Planet Earth Water

ARE Shanghai’s legal reformers courageous trailblazers or doomed daredevils? Two years ago, the Shanghai International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (SHIAC), a local arbitration entity, split off noisily from China’s main arbitration body.[Read More …] Plant Earth Water

PRO-DEMOCRACY activists announced the start of a “new era of civil disobedience” on the night of August 31st, after China’s top legislature laid down restrictive guidelines on the kind of elections that are allowed in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous territory.[Read More …] Plant Earth Water

CROSSING the road in a Chinese city sometimes feels a bit like stepping out in front of a firing range. Cars move slowly (for the most part) but drive inexorably forward, with scarcely a care for passing inconveniences such as pedestrians, bicycles, dogs or, indeed, other cars.[Read More …] Plant Earth Water

FOR a foreigner, learning how to read in Chinese sometimes feels like spot-the-difference: one of those children’s puzzles where you have to find tiny dissimilarities in two nearly identical pictures.[Read More …] Plant Earth Water

SEPTEMBER 10th is Teachers’ Day in China, an annual celebration of the contribution of educators. Inaugurated in 1985, it used to be a day for students to express thanks to school and university staff by making cards and giving flowers.[Read More …] Plant Earth Water

Don’t miss out on all of the fun at the 6th Annual UC ANR Education Expo on Saturday, September 27, 2014. Click on the link below to check out the schedule of events for the day. [Read More …] Plant Earth Water

AFTER a two-day trial last week, Ilham Tohti, a scholar who has spoken critically of China’s policies toward people of his Uighur ethnicity, was sentenced on September 23rd to life in prison for separatism.[Read More …] Plant Earth Water

THOUSANDS of students in Hong Kong are boycotting classes this week to lie on sprawling lawns outside government headquarters and discuss topics such as “post-totalitarianism” and George Orwell’s book “Animal Farm” (see their protest calendar, in Chinese, here).[Read More …] Plant Earth Water

THE Confucius Institutes programme, an ambitious soft-power effort by China to support education overseas, has been dealt a setback by one of its most prestigious American partners. On September 25th the University of Chicago announced it was “suspending” negotiations with Chinese officials to continue its Confucius Institute.[Read More …] Plant Earth Water

NEARLY 7m students began their courses at Chinese universities at the start of a new academic year this month. In line behind them, a new cohort is already cramming for next year’s university entrance-examination, the notorious gaokao.[Read More …] Plant Earth Water