A senior Chinese diplomat involved in the recent violence against pro-democracy protesters in Manchester has suggested Chinese students in Britain should “resist distorting and discrediting” China’s Covid policies. The comments by China’s consul general in Manchester, Zheng Xiyuan, at a symposium to discuss the work of international students were said by Lyndon Lee, 23, a second-year law student at the University of York, to appear threatening. Zheng was filmed in October pulling the hair of a protester, Bob Chan, who had been dragged into the grounds of the consulate where…
Tag: Education
Maths teacher’s breathtaking claim about death rate in China was right | Letter
The maths teacher who said “Every time I breathe, somebody dies in China” is correct (Letters, 4 October). The death rate in China is over seven per thousand people, and with a population of more than 1.4 billion people this means more than 9.8 million people die in China each year. The normal breathing rate for adults is around 16 breaths per minute. This leads to 16 x 60 x 24 x 365.25 = 8,415,360 breaths per year. Even taking a higher rate of 18 breaths per minute leads to…
Beijing-backed Chinese language schools in UK to be replaced with teachers from Taiwan
A group of cross-party MPs is in talks with Taiwan to provide Mandarin teachers to the UK as the government seeks to phase out Chinese state-linked Confucius Institutes, the Observer has learned. There are currently 30 branches of the Confucius Institute operating across the UK. Although controversies have existed for many years, they have continued to teach Britons Chinese language, culture and business etiquette. These schools are effectively joint ventures between a host university in Britain, a partner university in China, and the Chinese International Education Foundation (CIEF), a Beijing-based…
Hong Kong journalist union chair arrested weeks before Oxford fellowship
The head of Hong Kong’s journalist union has been arrested, weeks before he was due to leave for an overseas fellowship at Oxford University. Ronson Chan, the chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), was arrested for allegedly obstructing a police officer and disorderly conduct in a public place. Channel C, the online news outlet Chan works for, said the veteran reporter was taken away by officers who asked to check his identity while he was reporting on a meeting of public housing flat-owners on Wednesday. Police said a…
Why Did China Crack Down on Its Ed-Tech Industry?
The Chinese regulatory authorities have been keeping investors on the edge of their seats this year. Domestic fintech firms were among the first targeted by Beijing. Next came ride-hailing and food delivery. Now ed-tech giants have rounded out the lineup. To understand the latest development, it is crucial to unpack the chronic love-hate relationship between Chinese parents and China’s private tutoring industry, says Zak Dychtwald, founder of the advisory firm Young China Group. “There’s enormous pressure on parents and children to give their kids a head start and to get them into…