Sinica Podcast
10.05.15
Edmund Backhouse in the Long View of History
from Sinica Podcast
Edmund Backhouse, the 20th century Sinologist, long-time Beijing resident, and occasional con-artist, is perhaps best known for his incendiary memoirs, which not only distorted Western understanding of Chinese history for more than 50 years, but...
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10.02.15Q. and A.: Johannes Chan on Academic Freedom in Hong Kong
New York Times
The governing council of the University of Hong Kong rejected this week the nomination of Johannes Chan.
Environment
09.25.15
Weak Case for UK’s China-Funded Nuclear Plant, Critics Say
from chinadialogue
The U.K. and China moved closer this week to finalizing the finance of a highly controversial plan to build the first new nuclear power plant in the U.K. for a generation. The plant, Hinkley Point C in Somerset, western England, is seeking Chinese...
ChinaFile Recommends
09.21.15Respect Your Elders: Confucian Kindergartens Catch On in China
WSJ: China Real Time Report
The Party is now introducing traditional culture classes in state-run kindergartens and other levels of schooling.
Sinica Podcast
09.10.15
China’s Millennials
from Sinica Podcast
This week on Sinica, Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn record from San Francisco, where they interview Eric Fish, a long-time China resident, writer at Asia Society, and author of the recent book China’s Millennials: The Want Generation. The hosts talk...
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09.08.15China’s Economic Crisis Ripples at Area Colleges
Boston Globe
As of last year, more than 13,000 Chinese students were attending college in Boston, out of a total of 44,000 foreign students in the city.
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08.31.15China Punishes Nearly 200 Over ‘Rumors’ About Stocks, Blasts and Parade
New York Times
The moves indicate the political sensitivities aggravated in recent weeks by several volatile issues.
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07.20.156 Arrested in China After Dressing Room Sex Video Goes Viral
Los Angeles Times
A 19-year-old man was charged with disseminating obscene material. The couple pictured and three others were detained.
ChinaFile Recommends
07.08.15China’s Confucius Institutes and the Soft War
Diplomat
The first Confucius Institute opened its door in November 2004 in Seoul, South Korea. Hanban, or the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language.
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07.06.15Chinese Tourists Warned over Turkey Uighur Protests
BBC
China advised citizens against travelling to Turkey after it said several tourists were attacked in protests over the Chinese government's treatment of Uighur Muslims.
Sinica Podcast
07.01.15
Who Will Save Us from the Self-help Revolution?
Someone desperately needs to call a fumigator, because China’s self-help bug is eating up the woodwork. Train station bookstores may always have served the genre’s trite pablum to bored businessmen legging it cross-country, but in recent months the...
Environment
07.01.15
China Deepens Planned Cuts to Carbon Intensity
from chinadialogue
China has mapped out how it will try and peak greenhouse emissions by 2030 or before, details that could have a major bearing on U.N. climate talks aimed at delivering a deal in Paris later this year.The world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases “...
Media
06.26.15
‘Why Do Chinese Lack Creativity?’
On June 19, the University of Washington and elite Tsinghua University in Beijing announced a new, richly funded cooperative program to be based in Seattle and focused on a topic that has become a sore point in China: innovation. Republican...
Media
06.26.15
A Chinese Feminist, Made in America
In August 2010, two weeks after turning 18, I traveled about 6,700 miles from Beijing, China to attend Amherst, a liberal-arts college in Massachusetts in the northeastern United States. I packed a copy of Harvard economist N. Gregory Mankiw’s...
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06.25.15Teaching Uighur Children Mandarin will not Bring Stability to Xinjiang
Economist
More schools move to use Chinese only, except a few hours each week in Uighur literature. President Xi Jinping emphasizes this policy as a way to fight terrorism.
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06.22.15The Village and the Girl
BBC
The destruction of rural China became for pig farmer Xiao Zhang a liberation and an opportunity.
Media
06.17.15
American Students in China: It’s Not as Authoritarian as We Thought
For some American students about to embark on a study abroad trip to China, the U.S. media reports of Chinese Internet censorship, jailing of dissidents, and draconian population control laws may dominate their perception of the country. But after...
Environment
06.15.15
China’s Greehouse Gas Emissions Likely to Peak by 2025
from chinadialogue
China’s output of greenhouse gases could peak in 2025, five years earlier than it has promised, meaning that the world’s largest emitter may be able to quicken the pace of cuts in coming decades, according to a new paper published June 8 by the...
Books
06.10.15

China’s Millennials
In 1989, students marched on Tiananmen Square demanding democratic reform. The Communist Party responded with a massacre, but it was jolted into restructuring the economy and overhauling the education of its young citizens. A generation later, Chinese youth are a world apart from those who converged at Tiananmen. Brought up with lofty expectations, they’ve been accustomed to unprecedented opportunities on the back of China’s economic boom. But today, China’s growth is slowing and its demographics rapidly shifting, with the boom years giving way to a painful hangover.Immersed in this transition, Eric Fish, a millennial himself, profiles youth from around the country and how they are navigating the education system, the workplace, divisive social issues, and a resurgence in activism. Based on interviews with scholars, journalists, and hundreds of young Chinese, his engrossing book challenges the idea that today’s youth have been pacified by material comforts and nationalism. Following rural Henan students struggling to get into college, a computer prodigy who sparked a nationwide patriotic uproar, and young social activists grappling with authorities, Fish deftly captures youthful struggle, disillusionment, and rebellion in a system that is scrambling to keep them in line—and, increasingly, scrambling to adapt when its youth refuse to conform.—Rowman & Littlefield{chop}
Caixin Media
06.09.15
China’s Cabinet Unveils Plan to Improve Rural Schools
The State Council has released a plan for improving the quality of education in rural areas over the next five years—a move the cabinet says is aimed at improving the quality of teaching at primary and secondary schools in the country’s less-...
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06.04.15China Is Exporting its Tiananmen Censorship, and We Are All Victims
Foreign Policy
Twenty six years after the killing of student protesters, the code of silence is spreading worldwide.
Media
06.02.15
Chinese Netizens to Fiorina: You’re Right, We Don’t Innovate
Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and a declared Republican candidate for U.S. president, evidently has strong opinions about the capacities of Chinese people. “Yeah, the Chinese can take a test,” Fiorina told an Iowa-based video blog...
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06.01.15Will China Close Its Doors?
New York Times
The draft “Foreign NGO Management Law” is part of a package of legislation that includes strict laws on national security and antiterrorism.
Environment
05.28.15
Chinese Posters Warn of the Dangers of Smog
from chinadialogue
{slideshow, 16211, 4}An exhibition of smog-inspired posters is touring the polluted cities of northern and eastern China this month to draw attention to the impending environmental disaster.Created by a group of Chinese designers, the 300 posters...
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05.25.15China Warned Over ‘Insane’ Plans for New Nuclear Power Plants
Guardian
He Zuoxiu, a leading scientist, says China is not investing enough in safety controls after the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
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05.20.15Q. and A.: Luo Yufeng, a.k.a. Sister Feng, on Life as a Manicurist in New York
New York Times
Sister Feng, whose real name is Luo Yufeng, is an Internet celebrity with more than 4.7 million followers on Sina Weibo
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05.19.15Chinese Professors Among 6 Charged with Economic Espionage
USA Today
U.S. federal prosecutors allege Beijing sponsored economic espionage in the alleged theft of sensitive American made radio frequency filters.
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05.19.15Why Hong Kong is Clamping Down on Creative Writing
Guardian
The decision to close City University’s MFA program is plainly intended to limit free expression.
Environment
05.19.15
Dredging For Disaster
from Foreign Policy
Tensions are rising in the South China Sea. On May 16, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in Beijing for talks which will likely focus on the territorial disputes. But China’s controversial effort to assert its sovereignty in the South China...
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05.18.15The Worrying Rise of Anti-China Discourse in the US
Diplomat
Forget U.S. patrols in the South China Sea. This is the real threat to U.S.-China relations.
Sinica Podcast
05.18.15
Leonard Bernstein and China
from Sinica Podcast
This week on Sinica, Kaiser Kuo and David Moser are delighted to host Alexander Bernstein, son of Leonard Berstein and director of the Bernstein Family Foundation, who is now in China on part of a cultural tour. Accompanied by Alison Friedman of...
Conversation
05.14.15
The Future of NGOs in China
Last week, China’s National People’s Congress released the second draft of a new law on “Managing Foreign NGOs.” Many foreign non-profits in China have operated in a legal gray area over the years. The law [full English translation here] establishes...
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05.11.15Wang Qishan Highlights Party Discipline in Anti-Corruption Effort
Xinhua
Wang pledged to enhance institutional innovation and let discipline take the lead in the anti-graft campaign.
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05.04.15China Focus: Cross-Strait Economic Forum Held in Shanghai
Xinhua
The forum could invite a wider spectrum of people to cover major issues of cross-Strait development.
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05.01.15Q. and A.: Francis Fukuyama on China's Political Development
New York Times
Stanford historian argues an effective political system has to balance state capacity against rule of law and democracy.
Environment
04.30.15
‘Blue Sky’ App Gets China’s Public Thinking About Pollution Solutions
from chinadialogue
The Blue Sky Map app, which was officially launched April 28 by the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), enables the public to check up on air and water quality and local sources of pollution, and scrutinize emissions from 9,000...
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04.30.15China Rethinks Safety Net for Its Banking System
New York Times
New deposit insurance could shake the public’s faith in the long-held belief in failsafe government bailouts.
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04.29.15Bat-Winged Dinosaur Fossil Discovered in China
USA Today
The new dinosaur is named Yi qi (pronounced "ee chee") and means "strange wing" in Mandarin.
Environment
04.24.15
Fracking May be Needed in China to Wean it Off Coal
from chinadialogue
Fracking of China’s huge shale gas reserves will only have a modest impact on the environment if anti-pollution controls—many of them new—are enforced rigorously, says a new report from the U.K.-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI).The ODI...
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04.24.15A Bittersweet Reprieve for Chinese Woman Who Killed Abusive Husband
Wall Street Journal
The verdict left lawyers and activists doubtful of the Chinese legal system’s ability to protect women.
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04.23.15Cities in China’s North Resist Tapping Water Piped From South
Wall Street Journal
Huge project transferring water from Yangtze River to drier regions runs into budgetary constraints.
The China Africa Project
04.18.15
Chinese Cultural Diplomacy in Africa
The Chinese government has spent billions of dollars in Africa on public diplomacy initiatives that are intended to improve the country’s image. Central to that strategy is the growing network of Confucius Institutes (CIs) spread across the...
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04.13.15China Releases 5 Women’s Rights Activists Detained for Weeks
New York Times
Police released five female activists detained after campaigning against sexual harassment on public transport.
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04.02.15‘Masturbation Will Lead to Homosexuality’: China’s LGBT Sex-Ed Problem in Chinese
Nation
In a country where sex and sexuality remain taboo topics of discussion, such misinformation remains common.
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03.31.15Why Chinese Students Find it Hard to Make Friends on US Campuses
Hong Kong Economic Journal
Chinese students complain that American students are misinformed, prejudiced and offensive on Chinese current events.
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03.30.15China Appears to Attack GitHub by Diverting Web Traffic
New York Times
In recent attacks on sites that try to help Internet users in China circumvent censorship, the Great Firewall appears to have been used as a weapon.
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03.23.15How ‘Old Friend’ Lee Kuan Yew Influenced China
Wall Street Journal
“Mr. Lee Kuan Yew was an old friend of the Chinese people,” Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote to Singapore President Tony Tan.
Media
03.20.15
China Has Its Own Anti-Vaxxers—Blame the Internet
While health officials in the United States and parts of Europe wrestle with a growing anti-vaccination, or “anti-vaxxer” movement, China is dealing with a less organized but similarly serious fear of immunizations. Social media reveals traces of...
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03.20.15Chinese High School Students Riot Over Mass Food Poisoning
Radio Free Asia
Thousands of disgruntled students smashed up their high school campus in Guizhou in the early hours of March 20 .
Conversation
03.18.15
Dark Days for Women in China?
With China’s recent criminal detention of five feminist activists, gender inequality in China is back in the spotlight. What does a crackdown on Chinese women fighting for equal representation say about the current state of the nation’s political...
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03.13.15U.S. Students Losing Interest in China as Dream Jobs Prove Elusive
Reuters
Waning interest worries those who view having Americans who speak Chinese as a matter of national interest.
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03.11.15China Celebrates International Women’s Day By Arresting Women’s Rights Activists
Huffington Post
Many women’s rights groups activists who also work on LGBT issues have gone into hiding.
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03.10.15Henan Delegates Protest Inequality in University Admissions
New York Times
Henan people say big cities are given preferential consideration for education funds and places in universities.
Environment
03.05.15
Beijing Says Panda Population Up 17%, But Experts Doubtful
from chinadialogue
China's claims that its population of wild giant pandas rose around 17% in just over a decade are being disputed by some experts, who point out that the latest census was over a much wider area than the previous one.The giant panda, a global...
Media
03.04.15The Other China
Writers Michael Meyer and Ian Buruma engage in a discussion co-sponsored by The New York Review of Books centered on Meyer’s new book, In Manchuria: A Village Called Wasteland and the Transformation of Rural China, which combines immersion...
Conversation
03.03.15
Why Has This Environmental Documentary Gone Viral on China’s Internet?
[Updated: March 6, 2015] Our friends at Foreign Policy hit the nail on the head by headlining writer Yiqin Fu's Monday story "China's National Conversation about Pollution Has Finally Begun." What happened? Well, in the...
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03.02.15Travels with My Censor
New Yorker
China’s reading public has begun to discover nonfiction books about China by foreigners.
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02.27.15Chinese Babies Should be Trained to Play Football—President Xi
BBC
Beijing has approved the country's "football reform plan," and says being good at soccer is the "ardent wish of the whole nation."
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02.26.15Civic Groups’ Freedom, and Followers, Are Vanishing
New York Times
Accepted activities are narrowing, sparking fear that openness in the political landscape may disappear.
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02.25.15China’s Feminists Stand up Against ‘Misogynistic’ TV Gala
Washington Post
The most widely watched television show on earth was peppered with jokes at the expense of women.