When I first came to Beijing 15 years ago, the toughest part of getting a taxi was finding a driver who was awake. The Chinese capital was much slower paced then, and cabbies would often follow up their lunch with a one or two hour siesta. The hours of 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. were a taxi wasteland, unless you were willing to risk waking a …
In the week since Wang Yue, the two-year-old girl better known as Yue Yue, was hit by not one but two vans, then ignored by 18 people before finally being rescued by a scrap picker, the Chinese public has agonized over how such a thing could happen, how the suffering of a helpless innocent could be ignored by so many. Several …
If there is a bright note to the sad storyof Wang Yue, the two-year old who was ignored by more than a dozen passers-by after a hit-and-run collision, it is 57-year-old scrap picker Chen Xianmei, who stopped to help the gravely injured toddler. The incident has prompted a vast outpouring of online anger and soul searching as to how …
Top officials of China’s ruling Communist Party began a four-day, closed-door session Saturday which will be scrutinized for clues into the leadership transition that begins next year. The Central Committee’s annual plenum may also offer insight into how the authorities intend to promote, and control, cultural expression. The …
China and Vietnam, which traded accusations this summer over rival territorial claims in the South China Sea, signed an agreement Tuesday outlining basic measures to help settle their ongoing dispute. The agreement, reached during a visit to Beijing by Vietnamese leader Nguyen Phu Trong, calls for China and Vietnam to hold biannual …
His red leader’s jersey muted by smog, German Tony Martin won the inaugural Tour of Beijing Sunday, the first world class road cycling event in the Chinese capital since the 2008 Olympics. As a cycling fan, I stood by the road to watch both events, and yesterday it struck me how the city has changed over the past three years.
The …
On Friday the Norwegian Nobel Committee will announce the 2011 Peace Prize laureate. Bookmakers Paddy Power, which correctly predicted Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo’s win last year, currently list Sima Samar, chairperson of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, as favorite, at 5/4. She is followed by Burmese opposition …
Give Charles Schumer credit for persistence. The New York Senator first introduced legislation that targeted Chinese currency in 2003, and has been a leading congressional advocate of the view that China keeps the value of its currency, the renminbi, artificially low, giving its exporters an unfair advantage when competing against …
Many countries set off fireworks to mark their national days, but few go as big as China. Sometime between 9:16 p.m. and 9:31 p.m. tonight (Thursday morning U.S. time) the country’s space program will launch Tiangong 1, an unmanned, 8-ton space lab module, into orbit, according to a statement by the China Manned Space Engineering …
China will likely suspend some military ties with the U.S. following the Obama administration’s approval of a $5.85 billion package of upgrades for Taiwan’s aging fleet of F-16 fighter jets and pilot training, a senior U.S. State Department official said Monday. (A transcript of the official’s briefing was posted on the State …
The U.S. announced Wednesday that it will offer Taiwan a $5.85 billion package of upgrades to its aging fleet of F-16 fighters (pdf) and training for its pilots (pdf). The deal, which falls short of Taiwan’s request for newer F-16 C/D jets, was widely expected as details of the plan leaked out in Washington in recent weeks. Perhaps …
U.S. presidents have reason to not relish decisions on selling arms to Taiwan. Say yes, as Barack Obama did in January 2010, when he approved the sale of $6.4 billion worth of equipment including Patriot air defense missiles, Black Hawk helicopters and two Osprey mine-hunting ships, and you anger China. China considers Taiwan to be …
One of the great surprises about the widespread crackdown on dissent in China this spring was how many of those who were detained and later released have remained quiet. While the experiences of a few who were detained, such as the artist Ai Weiwei, did emerge, little is known about what was endured by many of the more than 100 …
