More than ever, what happens in China affects everyone, everywhere. Far from the monolith that China is often perceived as in the West — it is a vast country of 34 provinces & autonomous regions comprising 1.4 billion people. Politically, China may have a one-party system, but its domestic politics are more complicated than meet the eye. You can’t understand the world without understanding China.
Media is the new target of national security law enforcement in Hong Kong. A day after 500 police officers raided the newsroom of pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily and arrested five executives, two were charged with foreign collusion.
Any movie, whether foreign or domestic and even regardless of content, can now be barred from screening in Hong Kong if local censors feel its showing could endanger national security as defined by Beijing.
Hong Kong’s Victoria Park was empty on June 4 for the first time in 32 years, as police enforced a ban on the annual Tiananmen remembrance vigil. Some Hongkongers defied police and gathered near the park and elsewhere, while others found more subtle ways to mark the day.
Facing an aging population and declining birth rates, Beijing has further relaxed family planning policies. However, young Chinese people don’t seem interested.
As Hong Kong’s courts gave additional prison sentences to activists and the city’s police again banned the annual June 4 gathering, the Legislative Council formally approved new rules imposed by Beijing requiring that only “patriots” can be elected to public office.
Hybrid rice varieties created by Yuan Longping fed China and the world, and made him a hero in China. Millions of people have mourned publicly online and in person since his death over the weekend.
It is not clear exactly why the Chinese government is accusing the writer Yang Hengjun of espionage, and we probably won’t learn much more from his trial next week.
The 2020 Chinese census showed a population continuing to grow, but at its slowest rate since the People’s Republic of China’s first census in 1953, with the lowest number of new births since 1961. How will China deal with its rapidly worsening demographic crisis?
For the past year, international alarm over China’s abuse of Uyghurs has been heightened by reports of targeted birth control. A New York Times report confirms that even as birth restrictions have loosened in much of China, they have tightened and become more coercive for Muslims in Xinjiang.
Less than 30% of farmers in China are involved in new businesses like agricultural e-commerce and organic farming, Pinduoduo is helping attract young talent back to rural areas