In the late 1990s and early years of this decade China’s industrial regions were hit by extensive protests as workers resisted the privatization of large state-owned enterprises. Now there are signs of that labor unrest returning. For the second time in a month steelworkers have protested the sale of a mill to private buyers. In late …
Morakot in Taiwan and Sichuan Quake Donations
Typhoon Morakot has killed 126 people in Taiwan, but another 3-400 are still missing, likely buried when a mudslide claimed the southern village of Xsiao Lin (or Siaolin). Our reporter Natalie Tso reports on the aftermath in Cishan, Taiwan: A Week After Typhoon, Taiwan Rescues Continue. And here’s Austin’s story on how billions of …
Ai Weiwei Held in Sichuan
Artist Ai Weiwei, who has led a campaign to document student deaths from last year’s Sichuan earthquake, was detained with several other activists last night in Chengdu. The group was there to attend the trial of Tan Zuoren, another activist who has investigated the quake’s aftermath and is charged with subversion. According to the …
A New Era for Street Vendors in China?
China is reconsidering restrictions on street merchants, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The story has significance beyond whether residents of Chinese cities can find a good kabob stand. In recent years conflicts between peddlers and the police forces responsible for monitoring them have frequently spiraled out of control, with …
What Xu Zhiyong Stands For
On the China Beat blog, our former colleague Susan Jakes takes a look at the breadth and boldness of detained legal scholar Xu Zhiyong’s work:
Xu has a knack for seeing what’s possible where others see only futility. In 2003 and again in 2006 he ran as one of China’s handful of independent—that is, not CCP pre-approved—candidates
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Arrested Lawyer’s “Chinese Dream”
The lawyer Xu Zhiyong disappeared in Beijing one week ago, but now his image is popping up all over town. Xu, who was taken from his house by police, is featured in the latest edition of Shishang Xiansheng, the Chinese version of Esquire. He is one of 60 people interviewed by the magazine in recent months about their idea of the Chinese …
As Honest As…
A recent web survey by a Chinese magazine has found that prostitutes are more trustworthy than government officials. The result comes from a web survey, not the most trustworthy form of surveying itself. But the China Daily deemed it “unusual.” Perhaps not. Prostitution is illegal here but amazingly widespread. A visiting editor once …
Video: Poker Comes to China
To follow up on an earlier article, Does Poker Stand a Chance in Asia?, here’s a video about one of Macau’s biggest poker tournaments.
Can China Save the World?
The current issue of TIME’s Asian and South Pacific editions features this cover package: Can China Save the World? by Bill Powell and Into the Unknown by Michael Elliott.
Leading Chinese Rights Lawyer Detained
Beijing authorities have detained the head a legal research and advocacy group, the latest blow in a continued drive against China’s activist lawyers. Police took Xu Zhiyong, a human right lawyer who runs the recently shuttered Open Constitution Initiative (or Gongmeng in Chinese), from his Beijing apartment early Wednesday morning, …
Farcical Case Concludes
The conclusion of the hearing into the disputed estate of late tycoon Nina Wang comes as a relief to Hongkongers, who no longer have to be confronted, on a daily basis, with even more tales of baseness, superstition and venality than already fill our lives. Those unfamiliar with the story—it is hard to think who they might be, given …
Tearing Down Old Kashgar: Another Blow to the Uighurs
My colleague Ishaan Tharoor writes here about how Beijing has begun bulldozing the old city section of Xinjiang’s Kashgar, the ancient center of the Silk Road, in a move that critics worry is aimed at further dismantling local Uighur heritage.
Is China’s One-Child Policy Heading for a Revision?
Here’s Simon’s recent piece on how a comment by a Shanghai family-planning official, which made headlines around the world, was nothing more than a reiteration of a long-held policy allowing parents who are only children to have more than one child. And here‘s a brief history of China’s one-child policy.