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Story Archives of 'China'
Rebuilding "Happy Town"
By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, October 15, 2009.
We recently discovered a story by James Fallows who is in China as national correspondent for The Atlantic. His story involved an American family and a crumbling compound in the Yunnan village of Xizhou, which roughly translates to "happy town."
Brian and Jeanee Linden have operated a gallery that sells Asian art and antiques in Wisconsin for the past 14 years. Two years ago, they sold their house in Madison and moved with their two children to China, where they’ve finished restoring the derelict compound, and opened it up to the public for lodging and retreats.
Their effort illuminates a much larger debate about China’s paths to development. One model is based on conventional big-bus tourism, with restaurants and gift shops to serve the photo-snapping masses. The other path preserves and venerates traditional Chinese arts, architecture and creative energy.
We talk more about the latter approach with our guest Jeanee Linden, who runs the Linden Center in Xizhou.
The Atlantic: Village Dreamers
(Photo courtesy the Linden family)
Is China addressing its output of greenhouse gases?
By EarthTalk on Sunday, August 30, 2009.
EarthTalk®
From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine
Digital Dumping Grounds
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, June 23, 2009.
When containers of old computers first started arriving in West Africa a few years ago, the Ghanaian government welcomed them as donations. It soon became clear that as few as 50 percent of the donated computers were in working condition or showed any hope of being fixed.
Broken, discarded computers up in massive piles outside of Ghana’s most impoverished slums. There, children melt down toxic plastic casings to retrieve scraps of valuable metals inside. Emmy-award winning journalist Peter Klein and a team of grad students from the University of British Columbia traveled to Ghana, China, and India to find out where our used electronics end up. The result of their investigation airs this week on PBS's Frontline/World. Producer and correspondent Peter Klein joins us on the line to tell us more.
Watch the trailer for "Digital Dumping Ground":
(Photo by Vibek Raj Maurya via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Global Voices: Tiananmen Square, Nuclear Testing
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, June 2, 2009.Twenty years ago this week, thousands of Chinese students crowded into Tiananmen Square, demanding democracy and an end to corruption. The Chinese army opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds, possibly thousands of unarmed civilians.
Images of the massacre stunned the world, but anyone browsing the web from China today wouldn't know it. Searching for the words "Tiananmen Square" yields the message "this page cannot be displayed." But that doesn't mean that bloggers in nearby Hong Kong aren't paying attention.
Deborah Dilley is a writer and editor for Global Voices Online, which tracks conversations taking place on blogs around the world. She gave us an update on how the rest of Asia is commemorating the anniversary, as well as other stories covered in the international blogosphere.
Stories Discussed in Today's Roundup:
Hong Kong: SC group censored June 4th special feature
China and Hong Kong: June 4th protest T-shirt design
Japan: Are You Surprised that North Korea conducted another nuclear test?
(Photo by Marc oh! via Flickr/Creative Commons)
China's Empty Nest
By Millicent Scott on Tuesday, March 24, 2009.Landmarks like Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building visually articulated New York City’s rapid ascent as a premier cultural and economic powerhouse in the 20th century. What happened in the Big Apple, Vanity Fair has pointed out, is not unlike the urbanization of 21st-century Beijing. Since 2001, China has commissioned renowned architects to craft a similar post-modern identity.
Chinese Sports Camp
By Heidi Chang on Tuesday, March 10, 2009.
Interest in learning about Chinese language and culture has risen dramatically here in the US. So why not make it fun? The Confucius Institute at the University of Hawaii has created the first ever Chinese-language immersion sports camp. They’re incorporating learning with stimulating activities like ping pong and martial arts.
China, The US and a Changing Economic Relationship
By Jon Greenberg on Thursday, February 19, 2009.Experts predict that China may overtake the US as the world’s largest economy sometime in the next several decades. The massive growth of China’s economy has been unprecedented but how may this growth affect relations with the US? We look at economic relations between the two countries and see how the growth of the Chinese economy may affect the US.
Guests
- Chris Reardon, China specialist and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of New Hampshire
- Yasheng Huang, associate professor of political economy and international management at MIT's Sloan School of Management
China, After the Floods
By Elise Potaka on Wednesday, February 18, 2009.
In China, decisions about economic development and infrastructure projects are generally handed down from above. Affected communities rarely have any meaningful say in the process, and are left to adapt to the often adverse social and environmental effects as best as they can. But, as Living on Earth reporter Elise Potaka discovered, in southwest Yunnan Province, at least one community is forging a new path.
Global Voices: Japanese Media, Ghana's Election, Chinese Protesters, Egypt's Wikipedia
By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, December 10, 2008.In case you haven’t heard, things aren’t going well for the American newspaper industry. The past few weeks have brought a lot of bad news - the Tribune company filed for bankruptcy and The New York Times is looking to mortgage its swanky new building.
With some major newspapers up for sale, journalists who haven’t been laid off yet are just waiting for the shoe to drop. Companies are caught in the perfect storm of a horrible economy and a media environment that changed so quickly with the Internet, nobody knew exactly how to adapt.
These issues aren’t unique to American companies, though. Newspapers and magazines in Japan are facing a similar crisis as circulation drops. The growth of online journalism there is leading to ethical issues, too.
Deborah Dilley is here to explain. She’s a writer and editor for Global Voices Online, a website that keeps track of what people are talking about on blogs all over the world.
Stories Discussed in Today's Roundup:
Japan Crisis in Primary News Reporting
Japan Bloggers Debate Collapse of Journalism
Twittering The Ghanaian Elections
China Protestors and Petitioners Penned Up
Wikipedia in Egyptian Dialect Controversial
(Photo by midorisyu)
Factory Girls
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, November 25, 2008.
Stop where you are for a moment, look around, and you’ll likely find a product made in China. Your sneakers, appliances, computer keyboard and cell phone were all likely manufactured in Chinese factories. These colossal plants support the industrial boom that has transformed China and the international economy.
Fueling the boom is an estimated 130 million migrant workers, about 70 percent of them young women. That’s an entire generation of girls who leave rural villages and traditional families behind for the chance to make about $100 a month. These ambitious factory girls jump from one job to the next in search of better wages and better lives. They live by their wits, acute self-preservation skills, and mistrust of virtually everyone.
Leslie T. Chang was China correspondent for The Wall Street Journal for a decade. Her new book Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China follows the invisible army of women who make the economy run. She focuses on the stories of two young women: Lu Qingmin, or "Min," and Wu Chunming, who work in the giant factories of Dongguan, on the Pearl River in the south of China - "a place without memory," as she puts it.
(Photo by Chad Ingraham)
