ChinaFile Recommends
06.23.17China's Government Tightens Its Grip On Golf, Shuts Down Courses
NPR
By 2004, many of China's hundreds of golf courses were found to be built on valuable farmland through corrupt land deals.
ChinaFile Recommends
06.23.17Xi Jinping Is Set for a Big Gamble With China’s Carbon Trading Market
New York Times
The start of China’s carbon trading market late this year has been years in the making, but is now shaping up as Mr. Xi’s big policy retort to Mr. Trump’s decision to quit the Paris accord.
ChinaFile Recommends
06.21.17China’s Dog Meat Festival Opens Despite Rumours of a Ban
Agence France-Presse
A notorious Chinese dog meat festival opened on Wednesday with butchers hacking slabs of canines and cooks frying the flesh despite rumours that the authorities would impose a ban this year.
ChinaFile Recommends
06.19.17China Propels Rise of Electric Ultra-High-Performance Cars
New York Times
Want an insanely fast ride with zero emissions? Startup NIO has the car: An electric two-seater with muscular European lines and a top speed of 195 miles per hour (313 kilometers per hour). The catch: The EP9 costs nearly $1.5 million. NIO, a...
Environment
06.15.17Bike-Sharing Schemes: Flourishing or Running Riot?
from chinadialogue
Almost one hundred Chinese cities, from Beijing to Lhasa, now have bike-sharing schemes. The bikes, clad in various colors, have GPS trackers and can be unlocked simply by scanning a barcode on the frame with your phone. Some can even be reserved...
ChinaFile Recommends
06.13.17Nearly 14,000 Companies in China Violate Pollution Rules
New York Times
Environmental inspectors in northern China have found that nearly 14,000 companies, or 70 percent of the businesses they examined, failed to meet environmental standards for controlling air pollution.
Viewpoint
06.08.17Can China Really Lead the World on Climate?
On Wednesday, the governor of California, Jerry Brown, found himself, not for the first time, with more in common with Chinese President Xi Jinping than with the president of his own nation, Donald Trump. Just days after President Trump announced...
ChinaFile Recommends
06.08.17China’s Clean Energy Ambition Floats on Abandoned Coal Mine
Bloomberg
China’s ambitions to dominate new energy technologies are unfolding at the site of an abandoned coal mine about 300 miles (483 kilometers) northwest of Shanghai.
ChinaFile Recommends
06.06.17China Is Now Looking to California–Not Trump–to Help Lead the Fight Against Climate Change
Los Angeles Times
Governor Jerry Brown met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a rare diplomatic coup that catapults California into quasi-national status as a negotiator.
ChinaFile Recommends
06.06.17China Doesn't Want To Be the Only World Leader, Says State Council Counselor
CNBC
Rather than fully stepping into a global leadership vacuum that could be left by an increasingly isolationist U.S., China is looking to be but one of the world's leaders.
ChinaFile Recommends
06.05.17Turning against Trump: How the Chinese Covered the Climate Pact Exit
New York Times
Mr. Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris agreement gave fresh material to one of the Chinese state media’s favorite propaganda themes: the idea that Western democracy is flawed, chaotic and prone to social strife.
ChinaFile Recommends
06.05.17ChinaFile Recommends
06.02.17Trump Hands the Chinese a Gift: The Chance for Global Leadership
New York Times
The Chinese are eager to fill the void that Washington is leaving around the world on everything from setting the rules of trade and environmental standards to financing infrastructure projects.
ChinaFile Recommends
06.01.17China and Europe Are Moving Forward without Trump
CNN
Beijing is in prime position to capitalize on major policy fissures that have emerged between Europe and the Trump administration on climate, trade and defense. The new dynamic will be on full display on Thursday in Brussels, when Chinese Premier Li...
ChinaFile Recommends
06.01.17China Is Getting Serious about Fighting Climate Change at Home. Abroad, Its Investments Tell a Different Story
Los Angeles Times
China, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, has in recent years emerged as a global leader in climate action. The country’s use of coal — considered the single biggest contributor to anthropogenic climate change — has dropped every year since...
Conversation
05.25.17Can Free Speech on American Campuses Withstand Chinese Nationalism?
Earlier this week, Kunming native Yang Shuping, a student at the University of Maryland, gave a commencement speech extolling the “fresh air” and “free speech” she experienced while studying in the United States. Video of her speech spread on the...
ChinaFile Recommends
05.24.17Chinese Student’s Commencement Speech in U.S. Isn’t Going over Well in China
NPR
A Chinese student who praised the “fresh air of free speech” in the U.S. during her commencement address at the University of Maryland is facing an online backlash from classmates and from people in China who say she insulted her own country.
Environment
05.23.17India and China Will Offset Trump’s Climate Backslide
from chinadialogue
With the U.S. likely to fall short of its Paris Agreement pledge to reduce carbon emissions, a new analysis released last week claims that overachievement by India and China will ensure progress on climate action is not stymied.The U.S., the world’s...
ChinaFile Recommends
05.22.17China and India Make Big Strides on Climate Change
New York Times
China’s emissions of carbon dioxide appear to have peaked more than 10 years sooner than its government had said they would. And India is now expected to obtain 40 percent of its electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2022, eight years ahead of...
ChinaFile Recommends
05.17.17China’s Xi Positions Himself as Free Trade and Climate Champion
CNN
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for the world to reject protectionism and promote free trade in the latest attempt by Beijing to take up the mantle of globalization since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Books
05.15.17A World Trimmed with Fur
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, booming demand for natural resources transformed China and its frontiers. Historians of China have described this process in stark terms: pristine borderlands became breadbaskets. Yet Manchu and Mongolian archives reveal a different story. Well before homesteaders arrived, wild objects from the far north became part of elite fashion, and unprecedented consumption had exhausted the region’s most precious resources.In A World Trimmed with Fur, Jonathan Schlesinger uses these diverse archives to reveal how Qing rule witnessed not the destruction of unspoiled environments, but their invention. Qing frontiers were never pristine in the nineteenth century—pearlers had stripped riverbeds of mussels, mushroom pickers had uprooted the steppe, and fur-bearing animals had disappeared from the forest. In response, the court turned to “purification”; it registered and arrested poachers, reformed territorial rule, and redefined the boundary between the pristine and the corrupted. Schlesinger’s resulting analysis provides a framework for rethinking the global invention of nature. —Stanford University Press{chop}
ChinaFile Recommends
05.04.17Dust Storm Chokes Beijing and Northern China
BBC
A dust storm is choking a large swathe of northern China including the capital, Beijing, in yet another air quality crisis to affect the country.
ChinaFile Recommends
05.03.17China’s Huge Dam Projects Will Threaten Southeast Asia as Water Scarcity Builds Downstream
Forbes
A river is born high in the Tibetan Plateau, before snaking its way 3,000 miles south and emptying itself into the South China Sea.
ChinaFile Recommends
04.14.17Xinhua Insight: Procedures unveiled for birth of Xiongan New Area
Xinhua
Plans for Xiongan New Area, an economic zone about 100 kilometers south of Beijing, are becoming more clear. President Xi Jinping said, “The capital's core functions should be preserved and strengthened, and some inappropriate functions...
The China Africa Project
04.14.17China Conducts Foreign Policy in Africa without Judgment
In this edition of the China in Africa podcast, we pull the focus back to look at China’s rapidly evolving foreign policy agenda in this new era of Western populism led by Donald Trump in the United States.François Godement, Director of the Asia and...
Environment
04.06.17As the U.S. Steps Back, China Must Step up on Climate Leadership
from chinadialogue
Presidents Trump and Xi are scheduled to meet today at Mar-a Lago, Florida, and given the tense state of U.S.-China relations and the political leanings of the Trump administration there is much at stake for cooperation between the countries on the...
ChinaFile Recommends
04.06.17How Trump Can Help Save Coal—with China’s Help
Politico
Last week, President Donald Trump declared that he would bring back coal jobs, directing the EPA to roll back the Clean Power Plan and other regulations on coal producers.
Viewpoint
04.05.17Xi Is Ready for the Summit. Trump Can’t Possibly Be. So What Should He Do?
At the summit in Mar-a-Lago, U.S. President Donald Trump hopes to alter deeply-rooted Chinese policies despite having no China strategy. China’s Communist Party Secretary Xi Jinping hopes that by making deals on secondary matters important to Trump...
ChinaFile Recommends
04.04.17Despite Trump’s Rage against China, American Public Opinion Is Warming to the Asian Giant
Washington Post
As the U.S. president prepares to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Florida this week, a new survey by the Pew Research Center shows that the American public is significantly less worried about those issues than they were a couple of years...
Conversation
04.04.17What Should We Expect When Trump and Xi Meet in Florida?
On April 6-7, U.S. President Donald Trump will host Xi Jinping in their first face-to-face meeting when China’s President arrives at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. The meeting comes early in Trump’s presidency, after a campaign in which he frequently...
ChinaFile Recommends
03.30.17Climate Change: China Calls U.S. ‘Selfish’ after Trump Seeks to Bring back Coal
Guardian
State-run tabloid says Beijing cannot fill vacuum left by U.S. and urges west to pressure Trump on global warming
ChinaFile Recommends
03.29.17China Poised to Take Lead on Climate After Trump’s Move to Undo Policies
New York Times
President Trump’s signing of an executive order on Tuesday aimed at undoing many of the Obama administration’s climate change policies flips the roles of the two powers.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.29.17Good News for Africa’s Elephants: China Is Losing Its Taste for Ivory
Washington Post
China will close 67 ivory carving factories and retail shops on Friday, roughly one-third of the total, as it moves to implement a pledge to end all domestic ivory sales by the end of the year.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.28.17China’s Tencent Bought A 5 Percent Stake in Tesla
Re/code
Tencent, a Chinese internet giant, is also an investor in Chinese ride-hail player Didi Chuxing.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.28.17A Bigger Catch: China’s Fishing Fleet Hunts New Ocean Targets
Financial Times
Seagulls wheel and cry around the Caleta Portales fishing pier in the Chilean port of Valparaíso while sea lions loiter in the waves.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.24.17China to Plant ‘Green Necklace’ of Trees Around Beijing to Fight Smog
New York Times
The pollution from the factories is responsible for much of the smog in Beijing, a city of more than 22 million, and other parts of northern China.
The China Africa Project
03.21.17Donkey Skin Is the New Ivory
Countries throughout Africa are struggling to figure out how to contain the skyrocketing price of donkeys due to surging demand for the animals in China. Donkey skin is fast becoming an increasingly prized commodity due to its use in a traditional...
ChinaFile Recommends
03.16.17Clean Energy Could Spark a Trade War between the U.S. and China
Wired
In the past few years, China has surpassed the U.S. in electric vehicle sales, renewable energy capacity, and recently announced it was investing $365 billion to keep the momentum going. That investment puts China in a prime position to lead the...
ChinaFile Recommends
03.14.17As Attitudes Change, Chinese Lawmakers Seek Better Protection for Rhinos and Other Endangered Animals
Washington Post
Slowly but surely, Chinese attitudes toward wildlife conservation are changing.
Environment
03.14.17Source of Mekong, Yellow, and Yangtze Rivers Drying Up
from chinadialogue
In 2015, the Chinese government announced plans to set up a new nature reserve in the Sanjiangyuan (“three river source”) region of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. This area is a key source of fresh water for Asia and is known for the rich biodiversity...
ChinaFile Recommends
03.07.17The Tesla China Numbers That Elon Musk Won’t Tell You
Forbes
More evidence about Tesla’s Big China Bonanza is coming in
ChinaFile Recommends
03.07.17Cities and Data: China’s Weapons in the Battle for Clean Air
BBC
China is proud of the fact that its air quality readings have improved in recent years, if only slightly, with lingering smog in industrial areas.
Viewpoint
03.01.17Is the U.S.’s Withdrawal China’s Gain in Latin America?
Latin Americans can’t afford to wait four years to see when the United States will be willing to have an honest and reciprocal conversation about economic prosperity in the Western Hemisphere. Luckily for the U.S.’s southern neighbors, over the past...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.21.17Depth of Field
02.16.17Riding into the New Year
from Yuanjin Photo
As preparations for the Chinese New Year got underway, Liang Yingfei set up a roadside studio and asked migrants traveling home by motorbike to stop for a quick photograph. While in Cambodia for the Angkor Photo Festival & Workshops, Jia...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.14.17Chinese People Are Buying All Kinds of Desperate Remedies to Protect Themselves from Smog
Time
Air purifiers, meanwhile, are becoming cheaper and more efficient. Chinese tech firm Xiaomi leads the way with its Mi Air Purifier Pro, boasting a dual-fan, dual-motor system with ”high-precision laser sensor.”
ChinaFile Recommends
02.14.17India’s Air Pollution Rivals China’s as World’s Deadliest
New York Times
India’s rapidly worsening air pollution is causing about 1.1 million people to die prematurely each year and is now surpassing China’s as the deadliest in the world, a new study of global air pollution shows.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.13.17China Accused of Undermining Drive to Cut Steel Capacity
Financial Times
China’s cuts in steel capacity last year primarily targeted mills that were already idle, doing little to reduce the exports that have fueled trade tensions or address the blight of toxic smog, a study has found.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.13.17‘We Had to Sue’: The Five Lawyers Taking on China’s Authorities over Smog
Guardian
In an unprecedented legal case, a group of Chinese lawyers have charged the governments of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei with failing to protect their citizens from air pollution, which is linked to a third of all deaths in the country
The China Africa Project
02.08.17How China’s Insatiable Demand for Timber Threatens Congo’s Rainforests
In this episode, award-winning Shanghai-based environmental journalist Shi Yi joins Eric and Cobus to discuss the emerging crisis over the illegal trade of Congolese bloodwood. She recently reported on how surging demand in China is fueling...
Reports
02.07.17U.S. Policy Toward China
Asia Society
The Task Force on U.S.-China Policy generated the following report and set of recommendations to assist the 45th U.S. presidential administration in formulating a China strategy that will protect and further U.S. national interests. This report...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.25.17As Trump Stresses ‘America First,’ China Plays the World Leader
Reuters
China is calmly mapping out global leadership aspirations from trade to climate change, drawing distinctions between President Xi Jinping’s steady hand and new U.S. President Donald Trump
ChinaFile Recommends
01.24.17A U.S.-China Role Switch: Who’s the Globalist Now?
Wall Street Journal
Xi Jinping sees a window as Donald Trump stirs masses with slogans
Sinica Podcast
01.19.17The State of Journalism in China—Ed Wong’s Exit Interview
from Sinica Podcast
Edward Wong became a reporter for The New York Times in 1999. He covered the Iraq war from Baghdad from 2003 to 2007, and then moved to Beijing in 2008. He has written about a wide range of subjects in China for the Times, and became its Beijing...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.19.17In China, Pollution Fears Are Both Literal and Metaphorical
NPR
Last month, as China encountered some of its worst pollution yet, artists in Chengdu did something bold: They put smog-filtering cotton masks over the faces of statues representing ordinary urbanites that dot a centrally located shopping street.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.19.17China Builds World’s Biggest Solar Farm in Journey to Become Green Superpower
Guardian
Vast plant in Qinghai province is part of China’s determination to transform itself from climate change villain to a green energy colossus
ChinaFile Recommends
01.19.17Film Review: ‘Plastic China’
Variety
Life in one Chinese town is entirely dedicated to recycling of First World waste in Jiu-liang Wang’s documentary.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.18.17China Cancels 103 Coal Plants, Mindful of Smog and Wasted Capacity
New York Times
China is canceling plans to build more than 100 coal-fired power plants, seeking to rein in runaway, wasteful investment in the sector while moving the country away from one of the dirtiest forms of electricity generation
ChinaFile Recommends
01.17.17Trump Warming to Reality of Climate Change, Says Senior Chinese Official
Guardian
Beijing’s chief climate negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, talks down fears that joint leadership shown by China and the US will be reversed under new president
ChinaFile Recommends
01.12.17China Wants to Be a Climate Change Watchdog, but Can It Lead by Example?
New York Times
Like some other nations, China, the world’s biggest polluter, has refused to accept international monitoring of its emissions and says it will provide data to outside observers.