ChinaFile Recommends
05.29.14China Scrambles to Adjust to Baby Boomlet
Wall Street Journal
China's health officials are taking steps to accommodate two million more births annually after a landmark decision last year to relax population controls.
ChinaFile Recommends
05.27.14ChinaFile Recommends
05.27.14China Said to Deport Models for Working Illegally
New York Times
Chinese authorities have deported scores of foreign models whom they detained earlier this month in Beijing on accusations that the models were working illegally, said a model who once worked in China.
ChinaFile Recommends
05.23.14A Scholarly Response to ‘Tiger Mom’: Happiness Matters, Too
New York Times
When a child scores 99 on a test, an American parent will lavish praise. But a Chinese parent will say: “What happened? Why didn’t you get 100?”
Media
05.23.14“What’s Been Done to My Beautiful Homeland?”
Nigel Maiti, an ethnically Uighur host for Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, is a well-known and popular entertainer with more than 1 million followers on the social media site Sina Weibo. After 31 were killed by a coordinated bomb and truck attack at...
Books
05.22.14Age of Ambition
From abroad, we often see China as a caricature: a nation of pragmatic plutocrats and ruthlessly dedicated students destined to rule the global economy—or an addled Goliath, riddled with corruption and on the edge of stagnation. What we don’t see is how both powerful and ordinary people are remaking their lives as their country dramatically changes.As the Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, Evan Osnos was on the ground in China for years, witness to profound political, economic, and cultural upheaval. In Age of Ambition, he describes the greatest collision taking place in that country: the clash between the rise of the individual and the Communist Party’s struggle to retain control. He asks probing questions: Why does a government with more success lifting people from poverty than any civilization in history choose to put strict restraints on freedom of expression? Why do millions of young Chinese professionals—fluent in English and devoted to Western pop culture—consider themselves “angry youth,” dedicated to resisting the West’s influence? How are Chinese from all strata finding meaning after two decades of the relentless pursuit of wealth?Writing with great narrative verve and a keen sense of irony, Osnos follows the moving stories of everyday people and reveals life in the new China to be a battleground between aspiration and authoritarianism, in which only one can prevail. —Farrar, Straus, and Giroux {chop}
ChinaFile Recommends
05.22.1431 Dead, 90 Injured in China Marketplace Bombing
Associated Press
Assailants in two SUVs plowed through shoppers while setting off explosives at a busy street market in China's volatile northwestern region of Xinjiang, killing 31 people and injuring more than 90, local officials said.
ChinaFile Recommends
05.20.14The World Is Falling All Over Itself to Attract Chinese Tourists
Global Post
The number of tourist departures from China hit a whopping 97.3 million in 2013, up more than nine fold from 2000, according to the Germany-based China Outbound Tourism Research Institute
Media
05.20.14Netizens Complain Chinese Government Was Slow to Respond to Violence in Vietnam
On May 18, Hong Lei, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said China “will suspend some of its plans for bilateral exchanges with Vietnam in response to the deadly violence against Chinese nationals in the country,” according to...
The NYRB China Archive
05.20.14Tiananmen: How Wrong We Were
from New York Review of Books
Twenty-five years ago to the day I write this, I watched and listened as thousands of Chinese citizens in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square dared to condemn their leaders. Some shouted “Premier Li Peng resign.” Even braver ones cried “Down with Deng...
Media
05.19.14One Uighur Man’s Journey in Two Cultures
Over the past two months, the relationship between China’s estimated 10 million Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking people, most of whom follow some form of Sunni Islam, and the majority Han population has deteriorated after a series of violent incidents...
Infographics
05.15.14China’s Fake Urbanization
from Sohu
This infographic explains why it is so hard for rural migrants to settle permanently in cities. For starters, city dwellers were the first to get rich after Reform and Opening Up, which created a large income disparity between them and people living...
Media
05.15.14Evan Osnos: China’s ‘Age of Ambition’
New Yorker correspondent Evan Osnos discusses his new book, Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China, with Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director of Asia Society's Center on U.S.-China Relations.{chop}
ChinaFile Recommends
05.15.14China’s Cutthroat School System Leads to Teen Suicides
Wall Street Journal
Suicide has been an increasing problem in China, with state media calling it the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 34.
The NYRB China Archive
05.15.14China: Detained to Death
from New York Review of Books
On May 3, fifteen Beijing citizens—scholars, journalists, and rights lawyers—gathered informally at the home of Professor Hao Jian of the Beijing Film Academy to reflect on the 25th anniversary of the 1989 June Fourth massacre in Beijing. Two days...
Sinica Podcast
05.10.14Initial Impressions: Three First Trips to China, 1970s-1990s
from Sinica Podcast
In this show: dating tips for hooking up with your Marxist-Leninist thought instructor, advice on what modern music and seasonal vegetables to smuggle in from Hong Kong, the origins of China’s somewhat unorthodox driving customs, and instructions on...
Media
05.06.14Chinese to the World: Ignore Our GDP
The U.S.-based World Bank grabbed everybody’s attention by announcing that China was poised to displace the United States as the world’s largest economy based on purchasing power. But a survey of the Chinese web shows people at home aren’t buying it...
ChinaFile Recommends
05.06.14Six People Injured in Attack at South China Rail Station
Wall Street Journal
A single man slashed people outside a Guangzhou railway station. An armed police officer fired at and wounded the attacker, helping authorities capture the perpetrator.
ChinaFile Recommends
05.05.14Young Party Members ‘Top Earners’
South China Morning Post
Survey of China's 'post-80s' generation finds high pay tied to official status inside the Chinese Communist Party.
Sinica Podcast
05.03.14Shoptalk on Publishing
from Sinica Podcast
This week on Sinica, Jeremy Goldkorn is pleased to be joined by two people navigating the English-language publishing industry as it involves China: Alice Xin Liu, Editor of Pathlight magazine, and Karen Ma, first-time author of the well-received...
Infographics
05.02.14The ‘Nongmin’ Breakdown
from Sohu
Who are China's rural migrant workers?A uniquely Chinese social identity, the category of “rural migrant worker” is a product of China’s urban/rural dichotomy. It refers to a class of citizens no longer employed in the agricultural sector who...
Media
04.30.14Five Lessons From the Axing of ‘The Big Bang Theory’
It’s a plot twist few saw coming. Not long ago, China’s video streaming sites were trying to clean up years of copyright violations by paying big bucks to license popular U.S. television shows. For their part, Chinese fans had begun to abandon the...
ChinaFile Recommends
04.29.14China Breaks Into Las Vegas Show Business
Associated Press
The privetely funded, wordless, loosely plotted "PANDA!" is China's latest soft power incarnate.
ChinaFile Recommends
04.29.14China’s Income Inequality Surpasses U.S., Posing Risk for President Xi Jinping,
Bloomberg
The income gap between the rich and poor in China has surpassed that of the U.S. and is among the widest in the world, a report showed, adding to the challenges for President Xi Jinping as growth slows.
ChinaFile Recommends
04.29.14China’s Aggressive Museum Growth Brings Architectural Wonders
CNN
By the end of 2013, two years before deadline, China already exceeded its goal, tallying a total of 4,000 museums.
Media
04.28.14A Guide to Social Class in Modern China
Class is a sensitive word in China. Marxist-Leninist rhetoric like “class enemies,” “class conflict,” and “class struggle” are rarely seen in the country’s media these days, but since China began its market reforms in 1979, stratification has...
ChinaFile Recommends
04.28.14Apple, Be Afraid: China's Xiaomi Going Global
Forbes
Xiaomi’s Mi3 in China is cheaper than the iPhone 5c—1,999 yuan versus 4,488. No wonder Xiaomi outsells Apple, shipping 7.3 million phones in the fourth quarter of last year over Apple's 7 million.
Media
04.25.14Bieliebers They Are Not—Chinese Outraged by Singer’s Tokyo Shrine Visit
Justin Bieber has once again displayed his talent for seemingly effortless international gaffes. The twenty-year-old Canadian pop princeling, who last year wrote “hopefully she would have been a Belieber” in the guestbook on his visit to the Anne...
ChinaFile Recommends
04.25.14The Chinese Take Manhattan: Replace Russians as Top Apartment Buyers
Reuters
Many Chinese buyers are switching their interest away from markets like Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore amid fears that prices have soared to frothy levels in those cities.
ChinaFile Recommends
04.24.14China’s Police Will Carry Guns Unlike Any Others
Wall Street Journal
Arming regular beat patrols is a significant policy change for a nation with some of the world’s most restrictive gun laws.
Viewpoint
04.23.14From Half the Sky to ‘Leftovers’
The three-plus decades since the inception of the ‘one child’ policy have resulted in a huge female shortage in China. The country is now seriously unbalanced, with 18 million more boys than girls. By 2020, there will be some 30 million surplus men...
Media
04.23.14Welcome to Uighur Web—Now Watch What You Say
China’s Internet is vast, with millions of sites and more than 618 million users. But nested within that universe is a tiny virtual community comprising just a few thousand websites where China’s Uighur, the country’s fifth-largest ethnic minority...
ChinaFile Recommends
04.22.14China’s Growing Human Rights Movement Can Claim Many Accomplishments
Washington Post
Since Xi Jinping became president of China, there has been a sustained crackdown on advocates of democracy and civil society. A couple hundred Chinese citizens have been arrested and tried or await trial. Lawyer and activist Xu Zhiyong&...
ChinaFile Recommends
04.22.14China Could Become the World’s Largest Christian Country
Slate
China likely already has more Protestants—an estimated 58 million—than South Africa or Brazil, major centers of evangelical revival, and 67 million Christians in all—larger than the total population of France. More people go to...
Sinica Podcast
04.21.14American Football in China
from Sinica Podcast
This week we’re delighted to be joined by Christopher Beam, author of the passage quoted above, which we unceremoniously filched from his fantastic New Republic essay about his year with the Chongqing Dockers, one of the many new amateur football...
Viewpoint
04.20.14The Specter of June Fourth
If yesterday was typical, about 1,400 children in Africa died of malaria. It is a preventable, treatable disease, and the young victims lost their lives through no faults of their own. Why it is that human beings accept a fact like this as an...
ChinaFile Recommends
04.16.14Billions of Hours Wasted: Candy Crush Comes to China
Wall Street Journal
Tencent will promote King Enterainment's highly addictive game on its mobile chat application WeChat, which now has 355 million monthly active users.
Infographics
04.15.14Hidden Taxes
from Sohu
It is tax day in the United States, when many citizens groan and grumble at the size of their refund (what refund?) or scratch their heads as they try to maximize deductions. Our partners at Sohu recently published an infographic, which we have...
ChinaFile Recommends
04.15.14China’s Air Pollution Leading to More Erratic Climate for US, Say Scientists
Guardian
Computer modelling shows intensification of U.S.-bound Pacific storms, driven by fine aerosols from coal power plants and traffic.
Media
04.15.14Captain America Conquers China
SHANGHAI—This week, while U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s trip to China was underscoring bilateral tensions between the two powers, the Chinese masses were busy embracing another U.S. visitor. The Marvel superhero sequel Captain America: The...
Sinica Podcast
04.14.14Live at the Association for Asian Studies
from Sinica Podcast
This week, Sinica presents a special live recording from the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) which convened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Regular listeners, please note that the audio quality here isn’t up to our usual...
ChinaFile Recommends
04.14.14Can Forbidden Rules Teach Officials How to Behave?
Global Times
A Sichuan newspaper listed "ten forbidden behaviors" for officials—such as don't talk to the public with hands behind your back and don't ask others to carry the suitcase for you.
The NYRB China Archive
04.08.14Solving China’s Schools: An Interview with Jiang Xueqin
from New York Review of Books
In December, China stunned the world when the most widely used international education assessment revealed that Shanghai’s schools now outperform those of any other country—not only in math and science but also in reading. Some education experts...
Sinica Podcast
04.07.14In Conversation with Timothy Garton Ash
from Sinica Podcast
This week on Sinica, Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn are pleased to host a conversation with Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of History at Oxford University and recent participant in the Capital M Literary Festival in Beijing. As one the world's...
ChinaFile Recommends
04.02.14Alibaba’s IPO Architect Lays Out Blueprint for E-commerce Empire
Reuters
Joe Tsai, executive vice chairman of the world's largest e-commerce company, sees an Alibaba future that stretches from banking to education, travel to entertainment.
ChinaFile Recommends
04.02.14Apology to Wife in Sex Scandal Breaks Online Record in China
Associated Press
Actor Wen Zhang’s apology to his actress wife following rumors of his infidelity has set a record for comments and retweets on China’s version of Twitter.
ChinaFile Recommends
04.01.14Is the American Middle Class Losing Out to China and India?
New York Times
CUNY professor Branko Milanovic says the middle class in China and India experienced 60 to 70 percent income growth from 1998 to 2008, while middle class growth stalled in the United States.
Sinica Podcast
03.24.14We Will Make You Learn to Love Baijiu
from Sinica Podcast
Forget our complaints about the pollution, China has an even more intractable public relations problem that has everything to do with the country’s favorite hard liquor. And yes, we are talking about baijiu. In 1854, French Catholic missionary Régis...
The NYRB China Archive
03.24.14Chinese Atheists? What the Pew Survey Gets Wrong
from New York Review of Books
Earlier this month, I came across a fascinating opinion survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project. The report asked people in forty countries whether belief in God is necessary for morality. Mostly, the results aren’t surprising...
Features
03.21.14Punching a Hole in the Great Firewall
In January, when the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists published its exposé of the use of offshore tax havens by Chinese politicians and business moguls, the Chinese government blocked access to the consortium’s website and to...
ChinaFile Recommends
03.11.14Was Chinese Train Massacre ‘Terrorism’?
Bloomberg
Chinese might want to think twice before they start adopting the U.S.’s politically charged, post-Sept. 11 enthusiasm for labeling terrorists and terror attacks.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.11.14China’s Muslims Will Pay a Heavy Price for the Kunming Knife Attacks
Guardian
There’s no evidence that the Kunming station attack had any connection to global jihad, but that won’t prevent a crackdown.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.11.14China’s Netizens React To Kunming Station Attacks With Anger, Grief
Buzzfeed
Panic, calls against racial profiling, and anger at Western coverage permeate Weibo in absence of ongoing TV coverage of terror attacks.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.11.14After Train Station Massacre Labeled ‘China's 9/11,’ a Wide Search for Culprits
Businessweek
Although no details about the identities of the assailants have been released, state-run newswire Xinhua attributed the Kunming railway station massacre to “terrorists from Xinjiang.”
ChinaFile Recommends
03.11.14Chinese Security Official Vows Harsh Punishment for Terrorists
Xinhua
Senior Chinese security official Meng Jianzhu on Sunday pledged to harshly punish terrorist attackers in accordance with law to ensure social stability.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.11.14China Sees Wave of Violence Against Hospital Staff
BBC
A nurse left paralysed in Nanjing, a doctor with his throat slashed in Hebei and another beaten to death with a pipe in Heilongjiang are not isolated cases, but the latest in a growing crisis of violence at the heart of China's healthcare...
ChinaFile Recommends
03.11.14Fears for Press Freedom in Hong Kong After Influential Editor Stabbed
Hollywood Reporter
Kevin Lau, recently fired as chief editor of a Chinese-language daily known for its hard-hitting reporting, was knifed by unknown assailants who rode off on a motorcycle.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.11.14Many in China Can Now Have a Second Child, but Say No
New York Times
Many couples blamed the rising cost of living for their reluctance to have more than one child. Some cited a cultural norm that requires husbands to provide an apartment, car and other material riches to a bride, demands that can push families into...
ChinaFile Recommends
03.11.14A Border City on the Edge of the Law
New York Times
Mongla in Myanmar is best known among Chinese tourists for its casinos and large selection of rare and endangered animals.
Caixin Media
03.11.14Li Ka-shing’s Remedy for ‘Coddled’ Hong Kong
Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing is again in the media spotlight after he mentioned in late February the possibility of publicly listing his retail business A.S. Watson Group, which is part of the Hong Kong-listed conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa."No...