Viewpoint
10.16.24
Where the Malan Blooms
This October 16 marks the 60th anniversary of the testing of the first Chinese nuclear bomb. When my friends and I coiled up our jump ropes and returned to class, we learned inspirational tales about the earliest generation of Chinese nuclear...
Notes from ChinaFile
06.07.23
The U.S. May Be Overstating China’s Technological Prowess
China’s technological prowess is frequently invoked by U.S. policymakers hoping to get votes, attention, or enough bipartisan support to pass a bill. Competition with China was a central motivating factor in federal legislation like the CHIPS and...
Excerpts
09.06.22
The American-Trained Rocket Scientist Who Shaped China’s Surveillance System
The role Qian Xuesen would play in propelling China into a technological and ideological clash with the United States seems almost fated in retrospect. Born in Hangzhou in 1911, the year China’s last dynasty crumbled, Qian had traveled to the United...
Viewpoint
04.08.22
Closing the U.S. to Chinese Biotech Would Do Far More Harm Than Good
Biotechnology intrinsically blurs boundaries between science and commerce, market and state, the global and the national, and even personal privacy and collective interest. Progress depends more heavily in biotech than in other high-tech industries...
The NYRB China Archive
10.04.21
Chinese Medicine in the Covid Wards
from New York Review of Books
In mid-February 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, Liu Lihong, a slight man with a wispy beard, made his way into Hankou Hospital No. 8 in Wuhan. Dressed in an all-white infectious disease suit, the only equipment he carried...
Viewpoint
04.27.21
The Right Way to Bring Chinese STEM Talent Back to the U.S.
The Trump administration deployed a raft of restrictions on international students and workers, many of which directly targeted or disproportionally impacted Chinese STEM talent. While some measures had a basis in legitimate concerns like illicit...
Conversation
02.12.21
Will China Be a Global Vaccine Leader?
Beijing stands to reap major rewards by becoming the supplier of choice—or necessity—throughout low- and middle-income countries. China has expanded its international aid efforts in recent years and stressed its commitment to “south-south”...
Reports
11.17.20
Meeting the China Challenge: A New American Strategy for Technology Competition
Asia Society
Is China or the U.S. ahead in artificial intelligence? What is the best way to counter security threats in 5G technology? How do we best maintain American leadership positions in fundamental research and biotechnology?
Conversation
03.19.20
As Its Coronavirus Outbreak Abates, China Is Trying out a New Look. Is It Working?
As the coronavirus spreads globally, China’s government is working aggressively to change its international image. In the span of just a few weeks, China has gone from the embattled epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic to presenting the country as...
Viewpoint
03.18.20
‘This Is Not Forensic Genetics Anymore. This Is Surveillance.’
Yves Moreau, a professor specializing in human clinical genomics, had been emailing with Promega since 2016, warning its communications department first about how Promega’s products might be used in a proposed DNA databasing project in Kuwait, and...
Conversation
01.08.20
China: The Year Ahead
As 2019 drew to a close, ChinaFile asked contributors to write about their expectations for China in 2020.
Conversation
08.01.19
How Should the U.S. Government Treat Chinese Students in America?
The State Department’s top education official Marie Royce gave a speech entitled “The United States Welcomes Chinese Students.” In it, she quoted recent remarks from Donald Trump, who said, “We want to have Chinese students come and use our great...
Postcard
05.30.19
Four Is Forbidden
Liusi. Six-four. The two-syllable word, spoken nonchalantly by our teacher, was a stone cast into the tranquil pond of a classroom. From each ripple rose a gasp, a murmur, or a perplexed face, with only one or two enunciating the question on many of...
Photo Gallery
12.27.18
Cut Chives
2018 gave us many opportunities to look back at China’s past—the tenth anniversary of Sichuan earthquake and of the Beijing Olympics, the 40th year since the country began its policy of Reform and Opening. This year also brought changes that thrust...
Viewpoint
12.21.18
A Look Back at China in 2018
In 2018, the outlook for China regarding its politics, economy, and relationship with the United States darkened considerably. The removal of presidential term limits and Xi Jinping’s interactions with the Trump administration prompted rare...
Conversation
11.27.18
How to Be a Chinese Scientist without Being China’s Scientist
As trade tensions between the United States and China worsen, a new technological cold war looms, casting its shadow over American universities and research institutions. How should individual scientists of Chinese origin decide whether to accept a...
Viewpoint
10.05.18
Banning Chinese Students is Not in the U.S. National Interest
President Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire to radically revamp America’s immigration policies. Indeed, his family separation policies, which sparked nationwide protests and public revulsion after they were rolled out in May 2018, were...
Infographics
08.15.18
Visualizing China’s Anti-Corruption Campaign
“Catching Tigers and Flies” is ChinaFile’s interactive tool for tracking and, we hope, better understanding the massive campaign against corruption that Xi Jinping launched shortly after he came to power in late 2012. It is designed to give users a sense of the scope and character of the anti-corruption campaign by graphically rendering information about more than 2,000 of its targets whose cases have been publicly announced in official Chinese sources.
ChinaFile Recommends
08.07.18China Has Outspent the US by $24 Billion in 5G Technology since 2015, Study Shows
CNBC
China has in recent years outspent the U.S. by $24 billion in the area of next-generation mobile internet technology known as 5G, potentially creating a "tsunami" that will be difficult to catch up with,...
ChinaFile Recommends
07.30.18From a Space Station in Argentina, China Expands Its Reach in Latin America
New York Times
The giant antenna rises from the desert floor like an apparition, a gleaming metal tower jutting 16 stories above an endless wind-whipped stretch of Patagonia. The 450-ton device, with its hulking dish embracing the open skies, is the centerpiece of...
ChinaFile Recommends
05.30.18Here’s What We Know about China’s Future Space Station
Quartz
China’s going to start sending parts of its future space station into space as soon as 2020, with the aim of having it up and running by 2022.
ChinaFile Recommends
05.17.18OneSpace Launches China’s First Private Rocket
CNN
OneSpace, a startup based in Beijing, on Thursday became the country’s first private company to launch its own rocket.
ChinaFile Recommends
05.01.18White House Considers Restricting Chinese Researchers over Espionage Fears
New York Times
U.S. may bar Chinese from sensitive research at universities and research institutes.
ChinaFile Recommends
04.18.18Will China Beat the World to Nuclear Fusion and Clean Energy?
BBC
In a world with an ever-increasing demand for electricity and a deteriorating environment, Chinese scientists are leading the charge to develop what some see as the holy grail of energy.
ChinaFile Recommends
04.02.18The Rise and Fall of Tiangong-1, China’s First Space Station
New York Times
China’s first space station burned up over the South Pacific on April 1.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.27.18T-Minus One Week until China’s Space Lab Crashes to Earth. Here’s What It Will Look Like.
Washington Post
The out-of-control space lab is expected to plummet to earth in a week.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.14.18Stephen Hawking: China’s Love for the Late Physicist
BBC
As the world mourns Prof Stephen Hawking, who has died aged 76, there has been a particular outpouring of emotion in China, where the visionary physicist was revered by scientists, students, the state and even boy band stars.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.06.18China Tests Giant Air Cleaner to Combat Smog
Nature
A 60-metre-high chimney stands among a sea of high-rise buildings in one of China’s most polluted cities.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.22.18China’s Caves Are Hiding Plants That Exist Nowhere Else in the World
Washington Post
At first glance, a cave doesn’t seem the likeliest home for exotically lush flora. It’s dark, damp and dingy, more likely to host sparkly stalagmites than bristly bushes.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.14.18China Wants to Make a Mark in Space—but It’ll Need a Little Help
Wired
In a China Global Television Network video from 2003, taikonaut Yang Liwei leans back in his orbital capsule, the overstuffed stripes of his spacesuit legs filling the frame. His helmet shield is up, so the viewer can gaze into his eyes as he speaks...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.07.18China Is Placing Underwater Sensors in the Pacific near Guam
NPR
China’s official People’s Daily newspaper reported in December that Chinese scientists had lowered acoustic sensors into the Mariana Trench, at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.06.18Philippines’ Duterte Reneges on China Deal, Bans Foreign Research Ships
Reuters
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has banned all foreign scientific research off the country’s Pacific coast and told the navy to chase away unauthorised vessels, despite earlier allowing Chinese oceanographers to operate there.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.25.18Yes, They’ve Cloned Monkeys in China. That Doesn’t Mean You’re Next.
New York Times
Researchers in China reported on Wednesday that they have created two cloned monkeys, the first time that primates have been cloned with the technique that produced Dolly the sheep more than 20 years ago.
Conversation
01.18.18
Are China’s Blue Skies Here to Stay?
In mid-January, the environmental group Greenpeace announced dramatic improvements in air quality across China. In 74 Chinese cities, measurements of PM2.5, the fine particles that have been a major contributor to the country’s choked skies,...
ChinaFile Recommends
11.20.17China on pace for Record Solar-Power Installations
Bloomberg
China, the world’s biggest carbon emitter, is poised to install a record amount of solar-power capacity this year, prompting researchers to boost forecasts as much as 80 percent.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.14.17China Suddenly Has Way More of the World's Most Powerful Computers Than the US
Quartz
China has surpassed the US by a record margin—nearly 60—to become the nation with the most supercomputers, according to the latest Top 500 survey,
Viewpoint
11.03.17
The Future of Particle Physics Will Live and Die in China
from Foreign Policy
“Don’t you dare kill my project.”My phone interview with a senior official at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) had started with bland, yet polite, responses. But it took a sharp turn toward audible agitation and hostility as I raised my final...
ChinaFile Recommends
10.17.17Tiangong-1: Chinese Space Station Will Crash to Earth within Months
Guardian
The Tiangong-1 or “Heavenly Palace” lab was launched in 2011 and described as a “potent political symbol” of China, part of an ambitious scientific push to turn China into a space superpower.
ChinaFile Recommends
09.21.17Europe Is Designing a New Particle Collider to Take on China
Bloomberg
CERN, the European nuclear physics research organization, is contemplating the development of a particle accelerator three times larger than the Large Hadron Collider that confirmed the existence of the Higgs boson, a move intended to match growing...
ChinaFile Recommends
09.20.17China Rushes to Surpass U.S. In Decoding Citizens' Genes
Wall Street Journal
In this western Chinese city famed for panda conservation, scientists are advancing the world’s most ambitious effort to save a far less-endangered species: humans.
ChinaFile Recommends
09.07.17China Brings Mars a Little Closer with Replica on Tibet Plateau
Guardian
The “simulated Mars station” – a 95,000 square-kilometre tribute to the solar system’s second-smallest planet – will be built in Qinghai province’s Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan autonomous prefecture, not far from the westernmost tip of the Great Wall.
ChinaFile Recommends
08.22.17China to Rev up Bullet Train Revolution with World's Fastest Service on Shanghai-Beijing Line
South China Morning Post
China will soon start official operation of the world’s fastest train service, knocking an hour off the 1,318km journey between Beijing and Shanghai.
ChinaFile Recommends
08.09.17SoftBank Partners with China’s Ofo to Bring Its Dock-Less Bikes to Japan
TechCrunch
A month after committing to help WeWork enter Japan, SoftBank is lending a hand to another global unicorn with its sights set on the country. Today, it announced a tie-in that will bring Ofo’s dock-less bike rental service to Japanese soil.
Environment
08.02.17
Crowded Beijing Revives Old Plan for New Overflow City
from chinadialogue
On April 1, 2017—April Fool’s Day—the government made a surprise announcement that a satellite city bigger than New York would be built from scratch on the outskirts of Beijing. Official news site Xinhua described Xiong’an New District as the “plan...
ChinaFile Recommends
07.05.17Skeletons of 5,000-Year-Old Chinese ‘Giants’ Discovered by Archaeologists
Independent
Archaeologists in eastern China have found 5,000-year-old skeletons of people experts say would have been unusually tall and strong.
The China Africa Project
06.02.17
The U.S. and China Spend Millions Fighting Malaria in Africa, So Why Don’t They Work Together?
Both the United States and People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.) spend hundreds of millions of dollars to fight malaria in Africa. A pair of experts at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia contend that if the U.S. and P.R.C. stopped working in...
ChinaFile Recommends
05.29.17China’s Ill, and Wealthy, Look Abroad for Medical Treatment
New York Times
Hospitals and a new generation of medical tourism companies are luring well-heeled Chinese patients away from an overburdened health care system.
ChinaFile Recommends
04.20.17Why China’s New Cargo Space Ship Is So Important
Diplomat
China’s first indigenously built Tianzhou cargo ship, which is being launched between April 20 and 24, is a major accomplishment.
ChinaFile Recommends
04.07.17China’s Fosun Big on Expanding in Pharma
CBS News
Chinese conglomerate Fosun International will remain on the lookout for investment opportunities in the West amid concerns in the market over capital controls and debt levels, according to the company’s chairman.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.28.17China’s Secret Plan to Crush SpaceX and the US Space Program
CNBC
China’s breakneck economic expansion may be flagging, but the country's ambitions in space show no signs of slowing down.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.28.17China’s Tencent Bought A 5 Percent Stake in Tesla
Re/code
Tencent, a Chinese internet giant, is also an investor in Chinese ride-hail player Didi Chuxing.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.28.17A Bigger Catch: China’s Fishing Fleet Hunts New Ocean Targets
Financial Times
Seagulls wheel and cry around the Caleta Portales fishing pier in the Chilean port of Valparaíso while sea lions loiter in the waves.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.09.17China Developing Manned Space Mission to the Moon: State Media
CNBC
China is building a manned spacecraft capable of sending astronauts to the moon as well as near-Earth orbit flight, according to Chinese state media./
ChinaFile Recommends
03.07.17China’s Plan to Build Its Own High-Tech Industries Worries Western Businesses
New York Times
China has charted out a $300 billion plan to become nearly self-sufficient by 2025 in a range of important industries, from planes to computer chips to electric cars, as it looks to kick-start its next stage of economic development.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.24.17Scientists Discover Prehistoric Giant Otter Species in China
NPR
Six million years ago, giant otters weighing more than 100 pounds lived among birds and water lilies in the wooded wetlands of China’s Yunnan province.
ChinaFile Recommends
12.07.16After 1,000 Year Slumber, China Vows to Invent Again
Wall Street Journal
Beijing spends billions on moonshot projects, hoping to shake off its reputation as a copycat economy and curb dependence on foreign powers
ChinaFile Recommends
12.05.16Silicon Valley’s Culture, Not Its Companies, Dominates in China
New York Times
Looking to break from a rigid workplace culture, Silicon Valley has captured the minds of China’s young entrepreneurs and investors
Reports
11.30.16
Made in China 2025
Jost Wübbeke & Mirjam Meissner
Mercator Institute for China Studies
This report analyses China’s ambitious plan to build one of the world’s most advanced and competitive economies with the help of innovative manufacturing technologies (“smart manufacturing”). China’s industrial master plan “Made in China 2025” aims...
ChinaFile Recommends
11.28.16Castro’s Death a Reminder in China of Changed Communist Axis
Washington Post
China and Cuba frequently nod to their shared ideological history, but relations revolve more around developing beach resorts or Chinese telecoms investments
ChinaFile Recommends
11.18.16China Space Program: Two Astronauts Return to Earth After Monthlong Tiangong-2 Stay
International Business Times
The astronauts spent 30 days in the space lab, where they carried out medical and scientific experiments, and tested the complex’s habitability