First there was the stressed-out Bus Uncle. Then came the Airport Auntie who threw a hissyfit on the floor after missing a flight (her performance has attracted almost 7 million views!!). And to add to Hong Kong’s growing collection of video hits featuring the city’s mentally unstable, we now have Paranoid-MTR-Jerk-Uncle (my suggested …
An Octogenarian Tweaks the Party Elite Again
Last fall we mentioned Du Daozheng, a former high-level Party cadre and publisher of the reformist magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu. At that time he was resisting official efforts to force him to step down from the publication. It turns out that Du was up to much more than fighting for the magazine. Reuters reports that he had a key role in …
Appearance and Reality
Cities as imagined in the brochures of their property developers often have a mildly hallucinogenic quality—but Hong Kong lavishly so. Depending on what kind of homebuyer is targeted, the catalogs show either a sunbathed arcadia of wooded hills, sunsets and pristine water, or a blazing Gotham, its denizens clad in evening dress, …
The End of a Rural Enclave in a Chinese Megalopolis
Recently I’ve posted links to a few videos on the Asia Society’s China Green page. Here’s another worth checking out. It’s a look at the controversial development of a largely rural island in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.
Propaganda Battles
Last week I was on the road and thus missed out on an entertaining and unexpectedly illuminating media slapfest in Beijing. For fight fans who missed this clash, here’s a recap. Last month Peter Foster of the Telegraph wrote a short piece about a government campaign to boost patriotism ahead of the 60th anniversary of the People’s …
Video: A Cemetery’s Waitlist
Americans Adopting Fewer Chinese Babies
The number of Chinese babies adopted by American families has dropped by 50% since 2005, mainly due to stricter adoption policies Beijing rolled out in 2007. Here‘s the full story, also out in the current issue of TIME Asia.
Ma Ying-jeou’s First Year
Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou is keeping his promise to aid his island’s stricken economy through stronger mainland links. But cozying up to Beijing carries political risks. Here‘s my colleague Michael Schuman’s latest story on Ma, out in the latest issue of TIME Asia.
Zhao Ziyang’s Memoirs (Yes, You Read That Right)
Here’s a link to a fascinating story (and a great scoop) by my former colleague and friend Adi Ignatius (he’s now helming the venerable Harvard Business Review) about the about-to-be-published memoirs of China’s former premier Zhao Ziyang. Zhao was dismissed and confined to house arrest after he refused to agree to Deng Xiaoping’s order …
Ai Weiwei Transcript; For Real This Time
Apologies. Mr. Hi-tech here managed to wipe out the transcript. Here it is for real this time after the jump (SE is me asking the questions, by the way):
Ai Weiwei: Interview Transcript
As my colleague Ling mentions below, we have a story out to mark the anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake that focuses on the efforts of the artist Ai Weiwei to record an accurate toll of school children who died.
Though we have spoken to him again a few times since, the main interview was done in mid April. For those interested, it …
Ai Weiwei and the Earthquake
The Sichuan earthquake struck one year ago today. Here‘s Simon’s story on artist Ai Weiwei and his project to document every child killed in the disaster.
Lu Chuan’s City of Life and Death
Two years after shooting began, Lu Chuan’s (Kekexili, The Missing Gun) $12 million Hong Kong-China co-production, City of Life and Death （南京！南京！)，finally opened on the mainland on April 22 and in Hong Kong on May 7. It’s not easy to take on a subject like the Nanjing massacre—Iris Chang’s Rape of Nanking is still …