Lao She in London
ANNE WITCHARDLao She remains revered as one of China’s great modern writers. His life and work have been the subject of volumes of critique, analysis and study. However, the four years the young aspiring writer spent in London between 1924 and 1929 have largely been overlooked. Dr. Anne...
How Would You Spend (the Next) $300 Million on U.S.-...
ORVILLE SCHELL, MICHAEL KULMAOrville Schell:When Stephen A. Schwarzman announced his new $300 million program aimed at sending foreign scholars to Tsinghua University in Beijing the way Rhodes Scholarship, set up by the businessman and statesman Cecil Rhodes in 1902 began sending American scholars to Oxford...
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...
Lin Shu, Inc.
MICHAEL GIBBS HILLHow could a writer who knew no foreign languages call himself a translator? How, too, did he become a major commercial success, churning out nearly 200 translations over twenty years? Lin Shu, Inc. crosses the fields of literary studies, intellectual history, and print culture,...
Why Is Chinese Soft Power Such a Hard Sell?
JEREMY GOLDKORN, DONALD CLARKE, SUSAN JAKES (& authors)Jeremy Goldkorn:Chairman Mao Zedong said that power comes out of the barrel of a gun, and he knew a thing or two about power, both hard and soft. If you have enough guns, you have respect. Money is the same: if you have enough cash, you can buy guns, and respect.Israel and Saudi...
From the Dragon’s Mouth
ANA FUENTESFrom The Dragon’s Mouth: Ten True Stories that Unveil the Real China is an exquisitely intimate look into the China of the 21st century as seen through the eyes of its people. This is one of the rare times a book combines the voices of everyday Chinese people from so many...
Can China Transform Africa?
JEREMY GOLDKORN, ISABEL HILTON, DONALD CLARKEJeremy Goldkorn:The question is all wrong. China is already transforming Africa, the question is how China is transforming Africa, not whether it can. From the “China shops”—small stores selling cheap clothing, bags, and kitchenware—that have become ubiquitous in Southern...
China’s Post 1980’s Generation—Are the Kids All...
SUN YUNFAN, ORVILLE SCHELL, DAMIEN MAThis week, the ChinaFile Conversation is a call for reactions to an article about China's current generation gap, written by James Palmer, a Beijing-based historian, author, and Global Times editor. The article, first published by Aeon in the U.K., “The Balinghou: Chinese...
No Closer to the Chinese Dream?
TIMOTHY GARTON ASH2013 began dramatically in China with a standoff between journalists and state propaganda authorities over a drastically rewritten New Year’s editorial at the Southern Weekly newspaper.In the first week of the New Year, the editors of Southern Weekly, a weekly newspaper in...
Flowers of the Motherland
SUN YUNFANSchool uniforms have been a hot topic in the Chinese media since last Thursday. On February 20, 2013, on a new satirical TV news talk show akin to the Colbert Report but with a pre-recorded laugh track instead of a live audience, host Jin Yan of Shanghai’s Dragon TV-produced...
College Graduates Compete for Jobs Sweeping Streets
SOUTHERN WEEKENDTong Peng spent six months discovering his bachelor’s degree was “worthless” before deciding to apply for a job as a street sweeper.He graduated from college in Harbin in June, 2012, not expecting to find it so tough to find work with a college degree. He tried over and...
Chinese AIDS Activist Endures “Degradation” in New...
TEA LEAF NATIONChinese people translate “New Yorker” into “New York Ke” to designate people living in New York City, including Chinese immigrants. But in Chinese, “ke” means “visitor” or “guest.” It has been a sad word in Chinese literature and poems for thousands of years,...