Category: The Economist

MOST EMERGING economies struggle to live within their means. China, however, struggles to live up to them. Even in the best of times, the combined spending of its households, firms and government is not enough to buy all that it can produce, leaving a surplus that must be exported. The country has run a trade surplus for 34 of the past 40 years. And these are not the best of times. China is enduring its longest spell of deflation since the Asian crisis over a quarter of a century ago.…

MOST EMERGING economies struggle to live within their means; China struggles to live up to them. Even in the best of times, the combined spending of its households, firms and government is not enough to buy all that it can produce, leaving a surplus that must be exported: the country has run a trade surplus for 34 of the past 40 years. And these are not the best of times. China is enduring its longest spell of deflation since the Asian crisis over a quarter-century ago. An epic stockmarket rout…

IS HOPE A dangerous thing in China? Theatregoers in Beijing have been mulling that question, with two new stage adaptations exploring themes of injustice, freedom and renewal. “The Shawshank Redemption” (pictured) is set in mid-20th-century America, while “Les Misérables” takes place in 19th-century France. Both feature characters who are unjustly imprisoned and suffer under cruel jailers and corrupt systems. The plays, performed in Mandarin, might seem a bit too on the nose for Chinese censors. After all, the Communist Party has been known to play the role of cruel jailer…

THERE ARE lots of upsides to making bikes for kids, explains Mr Li, a young entrepreneur from Pingxiang, a scruffy county in northern China that has become a centre for the children’s bicycle industry. For one thing, they are easy to build, he says, nodding at a toddler-sized machine parked near his desk, held upright by tiny stabilisers. Teenage mountain bikes are a bit fiddly, but smaller ones “need no special machinery at all”. Also, he grins, children grow. Sell a three-year-old their first ride and two years later their…

Six years ago a film titled “Operation Red Sea” became a huge hit in China. It was touted as the first in Chinese cinemas to focus on the exploits of the modern Chinese navy, which in recent years has overtaken America’s to become the world’s largest. The plot revolves around a naval special-forces operation to rescue a Chinese citizen taken hostage by terrorists in a Yemen-like Red Sea country. “This mission is a message to all terrorists that you will never harm a Chinese citizen,” intones the commanding officer. The…

HONG KONG has a constitutional duty to implement its own national-security law, as well as a practical need to do so. So said John Lee, the city’s chief executive, on January 30th, as he unveiled new legislation aimed at thwarting subversive types. The Economist

HONG KONG has a constitutional duty to implement its own national-security law, as well as a practical need to do so. So said John Lee, the territory’s chief executive, on January 30th, as he unveiled new legislation aimed at thwarting subversive types. Mr Lee was half right. Hong Kong is indeed required to pass national-security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law, the mini-constitution enacted after Britain handed back the city to China in 1997. Its practical need is debatable. Hong Kongers, at least, seem to prefer living without…

The new year has brought no respite from tensions over Taiwan. On January 13th its people elected an independence-minded candidate, William Lai Ching-te, as their next president, infuriating China. Two days later it was China’s turn, with its officials announcing that little Nauru was cutting ties with Taiwan in favour of China. On January 24th the us navy sent a warship through the Taiwan Strait, which China described as a “provocative act”. Amid this drama a new diplomatic battle is intensifying that risks setting the stage for war. For over…

Once every five years or so, each UN member state has to have its human-rights record examined under a so-called Universal Procedural Review (UPR) overseen by the body’s Human Rights Council. Every country in the UN may pose questions and recommendations to the state under review. This week China had its turn. The event merely illustrated its success in creating a split between most countries in the global south, which tended to flatter China with friendly questions, and Western democracies, which castigated it. Rights campaigners had hoped the UPR would…

Listen to this story.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android. Your browser does not support the <audio> element. Vegan restaurants do not usually serve beef. But 2084, a plant-based joint in Hong Kong’s New Territories, hopes doing so will help it attract more customers this year. “All the expats are gone,” says Naz Farah, the owner. “Now a lot of mainland Chinese are coming and they don’t like vegan food.” Across the road a once-popular Western takeaway has already closed. A bustling Chinese restaurant stands in its stead.…