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Geopolitics

PRC At 75: How Xi Jinping Overtook Mao In Accumulation Of Power

As October 1 marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, its leader Xi Jinping wields more power than any other past Chinese communist leader — including the country’s actual founder, Mao. Xi now wants to accelerate the rise of Chinese influence around the world.

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Economy

How China Is Bringing Its Tech Billionaires Back Into The Communist Party Fold

The resurgence of China’s richest tech billionaire might seem like a positive signal of a more permissive market environment. But it’s worth remembering that Beijing remains the ultimate authority to regulate and mobilise market resources.

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This Happened

This Happened — August 1: Red August Of China’s Cultural Revolution

Updated Aug. 1, 2024 at 1 p.m. On this day in 1966, a group of Red Guard factions clashed with the local authorities and army units in the city of Wuhan during China’s Cultural Revolution. The Red Guards, consisting primarily of students and young activists, had been encouraged by Mao Zedong to challenge and disrupt […]

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Future Society

How China’s Mass Surveillance Fuses High Tech And Citizen Snitching

Twenty-five years in the making, China has developed a mass surveillance state, from Beijing alleyways to rural villages. And citizens don’t object because they’ve been co-opted into it.

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Economy Geopolitics

Billionaires, Jingoists And The Paradox Of China’s Economic Slowdown

China’s richest man, Zhong Shanshan, has been pursued for weeks by an online nationalist campaign claiming he is not patriotic enough. Official tolerance questions this ideological hardening, at a time of economic slowdown, strong international tensions and built-in contradictions of China’s statists-capitalistic economy.

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This Happened

This Happened—November 15: The Rise Of Xi

Updated Nov. 15, 2023 at 11:50 a.m. On this day in 2012, Xi Jinping was elected General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, on his way to becoming the most powerful leader in China since Mao Zedong. How has Xi Jinping led China? Since taking office, Xi Jinping has removed political opponents from China’s government […]

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Geopolitics

Tibet Or Xizang? Why China May Be Ready To Rename The Contested Land

The use of “Xizang” instead of “Tibet” by Chinese officials is supported by some nationalists, but viewed by Tibetans, including those affiliated with the Dalai Lama, as veritable erasure of identity.

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Economy Society

Big Tobacco, Tax Windfalls: The Inside Story Of What Really Feeds China’s Smoking Habit

No country in the world has as big a cigarette industry as China. This is the story of how a giant state-backed monopoly created the industry, which provides more tax revenue than any other, and ultimately sabotaged the country’s anti-smoking efforts in the process.

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Future Geopolitics

Every Step, Every Swipe: Inside China’s System Of Total Surveillance Of Uyghurs

Research by anthropologist Darren Byler provides a rare look inside the surveillance state China has created to control the Uyghur population of Xinjiang province, where every move is tracked, people are forced to carry cell phones, and “re-education camps” await anyone suspected of trying to break free.

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In The News

As COVID Explodes, An Inside Look At China’s Gray Market Of Generic Drugs

COVID infections have skyrocketed since China eased restrictions as public health policy has not been able to keep up. Unable to find medications, many have turned to generic drugs of questionable safety. It’s the culmination of a longstanding problem.

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Geopolitics Ideas

Watching China, And The Western Trap Of Wishful Thinking

While many Chinese citizens are indeed fed up with the government’s Zero-COVID policy, predicting that a mass revolt is ready to overturn Communist rule is the latest sign of our deep misunderstanding of the Asian superpower. A view from Bogotá of a former Beijing correspondent.

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In The News

How China’s Mass Protest Took The World By Surprise — And Where It Will End

China is facing its biggest political protests in decades as frustration grows with its harsh Zero-COVID strategy. However, the real reasons for the protests run much deeper. Could it be the starting point for a new civic movement?

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In The News

China’s Tattoo Crackdown: Celebrity, Subversion And A Twist Of Patriotism

A new regulation in China is cracking down hard on tattoos. The law is ostensibly about minors, but some argue that it’s going too far and actively erasing the glorious Chinese past.

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Society

Lipstick And Tiananmen: China Dives Into Livestreaming Censorship

It may have taken a little while, but the Chinese Communist Party woke up to the risks of losing control of information flows on livestream platforms.

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Society

Peng Shuai, A Reckoning China’s Communist Party Can’t Afford To Face

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.

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In The News

Chinese Students Now Required To Learn To Think Like Xi Jinping

“Xi Jinping Thought” ideas on socialism have been spreading across the country since 2017. But now, Beijing is going one step further by making them part of the curriculum, from the elementary level all the way up to university.

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Society

Why Chinese Cities Waste Millions On Vanity Building Projects

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.

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Geopolitics

China’s Party Congress Ends With Communist Coronation Of Xi Jinping

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 […]

Categories
Society

When Women Conquer Men Of Power – How It Looks In China

BEIJING – Men conquer women by conquering the world; women conquer the world by conquering men. This ancient Western proverb is often cited by Chinese in reference to Cleopatra, and her conquest of Julius Caesar. In 2000, I was responsible for covering the story of Cheng Kejie, the former vice chairman of the National People’s […]

Categories
Society

New Anti-Corruption Training Courses In China Prompt Scorn

YANGZHI RIVER DAILY, CHINA DAILY (China) , EPOCH TIMES (USA) Worldcrunch (BEIJING) – The Chinese Communist Party has recently come up with a new bright idea on how to curb rampant corruption among China’s officialdom: training courses on how to identify conspicuous consumption. By organizing “appraisal lessons of luxury goods and artifacts,” the cadres of […]

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