The China Issue
- Posted by: GOOD
- on March 28, 2008 at 9:18 pm
In just a few months, the Olympic flame will arrive in Beijing, signaling the start of the 29th Olympiad. Beyond medal counts and race results, we will be engulfed in news about China—from government-sponsored agitprop about rapid modernization to alarmist drumbeats about a growing military and potential economic disaster. Somewhere in between the propaganda and the hysteria will lie the truth.
If the United States is the last remaining superpower of the imperialist era, then China is rapidly becoming the first of the information age. When the world last found itself with two superpowers things didn’t go so well; we’re hoping these stories will contribute to a more rational dialogue this time around. China’s deplorable record on human rights, political freedom, and the environment cannot lightly be cast aside, but it is sometimes necessary to look beyond it. Our two countries are inexorably linked, so let’s find out who our Eastern neighbor really is.
The China Issue Features
We’ll be adding new features to this list regularly through May.
DANIEL BROOK visits the suburban anomaly of Orange County, China.
Forget Paris. This generation’s expats are hightailing it to Beijing and Shanghai. GOOD gets acquainted with some of China’s newest residents.
Chinese director JIA ZHANG KE ponders cinema’s impact on modern China.
Ten Reasons Why China Matters To You
THOMAS P.M. BARNETT offers 10 reasons why our communist neighbor to the east could be our most valuable global ally. BONUS: What’s Up With China? Everything you wanted to know, but were afraid to ask.
Samdhong Rinpoche, the Tibetan prime minister, discusses freedom, resistance, and China. Interview by MATT SCHWARTZ.
ADAM MATTHEWS explores the metropolis of Shenzhen to see how China’s experiments in capitalism are playing out.
What’s Up With China? plus China FAQ
They’re just like us! They go to Vegas, win Olympic medals, and like hip hop. Plus: A China FAQ featuring the nine men who control China and more.
DISCUSSION: 3 Comments
The Olympic Committee should be consistent with how they implement and execute their decisions on who gets the Olympics. If China is okay – should Zimbabwe get it next? It will be consistent with what they call “the Olympic” values. Or maybe we should have a closer look at their values – if we can find it. More on this in my blog at http://angryafrican.net/2008/02/09/and-the-olympics-goes-to-zimbabwe/
The pictures really makes me quite puzzled.I’m now in China reading this article,and I’m a student in MianYang,China.The pictures shown above are all taken in 1980s when my father was not married.Great changes have taken place in China in the recent 20 years.Maybe you should come here if you want to have a better understanding of this nation.The Olympics are coming,and I will soon go to Beijing to watch the Games.I really hope you can come here,and we will give you a warm wellcome!北京欢迎你！^…^
I am not even bother to read any of such articles once I see the pictures are very much typical Western journalists’ liar, copy and pasted from old and pick n choose from rare case, manipulated, censored, colonialism and criminality behaviors…. Nowadays, with all the technology information and internet, I don’t think the younger generation like me across the globe are so easily seduced (even I haven’t been to China) by the culture of cold war and lead to jealousy of Western journalists. It is just common sense and a shame!