79 Days That Shook Hong Kong
Photo Essay: Hong Kong's street occupations have ended, but many demonstrators say this is only the beginning of their fight for free elections.
Beijing Rejects Hanoi’s Legal Challenge on Spratly, Paracel Islands Disputes
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei dismissed the Vietnamese action on Thursday, describing its claims over the Spratly and Paracel islands—known in China as the Nansha and Xisha—as invalid.
Young, Idealistic, and Caught Up in a Wave of Detentions
Well educated and deeply committed to helping their fellow Chinese, Liu Jianshu and Zhao Sile are the kind of idealistic young people who pepper the story of China’s transformation over the past century as it searches for a modern identity.
Caixin Media
12.11.14
Sacked Deputy Reform Commissioner Gets Life in Jail for Graft
A former deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has been sentenced to life in prison for taking 35.6 million yuan (U.S.$5.8 million) in bribes between 2002 and 2012, according to a microblog post from a Langfang...
Warm West Coast Reception for China’s Web Czar (Chillier in Washington)
Mr. Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, pointed to the book, “Xi Jinping: The Governance of China” last week while giving a tour of the company’s office to Lu Wei, the de facto head of Internet policy in China.
China Tightening Curbs on Opaque Local Debt Spurs Market Tumble
While the change caught traders off guard, authorities in the world’s second-largest economy are trying to rein in the use of lightly-regulated Local Government Finance Vehicles (LGFVs) as they promote the development of a more transparent...
Hong Kong Democracy Protesters Brace for Final Camp Shutdown
The operation reflects the waning support for demonstrators after more than two months of civil disobedience and clashes that began over Beijing’s role in directing elections in the former British colony.
Prince William Attacks China over ‘Ignorant Craving’ for Ivory
According to excerpts of his speech released in advance, Prince William, who is due to go to China early next year, will say: “Some endangered species are now literally worth more than their weight in gold."
China Sentences 8 to Death for Attacks in Xinjiang
The Urumqi Intermediate People's Court in the capital of Xinjiang also handed out suspended death sentences to five others, China Central Television said, without mentioning when the trials were held.
Why Beijing’s Troubles Could Get a Lot Worse
Anne Stevenson-Yang: China, for all its talk about economic reform, is in big trouble. The old model of relying on export growth and heavy investment to power the economy isn’t working anymore.
Labor Movement ‘Concertmaster’ Tests Beijing’s Boundaries
When local officials warned striking shoe factory workers in China's Pearl River Delta this summer that they were breaking the law, a slight, bespectacled figure barely 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 meters) tall faced them down.
"Where is the law...
Media
12.08.14
On First Annual Constitution Day, China’s Most Censored Word Was ‘Constitution’
On December 4, China’s first annual Constitution Day, Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily posted the complete text of the Chinese...
The China Africa Project
12.06.14
The BRICS Bank: China’s Drive to Shake Up Development Finance
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (aka the ‘BRICS’) are moving forward with an ambitious plan to shake up the clubby world of development finance. The new BRICS bank announced over the summer 2014 is expected to have a profound impact...
China Mulls Giving Migrant Population More Equal Rights
China's migrant population may get equal access to more public services formerly restricted to the locals, according to a draft document of the government.
Thousands of Local Internet Propaganda Emails Leaked
The archive includes correspondence, photos, directories of “Internet commentators” (网评员), summaries of commentary work, and records of the online activities of specific individuals, among other documents. Over 2,700 emails are included in the...
Shunyi Foreign Foster Parent of 11 Disappears, Critically Ill Child at Hospital
The Legal Daily reported Thursday that the girl, called Phoebe, is one of 11 ethnic Chinese foster children the man has been raising in various apartments around Beijing, most recently at Capital Paradise in Shunyi.
China Arrests Ex-Security Chief Zhou Yongkang
The most senior Chinese official to be investigated for corruption, has been arrested and expelled from the Communist Party, state media report.
China Expels Ex-Security Boss Zhou Yongkang From Communist Party
Zhou became ensnared in President Xi Jinping's much-publicised anti-corruption drive in July when he was put under investigation for "serious disciplinary violation".
Media
12.05.14
Repeat After Me: Taiwan’s Recent Elections Had Nothing to Do With Hong Kong
If China was in fact the invisible candidate in Taiwan’s local elections, it just lost in a...
Infographics
12.05.14
China’s Fallen Mighty [Graphic]
Over the past thirty-eight years, twelve of China’s top leaders have been purged. This infographic and the bios of these leaders explain how and why these mighty men fell. ...
Sinica Podcast
12.05.14
Domestic Abuse in China
from Sinica PodcastIt doesn’t take a lot of time in China to see household violence play out in supermarkets, in schools, or even in the streets. But exactly how common is domestic violence in China? In the face of recent evidence from Peking University that more...
Days After We Interviewed These Former Cops Chinese Authorities Arrested Two of Them
Many lived under constant government surveillance and were detained whenever they try to leave their home towns to bring their complaints to Beijing.
Conversation
12.03.14
Can China Conquer the Internet?
Lu Wei, China’s new Internet Czar, recently tried to get the world to agree to...
China Will Be Banishing Its Creative Class to the Countryside
Chinese President Xi Jinping is channeling the late communist revolutionary Mao Zedong in a potential crackdown on China's burgeoning creative class.
Mutual Governance of Cyberspace Called For
In Washington, Internet Czar Lu Wei Lu pointed out that the two countries should also respect each other instead of engaging in confrontation and accusation.
Hong Kong Protests Have Produced No Real Winners
There appear to be no real winners from Hong Kong’s umbrella movement: not the demonstrators—who have failed to win the concessions for which they have fought so persistently—nor the authorities, who have veered between aggressive intervention...
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...
How Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement Folded
An effective boycott by the relevant interlocutors, in the form of government officials, and for two months the lack of a face-to-face oppressor, in the form of police—who until last week appeared to have learned that gassing protesters was the...
Gregarious and Direct: China’s Web Doorkeeper
When a major Chinese-American Internet conference convenes in Washington on Tuesday, a middle-aged Communist Party propaganda chief will be seated amid a room full of tech industry executives, American officials and web luminaries.
China’s Crackdown in Hong Kong May Fuel a Long-term Democracy Movement
China's Communist authorities are nothing if not predictable. With a high-profile international summit hosted by President Xi Jinping this month behind them, they are ready for authorities in Hong Kong to crack down on a pro-democracy protest...
LIVE: Stand-off Ensues Between Protesters and Police in Mong Kok
Crowds of protesters are involved in stand-off with police in Mong Kok after officers earlier took control of the junction of Shantung Street and Sai Yeung Choi South Street by forcing people back on the pavement.
China Fires Journalist Who Tweeted In Support of Occupy Central
Wang Yafeng, who wrote editorials for Communist Party mouthpiece the Jiaxing Daily in the eastern province of Zhejiang, lost his job after sending out tweets highly critical of state media's line on the Hong Kong protests on his personal...
China Corruption Watchdog Launches Inspections, Eyes Sinopec
The inspectors, part of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), will focus on senior figures within Sinopec who may be promoted to leadership roles.
Paper Published by Communist Party Endorses Charge Against Veteran Journalist Gao Yu
Gao, 70, denied the charges in a closed-door hearing on Friday. She faces a maximum sentence of death. The document in question is believed to outline curbs on the spread of Western civil liberties in China.
China’s Regulations on Sale of Birth By-product in Chaos
In a cramped, quiet room, several bloody placentas sit in a machine, drying. Some workers then ground them down and filled capsules with the viscera. This gory scene is not from a horror movie but the day-to-day business of an underground...
Exclusive: China Ready to Cut Rates Again on Fears of Deflation — Sources
Friday's surprise cut in rates, the first in more than two years, reflects a change of course by Beijing and the central bank, which had persisted with modest stimulus measures before finally deciding last week that a bold monetary policy step...
China Detains an American Who Assists North Koreans
The aid worker, Peter Hahn, who is 73 and escaped from the North many years ago, is suspected of embezzlement and possession of fraudulent receipts, said the lawyer, Zhang Peihong.
China Commits $45.6 Billion for Economic Corridor with Pakistan
The Chinese companies will be able to operate the projects as profit-making entities, according to the deal signed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during a visit to China earlier this month.
In Step to Lower Carbon Emissions, China Will Place a Limit on Coal Use in 2020
In theory, coal consumption might increase beyond 2020, but some researchers say economic trends show the rate of growth in coal use slowing in coming years and peaking about 2020.
Political Surgery
This year is unlikely to be remembered fondly by Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou. He entered it with opinion polls at record lows. Spring saw students occupying the legislature for more than three weeks in protest against his efforts to forge...
Viewpoint
11.21.14
“Getting Pantsed” by the “Central People’s Court”
In December of last year CCTV producer Wang Qinglei wrote a post on his Weibo account criticizing the Chinese government’s campaign-style attacks on prominent social media figures and arguing the media had also been drawn in and was “sidestepping...
Infographics
11.20.14
Who Really Benefits from Poverty Alleviation in China?
from SohuA series of reports issued by China's National Audit Office highlights problems in 19 counties that have received funding from national poverty alleviation programs....
Conversation
11.19.14
Was the U.S.-China Climate Deal Worth the Wait?
Last week, Ann Carlson and Alex Wang, environmental experts at UCLA Law School, called the November 12 U.S.-China Joint...
China vs. America: Brinkmanship and Statemanship
After Barack Obama's Air Force One touches down in Brisbane, and the American president fulfills the day's G20 obligations including the prime ministerial barbecue, Obama will make his way to Queensland University and deliver the sequel to the...
China's ‘Fox Hunt’ Grabs 288 Suspects in Worldwide Anti-Graft Net
China has conducted activities in 56 countries, including the United States, Canada, Spain, South Korea, and South Africa, it said, citing Vice Minister of Public Security Liu Jinguo.
Viewpoint
11.14.14
The Domestic Politics of the U.S.-China Climate Change Announcement
The news from Beijing this week that the U.S. and China are committing to ambitious goals on climate change is, we think, monumental. No two countries are more important to tackling the problem than the largest carbon emitter over the past two...
Out of the Deep Freeze
The thorn in the side of relations is Japan’s Senkaku islands, which China claims and calls the Diaoyus. Chinese aircraft and coastguard vessels have greatly raised tensions from 2012 onwards, by making incursions around the Senkakus.
China Anti-Graft Watchdog Finds Gold, Cash in Official’s Home
The amount seized in the home of Ma Chaoqun, the former manager of the Beidaihe Water Supply Corporation, was so large that state news agency Xinhua called it "shocking".
In China, Blunt Talk to Reporters on Access
Mr. Xi’s comments come as several journalists for The New York Times and other news organizations have been forced to cover the country from outside its borders, after producing articles that were embarrassing for the Chinese leadership...
Media
11.12.14
“Having a Second Kid Isn’t as Simple as Adding Another Pair of Chopsticks”
When China loosened its family planning rules a year ago in November, allowing more couples to have a second...
Environment
11.11.14
China Reforms National Parks to Improve Environmental Protection
from chinadialogueChina’s central government is reforming the way major tourist attractions are run. It plans to create a unified national parks management system in a bid to halt environmental damage within its protected areas. The new, unified system will cut...
Xi Outlines Four Expected Achievements of APEC Meetings
The first achievement will be the launch of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) process, which points out the direction for Asia-Pacific cooperation, Chinese President Xi Jinping said.
China Criminal Gang Floods Market with 100 Metric Tons of Toxic Tofu
The gang added industrial bleaching agent rongalite to make dried tofu sticks brighter and chewier, the Shanghai Daily reported on Monday, citing official media in Shandong province.
Ten Fun and Fascinating Facts About Xi Jinping
While I can’t do justice to all the material presented in Xi Jinping: The Goverance of China, here are some things I learned from reading through Xi’s musings and the musings of others about him.
Environment
11.07.14
China’s EIA Industry Rife with Fraud
from chinadialogueA farce played out at an environmental impact assessment (EIA) firm in the southern city of Shenzhen when inspectors called round in early October, this year.
The firm had applied to renew its license to carry out EIAs—reports that are...
Vanishing Point: Criminality, Corruption and the Devastation of Tanzania’s Elephants
Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)
Tanzania’s elephants continue to be poached to supply a growing demand in an unregulated illegal ivory market, predominantly in China. Seizure data implicates Tanzania in more large flows of ivory than any other country. It is also consistently...
China Warns Tibet Party Members Not to Harbor Separatist “Fantasies” about Dalai Lama
"As for cadres who harbor fantasies about the 14th Dalai Group, follow the Dalai Group, participate in supporting separatist infiltration sabotage activities, (they will be) strictly and severely punished according to the law and party...
Britain Soft on China over Hong Kong Crisis, Says Chris Patten
Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong before the 1997 handover, said China’s actions were “spit in the face” of the 1984 Joint Declaration on the conditions under which Hong Kong would be handed over.