At the height of the Cultural Revolution, Red Guard tabloids were ubiquitous. And yet, they don’t appear in Chinese statistics. They had their heyday from 1966-1968, but after the forceful dissolution of the Red Guard movement, the Party withdrew their approval of the tabloids as well, and they disappeared from the official account of the … more
In 1973 and 1974, the Taiwan-based Republic of China (ROC) government dispatched its “National Chinese Opera Theater” (NCOT) to the United States in order to challenge the international image of its archrival, the People’s Republic of China (PRC). However, the NCOT failed to generate widespread political support for the ROC. The ROC’s reliance on an … more
1. Chinese language media in Australia Two recently published papers shed some insights on Chinese-language media in Australia: Waning Sun’s journal article “Chinese-language digital news media in Australia” published in June in Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies and Fan Yang’s analysis “Translating tension” published last week by the Lowy Institute. Sun focused her … more
Mass-market tourism expanded in the capitalist world in Western Europe and the Americas just after World War II. But less well known is the growth in international tourism in the socialist world in Eastern Europe and Asia during the same period. Tourists from the People’s Republic of China ventured out into the socialist world in … more
1. Hostage exchange Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were finally released this week, after being arrested and detained in China for almost three years. The release of these two Canadians occurred at the same time as the release by Canada of Meng Wanzhou 孟晚舟, the CFO of Huawei and the daughter of Huawei’s founder. This … more
Last few weeks we have focused on social issues inside China. This week we switch focus to international developments outside China. 1. AUKUS Much ado about nothing? With hastily arranged top-secret meetings on a “major international development” and speculations ranging from aliens to imminent warfare, I felt kind of let down by AUKUS. But perhaps … more
The Beijing municipal government has a set of stringent eligibility criteria for those applying for a Beijing hukou, such as higher education qualifications and working in jobs serving the city’s development priorities. Yet these criteria are not well-publicized. On top of the formal eligibility criteria, the government applies yet another set of hidden rules, which … more
As the United Kingdom (UK) increases its strategic and economic engagement in the Indo-Pacific, Australia should continue its advocacy for the UK to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and its further integration into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). This will enhance regional stability. But Australia should not advocate … more
1. English language in China China may be de-prioritising education requirements on the English language, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Last month, the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission issued a notice on measures to reduce the burden of students and to enhance comprehensive all-round education (素质教育 rather than exam-oriented education 应试教育). One of the … more
Beijing adopted a functionalist approach to the integration of Hong Kong and Macau with Mainland China, hoping that practical cooperation will foster trust and patriotism, and facilitate institutional integration. Our research, however, finds that Macau and its neighboring mainland city of Zhuhai did not make substantive progress towards integration under this approach. Beijing’s approach has, … more
