Title
ChinaFile Conversation
The ChinaFile Conversation is a weekly, real-time discussion of China news, from a group of the world’s leading China experts.
Last Updated: July 7, 2016
Conversation
03.04.16
Xi Jinping: A Cult of Personality?
By some accounts, Chinese Presdient Xi Jinping is the most powerful leader the country has had since Mao Zedong. One arrow in his quiver that echoes Mao’s armory is Xi’s embrace of popular song, listened to these days not on the radio or...
Conversation
02.23.16
How Long Can China’s Internet Thrive if the Rest of the World Gets Shut Out?
Last week, Chinese authorities announced that as of March 10, foreign-invested companies would not be allowed to publish anything on the Chinese Internet unless they have obtained government permission to publish with a Chinese partner. What does...
Conversation
02.18.16
‘Rule by Fear?’
In the just over three years since Xi Jinping assumed leadership of China, observers and scholars of the country have increasingly coalesced around the idea that Xi’s term in office has coincided with a shift in the tone, if not the practice, of...
Conversation
02.09.16
What New Approach Should the U.S. and China Take to North Korea?
On Sunday, North Korea launched a long range rocket many see as a test of its capability to launch a missile attack against the U.S., defying both American and Chinese pressure not do so. Republican U.S. presidential candidates argued Washington...
Conversation
02.02.16
How Close Was the Latest Close Call in the South China Sea?
Had things in fact calmed down in recent weeks as the Chinese official press claimed, only to be stirred up again needlessly by another Freedom of Navigation sail by the U.S. Navy?
Conversation
01.27.16
Is George Soros Right that China’s Headed for a Hard Landing?
On Tuesday in an article headlined, “Declaring War on China’s Currency? Ha ha,” the People’s Daily attacked billionaire investor George Soros for suggesting he might short the renminbi. The Chinese currency has dropped 5.7 percent since August when...
Conversation
01.20.16
Beijing’s Televised Confessions
Recent days have seen two more in a long string of televised “confessions” on China Central Television, that of Swedish human rights activist Peter Dahlin and Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai. Did these gentlemen break any Chinese laws? What do these...
Conversation
01.13.16
Does Chinese Investment Pose a Threat to Hollywood?
The Wanda Group, China’s leading real estate developer, on Monday paid $3.5 billion for a controlling stake in Hollywood studio Legendary Entertainment, maker of Jurassic World, among other global blockbusters. At a time when Hollywood is...
Conversation
01.06.16
The North Korean Bomb Test—What's Next?
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...
Conversation
12.23.15
China in 2016
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?
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...
Conversation
12.09.15
Is China a Leader or Laggard on Climate Change?
As ongoing climate talks wind down at COP21 this week, participants in and observers of the summit in Paris wrote in to share their assessment of the message coming from the official delegation from China, currently the world’s largest emitter of...