Oba-Mao: Beijing in a tizzy over a T-shirt

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:55:07 +0000

(Watch Josh Chin's video report on the Obama visit.)

Ultimate Tiananmen dissident speaks from the grave, but in China, who will listen?

Fri, 15 May 2009 17:43:13 +0000

China watchers have been abuzz all day with news of a forthcoming book, "Prisoner of the State," based on tapes secretly recorded by Zhao Ziyang, the former head of the Chinese Communist Party who was stripped of power and placed under house arrest after opposing the military crackdown in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Chinese police tactics revealed: Leave no trace

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:27:30 +0000

Well, no one ever said police were good at PR.

It's called sabotage ...

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 03:23:48 +0000

Multimedia: The Old School

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:18:06 +0000

The Ox Arrives with a bang

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:22:32 +0000

And so it begins.

Starting tonight, China's inner pyromaniac will have the run of the place, allowed by law to explode ungodly quantities of technicolor gunpowder in the sky 'round-the-clock for the next 48 hours (then from 7am to 10 pm for the next 13 days)—all to clear the way for the Year of the Ox. To give you a sense of the mayhem, here are some pictures taken a few hours ago in a residential compound in Tangshan, two hours' drive east of Beijing:

Train tickets: One for you, two for me

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 02:32:08 +0000

Inauguration Night 2: The Perils of Special Drinks [Revised and updated with photos]

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:18:21 +0000

Inauguration Night: Fireworks in Beijing, but (so far) not for Obama

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:11:44 +0000

With roughly four hours to go before the Obama inauguration ceremonies, Beijing is less than enthralled. The reason is visible on the front page of today's Beijing Times, which features a top headline about a train ticket scalping scandal over a photo of police conducting fireworks safety demonstrations at the capital's famous Silk Street Market.

In other words, Spring Festival, the Chinese equivalent of Christmas vacation, has arrived.

The view from China

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:54:50 +0000

Why China?

To many foreigners living here, this question can have effects on brain function roughly like dropping a peeled orange into a deep fat fryer. There’s a momentary hiss, then a fragrant explosion of thoughts all over the inside of the skull, followed by a low burbling sound and, finally, a burning, regretful silence.