Once among the NBA’s most despised players, former New York basketball prodigy Stephon Marbury has reinvented himself in China, where he’s the “spiritual leader” of the champion Beijing Ducks. He’s also learnin
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Tibet: How Many More Sacrifices?
Journalist Ursula Gauthier managed to get past Chinese roadblocks to get into Tibet, where she met the families and friends of those who have sacrificed themselves by immolation to protest against Chinese rule.
Analysis: the ouster of Bo Xilai, one of China’s most powerful political leaders, threatens to shake Beijing’s domestic affairs. But the spectacular –and notably public– fall from grace will reverberate around a world ever more influen
Nothing can stop Baidu. The search engine giant holds an 80% share of the Chinese market, thanks to a simple “less is more” philosophy. Part of the “more” are China’s best and brightest engineers, who work to u
The recent killing of a doctor in northern China is just the latest act of violence by angry patients. A big part of the problem is an overcrowded, underfunded and sometimes corrupt medical system. By the symptoms go even deeper into modern Chinese societ
Essay: Liuliu, one of China’s best-selling authors and keenest observant chroniclers of modern life, has decided to expose her marriage crisis on her Twitter-like microblog account. It is a plot twist that cannot be undone.
Asia is going through its own so-called “Fordist” phase, as countries are introducing minimum wage standards and multiplying some salaries by five in order to turn citizens into consumers. But what does this mean for the rest of the worl
The new status symbol for China’s ultra rich businessmen: a private jet. But before this fad can truly take off, authorities have to loosen up strict regulations governing the domestic airspace.
Chinese bureaucracy will soon deprive us of one of life’s immense pleasures: ordering ‘drunken shrimp’, ‘happy meatballs’ or ‘chicken without sex’ from a menu. These inventive, often poetic translati
Pyongyang has announced a satellite launch to honor Kim II Sung. China knows the real object of such a move is to reinforce the power of newly installed Kim Jong-Un. It will also raise the stakes in the region just when Beijing is badly in need of stabili
Thanks to particularities of the Chinese language, China’s largest Internet service provider has launched a mobile app with a name — Weixin — that means “little message,” but also can mean something else. Its geo-location feat
According to a new study published by financial communications network AMO, European firms are becoming more and more proactive in looking for financing from China. The enthusiasm is not shared across the West.
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Will China’s Economy Burst, Japan-Style?
Some nervous observers in China are seeing too many similarities between the current state of the Chinese economy and what happened to Japan in the 1990s. For starters, the super-rich are cranking up real estate values, and the middle class is paying the
Essay: There are cultural explanations for why that man next to you on the Shanghai subway has his finger in his ear, or his shirt sticking out. Some, however, are ready for grooming and good looks to become as important for Chinese men as a good job and
For those firms looking to cash in on the booming Chinese economy, there are as many recent tales of failure and retreat, as those of runaway success. Certain patterns have begun to emerge, both universal and China-specific lessons to be learned.
Analysis: Li Na became a national hero after she became the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam singles final at last year’s French Open. But she has enraged many after declaring that she plays tennis for herself, not her country. Patriots a
Nearly half the world’s top snooker tournaments are now held in China, where prize money is much higher than in the sport’s original home in Britain. But money alone doesn’t explain snooker’s newfound popularity with Ch
In most Chinese cities, retail sales peak between Christmas and Chinese New Year. In Beijing, however, the spike tends to occur in March – at least as far as luxury brands are concerned. Could it be the effect of a certain annual event always held this mo
Op-Ed: New measures have been announced in China to require authorities to inform families of anyone arrested. It is a small sign of progress, but caveats in the law mean that secret arrests are sure to continue. What is the regime afraid of?
More and more Western governments have outlawed the methods required to fatten geese for the production of foie gras. Meanwhile, China turns out 1,000 tons a year, and is set to open the world’s biggest production facility of the rich delicacy.
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Supply-Side Economics, Chinese-Style
Op-Ed: The latest Chinese government plan to tax the rich to bridge the income divide will have the opposite effect. In China — perhaps even more than the West — markets must be free, taxes low and Leviathan reigned in to increase and share wealth acros
Through his bold designs, Wang Shu is bringing culture and soul to Chinese architecture. Last week, he became the first architect working in China to get the profession’s highest honor, the Pritzker Prize. But his colleagues and art students back
The Chinese have a saying: ordinary folk regard food as important as heaven itself. The tech world’s motto is “Innovate Or Die.” At Google’s Beijing headquarters, one can taste what happens when these two philosophies m
The “microblog” twitter equivalents in China like weibo are more popular than ever, but they are also increasingly risky. Nervous public officials are imposing harsh sentences to those who send out bad bits of information.
Analysis: The spectacle of Hong Kong reporters hounding candidates for upcoming elections has baffled some in China. Yet rabid reporters are a matter of neither conspiracies nor bling — just an important lesson for mainland Chinese about the basics of de
Many Chinese are convinced that the bile produced by a bear’s digestion process has strong medicinal benefits. One of the biggest black bear breeding farms is set to be quoted on the stock exchange. But first, they let reporters and animal rights
Essay: A digital spat between mega-popular Chinese blogger Han Han and one of his chief critics reveals that in modern China, despite some state restrictions, the information revolution is changing the relationship between media, fame, power and popularit
Analysis: Neighbors in Europe worry that Germany is either acting too boldly, or not boldly enough. China’s Asian neighbors wonder about the emerging global giant’s long-term plans. Berlin and Beijing face a similar question: What to do
China’s latest source of national soul-searching centers around a public debate on the contrast between promotional videos for two of the world’s best-known universities: Peking and Yale universities. A window into two very different nat
Analysis: A new “blue book” on the deepening problem of corruption delves into the unusual ability for the unethical to find new techniques for abusing their power. The cure must be more just as deep as the illness.
In 2011, Europe replaced the United States as China’s biggest overseas investment for the first time ever. European companies have caught the eye of a Chinese economy that is rapidly moving into more advanced sectors.
Essay: After a series of bans on game shows and dance contests, Chinese television now faces new restrictions on foreign programming. But even beyond its wariness of the outside world, Beijing doesn’t understand that stifling popular culture can
It seems like everyone wants a piece of New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin and his improbable journey from overlooked Harvard player to overnight NBA sensation. But with Taiwanese origins and a grandmother from the mainland, both China and Taiwan are
Tensions are growing in Hong Kong as more and more wealthy Chinese cross over from the mainland to shop, spend – and give birth. Now the first arrest has been reported of someone accused of helping a woman from China to arrive in Hong Kong just in time to
Compared to the West, China’s labor market is still remarkably favorable to workers, as overall demand of qualified employees still outstrips supply. Still, emerging soft spots in the manufacturing and construction sectors could be the first sign
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Deconstructing Western Fears Of China
How should the West face the rise of China? Culling some insight from a Chinese review of “Angst vor China” (Fear of China), the latest book by Germany’s best-known China expert.
Tensions are simmering between locals in Hong Kong and the many mainland Chinese who come to spend their newfound riches, and even give birth, in the former British colony that in many ways is still set apart.
These two Internet giants share similar goals and scale, but different approaches that largely reflect the differences between how the Internet functions in the West and in China. Still, both have much to learn from the other.
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China In Africa, A Risky Business
Analysis: Two recent kidnappings of Chinese workers – one in Sudan and the other in Egypt – have shown China that doing business in Africa comes at a price. But with their cultural insularity and tendency to carry cash, are Chinese businessmen exposing th
China’s model from the last decade of low-end exports is being undercut by cheap labor in neighboring Vietnam and India. With a weaker 2012 predicted, the future of Chinese manufacturing looks in need of a major overhaul.