Her diary from a sealed-off city made Fang Fang world-famous – and ostracized in her home country. Yet even before the “Wuhan Diary,” the writer had described true-to-life stories from everyday life in China. The focus of her stories is always compassion and empathy for people who otherwise have no voice, Fang Fang’s translator Michael […]
The EU is seeking greater cooperation in international trade toward its goal of a circular economy. In bilateral trade agreements, which regulate around 40 percent of the EU’s total trade volume, the circular economy has so far rarely been explicitly mentioned. However, there is great potential with trading partners such as China, especially for plastics […]
Beijing’s central government is watching Hong Kong with concern. True, the remaining political opposition has retreated so far that it is virtually inaudible. But authoritarian government systems fear the resurgence of social dissent so much that they permanently invest large portions of their money, personnel, and attention in maintaining the status quo.Driven by the constant […]
Those who were hungry were allowed to eat their fill of cooked rice – tasteless, no side dishes, few nutrients. But in the weaving mill of the textile industrial park in Yining County in northwestern Xinjiang near the border with Kazakhstan, the kitchen also offered alternatives. Stuffed dumplings with vegetables, for example, served with delicious […]
This Friday marks 25 years to the day that Hong Kong has once again become a formal part of the People’s Republic of China. Because the city and its citizens have a different character from the rest of the country after the long colonial rule of the British, the Beijing central government recognized the “one […]
A quarter of a century lies between vision and reality. When the 25th anniversary of the return of Hong Kong from Great Britain to the People’s Republic of China is celebrated on Friday, the democratic forces of the metropolis will be faced with the shattered remains of their political goals. Instead of free elections for […]
The issue of forced labor has moved closer to German consumers than at any time since the end of World War II. The overwhelming evidence that hundreds of thousands of people are forced to work in Chinese factories for ridiculously low pay or no pay at all sparks discussions about morals and responsibilities, and about […]
More than two years after his arrest, the trial of Chinese civil rights activist Xu Zhiyong has begun in the province of Shandong. The lawyer is accused of undermining state power. On Wednesday, the defendant pleaded ‘not guilty,’ according to media reports. The trial is not open to the public. Xu’s lawyer is not allowed […]
For five years, the Taiwanese Lee Ming-che has been in Chinese custody. In one of his first interviews, he told us that it was mainly thanks to his courageous wife that he was no longer detained in the country. She had not let Chinese intimidation stop her from repeatedly organizing international attention for his case. […]
