In Xinjiang, How Local Prejudices Hinder Economic Development
Memo #57 – According to Marxist theory, only a truly socialist society will produce equality at all levels and eliminate class struggle. Likewise, Chinese political leaders believe that only through socio-economic equality can China eliminate conflict and struggle between the majority and minorities, to solidify national unity. “Development” is thought to be crucial to achieve socio-economic equality, but ethnic prejudice is likely to fuel conflict.
Karmapa Controversy – Raid on a Tibetan Monastery in India
Memo #55 – There is media frenzy in India following a police raid on the temple residence of Ugyen Thinley Dorje (ཨོ་རྒྱན་འཕྲིན་ལས་རྡོ་རྗེ།) where $1.6 million in different foreign currencies – some in Chinese yuan – was found. Ugyen Dorje is the 17th Karmapa (ཀརྨ་པ་) and is second only to the Dalai Lama in Tibetan Buddhism.
Hu Jintao’s Promise to Business: Can He Deliver?
Memo #53 – Two weeks ago, fourteen of the world’s most powerful CEOs converged on Washington for a brief 45 minute opportunity to engage Chinese President Hu Jintao (Google was noticeably absent). Of the many issues raised, one has been China’s renewed commitment to the protection of U.S. corporate interests in the Mainland. President Hu voiced support for reform, opening-up, transparency, as well as a fair and just investment climate. Hu then highlighted intellectual property (IP) and government procurement as areas where foreign firms have equal treatment to their Chinese counterparts.
Chinese Consumers: The Driving Force of Global Change
Memo #49 – Thanks to President Hu Jintao’s visit to Washington this week, US-China trade tensions are again front page news. There are bright spots: Seattle-based Starbucks recently announced plans to triple its number of stores in China to 1,500 by 2015. And the chain plans to use its outlets there to push more consumer products, including instant coffee.
Why Scholar-Writers Yang Jiang and Qian Zhongshu are Important to China Today
Memo #48 – In this set of interviews, Dr. Wendy Larson (Oregon), Dr. Theodore Huters (UCLA), and Dr. Christopher Rea (UBC) talk about two of modern China’s most famous scholar-writers, Qian Zhongshu (錢鍾書) (1910-1998) and Yang Jiang (楊絳) (b. 1911). They discuss why this husband-wife pair and their writings are important to China today.
New Taxation Rules: First Steps to Building the Great Mall of China?
Memo #46 – In September 2010, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) began strictly enforcing a new taxation rule. The new rule (Notice No.54 of 2010) claims to standardize and bring transparency to PRC borders. It will tax luxury items and electronics, limit quantities of popular household items purchased abroad, and, in effect, encourage middle and upper class Chinese citizens to shop at home.
Canada and China: Facilitating Transactions or Building a Strategic Understanding?
Memo #45 – Forty years of diplomatic relations between Canada and China were celebrated in October 2010 at multiple events held in both countries. In Ottawa, Prime Minister Harper proclaimed that the bilateral strategic partnership “has never been more promising.” In Beijing, Canada’s Ambassador stated that “if ever there was a golden age in Sino-Canadian relations it is now.”
Conditions in Tibet Since 2008
Memo #41 – In this interview, Dr. Robert J. Barnett, Director of the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University, assesses the importance of the International Association of Tibetan Studies (IATS). The IATS brings together international scholars and scholars from within Tibet and China. In August 2010, Dr. Barnett was a participant of the 12th Seminar of the IATS, which was hosted by the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia.
Interview with Dai Qing, the Environmental Activist, Investigative Journalist, and Writer
Memo #39 – The indomitable Dai Qing (戴晴) has chosen to demand answers to uncomfortable questions and bring to account a system that dreams big dreams but harms those it is meant to serve. Ms. Dai is perhaps best known for her active opposition to the Three Gorges Dam project, which led to her imprisonment for ten months in 1989. Her new work with her long-term partners Toronto-based environmental NGO Probe International is an oral history of Beijing residents’ responses to their city’s water crisis. Rapid development has drastically reduced the capital’s water supply and sparked a massive new project to divert (highly polluted) water from the south to the north. This project would displace several hundred thousand people en route and promises to be at least as problematic and disruptive as the Three Gorges Dam.
The Chinese People at War
Memo #36 – Dr. Diana Lary, Professor Emerita of History at the University of British Columbia speaks about her new book, the “The Chinese People at War”. The book looks at the impact of the War of Resistance Against Japan (抗日戰爭) (1937-1945) on the people of China. It was a period of extreme social upheaval. Society was torn apart in fighting, bombing, and occupation. Tens of millions of people were made refugees; people were displaced by fighting and by scorched earth actions. Families were separated and divided, not only by the conflict but by decisions on whether or not to accept the invaders and stay in the occupied areas.