Category: The Economist

It is not known whether Xi Jinping has ever strapped planks to his feet and raced down a mountain at speed. But at a banquet welcoming dignitaries to the opening of the Asian Winter Games in the north-eastern city of Harbin on February 7th, China’s leader made clear that he hoped more compatriots would soon be shredding the gnar. “Ice and snow are as valuable as gold and silver,” he said, suggesting that frozen water could be an engine for Harbin’s “high-quality development”. Plastered across national media, his comments are…

China Labour Watch (clw), an ngo based in New York City, has investigated labour abuses in Chinese supply chains for 20 years. It is small, with a staff of seven and a budget of $800,000 a year. Now it is on the verge of collapse. Some 90% of its funds come from the American government. Since Donald Trump ordered a freeze on foreign aid in January, clw has had to halt most of its work. Li Qiang, its founder, says staff will have to be laid off. It is all…

More than six years after Donald Trump, then in his first term as America’s president, mounted a trade war against China, the guns are firing again. On February 4th Mr Trump imposed an additional 10% tariff on imports from China, which responded with a slew of its own on various American products. Canada and Mexico, which had also been threatened with tariffs, gained at least a temporary reprieve. But even if China eventually gets a similar concession, the drugs that Mr Trump cites as the reason for his latest actions—synthetic…

ANAESTHETICS THAT don’t put patients to sleep. Laxatives that fail to clear bowels. Blood-pressure medication with little effect. These are some of the problems that doctors have encountered in China’s public hospitals. They have been speaking out in recent weeks, questioning the quality of the country’s drugs and urging reform of the government’s procurement programme. The public has chimed in, too. “Medicine that doesn’t work, no matter how cheap, is useless,” wrote one user of Weibo, a social-media platform. The Economist

OVER THE past decade, as Chinese governance has become more politicised and a fear of punishment has taken hold, local officials have changed the way they do things. Many are holding more meetings and issuing more documents—but much of this is just show, according to Hanyu Zhao, a scholar who tracks the bureaucracy. The burden of looking busy is often passed down to lower-level cadres, some of whom, at least, are getting creative. In one example highlighted by Ms Zhao, a group of them were required to hold two (unnecessary)…

EVEN AS AMERICA’S relationship with China enters a new, less predictable era, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping see the value in talking. On January 17th the leaders had a “very good” phone call, wrote Mr Trump on social media. Chinese diplomats said the two agreed to “keep in regular touch on major issues” and committed to work together for “world peace”. The Economist

YOUNG PEOPLE have always come to Ms Xia with questions about their relationships. Now they often ask the astrologer about their finances and job prospects, too. “People feel a sense of powerlessness,” says the 27-year-old from Changsha. She won’t give them definite answers about their future. But for 200 yuan ($27) per session, she will read their star signs and let them know when their luck might turn. The Economist

China’s announcement on January 17th that its economy had grown by an estimated 5% in 2024, right on target, was greeted with widespread disbelief on the country’s social media. “It feels unreal—everything around me seems so bleak,” wrote one netizen. “The folks at the statistics bureau worked hard,” said another. On Weibo, a microblogging platform, more than 240 comments were posted below state television’s summary of the GDP news. Only a handful remained visible, suggesting that most had failed to meet the account’s strict censorship standards. Amid high youth unemployment…

CHINA’S STATE media were not impressed by Donald Trump’s first days back in charge of the country’s great geopolitical rival. Xinhua, the official news service, grumbled that Mr Trump’s policies have become more “unilateral and hegemonic”. It cited a Cuban researcher who said the president’s abrupt reversal of his predecessor’s policies weakened America’s “national credibility and international trustworthiness”. A scholar from Mexico, quoted in the same article, complained of America’s rising expansionism. The Economist

ON DECEMBER 19th relatives of Xing Yanjun gathered in Beijing to mourn the businessman’s death eight months earlier, allegedly by hanging himself while in police custody. At the event a document was read out. It was a statement by the police that Xing’s case had been closed “in the absence of criminal facts”. The outrage his death has caused, however, will take far longer to dissipate. The Economist