Worldcrunch
BEIJING — The Chinese capital likes to dazzle visitors with the biggest and best projects in the world. Consider, for example, the Olympic Park built for the 2008 games. It is spread over nearly 12 square kilometers, intersected by a canal that, seen from above, resembles a dragon. The park is an exhibition of the […]
BEIJING — “Better city, better life …” This was the theme of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, a nod to the ancient Greek scholar Aristotle who understood what people expect from urban life: to make their living a better living. But what is the reality in people’s lives right now? During China’s golden week — […]
DHARAMSALA — After the Dalai Lama relinquished political power in 2011, increasing attention has turned to the head of Tibet’s government-in-exile Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay, in the hope of breaking a decades-long standoff with Beijing. And yet the situation remains grim, with some 120 Tibetans having set themselves ablaze over the past four years to […]
Since the opening-up of China, the hukou system — a household registration system that basically divides citizens into urban and rural categories — has come under increasing fire. As urban citizens enjoy a range of preferential public services such as free schooling and social security, migrant workers living in the same city but with rural […]
-OpEd- BEIJING — Apple released the iPhone 5c and 5s in Beijing last week, marking the first time ever that Apple has chosen the world’s biggest market for a launch. The company seems to hope that the two new smartphones will help the brand here, where it hovers alternately between fifth and sixth place in […]
Buyer beware: both prestigious boarding schools and summer tours have major drawbacks.
BEIJING – Mengyun seems satisfied with her new bedroom, even if it’s less than seven square meters and originally served as a kitchen. “This is the biggest room I’ve ever had in the four years I’ve lived in Beijing,” she says. “And it costs me only 950 RMB ($155) per month.” Peng, the head tenant […]
CHANGSHA – Is it a stroke of genius or a gigantic bluff? The Chinese conglomerate Broad Group announced on July 20 that it had started preliminary work on the construction of the “Sky City” tower near the central Chinese city of Changsha. This is a project with exceptional dimensions: with its 838 meters (2,750 ft.) […]
BUENOS AIRES – A wooden dance floor, that familiar tempo of the music, a gesture of invitation. And the dance begins, counter-clockwise… It does not matter whether it is the El Fulgor de Villa Crespo club or the Sunderland de Villa Urquiza or a dance hall in Moscow or Beijing. The tango has the same […]
BEIJING – These are good days for China. Not so much for the United States — or Sino-American relations. After Edward Snowden left Hong Kong unhindered last week, the angered Americans at first threatened this would have “negative consequences” on relations between the two superpowers. Snowden’s departure had delivered a blow to “mutual confidence,” the […]
-OpEd- BEIJING – Since late last year the way Chinese people cross the road has been receiving particular attention. Dubbed Chinese-style Of Crossing The Road, this phenomenon refers to the behavior of Chinese pedestrians, who cross an intersection not based on red and green lights, but on whether or not there are enough pedestrians to […]
Decades of unbridled industrialization has left much of China’s soil badly contaminated. Some are set to make millions cleaning it up.
BEIJING – Last month, this city’s Human Resources and Social Security Bureau introduced an administrative circular that stipulates “in principle” municipal government departments should impose age restrictions when hiring graduates settling in Beijing who are not officially residents holding local household registrations. Those with undergraduate degrees who have moved to Beijing shouldn’t be hired if […]
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (China), AFP Worldcrunch BEIJING – Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei has released a foul-mouthed heavy metal music video entitled Dumbass that parodies his months in police detention. In the video for the top single from his upcoming debut album The Divine Comedy, Weiwei tells the story of his 81 days […]
The some 10 million Catholics in China remain divided between those loyal to the Pope and those in step with the Chinese Communist Party hierarchy.
-Blog- BEIJING – The world is big, and has all kinds of people. Given their various historical, cultural and environmental backgrounds, people from each country are naturally very different. Each nation is proud of its national character. And indeed, some people have a lot to be proud of, like those who pioneered science and democracy. […]
ECONOMIC OBSERVER (China) Worldcrunch BEIJING – With air pollution continuing to plague Beijing, there are increasing signs that it is pushing foreigners, often well-to-do expats, to leave the city. “It’s supposed to take up to a decade to solve the smog problem, but who knows what problems the pollution might have caused our bodies by […]
The onus is on Washington and Beijing to forge a new, much deeper diplomatic bond to stop the Korean Peninsula and Japan-China conflicts from sliding into open war.
BEIJING – Less than six months ago, U.S. Under Secretary of State Robert D. Hormats gave an exclusive interview to Caixin, in which he said that one of the most important tasks in US-China relations was to define differences on intellectual property rights protection and find common solutions within the next six months. On Feb. […]
BEIJING – It has been several weeks since North Korea conducted its third nuclear test on February 12. The international community has condemned it, and the worry expressed is unprecedented. China, in a very unusual move, summoned the North Korean Ambassador to Beijing the same day. The UN Security Council immediately made a declaration condemning […]
BBC, THE GUARDIAN, THE TELEGRAPH (UK), THE NEW YORK TIMES (USA) Worldcrunch LONDON – UK Prime Minister David Cameron has opened the door to a national referendum to allow voters to decide whether to pull Britain out of the European Union. During a much anticipated speech Wednesday in London, Cameron said that if he is […]
-Editorial- BEIJING – The ambulance was stuck behind a sea of cars. Even though its blue lights were flashing and its siren was blaring, no cars gave way. Instead they squeezed by skillfully, one after the other. The video, which captures perfectly how difficult it is for an ambulance to drive through the streets of […]
BEIJING – At least 8,572 premature deaths occurred in four major Chinese cities in 2012 due to the high levels of fine particle pollution. This was the conclusion of a joint study called PM2.5: Measuring The Human Health And Economic Impacts On China’s Largest Cities carried out by Greenpeace and Peking University. Apart from the […]
-OpEd- BEIJING – Despite strong opposition from the international community, North Korea went ahead with its planned use of a long-range rocket to launch a satellite. As the North Koreans were cheering the successful Dec. 4 launch, their longtime Chinese ally was in no mood for celebrations. North Korea’s missile and nuclear capabilities have been […]
XINHUA (China), VOICE OF AMERICA (USA), REUTERS Worldcrunch BEIJING – Chinese legislature has passed a law that includes mandatory real-name registration for Internet users, Xinhua reported on Friday. The new rules were announced by the official Xinhua news agency on Twitter: Rules approved Friday in China to enhance protection of personal info online and safeguard […]
GLOBAL TIMES, XINHUA (China), THE GUARDIAN (UK), CNN (US) Worldcrunch Chinese authorities have arrested at least 101 people for spreading rumors about an impending apocalypse, the state-run news agency Xinhua reports. The 101 people arrested (including 37 in Qinghai and 34 in Fujian province in the east of the country, according to CNN) all belong […]
SOUTHERN PEOPLE WEEKLY (China), MING PAO (Hong Kong) Worldcrunch HONG KONG – Martial arts star, Jackie Chan, has kicked up a fuss this week when suggesting that Hong Kong authorities should crackdown on the nation’s burgeoning protest movement. Chan, who was born in Hong Kong, told China’s Southern People Weekly: “Hong Kong has become a […]
XINHUA (China), AL JAZEERA (Qatar) Worldcrunch CHENGPING – Twenty-two school children and a villager were injured in a knife attack at the outside a primary school in central China’s Henan Province Friday morning, reports Xinhua. A police officer said the attack occured in the village of Chengping in the province of Henan, shortly before 8 […]
NHK, ASAHI SHIMBUN (Japan), XINHUA (China) Worldcrunch The Japanese government accused China of violating its airspace Thursday morning, after Chinese maritime surveillance planes flew near the islands disputed by the two powers. China’s Xinhua news agency confirms that Chinese planes were sent to patrol the territorial waters surrounding the disputed Diaoyu Islands (Senkaku in Japanese) […]
SINA WEIBO (China), TEALEAF NATION (China), LE MONDE (France), ASAHI SHIMBUN (Japan), NPR (U.S.A.) Worldcrunch BEIJING – The Chinese Communist Party’s 18th Congress concluded with 59-year-old Xi Jinping being officially chosen as head of state. The decision at the weeklong meeting was in no way a surprise but came as the culmination of the months […]
BERLIN – Two of the world’s economic superpowers have spent the past days picking their leaders for the future. Barack Obama and the Democrats are now ensconced in the U.S. while China’s big political show began with this week’s opening of the National Congress of the Communist Party, where over 2,000 delegates will decide on […]
His name is Xi Jinping (pronounced Shee Jin-ping). The future Chinese leader was born into privilege as a child of the “red dynasty.” His father was an old revolutionary companion of Mao’s. But after his father’s fall into disgrace, Xi experienced poverty, prison and the hardships of peasant life. What kind of leader will he […]
XINHUA, GLOBAL TIMES, PEOPLE’S DAILY (China) BBC (UK) LA STAMPA (Italy) Worldcrunch BEIJING – Barack Obama’s hard-fought reelection coincides with the once-in-a-decade handover of power in China, as the Communist Party Congress opens this week in the capital. But all this superpower politics has produced comparably little mainstream Chinese coverage — either of Tuesday’s noisy […]
XINHUA (China), NEW YORK TIMES, AP (USA), RADIO AUSTRALIA, (Australia) Worldcrunch BEIJING – China is mobilizing its security apparatus and tightening its grip over the public space ahead of the 18th Communist Party Congress, which begins on Nov. 8. A volunteer security force of 1.4 million people has been assembled for the congress. Workers and […]
THE GLOBAL TIMES (China), CHINA TIMES (Taiwan) Worldcrunch BEIJING – What do the Chinese people appreciate most from Japan? Adult videos and their actresses, answered the Chinese according to a large-scale online survey conducted last week by the Global Times, a state-owned Beijing daily. Just as China and Japan have marked the 40th anniversary of […]
ALMATY – The sharp rise in tensions between the European Commission and Russian oil giant Gazprom is worrying the central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, which are highly dependent on their gas and oil exports to the EU. “The relationship between Europe and Russia, in regards to energy, is similar to that of […]
BANGKOK POST (Thailand), AFP (France), BBC (UK) Worldcrunch HO CHI MINH CITY – The Vietnamese communist party has jailed three bloggers Monday for disseminating anti-government propaganda. The three bloggers belong to the independent media group Free Journalists Club, which sought to outline human rights violations in the southeast Asian country. The renowned dissident blogger, Nguyen […]
WUHAN MORNING POST (China), CHINA TIMES (Taiwan) Worldcrunch BEIJING – These days, being a teacher in China comes with its perks. Not only would the position offer you absolute imperial authority, but you would also get lots of presents. Some very NICE presents. September 10 was Teacher’s Day, and on that day Chinese teachers are […]
LIBERTY TIMES, UNITED DAILY NEWS (Taiwan), BBC Worldcrunch BEIJING– Some 20,000 irate Chinese protesters besieged the Japanese embassy in Beijing on Saturday, venting their anger over the Diaoyu Islands dispute that has created the most combustible conflict between the two Asian powers in memory. The demonstrators climbed trees, burned the Japanese flag, shouted that the […]
ECONOMIC OBSERVER, CHINA.ORG.CN (China) Worldcrunch BEIJING – Last week, Beijing authorities announced that 600,000 temporary residents had left the capital, bringing the total of the city’s migrant population down to 8,258,000 people, reports the Economic Observer. For the past decade, the non-resident population has gone up by nearly 400,000 people each year. In 2007, Beijing’s […]