The number of people avoiding marriage is growing dramatically in China, while the government hopes youngsters not only marry, but also give birth to children. But the change is more than about demographics only, says the journalist Zhang Lijia, author of “Socialism Is Great!”: A Worker’s Memoir of the New China in the Guardian.Read More →
The rest of the world looks with interest at the assumed friendship between China and Russia. Still, that relation is not as close as many believe, says author Zhang Lijia in an analysis in the South China Morning Post. The powerplay is way more important than the assumed friendship, she writes.Read More →
Journalist Zhang Lijia, author of “Socialism Is Great!”: A Worker’s Memoir of the New China, is thoroughly impressed by the movie Black Dog, which won an award at Cannes. In her review, she writes, “This Cannes Un Certain Regard winner stands as a richly deserved accolade—a poignant narrative beautifully told. “Read More →
China’s government is trying to encourage giving birth to children and marriage to offset a fast-aging population. But author Zhang Lijia discovered on a tour in the country China’s women abandon the idea of getting married, she writes in the South China Morning Post. “I believe this trend is driven by educated urban women. It is in line with the trajectories of more developed countries. Once women have a good education and good jobs, they become less keen on marriage,” she writes.Read More →
Officially China does not allow single women to freeze their eggs and forces them to go abroad or even register children of single mothers to register. But demographic pressure is already changing those restrictions on a provincial level, says author Zhang Lijia in the Guardian who expects more changes to come.Read More →
Inequality has been one of China’s central problems, writes author and journalist Zhang Lijia in the South China Morning Post. There is no shortage of efforts to fix it, she argues, and while China has dealt with poverty successfully, getting to common prosperity, as it is called, seems much harder to achieve.Read More →
Former rocket factory worker and author Zhang Lijia discusses labor relations in China in an opinion piece at the South China Morning Post after a video about a dismissal of a worker caused an online uproar. “The government’s commitment to protect its workers is on the line here,” she argues.Read More →
Relations between China and Japan have been tense since the end of World War II, and the annual remembrance of the rape of Nanking, this year 86 years ago, marks those tensions. Author Zhang Lijia argues that nowadays both countries need better relations, she argues in the South China Morning Post. “An amicable Sino-Japanese relationship is vital for regional stability and prosperity. If the two remain hostile, it will play into the US’ hands,” she writes.Read More →
While fixing the dropping birth rate in China might be challenging, improving the current position of single mothers should be a no-brainer, says author Zhang Lijia in the South China Morning Post. Some provinces have started to deal with the Sishengzi, or “secretly born child”, as a growing number of women do not want to marry, but still want to have a child, she writes.Read More →
The draft law banning clothes deemed offensive to national feelings in China has triggered much debate. Author and journalist Zhang Lijia dives and looks back at the campaigns from her youth at the Nanjing rocket factory, and more recent incidents, for the South China Morning Post.Read More →
A star-studded Chinese TV drama delving into workplace sexual harassment titled Imperfect Victim recently ended but the debate it triggered rages on. Journalist and social commentator Zhang Lijia dives into the debate for the South China Morning Post.Read More →
Public opinion in both China and the US about the other country is at a low, and political analyst Zhang Lijia fears those opinions might push both advisories into a new cold war, she argues in the South China Morning Post.Read More →