Former president Jiang Zemin was not only known for his relaxed way of dealing with foreign leaders, he is also fondly remembered by many of the Chinese who met him, recalls author and journalist Zhang Lijia at China File. “Now he is gone. Amid economic downturn and political repression, the Chinese public are remembering his positive side, his warmth and color, and his many talents, such as singing. Nostalgia, like old wine, tastes better as time goes by,” Zhang Lijia writes.Read More →

Many stories emerged about former president Jiang Zemin after he passed away last week. But the way he dealt with Falun Gong, a mostly forgotten uprising against China’s leadership, has been left out in most reports, says journalist Ian Johnson who focused in his writings on this touchy part of China’s history, he writes at China File.Read More →

Leading economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®, discusses how China’s leadership balances between control and economic growth, looking at the zero-Covid policies and the property crisis at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and the Harvard Kennedy School Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia.Read More →

When even an acknowledged China bull like strategic analyst Shaun Rein turns negative on its short-term economic development, things do not look well for the middle kingdom. “Consumer confidence has brutally collapsed and I think investors need to think twice or maybe even three or four times before investing in China right now,” says Rein in the Economic Times.Read More →

China’s economy is not doing as well as it used to do, but hiding the financial data during the recent Party Congress was a bad move, says financial analyst Victor Shih, author of Coalitions of the Weak,  at ANI. “The very likely reason the numbers were delayed was the State Council leaders were afraid the numbers would detract from the triumphant tone of the party congress,” he added.Read More →

Many analysts took a negative view of Xi Jinping’s more centralized grip on China’s policies, but leading economist Arthur Kroeber looks at it differently, at least in the short run. Major problems like the zero-covid approach and the downturn of property have already benefited from Xi’s more coherent approach, Kroeber says at the Starr forum at MIT.Read More →

Their annual results reveal that food suppliers booked high margins during COVID lockdowns. Pang Pang Xiang (China) Company Ltd was retained by the Shanghai government earlier this year to supply food, and citizens are now shocked by their profits. However, they won’t be able to continue, says Shanghai-based retail analyst Ben Cavender to Reuters.Read More →

The nomination of Li Qiang as the number two of China’s Communist Party was one of few surprises at the 20th CCP conference last week, says political analyst Victor Shih at CNN. Li Qiang, Shanghai’s party chief, was responsible for the city’s much-discussed two-month corona lock-down.Read More →