Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 217

The Backbend: Why a Basic Dance Move Is Paralyzing Children in China

Commonly taught in dance studios, the backbend has been linked to a surge in severe spinal injuries among young girls across the country. This alarming trend has prompted widespread calls for better regulatory frameworks and more professional training methods.For six years now, Li Huan has worked at a school cafeteria to keep her 12-year-old daughter Qingqing in class. Though deep in debt,

The Scholar Bringing Marco Polo Back to China

This year marks the 700th anniversary of the death of Marco Polo (1254–1324), the legendary Venetian traveler who introduced Asia to the West.Yet despite Marco Polo’s widespread recognition in China, there exists only one rigorous Chinese translation of “The Travels of Marco Polo.” Completed by Feng Chengjun and published by the Shanghai Commercial Press in 1936, this translation falls short of

Exclusive: China firms go 'underground' on Russia payments as banks pull back

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, after meeting China's top diplomat Wang Yi for five and a half hours in Beijing on Friday, said he had expressed "serious concern" that Beijing was "powering Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine". Still, his visit, which included meeting President Xi Jinping, was the latest in a series of steps that have tempered the public acrimony that drove

In Retrospect: The Mutual Defense Treaty between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America

The Mutual Defense Treaty between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America (MDT) was signed on August 30, 1951 by their representatives in Washington, D.C. The treaty has eight articles and requires both nations to support each other if another party attacks the Philippines or the United States.The Philippines became a US territory after the Spanish–American War and the

SIPRI: China Is a Driving Force Behind World Military Spending

Total global military expenditure reached $2443 billion in 2023, an increase of 6.8 per cent in real terms from 2022. This was the steepest year-on-year increase since 2009. The 10 largest spenders in 2023—led by the United States, China and Russia—all increased their military spending, according to new data on global military spending published today by the Stockholm International Peace Research

Hungary opens up to Chinese tech despite protests

"We do not intend to become the world leader," said Hungary's foreign minister in Beijing last October, about his country's ambitious plans for manufacturing Electric Vehicle batteries, "because the world leader is China".China has an astonishing 79% share of the lithium-ion global battery manufacturing capacity, ahead of the US on 6%. Hungary is now third with 4% and aims soon to overtake the

Whistleblowing Uyghur surgeon speaks truth to horror

When an armed police officer directed Uyghur surgeon Enver Tohti to remove organs from a not-quite-dead prisoner on an execution ground outside Urumqi, his first reaction was overwhelming relief: "I thought they were going to execute me," he recalled.It was 1995 and Tohti was working as an oncological surgeon at the Railway Central Hospital in the northwestern city of Urumqi. He had been pressed

China expels teacher for pushing for students to use Tibetan language

A Tibetan language teacher in China’s Sichuan province was interrogated and expelled by authorities after pushing for greater use of the Tibetan language in schools — a measure that has been banned in education institutions, two sources inside Tibet told Radio Free Asia.Dhonyoe, who goes by only one name, was expelled in early April from Meruma Central Primary School in Ngaba county’s Meruma

Activists interrupt Chinese ambassador's Harvard speech

A protester who loudly disrupted a speech at Harvard by Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng on the eve of a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China said she did it to discourage world-class universities from "kowtowing to China" despite committing human rights abuses.Harvard junior Cosette Wu, who grew up in Hawaii with Taiwanese parents, stood up with a banner that read "China Lies" during

Calls grow for proof of whereabouts of Tibet’s missing Panchen Lama

Global leaders joined Tibetans across the world this week to mark the 35th birthday of a revered Tibetan religious leader taken into custody 29 years ago and missing ever since. Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, then just six years old, was recognized by Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, as the 11th Panchen Lama, Tibet’s second most-senior Buddhist monk, in May 1995. Shortly after the Dalai Lama’s