Since Hong Kong’s National Security Law came into force in July 2020, a number of high-profile cases have been brought under it against leading political dissidents. These include the pending trial against human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung, Albert Ho and others for their leadership roles in a group that has long organised annual vigils in … more
The following translation is based on an episode from the popular Chinese-language podcast StoryFM 故事FM. With a subscriber base of over two million, the podcast, hosted by Kou Aizhe 寇爱哲, is celebrated for inviting Chinese people from different regions and backgrounds to tell their own story, in their own voice. The editors Kou Aizhe: Late … more
In 1988, a year of the dragon, China’s Central Television aired a six-part documentary entitled River Elegy 河殤 that caused heated debates among Chinese intellectuals and within the Communist Party. The show’s creators presented a damning critique of Chinese culture, which they saw as agriculture-based and inward-looking compared to the ‘ocean-based’ civilisations of the West. … more
Xi Jinping boosted the prominence of rural affairs when he came to power in 2013 and outlined his vision for China’s future development. That vision was built around the ‘Two Centennial Goals’—first, that China would become a moderately prosperous country by 2021, the year of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, and … more
The hidden debt of China’s local governments, which is held by entities called Local Government Financing Vehicles (LGFVs), has rattled financial markets. Now some worry that it could threaten the entire economy. While there is no official data, one estimate of LGFVs debt puts it at 59 trillion yuan (US$8.25 trillion) at the end of … more
In Nanjing in 1946, the government of the Republic of China (ROC), in the midst of a civil war, decided to delineate the territory of the Republic so that it could reconstruct the country after the expected successful conclusion of the war against the Communists. ROC officials studied old documents and records that suggested the … more
According to its official website, The University of Mountains and Rivers (or Shan He Da Xue 山河大学, or SHU) is located on No.1 Shan He Road, in a special administrative region where China’s four northern provinces, Shandong 山东, Shanxi 山西, Henan 河南, and Hebei 河北 intersect. The name Shanhe is a portmanteau of the four … more
For graduates in search of a job in China, March and April are traditionally the busiest hiring season. This golden window of opportunity has even acquired the nickname ‘golden March, silver April’ 金三银四. But this year’s job-finding season proved exasperating for many, with the National Bureau of Statistics reporting that in March 2023, unemployment among … more
The ‘Ballad of Mulan’ (circa 400-600), which recounts the story of a young woman disguising herself as a man to take her father’s place in the army, concludes with a musing on the difficulties of telling the sex of rabbits: The male hare wildly kicks its feet, The female hare has shifty eyes, But when … more
‘The historical attitude in China to the tiger is full of contradictions’, observed Cao Zhenfeng, a specialist on Chinese folk tradition. ‘The tiger is both loved and hated; it is a frightening beast as well as a protecting god; it is a sign of danger and a symbol for good luck; it causes people to … more
