Mr Dan offers a definition of reform and opening that his powerful cousin would have recognised: a social contract that stresses nationalism and material prosperity, rather than theoretical “-isms”
—The Economist, in ‘Forty years after Deng opened China, reformists are cowed’
Today, electric two-wheelers are so common in China that they account for 80% of all the greenhouse-gas emissions avoided by the use of electric vehicles—in the entire world.
Most people interviewed by Reuters declined to be named even when expressing relatively benign views on China’s leaders out of fear they would face repercussions.
“If the Communist Party tells us the sky is black, then the sky is black,” said one retiree strolling through Beijing’s Temple of Heaven, declining to give his name.
Reuters: China’s unspoken compact put to test by Xi power play
The Chinese leader calculates that because Mrs May is weak domestically she cannot resist his demands. But she may be so weak she cannot give in to them.
From The Economist Espresso, dated 31 Jan 2018
… Typing Chinese characters is fiddly, voice-recognition services are more popular than in the West; they should improve faster as a result.
Why China’s AI push is worrying, August 8, 2017 at 10:42AM
“Dockless bike shares have found a niche where they don’t have powerful enemies,”
Uber for bikes: how ‘dockless’ cycles flooded China – and are heading overseas, April 24, 2017 at 10:13AM
The only people who seem to be upset by the new share bikes, however, are illegal motorbike taxi drivers – who are missing out on business from metro stations late at night – and security guards, who don’t like mess on the pavement outside their buildings. There is friction, but the groups that are upset aren’t powerful enough. So the government doesn’t care.
‘The key at arriving at a successful outcome,’ Menon notes, ‘was keeping public rhetoric calm and steady, displaying strength, and giving the adversary a way out.’
The Sober Realist | OPEN Magazine, January 27, 2017 at 01:31AM
China’s deep-seated bureaucratic traditions of coercion and paternalism. The government feels that it has a right to intrude on citizens’ lives.
China’s digital dictatorship, December 21, 2016 at 12:54AM
Not very different from India in this matter 🙁
Use my marker 