ChinaFile Recommends
11.11.15China Corruption Fight Extends to Top Officials in Beijing and Shanghai
New York Times
President Xi Jinping’s sweeping crackdown on corruption has claimed senior officials in China’s two largest cities.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.10.15China Softens Tactics in Global Hunt for Corruption Fugitives
Reuters
China has changed tactics in its global man-hunt for fugitives wanted at home for corruption.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.02.15Kids Get Violent: China's School Bullying Epidemic
CNN
Liu Lizhu was not aware her shy, 15-year-old son had been bullied at school until he ended up in hospital with a ruptured spleen.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.02.15Amartya Sen: Women’s Progress Outdid China’s One-Child Policy
New York Times
The abandonment of the one-child policy in China is a momentous change.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.29.15China to End One-Child Policy, Allowing Families Two Children
New York Times
China’s Communist Party brought to an end the decades-old “one child” policy.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.29.15Two More Japanese Being Held in China, Says Chinese Official
Reuters
"In addition to the two who were arrested, one is being held and one is being watched at home," the official said.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.29.15China Court: Rape Risk Higher for Women With ‘Bad Habits’ Like Smoking, Drinking
Washington Post
Women who smoke, drink and dress provocatively are more likely to be raped.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.28.15Can Xi Jinping Control China’s Wave of Change?
Washington Post
“Party tightens grip on dissenting voices,” headlined the South China Morning Post on Friday.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.22.15Human Rights: What Is China Accused of?
BBC
China's human rights record has been criticised for years.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.22.15Philippines Says Handing China Suspects in Diplomats' Shooting
Reuters
Two Chinese diplomats suspected of killing two colleagues will be granted diplomatic immunity and handed over to Chinese authorities.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.21.15As Britain Greets Xi With Pageantry, Magna Carta Gets Less-Than-Royal Treatment in China
WSJ: China Real Time Report
ChinaFile Recommends
10.02.15Q. and A.: Johannes Chan on Academic Freedom in Hong Kong
New York Times
The governing council of the University of Hong Kong rejected this week the nomination of Johannes Chan.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.02.15Suspect in China Parcel Bombings Died in Explosion, Police Say
Bloomberg
Wei Yinyong, 33, a local man previously named as a suspect, was identified following DNA tests.
ChinaFile Recommends
09.30.15Seven Killed, Dozens Injured As Guangxi’s Liucheng County Rocked By Series Of Suspected Parcel Bombs
South China Morning Post
ChinaFile Recommends
09.30.15U.S. Pulls Spies from China After Hack
CNN
The U.S. suspects that Chinese hackers were behind the breach at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which exposed the fingerprints of 5.6 million government employees.
ChinaFile Recommends
09.25.15Top Hong Kong Judges Defend Rule of Law in Face of China Pressure
Reuters
Two top Hong Kong judges on Friday defended the rule of law in an apparent rebuke of China's top official.
ChinaFile Recommends
09.25.15Six Questions for Chinese President Xi Jinping
Washington Post
Chinese President Xi Jinping does not usually conduct open news conferences, but when in America, do as the Americans do.
ChinaFile Recommends
09.24.15China Dissident's Wife Rejects Invite to State Department
Associated Press
The United States has warned that the toughest crackdown in years on Chinese activists threatens to cloud the high-profile visit by Xi.
ChinaFile Recommends
09.23.15China's Xi Tells Foreign NGOs to Obey the Law
Agence France-Presse
Foreign organisations in China should "obey Chinese law".
ChinaFile Recommends
09.23.15ChinaFile Recommends
09.11.15State Council Approves New Draft of Film Industry Promotion Law
Yibada
The law is now subject to discussion and approval by the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.
Caixin Media
09.08.15
Amnesty As a Stepping Stone to Rule of Law
A recent amnesty declaration affecting convicted criminals deemed no threat to society was a poignant reminder of China’s tradition of prudent punishment, support for human rights, and progress toward of rule of law.The recent decision by the...
Reports
07.14.15
Lawyers and Activists Detained or Questioned by Police Since 9 July 2015
Amnesty International
Amnesty International has compiled this list of Lawyers and Activists in China who have been detained or questioned by police since July 9, 2015. The list was collated based on various sources. Amnesty International attempted to confirm all...
ChinaFile Recommends
07.02.15China National Security Law Won’t Apply to Hong Kong
South China Morning Post
Hong Kong has a provision on national security law-Article 23, stating that it can enact laws to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, or subversion.
ChinaFile Recommends
07.02.15China National Security Law Aims to Create 'Garrison State'
Wall Street Journal
The law marks a crackdown on activism and dissent, featuring repression of civil-society groups, and warnings against the spread of Western ideas.
ChinaFile Recommends
06.30.15Media
06.11.15
Zhou Yongkang’s Mask of Fear Falls Quietly Away
Zhou Yongkang—erstwhile oil czar, former chief of China’s dreaded state security apparatus, a man once swaggering and fit enough to perform 50 to 100 pushups in front of fawning onlookers—has completed his transformation into a sad historical...
Conversation
05.14.15
The Future of NGOs in China
Last week, China’s National People’s Congress released the second draft of a new law on “Managing Foreign NGOs.” Many foreign non-profits in China have operated in a legal gray area over the years. The law [full English translation here] establishes...
ChinaFile Recommends
05.12.15ChinaFile Recommends
05.11.15ChinaFile Recommends
05.10.15ChinaFile Recommends
04.20.15China Defines Overall National Security Outlook in Draft Law
Xinhua
Economic security is the basis of national security, and military, cultural, as well as social security are safeguarding measures.
Features
04.02.15
Frank Talk About Hong Kong’s Future from Margaret Ng
Following is the transcript of a recent ChinaFile Breakfast with Margaret Ng, the former Hong Kong legislator in discussion with Ira Belkin of New York University Law School and Orville Schell, ChinaFile Publisher and Arthur Ross Director of the...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.11.15Parent Meddling Makes for Unmerry Marriages in China
Wall Street Journal
"Parental matchmaking is robustly correlated with lower marital harmony,” says a new World Bank report.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.16.15China Arrests 60,000 in ‘Unprecedented’ 100-Day Drug Crackdown
NBC News
China's top anti-drug official said the mass arrests had "sown terror" among drug criminals, according to a report Thursday in China's state-run newspaper Legal Daily. Liu Yuejin told the newspaper that he had called on China...
Viewpoint
01.16.15
The Plight of China’s Rights Lawyers
As the year came to a close, at least seven prominent Chinese human rights lawyers rang in the New Year from a jail cell. Under President Xi Jinping, 2014 was one of the worst years in recent memory for China’s embattled civil society. Bookending...
Viewpoint
01.15.15
Chinese Lawyers to Chinese Lawmakers: Let Us Defend Our Clients
Legal Opinion on Article 35 of the Ninth (Draft) Amendment to the Criminal Law: "We are a group of legal professionals who care about the rights of lawyers and reform of the judicial system and who have taken note of the draft for the Ninth...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.11.15Chinese Spy Chief Ma Jian Detained as Corruption Crackdown Widens
South China Morning Post
It is not clear what triggered the probes, but it is believed to be linked to a high-profile anti-graft investigation into activities at the top of Founder Group, a Peking University-owned technology conglomerate.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.11.15Myanmar-China Trafficking: Sold by Father for $1000
BBC
Along the Chinese border, it is not just drugs being traded—Burmese women and children are being bought and sold.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.07.15China to Boost Support for NGOs That Sue Environment Polluters
Bloomberg
The nation will work to reduce court charges for NGOs in public non-profit environmental litigation, according to a statement on the website of China’s Supreme People’s Court. Defendants will be required to pay court costs when plaintiffs win...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.07.15China’s Empty Promise of Rule by Law
China Change
I’m afraid that those of you who excitedly applauded the Communist Party’s rehashing of the term “governing the country according to the law” have forgotten the famous words of Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Jiang Yu, who once warned sternly, “Don’t...
ChinaFile Recommends
12.22.14China Indicts Jackie Chan’s Son on Drug Charge
Associated Press
Beijing police detained the younger Chan at his Beijing apartment in August along with Taiwanese movie star Ko Kai. Police said Chan and Ko both tested positive for marijuana and admitted using the drug, and that 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of it were...
ChinaFile Recommends
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...
ChinaFile Recommends
11.05.14China Warns Tibet Party Members Not to Harbor Separatist “Fantasies” about Dalai Lama
Reuters
"As for cadres who harbor fantasies about the 14th Dalai Group, follow the Dalai Group, participate in supporting separatist infiltration sabotage activities, (they will be) strictly and severely punished according to the law and party...
ChinaFile Recommends
10.31.14Key Points in China’s Flood of Legal Reform Rhetoric
Wall Street Journal
One core focus of the plenum documents is extra-judicial interference in the work of the courts, which is a source of intense public dissatisfaction with China’s legal system. Notably, they call for the establishment of “circuit courts” operating...
ChinaFile Recommends
10.27.14China Considers Abolishing Death Penalty for Nine Crimes
Reuters
China is considering trimming nine crimes from the list of offenses punishable by death, state media said, as the ruling Communist Party considers broader reforms to the country's legal system.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.24.14Net Closes on Ling Jihua, One-Time Top Aide to Ex-President Hu Jintao
South China Morning Post
Hu has been conspicuously silent over the investigation.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.21.14Hong Kong’s High Court Orders Protesters Off Roads in Mong Kok and Admiralty
South China Morning Post
In an interview with The New York Times, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying hinted at possible intervention by the central government if the situation remained unresolved.
Conversation
10.17.14
Rule of Law—Why Now?
In a recent essay, “How China’s Leaders Will Rule on the Law,” Carl Minzner looks at the question of why China’s leaders have announced they will emphasize rule of law at the upcoming Chinese Communist Party plenum slated to take place in Beijing...
Viewpoint
10.15.14
How China’s Leaders Will Rule on the Law
Last week, as the world watched the student demonstrations in Hong Kong, China’s Politburo announced the dates for the Communist Party’s annual plenary session would be from October 20-23. As in previous years, top leaders will gather in Beijing to...
Sinica Podcast
08.02.14
The Rule of Law in China
from Sinica Podcast
This week on Sinica, Jeremy and David are joined by Donald Clarke, a professor at George Washington University where he specializes in Chinese law, for a discussion of what is happening with the Zhou Yongkang corruption scandal, as well as ongoing...
Caixin Media
06.18.14
China’s Retiring Migrant Workers Have No Place to Call Home
A generation of Chinese people from rural areas who moved to the big cities to find work is reaching retirement age, but many are finding they have been left outside the country's urban pension system despite extensive reforms in recent years...
ChinaFile Recommends
05.28.14China Sentences 55 in Xinjiang Mass Trial
Reuters
The public sentencing, reminiscent of China's revolutionary era rallies, attracted a crowd of 7,000 at a sports stadium in Yining city in the northern prefecture of Yili.
The NYRB China Archive
11.07.13
How to Deal with the Chinese Police
from New York Review of Books
A casual visitor to China today does not get the impression of a police state. Life bustles along as people pursue work, fashion, sports, romance, amusement, and so on, without any sign of being under coercion. But the government spends tens of...
Sinica Podcast
08.30.13
The Trial of the Century
from Sinica Podcast
The spectacular trial of Bo Xilai seized the media’s attention last week as the fallen politburo member—still widely admired in Chongqing and Dalian and heavily connected among the Party elite—defended himself with unexpected vigor against charges...
Media
08.27.13
The Surprise Loser of China’s Trial of the Century: Its Corruption Watchdog
It seems like everybody has something to gain from Show Trial 2.0, a.k.a. the semi-live tweeting of fallen politician Bo Xilai’s day in court.Bo Xilai the showman takes a bow with a flourish; Gu Kailai, the scorned wife, exacts sweet revenge;...