Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 194

Bringing the Struggles of China’s Migrant Women to Life

After “The Life of Mulan,” the interactive theater production I spent much of the past four years bringing to life, finished its nationwide tour with a six-show run in Kunming in early June, I finally found myself with enough time to look back and reflect on a process that took me farther than I ever could have imagined.The show’s success was a milestone that would have been unthinkable in 2010,

Giorgia Meloni and Europe’s incoherence over China

Chinese leaders must be either confused or delighted by the stream of visits they have been receiving from European heads of state and government. Italy’s Giorgia Meloni may think that her five-day visit to China was something special. To the Chinese, however, it will have felt quite routine.China does, after all, describe itself as “the Middle Kingdom,” the place around which the world revolves,

US mainland ultra-vulnerable to China, Russia hybrid attacks

The US Army’s recent Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) report warns that near-peer adversaries China and Russia are gearing up for unprecedented hybrid warfare tactics targeting the US homeland. The report says the US homeland, traditionally considered a sanctuary, is now vulnerable to its near-peer adversaries’ conventional, hybrid and irregular warfare tactics. The TRADOC report emphasizes

Taiwan proposes biggest ever defense spending of US$19.7 billion

Taiwan aims to increase its defense spending to NT 647 billion (US$19.76 billion) next year to the biggest sum ever as it seeks to bolster its defenses and its cooperation with democratic allies, President Lai Ching-te announced. That total is equivalent to about 20% of anticipated annual revenue of NT$3.13 trillion (US$96.12 billion) for the 2025 fiscal year, and a nominal increase of 6.7% in

Trump Predicts More 'Beautiful Sofa' Moments With Xi If He Wins

Donald Trump said he would "get along great with China," recalling a moment with President Xi Jinping on a "beautiful sofa" at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Thursday. At his Florida estate, the former president gave his press conference since the announcement of the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz ticket on Tuesday for the Democrat party.Responding to a question about combatting the spread of

'Our gold medals are squeaky clean' - China slams doping doubts

"Any doubt is just a joke. Stress only makes us stronger," Qin Haiyang - a part of China's history-making men’s 4x100m medley quartet posted after their unprecedented victory over the US on Monday. Qin's seeming defiance came at the tail end of what has been a challenging time for China in the pool.Some of the country's top swimmers - including Qin and his relay teammate Sun Jiajun- have faced a

Behave yourselves, China tells its Olympic fans

Beijing is cracking down on "aggressive fans" who it says are affecting the performance of Chinese athletes at the Paris Olympics - the latest in its years-long war against celebrity worship. In recent days, state media reports have called out "inappropriate" behaviour, such as fans booing during events or accusing referees of being unfair.This "fan culture", they said, reached a peak on 3 August

Walz has history with China - it's more hawkish than critics claim

Within hours of Tim Walz being declared winner of the Democratic "veepstakes", Republican accusations that he is pro-China came thick and fast. "Communist China is very happy," Donald Trump's former ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, said on Twitter/X. "No one is more pro-China than Marxist Walz."Tom Cotton, a Republican senator, said Mr Walz owed an explanation "about his unusual, 35-year

China launches satellites to rival SpaceX’s Starlink in boost for its space ambitions

China has taken a major step forward in its bid to create a rival to SpaceX’s Starlink this week by launching the first of what it hopes will be a constellation of 14,000 satellites beaming broadband internet coverage from space. Eighteen satellites were blasted into low Earth orbit (LEO) on Tuesday in the inaugural launch for the government-backed Qianfan, or Spacesail, constellation, state

From China's Past: The Forgotten Women Who Shaped China in the 20th Century

The three Soong sisters were precocious from a young age. But few could have predicted the level of influence they eventually had on the course of history in 20th-century China. Born in Shanghai in the 1890s to Charlie Soong, a wealthy merchant and missionary, the sisters were all educated at Wesleyan College in Georgia, traveling to the U.S. without an accompanying guardian. “Big Sister” Ei-Ling