If the Hong Kong-PRC relationship were a marriage, it would be Ashton and Demi. Face it. The only crazier math than “One Country + Two Systems” is “27-year-old actor marries actress 15 years his senior with three kids and a psychotic ex-husband.”
Floods in Beijing: Under water and under fire
On an Island
While there will be considerable fanfare today commemorating the 15th anniversary of the British handover of Hong Kong to the PRC, it’s worth noting that this is also an important anniversary year in the history of another island. 2012 marks 350 years since Zheng Chenggong (better known outside China as ‘Koxinga’) landed on Taiwan and forced a Dutch garrison to surrender control of the island to Zheng and his family.
The place of young women: Girl power up
Visions of the 18th century: The charms of Qing TV
Bo knows Hollywood
Zhou Enlai, the Qingming Festival, and the spring demonstrations of 1976
Today is Qingming Jie, the annual grave sweeping day, and also the 35th anniversary of the April 5 Τiananmen Incident. This post, originally published on the anniversary of Zhou Enlai’s death (January 8, 2007), looks at the legacy of Zhou Enlai and how the celebration of Qingming led to a major demonstration and crackdown in the spring of 1976.
Envy and Antipathy: Chinese historical attitudes toward Japan
Ambassadors Caught on Tape, China Edition
Lessons from China's Revolution, 100 years later
China: Not Quite a Revolution
The CCP knows that they could never hope to suppress every single act of defiance in a country as large and diverse as China, so they have instead chosen to invest time, money, and energy in preventing these acts from linking together, either vertically across class lines or horizontally across geographic space.
Bad History: China’s Economic Policies and the Opium War
The Burning of the Yuanmingyuan: 150 Years Later
The multiplicity of meanings associated with the Yuanmingyuan (The Old Summer Palace) and the complicated circumstances of its destruction make for fascinating history as well as an opportunity for the CCP's educational minions to leech that history of any real substance -- other than as a crude device to teach 'patriotism.'
