Asia

The current New Yorker has a fascinating piece by Jianying Zha about her brother, democracy activist Zha Jianguo, who was convicted of “subverting the state” for his role in helping create the banned China Democracy Party and is serving a 9-year prison sentence. The article tells of the author’s complicated feelings towards her brother …

I was watching TV in a Hong Kong cafe last night when a jarring image at the end of a commercial caught my eye. It was this symbol:

It designates a product as one of China’s top brands. I couldn’t help but think of a similar symbol, that of Nazi Germany’s Schutzstaffel (SS), a brutal outfit that, among other things, committed genocide …

I went to an energy and environment conference here in Shanghai recently in which one of the foreign participants—gripped apparently by the sort of irrational exuberance that afflicts a lot of foreigners peddling wares (or, in this guy’s case, services…) here—said something to the effect that China could and would leap-frog the …

A few weeks ago the China Blog marked the death of Nina Wang, Asia’s richest woman. As expected, Wang’s passing is hardly the end of her dramatic story. After her husband was declared dead in 1999, Wang and her father-in-law battled over the estate, which was then estimated at $3 billion. That clash centered around two competing wills. …

This from our colleague Jodi Xu:

A 23-episode TV series featuring a young Mao Zedong, the founder of People’s Republic of China, has received an unexpectedly favorable reception from young Chinese. The show, QiaTongxue Shaonian (恰同学少年) or “Those Student Days” (it sounds better in Chinese, being a phrase from one of Mao’s …

A series of fascinating posts on the panicked reaction inside China’s propaganda machine to the early, erroneous reports that the Virginia Tech shooter was a Chinese national. There are observations by foreigners working on the inside, the blog itself belonging to a sub editor working form Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency. There …

This is a quick follow-up to the post earlier this month on Chinese blogger Isaac Mao’s talk at Hong Kong University. Rebecca MacKinnon, an assistant professor at the university’s journalism school, has a post on key points of Mao’s presentation and also a summary of a talk by Chinese blogger Michael Anti. There are also links to videos …

On my first visit to Hong Kong six years ago, I was surprised not so much by the bright lights, buildings or crowds. Rather, it was that amid the bright lights, buildings and crowds, a monkey managed to clamber through the busy Tsim Sha Tsui district in Kowloon, board a cross-harbor ferry, and arrive in the Wanchai district of Hong Kong …

After criticizing Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s choice of words recently, I think it’s only fair to point out some impressive oration on his part yesterday. It came during a speech to the Japanese Diet, the first by a Chinese leader to that body in more than 20 years. He said that while Japan’s invasion of China caused great loss …

The White House official was jubilant: “The Chinese have promised to close down all the counterfeit DVD factories. And this time they really mean it!” I was chatting with the official in Hong Kong where she had landed on her way back to Washington from talks in Beijing. She was convinced that after years of foot dragging and bureaucratic …

My post yesterday on Premier Wen Jiabao’s stern encouragement to Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang aroused a few heated comments. I’ll reply to them here.

First off, there were some questions of the translation provided. If you follow the link, you’ll see that it comes from the China Daily, the state-run English language newspaper. …

Here’s Susan’s reply to questions and comments on her post. Thanks again to Susan for guest blogging.

I am very gratified that my debut as a blogger has stimulated such a lively and interesting discussion. It’s a terrific new opportunity for me to hear the direct and unvarnished views of people living all over the world – …

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive picked up his official appointment for a 5-year term in Beijing yesterday, but Premier Wen Jiabao gave him a life sentence. Quoting a line from the Analects of Confucius, Wen said:

The scholar must not be without scope and persistence, for his responsibility is weighty and his way is long. Perfect virtue is

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