Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 195

Putin and Xi vow to deepen 'no limits' partnership as Russia advances in Ukraine

They’ve already declared it has “no limits,” and on Thursday Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to deepen a partnership increasingly characterized by their countries’ clash with the West. The two autocratic leaders met in Beijing in a show of unity between the two U.S. rivals as Putin wages a new offensive in his war on Ukraine.Putin’s two-day state visit to

Chinese social media companies remove posts ‘showing off wealth and worshipping money’

Chinese social media companies have launched a new crackdown on user content, targeting posts that show off personal wealth and financial extravagance. In a statement posted online on Wednesday, Weibo said it had spent this month carrying out special management work on “undesirable value-orientated content”, including content “showing off wealth and worshipping money”.The statement said it had

Aesthetic Evolution: Tracing Female Beauty in Ancient Chinese Art

The emergence and development of any art form are always intertwined with various social and cultural phenomena of their time, and artistic representations of women are no exception. Images of female subjects in ancient Chinese art across different stages of history present society’s shifting ideas about them. Although the styles, techniques, narratives, and character choices of each depiction

China Launches Campaign to Bring Order to Unruly Classrooms

China’s top education authority has vowed to take stronger action to protect the well-being of minors on school campuses, following a raft of high-profile incidents that have raised public concern. In a notice published Tuesday, China’s Ministry of Education announced the start of a special campaign targeting a range of problems in schools, from bullying to disorderly management practices.The

Narendra Modi’s India: A decade of popularity and polarisation

Ten years after becoming prime minister, Narendra Modi is aiming for a historic third term - what makes him India's most prominent leader in decades? Many voters feel things have got better since he took office in 2014, but will people who are struggling back him in the country's general election?In Mr Modi's constituency in the northern city of Varanasi, saree weaver Shiv Johri Patel says he's

Beijing’s Culinary Crusade: Erasing Uyghur Identity through Food

Instruction began early on a November 2018 morning. This lesson was not taught in a classroom, but in a makeshift kitchen as part of Xinjiang’s “household school” program. There, a teacher stood before her class of adult women and asked: “What do you like to eat for breakfast?”The students responded in unison, “nan and milk” or “nan and tea.”“You don’t eat a bowl of hot congee?” the teacher

Putin and Xi announce plans to strengthen military ties in Beijing

Russia and China have announced they will deepen their already close military ties, as Vladimir Putin met Xi Jinping in Beijing on his first foreign trip since being inaugurated for a new term as Russia’s president. It is the latest in a string of statements and signals that the warm relationship between the two countries is as strong as it has ever been.Xi’s red carpet welcome for Putin – a man

AI and deepfakes blur reality in India elections

In November last year, Muralikrishnan Chinnadurai was watching a livestream of a Tamil-language event in the UK when he noticed something odd. A woman introduced as Duwaraka, daughter of ​​Velupillai Prabhakaran, the Tamil Tiger militant chief, was giving a speech. The problem was that Duwaraka had died more than a decade earlier, in an airstrike in 2009 during the closing days of the Sri Lankan

In Retrospect: Jawaharlal Nehru, 'Note on Visit to China and Indo-China' (1954)

"During my visit to China, I had a number of talks with the Chinese readers. I had long talks with Premier Chou En-lai [Zhou Enlai] separately. I also had joint talks with Chairman Mao Tse-tung [Mao Zedong] and his principal colleagues, viz., Vice-Chairman Chu The, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Peoples Congress Liu Shao-chi [Liu Shaoqi], Premier Chou En-lai, Vice-Chairman Soong

How Does Chinese Media Write About AI?

Artificial intelligence is in everything these days, from ride-hailing apps to short videos — a meteoric rise that is raising concerns about big tech and the pervasive influence of algorithms in our daily lives. Last March, European legislators adopted the Artificial Intelligence Act, demanding greater transparency from AI developers. In China and the United States, regulators have tried to