Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 180

Peter Hessler: Sideline Sinology

When I moved to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, in August 2019, my intention was to take a break from journalism. I accepted a position at the Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute, where I agreed to a relatively full teaching load, with around 60 students per semester in writing and journalism classes. One of my goals was to get a sense of how Chinese students and universities had

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s anti-corruption clampdown: Who’s next?

In early July, former Vice-Premier and former chair of the Straits Exchange Foundation Cheng Wen-tsan was detained and held incommunicado for allegedly accepting bribes in the development of the Huaya Science Park. This is a bombshell to the political circles in Taiwan. Within two months of his presidency, Lai Ching-te has acted decisively against Cheng, who was once regarded as a potential

Shenzhen’s rising unemployment a growing national concern

After being laid off by a consulting company at the end of 2023, 35-year-old finance manager Zheng Min (pseudonym) has since been unemployed. Zheng, who is from Zhangzhou, Fujian, told Lianhe Zaobao that in the past half year, she has applied for more than 100 jobs in Xiamen. Either she was unsuccessful or the terms offered by the company did not meet her expectations.“I have been in finance for

Involution: Unveiling the emperor’s dream within every Chinese

During a conversation, a friend expressed frustration in finding a private tutor for his middle school son. I reassured him that the enrollment rate in tertiary education in China was currently quite high. Moreover, gaining admission to one of the top 39 universities in China, known as a “Project 985” university, was not as challenging as he thought. Therefore, there was no need to be overly

"I do not expect a free trial. But to give up means the end of journalism in Mongolia"

As the police arrived at the door of our newsroom to march us out of the office, I wrote on the wall: “Freedom is precious.” Our news site was taken down from the internet and my colleagues and I set up a protest in front of the State Great Khural, the Mongolian parliament. Afterwards, a contact told me the government was looking to “shut me up”. I did not suspect that by “shut up” they meant

China seeks to unite Palestinian factions with reconciliation deal

Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have signed a declaration agreeing to form an interim "national reconciliation government" for the occupied West Bank and Gaza after the war with Israel, in a meeting brokered by China, China's foreign minister and Hamas officials have said.Representatives from the groups, along with 12 other Palestinian factions, pledged to work for unity after three

China to raise retirement age as population gets older

China will gradually raise its statutory retirement age in the next five years to try to cope with its ageing population and buckling pension system. Life expectancy in the country has now risen above the United States, to 78 years, from just 36 years at the time of the Communist revolution in 1949. But China's retirement age remains one of the lowest in the world - at 60 for men, 55 for women in

Beijing and Manila made a deal in the South China Sea. But they’re already at odds over what was agreed

An interim deal to smooth deliveries to Philippine marines marooned on a ship at a hotly disputed reef in the South China Sea appears to be in doubt after Manila and Beijing gave opposing accounts over what they had agreed to. Fears of a conflict with global implications have risen in recent months following a series of increasingly violent clashes between Chinese coast guard vessels and

Trump says Taiwan stole America’s chip industry. But that’s not true

Former US President Donald Trump raised eyebrows last week when he accused Taiwan of snatching America’s crown in the $500 billion business of making computer chips. In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, the Republican presidential nominee repeated his assertion, first made last year, that the island democracy and US ally had taken “almost 100%” of the industry from the United States. “We

Trump says Taiwan should pay the US for its defence as ‘it doesn’t give us anything’

Donald Trump has said Taiwan should pay the US for protection from China, calling into question Washington’s support for the island democracy should he win back the White House in November’s presidential election.In response to Trump’s comments, premier Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and the US have good relations despite the lack of formal ties, but added that Taiwan was increasing its capabilities to