Chinese Authorities Putting Pressure on Businesses to Help Censor the Web
Web police units directed companies, including U.S. joint ventures, to buy and install hardware to log traffic, block select sites, and connect with police servers.
Opinion: Don't Expect Radical Reforms in China
Zhou Seen Exiting PBOC as China Installs New Economic Leadership
Top finance official Vice Premier Wang Qishan will move to a new role and Commerce Minister Chen Deming is also likely to exit....
The Real China Model
As a historian, however, I cannot let pass unchallenged the characterization of premodern Chinese political culture as “meritocratic.” Over the last 20 years, research has shown that the keju was far from the “ladder of success” it was long...
China’s Great Political Leap Backward
After years of parsing China's political jargon, I wasn't expecting anything dramatic from the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which opened in Beijing last week. It was foolish, I knew, to look for bold statements on the...
At Mao-style Conclave, China Embraces Twitter Age
Dozens of the more than 2,000 party delegates, among them Chairman Mao's grandson, are using social media to wax rhapsodic about China's rise and Party General Secretary Hu Jintao's live 90-minute reading of highlights from this year's party work...
China’s Next Leaders: A Guide to What’s at Stake
Just a little more than a week after the American presidential election, China will choose its own leaders in its own highly secretive way entirely inside the Communist Party. What’s at stake for China—and for the rest of the world—is not just...
The U.S.-China Reset
The leaders of the U.S. and China may not want to say it out loud, but they would privately admit that U.S.-China relations are in trouble.
China Dodges Politcally Sensitive Questions at Key Congress
In pre-Olypmics 2007, officials took solo interviews and overseas reporters were encouraged to ask questions. Not so this time.
China Mandates 'Social Risk' Reviews for Big Projects
The move is aimed at curtailing the large and increasingly violent environmental protests of the last year.
Xinhua Insight: China Will Never Copy Western Political System
Xinhua says Hu Jintao wants China to support state power and at the same time improve the system of community-level democracy.
Recording the Untold Stories of China’s Great Famine
A young man trudges doggedly around his village, notebook in hand, fringe flopping over his glasses. He goes from door to door, calling on the elderly.
The young man has one main question: Who died in our village during the Great Famine?...
Exclusive: Hu Jintao Set to Step Down as Military Chief
Outgoing President Hu Jintao will formally relinquish his position as military chief at the end of the 18th party congress this week, according to sources.
His decision to opt for complete retirement surprised many analysts, who had...
China Film Regulator: Don't Blame us for Hollywood Hiccups
Beijing says it was the market that decided to bar imported films from domestic cinemas this summer, not film regulators.
Building China's Enlightenment
China's most ambutious, radical and consequential think tank behind the scenes at the 18th Party Congress.
China, at Party Congress, Touts its Cultural Advances
Party guidance is the "soul” of China's moves to privitize and promote industries that can spread soft power abroad.
China Turns Corner on Economy as Party Chooses New Leaders
The world's No2 economy has stopped slowing, the economic planning agency said, forecasting 2012 GDP growth of 7.5 percent or more.
Eighteenth Party Roundup
from Sinica PodcastThis week on Sinica, our hosts Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn are joined by Gady Epstein from the Economist and we turn our attention to the Eighteenth Party Congress, which officially started in Beijing earlier this week. As China’s...
Opinion: Meritocracy Versus Democracy
Without much fanfare, Beijing has introduced significant reforms and established an elaborate system of what can be called “selection plus election.”
Two Rising China Leaders Say Open to Wealth Declarations
After report on Wen Jiabao's "hidden riches," Guangdong and Shanghai party bosses said officials will eventually have to declare assets.
Is China Better at Picking Leaders than the U.S.?
The case for China is that its leaders can emphasize long-term planning and difficult decisions over short-term politics and voter-appeasement.
Strong Society, Smart State
The rise and influence of public opinion on Chinese foreign policy reveals a remarkable evolution in authoritarian responses to social turmoil. James Reilly shows how Chinese leaders have responded to popular demands for political participation with a sophisticated strategy of tolerance, responsiveness, persuasion, and repression—a successful approach that helps explain how and why the Communist Party continues to rule China.
Ex-President of China, Said to Be Ill, Appears in Beijing
Jiang Zemin, the former Chinese president who was said to have fallen gravely ill in July,...
In China, Self-Immolations Continue as Party Congress Opens
As China launched its 18th ...
Party Report Suggests Old Guard is Strong
My preliminary conclusion: conservative forces within the Party are still very powerful. According to the line marked out by the political report to the 18th National Congress, there is very little prospect that substantive moves will be made on...
China Decides (Series)
The world's other superpower is having its own “election” this week. And if all goes according to plan, on Nov. 14 nine (or seven) men (and possibly one woman) will stride across the stage in Beijing’s massive Great Hall of the People as the new...
On Way Out, China’s Leader Offers Praise for the Status Quo
Capping 10 careful years at the helm of the Communist Party, China’s top leader...
China 3.0
China’s once-a-decade leadership change is currently underway in Beijing. The new leaders will take power at a crucial time for China, as it enters the third stage of its development since the revolution. How they deal with the challenges ahead...
China's Communist Party Congress Opens with a Warning
Outgoing President Hu Jintao warned that the Communist Party faces 'collapse' if it fails to clean up corruption.
China Prepares for Party Congress
Hu Jintao told party-picked that China faces a period of major change and “complicated domestic and international circumstances."
China’s Leadership Transition: What to Look For
Now that the U.S. election is behind us, time to turn to the next most important political transition in years: the Chinese Communist Party's 18th Congress. Seventeen congresses have gone by and hardly anyone has paid much attention, including...
China’s Security Ministry Suspected Slain Businessman Was a Spy
China’s external intelligence...
Neil Heywood 'Was MI6 Informant'
Neil Heywood, the British businessman murdered in China, gave MI6 info on Bo Xilai.
If China Voted, It Would Be Obama in a Landside, Surveys Show
An AFP-Ipsos poll in late September showed 63% of about 800 Chinese respondents wanted Obama.
CCTV Comes to America
CCTV America's coverage of China is largely scrubbed of controversy and upbeat in tone, with a heavy emphasis on business and cultural stories in places where Beijing hopes to gain influence. Reporting on topics sensitive to Beijing, like unrest...
The Five “Vermin” Threatening China
In Yuan Peng’s 2012 repertoire of what are now popularly known as the ‘New Black Five Categories of People’ were identified as: rights lawyers, underground religious activities, dissidents, Internet leaders and...
Generational Change on Hold in China’s Leadership Transition
If this list turns out to be true, it signals that a more meaningful generational transition is most likely to take place at the 19th congress in 2017, when more youthful officials would be elected into the Standing Committee.
It also...
The Problem with the Pivot
Ever since the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping opened up his country’s economy in the late 1970s, China has managed to grow in power, wealth, and military might while still maintaining cooperative and friendly relations with most of the world. Until...
From Toys to TV News, Jittery Beijing Clamps Down
As China's capital steels itself for the 18th Party Congress, the government is cracking down on balloons, homing pigeons, Ping-Pong balls and remote-control toy airplanes, anything that could potentially carry protest messages and mar the...
U.S. Rights Official Faults China on Tibetan Suppression
Navi Pillay says she's disturbed by reports of detentions, disappearances and the excessive use of force.
One-Child Policy Up for Reform in China?
The unpopular policy should be phased out, says a Chinese government think tank.
Chinese Movie Mogul Promises New Party Leaders Will Open Market to Hollywood
A wise old cartoon turtle in Kung Fu Panda advises Po, the portly black and white star of the 2004 DreamWorks Animation blockbuster film, not to fret about honing his fighting skills, but rather to focus on the moment and do...
Staying Out of Trouble Before the 18th Party Congress
As Beijing enters extreme lock-down prior to the 18th National Party Congress...
Silencing a Voice for Justice
I have been recently seeking to use the rule of law to achieve social justice. This isn’t easy in a country where legal vagueness and arbitrary enforcement make advocacy a constant uphill battle. But in my career, I’ve encountered few cases as...
Seven Tibetan Self-Immolations Hit China in One Week
Two Tibetans set themselves on fire protesting Beijing's hardline rule, a rights group said.
China Condemns NYTimes Wen Jiabao Wealth Story as 'Smear'
Beijing said the report that Wen's family has "controlled ... at least $2.7bn" had "ulterior motives."
Party Congress Preview
from Sinica PodcastWith less than two weeks to go before the Eighteenth Party Congress, speculation on China’s upcoming leadership transition could not be more intense here in Beijing, where insiders are trading lists of potential Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC...
China Paves Way for Prosecuting Disgraced Politician Bo Xilai
China's parliament has expelled disgraced former senior politician Bo Xilai, Xinhua said, paving the way for formal criminal charges.
Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader
Wen Jiabao's son, daughter, younger brother and brother-in-law have become extraordinarily wealthy during his leadership.