Top China stories of the week 12/04-12/10
  • The Death – Microcosms, by Eric Fish on Sinostand, is the start of a short series looking to explore whether modern China’s culture has been shaped more by pre-existing traditional values or reforged in the Party’s own image to reinforce ideas relating to authoritarianism. The whole series uses short stories from his time working in a university, and is definitely worth reading.
  • A grave matter, from the Global Times, exposes a case of local government officials exhuming and cremating a body after the family refused to pay the 5,000rmb “fine”. The piece goes on to explore traditional Chinese beliefs about death and the after-world.
  • China’s quid pro panda, from Foreign Policy, examines the terms of Scotland leasing a pair of pandas from China, as well as the history of such agreements. Pretty much all you’ll ever need to know about panda-diplomacy.

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