Tea Leaf Nation

[Warning: This article contains graphic images.] On July 10, netizens in China were outraged, yet again, by a brutal incident involving civilians and chengguan. Chengguan (城管) are officers charged with maintaining order in Chinese cities. They have developed a reputation for treating unlicensed or otherwise noncompliant street peddlers violently. According to @9号机店, writing on Sina [...]

[Warning: This article contains graphic images.] On July 10, netizens in China were outraged, yet again, by a brutal incident involving civilians and chengguan. Chengguan (城管) are officers charged with maintaining order in Chinese cities. They have developed a reputation for treating unlicensed or otherwise noncompliant street peddlers violently. According to @9号机店, writing on Sina [...]

In June, around 9 million students took China’s college entrance exam, also known as the “gao kao.” Over the past week, most of them have been anxiously finding out about the results that could have life-changing implications. But behind the exam-related angst is an important trend: The number of gao kao participants have been shrinking [...]

Can’t stand the heat? Want to make a statement and wear something revealing? You may wish to avoid Shanghai’s subway. It’s a bizarre incident that showcases just how far women’s rights still have to go in China. On June 20, tweeting from its official account on Sina Weibo, China’s twitter, Shanghai’s Number 2 Subway Line [...]

With a little help, China’s youth have scored a preliminary victory. Business leader and Internet personality Kai-Fu Lee recently caused a huge stir in China’s blogosphere by calling for the boycott of controversial reality show “Only You” (非你莫属). When Mr. Lee tweets, China–especially its youth–listens. Mr. Lee was the founding president of Google China, serving [...]

What does it mean to be a “pro-life” Chinese person? Recently, many Western media have been calling Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese dissident who fled China by seeking protection at U.S. embassy in Beijing, a pro-life activist. Conservative websites such as Gateway Pundit and LifeSiteNews.com (a non-profit pro-life news service) have described Chen as a pro-life [...]

That was fast. Although Confucius Institutes have only been in the United States since 2005, the American government is already showing signs of doubt. On May 17, the U.S. State Department issued a new directive regarding Confucius Institutes in the U.S., which states that all Confucius Institutes must obtain American accreditation, even though they don’t [...]