WorldcrunchStay updated with comprehensive news on China from Worldcrunch. Discover insights on Chinese politics, economic developments, societal issues, and cultural landmarks with translations from top international sources. Highlights include Beijing, Shanghai, and events like the Chinese New Year.
Iranians only have online speculation to guess how much the country’s clerical regime has conceded to China as part of the New Silk Road initiative. There are now reports of 5,000 Chinese security agents being deployed in Iran to “protect” Chinese personnel working in the oil sector.
A recent video of a chained woman has raised the alarm of the poor treatment of the mentally ill in China. It’s worse for women in rural areas, where the stigma around mental illness is high.
A recent tender for Brazil’s 5G network once again highlighted the growing rivalry between the two superpowers. Now, the Biden administration may even have a formula to free countries of their debt to Beijing.
As Russia and China push their way to the top of the power heap, and the United States balks at playing global police force, expect fundamental changes to accepted norms governing international affairs.
As China grapples with an aging population and falling fertility rate, the government has tried different measures to encourage people to have children. But the suggestion by one of the country’s top economists to print money to kickstart a baby boom did not go down well with the Chinese public — raising children isn’t just a question of money.
A resurgent, ambitious Russia has taken the West by surprise, just when the United States was pivoting and bracing itself to face down China.
Conceived in the early 1990s, the QR Code has spread exponentially during the pandemic. Its creator, Masahiro Hara, is one of the many continuing to innovate his most famous invention, which has changed everything from medicine to how we dine.
The COVID-19 outbreak has reshaped the world’s emerging superpower both at home and abroad, making China emerge as a more efficient power and helping Chinese overcome their inferiority complex vis-a-vis the West.
While other major economies are taking steps to tighten credit, China is acting to cheapen it, in order to revive its economic activity and help big firms repay their debts. But will it fuel global inflation, or worse, stagflation?
Even as it celebrates this year’s literature prize going to Tanzanian author Abdulrazak Gurnah, Africa is again completely absent from the list of Nobel winners in science. In research as elsewhere, money is the key.
Do you long for bedtime stories told remotely? Or miss the companionship a voice provides? There’s an app for that, which also responds to special COVID-19 needs of dating apps that allows for more direct online communication.
The mysterious disappearance – and brief reappearance – of the Chinese tennis star after her #metoo accusation against a party leader shows Beijing is prepared to do whatever is necessary to quash any challenge from its absolute rule.
The frequent use of the Chinese term “Sheng-nu,” translated as “leftover women,” is a sign of the lingering stigma in China of women who don’t get married. But financially successful women are turning the tables on the question of social status.
The final deal at COP26 falls well short of what’s needed to confront global warming. Still, the Glasgow summit has provided a new blueprint for how we measure progress — and shown how pressure can be applied to world leaders.
Energy issues are power issues. That is why the fight against climate change will also lead to geopolitical upheavals — to Europe’s detriment. China, one of the biggest climate sinners, is likely to benefit from this because the People’s Republic has a strategic ace up its sleeve.
Hologram idols are the new stars of the entertainment industry in China, performing in live concerts and in front of audiences of millions. It’s not just tech companies that are happy about the boom, the leadership in Beijing is too for more political reasons.
Long perceived as a country chasing Western tech, China’s business and technological innovations are now influencing the rest of the world. Still lagging on some fronts, the future is now up for grabs.
China’s global investment tentacles have reached South American railways, where Chinese firms are “silent” partners in expanding rail networks, through financing or sale of rolling stock.
The so-called “White Elephants,” or massive building projects that go unused, keep going up across China as local officials mix vanity and a misdirected attempt to attract business and tourists. A perfect example the 58-meter, $230 million statue of Guan Yu, a beloved military figure from the Third Century, that nobody seems interested in visiting.
Government regulators in Beijing have banned the TV and streaming appearance of what is referred to with the slur “niang pao” – literally, “girlie guns.” It is clearly a homophobic and transphobic measure, but the real aim may be to keep the increasingly powerful tech platforms in line.
Chinese cosmetic and apparel companies that once operated in obscurity are now making a real name for themselves, at least among domestic consumers, who see brands like Li-Ning and Bosideng as providing both quality and style.
A stand-up comedian in China recently used the term “single panic” to describe fears among women about being alone, and the words have since resonated in online discussions. The “panic” is a product, the female comedian pointed out, of pressure and prejudices in Chinese society against single women. The only way for single women to […]
From global politics to the pandemic, problems abound for the Tokyo Games. Next year, when Beijing hosts the Winter Olympics, things could get messier still.
BEIJING — “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always wanted to join the party…” Yanru, a 22-year-old university student studying at a well-known university in northern China, just became a CCP member last year. For her and her peers, joining the Chinese Communist Party is something that just seems natural: “It has led us […]
If someone is unhappy, that’s one thing. But if a city is unhappy, that means something very different.
Reports have come in from LGBTQ activists around the country that the government has shut down the organizations pages on WeChat, the top Chinese platform.
The Northeast is the Chinese equivalent to Greece …
Zunyi, in the mountainous province of Guizhou, is chock full of communist-themed museums and memorials, and is attracting especially large crowds this year.
With real estate prices high and job prospects low, a growing number of young Chinese say they choose to both work and spend less in order to escape the pressures of contemporary life.
The CCP is not used to sharing the decision-making role with the public, but that may be exactly what all sides need to try to encourage more Chinese people to have babies.
In remote — sometimes unmapped — regions of China, thousands of computers are ‘mining’ bitcoin, the queen of virtual currencies. The country may boast all the right conditions to dominate the cryptocurrency market today, but will its mining boom last?
Though Beijing is not likely to launch any overt operation right away, experts predict it’s most likely to try to force Taiwan’s reunification between 2025 and 2030. This would almost certainly prompt a U.S. response.
BEIJING — Menglin’s boyfriend accompanied her to the clinic. It took less than 10 minutes for the doctor to place the contraceptive implant in Menglin’s upper left arm. It’s now very unlikely she’ll get pregnant in the next three years. She is 31, a good age to give birth, but she is reluctant to start […]
What’s an enterprising idea born out of lockdown? Get paid to take online courses for other people, as no teacher can actually see who is taking their course.
Facial recognition cameras have imposed themselves in every nook and cranny of Chinese life — to the point where a concern is growing within the population and certain cities are reacting.
For a number of weeks now, Beijing has been trying to regain control of its internet heroes, who are considered too dominant. E-commerce giants and their standard-bearer, Alibaba and its founder Jack Ma, are directly in the line of fire.
China may be relieved to see their bitter adversary withdraw from power. But President Donald Trump was also Exhibit A for the Chinese regime to show the Western democratic system on the verge of collapse.
Registering facial recognition data with a biometric authentication application is all the rage in China, but it comes with major privacy concerns.
Chinese-backed projects are bringing irreperable damage to the Mekong, the largest freshwater fish source in the world feeding millions of people living along its banks.