A Liberal Arts Education, Made in China

By Eric Abrahamsen on July 19, 2012

No one, it seems, is pleased with China’s educational system. Chinese nationalists fret that students are graduating without the critical and creative skills necessary to compete globally. Foreign observers worry that heavy political indoctrination in schools is producing a new generation of Chinese nationalists. Chinese parents tear their hair out over the grueling exams that will largely determine their children’s futures. And those children, as they graduate into the workplace and struggle to find jobs, grieve for entire childhoods largely sacrificed to preparing for exams.

Arts, Education, Society, Urban Life
College/University

China's New Dictionary: Agricultural Cooperative Is Out, Hair Gel Is In

By Johnny Erling on July 19, 2012

When saying goodbye, people in China often say "Bye Bye." But until this July there was no Chinese way of writing that. There is now: Beijing's guardians of the language have deemed "Bai Bai" the correct written form, and it has been included in the new edition of China's best-known dictionary. Actually the linguists took the matter a step further. There are four tones in spoken Mandarin, and the character "Bai" is spoken in the fourth, which has a very hard ring to it. To soften that, the linguists came up with a tailor-made, second tone "Bai.

Arts, Education, Society, Urban Life
Language

Rock and Roll in China: An Insider’s Journey

By Jason Chow on July 19, 2012

The jaded Western music establishment can learn a thing or two from China, Jonathan Campbell says. The 37-year-old, who spent four years in Beijing as a band promoter, documents the relatively brief history of Chinese rock in his book “Red Rock: The Long, Strange March of Chinese Rock & Roll.” “The best of Chinese rock music embodies something that isn’t embodied in this part of the world anymore—hope, energy and survival,” says Mr. Campbell, who now lives in Toronto. “Rock did change the lives of a lot of people, and Chinese rock demonstrates that.”

Arts
Rock and Roll, Music, Jonathan Campbell

Long Wait Leads to Standoff With Officials

By Andrew Jacobs on July 19, 2012

Thousands of people threw water bottles and blocked traffic at a popular nature preserve in northeastern China on Sunday after word spread that the arrival of top Communist Party leaders was causing an hours-long wait to visit a scenic lake. It was one of a string of brash confrontations in recent months between the authorities and Chinese citizens.

Politics, Society
Tourism, Government Officials

More than Medals for China’s Olympic Stars

on July 19, 2012

China’s best athletes have not only broken records but they’ve hauled in increasingly sizeable cash bonuses from central and local governments for their champion, medal-winning performances at Olympic events.

Between 1984, when China re-entered the Olympics arena, and the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, the total amount of cash paid by central government sports authorities increased 57 times. By comparison, the nation’s per capita GDP during that period increased 34 times.

Vineyards Pop Corks on Chinese Wine Investors

on July 19, 2012

Wine-tasting party conversations among investors in China are increasingly sounding like sour grapes.

Some well-heeled wine investors have been anxiously debating whether a price bubble for investment-grade wine is getting ready to burst. Others complain that counterfeiters who palm off fake bottles of rare vintages and smugglers who sneak French burgundy into the country are ruining the legitimate spot market for expensive cases of wine.

Cleaning Up Coal

By Richard K. Morse on July 18, 2012

That explosive increase in coal use came not from the developed world, where demand is plateauing, but from the developing world, where the fuel remains the cheapest, most reliable source of electricity. This year, the market in globally traded coal used to generate electricity is expected to reach 850 megatons -- twice the total in 2000.

Environment
Coal, Climate Change, Fossil Fuels