In the midst of the Chen Guangcheng story exploding, I came across this story1. It is not related to Chen Guangcheng, but it is so absurd that I thought it was worth sharing (and it’s been too long since we ran a translation anyway). Translation: Fujian Man Sentenced for Filming Secret Military Plane Mr....
I have long wondered exactly what role money and corruption played in Chen Guangcheng and his family’s de-facto imprisonment in Dongshigu. In the video Chen released yesterday, he addresses this question directly. A full English translation of this video can be found here, and I recommend you read all of it, but here is...
For those of you who live in the wrong hemisphere or don’t have a Twitter account, here’s the big news: Chen Guangcheng has escaped. According to activists, he is now somewhere “100% safe” in Beijing, though it’s not clear where. There has been some speculation that he might be inside some embassy; so far,...
You’ve probably already heard about the horrible double-homicide that killed two Chinese USC students last week. It’s a bit of an old story now, but the more I think about it, the more I think it’s worth examining the response to it. For the sake of brevity, here’s a very condensed version of what...
Oh boy. Take a look at this essay by Wang Wen that appears in Eric X. Li’s column in the Global Times Huffington Post. Before we begin, it’s worth noting that the HuffPo piece fails to mention that Wang Wen is an editor for the Global Times. It does specify that he’s an editor...
I’ll admit, it’s been a while since I got excited about something going on in Beijing. But I think this is a good idea, full stop. I wish I got to say that more often. Here’s the skinny: The Beijing municipal government has already announced plans to improve the quality of the city’s air...
The following is a guest post by Meg Davis, an anthropologist and the founder of Asia Catalyst. China’s annual “two sessions” wrapped up this week, and Chinese lawmakers finally considered proposals to establish a national compensation fund for thousands of victims of the world’s largest HIV blood disaster. Back in 2002, Elisabeth Rosenthal wrote...
Recently, the PSB released a report on its nationwide anti-kidnapping activities in 2011 which contains some impressive statistics. You can find an English AFP piece on the report here, or read the full report in Chinese. The report is, unsurprisingly, triumphant and self-congratulatory, and there are some things to celebrate. Chief among them is...
Just in case you’re out of the loop: villagers in Wukan hit the polls today. Although there are elections in villages all over China, this one is especially significant given what led up to it and the extent to which it has got people elsewhere in China thinking about democracy. For on the ground...
This video has been floating around the Chinese internet for about a month now, and has accrued over 880,000 plays1. It’s called “If You’re Happy and You Know it, Clap Your Hands,” and it’s another entry in the vein of satirical independent Chinese animation. I don’t have time to translate it line for line,...
For several days, I have pondered writing about this New York Times op-ed by Eric Li. In fact, I accepted and then spiked a guest post on it, then wrote and spiked a post of my own. It’s not that Li’s piece doesn’t deserve the criticism — his suggestion that the Tiananmen protests were...
The following is a guest post by Mark Connor. Frequent readers of this website will already know of the bullhorn Chinese nationalism barked by many in the Chinese media. Recent tweeter Hu Xijin of the Global Times is one; so is Eric Li. But though these roaring ideologues are not much different to North Korean leaders in...
