Spawn of China’s One-Child Policy
Memo #347 By: Christopher Rea – chris.rea [at] ubc.ca China’s One-Child Policy became, on October 29th, a two-child policy. The Policy was originally enacted to slow population growth, conserve resources, and ameliorate poverty; its actual results since 1979 have been well documented. One of its many unexpected effects was to inspire Mo Yan’s 2009 novel […]
Urbanized Interfaces: Chinese Visual Arts in the Age of Urbanization
Memo #346 By: Meiqin Wang – meiqin.wang [at] csun.edu and Minna Valjakka – minna.valjakka [at] helsinki.fi Interconnectedness between visual arts and urbanization defines the recent development of Chinese visual arts China’s massive urbanization in the past two decades has had a far-reaching impact on the practices of visual arts. These repercussions are evident in agencies, subject matters, themes, styles of […]
Gender question: Toward an egalitarian society in urban China?
Memo #344 By: Julie Remoiville – julie.remoiville [at] gmail.com The “International conference on gender equality and institutional social responsibility,” organized by UN Women, takes place October 22-23, 2015 in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province in China, and the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Considering the substantial efforts invested by the Chinese state to improve […]
Has Chinese foreign policy in Southeast Asia entered a bolder and more assertive phase?
Memo #342 By Kai Ostwald – kai.ostwald [at] ubc.ca With the major exception of the South China Sea, China’s political presence in Southeast Asia has been low profile in recent decades, if only because it has chosen to project power indirectly through economic might and behind closed doors. Its response to recent events in Malaysia, […]
Red Star Over Asia: Taking Stock of Xiaomi’s Meteoric Ascent
Memo #339 By Grégoire-François Legault – gregoire.legault [at] alumni.ubc.ca Increasingly, tech products will be “designed in China” as opposed to “made in China.” Xiaomi 小米, a Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer, represents a new era of innovation in China that will increasingly enable indigenous tech companies to compete head-to-head against established firms from the most advanced […]
Amidst its Tragedy, Nepal’s Strategic Dilemma
Memo #333 By Tsering Shakya – tsering.shakya [at] ubc.ca Although previous studies have argued that international/donor agenda drives disaster risk reduction (DRR) in Nepal and strengthens the role of NGOs vis-à-vis the government, there are clearly differences in international influences by country, a fact made notable in the cases of China and India. Nepal’s fear […]
A New Look at Chinese Liberalism among Elite Students
Memo #330 By Fen Lin – fenlin [at] cityu.edu.hk Peking University, the traditional locus of Chinese liberalism, seems to be yielding this role to China’s economics and financial universities. A 2012 survey, conducted among six elite universities in Beijing and Shanghai, revealed that only 14% of Peking University students described themselves as liberal reformists, the lowest […]
The Future of the Renminbi and Next Steps for Canada
Memo #328 By Grégoire-François Legault – gregoire.legault [at] alumni.ubc.ca Though internationalization of the renminbi (RMB, the “redback”) is far from complete, it is well under way. In 2014, China signed eight new agreements to establish RMB hubs around the globe, and the redback was used to settle almost 25% of payments across China’s borders. The […]
Mongolia – From Sino-Russian Buffer to Conversion Zone
Memo #318 By Mendee Jargalsaikhan – mendee [at] alumni.ubc.ca Last autumn, Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin made separate visits to Mongolia, met for a tri-lateral (Russia-China-Mongolia) summit in the Tajikistan capital of Dushanbe during the leadership summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and dispatched their vice-foreign ministers for a working-level meeting in preparation for next […]
‘One Drug with Multiple Names’: Broad Powers and Product Differentiation in the Chinese Pharmaceutical Industry
Memo #315 By Yifan Wang – yfwang [at] essex.ac.uk Drug regulations in China stipulate that chemical and generic names of drugs are determined by the Chinese Pharmacopeia (Ch.P) and the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), while brand names are chosen by pharmaceutical companies, as long as they are recorded with the SFDA. Some Chinese […]