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 →

Author and journalist Zhang Lijia answers questions from viewers at Sky News on the protests against China’s zero-covid policies and the Tiananmen uprising in 1989 when she organized protests in Nanjing. Also joined by political scientist and economist Francis Fukuyama.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 →

China’s annual Single’s Day has been in 2022 relatively lackluster, and Alibaba and JD.com even did not release figures this year. Marketing guru Ashley Dudarenok presents for brands new ways to measure their performance. Four metrics she explains at her vlog for brands to prepare for the next shopping events in this fast-changing consumer market.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 →

President Xi Jinping pushes the concept of “common prosperity to diminish China’s grasp between the poor and rich. China’s 49 richest tycoons have donated US$14 billion for that purpose, according to the Hurun China Philanthropy List 2022. “The top three on the list each donated around 15 billion yuan and came from internet companies,” says Hurun’s chief researcher Rupert Hoogewerf in AsiaOne.Read More →