Jiang oversaw China’s reemergence on the global stage, and sustained growth at home. But his policies also set the scene for excess and the growth of President Xi Jinping.
Teresa Wright, California State University, Long Beach
Comparisons have been made to the 1989 demonstrations that led to the Tiananmen Square massacre. An expert on Chinese protests explains why that is half right.
A scholar of philosophy and foreign policy explains why Cardinal Zen poses a threat to the Chinese Communist Party as a competing source of political authority.
As it celebrates it’s 100th birthday, the Chinese ruling party’s latest programme of education aims to harness the power of youth in its own interests.
The cherished legal rights that Beijing seeks to suppress in Hong Kong were established, in part, by Vietnamese asylum-seekers who fought for their freedom in court in the 1980s.
Hong Kong protesters deeply identify with nature, a reference to the current environmental crisis but also a fluid conception of collective action that is inscribed in ancient Chinese tradition.
While the political and long-term consequences of the protests are still impossible to know, Hong Kong is already experiencing some short-term economic impacts.
The Chinese government tightly controls all mention of the 1989 pro-democracy protests, but in recent days, it’s been very open with its justifications for the brutal crackdown.
Today’s urban public spaces tend to represent governments and cities rather than people and citizens. Architects and urban designers should contribute to shaping spaces for freedom and interaction.
For China, national amnesia has become a ‘state-sponsored sport’. Memories of events deemed sensitive by the state are not just forgotten, they are winnowed out and selectively deleted.