Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 113

Trains: A Chinese Family History of Railway Journeys, Exile, and Survival

This happened in the 1990s:Two decades after her family moved back to Wuhan, Aunt Dongsheng made a special trip to Fularki. My grandfather had died by then, but my little uncle Lusheng was still alive, and in his sober, wistful moments, he would beg Aunt Dongsheng: “Could you go bring Mom home from the northeast?”It was a very long journey by train, so Aunt Dongsheng got off in Beijing to take a

China’s spy agency warns people not to ‘endanger national security’ during holidays

China’s spy agency has called on the country’s citizens to beware of “endangering national security” over the holiday period, a phrase commentators said was a warning to people to be careful what they say, and to not pass on information that hasn’t been officially released.“Certain traps that endanger national security can enter our lives unannounced,” the Ministry of State Security said in a Jan

China’s dissidents struggling, apart from loved ones at New Year

While millions across China have piled onto trains, planes and buses to welcome the Year of the Snake with extended family, relatives of those who ran afoul of the ruling Communist Party remain separated from loved ones. Many of China’s political prisoners are serving jail terms because they criticized the government, shared sensitive information with others, or stood up for the victims of

China, Vietnam cause most South China Sea reef destruction: research

Rivals in the South China Sea developing artificial islands to back up their claims have destroyed nearly 7,000 acres (28.3 km2) of coral reefs, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, or AMTI, said. The total area increased 800 acres (3.2 square kilometers) from 6,200 acres (25 square km) at the end of 2023. “China has caused the most reef destruction, having buried roughly 4,648 acres (18.8

Upstart Chinese AI company DeepSeek’s founder started out as a low-key hedge fund entrepreneur

The 40-year-old founder of China’s DeepSeek, an AI startup that has startled markets with its capacity to compete with industry leaders like OpenAI, kept a low profile as he built up a hedge fund and then refined its quantitative models to branch into artificial intelligence. Liang Wenfeng, who founded DeepSeek in 2023, was born in southern China’s Guangdong and studied in eastern China’s

Philippine president offers a deal to China: Stop sea aggression and I’ll return missiles to US

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. offered on Friday to remove a U.S. missile system from the Philippines if China halts what he called its “aggressive and coercive behavior” in the disputed South China Sea. The U.S. Army installed the Typhon mid-range missile system in the northern Philippines in April last year to support what the longtime treaty allies described as training for joint

With acoustic blast, China ups aggression in disputed waters: Philippine Navy

China’s use of a long-range acoustic device against Filipino sailors in the South China Sea marks an “increase in aggression” in the disputed waters, a Philippine Navy spokesman said. The BRP Cabra, a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) ship, faced off with Chinese coast guard vessel 3203 and two other Chinese ships as it tried to sail on Saturday within Manila’s exclusive economic zone off the coast of

Ethnic Mongolian dissident Hada gets Nobel Peace Prize nomination

Four Japanese lawmakers have nominated ethnic Mongolian political prisoner Hada for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, citing his continuing advocacy for his people living under Chinese Communist Party rule despite years of persecution. Hada, who goes by one name, has been jailed or under house arrest in China since 1995 for his advocacy work for ethnic Mongolians in China. He is the co-founder of the

Thai lawyer petitions court for release of detained Uyghurs

A Thai lawyer is seeking the release of 42 Uyghurs who have spent more than a decade in detention and who rights groups fear could be deported to China where they would be at risk of torture. The men from the mostly Muslim minority from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China have been held on immigration charges at a Thai detention center since attempting to escape Beijing’s persecution

Is China Really Powerless to Stop the ‘Scamdemic’? The Truth Is More Complex

Pale, gaunt, and with a freshly shaved head, Chinese actor Wang Xing sat flanked by Thai police in the border town of Mae Sot on Jan. 7 to discuss his terrifying ordeal. The 31-year-old had flown to Bangkok for what he thought was a meeting with Thai movie executives. Instead, he was trafficked across the border to wartorn Myanmar’s lawless Myawaddy region, where he was forcibly put to work