FEATURED ARTICLE
In China, Widening Discontent Among the Communist Party Faithful (January 19, 2013, The New York Times)
For years, many China observers have asserted that the partys authoritarian system endures because ordinary Chinese buy into a grand bargain: the party guarantees economic growth, and in exchange the people do not question the way the party rules. Now, many whose lives improved under the boom are reneging on their end of the deal, and in ways more vocal than ever before. Their ranks include billionaires and students, movie stars and homemakers.
GOVERNMENT / POLITICS / FOREIGN AFFAIRS
What's China Going To Look Like In 20 Years? (January 18, 2013, Forbes)
While China arguably has further to go in terms of political, economic and social policy reform, anyone contemplating Chinas future needs to understand where the country has come from. China has changed almost beyond recognition over the past 20-25 years. There is still more to be done, but in the last two decades China has made unparalleled gains in economic development, living standards and freedom of choice.
Mourners honour ousted premier Zhao Ziyang on anniversary of death (January 18, 2013, South China Morning Post)
More than 100 mourners flocked to a traditional house in a quiet alleyway in Beijing yesterday morning to pay their respects at the home of the late Zhao Ziyang on the eighth anniversary of the ousted party chief's death. Zhao, a former Communist Party general secretary and premier, died at the age of 85. Before his death, Zhao had been under house arrest at the courtyard home at No 6 Fuqiang Alley since opposing the use of military force against the Tiananmen Square demonstrators in 1989. Prominent among the mourners yesterday was Hu Jia , a two-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, who had not been able to pay his respects for the past six years because of tight surveillance by security police. He last attended in 2006. Ding Zilin , founder of the Tiananmen Mothers organisation, was also present.
Chinas Risky Path, From Revolution to War (January 20, 2013, The Daily Beast)
As China prospers, its also vulnerable. From revolution to foreign war, sinologist Cheng Li explains the potential pitfalls.
Japan Makes Overture to China in Islands Dispute (January 22, 2013, The New York Times)
A member of Japans coalition government arrived in Beijing on Tuesday with a letter for the head of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping, from the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, to try to help calm an escalating dispute between the two countries over contested islands in the East China Sea, Japanese officials said.
Familys Visit Confirms Chinese Dissident Is Alive (January 23, 2013, The New York Times)
Family members of one of Chinas most prominent dissidents, Gao Zhisheng, visited him in a prison in the western region of Xinjiang this month, according to Mr. Gaos older brother and a human rights advocacy group. The visit was the first confirmation in nine months that Mr. Gao was still alive. The group, Human Rights in China, based in New York, said in a statement late on Tuesday that Mr. Gaos younger brother and his father-in-law visited him on Jan. 12, citing Mr. Gaos wife. The older brother, Gao Zhiyi, confirmed the visit when reached by telephone on Wednesday, but said he had no further details because the younger brother had not yet returned to the familys hometown in Shaanxi Province.
Chinas Intelligence Reforms? (January 23, 2013, The Diplomat)
What is remarkable about the recent rumors is that they include changing the Ministry of State Security (MSS), Chinas civilian internal and external intelligence service that is more akin to the KGB than the CIA.
Questions and answers about China and North Korea (January 23, 2013, AP)
China took a step against longtime ally North Korea on Tuesday by voting in favor of a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Pyongyang's long-range rocket launch in December. Beijing is concerned that North Korea's nuclear ambitions are destabilizing the region, but is willing to go only so far to punish its economically struggling neighbor. Here are some questions and answers about China's role:
Japan turns Taiwan activists back from disputed islands (January 24, 2013 BBC News)
A small boat carrying Taiwanese activists trying to reach a group of East China Sea islands at the heart of a territorial dispute has been forced back by the Japanese coastguard. The activists were sailing towards the islands, known as Senkaku in Japan, Diaoyutai in Taiwan and Diaoyu in China, to install an idol of a goddess. China and Taiwan both claim the island chain, which is controlled by Japan.
Chinas bureaucratic reforms to test Xis power (January 24, 2013, East Asia Forum)
In March 2013, during the first plenary session of the Chinese parliament, the National Peoples Congress (NPC), its expected that China will launch its largest administrative reform since 1998. [] Back then, the number of ministries went from 70 to 44 this year the 44 ministries are expected to cut in half with portfolios redistributed. This would be a further step away from Chinas legacy of Leninist state administration. More importantly it signals a new phase of political restructuring, which could potentially resolve the long power struggle in China.
Cleaning Up China's Secret Police Sleuthing (January 24, 2013, Caixin Online)
Wiretapping, email hacking, cell phone tracking and secret videotaping are just a few of the cloak-and-dagger techniques long employed by police in the course of criminal investigations in China. But now, for the first time, police officers applying for permission to employ these so-called "technological investigation measures" will be subject to "rigorous" reviews, without saying by whom.
RELIGION
Christian Higher Education in China: Calling or Chimera? (January 24, 2013, ChinaSource)
Is Christian higher education in China then chimera or calling? I would argue that it is the latter, based on certain conditions. First, we must learn to embrace our role as part of the "harmonious society." The goals of the harmonious society, both the traditional Chinese version and the modified socialist version currently espoused by the Chinese authorities are not inimical to the Biblical message. Although wrapped in an ideology with which we cannot ultimately agree, the goals of peace, justice, and prosperity are deeply rooted in the Biblical message.
SOCIETY / LIFE
A Map of Two Chinas Internet Penetration and Economic Development (January 22, 2013, Tea Leaf Nation)
On Friday, Chinas National Bureau of Statistics announced that income inequality in the country exceeds a warning level set by the United Nations. Chinas publication of its Gini coefficient a widely used measure of economic equity drew attention for a number of reasons. For one, China has not published its Gini coefficient since 2000. More significantly, Chinas figure of 0.47 exceeds a UN-established benchmark of 0.4, indicating an increased risk of social unrest.
Chinese workers hold managers hostage after toilet break changes (January 22, 2013, The Guardian)Hundreds of Chinese factory workers angry about strictly timed bathroom breaks and fines for starting work late held their Japanese and Chinese managers hostage for a day and a half before police broke up the strike. About 1,000 workers at the Shanghai Shinmei Electric Company kept the 10 Japanese nationals and eight Chinese managers inside the factory in Shanghai from Friday morning until 11.50pm on Saturday, said a statement from the parent company, the Shinmei Electric Company, released on Monday. It said the managers were released uninjured after 300 police officers were called to the factory.
Garden of Lost Children (January 22, 2013, Caixin Online)
It started with a baby that was left in the doorway of a hospital bathroom. Yuan Lihai took in the girl with a cleft lip while working at a Henan Province hospital in 1989. At the department of gynecology and obstetrics, she was paid 20 yuan for every infant she buried. This was also where she discovered the second child she would adopt a baby boy that had supposedly died after induced labor. When she went to bury the infant, she discovered he was breathing. Rescued by Yuan Lihai, the two children are now both grown and married. Her makeshift orphanage for abandoned children, many of whom were disabled, would grow in reputation among residents of Lankao County, near Kaifeng.
Domestic violence occurs in 1/4 Chinese homes (January 23, 2013, Shanghai Daily)
DESPITE their rise in social status, nearly one-fourth of Chinese women say they still experience domestic violence, according to a survey released by All China Women's Federation today. The survey says 24.7 percent of the respondents have been abused or beaten to various degrees in marriage. Some are even deprived of freedom, controlled economically or forced to live a kind of life against their will. About 5.5 percent of the women respondents say they have been beaten by their husbands. The number of rural women suffering beating more than doubles that in cities, the survey says.
Watch: Chubby Chinese youths forced to exercise (January 23, 2013, Shanghaiist)
China's schools and universities are being encouraged to focus more on the physical fitness of their students as China faces a teen obesity crisis. The new motivation comes in the wake of a series of sport related deaths last year in the Guangzhou marathon, a Shanghai university running test and a basketball match.
7-star nursing home opens in Haikou (January 24, 2013, China Daily)
A view of China's first seven-star nursing home in Haikou, capital of South China's Hainan province, Jan 22, 2013. Offering tailored services for seniors, Gongheyuan is the most expensive nursing home in the province, charging 7,980 ($1,283 dollars) to 15,200 ($2,444 dollars) yuan per month.
EDUCATION / CULTURE / TRAVEL
Young and restless (January 22, 2013, Analects)
Where the old guard of Chinese contemporary art lived through the Cultural Revolution, the experiences of this new generation are more rooted in the everyday competition of urban life, and the rapid changes that China has gone through as they grew up.
Urumqis Xinjiang Autonomous Region Museum (January 22, 2013, Far West China)
A visit to Xinjiangs capital of Urumqi would be incomplete without a visit to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Museum (). It is by far the best museum youll find along the Silk Road and is home to some of the areas most famous and controversial artifacts: the Xinjiang mummies.
How Fares Chinese Academia? Questioning the University Spirit (January 23, The China Story)
One of the abiding mythologies of contemporary China relates to the unique qualities of what is dubbed the University Spirit . Supposedly a modern refraction of the ancient traditions of learning, reading, scholarship and public service, the University Spirit is somehow inculcated in generations of Chinese youth to create an ethos of public engagement, good citizenry and conscience. In reality, the Party-state dominated education system (from primary education upwards) ensures that what masquerades as meritocracy is in fact often a refraction of a veiled politics of competition, intellectual medacity and compliance.
Fewer Chinese overseas students staying abroad (January 24, 2013, Xinhua)
A survey of Chinese college students planning further studies abroad showed that most prefer to return to China after overseas studies, the China Youth Daily reported on Thursday. The survey, conducted by a research team with Tianjin-based Nankai University, polled 1,872 undergraduate students in 11 universities in Beijing and Tianjin. All respondents, majoring in 41 disciplines, are planning to pursue further studies in foreign countries. However, less than 10 percent of them are aiming to immigrate after graduating from foreign institutions; about 47 percent said they sought self enrichment and higher competence in the job market by studying abroad; nearly 40 percent are after a better quality of education; and less than four percent admit their choices are made out of herd mentality.
SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY / ENVIRONMENT
Beijing smog documented by film-maker video (January 22, 2013, The Guardian)
Li Feifan discusses his 40-minute documentary Future Armageddon, screened on Chinese TV this week. It features multiple images of the same city skyline submerged in different levels of smog. Li spent two months filming in the city, including earlier this month when pollution levels were 30 to 45 times above the recommended safety levels
Beijing unveils new steps to curb air pollution (January 22, 2013, Xinhua)
Beijing will strengthen its efforts to treat PM2.5 and slash the density of major air pollutants by 2 percent this year, the municipality's acting mayor said Tuesday. The capital will take 180,000 old vehicles off the road and promote clean energy autos among government departments, the public and the urban cleaning sector, which includes street cleaners and trash collectors, Wang Anshun said at the opening of a session of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, the municipal legislature. The heating systems of 44,000 old, single-story homes and coal-burning boilers downtown are to be replaced with clean energy, Wang said as he delivered a government work report. In the next five years, "Beijing will complete afforestation of 66,000 hectares to make the city's forest coverage hit 40 percent or above. Its total emissions of major pollutants will continue to be reduced," said Wang. The city will also speed up the promotion of clean energy in rural areas and strictly control dust in construction projects, said Wang.
Watch: MythBusters investigate traditional Chinese popcorn machine in a bomb suit (January 24, 2013, Shanghaiist)
American special effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, of the Discovery Channel's MythBusters, have called the traditional Chinese popcorn machine "god's machine" after testing it on the show. Chinese netizens were amused by the Americans' exaggerated reactions to, and fear of, the machine. One of the presenters went so far as to don a bomb suit when operating it, a totally unnecessary precaution if he covered the front of the machine with a hemp mat in the style of roadside merchants.
BUSINESS / ECONOMICS / FOREIGN TRADE
Is China Running Out Of Workers? (January 20, 2013, Forbes)
On Friday, Beijings National Bureau of Statistics announced that Chinas working age populationthe 15 to 59 segmenttotaled 937.27 million last year. That number, as large as it is, represents a decline of 3.45 million from 2011. Moreover, the workforce in 2012 comprised 69.2% of the population, 0.6% less than in 2011. In 2012 for the first time we saw a drop in the population of people of working age, said Ma Jiantang, the NBS chief. We should pay great attention to this.
China manufacturing activity at two-year high, says HSBC (January 23, 2013, BBC)
Manufacturing activity in China grew at its fastest pace in two years in January, according to data from HSBC. The preliminary reading of the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) was 51.9, compared with 51.5 in December. Levels above 50 indicate expansion. China's leaders have taken steps to boost the country's growth, of which manufacturing is a major component. The data is the latest sign that the world's second-largest economy is recovering after a sharp slowdown.
New Path for Trade: Selling in China (January 23, 2013, The New York Times)
Like many American businesses fighting to keep their prices competitive, Vision Quest Lighting turned to China about six years ago. It now imports about a sixth of the two dozen to three dozen parts required to make its lighting fixtures from there. Recently, however, the Long Island company began to see China in a different light: as a sales target. The growing economy of the worlds most populous nation made it ripe for Vision Quests architectural lighting fixtures, many custom-made for hotel and restaurant chains like Hilton and KFC.
LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGE LEARNING
HanziCraft is a web application that takes you into the depths of Chinese characters. It aims to provide information on Chinese characters in a easy clean format with awesome useful information.
LINKS FOR RESEARCHERS
The 18th Party Congress: Testing the Limits of Institutionalization (January 14, 2013, Hoover Institute)
Nevertheless, by generating the oldest Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) in years, the congress set up a situation in which five of the seven members of the PBSC will have to retire in only five years and many contentious issues will have to be readdressed relatively soon. Sorting out succession politics issues appears to be getting more difficult over time, but such a judgment will have to wait at least another five years.
The Fallacy of a China Breakup (January 22, 2013, China-US Focus)
To be clear about the matter, there actually have been times in its long history when parts of China were ruled by warlords. But its almost insulting to suggest that modern China would fall to that again. Is it ever asked whether western civilization might devolve back into a society of knights, serfs and fiefdoms?
BOOKS
On China, by Henry KissingerIn this sweeping and insightful history, Henry Kissinger turns for the first time at book length to a country he has known intimately for decades and whose modern relations with the West he helped shape. On China illuminates the inner workings of Chinese diplomacy during such pivotal events as the initial encounters between China and tight line modern European powers, the formation and breakdown of the Sino-Soviet alliance, the Korean War, and Richard Nixons historic trip to Beijing. With a new final chapter on the emerging superpowers twenty-first-century role in global politics and economics, On China provides historical perspective on Chinese foreign affairs from one of the premier statesmen of our time.
Image credit: Smoggy Sunset, by Mike Behnken, via Flickr