Environment
07.03.14The Victims of China’s Soil Pollution Crisis
from chinadialogue
This is the first of a special three-part series of investigations jointly run by chinadialogue and Yale Environment 360, with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. You can also read parts two and three.When Zhang Junwei’s uncle died...
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07.02.14China Bans Xinjiang Officials From Observing Ramadan Fast
BBC
Activists have accused Beijing of exaggerating the threat from Uighur separatists to justify a crackdown on the Uighurs’ religious and cultural freedoms.
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07.02.14‘There Are No Rules in China’
Foreign Policy
When dissident author Murong Xuecun returns home, he says he will tell Beijing authorities they can come and get him.
Media
07.02.14The Mogul Takes Manhattan
Lunch at Central Park's Loeb Boathouse is an elegant affair, popular among well-heeled tourists and alumni networking associations for its lakeside view and excellent service. But on Wednesday, June 25, the restaurant hosted hundreds of...
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07.01.14China’s Complicated Relationship with Golf
Golf
Dan Washburn, managing editor of the Asia Society and author of the new book “The Forbidden Game,” tells Jessica Marksbury that golf in China is both banned and booming.
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07.01.14Pro-Democracy Activism Not in Hong Kong’s Interest, China Warns
CNN
As potentially hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong citizens prepare to take to the streets in a now-annual display of public disapproval of Beijing’s interference in the city’s affairs, voices in China’s state-run press are warning that the protests...
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06.30.14They’re Dying at Their Desks in China as Epidemic of Stress Proves Fatal
Bloomberg
China is facing an epidemic of overwork, to hear the state-controlled press and Chinese social media tell it.
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06.30.14‘Transformers’ Breaks Box-Office Records in China
Los Angeles Times
“Transformers: Age of Extinction” broke multiple box-office records in mainland China in its first weekend of release and appears to be en route to displacing “Avatar” as the top-grossing film ever on the mainland.
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06.30.14China Charges Four in Train Station Massacre
USA Today
Chinese authorities Monday charged four people with terrorism and murder in the March 1 knife massacre in the southwest city of Kunming, state media announced.
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06.30.14China Tries To Establish Foothold In Zambia, Tanzania
NPR
Howard French, author of China's Second Continent, talks to Steve Inskeep about why some African countries are of particular interest to Chinese leaders.
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06.30.14China ‘Baby Hatch’ Inundated With Abandoned, Disabled Children
CNN
In just 11 days, 106 children, all with disabilities or medical conditions, were dropped off at the Jinan Orphanage, according to local state media. That is more than the 85 orphans the city accepted the entire previous year.
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06.27.14The (Continuing) Story of Ai—From Tragedy to Farce
Randian
In recent weeks Ai Weiwei has become embroiled, yet again, in apparent controversy.
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06.25.14Congress Votes to Rename Road by Chinese Embassy After Jailed Dissident
Time
Beijing is not amused by the “provocative action,” as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo “has been convicted in accordance with the law.”
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06.25.14Hundreds of NYC’s Homeless Were Duped by a Chinese Millionaire Today
Vice News
A Chinese millionaire treated 250 homeless New Yorkers to a feast and karaoke rendition of “We Are the World” in Central Park today, but pretty much everyone left the event totally totally disappointed.
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06.24.14Web Preaches Jihad to China's Muslim Uighurs
Wall Street Journal
China says the Internet and social media incite terrorism among Uighur minority.
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06.23.14Yang Lan, the ‘Oprah of China,’ Expands Her Reach
Time
Yang Lan is partnering with MAKERS to bring the women's-stories platform to China.
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06.22.14Young Men Who Are Anything Short Of Wealthy In Urban China Face Brutal Girlfriend Reality
Business Insider
China has at least more than 30 million more men than women. As a result, finding a girlfriend there is extremely difficult.
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06.21.1413 ‘Thugs’ Die in Attack on China Police Station
USA Today
Chinese police shot dead 13 people who attacked a police station in the restive northwest region of Xinjiang Saturday morning, according to a report on the local government website and the state-run Xinhua news agency.
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06.20.14A Man Takes His Cabbage for a Walk
New York Times
The Chinese performance artist Han Bing recently dragged a cabbage through city centers as a social commentary on people’s relationships with objects in their lives.
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06.19.14Do Chinese Classrooms Need to Talk About Sex?
CNN
Sex education is taught inadequately in school and avoided by parents, resulting in generations of Chinese children growing up wondering if babies come out of armpits, or from the garbage dump, as others have also cited.
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06.18.14Chinese Directors on Winning Global Box Office: ‘Attacking Hollywood Is the Best Way’
Hollywood Reporter
At the Shanghai Film Festival's most popular forum, leading local film figures debate whether Hollywood is friend or foe.
Caixin Media
06.18.14China’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...
Books
06.18.14The People’s Republic of Amnesia
On June 4, 1989, People's Liberation Army soldiers opened fire on unarmed civilians in Beijing, killing untold hundreds of people. A quarter-century later, this defining event remains buried in China's modern history, successfully expunged from collective memory. In The People's Republic of Amnesia, NPR correspondent Louisa Lim charts how the events of June 4th changed China, and how China changed the events of June 4th by rewriting its own history.{node, 5555}Lim reveals new details about those fateful days, including how one of the country's most senior politicians lost a family member to an army bullet, as well as the inside story of the young soldiers sent to clear Tiananmen Square. She also introduces us to individuals whose lives were transformed by the events of Tiananmen Square, such as a founder of the Tiananmen Mothers, whose son was shot by martial law troops; and one of the most important government officials in the country, who post-Tiananmen became one of its most prominent dissidents. And she examines how June 4th shaped China's national identity, fostering a generation of young nationalists, who know little and care less about 1989. For the first time, Lim uncovers the details of a brutal crackdown in a second Chinese city that until now has been a near-perfect case study in the state's ability to rewrite history, excising the most painful episodes. By tracking down eyewitnesses, discovering U.S. diplomatic cables, and combing through official Chinese records, Lim offers the first account of a story that has remained untold for a quarter of a century. The People's Republic of Amnesia is an original, powerfully gripping, and ultimately unforgettable book about a national tragedy and an unhealed wound. —Oxford University Press {chop}
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06.17.14China’s Answer To Its Poverty Of Space: Moving Mountains
Forbes
Chongqing, Shiyan, Yichang, Lanzhou and Yan’an. All belong to the “Yellow” China, a parched region tormented by a complicated geography that severely limits almost all human activities, such as farming, communications, construction or industry.
Sinica Podcast
06.16.14The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China
from Sinica Podcast
This week on Sinica, Kaiser and Jeremy are joined by David Moser and Leta Hong Fincher, newly-minted Ph.D. and author of Leftover Women, a book which gazes into the state of women’s rights in China, and documents the way state-sanctioned propaganda...
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06.12.14U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern Introduces New Bill on Tibet
Office of Congressman Jim McGovern
Mr. McGovern (MA-02) announced today that he has introduced HR 4851, The Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act, in the House of Representatives.
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06.12.14China and the World Cup
Diplomat
Not known for its soccer prowess, China is now beginning to get serious about the sport.
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06.12.14Capital Mobilizes Anti-Terrorism Volunteer Force
China Daily
Beijing has deployed an anti-terrorism force of about 850,000 urban volunteers to patrol its streets following recent terrorist attacks across the country.
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06.12.14Shanghai Full of Pride: China’s ‘Most Gay-Friendly City’ Prepares to Celebrate
Wall Street Journal
Shanghai Pride, a weeklong celebration of all things gay, officially kicks off tomorrow in what organizers call China’s most gay-friendly city.
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06.11.14Hong Kong Media Worries Over China’s Reach as Ads Disappear
New York Times
In what may be a major escalation of pressure by mainland China on Hong Kong’s independent-minded news media, two major British banks have stopped advertising with one of the city’s biggest newspapers, a top media executive said.
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06.10.14China Now Has More Millionaires Than Any Country but the U.S.
Wall Street Journal
China had 2,378,000 millionaire households in 2013, a rise of 82% from the previous year and almost double the 1,240,000 millionaire households in Japan, according to the Boston Consulting Group Global Wealth 2014 report unveiled on Tuesday.
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06.10.14China’s Real Estate Downturn Spells Trouble for Global Economy
Time
The world's largest trading nation's economic growth remains heavily dependent on property, meaning a sharp downturn in that sector would be felt across Asia and beyond.
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06.10.14Despite Critics, China Asserts Democratic Progress in Hong Kong
New York Times
A week after roughly 100,000 people turned out in Hong Kong in a protest directed at China’s Communist leadership, Beijing has issued a ringing of defence of its oversight of the territory.
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06.09.14Deadly McDonald’s Attack Highlights Fears About Cults in China
Los Angeles Times
The perpetrators were six members of a religious cult, including a middle-age man, his two grown daughters and his 12-year-old son, who became angry when refused a phone number.
The China Africa Project
06.09.14Sino-African Marriages in China: ‘Til Death Do Us Part’?
A marriage boom of sorts is underway in China, where a growing number of African men are tying the knot with Chinese women. While these new families are breaking long-held cultural stereotypes, they are also confronting a whole set of new challenges...
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06.08.14From China with Pragmatism
New York Times
Americans see patronage as corruption, but Chinese recognize that giving money in a red envelope is good manners and important social grooming, and unrelated to graft.
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06.06.14Newton Student Penalized for Democracy Notes in China
Boston Globe
High school senior Henry DeGroot was visiting a school outside Beijing on a semester abroad this year when he decided to make a point by writing prodemocracy messages in the notebook of a Chinese student.
Sinica Podcast
06.06.14Rice, Wheat, and Air Filters
from Sinica Podcast
This week on Sinica, we're delighted to be joined by Thomas Talhelm, Ph.D. candidate in psychology at the University of Virginia and author of a recent paper proposing a fascinating connection between rice and wheat-growing communities, and...
The NYRB China Archive
06.05.14The Ghosts of Tiananmen Square
from New York Review of Books
Every spring, an old friend of mine named Xu Jue makes a trip to the Babaoshan cemetery in the western suburbs of Beijing to lay flowers on the tombs of her dead son and husband. She always plans her visit for April 5, which is the holiday of Pure...
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06.04.14Where the Flame Still Burns
Economist
Hong Kong is the only place on Chinese soil where large public commemorations of the Tiananmen massacre take place; elsewhere memorials of the June 4th crackdown remain strictly forbidden.
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06.04.14After Tiananmen Square, New Lives On A New Continent
NPR
After the democracy protests were crushed in 1989, many thought China would turn inward. Instead, a million Chinese citizens moved to Africa. Howard French discusses his book China's Second Continent.
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06.04.14See What China Sees When It Searches For “Tiananmen” and Other Loaded Terms
Quartz
Blocked on Weibo is one of the most interesting websites on the internet: A list that explains the search terms that are censored on China’s massive microblogging site Weibo.
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06.04.1425 Years Later, Tiananmen Square Still Colors U.S.-China Relations
U.S. State Department
Today, the United States is asking of the Chinese government what we have asked for 25 years: to provide the fullest possible accounting of the Tiananmen events and to stop retribution against those who wish to remember them.
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06.04.1425 Years Later, Lessons From Tiananmen Square Crackdown
National Geographic
A quarter century after democracy protests ended in bloodshed, Chinese still clamor for clean government and courts.
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06.04.14Catholic Cardinal Makes First Appearance at Vigil
New York Times
Cardinal Joseph Zen of the Catholic Church, a longtime advocate of greater democracy in Hong Kong and mainland China, attended the annual candlelight vigil for Tiananmen Square victims for the first time in Hong Kong on Wednesday evening.
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06.04.14Remarks by President Obama at at 25th Anniversary of Freedom Day
Office of the Press Secretary
Barack Obama reminds Poles that while they voted for democracy twenty-five years ago this day, China crushed pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
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06.04.14As China Booms, So Does Popular Unrest
CBS News
In the quarter-century since the crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, China's economy has thrived and presented the world with an historic milestone. But at what cost to its people?
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06.04.14In Pictures, Remembering the Tiananmen Square Massacre
Mashable
Twenty-five years ago on Wednesday, the Chinese government, acting under martial law, deployed 200,000 troops into Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
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06.04.14Tiananmen at Twenty-Five: "Victory Over Memory"
New Yorker
Today, technology and globalism are prying open the lives of China’s people. But, in matters of politics and history, the Party is determined to silence even the “few flies” that Deng Xiaoping once described as a bearable side effect of an open...
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06.04.14Hong Kong Recalls Tiananmen Killings, China Muffles Dissent
Reuters
Tens of thousands of people held a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong to mark the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters 25 years ago in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, while mainland China authorities sought to whitewash the event.
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06.03.14Marking 25th Anniversary of China's Tiananmen Square Takes Creativity
Los Angeles Times
Every year, political activists try to commemorate those who died in the 1989 crackdown at Tiananmen Square, and the Chinese government tries to prevent them, a cat-and-mouse game as classic as "Tom and Jerry."
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06.03.14Tiananmen, Forgotten
New York Times
To my generation, the widespread patriotic liberalism that bonded the students in the early 1980s feels as distant as the political fanaticism that defined the preceding decades.
The NYRB China Archive
06.03.14The Tanks and the People
from New York Review of Books
Twenty-five years ago, before the Tiananmen massacre, my father told me: “Son, be good and stay at home, never provoke the Communist Party.”My father knew what he was talking about. His courage had been broken, by countless political campaigns...
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06.02.14Tales of Army Discord Show Tiananmen Square in a New Light
New York Times
In a stunning rebuke to his superiors, Major General Xu Qinxian said the Tiananmen protests were a political problem and should be settled through negotiations, not force.
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06.02.14China Escalating Attack on Google
New York Times
The authorities in China have made Google’s services largely inaccessible in recent days, a move most likely related to the government’s broad efforts to stifle discussion of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations.
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05.30.1425 Years On, No Fading of Tiananmen Wounds, Ideals
Associated Press
While China's economy, society and cities have transformed in the last 25 years, Tiananmen demonstrators and their supporters are keen to remind the world that other things haven't changed.
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05.30.14China’s Culture of Compliance Is Crippling the Country
Time
This year, China will very likely overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest economy. It has certainly become wealthy. But it has also become less free.
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05.30.14Obama Says the U.S. Will Lead the World for the Next 100 Years. China Disagrees.
Washington Post
The Global Times, China’s state-run nationalist-leaning newspaper, later challenged that view, asking, “America wants to lead the world for another 100 years, but with what?”
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05.29.14First Rule of Chinese Tourism: Give Them What They Want
CNN
As the global travel industry rolls out the welcome mat for China's surge of outbound tourists, it should consider tipping the scales in their customers' favor.
Features
05.29.14Why Defenders of Killer Whales Are Worried About China
Late last year, the circus came to Hengqin. Trained elephants from Thailand, Russian jugglers and monkies, Kazakh horses, Bengal tigers, and Cuban acrobats descended on the once-sleepy island near Macau for China’s “First International Circus...