This week, China’s new Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s first official trip will take him to various African countries. The former ambassador of the People’s Republic to the United States is sending a clear signal: The continent remains a top priority for the People’s Republic on its way to becoming a global power. Egypt, in particular, […]
The navy of the People’s Liberation Army is now larger than that of the United States. Particularly in the Indo-Pacific, China is continuously expanding its influence, even with high-tech weaponry that rivals US military technology. The USA, on the other hand, relies increasingly on military alliances in the region, especially with South Korea, Japan and […]
In mid-November, a video of a woman from Dalian went viral on Chinese social media channels. At the breakfast table, the 36-year-old explains that she would prefer a “high-quality single life” to a “low-quality” marriage in any case. “I think women nowadays don’t live in a time where they have to depend on men in […]
In recent years, Chinese nationalists repeatedly called for Christmas boycotts. At Nanjing University in 2018, for example, students were urged to stop celebrating “foreign festivals.” “We celebrate only Chinese holidays,” was the message from the administration. The governments of several cities in Hebei, Guizhou and Guangxi provinces also banned Christmas decorations from public spaces in […]
India and China share a roughly 3,500-kilometer-long border. Since the Sino-Indian border war of 1962, its partly unclear location has repeatedly caused conflicts. This month, border troops from both countries clashed in the Arunachal Pradesh region. Fortunately, there were no casualties – at an altitude of 5,000 meters, the soldiers of the two nuclear powers […]
Xi Jinping paid his respects to his late predecessor Jiang Zemin at the Great Hall of the People on Tuesday. “A great Marxist and leader” he had been, who maneuvered the country through times of “external pressures and internal difficulties,” Xi said in his speech. Xi even indirectly mentioned the 1989 Tiananmen protests, a taboo […]
In China’s social media world, Jiang Zemin has gained cult status in recent years. Thousands of stickers, GIFs, and memes featuring the former head of state circulate on WeChat and other channels: Jiang yawning, grinning mischievously, playing the flute like a pied piper, or detonating a nuclear bomb with a mere point of his finger. […]
How can one voice one’s anger in a highly censored environment? What form of protest can one choose in a world where even city names are erased from the Internet and historical events from the collective memory? The people currently taking to the streets in China have found a weapon that is as simple as […]
While images of the protests in China are a huge topic in German media, the Chinese government attempts to suppress them as best it can. So far, no report or commentary in the state media classifies the events according to the party line.The so-called Wolf Warriors – Chinese diplomats who see protests outside China as […]
I live very close to Wulumuqi Road (Urumqi Road – translator’s note). On WeChat, I saw that many of my friends went out on the street. I did not want to participate in any “fun” or anything like that. I went there because I was worried. I wanted to help in case something went wrong.Everything […]