• 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".

• THAILAND

  China's chance to save Asia's oceans

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 19/08/2016

  » On Wednesday, Indonesia celebrated its Independence Day with a bang -- blowing up several Chinese boats that had been caught fishing illegally in its waters and impounded. China doesn't dispute Indonesia's territorial claims, but Chinese fishermen have more pressing concerns. According to reports in Chinese state media this week, overfishing and pollution have so depleted China's own fishery resources that in some places -- including the East China Sea -- there are virtually "no fish" left.

• OPINION

  Despite anger, Beijing isn't in the mood for protests

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 15/07/2016

  » Chinese didn't waste any time venting their anger at The Hague's ruling against their country's territorial claims in the South China Sea. Within minutes of the news, Chinese social media was flooded with thousands of comments parroting a testy, often profane nationalism.

• OPINION

  Beijing could use a stronger, more connected Taiwan

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 14/05/2016

  » Next week's inauguration of Tsai Ing-wen as Taiwan's new president has got China agitated.

• OPINION

  China should care about privacy

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 18/05/2016

  » For a few days last week, China appeared to have its own, slow-motion Wikileaks. Via Twitter, someone using the handle @shenfenzheng leaked personal information -- such as home addresses and ID numbers -- of some of China's most powerful commercial and government figures, including Alibaba's Jack Ma, Wanda Group's Wang Jianlin and Tencent's Pony Ma.

• OPINION

  Chinese company wants to turn the world's lights on

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 05/04/2016

  » China's State Grid Corporation, the world's biggest power company, is on an impressive buying binge. As Bloomberg News reports, the company is "actively in bidding" for power assets in Australia, hoping to add them to a portfolio of Italian, Brazilian, and Filipino companies. The goal isn't simply to invest, however. State Grid's Chairman Liu Zhenya has a plan that he believes will stall global warming, put millions of people to work and bring about world peace by 2050.

• OPINION

  Why China muzzled an internet sensation

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 26/04/2016

  » Last autumn, Papi Jiang, a 29-year-old graduate student in Beijing, began posting short, satirical and occasionally profane monologues about daily life in urban China to social media. Within a couple of months, she'd racked up tens of millions of views, earned nearly US$2 million (70 million baht) in private funding and raised hopes that online celebrities might offer a new revenue stream for China's internet companies. Then, last week, it all ended: Papi Jiang's videos abruptly disappeared.

• OPINION

  Why China's glass ceiling is harder than Taiwan's

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 14/01/2016

  » If, as many expect, the Democratic Progressive Party's Tsai Ing-wen is elected as Taiwan's next president this weekend, she'll become the island's first female leader. Given that Taiwan granted suffrage to women less than a decade before the 59-year-old Ms Tsai was born, that in itself would be a remarkable achievement. What's equally striking is the contrast to mainland China, which regards the island as a renegade province. Not only has modern China never had a female leader, but unless deeply ingrained cultural and bureaucratic barriers are lifted, it's also unlikely ever to do so.

• OPINION

  A strange thing at Chinese New Year

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 26/01/2016

  » Every year, tens of millions of China's 246 million migrants return home to celebrate the Chinese New Year. It's the world's biggest annual migration, and it typically goes off smoothly. This year, however, something's amiss.

• OPINION

  China is key to preventing an antibiotic apocalypse

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 24/11/2015

  » Last week scientists announced they'd discovered a gene spreading among bacteria in China that renders them resistant to some of the world's most powerful, "last resort" antibiotics. If such invulnerable bugs spread, doctors may soon lack the tools needed to combat infections, whether contracted through chemotherapy, surgery or even simple cuts. Indeed, the post-antibiotic "apocalypse", as this scenario has been known for a decade, may already be upon us: There's evidence that the resistant genes have made their way to Laos and Malaysia.

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