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News on Chinese Society

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Mrs Yu and her husband fired after cave confrontation
Oct 23, 2009 (WiC 35)

To some people the internet is just a way to exchange email, buy books and check the weather. But for bureaucrats in China, the web is a dangerous place to get caught, with some rather serious career-ending possibilities. Back in WiC7, ...

Training for the next generation
Oct 2, 2009 (WiC 33)

82 year-old Wu Renbao knows a thing or two about commercial success, even if he is careful not to crow about it. The retired party secretary of a middling-sized village in Jiangsu province is in demand as a tutor to local businessmen, reports ...

Former premier still popular for anti-graft stance
Sep 25, 2009 (WiC 32)

"I only hope when I retire, the national people will say: ‘He is a clean officer, not a corrupt one.’ I would be happy with that. If they say Zhu Rongji did something for us ... Ah, I would say thanks to heaven and earth.” The words of ...

China awes the world: Act Two

Expectations are high for next week’s National Day parade
Sep 25, 2009 (WiC 32)

Rather than rest on its laurels after the spectacular display at last year’s Olympic opening ceremony, Beijing has called in director Zhang Yimou for a sequel. At least that seems to be the impression of many in the Chinese press, which is ...

From Mao to now

How China’s changed – for better and worse – since October 1, 1949
Sep 18, 2009 (WiC 32)

Sixty years ago, when the People’s Republic of China was founded, its GDP per head was $439. Less well known is that the country’s GDP per capita in 1820 was $600 – i.e. considerably higher than when Mao Zedong took power. Somehow China got ...

Top of the class

A 38 year-old goes to primary school and impresses teachers
Sep 18, 2009 (WiC 31)

As the proverb states: “One is never too old to learn.” Yan Gao is taking the phrase literally. Unable to read and write, he has resolved that it is never to late to go back to school too. To that end, the 38 year-old from Yunnan has ...

Crossing the digital divide

American students study fenqing fervour
Sep 4, 2009 (WiC 29)

We have written before (in WiC9) about China’s fenqing, the generation of “angry youth” prone to frenzied, online defences of the nation’s honour. But the Chinese press has steered clear of talking much about the fenqing phenomena, ...

Asleep at the wheel

A deadly cocktail of banquets, booze and bad driving
Aug 28, 2009 (WiC 28)

Liang Huiming was no ordinary drunk driver. Nor was his excuse for becoming so. According to the Southern Metropolis News, Liang heads the party disciplinary committee in Panyu’s Lanhe township. But he absolved himself of any blame in his ...

Buddha’s star appeal

Why rising prosperity has prompted growth in Chinese Buddhism
Aug 28, 2009 (WiC 28)

Stories of film star spirituality often attract a scornful eye. Cue that Buddhism press release shortly after the one on the visit to the Betty Ford clinic, for instance. Then expect news of the first orphan adoption. But can we really blame ...

China’s divorce rate rockets
Aug 21, 2009 (WiC 27)

A 29 year-old woman in Chong-qing recently posted a personal ad for marriage that required candidates to complete a written test. Claiming that she wanted an intelligent life partner, she had designed the test in four parts: complete a pair of ...

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