Year: 2024

IN LATE SEPTEMBER workers erected a new structure in Tiananmen Square. It is 18 metres tall, resembling a basket of fruit and flowers. Similar floral-themed displays have sprung up across Beijing in celebration of the 75th anniversary on October 1st of the founding of Communist China. This one bulges with giant peaches and gourds—symbols of long life. But China’s leader, Xi Jinping, worries about how long-lived his party’s rule will be. The Economist

THE LAST time China fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) out over the Pacific, Xi Jinping was 27 years old, China’s GDP per head was less than $200 and America had just lifted an arms embargo on the country. So the missile that rose from Hainan island on September 25th—carrying a dummy warhead and plunging into the waters around French Polynesia, some 12,000km to the east—was a mark of China’s soaring nuclear ambitions. The Economist

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is no ordinary collection of policy wonks. In China’s political hierarchy it has the status of a government ministry. It has thousands of staff, some of whom give briefings to the ruling Politburo. Among “think-tanks with Chinese characteristics” that China’s leader, Xi Jinping, says he wants to foster, it stands at the apex. But proximity to power offers no protection to its researchers. Mr Xi’s henchmen are turning up the heat on those who dare to think independently. The Economist

A tragedy like this “could have happened in any country”, said China’s foreign-ministry spokesman on September 19th. A day earlier, in the southern city of Shenzhen, a Chinese man had stabbed a ten-year-old Japanese boy while he was on his way to school. The boy later died from his injuries. The assailant was arrested at the scene. The authorities have released no information about his motives. The Economist

THE TERM “three generations in tobacco” has become a common shorthand in China. On social media it means a privileged elite whose members hand out coveted jobs (such as managerial roles in the state’s tobacco monopoly) to their own types. Earlier this year a microblogger with more than 850,000 followers invoked the meme. “The result of this hereditary system is a closed circle of power that completely cuts off opportunities for people at the bottom to rise up!” he wrote. Hundreds expressed agreement. “The ruling class is solidifying,” one replied.…

David Lin had been trying to help an underground Christian group build a church in Beijing when he was detained by the Chinese government in 2006. The ruling Communist Party does not look kindly on spiritual activities it does not control. So Mr Lin, an American pastor, was charged with contract fraud, a common pretext for jailing religious leaders. As expected, he was convicted and condemned to life in prison. Though his sentence was later reduced, he was not due to be released until 2029. The Economist

CHINA’S PENSIONS are underfunded and its population is getting older. So the government’s recent decision to raise the retirement age for state pensions seemed overdue. But it may create other problems, most notably in the field of child care. And these challenges may lead young people to have fewer babies, exacerbating the country’s demographic crisis. The Economist

Shanghai was hit by Typhoon Bebinca on September 16th. Hundreds of thousands of residents were evacuated in what state media called the strongest storm to rip through the financial hub in 75 years. Fierce winds uprooted trees and toppled billboards. The weather also disrupted the three-day mid-autumn festival. Officials had hoped to see a big increase in consumption during the holiday. Faced with a sluggish economy, the government is encouraging people to spend more. But Shanghai’s residents were stuck inside during much of the festival. Even elsewhere, consumer demand has…

CHINA’S LEADER, Xi Jinping, boasts that his political system has a matchless ability to get difficult things done. “For anything that benefits the party and the people,” he has said, “we must act boldly and decisively.” Yet it was not until September 13th, after years of indecision, that China announced the first raising of its retirement age since the 1950s. From among the world’s lowest, it will begin to creep closer to rich-world norms. The Economist

LAST YEAR engineers at China’s Shidaowan nuclear power plant turned off the pumps pushing coolant around the reactor core. Then they waited. At a typical power plant, this would have been dangerous. Nuclear reactions create lots of heat, which is normally transferred by a coolant and then converted into electricity. With the pumps off, the nuclear fuel might have continued to heat up until it liquefied and damaged the reactor. Such “meltdowns” can release radiation. That is what happened in 2011 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan after…