Viewpoint

01.07.16

What Is Disappearing from Hong Kong

Alvin Y.H. Cheung
The recent disappearance of publisher Lee Po—allegedly kidnapped from Hong Kong and rendered to Mainland China—has prompted widespread alarm about the state of Hong Kong’s autonomy, both within the city and internationally. In a widely-shared video...

China Lands More Civilian Planes on Fiery Cross Reef

BBC
China has landed two civilian planes on an island built in the disputed South China Sea, days after an earlier landing there prompted international concern.

Why It’s Getting Harder to Understand China

Ben Eisen
Wall Street Journal
The depreciating yuan is exposing the increasing difficulty in getting a firm reading on economy.

Chinese Stock Plunge Forces a Trading Halt, and Global Markets Shudder

Keith Bradsher and Amie Tsang
New York Times
The aftershocks carried over to Europe and the United States, where markets fell sharply once again.

Media

01.07.16

Assessing China’s Plan to Build Internet Power

Scott D. Livingston
When the Chinese Communist Party targeted clean energy in its 11th Five Year Plan (2006-2010), the resulting investment spree upended the global clean energy market almost overnight. Now, as China approaches its 13th Five Year Plan, a new policy...

Conversation

01.06.16

The North Korean Bomb Test—What's Next?

Barbara Demick, Jonathan D. Pollack & more
On Wednesday, North Korea claimed that it had tested a hydrogen bomb, bringing to four the number of nuclear weapons it has set off on its own territory since 2006. The act drew international condemnation, prompting us to ask: What’s different this...

No. Korea Tested a Nuclear Bomb on China’s Doorstep, and China is Not Pleased

May Shi and Echo Huang Yinyin
Quartz
In Yanji, a trade hub between the two countries, desks and tables swayed and people were evacuated from buildings.

Media

01.05.16

China’s Top 5 Censored Posts in 2015

Louisa Lim
Chinese President Xi Jinping rounded off 2015 by posting his first message on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, in the form of a new year’s greeting to the People’s Liberation Army. His post received 52,000 comments, mostly fawning messages of...

Culture

01.05.16

In ‘Mr. Six,’ China’s Changing and Staying the Same

Jonathan Landreth from China Film Insider
Playing an aging gangster railing against the “little punks” who kidnapped his son in Beijing, Feng Xiaogang gives a solid performance as the title character of Mr. Six: a gravel-throated vigilante shaken when his go-it-alone rescue effort puts him...

China's Markets—A Sharp Reminder on Reform

Australian Financial Review
The old command model has reached its limits: if China wants things to stay the same, it will have to change. 

S. China Sea Tensions Surge as China Lands Plane on Artificial Island

Greg Torode and Michael Martina
Reuters
China's increasing military presence in the disputed sea could effectively lead to a Beijing-controlled air defence zone.

Caixin Media

01.04.16

How a Beijing Traffic Cop Lined His Pockets

After rising from beat cop to Beijing traffic manager, Song Jianguo used his position to trade favors for nearly 24 million yuan in cash and gold

After Mysterious Disappearance, Hong Kong Publisher Claims He Is In China ‘Cooperating with Authorities’

Simon Denyer
Washington Post
Lee Bo specializes in books critical of the Communist Party.

Greece-Sized China Outflows Highlight Policy Maker Challenge

Enda Curran
Bloomberg
Investors are rushing money out of China as yuan weakens to lowest point since August.

China's Alibaba Pictures Ousts Senior Board Member After Graft Allegations

Patrick Brzeski
Hollywood Reporter
The company hasn't been able to contact the former Tencent executive since he was detained by authorities in July.

China Defence: Work Starts on Second Aircraft Carrier

BBC
BBC
China is expanding its navy amid rising tension with its neighbours in the East and South China Seas.

Schoolgirl's Death Sparks Riots, Clashes in China's Gansu

Lin Jing
Radio Free Asia
The 13-year-old is believed to have jumped from the top of a tall building after being accused of shoplifting, drawing around 1,000 locals.

Viewpoint

12.30.15

No, Pu Zhiqiang’s Release Is Not A Victory

Hu Yong
Pu Zhiqiang is a well-known Chinese human rights lawyer and outspoken intellectual who has taken on many precedent-setting cases defending freedom and protecting civil liberties. But his outstanding contributions in the judicial realm and his...

China and Russia’s Orwellian attacks on Internet freedom

The Editorial Board
Washington Post
Xi Jinping’s recent speech suggests that China won’t give up nudging global Internet governance toward the “sovereignty” model.

Monthly Data Details China’s Anti-Corruption Campaign

Hudson Lockett
China Economic Review
Data “supports the hypothesis that the pace of the corruption crackdown has slowed in quantity, but that the investigators are having more success in gaining prosecutions.”

Conversation

12.23.15

China in 2016

Andrew J. Nathan, Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian & more
What should China watchers be watching most closely in China in 2016? What developments would be the most meaningful? What predictions can be made sensibly?

Conversation

12.15.15

Can an Alibaba ‘Morning Post’ Aid China’s Image Overseas?

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, David Wertime & more
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is buying the Hong Kong media group of the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the leading independent English-language newspaper in the former British colony where freedom of the press has resisted control by the...

China Suspends Death Sentence for Wife of Disgraced Official

Rishi Iyengar
Time
The murder of British businessman Neil Heywood sparked one of China's biggest political scandals.

Reports: China Tycoon Appears at Event After Disappearance

Associated Press
The chairman of the Chinese conglomerate said he was assisting an official investigation after he disappeared for a day last week.

The Hard Reality Behind China’s Soft Power

Hannah Beech
Time
Even as China burnishes its image overseas, the Communist Party conducts brutal suppression of civil liberties at home.

Caixin Media

12.14.15

Lack of Clear Policy Direction on Two-Child Rule Leaves Nation Guessing

Regional family-planning officials say the lack of clarity on when the new two-child rule will come into effect has put them in legal limbo, unable to issue birth permits to couples who conceive a second child before the new policy kicks in, leading...

China Disappearances Highlight Ruling Party Detention System

Bloomberg
Caixin magazine reported that Guo Guangchang, the billionaire chairman of Fosun International Ltd. couldn’t be contacted.

Caixin Media

12.09.15

Progress for NGOs Battling Polluters in Court

Two environmental groups have become the first non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in China to win a lawsuit that champions nationwide battles against polluters on behalf of the public. A court in Nanping, a city in the southeastern province of...

Three Labour Rights Leaders Detained In China As Worker Unrest Grows

Neil Connor
Telegraph
Activist detentions follow a growth in discontent among workers affected by China's stalling economy.

China Issues Rules Banning Dishonesty In Science Publishing

Associated Press
Chinese regulators overseeing the field of academic publishing for scientific articles have issued rules explicitly banning dishonest practices.

On China’s Constitution Day, Book on Constitutionalism Largely Disappears

KIKI ZHAO
New York Times
China held its second-ever National Constitution Day on Friday.

How China’s Anti-Corruption Drive Is Hurting Growth

Katy Barnato
CNBC
Chinese authorities' anti-corruption campaign has knocked between 1 percent and 1.5 percent off the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

Conversation

12.03.15

Does the Renminbi’s Elevation to Global Currency Matter?

Arthur R. Kroeber & Zhiwu Chen
On November 30, the International Monetary Fund approved the Chinese renminbi, also known as the yuan, as one of the world’s leading currencies, underscoring the country’s rising global financial importance. What’s behind the decision and what...

Chinese Ministry Says China Has 17M Road Rage Case In 2015, As Viral Videos Attest

Huileng Tan
CNBC
China is the world's largest vehicle market, and possibly one of the world's most dangerous, if the latest figures are any indication.

China Calls Hacking of U.S. Workers’ Data a Crime, Not a State Act

MICHAEL FORSYTHE and DAVID E. SANGER
New York Times
China has acknowledged that the breach of the United States Office of Personnel Management’s computer systems was the work of Chinese hackers.

Viewpoint

11.30.15

Court in China Adds Last-Minute Charge Against Rights Leader During Sentencing

Yaxue Cao from China Change
On August 8, 2013, Guo Feixiong (real name Yang Maodong) was arrested and then indicted on charges of “gathering a crowd to disrupt order in a public place.” The heavy sentence came as a shock to everyone following the case. More shockingly, the...

Top 10 China Dependent Countries

Kenneth Rapoza
Forbes
A list of the top 10 countries exporting to China and the year-to-date performance of their corresponding exchange traded funds.

Beware of China's Safety Record

Murong Xuecun
New York Times
Chinese people have paid heavily for a flawed system. Now that Chinese-style construction and management are going global, what price is the world prepared to pay?

Media

11.27.15

‘Personal Media’ in China Takes a Hit From Pre-Publication Censorship

Hu Yong
Observers have long thought that Chinese authorities censor the media depending on type: the censorship of traditional media is primarily conducted in advance, with a thorough inspection of news and discussion before publication; new media, in...

Caixin Media

11.24.15

China Eyes More Muscle for Market Supervision

Strengthening the People’s Bank of China’s regulatory clout is high on a list of suggestions for improving financial market oversight following last summer’s stock market crash.As supporters of the plan see it, no government institution is in a...

Chinese Student Protesting Books’ Stance on Homosexuality Meets With Officials

Chris Buckley
New York Times
Gay activists in China brought their demands for public acceptance to a court.

Yiyi Lu: Rebuilding the Communist Party

Yiyi Lu
WSJ: China Real Time Report
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s effort to clean up politics in the country is generally known as an “anticorruption campaign.”

Conversation

11.19.15

Is China a Credible Partner in Fighting Terror?

Andrew Small, Chen Weihua & more
In the wake of the terror attacks in Paris China’s foreign minister Wang Yi said, “China is also a victim of terrorism. The fight against the ‘East Turkestan Islamic Movement’… should become an important part of the international fight against...

China Insists to U.N. That It’s Combating Torture

NICK CUMMING-BRUCE
New York Times
Senior Chinese officials dismissed allegations of the widespread use of torture.

China’s Banks Test U.S. Legal System

NICOLE HONG and LINGLING WEI
Wall Street Journal
Bank of China says turning over account records would violate Chinese law.

Conversation

11.18.15

How Can China’s Neighbors Make Progress at APEC?

Le Hong Hiep & Brian Eyler
Ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit next week, we asked a group of experts from China’s neighboring countries what they thought the main thrust of discussion in Manila should be. If host, the Philippines, under pressure from...

Thailand Deports 2 Dissidents to China, Rights Groups Say

CHRIS BUCKLEY
New York Times
The groups denounced the act, by the Thai authorities, as a betrayal of the two men’s right to flee feared political persecution and torture.

China Faces Sharp Questioning by U.N. Panel on Torture

NICK CUMMING-BRUCE
New York Times
“China has made further progress in its legal development and human rights protection.”

Lawyer's Rights in China

Amnesty International
China’s criminal justice system is still heavily reliant on forced confessions obtained through torture and ill-treatment.

Rights Lawyers in China Routinely Face Abuse, Report Says

JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ
New York Times
Legal activists and those suspected of crimes in China are routinely abused and mistreated at the hands of law enforcement officials.

China Corruption Fight Extends to Top Officials in Beijing and Shanghai

JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ
New York Times
President Xi Jinping’s sweeping crackdown on corruption has claimed senior officials in China’s two largest cities.

Caixin Media

11.10.15

Mao’s ‘Proud Poplar’: Yang Kaihui

Sheila Melvin
Yang Kaihui—who was killed 85 years ago this month—was the first of Mao Zedong’s three freely chosen wives. (Mao was forced by his parents to wed an older neighbor when he was just 14 but did not consider this a true marriage.) Yang’s dramatic, and...

China Softens Tactics in Global Hunt for Corruption Fugitives

ELIZABETH PIPER, SARAH YOUNG AND PAUL...
Reuters
China has changed tactics in its global man-hunt for fugitives wanted at home for corruption.

Media

11.09.15

Can the China Model Succeed?

Daniel A. Bell, Timothy Garton Ash & more
Is this a new model? Is authoritarian capitalism, Leninist capitalism, something that has durability? Have the rules changed about how countries develop? That used to be, remember, that open markets led ineluctably to open societies. How does it...

Media

11.06.15

‘A Brutality Born of Helplessness’

Alexa Olesen
When China finally scrapped its one-child policy after more than three decades of brutality, almost no one lamented its passing. But Paul R. Ehlich, a Stanford-educated biologist and author of the 1968 fear-baiting classic The Population Bomb, was...

China's One-Child Policy and American Adoptees

STAV ZIV
Newsweek
“I felt winded. My stomach dropped. My eyebrows raised. I managed a small chuckle. Talk about feeling a mix of emotions.”