China | The subtleties of soft powerCan money buy that sort of thing? Mar 23rd 2017|BEIJINGIMAGES of China beam out from a giant electronic billboard on Times Square in the heart of New York city: ancient temples, neon-lit skyscrapers and sun-drenched paddy fields. Xinhua, a news service run by the Chinese government, is proclaiming the “new perspective” offered by its English-language television channel. In Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, children play beneath hoardings advertising swanky, Chinese-b
Books of Chinese writer Mo Yan are on display during the book fair in Frankfurt, October 11, 2012. Since winning his award, Mo has come under criticism for his defense of censorship in China (Ralph Orlowsky/Reuters)Since the publication of his debut novel Leave me Alone: A Novel of Chengdu, Murong Xuecun (real name: Hao Qun) has emerged as one of China's brightest literary stars as well as a trenchant critic of Chinese censorship. In this essay, adapted from PEN International's new report Creativity and Constraint in T
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April 15, 2025 12:34
Trump and Xi’s Tariffs are Preparation for a US vs. China War Nobody Wants
Shortly before US President Donald Trump pulled out a giant cardboard tariff chart to usher in “Liberation Day” and upend the post-World War II economic order, he made a telling comment that largely flew under the radar.“The United States can no longer produce enough antibiotics to treat our sick,” Trump said in the White House Rose Garden on April 2. “If anything ever happened from a war standpoint, we wouldn’t be able to do it.”If only he had stopped there, Trump would’ve been hard-pressed to find anyone who disagreed with him. Of all the
Soil samples collected by Greenpeace East Asia researchers near Asia’s largest zinc and lead mine and smelting plant, in Yunnan Province, show severe heavy metal contamination, the organization says. The findings, it has reported, highlight the environmental and health hazards as industries react to tighter pollution constraints in eastern China by expanding operations in less developed areas in the west.绿色和平东亚分部(Greenpeace East Asia)研究人员前往云南省境内的亚洲最大铅锌矿和冶炼厂附近进行了土壤样本采集，据样本显示，土壤的重金属污染十分严重。据该组织的报告显示，面对中国东部地区日益严格的污染限制，工业企业在向西部欠发达地区扩张，造成了当地环境和健康危害。
Soil in China’s leading rice-producing region shows high levels of heavy metal contamination, in a study that suggests that the proximity of mining and industry to agricultural areas is posing serious threats to the country’s food chain.一项研究显示，中国重要的稻米产地遭受了严重的重金属污染，而农田靠近工矿企业的情形正对中国的食物链构成重大威胁。在《“有色”米——湖南衡东县稻米重金属污染调查》(Cadmium Rice: Heavy metal pollution of China’s rice crops)一文中，绿色和平组织东亚分部(Greenpeace East Asia)的研究人员对湖南省一座有色金属冶炼工业园附近的农田、闲置土壤、地表水和稻米进行了采样。湖南是中国水稻产量最高的省份。In some locations of the study, the researchers found soil containing cadmium levels more than 200
“今天的会可能开不成了。”碧山村农家书屋的负责人欧阳金洪在室内踱步两个小时之后，略显尴尬地跟我解释：“马上要过年，家家都有事儿。”2014年春节将近，平日里空荡荡的村子这阵子挤满了车，有奔驰有别克。和中国无数正在萎缩的村庄一样，位于安徽省黄山市黟县的碧山村已经为城市输送了它几乎全部的青壮年人口，唯有春节期间才能见到大批回乡过年的外地务工村民。碧山村委决定在小年这天上午开个交流会，看能否劝说他们中的一些回乡创业。年过七旬的退休教师欧阳金洪早上8点就来到农家书屋——一个由政府出资管理的乡村阅览室——做准备。他挂起红底白字“碧山村流动人口暨返乡民工座谈会”的横幅，扫地，抹桌，烧水，摆上塑料花和一次性杯子，等人来了就沏茶。9点钟，书屋迎来了第一位来开会的村民——四十五岁的艺术家、策展人欧宁戴着他标志性的圆型平顶帽和黑色树脂框眼镜，进来道了声：“欧阳老师早。”欧宁和他的老友、策展人左靖过去几年中在碧山这个徽州古村发起了一个叫“碧山计划”的乡村建设项目，组织了各种文化保护与社区活动，但对这个村子人口日渐稀少的状况还没有产生什么实质性的影响。今天，欧宁想借机和返乡的碧山年轻人交流交流。9点半，村主任王晓峰和村委书记朱显东相继来到书屋，仍不见返乡民工前来，便去挨家挨户动员。欧阳金洪和欧宁聊天，说起农家书屋里的电脑突然上不了网，欧宁帮着查看了一番，发现是因为欠费而被中国电信断网了，欧阳金洪说节后就去县城里缴费。闲着也是闲着，欧宁随手从留守儿童课外读物架上拿起一本中英文对照版《小飞侠彼得•潘》翻看起来。10点半，村干部们无功而返。年轻人都在这一年一度的珍贵假期里探亲访友、购置年货，和村委开会的档期大概要排在探望表舅爷他二姑爹之后。朱显东搓搓双手，宣布交流会改期举行。王晓峰请唯一与会的村民欧宁填写了一份“进万户、听民意、解民忧”群众走访表。欧宁放下《小飞侠》，思考片刻，在表上写下他作为一个碧山村民和碧山计划的发起人对新一年中对村委工作的期许：“清洁漳河；教村民使用电脑上网；多联系在外
Though I’m a woman with children, I should confess that I’m not the target mom-reader for the latest avalanche of family cookbooks, which bear titles like “Dinner: A Love Story” or “The Family Cooks.” This is my shortcoming: Where I ought to have a lively intellectual curiosity about food preparation, I generally have a despairing blank.虽然我是个母亲，但我必须承认自己并非《晚餐：一个爱的故事》(Dinner: A Love Story)或《家庭厨师》(The Family Cooks)最近这一大堆家庭烹饪书的目标读者。这是我的缺点：我本该对烹制食物产生强烈的求知欲，但通常我只感到绝望的木然。“Have you figured out dinner yet?” my daughter Susannah, who’s 5, asks me. Figure out. Not “fix” dinner; not “make” it. She gets that phrase from me. A vague neural itch sets in around 5 p.m. when I recognize that something must happen, and soon, involving plates and macronutrients. I do not move. Dinner preparation is all mental arou
BEIJING — Before her husband disappeared into detention, Chen Guiqiu did not ask him much about his risky work as a Chinese human rights lawyer. Before word crept out that he had been tortured, Ms. Chen trusted the police. Before she was told she could not leave China, she never expected she would make a perilous escape abroad.北京——在丈夫遭拘押而失去音讯前，陈桂秋几乎不曾过问他所从事的中国人权律师这份危险的工作。在有关他遭受酷刑的消息传出之前，陈桂秋一直相信警察。在被告知她不能离开中国之前，她也从没想过自己会走上危机四伏的海外逃亡之路。Ms. Chen and her two daughters reached the United States in March after an overland journey to Thailand that almost ended in their deportation back to China. Her husband, Xie Yang, was
The thunder of artillery echoes night and day over the mighty Dnipro River as it winds its way through southern Ukraine. With Russian and Ukrainian forces squared off on opposite banks, fighters have replaced fishermen, surveillance drones circle overhead and mines line the marshy embankments.浩瀚的第聂伯河蜿蜒穿过乌克兰南部，河流上空日夜回荡着炮火声。俄罗斯和乌克兰军队隔河而战，渔民被战斗人员取代，侦察无人机在头顶盘旋，地雷遍布泥泞的堤岸。Carving an arc through Ukraine from its northern border to the Black Sea, through Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, the Dnipro shapes the country’s geography and economy, its culture and its very identity. And now it helps define the contours of battle — as it has for millenniums, a barrier and a conduit to warring Scythians, Greeks, Vikings, Huns, Cossacks, Russians, Germans and many more.第
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