Chinese Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Xu Xiaodong's social credit score has been lowered to "D" following a court order. Xu became an internet celebrity in 2017 when a video of him defeating a tai chi grandmaster in just 20 seconds went viral. Xu is a fierce critic of what he calls "fake kung fu." He… Continue reading Chinese MMA Fighter Xu Xiaodong has social credit score lowered to “D”, is barred from buying plane tickets and real estate
A group of young Taiwanese women surrounded a couple at a KTV in Taipei's Sanchong district and beat a girl whom they believed to be a mistress. The scuffle took place on August 26 at around 10 a.m. outside of T'ung-hsüeh-hui KTV, a karaoke bar in Zhengyi North Road, in New Taipei City's Sanchong District. A video… Continue reading Group Of Taiwanese Girls Beat Mistress At KTV
Today Hong Kong's pro-democracy party Demosisto (香港眾志) denounced at a press conference the arbitrary detention by China's public security officials of two of its members. According to Demosisto chairman Ivan Lam (林朗彥), one member of the party was detained by public security on March 26 at around 6 p.m. at Shenzhen North Station while he was… Continue reading Chinese Police Detained Two Members Of Hong Kong’s Pro-Democracy Party ‘Demosisto’
"Reports of lost battles swirl in like falling snow," wrote Chiang Kai-shek at the end of 1948. "North China and the below-the-wall region are on the brink of collapse. I do not feel guilty. I tried my best" (quoted in: Jay Taylor, The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China, 2009, p. 397).… Continue reading Why Did Chiang Kai-shek Lose China? The Guomindang Regime And The Victory Of The Chinese Communist Party
Chinese state media once called China a "world superpower in stress". According to a 2012 survey, 75% of Chinese workers are stressed, compared with 47% in the United States, 42% in the United Kingdom, and 58% in Germany. Over 70% percent of Chinese white-collar workers suffer from overwork, which poses a serious risk to their health.… Continue reading The Traditional Roots of Parental Pressure and Academic Success in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan
228 Incident (The Terrible Inspection), circa 1947, by Li Jun At 11:00 A.M. of February 27, 1947, Taipei City's Monopoly Bureau was informed that a boat carrying fifty boxes of illegal matches and cigarettes had arrived near the port of Danshui, north of Taipei.Matches and cigarettes were part of the system of government monopolies set up… Continue reading The 228 Incident – The Uprising that Changed Taiwan’s History
In 1959 the renowned American anthropologist and sinologist Arthur P. Wolf went on a study trip to Taiwan with his wife Margery. They spent two years in the house of the Lims, a "joint" family who lived in a small village in the countryside. Living side by side for a long period of time with… Continue reading “The House of Lim” and the Myth of the Harmonious Chinese Family
After World War II democracy began to be viewed in the West as the best possible form of government. However, a history of democratic states shows that freedom is not something to be taken for granted. Democracy is not simply "freedom for all" or "the will of the people". It is a complex, delicate machine,… Continue reading Democracy, Mob Rule, Dictatorship: The Problem of Freedom in Ancient Athens
Different countries have different aesthetic standards: the shape of houses, streets and squares, the way people talk and dress, the landscape, orderliness, chaos etc. - these are all elements that make up each place's unique atmosphere. Aesthetic traits such as fashion and manners belong to the visible characteristics that distinguish peoples in different parts… Continue reading ‘Pretty, Innocent Asian Girls’: The Cult of Cuteness in East Asian Societies
In imperial China the family was the nucleus of social order and state ideology. Unlike its Western counterpart, the Chinese family was not simply a social unit; it was an institution that over the centuries gave rise to an ideology that permeated the lives of every individual and shaped the structure of the state. … Continue reading Memorial Arches, State, and Family Virtues in Imperial China
