Anecdotal and some statistical evidence has been strong for a while that inflation was climbing and that food prices in particular were shooting upwards. But yesterday’s announcement that inflation hit 6.5 per cent, the highest in 11 years was still something of a shocker. Even more surprising was the nearly 50 per cent (these figures …

Last month I mentioned a point many IT experts have made about Chinese Internet censorship, that it’s not meant to block all banned content but remind web users that they are being monitored. Researchers from UC Davis and the University of New Mexico announced yesterday they are coming out with a report on that idea (via China Digital …

I had been meaning to mention the session at Dalian WEF meeting that was by all accounts the most lively by far (which is actually not that great a challenge as there is an atmosphere of corporate caution about many of the discussions that makes them somewhat anodyne affairs, at least this time). Anyway, this one involved the ubiquitous …

And so, farewell Summer Davos. I leave with a stack of business cards a yard high and the powerful conviction that I must return to Dalian soon. And not just for the wonderful seafood. To my mind there’s nothing better in the world than a clear steamed garoupa, some scallops from the bay, maybe a few drunken shrimp still wiggling on the …

This should make the next month interesting: a bronze horse head looted from Beijing’s Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) by British and French troops in 1860 will be sold at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong next month. The piece, which was once part of a grand water-clock fountain made up of the 12 zodiac animals, is expected to sell for …

Greetings from sunny Dalian, which is hosting the so-called “Summer Davos,” an attempt by the World Economic Forum to replicate its winter meeting of movers and shakers in China. With 1700 attendees all looking to get in some serious networking, the atmosophere in the meeting halls can be somewhat frenetic, rather akin to what I imagine …

Make no mistake: George W. Bush acceptance of Hu Jintao’s invitation to attend next summer’s Olympics in Beijing is a huge `get’ for China. Forget the chatter about Darfur and boycotts, of tainted toys, disputes over Iran, etc., et al. There will be no boycotts. And however Bush and the White House want to spin it (he’s going …

We get plenty of interesting comments on the blog but also some silly ones, and all too often the discusion deteriorates into a tedious China good/U.S. bad or vice versa spat, with nationalists on both sides spitting vitriol at each other. A reader calling himself (herself?) Guiyang Laoshi made a reasoned alnalysis about the issuse of …

Last month, when China marked one year to go before the start of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, the slogan was “We Are Ready.” In one sense it’s largely true: Beijing is far ahead of past host cities when it comes to building stadiums and other infrastructure for the Games. But when it comes to handling the scrutiny that will come …

The United states Congress reopened Tuesday after the long summer recess. Speaking to people who follow this in Washington and Beijing, it’s pretty clear it is going to be a rough few months for China. The food safety issue is a natural for populist hysteria and some members of Congress will definitely rise–or lower themselves–to the …

Concluding onversation with Thomas P.M. Barnett, one of the leading defense intellectuals in the United States and author of ‘The Pentagon’s New Map,’ about the possibility of a US-China alliance.

TIME: Now there are a lot of Americans who will object I think to your analogy of the US as the UK in the early part of the 20th …

Yuan Weijing is turning into the Eveready bunny of activists in China. After being bundled back home (see earlier posts below) from Beijing airport, she made another break for it last Friday and managed to board a bus for the capital. However, Shandong’s cops aren’t quite as Keystone-ish as they have appeared sometimes in the past. They …