Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 1373

Back to the future: the fake relics of the 'old' Chinese city of Datong

Six years ago the then-mayor launched an ambitious plan to reconstruct the lost walls, watchtowers and Ming-style homes of the city – resettling tens of thousands of residents and transforming Datong into a tourist site. Now few want to live here. Read more

After Hong Kong, Macau?

China’s other special administrative region is not immune to the allure of democratic concepts coming from across the Pearl River Estuary. As Hong Kong’s influence supplements new homegrown political and labor activism, the stage may be set for Macau’s own grassroots democracy movement. Read more

Putting Hong Kong in Historical Context

The recent protests in Hong Kong are evidence that the legacy of European involvement in China is stubbornly refusing to be consigned to the history books. Instead, the Chinese saga of engagement with the outside world –and particularly China’s difficult relationship with European powers during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries – continues to influence the country’s politics, society

Smilende Kim tilbake med kjepp

En tykk og blid Kim Jong-un poserer villig for nordkoreanske medier mens han støtter seg til en spaserstokk. Mandag viste diktatoren seg igjen for første gang siden onsdag 3. september. Les mer

Watching Hong Kong: Taiwan on guard against China

Hong Kong's Occupy Central demonstrations may be losing steam, but Taiwans movement to resist China is only intensifying. Read more

Chinese Authorities Make Arrests in Attempt to Prevent Pro-Democracy Campaigns on Mainland

The Chinese authorities, determined to prevent pro-democracy rallies in Hong Kong from spilling across the border into the mainland, have detained at least 10 people in recent days, including a group of artists who attended a poetry reading inspired by the protests in Hong Kong. Read more

Opinion: No more Dalai Lamas? Not so fast

The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, set out a media kerfuffle last month when he spoke about his next reincarnation. Not a man afraid to surprise people, he told to German journalists that he didn't see a need for there to be more Dalai Lamas in the future. Read more

Hong Kong government calls off protest talks

Hong Kong's government has called off talks with pro-democracy protesters, as political rivals repeated calls for leader C.Y. Leung to resign -- this time over claims that he accepted multi-million dollar private payments while in office. Read more

State media falls silent on North Korea anniversary

The intrigue over the whereabouts of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un deepened Friday after the country's state news agency failed to issue a report about his expected visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang. Read more

Is Kim Jong Un still in charge of North Korea?

Events in North Korea have left the world wondering: Where's leader Kim Jong Un and is he still running perhaps the most isolated country on Earth? Read more