When women have problems, [the authorities] pretend to be blind and dumb, but when they want something from us, they won’t shut up about it.”

— A Weibo user, commenting on the silence from government officials and the All-China Women’s Federation amidst a scandal about quality defects and false advertising by many Chinese brands of sanitary pads. This lack of government concern is in stark contrast to constant calls from state media and government officials for Chinese women to "do their part" to solve the demographic crisis by having as many as three children.

 

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Censors Remove Reflections on Democracy Inspired by Korean Crisis

Dec 6, 2024

Korea’s political crisis has spurred a host of commentary and reflection in China despite censorship. While state broadcaster CCTV issued minute-by-minute updates on the crisis, censors have taken down translations of articles from The Atlantic and The Guardian that were published to WeChat. “South Korea’s Warning for Washington,” by Bryan Klass in The Atlantic and “Democracy Isn’t Supposed to Work Like This” by Raphael Rashid in The Guardian have both been censored on WeChat. The former argues “one person—a power-hungry politician or a self-serving general—could destroy decades of progress...

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Global Public Opinion Polls Show Polarized Views of China

Dec 3, 2024

A series of public opinion surveys about China have made headlines recently. This week, the Asia Society Policy Institute published the Global Public Opinion on China interactive database, which aggregates worldwide polling data from over 2,500 surveys from 160 countries to show how global views on China have changed over time. It also includes short analyses of COVID-19’s impact on China’s image, public opinion on China in the Global South, and overall global opinion on China. Here is a sample from the section on views from the Global South, which showed great variation and challenged the...

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Volkswagen Exits Xinjiang After Criticism About Complicity in Human Rights Abuses

Nov 27, 2024

On Wednesday, German auto manufacturer Volkswagen (VW) announced that it would sell its operations in Xinjiang. The move comes after years of pressure from rights groups that have documented the Chinese government’s grave abuses—including forced labor—against Uyghurs and other ethnic groups in the region, and the attendant complicity of Western corporations that operate there. However, based on the company’s statements, economics rather than human rights may have been the primary motivation for its recent decision-making. Reuters first reported on VW’s exit from Xinjiang and the extension of...

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Censors Remove Reflections on Democracy Inspired by Korean Crisis

Dec 6, 2024

Korea’s political crisis has spurred a host of commentary and reflection in China despite censorship. While state broadcaster CCTV issued minute-by-minute updates on the crisis, censors have taken down translations of articles from The Atlantic and The Guardian that were published to WeChat. “South Korea’s Warning for Washington,” by Bryan Klass in The Atlantic and “Democracy Isn’t Supposed to Work Like This” by Raphael Rashid in The Guardian have both been censored on WeChat. The former argues “one person—a power-hungry politician or a self-serving general—could destroy decades of progress...

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