Stanford sociologist Andrew G. Walder rewrote the history of Mao Zedong as we knew it in his book China Under Mao: A Revolution Derailed, where he argues that Mao was not inspired by Communism, but a poor understanding of Stalinism. Journalist Ian Johnson interviewed him for the New York Times.Read More →
The anti-corruption campaign by president Xi Jinping has started to hurt the economy, tells business analyst Shaun Rein at CNN. Government officials and billionaires have become so afraid, very few decisions are being made.Read More →
Willy Wo-Lap Lam has been analyzing five of China´s recent leaders, and now published his book on Xi Jinping. Journalist Ian Johnson interviews him and ask him why China´s new president is different from his predecessors for the New York Times.Read More →
President Xi Jinping entered his tenure with a clear commitment to reform. But slacking economic growth might jeopardize that promise, writes analyst Sara Hsu in the Diplomat. One main reason: central and local governments have very different interests.Read More →
Author Zhang Lijia attended in March the Bookworm International Literary Festival, and talked about the changing role of women in China´s society. Here is the report of Al Jazeera. Zhang Lijia is currently writing a novel on prostitutes in China.Read More →
Slowly, very slowly, some good news about China´s environment is coming in. Journalist Ian Johnson talked for the New York Times with Mark Clifford, author of The Greening of Asia, about the changes in the world´s largest coal consuming country.Read More →
Books need a book number to get published and sold in China, although every store would have a little counter of banned or not approved books. But censorship rules have become stricter enforced over the years and when an autobiography of Li Rui, a retired party official, got confiscated at an airport, his daughter decided to take the case to court, writes journalist Ian Johnson in the New York Times.Read More →
A new sea-plane might fit nicely into China´s territorial claims in the South China Sea, writes defense analyst Wendell Minnick in Defense News. Up to now, China did not have airplanes able to go to the disputed islands.Read More →
Author Paul French of North Korea: State of Paranoia reviews for the Washington Post. Blaine Harden´s latest book on North Korea The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Tyrant Who Created North Korea and The Young Lieutenant Who Stole His Way to Freedom.Read More →
Five feminists are still in jail. While the position of women has deteriorated over the past decades, author Zhang Lijia sees a rising number of activists, trying to improve the position of women, despite opposition, she write in a contribution to the debate in ChinaFile.Read More →
China might be facing many problems, a crisis of confidence is certainly not one of them. Economist Arthur Kroeber, acknowledged bull on China, tells The Age the Party is much more powerful than any domestic enemies.Read More →
China´s lack of direction or ideology, makes it very hard to make sense out of its future, writes author Howard French in ChinaFile, in a contribution to the David Shambaugh debate on the demise of the communist part. “Such is the degree of uncertainty we must all live with.”Read More →