Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 170

Torbjørn Færøvik: For mer enn tre tusen år siden begynte kineserne å lage bøker av bambus

Se nøye på dette bildet. For mer enn tre tusen år siden begynte kineserne å lage bøker av bambus. Spilene de skrev på, ble til ved at bambusrør ble kappet i en bestemt lengde. Rørene ble deretter skåret opp i spiler, eller strimler, som normalt var en centimeter brede. Etter at den grønne hinnen var skrapt vekk, ble spilene tørket, og den fine overflaten ble påført skrift med pensel eller tusj.

China to seize 3.1 bln yuan in assets linked to exiled former vice mayor

Authorities in China are moving to seize more than 3 billion yuan (US$435 million) in assets belonging to a former high-ranking official from the northeastern province of Heilongjiang who has fled to the United States, claiming to be a persecuted critic of the government.According to the Mudanjiang Intermediate People's Court, former Jixi vice mayor Li Chuanliang stands accused of holding illegal

China undermines its interests by boosting support for Myanmar’s faltering junta

China borders 14 countries, tied with Russia for the most in the world, and Beijing takes great pains to ensure the security of its interests and defend against conflicts from spilling over. Despite that, China’s Myanmar policy is based on faulty assumptions and is undermining its own interests. China’s policy since the February 2021 coup – which Beijing simply labeled a change in government –

Trump says China respects him because Xi knows he is 'crazy'

Donald Trump has said that if he returns to the White House China would not dare provoke him because President Xi Jinping knows the Republican is "crazy". Speaking to the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, Trump said that if elected president next month, he would impose tariffs on China if it sought to blockade Taiwan. “I would say: if you go into Taiwan, I’m sorry to do this, I’m going to

Russia defense chief touts ‘common understanding’ with China in Beijing talks

Chinese and Russian defense officials vowed to strengthen their cooperation during meetings in Beijing this week – in the latest sign of deepening alignment between the neighbors that’s been closely watched by the US and its allies.The two countries have “common views, a common assessment of the situation, and a common understanding of what we need to do together,” defense chief Andrey Belousov

US imposes first sanctions on Chinese firms for making weapons for Russia’s war in Ukraine

The United States has imposed sanctions on two China-based drone suppliers and their alleged Russian partners, the first time it has penalized Chinese companies for supplying complete weapons systems to Russia for its war in Ukraine.Washington has long accused China of supporting Russia’s war effort by supplying dual-use goods and components that could be used in the manufacture of weapons, which

This country’s internet freedom is now as bad as China’s, report finds

For the past decade, China has consistently ranked last in the world for internet freedom due to its all-pervading online surveillance and content control system dubbed the “Great Firewall.” But a new report out Wednesday shows that internet freedoms in China’s neighbor Myanmar are now just as lacking.The report from Freedom House, a US government-funded NGO, found that global internet freedom

Freedom on the Net 2024: The Struggle for Trust Online

Protections for human rights online diminished in 27 of the 72 countries covered by Freedom on the Net (FOTN), with 18 earning improvements. Kyrgyzstan received this year’s sharpest downgrade, as President Sadyr Japarov intensified his efforts to silence digital media and suppress online organizing. China shared its designation as the world’s worst environment for internet freedom with

In Retrospect: Deng Xiaoping's Great Leap Outward (Time, 1979)

Shortly after the U.S. announced its rapprochement with the People’s Republic of China last December after nearly 30 years of bone-deep hostility, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance declared: “A new era is upon us.” But the idea of “a new era” is a hard one to grasp, and despite acres of newsprint, miles of film footage and endless commentaries, nothing is likely to drive home the reality of it all

Where the Malan Blooms: 60 Years After the First Chinese Nuclear Bomb

Like many children in 1990s China, every day when the bell rang for recess, my friends and I would rush out of the classroom and onto the playground. Our favorite activity was "tiao pijin", a form of jump rope using elastic. It was a team sport. Two of us secured the elastic on either end so it formed a long loop, and the rest hopped in and out of it. To keep up the pace and count our steps, we