Showing 1 - 10 of 36
Putting traditional Chinese medicine to the test
News, Adam Minter, Published on 17/09/2015
» Toad skins and turtle shells aren't the cures most westerners turn to when they learn they've developed cancer. But in China, the market for traditional remedies like these grew 35% last year, twice as fast as the overall anti-cancer market. Though the effectiveness of these treatments is unproven, Western doctors, elite medical institutions and pharmaceutical companies are starting to put them to the scientific test.
Behind the Great Firewall, China poisons the internet
News, Adam Minter, Published on 13/10/2015
» For years now, China's elaborate efforts to censor and control the internet -- collectively known as the Great Firewall -- have restricted what the world's biggest population of netizens can see and how fast they can download. Until now, that hasn't been much of a problem for anyone besides locals and companies such as Facebook and Google hoping to sell to them.
India, China key to ending region's haze
News, Adam Minter, Published on 19/10/2015
» The thick haze that's blanketed much of Southeast Asia for the last month carries the ashy remains of Indonesian forests and peatlands -- burnt in many cases to clear land for producing palm oil, the world's most popular edible oil.
Introduction of two-child policy is too little, too late
News, Adam Minter, Published on 27/10/2015
» When Chinese leaders convene this week for a four-day meeting on the future of the country's economy, the biggest news might have to do with babies. According to reports in Chinese media, the government may be ready to relax the notorious "one-child" policy, in existence since the late 1970s, and allow Chinese parents to have two kids.
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.
What's good for China isn't always good for Alibaba
News, Adam Minter, Published on 16/12/2015
» Late on Friday night, Alibaba's Jack Ma joined Amazon's Jeff Bezos as the latest tech billionaire to acquire his own newspaper, by purchasing Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) for US$266 million (9.6 billion baht).
How to fight Asian slavery, one supplier at a time
News, Adam Minter, Published on 23/12/2015
» As you dig into your shrimp cocktail this holiday season, spare a thought for the men and women who peeled those tiny crustaceans. According to a six-month Associated Press investigation, there's a chance the workers were modern-day slaves in Thailand, exploited by shadowy suppliers who have been linked to some of the biggest US supermarket and restaurant chains, from Wal-Mart to the Capital Grille.
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.
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.
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.