FEATURED ARTICLE
How the Philadelphia Orchestra Found a Home in China (June 28, 2014, Caixin Online)
The rapport between a symphony orchestra and its public is a special one, always symbiotic, occasionally fraught, and sometimes under special circumstances – transcendent. Included in the latter category is the unique relationship that binds the People's Republic of China and the Philadelphia Orchestra, which just completed the third year of its unprecedented "China Residency."
GOVERNMENT / POLITICS / FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Uighur academic Ilham Tohti 'denied food' in China jail
(June 27, 2014, BBC)
The detained Uighur academic Ilham Tohti was denied food for more than a week and his legs have been shackled, his lawyer says. Mr Tohti, an economics professor who has criticised China's ethnic policies, has been detained since January. He has been charged with separatism. His lawyer Li Fangping met with him for the first time this week. He said Mr Tohti was denied food for 10 days after an attack on a Kunming train station in March that killed 29 people.
China official cancels events in Taiwan amid violent protests (June 29, 2014, Reuters)
China's top official in charge of relations with Taiwan has returned to Beijing, hailing his visit to the self-ruled island as "historic", despite violent protests that forced him to cancel several meetings.The visit by Zhang Zhijun, director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, marked the first such trip by such a senior mainland official in 65 years since the Nationalists fled after losing a civil war to China's Communists in 1949.
China jails 113 in Xinjiang mass sentencing (June 29, 2014, AFP)
Courts in China's ethnically-divided Xinjiang, home to mainly Muslim Uighurs, have sentenced 113 people to jail on mostly terrorism-related offences, state-run media said, as authorities press a crackdown following several deadly attacks. Four suspects were sentenced to life in prison, while 109 others were given sentences for crimes ranging from "organising and leading terrorist groups" to "bigamy and drug dealing", Xinjiang's government web portal Tianshan said late Sunday.
Why did Hong Kong hold unofficial democracy referendum? (June 30, 2014, BBC)
Hundreds of thousands in Hong Kong have voted in an unofficial referendum on the city's democratic development, which is not recognised by the local or Chinese governments. The BBC examines the reasons behind the ballot.
China's military calls for unity after top level graft bust (July 30, 2014, Reuters)
China's military called on Tuesday for unity and loyalty to the ruling Communist Party after one of its most senior former officers was accused of corruption, the highest-ranking official to date felled in a battle against pervasive graft. Xu Caihou, who retired as vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission last year and from the Communist Party's decision-making Politburo in 2012, was also expelled from the party and will be court-martialed.
Four charged over Kunming mass knife attack (June 30, 2014, BBC)
China has charged four people with murder and terrorism for a mass knife attack at Kunming railway station in which 29 people were killed. Attackers armed with knives stabbed and slashed at people in the 1 March attack, injuring 140 others. State media said four suspects were shot dead at the scene and four others arrested.
Huge Crowds Turn Out for Pro-Democracy March in Hong Kong, Defying Beijing (July 1, 2014, The New York Times)
The appeal of democratic ideas drew thousands of protesters into the streets of Hong Kong on Tuesday in a defiant but largely peaceful march advocating free and open elections for the territorys chief executive.
Culture war fuels Hong Kong protests (July 2, 2014, Bloomberg)
Political freedom isn't the only impetus for the hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy protesters who this week marched through central Hong Kong. True, the immediate cause was the Chinese governments recent efforts to assert greater control over Hong Kong. But thats not all of it, by any means. Tensions between citizens of Hong Kong and mainland China have been increasing for several years now, metastasizing into cross-border online shouting matches that have made strong impressions on peopleand governmentsin both places.
Hong Kong nears tipping point with Beijing (July 2, 2014, Asia Times Online)
The Chinese leadership must be wondering: When will Hong Kong accept the reality that Beijing, not London, is its master now and turn July 1 into a day of unity and celebration rather than division and complaint? The answer may be never – especially if the central government continues to demand an allegiance that too many in Hong Kong feel it has not rightly earned
Secretive agency leads most intense anti-corruption effort in modern Chinese history (July 2, 2014, The Washington Post)
No sign identifies the drab beige building off a busy thoroughfare in downtown Beijing. There is nothing to indicate that within its walls lies the most feared agency in China for members of the Communist Party. The institution has an obscure name the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. But in the year and a half since Xi Jinping became Chinas leader, it has become his main weapon in an anti-corruption campaign that has gone further than any other in the countrys modern history.
The Political Calculus of a Top-Level Takedown in China (July 3, 2014, China Real Time)
In the end, Xi appears more likely to take the riskier approach of directly going after Zhou not because he wants to purge an adversary, but because he has a larger project in mind. Thats because Xis notion of reform and how to achieve it is different: For Xi and his supporters, real reform means fashioning a rejuvenated Communist party, which would command a far more innovative economy and make sure that Chinas citizens had better reasons for staying in China. To do that, the Party needs to cut ties with the blunt, truncheon-swinging politics that prevailed when Zhou served as the Partys enforcer.
The Chinese Presidents Visit to Seoul Says Much About Shifting Alliances (July 3, 2014, TIME)
South Korea is a good neighbor. North Korea, not so much. Thats the message China sent this week as President Xi Jinping stopped by Seoul for a two-day visit. It is the first time a Chinese leader chose to visit South Korea before meeting with the Kim clan first a deliberate slight to North Korea and a sign of shifting alliances across Asias northeast.
China criticises Japan's move to expand military role (July 3, 2014, AFP)
China's government and media launched a broadside Wednesday against Japan's move to loosen the bonds on its powerful military, casting it as a threat to Asian security. The criticism came one day after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his cabinet had formally endorsed a reinterpretation of a constitutional clause banning the use of armed force except in very narrowly-defined circumstances.
RELIGION
Chinese Christians Tearfully Sing Hymn as Church Cross Removed: Video (June 27, 2014, Christian News)
Christians are vowing to stand firm for Christ amid much persecution by officials in a Chinese province where church buildings continue to be demolished, and where believers in a recent video can be seen bursting into tearful song about the cross and how their sins were washed away by the blood of Jesus while the cross atop their building is forcibly removed.
A Church for Hani and Yi People in Yunnan (July 1, 2014, Chinese Church Voices)
While much is written about the explosive growth of the church among the Han (dominant ethnic group in China), less is written about the spread of Christianity among the minority peoples. The article translated below is about a county in Yunnan Province that is praying and raising money to build a church.
China Bans Ramadan Fasting for Officials, Students in Restive Northwest (July 3, 2014, TIME)
Several government departments in Chinas Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region have banned students and civil servants from fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Statements posted on school and government websites said the sure-to-be-unpopular policy was aimed at protecting students and stopping government offices from being used to promote religion, reports the Associated Press.
Islam in China: Ramadan, Beijing style (July 3, 2014, The Economist)
In China Ramadan this year comes against the backdrop of increased violence perpetrated by Uighurs and a government line which more strongly than ever attributes it to radical Islam and international jihadism. In Xinjiang, authorities have reportedly taken steps to discourage Ramadan fasting among ordinary people and ban it outright for many party members, government workers and school children.
SOCIETY / LIFE
Ten traditional Chinese homes (June 26, The World of Chinese)
Yup, China has the biggest population in the world and 56 different ethnic groups, and guess what that means? Housing, lots of different housing. And Im not talking about those grotesque residential towers that have sprung up over the last 20 years and will, no doubt, be torn down by the powers that be soon enough. I mean those houses made of stone, bamboo, wood and even mud, all set within the structures of traditional Chinese architecture.
A dramatic decline in suicides: Back from the edge (June 28, 2014, The Economist)
IN THE 1990s China had one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Young rural women in particular were killing themselves at an alarming rate. In recent years, however, Chinas suicides have declined to among the lowest rates in the world. In 2002 the Lancet, a British medical journal, said there were 23.2 suicides per 100,000 people annually from 1995 to 1999. This year a report by a group of researchers from the University of Hong Kong found that had declined to an average annual rate of 9.8 per 100,000 for the years 2009-11, a 58% drop.
China 'baby hatch' inundated with abandoned, disabled children (June 30, 2014, CNN)
In just 11 days, 106 children, all with disabilities or medical conditions, were dropped off at the Jinan facility, according to local state media. That is more than the 85 orphans the city accepted the entire previous year.
Chinas Schizophrenic NGO Policy (June 30, 2014, ChinaSource Blog)
Despite years of research, advocacy, and experiments by governments at various levels to accommodate China's growing NGO sector, numerous bumps remain on the road to a comprehensive NGO policy. Here is a brief look at the main obstacles:
Under the Microscope? (July 1, 2014, ChinaSource Blog)
If you work for a foreign NGO in China and have had the feeling that it has been under a bit more scrutiny lately, it seems that you are not imagining things.
There are no rules in China (July 2, 2014, Foreign Policy)
When dissident author Murong Xuecun returns home, he says he will tell Beijing authorities they can come and get him.
Biggest Uyghur Wedding Ive Ever Attended (July 3, 2014, Far West China)
Weddings give incredible insight into cultures around the world and the Uyghur culture is no exception. From special dances to beautiful dresses, I hope this video and accompanying description will allow you to experience this part of Uyghur culture even if you never have the opportunity to attend one yourself.
Can young Chinese farm? (July 3, 2014, The China Story)
What happens when were all dead? Old Chen, one of the regular workers at Chuantong Farm, asked me as we sat talking one December afternoon in 2013. Chuantong Farm is about ten minutes from the town of Deqing in Zhejiang province. [] Old Chens comments echoed across the field we were working on. A rural farmer all his life, sixty-four year old Chen was lamenting about the uncertain future of farming in China. He was pessimistic about whether there would be people who knew how to actually work the fields once his generation has either retired or passed away. He was fiddling with the pile of goat manure we were fertilising the field with, a finger conspicuously absent, no doubt because of a machine accident from years ago. He continued, lashing out at Chinas young generation: They sleep in until ten a.m. and even later. What kind of work can they do?
No regrets, say the Chinese women who chose independence over marriage (July 3, 2014, The Guardian)
Her mother carefully undid Liang Jieyun's plaits, combed out the strands and pinned them into a bun. When her friends put up their hair, they wore the red clothing of brides. But as Liang left her girlhood behind and stepped across the family threshold, she was embarking on a lifelong commitment to remain single. At 85, Liang is a rare survivor of a custom stretching back to the early 19th century in parts of southern Guangdong. Women here could vow to remain a "self-combed woman", or zishun, leaving their parents' home to work without marrying. "If I hadn't become a 'self-combed woman', the landlord would have forced me into marriage," she said.
EDUCATION / HISTORY
Chinese in World War I (June 28, 2014, Outside-In)
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand, an event that would trigger what we know today as World War I. One of the little known stories from the war is the role of 140,000 Chinese laborers on the Western Front.
What do you do with millions of extra graduates? (July 1, 2014, BBC)
Rising joblessness among new university graduates in China and India is creating an army of educated unemployed that some fear could destabilise these huge economies.
Education ministry prohibits gender-based college recruiting (July 2, 2014, China Daily)
The Ministry of Education is banning universities from recruiting students based on gender.The new regulation, released on Thursday, comes as universities and provincial admissions offices begin recruiting high school graduates after they took the national college entrance exam, or gaokao, in early June. During a conference on Thursday about the admission of the Class of 2014, the ministry released a number of recruitment regulations, one of which banned schools from determining enrollment ratios based on gender.
Shanghai is One of the Greatest Jewish Cities Ever Constructed (The New Republic)As early as 1845, when Shanghai was forcibly opened to foreign trade under the unequal treaties that concluded the Opium Wars, a network of prominent Sephardic Jewish merchant familiesthe Kadoories, the Hardoons, the Ezras, the Nissims, the Abrahams, the Gubbays, and, most prominently, the Sassoonstook root in the city and eventually joined the ranks of its Western occupying elite.
HEALTH
Cancer Beijing's Top Killer for Seventh Consecutive Year; Healthy Life Expectancy 58 Years
(June 30, 2014, The Beijinger Blog)Sobering statistics from the Beijing Health and Family Planning Commission indicate that cancer was responsible for 27 percent of all deaths in Beijing in 2013, increasing from 63 new cancer diagnoses per day ten years ago to 110 per day in 2013, its report said. Lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and liver cancer were cited as the leading killers of men. For women, breast cancer, lung cancer, and then colorectal were the leading types of cancer fatalities.
Lead Exposure May Cause Depression And Anxiety In Children (June 30, 2014, NPR)Lead is well known for causing permanent behavioral and cognitive problems in children, but a study says it may also cause less obvious problems like depression, too, even at low levels. That's the word from a study tracking the health of 1,341 children in Jintan, China, where the health effects of pollution from rapid development have become a national concern.
They're Dying at Their Desks in China as Epidemic of Stress Proves Fatal (June 30, 2014, Bloomberg)
China is facing an epidemic of overwork, to hear the state-controlled press and Chinese social media tell it. About 600,000 Chinese a year die from working too hard, according to the China Youth Daily. China Radio International in April reported a toll of 1,600 every day.
The Victims of Chinas Soil Pollution Crisis (July 3, 2014, China File)
It is also still an agricultural area: the road from Fenshui to Zhoutie runs between flat, regular fields of vegetables, these days more profitable crops than grain for farmers who live close to urban markets. But many local farmers have given up eating the crops they grow. They know that their vegetables are planted in soil polluted with cadmium, lead, and mercury, heavy metals that are dangerous to human health. Zhang confessed that he rarely eats local produce either. Theres too much soil pollution, he said.
ECONOMICS / BUSINESS / TRADE
China Tourism: What Marketers Need To Know (June 27, 2014, Nanjing Marketing Group)According to analysts, in fifteen years the Chinese middle class will reach 800 million, up from 300 million today. Over the next five years, affluent Chinese consumers will grow from four million to 20 million. This has created a new wave of Chinese tourists: young, affluent and travelling independently. In the past Chinese tourists would travel in big group tours, visiting many sites over a few days, following a tour guides flag, all with matching red hats.
China Builds Its Own ManhattanExcept It's a Ghost Town (June 27, 2014, Bloomberg)China's project to build a replica Manhattan is taking shape against a backdrop of vacant office towers and unfinished hotels, underscoring the risks to a slowing economy from the nation's unprecedented investment boom. The skyscraper-filled skyline of the Conch Bay district in the northern port city of Tianjin has none of a metropolis's bustle up close, with dirt-covered glass doors and construction on some edifices halted. The area's failure to attract tenants since the first building was finished in 2010 bodes ill across the Hai River for the separate Yujiapu development, which is modeled on New York's Manhattan and remains in progress.
Can China Fix Its Financial System Without Derailing Its Economy? (June 30, 2014, China Real Time)
One of economists biggest fears is whether Chinas credit boom will end in a U.S.-style financial crisis, sending shockwaves across the global economy. But Mr. Gruenwald says China has built up sufficient buffers to protect against a collapse in the countrys financial system, pointing to the $4 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves and the big banks cash stockpiles. Theyve got cushions in there that are going to help to mitigate any downturn, he said in an interview. That doesnt mean its painless, but I think it means that its probably more manageable.
China company negotiations. Common tactics and good responses (July 1, 2014, China Law Blog)
When it comes to negotiating, Chinese companies view American companies as easy marks. They tend to see us as impatient, unfocused and too willing to compromise to avoid losing out. To take advantage of these perceived traits, Chinese companies often employ the following three negotiating techniques:
5 losers in a China housing downturn (July 2, 2014, The Wall Street Journal)
Chinas home buyers are shying away from the housing market and property developers are struggling to repay their debts amid falling sales, causing a ripple effect among related industries such as steel and cement and threatening to hobble the rest of the economy. Here are five groups of people who are increasingly vulnerable as Chinas property market weakens.
China's gambling capital Macau is world's fourth-richest territory (July 2, 2014, The Guardian)
Macau, the gambling centre of China, has overtaken Switzerland as the world's fourth richest territory per person according to figures from the World Bank. Swelling numbers of tourists and gamblers from mainland China helped drive gross domestic product per capita in the former Portuguese colony up by 18% in 2013 to 53,227. It overtook Switzerland, where GDP per capita rose by 2% in 2013 to 46,946.
China Eastern Airlines to launch budget carrier (July 2, 2014, AFP)
China Eastern Airlines said Wednesday it would transform one of its units into a budget airline, the first Chinese state carrier to do so. China's second biggest airline by passenger volume said its Beijing-based domestic carrier China United Airlines would become a low-cost flyer as the country liberalises its commercial aviation market.
China Takes Step Toward Freeing Currency from State Control (July 3, 2014, The New York Times)
China has permitted banks to freely set their own exchange rates for the renminbi against the dollar in over-the-counter transactions another step toward freeing the exchange rate from government control. Banks were previously required to price the exchange rate that they offered clients within 3 percent in either direction of the Chinese central banks midpoint on a given day.
Price of ivory in China triples (July 3, 2014, The Guardian)The price of ivory taken from African elephants slaughtered for their tusks has tripled in the past four years in China, the world's biggest market, conservationists said on Thursday. "The surge in the price of ivory is driving a wave of killing of elephants across Africa that shows little sign of abating," campaign group Save the Elephants said.
SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY / ENVIRONMENT
Beijing expects healthy air by 2030 (July 2, 2014, China Daily)
The Chinese capital's fine-particulate pollutant intensity is expected to drop to the internationally recognized safe level in 16 years, environmental authorities said. Pan Tao, head of the Beijing Municipal Research Institute of Environmental Protection, said the concentration of PM2.5 – particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrograms or less per cubic meter – is likely to be reduced regularly to no more than 35 micrograms per cubic meter by 2030.
When Air Quality in Beijing and Shanghai is Least Awful (July 3, 2014, China Real Time)
What is the best time of year to avoid air pollution in Beijing? Some might say this is a trick question, given the notorious smog levels in Chinas capital. But thanks to an analysis by China Real Time, as the summer holiday gets underway, we can safely advise air-quality-minded tourists to stay away for the next couple months. Spring and fall are the best times to visit.
ARTS / ENTERTAINMENT /SPORTS
Chinas World Cup frenzy (June 27, 2014, World of Chinese)The Chinese, rather sportingly, have largely chosen not to be discouraged from watching the World Cup merely because they arent in it, and Chinese football fans are undoubtedly some of the most devoted in world. Indeed, emotions have run high night after night, something I (a lackadaisical football fan at the best of times) can attest to by the frenzied cries that came (and still come) through my ceiling night after night.
Avenue Q: Where Broadway and Beijings Hutongs Intersect (June 27, 2014, China Real Time)
Beijings hutongs are a long way from Broadway and the award-winning musical Avenue Q. But the message of the Chinese adaptation of the show has struck a chord with many of the countrys younger theater-goers. It touches on a number of sensitive subjects, from homosexuality to premarital sex and racism, and takes a lighthearted look at the relevance of education and the quest for a goal in life.
FOOD / TRAVEL / CULTURE
Saddle Up: Houhai and Qianhai (June 28, 2014, The Beijinger)A cluster of man-made and idealized lakes range west to northwest of the Forbidden City: Beihai ( or North Lake), Qianhai ( or Front Lake), Houhai ( or Back Lake), and Xihai ( or West Lake). Of these, Houhai and Qianhai are the most suitable for exploration by bike. Beihai is accessible only on foot, while Xihai lacks the attractions of its easterly sisters. Theres perhaps no more scenic route to cycle in Beijing; in addition to flawless lakeside scenery, this trip also encompasses short jaunts through some of the nearby hutongs.
5 Thrilling Ways to Experience Xinjiang, China (June 30, 2014, Far West China)
Below I've compiled a short list of the 5 most thrilling (and dangerous!) ways I've seen other people experience Xinjiang. Do I recommend you try to do any of this? Heck no! But is it possible if you've got the appropriate amount of money and perhaps just enough screws missing in your brain? Absolutely.
The flooded city of Shicheng: Before and after pictures (July 1, 2014, China Underground)
Shicheng is an ancient city, established about 1300 years ago, now lies at the 26-40 m depth underwater. Recently Chinese National Geographic magazine published a series of great pictures about Shicheng City (literally, Lion City), Zhejiang. On the Chinese net, we found some interesting view of the city before it was flooded. The valley was flooded in 1959 to create the lake for the Xin'an River Dam project.
A Search for Traces of J.G. Ballard in Shanghai (July 1, 2014, China Real Time)
The search for Ballardian Shanghai local traces of British writer J.G. Ballard, that is begins on the pavement outside XinYue Club to confused stares from the restaurants waiters.Ignoring the gaudy nameplate of what is now a Chinese restaurant and the soaring apartment tower next door, the wood-frame stucco Tudor house might have slotted nicely into Ballards fathers native Lancashire before its retrofit. Like many Shanghai homes of the era, it was built as a tangible reminder of England, which the Ballard family left behind in 1929 when opportunity arose to run a cotton mill on Chinas east coast.
LANGUAGE / LANGUAGE LEARNING
Mandarin English Dialogue #38 Utilities Bill Dispute (July 1, 2014, carlgene.com)
You have been called to interpet for a Mandarin-Speaking Man (MSM) who is having a conversation with an English-speaking Customer Service Representative (CSR). He has called to dispute a bill she has received from an electricity company.
BOOKSThe five stereotypes of Tibet (June 26, 2014, English Pen)
Whats the story behind the romance and propaganda surrounding Tibet? Chinese author Chan Koonchung writes for PEN Atlas on how his new novel and its Tibetan protagonist are an attempt to humanise the conflict, using fiction to transcend ideology.
I Am China by Xiaolu Guo review exile and uncertainty (June 27, 2014, The Guardian)
I Am China, her latest novel, is a multilayered exploration of politics and culture across three continents. It opens with a letter written by a Chinese man, who signs himself Jian, to Mu, his absent lover. We learn from the letter, dated December 2011, that Kublai Jian, to give him his full adopted name, is a musician, and that he was in Tiananmen Square in 1989. We do not know where he is now, or where his lover is, but he hopes that they will soon be reunited.
7 Reasons Chinese Censors Dont Like Hillary Clintons Hard Choices(June 27, 2014, TIME)
Here is a cursory glance at seven passages from the book that may be the most offensive to the Chinese.
China Tries To Establish Foothold In Zambia, Tanzania (June 30, 2014, NPR)
Africa is big business for China. Howard French, author of China's Second Continent, talks to Steve Inskeep about why some African countries are of particular interest to Chinese leaders.
Writing China: Dan Washburn, The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream (July 1, 2014, China Real Time)
In his new book, The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream, Mr. Washburn tells how the game, which was once banned by Chairman Mao for being too bourgeois, has thrived despite a moratorium on golf course development for the past 10 years. Mr. Washburn, managing editor at the Asia Society, portrays the stories of three men affected by the game: a Chinese security guard turned pro golfer; a Western golf executive navigating the blurry waters of what is and isnt allowed in Chinas development of golf courses; and a lychee farmer whose land is confiscated for golf construction.
Listen: The Wild Hearts of China (Wavemaker)Osnos is the author of Age of Ambition an ambitious new book, based on a decade of living in and reporting from China, first as a student, then as a reporter for The Chicago Tribune, and then as a correspondent for The New Yorker. Osnos spent much of his decade in China getting to know the wild hearts driving that nations growth.
ARTICLES FOR RESEARCHERS
Princelings, preferences and power (June 29, 2014, China Policy Institute Blog)
Do Chinese leaders have to believe anything? After all, unlike their western counterparts, they dont have to engage in battles over ideas and approaches during an election campaign, nor are they rudely exposed to forensic intellectual examination in the way that politicians in the US, Europe or other democracies are when they stand for power. The Communist Party of China exists almost to give them a ready made body of ideas that everyone assumes they buy into without too much internal self reflection.Yuan Shih-kai (Yuan Shikai) (The China Story)
Image credit: Joann Pittman