SEARCH

Showing 41-50 of 66 results

  • OPINION

    As test scores slip, China must rethink its schools

    News, Adam Minter, Published on 21/12/2016

    » It had become something of a ritual. Every three years, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development would release the results of its PISA exams, which are given to hundreds of thousands of students in dozens of countries. And every three years, an American freak-out would ensue, as Chinese students seemed to be outperforming their US counterparts by a wide margin.

  • OPINION

    Alibaba's counterfeit woes continue

    News, Adam Minter, Published on 05/01/2017

    » It's hardly a happy new year for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Just before Christmas, the US Trade Representative added Alibaba's Taobao e-commerce site to a list of "notorious markets" that traffic in counterfeits. That's an unseemly place for a publicly held company: Other members include a Chinese shopping mall that specialises in counterfeit leather goods and a Paraguayan border market rife with organised crime that hawks everything from fake Ray-Bans to knockoff DVDs.

  • OPINION

    Leaders don't grasp Hong Kong fury

    News, Adam Minter, Published on 09/11/2016

    » Nobody would ever mistake the Chinese Communist Party for a fleet-footed, democratic organisation responsive to public opinion. But over the decades it's shown a capacity to recognise when political winds are shifting and has been willing to accept outside advice and solutions. That's changing under President Xi Jinping. China's leadership has grown increasingly isolated and distant from citizens, calling into question whether it can truly identify with the needs of a young and dynamic population.

  • OPINION

    iPhones should be made in China

    News, Adam Minter, Published on 25/11/2016

    » Few people took Donald Trump seriously when he said in March that he'd "get Apple to start making their computers and their iPhones on our land, not in China". But his election appears to have caused a change of heart. Apple has reportedly asked the two Asian companies that assemble the bulk of its iPhones to assess whether they can bring the work to the US. One of them, Foxconn, has agreed to look into the matter.

  • OPINION

    China's disappearing fish suggest a bigger problem

    News, Adam Minter, Published on 02/12/2016

    » It sounds like something out of a dystopian novel: The fresh fish in many of Beijing's biggest supermarkets simply disappeared last week, as if summoned to another realm. Social media buzzed with alarm and paranoia. The Beijing News placed a photo of an empty aquarium and an underemployed fishmonger on its front page.

  • OPINION

    Beijing wants GMOs but the Chinese people don't

    News, Adam Minter, Published on 29/09/2016

    » The latest food safety scandal in China might be its most damaging. Earlier this week, a former doctoral student at one of the country's national testing centres for genetically modified organisms went public with allegations of scientific fraud, including claims that records were doctored extensively, that unqualified personnel were employed under illegal contracts and -- most seriously -- that authorities refused to take action when his concerns were aired privately.

  • OPINION

    Trump is right about America's 'third world' airports

    News, Adam Minter, Published on 07/10/2016

    » It's the one opinion that Donald Trump and his opponents seem to share: America's airports are so bad, it's like "they're from a third world country", as Mr Trump said in the first debate. Vice President Joe Biden said the same of New York's LaGuardia two years ago. Much of the flying public seems to roughly agree.

  • OPINION

    Can Jack Ma spur global job rise?

    News, Adam Minter, Published on 19/10/2016

    » Alibaba's Jack Ma has big dreams. Having transformed Chinese retail, he's now determined to reinvigorate globalisation.

  • OPINION

    Ocean gold rush will scar sea life

    News, Adam Minter, Published on 16/08/2016

    » While commodities traders still work their way out of a historic slump, Japan is looking ahead to the next boom. According to Bloomberg News, next year a group of Japanese companies and government agencies will start mining minerals at a site about 1,600km southwest of Tokyo -- and 1.5km beneath the ocean's surface. It will be the first large-scale test of whether mineral deposits can be mined commercially from the seafloor.

  • OPINION

    A city of 50 million? And China wants three of them

    News, Adam Minter, Published on 30/08/2016

    » By any measure, Shanghai is one of the world's biggest cities. It's home to more than 24 million people. Its subway system is the longest ever built, extending to its rural limits. Crowds are so thick that burly "shovers" get paid to help pack the trains. Now the local government is saying enough is enough: documents released this week reveal that Shanghai intends to admit a mere 800,000 new residents over the next 24 years, on its way to becoming an "excellent global city".

Your recent history

  • Recently searched

    • Recently viewed links

      Did you find what you were looking for? Have you got some comments for us?