Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 159

River ‘piracy’ gave towering Everest a growth spurt, scientists say

Thousands of years ago in the Himalayas, a river ate a smaller river and gave an unexpected boost to Everest’s height, scientists have discovered.Mount Everest, or Chomolungma (“Goddess Mother of the World” in the Tibetan language), is one of Earth’s tallest mountains, standing 29,031.69 feet (8,848.86 meters) above sea level. Everest’s origin story began about 40 million to 50 million years ago,

Torbjørn Færøvik: Et glemsomt "Folkets Kina" fyller 75 år

Den store festen er nær. Den 1. oktober fyller Folkerepublikken Kina 75 år. ”Det kinesiske folket har reist seg”, erklærte en stolt formann Mao til folkehavet på Den himmelske freds plass i Beijing. Men ti år senere begynte millioner av kinesere å dø som fluer av sult, sykdom og overarbeid.Det sies at historien skrives av seierherrene. I Kinas tilfelle er det langt på vei sant. Det kinesiske

China spent millions on this new trade route - then a war got in the way

 “One village, two countries” used to be the tagline for Yinjing on China’s south-western edge. An old tourist sign boasts of a border with Myanmar made of just “bamboo fences, ditches and earth ridges” - a sign of the easy economic relationship Beijing had sought to build with its neighbour.Now the border the BBC visited is marked by a high, metal fence running through the county of Ruili

From Wild Exuberance to State Control in China’s Art Market

The scholar and journalist Kejia Wu is the author of A Modern History of China’s Art Market, a fascinating book that examines the relationship between the Chinese government’s push for cultural “soft power” and its desire for control. In the book, Wu looks at the revival of contemporary art after the Cultural Revolution, as well as the rise of contemporary art and a market for it after the end of

The New York Review of Books China Archive

The New York Review of Books China Archive is a collaborative project of ChinaFile and The New York Review of Books. It contains an easily searchable collection of China-related essays and reviews that The New York Review of Books has published since its founding in 1963.Read more

Is China’s Cultural Outreach to Muslims in Indonesia Working?

Mandarin lessons sponsored by the Chinese government are held every Tuesday and Thursday inside Southeast Asia’s largest mosque, Masjid Istiqlal, in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. The teachers and course materials for the Mandarin lessons are provided free of charge by the Confucius Institute at Universitas Al Azhar Indonesia, a university that seeks to “apply universal Islamic values in

China targets high-ranking officials who read banned books

China’s Communist Party is clamping down on the secret hobby of some high-ranking officials: reading banned books, a series of state media reports suggest. Officials from glitzy Shanghai to poverty-stricken Guizhou have been accused in recent months of "privately possessing and reading banned books and periodicals," according to state media reports, which typically surface when the officials are

Cambodia’s Funan Techo canal exposes cracks in Vietnam ties

Cambodia’s plan to build a canal linking its capital to the coast to end dependence on Vietnamese ports has raised a barrage of questions about its economic viability and environmental impact. In the second part of the report, RFA examines the possible impact of the planned Funan Techo canal on the Vietnam-Cambodia relationship.Veteran Cambodian leader Hun Sen and his son, Prime Minister Hun

China calls on Hong Kong tycoons to help kickstart national economy

The ruling Chinese Communist Party has called on Hong Kong's leader to mobilize the city's wealthiest families into kick-starting economic growth, although signs that any are answering the call have been thin on the ground. Xia Baolong, who heads the ruling party's Hong Kong and Macao Work Office, "expressed the hope that all sectors of Hong Kong society, especially the business community and

Hong Kong sentences 2 journalists to prison for sedition

A Hong Kong court sentenced two former news editors to prison on Thursday for conspiracy to publish seditous material. Chung Pui-kuen, former editor-in-chief of the now-defunct Stand News, was sentenced to 21 months. Judge Kwok Wai-kin considered an initial 14-month sentence for former acting-editor-in-chief, Patrick Lam, but reduced it by three months because he has a serious illness, allowing