18th Party Congress

The Chinese Communist Party's 18th Congress, held in Beijing November 8-14, 2012, marked a key power transition in China. A new generation of leaders, headed by Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, took over from the previous leadership headed by Hu Jintao. The Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee was reduced in number from nine to seven. Unlike his predecessor Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao handed over both the Party General Secretary and Chairman of the Central Military Commission positions to Xi.

New dawn for China? Corruption crackdown nets big and small officials

4 Feb 2013

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The best stories of 2012 from South China Morning Post

30 Dec 2012

It's been a year of unforgettable stories from Hong Kong, China and around the world.

There's good reason for China's bluster

7 Jan 2013

Our recent story outlining the strategic and historical context behind the statements from outgoing President Hu Jintao that China must "build itself into a maritime power" made interesting...

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Two appointments, one policy paper and a clock strikes nine

5 Jan 2013

He hugged babies. He was public about his love for his wife. He spoke without party jargon. Vice-President Xi Jinping has displayed a liberal image.

Yet, any expectations of him being soft...

Stock listings pencilled in for second half of 2013

2 Jan 2013

Many mainland companies that were forced to delay their listing plans in 2012 due to a weak market environment may find they are unable to relaunch their plans any time soon until some political...

Opinion

Jake Van Der Kamp

An age-old problem and the sums that just don't add up

Howard Winn

HSBC suffers the Taibbi treatment in Rolling Stone

Shirley Yam

How tycoons' IPO 'losses' may hide profits at herd's expense

Quickest way to get corrupt officials to change is threat of trial by microblog

From his speech at the 18th national party congress last month, it was clear that, for outgoing President Hu Jintao, fighting corruption was a priority. President-to-be Xi Jinping also appears to...

China sets date for 12th National People’s Congress

China has fixed March 5, next year, as the date it will convene a key legislative session, state media reported on Friday, with new Communist Party chief Xi Jingping set to become president during...

Beijing must provide evidence to support political warning

Tension is rising after Beijing apparently stepped up its rhetoric on how Hong Kong should be governed. After a war of words over an alleged pro-independence force in the city, a top mainland...

Hongkongers' unacceptable ignorance of China's government

A couple of weeks ago, something strange started to happen. It seemed most people I met who knew me here in Hong Kong were all asking me the same question: why wasn't I in Beijing?

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MARKETS

Shanghai market drops below key 2,000 level

The mainland's key stock indicator slipped below the psychologically important 2,000-point level yesterday, entering a territory last seen nearly four years ago.

Changing of the guards