Bird Flu’s Latest Talons Force Fresh Defense
CAIXINA surprise attack by a new strain of the bird flu virus has forced Chinese authorities into the trenches for a two-pronged defense against unseen enemies.The primary threat is the deadly virus that scientists identified as a new strain of H7N9. It first surfaced in February in...
Poison Eaters of Gansu Province
CAIXINBarely any rainfall on a bone-dry landscape has always made crop farming in the province of Gansu a rough gamble between the sky and local irrigation policies. But now, farmers reap only sorrow from fields that experts say are severely contaminated with cadmium and other heavy...
Airpocalypse Now: China’s Tipping Point?
ALEX WANG, ORVILLE SCHELL, ELIZABETH ECONOMY (& authors)The recent run of air pollution in China, we now know, has been worse than the air quality in airport smoking lounges. At its worst, Beijing air quality has approached levels only seen in the United States during wildfires.All of the comparisons to London, Los Angeles, and New...
Desperate Cash Infusions Driving Blood Trade
CAIXINThe tumor was growing, and the family of cancer patient Xia Jianqing was growing desperate.Doctors at a military hospital in Beijing had warned Xia’s family that he would die without the blood needed for a lifesaving operation. But the hospital had no blood to spare, forcing...
Dirty Truth about China’s Incinerators
CHINADIALOGUEXie Yong could be called a pioneer. He is one of very few to date to sue a Chinese government agency over its unlawful refusal of requested data. His crusade for change has little to do with civic altruism, however. Xie’s struggle is personal in nature, his actions forced by...