The famous singer Peng Liyuan was more popular than her husband,the upcoming president Xi Jinping. She could use that popularity as China’s first lady, but author Zhang Lijia estimates those chances are limited, as women are not welcome in China’s power houses, she tells The National. Read More →
Despite the big power transition show going on in Beijing, and much talk about needed reforms, author Zhang Lijia tells CNN she is not expected huge changes to take place very fast, although the internet is putting pressure on the decision making process.Read More →
More than ten years ago China needs real change, writes author Zhang Lijia in The Guardian. But it is far from clear whether the new leader Xi Jinping can deliver that change, even if its hurt interests of friends and family?Read More →
Until last year Mercedes sold its sedans like hot buns on the China market. But the preference for high-end SUV’s and higher-profile competition makes the future less certain for the German car market, writes business analyst Shaun Rein in Business Week.Read More →
What if you meet somebody who says he wants to end his life. Author Zhang Lijia recalls meeting a suicidal security guard at evening and writes a beautiful account of a sad love story on her weblog.Read More →
China’s rich saw much of their capital shrink over the past year, the 14th Hurun rich list disclosed yesterday. But looking at the past decade, wealth still has boomed tremendously, adds Hurun founder Rupert Hoogewerf in Reuters.Read More →
The debate on whether China is the land for great opp0rtunities for foreigners, or the place they increasingly leave behind, made it into the state-owned Global Times. Long-term Beijing resident and economic analyst Arthur Kroeber still see why the country attracts foreign entrepreneurs.Read More →
Neil Heywood, former friend of sacked Chinese leader Bo Xilai, and possibly killed by Bo’s wife Gu Kailai, is not the first Briton to lose his life in China, writes author Paul French in The Telegraph. In his book Midnight in Peking he tried to solve at least one, the murder of Pamela Werner in 1937.Read More →
The US bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999 started to change the life of rock musician Kaiser Kuo, then part of the famous band Tang-dynasty. In “Americans in China” he explains how he became an American in Beijing, and spokesperson of the country’s search engine Baidu.Read More →
The US embassy in Beijing and US consulate in Shanghai tweet regularly their measurements of the pollution in those cities. No allowed, said a representative of the environmental authorities in China this week. Denying the problem is not going to help, tells business analyst Shaun Rein in Marketplace.Read More →
Celebrity author Zhang Lijia of “”Socialism Is Great!”: A Worker’s Memoir of the New China” recalled yesterday at her weblog the dramatic events of June 4, 1989, and looks ahead at the future of China in the years to come.Read More →
On Thursday 31 May the Beijing-based author Zhang Lijia will answer questions on political reform in China in an upcoming Hangout-on-air. Are we seeing merely window-dressing, or are there real options for change. Basis will be her opt-in in the New York Times, where she sounds rather pessimistic.Read More →