Day: December 29, 2023

With donkeys stubbornly difficult to breed – the gestation period can last more than a year – any obstacle to China’s import of their skins is likely to pile on the pressure for the booming ejiao industry. Last month, the 55-member African Union endorsed a report calling for a 15-year ban on the slaughter of donkeys and export of their skins. 02:17 Traditional Chinese medicine-infused food becomes new fad among young Chinese Traditional Chinese medicine-infused food becomes new fad among young Chinese The report’s recommendations will be put to the…

But despite the best efforts of the teachers, “there are still a couple of students in each class whose families have refused to pay for next year’s insurance”, said Ma. The lack of enthusiasm for the scheme epitomises a falling participation rate in China’s state health insurance system, which is having its long-term financial health tested by a growing elderly population and shrinking workforce. While it covered over 96 per cent of China’s 1.4 billion population between 2019 and 2021, last year it fell by over 1 percentage point, meaning…

Ko Wen-je, the candidate and head of the smaller opposition Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), set off the debate during a campaign rally in Taipei on December 8, saying he strongly opposed teaching less classical Chinese literature in the island’s high schools. “I studied Tang dynasty poetry [618-907 AD],” Ko told the rally. He said there was nothing wrong with learning classical Chinese, especially when Chinese culture had existed for more than 2,000 years. “Taiwan and mainland China came from the same race, same history, religion and culture. Though their political…