Porcelain ‘Laughing Buddha’ image, China, 17th-18th century.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The ‘Laughing Buddha’ shows how people have adapted Buddhism to different cultural and historical contexts.
Not boxing clever? Is there a better solution to China’s aging population?
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By 2100, China’s population will likely be half its current size. It will also be a lot older, with fewer working-age men and women.
All seeing, all powerful, all Xi.
Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images)
The all-important third plenum of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was heavy on intensions, but light on detail.
Kanpai! Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is hoping the U.S.-Japan relationship doesn’t lose its fizz.
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Meetings with Joe Biden and Donald Trump suggest Japan is hedging over the outcome of the US election.
South Korea’s pesident faces political woes.
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The South Korean leader seeks to strengthen ties with the US and Japan. But he might be hamstrung by domestic concerns.
Hong Kong is increasingly becoming a security state.
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In the space of two decades, Hong Kong’s liberal constitutional order has been transformed into a security regime that grants citizens few civil liberties
Old friends, new allies: Japan aims to shore up its security in Asia through its own military and a series of regional alliances.
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The invasion of Ukraine and increased Chinese pressure on Taiwan have prompted Japan to abandon decades of pacifism.
South Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and Fumio Kishida of Japan.
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Critics of the South Korean leader accuse him of eroding democracy at home while embracing a historic enemy on the international stage.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on a screen at the Seoul Railway Station on Aug. 24, 2023.
Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
Amid signs of growing domestic disquiet over his repressive regime, North Korea’s leader is trying to deflect scrutiny by upping war rhetoric.
Posters of presidential candidate William Lai and his running mate, Hsiao Bi-khim.
Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images)
A candidate from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party looks set to win the presidency despite Beijing’s pressure and rhetoric.
US President Joe Biden, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol hold a side meeting at the G7 summit.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
President Biden has an opportunity to show himself as a global leader who can bring historically antagonistic U.S. allies together.
Too few children means China needs to look outside the country for new blood.
Zhang Peng/LightRocket via Getty Images
Chinese politicians have looked toward policies to encourage couples to have more children to offset population decline. It hasn’t worked.
An aging population, a tired economy.
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South Korea’s fertility rate fell below the level needed to sustain a population in the mid-1980s – and it never recovered. It is now below one child per woman during her reproductive years.
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Our research found a multi-million pound scheme to boost maths learning was under-used and had minimal impact on practice.
Rainbow ears, but is Japan’s parliament listening?
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Japan has a rich queer history and is seeing societal changes in favor of greater LGBTQ recognition. That said, national politicians have yet to catch up.
Bipartisan committee with Beijing in its sights.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
US lawmakers heard testimony that suggests the era of engagement with China is over. Rather, policy may be hardening.
Will an aging, shrinking population put the brakes on economic growth?
CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images.
For the first time since 1961, deaths in China have outpaced births – and unlike that one-year decline, the downward trend is likely to continue.
Biden and Kishida: A relationship far from flagging.
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The meeting is the first between the leaders since Japan outlined a more assertive defense strategy in December.
Kim Jong Un remains focused on reunifying Korea – on his terms.
Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images
A recent barrage of nuclear-capable missile tests and a change in law setting out the conditions for a nuclear strike show that North Korea’s leader is intent on reunification on his terms.
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida greets US Vice President Kamala in Tokyo. Washington is focused on moving close to partners it can trust.
Photo by David Mareuil/Pool/Getty Images
Africa must focus on building strong alliances with advanced economies to mitigate the steps being taken by the European Union and US.