Chinese High School Students Riot Over Mass Food Poisoning
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...
U.S. Students Losing Interest in China as Dream Jobs Prove Elusive
Waning interest worries those who view having Americans who speak Chinese as a matter of national interest.
China Celebrates International Women’s Day By Arresting Women’s Rights Activists
Many women’s rights groups activists who also work on LGBT issues have gone into hiding.
Henan Delegates Protest Inequality in University Admissions
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 chinadialogueChina'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...
Travels with My Censor
China’s reading public has begun to discover nonfiction books about China by foreigners.
Chinese Babies Should be Trained to Play Football—President Xi
Beijing has approved the country's "football reform plan," and says being good at soccer is the "ardent wish of the whole nation."
Civic Groups’ Freedom, and Followers, Are Vanishing
Accepted activities are narrowing, sparking fear that openness in the political landscape may disappear.
China’s Feminists Stand up Against ‘Misogynistic’ TV Gala
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’
Xi has created a slogan and formulated principles to guide his style of government.
Sobering News Out of China, Part 4 Million
Chronicles of a country walling itself off.
The China-Russia NGO Crackdown
Authorities in both countries apparently aim to cripple NGOs with foreign patrons or partners.
The China Africa Project
02.18.15
Chinese Studies at the University of Botswana
It’s long been said that while China may have an Africa policy, Africans do not have a China policy. In particular, too many Africans do not understand the language, culture, and politics of their new number one trading partner. The University of...
Ringing In the Lunar New Year, Whatever It’s Called
Because Han Chinese culture developed in regions where herders and goats prevailed, many think the zodiac talisman must be a goat.
Soft Recruits Hinder China’s Military Modernization
Many of China's army conscripts have been raised as spoiled children of the one-child policy and need toughening up, a RAND report says.
China’s Internet Censorship Anthem Is Revealed, Then Deleted
Cyberspace Administration employees Sang lines like, “An Internet power: Tell the world that the Chinese Dream is uplifting China.”
China’s Wealthy Parents Are Fed Up With State-Run Education
Forget rote memorization and pressure-packed tests—Western, alternative learning is the new rage.
Parent Meddling Makes for Unmerry Marriages in China
"Parental matchmaking is robustly correlated with lower marital harmony,” says a new World Bank report.
China Tells Schools to Suppress Western Ideas, With One Big Exception
Some teachers and students reject the idea that foreign pedagogy and textbooks pose a threat to the government.
China Says No Room for ‘Western Values’ in University Education
Education minister says books which ‘smear socialism’ will be banned.
Environment
01.28.15
China to Appoint Academic as New Environment Minister
from chinadialogueThe head of Beijing’s Tsinghua University is likely to be appointed to the top environmental job in in China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, according to reports, as the country’s leadership moves to defuse public anger about worsening...
Study Examines How Overseas Chinese Students Respond to Criticism of Their Country
Do conversations between domestic and foreign students result in mutual understanding and friendly feelings?
American Film On A Tibetan Migrant Finds Unlikely Success In China
Journalist Jocelyn Ford spent years documenting the life of Zanta, a Tibetan migrant who fled her poor, mountain village to build a life for herself and her son in Beijing.
Inside a Chinese Test-Prep Factory
One minute later, at precisely 11:45, the stillness was shattered. Thousands of teenagers swarmed out of the towering front gate of Maotanchang High School. Many of them wore identical black-and-white Windbreakers emblazoned with the slogan, in...
Infographics
12.15.14
Is Studying Abroad Worth the Cost?
from Sohu
The number of Chinese students who choose to study abroad has increased by more than 1,000% since 2000. Yet education costs abroad also continue to rise. This infographic looks at reasons why Chinese students are choosing an education overseas.
Xi Jinping: The Growing Cult of China’s ‘Big Daddy Xi’
The construction of a cult of personality around president Xi represents a dramatic direction change for a country that sought to rule collectively after the devastation wrought during Chairman Mao's three-decade monopoly on power.
Teachers’ Strikes Spread Across Northeast China
Teachers are asking for raises and for the government to end a requirement that teachers make payments to a pension plan as part of an experimental policy. China National Radio reported that one teacher was making less than $400 a month after...
The China Africa Project
11.28.14
A Career in China-Africa Research
Dr. Yoon Jung Park is among the most well-known Sino-Africa scholars in the field. Park has taught and done research on China-African affairs for over 20 years at universities in both the U.S. and Africa. Now based in Washington, D.C., where she...
China’s Rich Want to Send Children Abroad for Education
The report said that some 80 percent of the country's rich people have plans to send children abroad, the highest ratio in the world. By contrast, Japan has less than 1 percent and Germany has less than 10 percent of its rich people having such...
Media
11.20.14
The Invisible Candidate in Taiwan’s Elections
Almost 80 percent of Taiwan, an island of 23 million off the coast of China, is expected to head to the polls November 29 to vote in local elections with more than 11,000 seats up for grabs. Voters will choose candidates ranging from mayors in...
Newspaper Calls on Chinese Academics to Cut the Criticism
Liaoning Daily, a Communist Party-run newspaper in northeast China, published the article, “Teacher, Please Don’t Talk About China Like That: An Open Letter to Teachers of Philosophy and Social Science,” last week in response to a...
Is China’s Grand Ethnic Experiment Working?
In a gleaming classroom at Chong Hua High School in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin, students peer at onion slices under microscopes. Their biology teacher calls on Abdurrahman Mamat to explain what he sees.
"Plasmolysis," he replies...
Manual on How to Spot a Spy Circulates in an Increasingly Wary China
“On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” Or an American spy. Or a “hostile foreign force.” So says the “China Folk Counterespionage Manual,” a “how to spot a spy” guide circulating on the Internet.
Media
10.21.14
Chinese Doubt Their Own Soft Power Venture
On September 27, Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong read aloud a letter written by President Xi Jinping at a ceremony in Beijing celebrating the tenth...
Environment
10.09.14
Locals Attack Factory After Children Poisoned with Lead
from chinadialogueVillagers from the township of Gangkou in Jiangxi province, southeast China, have smashed up a new lead recycling plant which was due to begin operating.
Unconvinced by reassurances from the owners and local government that there would be...
Penn State Latest School to Drop China’s Confucius Institute
The action signals increasing discontent on university campuses over the institutes' hiring practices and refusal to acknowledge unflattering chapters of Chinese history.
Environment
10.02.14
China ‘Not Ready to be a World Leader’ on Climate Change
from chinadialogueThe U.N. Climate Summit 2014 in New York last week passed, as expected, with public statements of intent but no sign of firm commitments to reducing climate emissions.
If a deal is to be reached in Paris next year, at the latest “last hope...
Conversation
10.01.14
Is This the End of Hong Kong As We Know It?
Over the past week, tens of thousands of Hong Kong people have occupied the streets of their semi-autonomous city to advocate for the democratic elections slated to...
The Revolution Will Not Be Instagrammed
Mainland Chinese felt no effects from the protests roiling Hong Kong—until Beijing pulled the plug on another social network.
Books
09.24.14
A Chinaman’s Chance
From Tony Hsieh to Amy Chua to Jeremy Lin, Chinese Americans are now arriving at the highest levels of American business, civic life, and culture. But what makes this story of immigrant ascent unique is that Chinese Americans are emerging at just the same moment when China has emerged—and indeed may displace America—at the center of the global scene. What does it mean to be Chinese American in this moment? And how does exploring that question alter our notions of just what an American is and will be?
Q. and A.: Yong Zhao on Education and Authoritarianism in China
Yong Zhao, a professor of education at the University of Oregon, is the author of "Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon: Why China Has the Best (and Worst) Education System in the World.”
Caixin Media
09.08.14
Gaokao, China’s National College Exam, to Carry Less Weight
The Ministry of Education announced reforms on September 4 that will lessen the weight that the gaokao, the country's national college entrance exam, carries for university enrollment. The changes are to come into effect by 2020.
...
For Australia, a Celebration of China in Theme Park Form
Get ready for Chappypie China Time, a $500 million, 39-acre Chinese culture theme park that aims to bring Australia a replica of the Forbidden City.
Will China Vet Hong Kong Election?
The occupation of Hong Kong's central financial district could start early next week, after Beijing releases its guidelines Sunday on how the city's next leader will be elected.
Sport in China: What’s Wrong with Winning?
China has a fixation on training elite champions in select sports and an education system that considers sports a luxury and not a priority.
Mao’s Little Red Book, Meet Xi Jinping’s Collected Speeches
Since its publication not quite two months ago, the somewhat turgidly named “A Reader of General-Secretary Xi Jinping’s Important Speeches” has already sold 10 million copies, its publisher reports.
Features
08.14.14
Making It in China and the U.S.
Emily Parker is a creator of Green Electronics: A U.S.-China Maker Challenge. The Green Electronics Challenge was an unprecedented collaboration between the New America...
My Chinese Education
One Tibetan recounts how Beijing’s education system suffocates minority culture serving to unify the country under the rule of the dominant Han ethnic group.
Conversation
08.11.14
Simon Leys Remembered
Isabel Hilton: When I heard the news of the death of Pierre Ryckmans, better known by his pen name,...
China Sees Boom in Illegal Surrogate Motherhood
Rising infertility and a relaxation of the one-child policy have given rise to a booming black market in surrogacy that experts say produces well over 10,000 births a year.
Zhang Tiesheng: From Leftist Hero to Multimillionaire
Zhang was 22 when he came to national attention in 1973, after he wrote to leaders excoriating the examination as a return to the capitalist model of education. Now 63, he is a major shareholder in the publicly-traded Wellhope Agri-Tech.
Helping China’s Doves
Since Beijing wants to focus on domestic problems the international community should ask itself one simple question: What can we do to help the doves?
Sinica Podcast
07.18.14
Debating Societies in China
from Sinica PodcastThis week on Sinica, we’re happy to welcome back Jeremy Goldkorn in conversation with David Weeks, founder and President of the National High School Debate League of China, a debating society currently established in twenty-seven cities...