The Golden Generation
In a culture where poverty and thrift were long the norm, the extravagances of China's fuerdai have become notorious.
India and China Have Most Deaths from Pollution
Indian and Chinese fatalities accounted for 55% of pollution-related deaths worldwide.
This is the Only Solution to China's Labor Shortage
China has relaxed its one-child policy, and married couples may now have a second child. Will the change help?
Media
02.11.16
Chinese Students Are Flooding U.S. Christian High Schools
It is no secret that Chinese students are pouring into the United States; over 300,000 of them attended U.S. colleges and universities in 2015 alone, and Chinese are filling up spots in U.S. secondary schools in search of a better...
Sinica Podcast
02.09.16
Sauced: American Cooking in China
from Sinica PodcastKaiser Kuo and David Moser are joined this week by Howie Southworth and Greg Matza, creators of the independent video series “Sauced in Translation,” a reality show that journeys into the wilder parts of China in search of local Chinese...
Big in China: Over-the-Top Marriage Proposals
The craze reflects a tendency toward flamboyant gestures—but also how high the stakes have become for the modern Chinese marriage.
Hong Kong Clashes as Police Clear Food Stalls
Over 90 people have been injured, and 61 arrested, following clashes in Hong Kong's Mong Kok district.
The NYRB China Archive
02.09.16
Why Are Tibetans Setting Themselves on Fire?
from New York Review of BooksFebruary 27, 2009, was the third day of Losar, the Tibetan New Year. It was also the day that self-immolation came to Tibet. The authorities had just cancelled a Great Prayer Festival (Monlam) that was supposed to commemorate the...
Hong Kong Riot Police Fire Warning Shots in Bloody Street Clashes
In the worst violence since 2014 pro-democracy protests, clashes erupted in Hong Kong when authorities tried to remove illegal street stalls.
5 Things to Know About the Chinese New Year
China’s biggest and most ceremonious holiday is a chance to honor one’s ancestors and prepare for the good fortune to come.
Wanted in China: More Male Teachers, to Make Boys Men
Worried that a shortage of male teachers has produced a generation of timid boys, Chinese educators reinforce traditional gender roles in the classroom.
European Parliament calls for release of HK booksellers detained in China
The disappearances of five booksellers prompt fears that mainland authorities may be using shadowy tactics.
Millions of Chinese Migrant Workers Head Home for New Year
Every year tens of millions of Chinese migrant workers head home in the largest annual mass migration of people.
Beauty and the East: China's Plastic Surgery Boom
China’s social media and selfie obsessions are creating a new vanity craze and a market for cosmetic surgery.
My Secret Life as a Forbidden Second Child in China
The country's draconian birth control policies have lifted, but the millions of children born outside the system live on in the shadows.
In ‘Communist’ China, Alibaba is Training People to Shop Online
One strategy Alibaba has for trying to stem the economic slowdown is to make sure as many of China’s 1.3 billion people as possible can shop online.
The Unreal, Eerie Emptiness of China’s Ghost Cities
Kangbashi is one of hundreds of sparkling new cities sitting relatively empty throughout China, built by a government eager to urbanize the country.
China Resists Harsh Punishments for Those Involved in Wrongful Convictions
The Communist Party has made overturning cases of gross injustice a centerpiece of its efforts to overhaul the legal system.
How China's Celebration of the Year of the Monkey Breaks Down by the Numbers
Here’s a further look at the celebrations and some more related numbers.
China Sends 6,000 Police to Quell New Year Train Station Chaos
Tens of thousands still waiting for transport at Guangzhou main rail depot.
Caixin Media
01.26.16
How Serial Killers Terrorized China’s Disorganized Elder Care Industry
The 45-year-old caregiver was calm on the witness stand, but her words were jarring. He Tiandai admitted during her murder trial that she killed a 70-year-old woman she cared for by poisoning her soup with sleeping pills and pesticide, injecting...
The NYRB China Archive
01.26.16
China: Surviving the Camps
from New York Review of BooksBy now, it has been nearly forty years since the Cultural Revolution officially ended, yet in China, considering the magnitude and significance of the event, it has remained a poorly examined, under-documented subject. Official archives are off-...
Frenzy for Foreign Condoms in China
Chinese consumers are attracted to the “high quality” of Japanese condoms.
The Social Media Search for Stolen Children in China
Hundreds of thousands of people are turning to social media in an attempt to find their missing children.
China's Nearly 700 Million Internet Users Are Hot For Online Finance
According to data from the China Internet Network Center, in 2015, online trading in stocks and online payment were hot areas of growth.
The NYRB China Archive
01.22.16
‘My Personal Vendetta’
from New York Review of BooksThe presumed kidnapping of the Hong Kong bookseller and British citizen Lee Bo late last year has brought international attention to the challenges faced by the Hong Kong publishing business. During a break from The New York...
Viewpoint
01.21.16
After a Landslide Election, Now Comes the Hard Part for Taiwan's President
Taiwan elected its first woman president on Saturday in a landslide victory that brought a nominally pro-independence party back to power after eight years in opposition.
Tsai Ing-wen led her Democratic Progressive Party to...
Wang Qishan, China’s Anti-Corruption Tsar
The anti-corruption drive has been the central policy of this administration and its duration and severity have surprised almost everyone, not least the bureaucrats who have been its primary targets.
Q. and A.: Bei Ling on the Missing Hong Kong Booksellers
The disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers in recent months has attracted international attention
Dictatorship and Democracy, What China's Moviegoers are Learning From Star Wars
A Galaxy far, far away has finally arrived in the Middle Kingdom.
China’s Obsolete Economic Strategy
China has changed dramatically over 30 years, and command-and-control economic management will not produce the results of the past.
Chinese Stock Plunge Forces a Trading Halt, and Global Markets Shudder
The aftershocks carried over to Europe and the United States, where markets fell sharply once again.
Media
01.06.16
Is it Too Late for a ‘Two-Child Policy’?
from U.S.-China DialogueAs of January 1, all married couples in China are now...
Culture
01.05.16
In ‘Mr. Six,’ China’s Changing and Staying the Same
from China Film InsiderPlaying an aging gangster railing against the “little punks” who kidnapped his son in Beijing, Feng Xiaogang gives a solid performance as the title character of Mr. Six: a gravel-throated vigilante shaken when his go-it-...
Dow Plunges After Rout in Chinese Market
Weak economic data in China spurs global selloff, while Shanghai Composite declines nearly 7%.
Media
12.22.15
‘New Yorker’ Writers Reflect on ‘Extreme’ Reporting About China
from Asia Blog
While international reporting on China has improved by leaps and bounds since foreign journalists first started trickling into the country in the 1970s, major challenges remain in giving readers back home a balanced image. That was the message from...
Will China’s Censorship Spread?
Since last year, China has been promoting its
Books
12.16.15
One Child
When Communist Party leaders adopted the one-child policy in 1980, they hoped curbing birth-rates would help lift China’s poorest and increase the country’s global stature. But at what cost? Now, as China closes the book on the policy after more than three decades, it faces a population grown too old and too male, with a vastly diminished supply of young workers.
Media
12.15.15
The Proletariat Experience of Beijing’s Airpocalypse
On December 8, a Tuesday, a man surnamed Cao piloted his electric scooter along Beijing’s profoundly hazy streets, parking in front of one towering apartment complex after another to deliver packages. Although the government had just issued a “...
China’s Workers Are Fighting Back as Economic Dream Fades
For workers like Li Jiang, factory closings
Conversation
12.15.15
Can an Alibaba ‘Morning Post’ Aid China’s Image Overseas?
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is buying the Hong Kong media group of the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the leading independent English-language newspaper in the former British colony where freedom of the press has resisted control by the...
Caixin Media
12.14.15
Lack of Clear Policy Direction on Two-Child Rule Leaves Nation Guessing
Regional family-planning officials say the lack of clarity on when the new two-child rule will come into effect has put them in legal limbo, unable to issue birth permits to couples who conceive a second child before the new...
Polluted Skies Heighten Challenge for Chinese Government
Red has been considered the color of prosperity and good fortune in China for centuries, and it is also the color of the Communist Party.
China’s Anti-Corruption Cases Have Quadrupled Since 2013
In Chinese business and political circles, conversations frequently return to a familiar question: When will President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign end?
Amid China’s Smog Worries, One More: Counterfeit Masks
The customs authorities in Shanghai have seized nearly 120,000 counterfeit surgical masks.
Media
12.09.15
How to Say ‘Islamic State’ in Mandarin
On December 6, the Islamic State released a slick...
Why Pollution is Good for China
I am a member of a martial arts group that performs at annual temples fairs around Beijing.
Walmart’s Imports From China Displaced 400,000 Jobs, a Study Says
“Walmart is one of the major forces pulling imports into the United States.”
The NYRB China Archive
12.08.15
Why Pollution is Good for China
from New York Review of BooksI am a member of a martial arts group that performs at annual temple fairs around Beijing. Half of our group are children, and almost without fail they meet at a park on the west side of town at around three in the afternoon to practice fighting...
Three Labour Rights Leaders Detained In China As Worker Unrest Grows
Activist detentions follow a growth in discontent among workers affected by China's stalling economy.
One Is the Loneliest Number: China’s Single Population Nears 200 Million
China is quickly becoming a nation of singles.
Xi'an City Wall: How China Turned A Military Site Into A Unique Park
Xi'an, China's 637-year-old city wall is a relatively new kid on the block.