We Traveled Across China and Returned Terrified for the Economy

Timothy Coulter
Bloomberg
China’s steel and metals markets, a barometer of the world’s second-biggest economy, are “a lot worse than you think.”

China Escalates Hollywood Partnerships, Aiming to Compete One Day

David Barboza
New York Times
Chinese studios are moving up the value chain, helping to develop, design and produce world-class films and animated features.

Environment

04.02.15

‘Wolf Totem’ Trainer Sees Risks, Rewards for Hollywood in China

from chinadialogue
Wolf trainer Andrew Simpson has just wrapped up three years in Beijing coaching wolves to perform in the film version of the novel Wolf Totem. The Sino-French adaptation of Jiang Rong’s best-selling 2004 novel opened in Beijing and Europe in...

The Chinese Billionaire Zhang Lei Spins Research Into Investment Gold

Alexandra Stevenson
New York Times
Starting 10 years ago with $20 million from Yale’s endowment, Zhang was an early backer of Tencent and JD.com.

Features

04.02.15

Frank Talk About Hong Kong’s Future from Margaret Ng

Margaret Ng, Ira Belkin & more
Following is the transcript of a recent ChinaFile Breakfast with Margaret Ng, the former Hong Kong legislator in discussion with Ira Belkin of New York University Law School and Orville Schell, ChinaFile Publisher and Arthur Ross Director of the...

Media

04.02.15

‘Obama Is Sitting Alone at a Bar Drinking a Consolation Beer’

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian
Danish and Chinese netizens have just shared in a collective guffaw at America’s expense. The online lampoonery came after Denmark announced on March 28 its intent to join the Asian Investment Infrastructure Bank (AIIB), a China-led initiative...

Conversation

04.01.15

New Chinese Cyberattacks: What’s to Be Done?

Steve Dickinson, Jason Q. Ng & more
Starting last week, hackers foiled a handful of software providers that promote freedom of information by helping web surfers in China reach the open Internet. The attacks that drastically slowed the anti-censorship services of San Francisco-based...

China Ban Hits Google’s Search Ad Share; Baidu Gains

Kerry Flynn
International Business Times
Google’s share of 2015’s $81.59 billion search ad market at 54.5%, down from 54.7% in 2014 and 55.2% in 2013.

Mystery Surrounds Disappearance of Xinjiang Article and Related Apology

Dan Levin
New York Times
An article on a Muslim couple jailed for beard and burqa appeared Sunday in state media but was gone Monday.

Chinese Authorities Compromise Millions in Cyberattacks

Charlie Smith
Great Firewall of China
Hijacking the computers of millions of innocent Internet users around the world shows China's disregard for Internet governance norms.

A Chinese Perspective on the #RacistRestaurant Scandal in Kenya

Cobus van Staden & Huang Hongxiang
The Chinese restaurant in Nairobi that barred Africans after 5pm sparked a frenzied week of news coverage on both local and international media and, of course, on Twitter. The actions of this small, inconsequential restaurant seemingly took on much...

China Appears to Attack GitHub by Diverting Web Traffic

Paul Mozur
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.

Q. and A.: Adam Fisk on Evading Internet Censorship in China

Patrick Boehler
New York Times
GreatFire.org’s “mirrored” websites and the Internet bandwidth-sharing service Lantern have allowed users to access the open Internet.

Fifty Shades of Xi

David Bandurski
Medium
China’s confessional politics of dominance.

U.S. Coding Website GitHub Hit With Cyberattack

Eva Dou
Wall Street Journal
The attack appears to underscore how China’s Internet censors increasingly reach outside the country.

Beyond Ai Weiwei: How China’s Artists Handle Politics (or Avoid Them)

Christopher Beam
New Yorker
Westerners are often criticized for looking at Chinese art through a narrow political lens.

Apple is Hitler, says Chinese CEO

James Vincent
Verge
Chinese tech firm LeTV is rumored to be entering the smartphone market.

Media

03.26.15

Brother, Can You Spare a Renminbi?

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian
Who deserves to be poor in modern China? One man in China’s southern Zhejiang province certainly seemed sympathetic: Each day, he pushed himself along the street on a homemade wooden skateboard, his apparently paralyzed legs tucked under his body,...

Media

03.25.15

Was Lee Kuan Yew an Inspiration or a Race Traitor? Chinese Can’t Agree

Rachel Lu
When Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of Singapore, passed away at the ripe age of 91 on March 23, the elderly statesman was as controversial in death as in life—and nowhere was the debate more vigorous than in China. While state media was full of...

Seeing Through the Smog

Wenjuan Zhang
China Open Research Network
Potential impacts of the documentary Under the Domes on China’s Civic Participation.

In Lee Kuan Yew, China Saw a Leader to Emulate

Chris Buckley
New York Times
Singapore won an outsize influence with China after they embarked on an experiment with controlled capitalism.

China (Finally) Admits to Hacking

Shannon Tiezzi
Diplomat
An updated military document for the first time admits that the Chinese government sponsors offensive cyber units.

China’s Biggest Anti-Censorship Service is Under Attack

Russell Brandom
Variety
GreatFire.org has been under an unprecedented denial-of-service attack, receiving more than 2 billion requests per hour.

Yahoo to Shutter China Office and Cut “Around 350” Jobs

Martin Patience
BBC
The move not a huge surprise as Yahoo has been retreating since 2013 when it ended email servies in China. 

Party Investigates CNPC Executive Once Seen as Company’s Next Leader

Liao Yongyuan, who oversaw gas pipeline project crossing country, becomes target of inquiry by party graft-buster.

The Constant Adaptations of China’s Great Firewall

Eva Dou
Wall Street Journal
Firewall-hopping technologies see activist programmers and Chinese censors engaged in a cat-and-mouse game. 

Media

03.10.15

China’s Good Girls Want Tattoos

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian
“It seems that Chinese men don’t want to marry a girl with tattoos,” complained one such girl on the Chinese online discussion platform Douban. She posted a picture of her body art, an abstract design on her lower back. “In East Asian cultural...

Media

03.09.15

China’s Real Inconvenient Truth: Its Class Divide

Rachel Lu
China is talking about its pollution problem, but its equally serious class problem remains obscured behind the haze. Smog leapt to the forefront of Chinese national discourse after the February 28 release of "Under the Dome," a 103-minute...

China Blocks Web Access to ‘Under the Dome’ Documentary on Pollution

Edward Wong
New York Times
The drama over the video has ignited speculation over which groups supported it and which sought to kill it.

China’s Real Inconvenient Truth: Its Class Divide

Rachel Lu
Foreign Policy
Solving China's air and water pollution will require addressing the gap between rich urbanites and rural peasants.

Books

03.05.15

Has the American Media Misjudged China

William J. Holstein, Editor on behalf of The Overseas Press Club
Thirty-five years after China's opening to the world, some of the key assumptions that have guided coverage are being tested by the presidency of Xi Jinping. This book is must reading for anyone involved in U.S.-Chinese relations or for anyone who is just plain curious about how the assumptions that have guided American media coverage of China are now being challenged by the presidency of Xi Jinping. He has a very different vision of his country's future than the one often presented in some media accounts. —William J. Holstein  {chop}

China’s Premier Vows to Promote Film, TV Industries, “Core Socialist Values”

Clifford Coonan
Hollywood Reporter
Li Keqiang pledging to promote  entertainment industry as delegates renewed calls for film classification system.

China Lowers 2015 Economic Growth Target to Around 7 Percent

Xinhua
The growth target is lower than the 7.4-percent economic growth in 2014, its weakest annual expansion since 1990.

How China Uses J-Visas to Punish International Media for Critical Coverage

Bob Dietz
Committee to Protect Journalists
A new report finds Chinese authorities are "treating journalistic accreditation as a privilege rather than a professional right."

In Beijing, Political Pomp Abounds as China Kicks off 'Two Meetings'

Julie Makinen
Los Angeles Times
The dual sessions do telegraph the general national agenda for the coming year.

China Says Tech Firms Have Nothing to Fear From Anti-terror Law

Paul Carsten and Gerry Shih
Reuters
Obama this week said China would have to change the draft law if it were "to do business with the United States".

Caixin Media

03.03.15

Can Market Mechanisms Clear China’s Air?

The Chinese government recently responded to rising public discontent over environmental degradation by introducing tougher rules for industrial emissions.Meanwhile, a non-governmental organization and a state-run newspaper are coordinating a...

Media

03.03.15

The Word That Broke the Chinese Internet

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian
It might be gibberish, but it’s also a sign of the times. The word duang, pronounced “dwong,” is spreading like wildfire throughout China’s active Internet—even though 1.3 billion Chinese people still haven’t figured out what it means. In fact, its...

Beijing Quietly Curbs Discussion of Documentary on Air Pollution

Te-Ping Chen
Wall Street Journal
Censors stepped in to tamp down the buzz around an air-pollution documentary that drew 100 million views. 

Travels with My Censor

New Yorker
China’s reading public has begun to discover nonfiction books about China by foreigners.

Pollution Documentary ‘Under the Dome’ Blankets Chinese Internet

Te-Ping Chen
Wall Street Journal
Pollution Documentary ‘Under the Dome’ Blankets Chinese Internet http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2015/03/02/pollution-documentary-under-the-dome-blankets-chinese-internet/

China’s Coal Use and Estimated CO2 Emissions Fell in 2014 

Huffington Post
Glen Peters of the Global Carbon Project calculates that China's CO2 emissions have also fallen, by 0.7 percent, for the first time this century.

China Box Office Tops U.S. for First Time Ever

Clifford Coonan
Hollywood Reporter
A Lunar New Year brought in $650 million in the second-largest movie market.

The Film That Is Going to Change China

peter Cai
Business Spectator
Chai Jing's stunning documentary on the smog problem was viewed more than 100 million times in little over two days.

Xi Jinping Hopes to Count in Chinese Political History With ‘Four Comprehensives’ -

Wall Street Journal
Chinese President Xi Jinping has uncorked his own ordinal political philosophy.

China’s Feminists Stand up Against ‘Misogynistic’ TV Gala

Simon Denyer and Xu Yangjingjing
Washington Post
The most widely watched television show on earth was peppered with jokes at the expense of women.

China Starts Massive Promotion of Xi Jinping’s Political Theory the ‘Four Comprehensives’

Mandy Zuo and Agence France Presse
South China Morning Post
Xi has created a slogan and formulated principles to guide his style of government.

Sobering News Out of China, Part 4 Million

Atlantic
Chronicles of a country walling itself off.

In China, Oscars Ceremony Touches Nerves Over Hong Kong, Snowden

Simon Denyer and Xu Yangjingjing
Washington Post
Common spoke about dreams of better lives, including “people in Hong Kong fighting for democracy."

Media

02.23.15

Five Predictions for Chinese Censorship in the Year of the Sheep

Blocked websites, jailed journalists, and nationalist rhetoric have long been features of the Chinese Communist Party’s media control strategy. During the Year of the Horse, which just ended on China’s lunar calendar, President Xi Jinping and his...

Viewpoint

02.19.15

Beijing Touts ‘Cyber-Sovereignty’ In Internet Governance

Scott D. Livingston
It has been a difficult few weeks for global technology companies operating in China.Chinese officials strengthened the Internet firewall by blocking the use of virtual private networks (VPNs), reasserted demands that web users register their real...

Ringing In the Lunar New Year, Whatever It’s Called

Chris Buckley
New York Times
Because Han Chinese culture developed in regions where herders and goats prevailed, many think the zodiac talisman must be a goat.

With Lunar New Year Show, Another Link to China for a New York Fireworks Family

Kirk Semple
New York Times
The Central Academy of Fine Arts, China’s largest art academy, is involved in the celebrations this year.

China’s Internet Censorship Anthem Is Revealed, Then Deleted

Paul Mozur
New York Times
Cyberspace Administration employees Sang lines like, “An Internet power: Tell the world that the Chinese Dream is uplifting China.”

Learn the History of Modern China Through Photobooks

Ye Ming
Time
A new book and exhibition reveals the untold history of photobook publishing in China.

Media

02.10.15

Chinese Corruption, Now Officially Hilarious

Rachel Lu
Corruption is finally funny—at least, according to the Chinese Communist Party. That’s because comedic performances in the upcoming February 18 performance of China’s annual New Year Gala, a variety show on China Central Television (CCTV) expected...

Twice As Many Expatriates Leaving China Than Arriving

Anjie Zheng
Wall Street Journal
China used to be a promised land for expanding multinationals, drawing hordes of employees.

Sinica Podcast

02.09.15

The Changing Look of China, Myanmar, and Visual Journalism—A Chat With Jonah Kessel

Kaiser Kuo, Jeremy Goldkorn & more from Sinica Podcast
This week on Sinica, Jeremy and Kaiser are joined by Jonah M. Kessel, former freelance photographer and now full-time videographer for The New York Times who has covered a wide range of China stories, traveled widely through the country, and...

China: Inventing a Crime

Perry Link from New York Review of Books
In late January, Chinese authorities announced that they are considering formal charges against Pu Zhiqiang, one of China’s most prominent human rights lawyers, who has been in detention since last May. Pu’s friends fear that even a life sentence is...