Many discussions involving China and the West end up being a competition: you have this, but we have that. Here is one very popular competition, passed around in different forms on numerous Chinese internet forums for many years. It's about the glory of our government buildings. The captions below are translated from the Chinese original: The city hall in Marion, Iowa. … [Read more...] about Building Envy – Chinese and American government offices
Analysis
Wall Street Journal gets it wrong on Weng'an
A few days ago, an assistant working for the Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong emailed me an inquiry, asking for my thoughts on the Weng'an story. They were working on a story about the significance of citizen bloggers like Zola, and were interested in my input. Unfortunately, the version they finally went to press with is simply wrong. I usually am more politic on this blog, … [Read more...] about Wall Street Journal gets it wrong on Weng'an
The challenge in Taiwan
Ties between the two sides of the Taiwan strait are growing warmer and warmer. This should be no surprise, as its exactly what ROC president Ma Yingjiu promised in his campaign leading to a landslide victory earlier this year. With the arrival of mainland tourists in Taiwan representing another new milestone, we are clearly living through an inflection point in cross-strait … [Read more...] about The challenge in Taiwan
The Prospects of Democracy in China
Our guest Youzi has given us a kernel for further discussion in one of his comments: And even within China, between different provinces and peoples are tremendous psychological differences, perhaps even greater than those between two countries. As time has passed, as the people’s living standards have grown and as awareness of personal rights has woken… if the traditional … [Read more...] about The Prospects of Democracy in China
Is Fiat too clever?
The story of Fiat apologizing to China for its Richard Gere and Tibet themed ad for a new car was first reported on June 20. At that time, I quickly dismissed it as nothing but another blunder by the marketing department of a global company that should have known better. The ad itself wasn't problematic per se. But it was clearly created with Richard Gere's Tibet oriented … [Read more...] about Is Fiat too clever?