Tea Leaf Nation

On February 27, People’s Daily posted a long list containing 2,987 names on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter. These names are completely unknown to the average Chinese person, yet these are the supposed elected representatives of China’s 1.3 billion people. They will attend the National People’s Congress (NPC), an event of considerable pomp that will be held in [...]

“I am afraid when the phone rings, afraid of seeing people, and afraid of hearing the door bell. Why? Because I can neither stand nor sit; can’t say yes or no; can’t speak the truth nor tell lies. It’s hard to say anything.“ These words are not from dissidents, but Lin Zulian (commonly referred to [...]

Political theorists, put on a suit, shine your shoes, and brush up on your Mandarin. Your finest hour may be about to arrive. The ruling Chinese Communist Party has yet to embrace democracy, but not because of a fear of people power or the entrenchment of interest groups. Instead, it is “largely because of insufficient [...]

The U.S. presidential election is less than ten weeks away. Anyone with a stake in the result is watching, and that means most of the people in the world, including a vast number of people in China. But while American voters are supposedly looking at the candidates’ policies, ideals and promises in order to make [...]

TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Chiang Ching-kuo today decreed the end of martial law imposed by his Nationalist Party 38 years ago when it fled to this island after the communists took over mainland China. (LA Times, July 14, 1987) 25 years ago, the Republic of China government on Taiwan formally announced that it was ending [...]

TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Chiang Ching-kuo today decreed the end of martial law imposed by his Nationalist Party 38 years ago when it fled to this island after the communists took over mainland China. (LA Times, July 14, 1987) 25 years ago, the Republic of China government on Taiwan formally announced that it was ending [...]

As China’s youth surged forward to protest the plan to build a molybdenum copper plant in Shifang, Sichuan Province, famous Chinese blogger and youth leader Han Han has weighed in. Although Han has previously expressed public doubts both about online protesters and the future of China, Han struck a more optimistic tone in a July 4 [...]

As China’s youth surged forward to protest the plan to build a molybdenum copper plant in Shifang, Sichuan Province, famous Chinese blogger and youth leader Han Han has weighed in. Although Han has previously expressed public doubts both about online protesters and the future of China, Han struck a more optimistic tone in a July 4 [...]

Shortly after China’s Party mouthpiece, Global Times, announced that China has long been a type of democracy, Qiao Mengke, an elementary school student from Zhengzhou, Henan province, supplied proof that democratic practice in China has reached even the nation’s youth. Sort of. Each year, elementary schools in China select representatives, called “Young Pioneers,” to help [...]

Shortly after China’s Party mouthpiece, Global Times, announced that China has long been a type of democracy, Qiao Mengke, an elementary school student from Zhengzhou, Henan province, supplied proof that democratic practice in China has reached even the nation’s youth. Sort of. Each year, elementary schools in China select representatives, called “Young Pioneers,” to help [...]

And the hits keep on comin’. You can always count on Global Times, the tabloid owned by Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, for entertaining editorials over your morning soy milk. After hits like “some degree of corruption should be accepted at this point in China’s development” and “the West should learn from China with humility,” Global [...]

iSunAffairs, an iPad-based magazine, put together this democracy map of East and South Asia based on data from The Democracy Index 2011 by the Economist Intelligence Unit.  It is worth noting that China ranks ahead of Vietnam, albeit by a very slim margin. It is also worth noting that iSunAffairs is led by Mr. Chang [...]