In February 1986, on the final day of Lunar New Year, Yue-Sai Kan sat anxiously in her hotel suite in Beijing. She had spent the past two years preparing for One World – billed as the first television show to bring cultures from around the world to Chinese viewers – and its first episode was … Read more
China has set up a research institute on early Chinese philosophies, taking the discourse beyond Confucius in its latest effort to win the narrative war with the West on governance values. The “Chinese Zhuzi Research Institute”, or “institute of early Chinese philosophies” opened earlier this month at the East China Normal University (ECNU) in Shanghai. … Read more
Li Xiaopeng, son of former Chinese premier Li Peng, has taken a semi-retirement role on the country’s top political advisory body, drawing an end to the closely watched political career of a member of one of China’s most powerful families. Li was assigned the role of deputy director of the economic affairs committee of the … Read more
Some 25 years before Deng Xiaoping first proposed “one country, two systems” as a creative political solution to facilitate Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau’s return to China, Mao Zedong tasked him with finding an answer to the Tibet issue. It was 1957, six years after Beijing and Lhasa signed the Seventeen-Point Agreement that confirmed Tibet … Read more
A high-level symposium was chaired by then-president Hu Jintao, who made a detailed account of Deng’s achievements in line with protocol, and made use of the occasion to rally support for his leadership. The second such symposium was held by President Xi Jinping 10 years ago in the Great Hall of People in Beijing, where … Read more
Now that China is at a crossroads again, amid widespread concerns over the direction of the country and the state of its economy, remembering Deng has taken on a special significance. Deng, who died in 1997 at the age of 92, would have been heartened but unsurprised to see that China’s economy has become the … Read more
At the heart of the ongoing reversal of globalisation lies a deficit of political trust. Despite the continued logical appeal of globalisation, geopolitical tensions and concerns about national security and employment are fuelling tariffs and sanctions, as well as artificially inflating the cost of trade. Meanwhile, at the people-to-people level, flights between China and the … Read more
“Our generation boldly ventured into uncharted waters … we ‘crossed the river by feeling the stones’,” she said, referring to the metaphor Deng used to describe China’s gradual approach to those policies. Guo, who had recently graduated with a major in English translation, started at the company as an assistant earning 8,400 yuan a year. … Read more
Xi delivered the address at a commemorative event held every decade around August 22 – a tradition that allows the party’s leaders to reconnect with its founding fathers and announce a path forward. He used the event to offer a salute to the past and to acknowledge the political challenges of today. 03:10 Why Deng … Read more
As China celebrates the 120th anniversary of the birth of the late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, the seemingly contradictory duality of the man and his legacy continue to resonate. In Chinese culture, 60 years is known as jiazi, representing the full alignment cycle between heaven and earth. The commemoration of Deng’s 120th birthday on August … Read more
