Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 266

The Year of the Rabbit: An illustrated guide to Lunar New Year

Grab your favorite red shirt; it’s time to celebrate the Lunar New Year, also known as Spring Festival. Saying goodbye to the Tiger, we enter the Year of the Rabbit on January 22, 2023. Millions of families worldwide are preparing celebrations for one of the year’s biggest festivals.If you’re a Lunar New Year newbie, here’s a quick guide to the most common traditions and superstitions associated

India flexes its muscle at Davos as China’s star fades

The promenade at the World Economic Forum, dusted in a blanket of fresh snow, is cluttered with signs and pavilions from companies and governments courting attention or deals. There’s the tech giants, the major consulting groups, representatives from the Middle East.But this year, dominating the main street in Davos are emissaries from India, who have taken over at least eight storefronts with

Don’t appease China, warns Taiwan’s likely presidential successor

Appeasing China will not bring peace, Taiwan’s vice-president has said, days after he was elected head of the ruling party in a move that makes him a prime presidential contender at the next election. William Lai, 63, is seen as a likely successor to President Tsai Ing-wen, who is barred from running again after her second four-year term ends in May 2024.Lai has been more outspoken on Taiwanese

Xi’s authority dented by sudden Covid U-turn but iron grip on power is undimmed

Just a few months ago, the thought of questioning the strength of Xi Jinping’s leadership was inconceivable. He had just secured his third term, conducted a brutal purge of factional rivals and ensured he and his beliefs were inextricably and existentially tied with the Chinese Communist party. The zero-Covid policy – despite some societal grumblings – had been enshrined as the best and only way

A tragedy pushed to the shadows: the truth about China’s Cultural Revolution

For the most part, the authorities today do not speak of the Cultural Revolution. The exile of the educated youth is the one aspect that is remembered in official discourse, even celebrated. Among their number was Xi Jinping: now China’s most powerful leader since Mao, but at that time, the adolescent son of a disgraced senior official, Xi Zhongxun. Propaganda has stressed how the leader grew and

Torbjørn Færøvik: Kina har nådd et historisk vendepunkt

En ulykke kommer sjelden alene. Mens økonomien skranter og et stort antall kinesere dør av covid-19, melder Kinas statistiske sentralbyrå at landets folketall i fjor falt med 850 000. Nyheten var ikke uventet, men gjør likevel inntrykk, for Kina er kommet til et historisk vendepunkt. Fra nå av blir det færre kinesere i verden, ikke flere. Kinesiske eksperter er ikke helt enige om hvor stort

China announces lunar new year censorship crackdown to silence Covid ‘rumours’

Chinese cyber authorities have announced an internet censorship crackdown to ensure there are no “gloomy sentiments” caused by pandemic “rumours” during the lunar new year festival. It comes as health forecasting firm Airfinity estimated more than 600,000 people have likely died since zero-Covid restrictions were lifted in December – 10 times more than Chinese authorities have officially declared

China’s population is shrinking. The impact will be felt around the world

China may be one step closer to losing its place as the world’s most populous country to Indiaafter its population shrank for the first time since the 1960s. The country’s population fell in 2022 to 1.411 billion, down some 850,000 people from the previous year, China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced during a Tuesday briefing on annual data.The last time China’s population

After ‘Zero-COVID,’ China’s Families Face a Lunar New Year Dilemma

For decades, the Lunar New Year holiday has only meant one thing for Wen Guoqiang: a family reunion at his mother’s house in east China’s Jiangsu province. The 63-year-old and his four siblings live in cities across eastern China these days, but the trip back to their hometown has always been sacred.The family, however, has been forced to break with tradition this year. With COVID-19 spreading

Torbjørn Færøvik: Alt kan skje i Kaninens år

Kinas årlige folkevandring er i gang. Flere hundre millioner er på vei hjem for å feire kinesisk nyttår. Hva har de i bagasjen bortsett fra nyttårsgavene? Trolig et virus. Når feiringen er over, vil landets travle krematorier bli enda travlere.  Nyttårsfesten innledes 22. januar med festlig lag og rikelig konsum av durrabrennevinet maotai. Der det er tillatt, prydes nattehimmelen med fyrverkeri.