Politics and poetry are two fields that could hardly be more different. But Eva van de Rakt knows how to combine the two. The head of the EU and North America department at the Heinrich Böll Foundation published her German-Czech poetry collection “Unter Oberflächen / Pod povrchy” (“under surfaces”) in 2019. The idea that this […]
There are many influencers who present rural China as an idyllic place. But Rose Mary Adikin – or Rose, as she is simply known – is a unique figure in the People’s Republic’s lucrative streaming and vlogging sphere simply because of her origins. The 30-year-old from Uganda has settled in a village in the eastern […]
Uwe Kraeuter is the “Marco Polo of our time,” one friend said. He has lived in China for almost 50 years, since 1974, when he was awarded the title of “Foreign Expert” towards the end of the infamous Cultural Revolution and two years before Mao Zedong’s death. He is also known as the German who […]
As a boy, Benjamin Creutzfeldt observed the Chinese and Japanese colleagues of his father. Although their languages were fundamentally different, they could communicate through characters. For a student who had struggled through years of Latin lessons, this radiated immense fascination. “When I then discovered a Chinese club at school, I seized the opportunity,” says Benjamin […]
As a “child from behind the Iron Curtain,” Marion Walsmann made it into European politics. The only Member of the European Parliament for Thuringia was involved in the first round table on reunification after the fall of the Berlin Wall. “That was pure democracy, without a safety-net and a double bottom,” says the CDU politician.The […]
Berlin didn’t play a decisive role in the musical education of Carmen Herold, co-founder of the Zhao Dai Club (招待会). Although some might assume otherwise at first glance, the daughter of a Chinese mother and a German father sees herself more connected to the traditional lines of the Frankfurt metropolitan area, where she grew up. […]
Dominik Hierlemann experienced first-hand what it means to opt for the EU in 2004. In the year that Poland became a member of the EU, the now 47-year-old lived and completed his doctorate there. Accession changed the country enormously: “Life in Poland was completely different back then. We in Western Europe often don’t understand how […]
When the Taiwanese media talk about “Princess Shin Kong,” they are not referring to a new Japanese anime series, but to Cynthia Wu, vice presidential candidate of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). Party leader Ko Wen-je nominated her at the end of November after failed negotiations on a joint presidential candidacy with Hou Yu-ih from […]
It is the last plenary week of the EU Parliament in 2023 and Siegfried Mureșan has a busy schedule: in Parliament, he is debating the controversial Spanish amnesty law and the criticized Slovakian judicial reform. He is watching as the EU summit discusses the accession negotiations between Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. And then […]
Flowing hair, deep voice, guitar solos – these are the trademarks of Wu Bai (伍佰 – Wǔ bǎi), a key figure in Taiwanese rock music for over 30 years. With his band China Blue, he fills the biggest concert halls throughout East and Southeast Asia. Demand for concert tickets for his and other Taiwanese bands […]