila’s affections can be fickle

Caixin Media

10.24.16

The Yuan’s Internationalization is Just Beginning

The official acceptance of the yuan (or renminbi) into the International Monetary Fund’s elite currency club on October 1 marked a milestone in the Chinese government’s campaign to boost the yuan’s international appeal.Inclusion of the yuan in the...

China’s 6th Plenum Begins With a Focus on Intra-Party Discipline: What to Expect

Ankit Panda
Diplomat
The highlight of China’s 2016 political calendar, the Sixth Plenum of the 18th Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, kicked off on Monday

In China, Close to 8,000 People are Vying for One Government Job

Josh Chin
Wall Street Journal
The job — with more than 7,700 applicants vying for a single position as of Sunday — is head of the reception office at the China Democratic League

Researcher Uncovers How Victims of China’s Cultural Revolution Really Died

Violet Law
Los Angeles Times
Her persistence has pierced the official silence enforced by the Chinese government. As time goes on, families of those who died are more willing to open up

Guess What India and China Need to Improve Relations? More Spies

Nicolas Groffman
South China Morning Post
Strange as it may sound, China and India need a basis in espionage to improve their relationship.

Pope Francis Targets Deal With China in Year of Mercy

Stephanie Kirchgaessner
Guardian
Agreement on issue of Vatican’s right to appoint bishops in China would be biggest diplomatic feat of Francis’s papacy

Chinese Hackers Targeted U.S. Aircraft Carrier

Jeevan Vasagar and Geoff Dyer
Financial Times
Cyber security group says attack launched against visitors to vessel in South China Sea

As Tensions Over Taiwan’s National Identity Reignite, Mainland Tourists Avoid the Island

Jessica Meyers
Los Angeles Times
Mainland tourism has dropped 20% since June, weeks after President Tsai took power and declined to endorse the One-China notion

Trump’s Misleading Comparison of the U.S. and Chinese Economies

Ian Talley
Wall Street Journal
Emerging markets run faster than advanced economies because of the rule of diminishing returns

China’s Local Governments Are Getting Into Venture Capital

Lulu Yilun Chen and Edwina Chan
Bloomberg
China’s next billion-dollar startup could have backing from an investor with more money than Warren Buffett and a knack for promoting spicy duck-neck delicacies

Sinica Podcast

10.20.16

The Consequences of the One-Child Policy Will Be Felt for Generations

Kaiser Kuo, Jeremy Goldkorn & more from Sinica Podcast
The first day of 2016 marked the official end of China’s one-child policy, one of the most controversial and draconian approaches to population management in human history. The rules have not been abolished but modified, allowing all married Chinese...

Trump Thinks China’s Leaders are Smarter. They Didn't Even Let Their People Watch the Debate

Simon Denyer
Washington Post
Once again, China was cast as the foil to expose the weakness of the Obama administration and, by extension, Hillary Clinton.

China Lags Behind in Rule of Law Ranking

Josh Chin
WSJ: China Real Time Report
A new global ranking finds China is making limited progress

China Worked Its Way into the Debate on the Topic of Abortion

Echo Huang Yinyin
Quartz
Clinton's “Like they used to do in China” line might lead some to think the state no longer interferes with family planning--but it still does

Party Time in China: The Riddle of Xi

Dexter Roberts
Bloomberg
The prospect of the Party Congress in fall 2017 is already roiling politics.

Features

10.19.16

Why Newly Elected Hong Kong Legislators Cursed and Protested—At Their Own Swearing-In

Suzanne Sataline
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...

‘I Am Chinese’: Philippine President Duterte’s Awkward Charm Offensive in China

Charlie Campbell
Time
Having sanctioned thousands of extrajudicial killings, Duterte says his visit to China is “the defining moment of my presidency”

What China Sees in Donald Trump--and in Itself

Jiayang Fan
New Yorker
Chinese observers have described the Trump-Clinton standoff as a spectacle of unfettered “chaos” that shakes their faith in the legitimacy of Western democracy

How the Party’s Absolute Power Undermines its Efforts to Strengthen China’s Rule of Law

Cary Huang
South China Morning Post
While Chinese leaders support the need for a credible legal system, it is their iron-clad grip that is the stumbling block to its development

Crown’s Luck Runs Out as China Widens Casino Crackdown

Mike Cherney and Wayne Ma
Wall Street Journal
Foreign companies face inherent risks in attracting high-rollers from China, where gambling is illegal

China’s Real ‘House of Cards’: TV Series Unveils Graft Excess

Ting Shi
Bloomberg
The eight-episode series, called “Always On the Road,” is being beamed daily to hundreds of millions of Chinese homes through Oct. 25 on CCTV’s Channel 1

As Trump Bashed China, He Sought Deals with its Government-Owned Energy Firm State Grid

South China Morning Post
Trump Hotel Collection negotiated with the State Grid Corporation of China to brand and manage a major development in the capital

The Limits of Chinese Isolationism

Alice Su
Atlantic
Can a country doing business all over the world really avoid other peoples' politics?

Depth of Field

10.18.16

Over-Protective Mothers, E-cigarettes, Sports Hunting, and More

Ye Ming, Yan Cong & 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...

The Race to China’s 19th Party Congress

Jonathan Brookfield
Diplomat
Next fall, China’s leaders will kick off the 19th Party Congress. Start your engines.

China Courts Philippines Leader Duterte Amid Signs of U.S. Rift

Tom Phillips and Oliver Holmes
Guardian
The Philippines president is visiting China, but whether his focus is on building relations or his country’s infrastructure remains to be seen

China’s Last Tiananmen Prisoner Set to be Freed, but Frail

Gillian Wong
New York Times
Miao Deshun, the 51-year-old former factory worker, is severely ill after spending more than half his life behind bars

Sinica Podcast

10.14.16

An American’s Seven Months in a Chinese Jail

Kaiser Kuo, Jeremy Goldkorn & more from Sinica Podcast
In 2009, Michael Manning was working in Beijing for a state-owned news broadcaster by day, but he spent his nights selling bags of hashish. His position with CCTV was easy and brought him into contact with Chinese celebrities, while his other trade...

Trump: If Hillary Clinton Falls Down in China, Chinese People Will “Leave Her There”

Louise Liu
Business Insider
Chinese are "tough people" who would not help Clinton up if she fell down-- "They'll say 'Let her come up when she's ready.'"

China Boosts Regional Ties with Milestone Xi Visit to Dhaka

Arun Devnath
Bloomberg
China is expected to sign off on more than $23 billion in loans to Bangladesh to fund a series of large-scale infrastructure projects

China Rethinks Approach After Surge in Lending to Risky Countries

Christian Shepherd, Lucy Hornby and...
Financial Times
Lower oil price wreaks havoc on debt repayments

How Hong Kong's Cantopop Scene Went from Heartbreak to Protest

Helier Cheung
BBC
Cantonese pop music is formulaic, intensely emotional, strangely addictive and quintessentially Hong Kong. Now it is also becoming political.

Viewpoint

10.14.16

Let One Hundred Panthers Bloom

Eveline Chao
“Chairman Mao says that death comes to all of us, but it varies in its significance: to die for the reactionary is lighter than a feather; to die for the revolution is heavier than Mount Tai.” So wrote Huey P. Newton, founder of the Black Panther...

Japan to Expand Djibouti Military Base to Counter Chinese Influence

Nobuhiro Kubo
Reuters
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is seeking to give the SDF a greater regional and global role as his nation steps back from seven decades of state pacifism.

Xi Jinping Reminds China’s State Companies of Who’s the Boss

Emily Feng
New York Times
In an unusual meeting that ended on Tuesday, President Xi Jinping announced that the Chinese Communist Party had the ultimate say over state companies

Russia May be Hacking Us More, but China is Hacking Us Much Less

Ken Dilanian
NBC News
Chinese hacking has plummeted in the year since China signed an agreement with the Obama administration to curb economic espionage

Rebel Hong Kong Politicians Defy China at Chaotic Swearing-In Ceremony

Tom Phillips
Guardian
Pro-democracy politicians cross fingers and make protest signs and subversive references to Beijing’s authoritarian rulers

China Targets Parents With Religion Rules in Xinjiang

Al Jazeera
Government denies committing abuses and says legal rights of Uighur people are protected as new laws are announced

Why Cambodia is Pinning its Hopes on Chinese President’s Visit

Luke Hunt
South China Morning Post
A country reeling from falling rice prices and foreign investment has its eyes on emergency aid and a boost in trade

Books

10.11.16

The Red Guard Generation and Political Activism in China

Guobin Yang
Raised to be “flowers of the nation,” the first generation born after the founding of the People’s Republic of China was united in its political outlook and ambitions. Its members embraced the Cultural Revolution of 1966 but soon split into warring factions. Guobin Yang investigates the causes of this fracture and argues that Chinese youth engaged in an imaginary revolution from 1966 to 1968, enacting a political mythology that encouraged violence as a way to prove one’s revolutionary credentials. This same competitive dynamic would later turn the Red Guard against the communist government.Throughout the 1970s, the majority of Red Guard youth were sent to work in rural villages. These relocated revolutionaries developed an appreciation for the values of ordinary life, and an underground cultural movement was born. Rejecting idolatry, their new form of resistance marked a distinct reversal of Red Guard radicalism and signaled a new era of enlightenment, culminating in the Democracy Wall movement of the late 1970s and, finally, the Tiananmen protest of 1989. Yang completes his significant recasting of Red Guard activism with a chapter on the politics of history and memory, arguing that contemporary memories of the Cultural Revolution are factionalized along the lines of political division that formed 50 years before. —Columbia University Press{chop}

Familiarity and Contempt: Hillary Clinton’s 21-Year Relationship with China

Cary Huang
South China Morning Post
US presidential candidate’s high-profile advocacy of human rights has riled leaders in Beijing

To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Wins Human Rights Award

Simon Denyer and Emily Rauhala
Washington Post
A coalition of leading rights groups will bestow their annual award on Ilham Tohti, who is currently serving a life sentence in China

U.S. Presidential Debate Inspires Schadenfreude in China

Te-Ping Chen
WSJ: China Real Time Report
Many Chinese took to social media to heap scorn on both candidates

China's Other Muslims

Economist
By choosing assimilation, China’s Hui have become one of the world’s most successful Muslim minorities

China Anti-Corruption Campaign Backfires

Hudson Lockett
Financial Times
Xi Jinping drive to cleanse Communist party of graft tarnishes its image

The ‘Patriotic Education’ of Chinese Students at Australian Universities

Alexander Joske and Philip Wen
Sydney Morning Herald
As larger numbers of Chinese students study abroad, greater efforts are being made to ensure they do not return with new-found opposition to the Communist Party