China’s exam-oriented culture fails to foster imagination, which is necessary to create better employees and better people.
Source: ECONOMIC OBSERVER
The Economic Observer is a weekly Chinese-language newspaper founded in April 2001. It is one of the top business publications in China. The main editorial office is based in Beijing, China. Inspired by the Financial Times of Britain, the newspaper is printed on peach-colored paper.
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Mahjong, Pathway To The Chinese Mind
Mao Zedong once cited the “philosophy” in the Chinese parlor game of mahjong. It remains a mass pastime for millions of folk, both in China and among the diaspora.
The “Made in Japan” label used to be a mark of progress, but Japanese manufacturing has declined rapidly. Now, the automobile industry, the last bastion of the country’s technology, has fallen behind in the transition to electric vehicles.
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.
Japan’s new prime minister is facing the twin challenges of COVID-19 and regional tensions, and some wonder whether he can even last as long as his predecessor, who was forced out after barely one year.
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.
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.
With infections surging, and only 1% of the population fully vaccinated, many say that devoting so many resources to hosting the Summer Games is a recipe for disaster.
Registering facial recognition data with a biometric authentication application is all the rage in China, but it comes with major privacy concerns.
After the topic of bulk sanitary napkins went viral online, the broader issue of the gap between rich and poor has come out of the shadows across the communist nation, including the availability of laptops for students.
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Chinese officials are realizing that the ‘soul’ of a city is key to strength and prosperity.
Traditional ideas about marriage still hold some sway among the Chinese, but more and more, couples are finally giving love a chance.
Adults have a lot of leeway when it comes to raising kids. But that doesn’t mean their power should be absolute — parents don’t, after all, have ownership of their children.
As Carrefour gets ready to sell a majority of its operations in China, lessons can be learned from the history of the French retail giant’s choices over the years.
–Analysis– TOKYO — On May 1, Crown Prince Naruhito will succeed his father, Emperor Akihito, to become the 126th Japanese emperor. The April 1 announcement of the new imperial era’s name, Reiwa, means Japan’s history is turning a new page. Born in 1960 as the eldest son of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, Crown Prince […]
Three years after the end of the one-child policy, China’s fertility rates are now falling. To have, or not have, children ought to be built on personal and family wishes, something the government still hasn’t understood.
Facing severe social competition, China’s youngsters are under increasing academic pressure. Can a new government policy help ease their load?
BEIJING — A video is making the rounds across China’s internet. On a bus in the western city of Xi’an, an elderly man is seen shouting at a pregnant woman that she should give up her seat. “I am an old person! Can’t you see?” His attitude was so appalling that commentators online came down […]
BEIJING — Fan Bingbing, China“s highest-paid actress and star of the 2014 blockbuster X-Men, recently received some unwanted public attention—an accusation of tax evasion. The Chinese actress was accused by Cui Yongyuan, a TV presenter and producer, of signing “Yin-Yang contracts’ for the films she stars in. This allows her to pay lower tax via […]
Japan’s Senate passed a reform bill in June modifying the regulation of the workplace, and promoting new ways for employees to work. But things were already changing.
BEIJING — It’s that time of a year again when an ever growing number of Chinese students are leaving to study abroad. These young people attract a lot of attention, often envied by their peers around them. Labeled as the “Fu-er-dai”, meaning “the second-generation rich brats,” some live a “luxurious and decadent life” overseas, while […]
BEIJING — Yang Ke works for a high-tech company in Shenzhen on the southeast coast of China. Thanks to a few years spent abroad, he has saved up a considerable amount of money and is looking to invest it in foreign real estate. After intensive discussions with real estate agents, he decided that property in […]
The Chinese public wants answers, and decisive government action, after learning that two vaccine manufacturers distributed substandard products.
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BEIJING — The exhibition was called “Secret,” and opened in the Wuhan Art Museum in April. And what was in the show? The personal information of the 346,000 citizens of the central Chinese city of Wuhan that the artist Deng Yufeng had bought on the black market. Previously treated with a special chemical, certain parts […]
TOKYO — Since Japan“s fiscal year starts in April each year, it is in May that the country’s major corporations announce their financial statements for 2017. Most top Japanese companies have had notably great results. The net profits of Toyota and Mitsubishi, for example, hit new all-time highs for their three and ten-year results respectively. […]
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TOKYO — Chinese boys and girls are often referred to as “Little emperor” or “Little princess.” They grow up in surroundings with financial means where six adults are catering to their demands: they are the luckiest generation since the founding of modern China. Yet few of them realize that there is an even luckier bunch […]
BEIJING — An online game from Japan has become a hopping success in China. Unheard of until recently, Tabikaeru: Travel Frog — developed by the Japanese company Hit-Point — is suddenly all the rage, leapfrogging the competition to become the most popular free online game in China’s Apple App Store. Travel Frog requires little of […]
Civic values are ultimately worth more than dollars and yen.
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Chinese domestic brands like Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi are undercutting the American giant, which aims ever more upmarket.
A recent series of documentaries unveil untold chapters of ugly Japanese history.
BEIJING — “Goodbye,” Ying told her third husband. “Oh,” he responded indifferently. Through their legal, but dishonnest, marriage, Ying earned 40,000 yuan ($6,000). Her “husband” was allowed to buy an apartment in Beijing, which in turn, nets him about one million yuan ($150,000) a year. Ying and her real husband Wang are a couple who […]
Bling and style are barriers that the Chinese-owned, Swedish-based company may not be able to overcome.
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TOKYO — The popular Chinese imagination of Japan has followed along with Japan’s evolution over the past four decades. In the late 1970s, when China started to reform and to open up to the rest of the world, Japan was Asia’s economic power. Then, following the arrival of Japanese animé to China, Japan was the […]
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