ChinaFile Recommends
11.19.12China Broadcaster’s One-Day TV ‘Upfront’ Raises $2.5 Billion
AdAge
Government broadcaster CCTV saw bids for 2013 prime-time ad sales jump 11% from this year, driven mostly by local marketers.
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11.17.12The Saturday Profile: Peng Liyuan, First Lady of China
New York Times
The top pop-folk icon is beloved for a glass-cracking soprano and her range of roles, from Tibetan yak herder to stiff-lipped general.
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11.16.12China's Top Censor's New Leadership Role Raises Fears
Agence France-Presse
Chinese propaganda boss Liu Yunshan has risen to the country’s top leadership in what could be a perilous sign for online debate.
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11.14.12Chinese Authorities Putting Pressure on Businesses to Help Censor the Web
New York Times
Web police units directed companies, including U.S. joint ventures, to buy and install hardware to log traffic, block select sites, and connect with police servers.
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11.14.12Opinion: Don't Expect Radical Reforms in China
Financial Times
If Li Keqiang walks on stage second it will suggest the premier post has been upgraded to a position of greater political clout.
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11.13.12At Mao-style Conclave, China Embraces Twitter Age
Associated Press
Dozens of the more than 2,000 party delegates, among them Chairman Mao's grandson, are using social media to wax rhapsodic about China's rise and Party General Secretary Hu Jintao's live 90-minute reading of highlights from this year...
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11.12.12China's State Council Says 'No Comment' to Social Media
Bloomberg
What makes local government 'Twitter' compelling isn’t that Chinese can follow the bureaucrats, but rather that they can talk back to them.
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11.12.12China Dodges Politcally Sensitive Questions at Key Congress
Reuters
In pre-Olypmics 2007, officials took solo interviews and overseas reporters were encouraged to ask questions. Not so this time.
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11.12.12China Mandates 'Social Risk' Reviews for Big Projects
New York Times
The move is aimed at curtailing the large and increasingly violent environmental protests of the last year.
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11.12.12China, Are You Ready for Some American Football?
New York Times
The NFL is hoping that American football’s flash could someday give basketball and soccer a run for their money in China.
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11.12.12Xinhua Insight: China Will Never Copy Western Political System
Xinhua
Xinhua says Hu Jintao wants China to support state power and at the same time improve the system of community-level democracy.
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11.11.12Recording the Untold Stories of China’s Great Famine
NPR
A young man trudges doggedly around his village, notebook in hand, fringe flopping over his glasses. He goes from door to door, calling on the elderly.The young man has one main question: Who died in our village during the Great Famine?This is the...
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11.11.12China, at Party Congress, Touts its Cultural Advances
New York Times
Party guidance is the "soul” of China's moves to privitize and promote industries that can spread soft power abroad.
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11.10.12China to Launch New Manned Spaceship in 2013-Xinhua
Reuters
The launch marks a step forward in Beijing's ambitions for a bigger space presence, including construction of a space station by 2020.
Books
11.09.12
Strong Society, Smart State
The rise and influence of public opinion on Chinese foreign policy reveals a remarkable evolution in authoritarian responses to social turmoil. James Reilly shows how Chinese leaders have responded to popular demands for political participation with a sophisticated strategy of tolerance, responsiveness, persuasion, and repression—a successful approach that helps explain how and why the Communist Party continues to rule China.Through a detailed examination of China's relations with Japan from 1980 to 2010, Reilly reveals the populist origins of a wave of anti-Japanese public mobilization that swept across China in the early 2000s. Popular protests, sensationalist media content, and emotional public opinion combined to impede diplomatic negotiations, interrupt economic cooperation, spur belligerent rhetoric, and reshape public debates. Facing a mounting domestic and diplomatic crisis, Chinese leaders responded with a remarkable reversal, curtailing protests and cooling public anger toward Japan. Far from being a fragile state overwhelmed by popular nationalism, market forces, or information technology, China has emerged as a robust and flexible regime that has adapted to its new environment with remarkable speed and effectiveness. Reilly's study of public opinion's influence on foreign policy extends beyond democratic states. It reveals how persuasion and responsiveness sustain Communist Party rule in China and develops a method for examining similar dynamics in different authoritarian regimes. He draws upon public opinion surveys, interviews with Chinese activists, quantitative media analysis, and internal government documents to support his findings, joining theories in international relations, social movements, and public opinion. — Columbia University Press
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11.08.12In China, Paranoia Around Twitter Hackings
Wall Street Journal
Activists, journalists and a political cartoonist had their Twitter accounts hacked the opening day of China’s 18th Party Congress.
Features
11.06.12
Fragments of Cai Yang’s Life
The man suspected of smashing the skull of fifty-one-year-old Li Jianli, the owner of a Japanese automobile, has been arrested by police in Xi’an; he is twenty-one-year-old plasterer Cai Yang.Cai Yang came to Xi’an from his hometown of Nanyang [...
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11.06.12Neil Heywood 'Was MI6 Informant'
Telegraph
Neil Heywood, the British businessman murdered in China, gave MI6 info on Bo Xilai.
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11.04.12CCTV Comes to America
Foreign Policy
CCTV America's coverage of China is largely scrubbed of controversy and upbeat in tone, with a heavy emphasis on business and cultural stories in places where Beijing hopes to gain influence. Reporting on topics sensitive to Beijing,...
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11.02.12From Toys to TV News, Jittery Beijing Clamps Down
New York Times
As China's capital steels itself for the 18th Party Congress, the government is cracking down on balloons, homing pigeons, Ping-Pong balls and remote-control toy airplanes, anything that could potentially carry protest messages and mar the...
Media
11.02.12
Chinese Movie Mogul Promises New Party Leaders Will Open Market to Hollywood
A wise old cartoon turtle in Kung Fu Panda advises Po, the portly black and white star of the 2004 DreamWorks Animation blockbuster film, not to fret about honing his fighting skills, but rather to focus on the moment and do his...
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11.01.12Staying Out of Trouble Before the 18th Party Congress
As Beijing enters extreme lock-down prior to the 18th National Party Congress (十八大 or “shi ba da” in Chinese), social media users have invented a new coded reference–“Sparta”–to talk about this otherwise censored topic on Sina...
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10.29.12Chinese Blogging Superstar’s Strange But Effective Rant Against Over-Construction
Although Chinese authorities have since said they would back down from the proposed project, Li’s angry and vivid description of Chinese government remains relevant–and, for that matter, unblocked by Chinese censors. Weaving political commentary,...
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10.29.12Protests in China Get a Boost From Social Media
Bloomberg
The city of Ningbo—a prosperous port of 3.4 million people, near Shanghai—is hardly one of China’s cancer villages, of the kind contributing to the thousands of pollution-related protests that happen each year in China. And the mostly middle-class...
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10.29.12Clubs and Cameras: Stability Preservation in the Age of Weibo
China Media Project
Many images and video posted to Chinese social media from the scene in Ningbo have already been deleted — and some users reported Sunday that Ningbo-based users were unable to post content. But Sina Weibo and other platforms remain the primary...
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10.29.12China's People's Daily Launches Attack on The New York Times
Telegraph
The 1,500 word People's Daily editorial appeared to be a direct response to The New York Times's explosive exposé last week about the $2.7 billion (£1.67 billion) "hidden fortune" of the family of Chinese prime minister Wen...
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10.29.12David Barboza Answers Reader Questions on Reporting in China
New York Times
The Times’s Shanghai bureau chief, David Barboza, reported last week that close relatives of Wen Jiabao, the prime minister of China, hold billions of dollars in hidden riches. Here are his answers to questions from readers prompted by the article.
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10.29.12New York Times Wen Exposé Makes Waves
China Digital Times
David Barboza’s investigation of the wealth built by Wen Jiabao’s extended family has dominated China news since its publication by The New York Times early on Friday. While the basic fact that wealth and power go hand in hand may surprise few—China...
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10.29.12Me and My Censor
Foreign Policy
Like any editor in the United States, I tweaked articles, butted heads with the sales department, and tried to extract interesting quotes out of boring people. Unlike my American counterparts, however, I was offered red envelopes stuffed with cash...
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10.28.12In China, 'Mad Men' Reflects Reality of Modern Life
Los Angeles Times
The 1960s-driven TV drama resonates with ambitious young Chinese professionals.
Media
10.26.12
Myanmar Envy
Chinese netizens’ reactions to tentative democratic reforms in neighboring Myanmar, including to the recent repeal of censorship rules for private publishers by the Southeast Asian nation’s reformist government, reflect just how closely it’s...
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10.26.12China Condemns NYTimes Wen Jiabao Wealth Story as 'Smear'
BBC
Beijing said the report that Wen's family has "controlled ... at least $2.7bn" had "ulterior motives."
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10.25.12Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader
New York Times
Wen Jiabao's son, daughter, younger brother and brother-in-law have become extraordinarily wealthy during his leadership.
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10.24.12A Test Case for the Communist Party’s Commitment to Reform
Wall Street Journal
Critics say the Party can't hold power much longer if fundamental reforms are not introduced – a notion echoed by an essay in the latest issue of the CCP’s own theoretical journal, Seeking Truth.
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10.23.12'Iron Man 3': First Footage Reveals New Villian, No China
Los Angeles Times
Much touted Disney-Marvel film co-production with Beijing-based studio DMG may ring hollow.
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10.23.12China Hints at Reform by Dropping Mao Wording
Reuters
Dropping Mao's name from policy statements hints that the Communist Party may move toward reform.
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10.22.12Five Debate-Worthy Facts about China
NPR
The last U.S. Presidential debate will focus on foreign policy and is sure to discuss Chinese relations.
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10.22.12China hints at move to strengthen Communist rule
Reuters
Xinhua says China's ruling Communist Party will discuss a proposal aimed at strengthening one-party rule over the next five years.
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10.21.12For RZA, Hip-Hop Was Just a Prelude to Kung Fu
New York Times
“The Man With the Iron Fists,” which RZA directed and stars in, is a martial-arts epic set in a mythical Chinese feudal state, where a dispute between a monarch and a nefarious gang draws in a rogue British soldier (played by Russell Crowe), a madam...
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10.20.12Video: A Visit with Ai Weiwei
New Yorker
Earlier this year, we invited the artist Ai Weiwei to visit the United States to take part in the New Yorker Festival, held in early October. At the time, the Chinese government had barred Ai from traveling abroad—an unofficial form of punishment...
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10.18.12Foxconn Workers Have Fun Sometimes
Atlantic
James Fallows' pics from inside a Chinese factory making many famous Western electronic brands.
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10.18.12Radio: Shanghai Residents Discuss U.S. Presidential Debate
NPR
Eight Chinese watched and discussed Tuesday's U.S. presidential debate at the NPR Shanghai bureau.
Reports
10.18.12
Cyber Detente Between the United States and China
EastWest Institute
In May 2012, the United States and China agreed publicly for the first time to begin talks on military aspects of cybersecurity. The agenda and expectations for this process at the official level remain to be set. Through Track 2 processes some very...
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10.17.12State TV Host Apologizes for Cursing American Reporter. Or Does He?
Wall Street Journal
China Central TV host Yang Rui apologized for calling a female U.S. journalist a “bitch” in a xenophobic rant.
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10.15.12How a High-Speed Rail Crash Exposed China’s Corruption
New Yorker
This was not a bus plunging off a road in a provincial outpost; it was dozens of men and women dying on one of the nation’s proudest achievements—in a newly wired age, when passengers had cell phones and witnesses and critics finally had the tools...
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10.15.12China in Hollywood, Hailed and Investigated
New York Times
Movie mogul Han Sanping soon will receive an Asia Society award even as U.S. investigators' continue to question Hollywood studios' dealings with Han's company.
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10.13.12NBA Plans Basketball Facility in China
Associated Press
The 120,000-square foot NBA Center in Tianjin port near Beijing will house basketball courts, a fitness center and a restaurant and be part of a mixed-use development with housing for 150,000.
Media
10.11.12
Netizens React to Mo Yan’s Nobel Prize
Upon hearing the news that novelist Mo Yan was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature, a flurry of messages about the fifty-seven-year-old Shandong native circulated on weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, expressing decidedly mixed opinions...
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10.10.12Censorship Reaching 1,000 Miles Exposed on China’s Twitter
Netizens exposing public servants' taste for expensive timepieces has sparked an online and newspaper crackdown. On October 9, Wang Keqin (@王克勤), an Economic Observer (@经济观察报) reporter posted on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, that...
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10.10.12Five Points on the Deeply Flawed U.S. Congress Huawei Report
Transpacifica
Chinese telecomms firms painted as shady, but evidence to back up allegations is hidden in report's classified sections.
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10.10.12DreamWorks to Make 2-3 Films a Year in China, Eventually
Hollywood Reporter
"Kung Fu Panda" creators will ramp up a partnership with Chinese state-run media funds, slowly.
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10.09.12What Han Han's App Means for Chinese Censorship
By publishing "The One" as an iPhone app, China's superblogger bypassed the State Administration of Radio Film and Television.
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10.04.12What the U.S. Presidential Debate Looked Like From China
Atlantic
Chinese netizens shared mixed views of the U.S. election, some cynical, some optimistic.
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10.03.12Why China Lacks Gangnam Style
New Yorker
In China, the Gangnam phenomenon carries a special pique. It has left people asking, Why couldn’t we come up with that? China, after all, dwarfs Korea in political clout, money, and market power, and it cranks out more singers and dancers in a...
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10.02.12Han Han: “Why Aren't You Grateful?”
New York Review of Books
When looking for Chinese reactions to the anti-Japanese riots that took place in late September, it was probably not much of a surprise that the Western press turned to Han Han, the widely read Shanghai-based blogger. In characteristic form, Han...
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10.02.12What’s Really Trending on China’s Twitter: The Voice of China
Coverage of China in Western media tilts toward the political and economic, so it might surprise some to learn that the top trending terms this summer on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, have mostly related to the season’s top television hit: ...
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10.01.12Sensitive Words: Bo Xilai’s Expulsion
China Digital Times
Since Bo Xilai’s expulsion from the Communist Party and announcement that he would face criminal charges, a number of Sina Weibo terms related to Bo which were previously blocked from search results are now live once again...
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09.27.12Protests Roiling, China’s Mainstream Media Showed an Alternate Reality
It’s already entered the annals of China’s brief but rich Internet history: On Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, posts showing massive anti-Japan protests in China went viral on September 15th and 16th. Out in the real world, protestors across dozens of...
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09.24.12Flag Raising Ceremony Held on China’s First Aircraft Carrier
Danwei
Various front pages in China today feature glowing reports of China’s first aircraft carrier on whose platform a flag raising ceremony was held yesterday. Yet the fact that it happened is just about everything we know for sure about the ship. The...