Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 222

In Retrospect: Deng Xiaoping - Setting Things Right In Education 1977

"Over the next eight to ten years we should bend all our efforts to educational work. For my part, I intend to pay close attention to it, keeping an eye on the leading comrades in the educational departments and seeing that the right principles are followed. I am also going to concern myself with the significant specific policies and measures, because they are related to the general principles.

China’s maritime power cause for action and alarm

The People’s Liberation Army Navy is now, and has been for several years, larger than the US Navy with over 370 ships currently in commission. What’s more, in a few years, if it continues its current building rate, it will reach around 450 ships, making it larger than the US Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force combined.However, Western commentators, especially those who don’t want

Dodgy publications boost China’s science stature

University leaders pay close attention to comparative rankings such as those offered by Times Higher Education, ShanghaiRanking Consultancy and others. Rankings influence student matriculation numbers, attract talented faculty and justify donations from wealthy donors. University leaders rail against them, and some schools “withdraw” from them, but rankings are influential.A radical shift in the

From China's Past: The North China famine, 1920-21

Starting in summer 1919, a rainless twelve months visited five Chinese provinces, precipitating China’s most severe food crisis since the 1870s. The famine would affect roughly the same geographical area as in the great North China famine of 1876-79, menacing anywhere between 20 and 30 million destitute residents of Zhili, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi and Shaanxi over the winter of 1920-21. Although

Record-breaking number of graduates face bleak job market in China

College graduation season is more than two months away, but many colleges in China have already begun to encourage graduands to actively seek employment and not focus only on applying for graduate studies or the civil service. China’s graduate employment issue has consistently been a hot topic of discussion over the past four years, especially nearing the mid-year during the graduation season.

Is China’s middle class slipping back into poverty?

As the group of people most sensitive to social change, the middle class is a yardstick for measuring the state of China’s current economy and a window into the future. At the moment, the signs are there that China’s middle class is not doing as well as before, leading to cutting down on spending and saving on daily expenses.China’s latest revenue from personal income tax has added fuel to

U.S.-China Relations in 2024: Managing Competition without Conflict

From 2018 to 2023, U.S.-China relations were in a linear downward spiral. The trade war, the pandemic, growing technology competition, rising tensions in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, and contrasting approaches to the Russia-Ukraine conflict have collectively fed a sense of fatalism that the countries were heading toward the abyss of outright economic decoupling and a disastrous

Biden and China's Xi make first contact since November with a 'check-in' call

President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held what a senior Biden administration official dubbed a "check-in" call on Tuesday, marking the first The call touched on everything from Taiwan to the situation on the Korean Peninsula, artificial intelligence and Russia's war in Ukraine.According to the Chinese readout, Xi told Biden strategic awareness "must always be the first 'button' to be

Ex-Taiwanese President Ma visits China to help build social and cultural links

Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou is visiting China to help build social and cultural links on a trip that might include a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping despite heightened tensions. Ma left Taipei on Monday with a student group on an 11-day trip that underlines continued interactions in education, business and culture despite Beijing’s threat to use military force against the

In Retrospect: Joint Communique of the United States of America and the People's Republic of China (Shanghai Communique) February 27, 1972

President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China ended with a joint statement between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China. The document pledged that it was in the interest of all nations for the United States and China to work towards the normalization of their relations, although this would not occur until another joint communiqué seven years later. Read more