https://www.scmp.com/rss/329251/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com William Zheng William Zheng Chinese President Xi Jinping has paid tribute to late reformist leader Hu Yaobang by urging today’s Communist Party cadres to follow in his footsteps to tackle the country’s tough issues. At the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday, Xi said that opening up and reform were the “magical instruments” of China’s modernisation but the party still had to “crack the hard nuts” to counter challenges and to improve governance. He issued the call at a symposium to mark the 110th anniversary of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3333589/xi-jinping-taps-hu-yaobangs-legacy-rally-communist-party-crack-hard-nuts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3333589/xi-jinping-taps-hu-yaobangs-legacy-rally-communist-party-crack-hard-nuts?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Nov 2025 13:32:46 +0000 The Musk-Ramaswamy duet is gearing up for one of the most ambitious reform projects in US political history. Appointed to president-elect Donald Trump’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency, their mission is to overhaul the government, make it smaller, streamline bureaucracy and ultimately transform the way America operates. It’s a grand vision to tackle some of the country’s most entrenched problems. There might be a lesson or two to be learned from China’s rich history of reformers.... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3290381/what-elon-musk-and-vivek-ramaswamy-can-learn-chinas-reformers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3290381/what-elon-musk-and-vivek-ramaswamy-can-learn-chinas-reformers?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Dec 2024 01:30:07 +0000 After decades of the enthusiastic pursuit of wealth, many are rethinking the long-held notion that “to get rich is glorious” in Chinese society. This reassessment can be gleaned from China’s high-school graduates. As the country’s 18-year-olds choose their academic destinations this summer, fewer top students are looking to study finance or attend business schools – the typical paths taken to ensure high-salaried jobs in the future. China’s smartest kids are losing interest in becoming bankers... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3272317/its-now-okay-not-be-okay-about-getting-rich-china-could-become-problem?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3272317/its-now-okay-not-be-okay-about-getting-rich-china-could-become-problem?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Jul 2024 23:00:15 +0000 Top officials in China’s economic heartlands got back to work on Sunday with a series of tech and investment-centred conferences across the country, signalling Beijing’s focus this year is firmly on the economy. In a State Council meeting attended by vice-premiers, state councillors and ministry chiefs, Premier Li Qiang called for “quick results” in tackling domestic economic problems. “All departments must … quickly enter into work mode and pay close attention to implementation,” state news... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3252339/chinas-economic-powerhouses-target-top-tier-industrial-tech-national-high-quality-growth-drive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3252339/chinas-economic-powerhouses-target-top-tier-industrial-tech-national-high-quality-growth-drive?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Feb 2024 22:00:32 +0000 It is sometimes puzzling to find that many of the people who benefited a lot from China’s economic liberalisation still have strong feelings about the word “capital”, using it interchangeably with terms such as “greed”, “exploitation” or “evil”, depending on the context. While the country officially regards capital as one of the production factors in its socialist economy along with land, technology and data, private capital is still sometimes seen as a source of social problems, such as income... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3231782/entrepreneurs-are-hope-chinas-economic-future-so-stop-making-capital-dirty-word?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3231782/entrepreneurs-are-hope-chinas-economic-future-so-stop-making-capital-dirty-word?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Aug 2023 23:00:12 +0000 Beijing’s overly “draconian” strings attached to investment policies, while giving the cold shoulder to existing foreign investors in China, threaten to undermine its goal of drumming up more inbound investment, according to a survey from an independent multinational think tank. The findings come as Beijing emphasised this week, during its 20th party congress, that China remains committed to further opening up – a commitment made amid growing concerns that the world’s second-largest economy is... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3196643/chinas-vows-support-inbound-investment-fail-convince-foreign-firms-already-country-survey-finds?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3196643/chinas-vows-support-inbound-investment-fail-convince-foreign-firms-already-country-survey-finds?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Oct 2022 08:00:13 +0000 China’s progress in implementing market reforms has become “stagnated” in key areas, including competitiveness and openness to investment, according to findings outlined in an updated assessment of China’s economic development. Although the country’s progress has been “undeniable” by specific metrics, headwinds from the US-China trade war and fears over an exodus of foreign investment have dampened outlooks, according to the latest China Pathfinder report published by the Atlantic Council and... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3195717/despite-chinas-vows-market-reform-progress-remains-stagnated?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3195717/despite-chinas-vows-market-reform-progress-remains-stagnated?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Oct 2022 16:00:14 +0000 In the last two months, staff at subway stations in the Chinese capital Beijing and the neighbouring city of Tianjin have been on a mission. Signs and route maps with English names at the stations have come down and been replaced with ones with pinyin, or romanised, transliterations of the Chinese characters. Instead of maps pointing out the stop for Tianjin Binhai International Airport, the directions are now to Binhai Guo Ji Ji Chang. Beijing Railway Station is now referred to as Beijing Zhan,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3166246/deglobalisation-writing-wall-how-china-reversing-cultural?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3166246/deglobalisation-writing-wall-how-china-reversing-cultural?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Feb 2022 23:00:11 +0000 China’s ambitious plan to build a more open economic system in Shenzhen will present neighbouring Hong Kong with an opportunity to benefit from regional reform in the Greater Bay Area and also to serve as a model city that Shenzhen can learn from, according to analysts. Some argue that Shenzhen still has a lot of growing and developing to do as it strives to be a world-class city, and the new blueprint released this week addresses that by doubling down on the southern Chinese metropolis’s... https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3165178/chinas-big-shenzhen-plans-aim-transform-greater-bay?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3165178/chinas-big-shenzhen-plans-aim-transform-greater-bay?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Jan 2022 04:15:24 +0000 China remains on top of international investors’ agenda as they continue to pour billions of dollars into Chinese bonds and equities despite the pandemic and political tension between Washington and Beijing, according to the boss of Hong Kong’s bourse operator. This will further strengthen Hong Kong’s role as a connector between mainland China and the global markets, Nicolas Aguzin, chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), said on Wednesday. “We’re not seeing a decoupling at... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3158916/international-investors-firmly-focused-chinas-market?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3158916/international-investors-firmly-focused-chinas-market?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Dec 2021 14:00:16 +0000 A new history book out on Monday tells the story of Hong Kong’s role in China’s economic reform and opening up since 1978, and how both have gained in the decades since, but the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown is a conspicuous absence in its chronology of related events. The city played a “vital, critical and decisive” role in China’s economic miracle, said one of the book’s chief editors, Professor Edward Chen Kwan-yiu. “It is possible that China would not have achieved its current status and... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3158587/new-book-hong-kong-chronicles-institute-records?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3158587/new-book-hong-kong-chronicles-institute-records?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Dec 2021 03:24:54 +0000 The regulatory storm sweeping across China’s economy has raised concerns about the scale of government intervention in local markets, while some analysts question whether the changes are enough to boost innovation and ensure “quality growth” amid an increasingly challenging external environment. In recent weeks, Beijing has unleashed a flurry of new regulations for internet-oriented tech companies, private education firms and overseas listings, disrupting global markets and triggering huge... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3145764/chinas-economy-inflection-point-xi-jinping-embarks-sweeping?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3145764/chinas-economy-inflection-point-xi-jinping-embarks-sweeping?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Aug 2021 12:00:21 +0000 When the representatives of several after-school tutoring giants were called in for a meeting with China’s Ministry of Education in March, they were told that their teaching materials and content would be treated as publications – subject to advanced censorship. Those who attended the meeting said the representatives agreed to fully cooperate but explained that they could not simply change the handouts overnight. The proposal also would not be an easy task for education authorities, as it would... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3143551/why-china-cracked-down-education-and-upended-us70-billion?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3143551/why-china-cracked-down-education-and-upended-us70-billion?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Aug 2021 22:00:16 +0000 They weren’t movers and shakers or big tycoons, but they shared the stage with President Xi Jinping on Wednesday to celebrate Shenzhen’s achievements over the past four decades. Chen Zhilie, who set up a computer company with four other researchers in the southern city 27 years ago, spoke of his experience. “What has come along with the Shenzhen special economic zone in the past 40 years is generations of entrepreneurs who dared to make their dreams come true through experimentation and... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3105567/personal-stories-shenzhen-miracle-drive-home-beijings-message?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3105567/personal-stories-shenzhen-miracle-drive-home-beijings-message?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Oct 2020 16:30:19 +0000 President Xi Jinping is pinning his hopes on Shenzhen to set an example for the rest of China by renewing Deng Xiaoping’s success of experimenting with the city and applying it elsewhere, which helped turn the country from an economic backwater to the world’s second largest economy. In an hour-long speech on Wednesday, China’s most powerful leader in decades said the country was facing new challenges and called on the city to make “greater contributions” to national prosperity – noting it had... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3105537/chinas-xi-jinping-praises-shenzhen-economic-model-country?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3105537/chinas-xi-jinping-praises-shenzhen-economic-model-country?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Oct 2020 12:00:14 +0000 President Xi Jinping sought to address some of the issues facing China at a time of “turmoil and change” at a ceremony in Shenzhen on Wednesday, and called on the southern metropolis to become a world-class innovation powerhouse and model for economic reform. He said China would continue to integrate into the world economy instead of pivoting to an economy with an inward-looking focus – although his “dual-cycle model” emphasises domestic-led growth. In a wide-ranging speech to mark the 40th... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3105519/xi-exhorts-shenzhen-step-and-lead-china-out-pandemic-innovation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3105519/xi-exhorts-shenzhen-step-and-lead-china-out-pandemic-innovation?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Oct 2020 10:31:45 +0000 Shenzhen, the policy test bed for China’s reforms and economic liberalisation for over four decades, now finds itself at the forefront to turn the Greater Bay Area (GBA) into the vanguard of the country’s deregulation. The former fishing village has turned into the wealthiest city in Guangdong province over the period and is dubbed China’s Silicon Valley for its cluster of technology giants based there. As the closest GBA city to Hong Kong – separated by a 15-minute high-speed train journey –... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3101560/shenzhen-reprise-role-vanguard-chinas-financial-reforms-its?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3101560/shenzhen-reprise-role-vanguard-chinas-financial-reforms-its?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Sep 2020 12:00:20 +0000 When Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, it was no surprise that he refreshed his country’s vows to deepen its reforms and widen the opening up process. While Xi has talked a good game on reforms to domestic and international audiences for years, foreign investors have remained unimpressed. The US launched the trade war with China last year partly in response to years of anger and frustration at the slow pace of reform. In his keynote speech on Friday, Xi... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3017298/chinas-academics-join-calls-reform-and-opening?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3017298/chinas-academics-join-calls-reform-and-opening?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Jul 2019 23:00:12 +0000 It’s more than likely that a final solution to the six-month US-China trade war can be reached when President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump next meet, with a few affordable concessions from China, But what after that? The first two decades of the 21st century has been officially described as “a period of important strategic opportunity” which China “must seize tightly”. The question is: is that opportunity slipping away? Many are crying wolf over two challenges in particular – the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2186306/chinas-strategic-opportunities-are-beijings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2186306/chinas-strategic-opportunities-are-beijings?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Feb 2019 19:03:22 +0000 Two guys walk into a bar. It’s only 3pm and they’re glowering at each other. The bartender asks, “What’ll you have?” The Chinese guy says a Maotai, make it a double. The American says an Americano, light on the vermouth. “So early in the day?” quips the barman. The men respond that they’re furious. “With what?” he asks. The men point and jab at each other. “If you’re that angry”, he says, “why are you two drinking together?” Shrugging, they say, as one: “Because no one else wants to drink with... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2185660/china-and-us-are-moving-away-cooperation-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2185660/china-and-us-are-moving-away-cooperation-and?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Feb 2019 19:00:30 +0000 Developments in China in 2018, especially the abolition of presidential term limits and Beijing’s response to the trade war, indicated that the centralisation of power in Xi Jinping’s hands is complete. In six years of Xi’s rule, this centralisation has been the most prominent feature of Chinese politics. It is clear from 2018 that this consolidation of power has reached the apex of what is permissible under the current conditions. Any further and it would be the Mao Zedong era all over... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2184088/trade-war-wont-shake-xi-jinpings-grip-power?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2184088/trade-war-wont-shake-xi-jinpings-grip-power?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Jan 2019 19:00:00 +0000 Forty years ago, I stood at Andrews Air Force Base to await Deng Xiaoping’s arrival as he began his historic visit to the United States. There are no words to describe what it meant for me, as a Chinese-American, to see the country of my birth finally forging ties with my new home.  I came to the US shortly before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, so my experience in the US had primarily been of a China and US at odds with each other, especially after the start of the Korean war. I... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2181522/us-china-relationship-too-big-fail-are-trump?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2181522/us-china-relationship-too-big-fail-are-trump?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Jan 2019 17:00:30 +0000 This year marks four decades of normalisation of ties between China and the United States but the anniversary has been overshadowed by an unprecedented trade war and tensions over security and ideology. To commemorate the event, the South China Morning Post is publishing a series of stories throughout the year taking a deeper look at how the relationship between the two nations has evolved. Here, former US trade representative Charlene Barshefsky shares her views on China’s accession to the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/2180216/former-top-us-trade-negotiator-charlene-barshefsky-says-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/2180216/former-top-us-trade-negotiator-charlene-barshefsky-says-china?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 31 Dec 2018 23:00:37 +0000 I left my home in China in 1949, nearly 70 years ago. I thought I would just be studying in the United States before returning to China. But events beyond my control – the Communist victory over the Nationalists soon after I arrived in the US, the escalation of the cold war, and the Korean war – kept me in the US. I quickly built a life in America, became an American citizen, and pursued my own version of the American dream. All the while, China was morphing into a country I would hardly... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2179846/xi-jinpings-china-ignoring-role-us-and-others?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2179846/xi-jinpings-china-ignoring-role-us-and-others?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Dec 2018 17:00:51 +0000 Forty years ago, on December 29, 1978, the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China released the official communique from its third plenary session, launching the greatest economic-growth experiment in human history. In newspeak understandable to Communist Party insiders, the country’s leaders, channelling the wishes of Deng Xiaoping, announced a series of unprecedented “modernisations” that would transform one of the world’s least-developed countries into a leading economic... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2179619/40-years-china-dispels-myths-economic-growth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2179619/40-years-china-dispels-myths-economic-growth?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Dec 2018 18:00:45 +0000 As China celebrates the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking policy that triggered the country’s economic renaissance, a museum dedicated to the story of reform and opening up celebrates a pioneer of the policy who is often played down in official accounts. The Shekou Museum of China’s Reform and Opening Up is on the third floor of the impressive Seaworld Culture and Arts Centre, overlooking Shenzhen Bay in Shekou, a district of Shenzhen, the southern Chinese city that borders Hong... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/2179330/unsung-hero-chinas-opening-40-years-ago-remembered-shenzhen?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/2179330/unsung-hero-chinas-opening-40-years-ago-remembered-shenzhen?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Dec 2018 00:15:45 +0000 Since beginning its reform and opening up 40 years ago this month, China has been a very good student. And now, after four decades of rapid development, the country is increasingly presenting itself as a teacher. As it commits more capital abroad, it has a strong interest in how countries where it invests are run. But is the world ready to learn from it?  In recent years, China has been using its more assertive “going out” policy – most ambitiously expressed in its massive Belt and Road... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2179494/how-mistrust-gets-way-learning-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2179494/how-mistrust-gets-way-learning-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Dec 2018 04:30:15 +0000 In the run up to President Xi Jinping’s speech at the grand gathering in Beijing on Tuesday to mark China’s 40th anniversary of reform and opening up, expectations were high, particularly among some overseas analysts, that he would announce substantive measures to defuse the trade war with the United States and outline plans to overhaul the economy. Disappointment was palpable and stock markets in Asia took a hit as Xi announced no new policies and instead devoted the bulk of his speech to... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2178964/cheer-crises-us-trade-war-reform-chinas-economy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2178964/cheer-crises-us-trade-war-reform-chinas-economy?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Dec 2018 01:30:30 +0000 This week marks the 40th anniversary of the official start of China’s reform and opening up, when the third plenary session of the Communist Party’s 11th Central Committee was held from December 18 to 22, 1978.  Just one month before the historic conference, in November 1978, Deng Xiaoping visited Singapore, marvelling over its achievements in development. During the trip, Singapore’s founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew told Deng: “Whatever we have done, you can do better because we are the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/asia/article/2178648/even-after-40-years-china-can-still-learn-singapore?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/asia/article/2178648/even-after-40-years-china-can-still-learn-singapore?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Dec 2018 22:30:15 +0000 China faced “unimaginable” perils and dangers, but Communist Party rule and its chosen path would help to weather them, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday as he tried to shore up confidence in a country at a crossroads after four decades of reforms. He was speaking at a high-profile event in Beijing marking the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening that started with a ceremony to honour 100 “reform pioneers”. Ten foreigners also received a “China Friendship Medal”, including... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/2178607/what-xi-jinping-says-can-help-save-china-terrifying-tidal-waves?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/2178607/what-xi-jinping-says-can-help-save-china-terrifying-tidal-waves?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Dec 2018 15:30:23 +0000 Xi Jinping’s speech marking the 40th anniversary of the country’s reform and opening up was one of the most keenly anticipated of his leadership. It may not have met expectations of new policies or directions, or dwelt in detail on economic challenges or touched directly on the trade war with the United States. But that did not detract from his central message, which was about adapting the lessons of 40 years of success under Communist Party leadership to face future challenges – and [even]... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/world/article/2178595/lessons-past-point-way-ahead-xi-jinping-opening-goes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/world/article/2178595/lessons-past-point-way-ahead-xi-jinping-opening-goes?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Dec 2018 13:25:55 +0000 President Xi Jinping has called for improvements in Hong Kong’s implementation of its mini-constitution, the Basic Law, as he emphasised Beijing’s firm political will and strong capability to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Speaking at a ceremony in Beijing on Tuesday to commemorate the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up, Xi also said: “To accomplish the motherland’s complete reunification is a common aspiration of all children of the Chinese nation. …... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2178553/implement-basic-law-better-xi-jinping-tells-hong-kong-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2178553/implement-basic-law-better-xi-jinping-tells-hong-kong-and?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Dec 2018 10:00:15 +0000 China honoured 10 foreigners on Tuesday, including Singapore’s late founding father Lee Kuan Yew, for their part in realising the policy of reform and opening up that propelled China’s economic miracle. The recipients of the China Reform Friendship Medals are foreigners Beijing regards as having played a key role in helping China open up to the world economically and diplomatically. Lee, once praised by Chinese President Xi Jinping as “an old friend of the Chinese people”, was awarded for... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/2178499/lee-kuan-yew-among-foreigners-honoured-helping-china-open?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/2178499/lee-kuan-yew-among-foreigners-honoured-helping-china-open?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Dec 2018 09:00:30 +0000 China faces “unimaginable” perils and dangers ahead and must rely on Communist Party rule and economic reform to sail through them, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in one of the most watched speeches of his leadership in Beijing on Tuesday. Speaking at the Great Hall of the People to mark the 40th anniversary of the country’s reform and opening up, Xi did not directly address the specific challenges facing the world’s second biggest economy or touch on sensitive issues such as the ongoing... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/2178471/xi-china-stick-communist-rule-and-its-own-path-cope-unimaginable?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/2178471/xi-china-stick-communist-rule-and-its-own-path-cope-unimaginable?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Dec 2018 06:20:07 +0000 Premier Li Keqiang has praised Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor for her leadership of the city, highlighting her promotion of innovation and efforts to tackle livelihood issues. Speaking at a Monday morning meeting with Lam, who is in Beijing for her annual duty visit, Li also urged Hong Kong to seize opportunities brought by China’s economic reform and opening up. Lam was expected to meet President Xi Jinping on Monday afternoon. Only the start of Li’s meeting with Lam was... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2178271/chinese-premier-li-keqiang-praises-hong-kong-chief-executive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2178271/chinese-premier-li-keqiang-praises-hong-kong-chief-executive?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Dec 2018 04:40:56 +0000 China’s senior policymakers will on Tuesday begin setting out the government’s economic policy direction for next year, immediately after the ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the country’s reform and opening up initiative, sources said. The annual Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC), which will be attended by all high-ranking state leaders including President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, Vice-Premier Liu He, financial regulatory officials, economic planners and provincial... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/2177783/beijings-policymakers-gather-set-course-chinese-economy-tide?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/2177783/beijings-policymakers-gather-set-course-chinese-economy-tide?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Dec 2018 05:12:49 +0000 Tap here to launch the special feature https://www.scmp.com/infographics/china/article/2176472/how-chinas-reform-and-opening-transformed-poor-families-middle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/infographics/china/article/2176472/how-chinas-reform-and-opening-transformed-poor-families-middle?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Dec 2018 03:15:00 +0000 The Chinese leadership is banking on a revival in self-reliance to add momentum to its military modernisation drive as tensions with the United States threaten to deny China access to essential technology. But analysts say there would be a price to pay for going it alone. China’s technological vulnerability was highlighted earlier this year when Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE was pushed to the brink of financial collapse by a US ban on the sale of American parts and software to the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/2176757/back-future-self-reliance-chinas-military-technology?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/2176757/back-future-self-reliance-chinas-military-technology?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Dec 2018 23:18:10 +0000 In the nine decades since its founding, the People’s Liberation Army has served the Communist Party. In other parts of the world such as the United States and Britain, the military is a national force, loyal to the state and the civilian administration of the day. But in China, the PLA still operates under the principle that “the party controls the gun”. Nevertheless, nationalisation has been supported at times by top members of the party, including late leader Mao Zedong. Why China's military... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/2176754/party-and-gun-where-should-loyalties-chinas-military-lie?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/2176754/party-and-gun-where-should-loyalties-chinas-military-lie?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Dec 2018 22:40:20 +0000 When late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping gave the order for more than 300,000 People’s Liberation Army troops to cross from southwest China into Vietnam in February 1979, there was more than regional rivalry at stake. Within a month, the PLA occupied more than a dozen cities in northern and southern Vietnam, overcoming the heavily outnumbered Vietnamese troops and militia. Then on March 16 China suddenly withdrew all of its troops, declaring that it had “successfully given Vietnam a lesson”. On... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/2176752/misfire-big-shot-how-military-helped-china-open-and-become-force?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/2176752/misfire-big-shot-how-military-helped-china-open-and-become-force?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Dec 2018 22:18:51 +0000 One of the darkest eras in China’s modern history, the decade-long Cultural Revolution, was a living nightmare for millions of Chinese, including three intellectuals from Beijing who later went on to study in the US as part of a programme that resulted from normalisation of Sino-US ties in 1979. Yan Dachun recalls being beaten around the lower body with iron batons that broke one of his legs. Liu Baicheng had to move to a different city and live separately from his wife when he was forced into... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/2176252/now-locked-head-rivalry-us-once-helped-china-kick-start-its-science?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/2176252/now-locked-head-rivalry-us-once-helped-china-kick-start-its-science?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Dec 2018 15:00:30 +0000 Tap here to launch the special feature https://www.scmp.com/infographics/china/society/article/2176135/tale-two-cities-shenzhen-vs-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/infographics/china/society/article/2176135/tale-two-cities-shenzhen-vs-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Dec 2018 11:00:15 +0000 A prominent Hong Kong political cartoonist is marking the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and economic opening up with a retrospective whose title says it all: “Disorderly laughter not allowed. 40 years of reform and opening up, sown by Xiaoping and cut down by Jinping.” Wong Kei-kwan, better known as “Zunzi”, his pen name in Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao, boldly lays out references to the suppression of free expression and the contrast between the exuberance of the late 1970s and... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/2176156/hong-kong-political-cartoonist-takes-aim-40-years-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/2176156/hong-kong-political-cartoonist-takes-aim-40-years-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Dec 2018 10:01:01 +0000 When Communist Party officials were debating during the late 1980s to open the very symbol of capitalism – the stock market – on the mainland to finance China’s modernisation, they looked south to Hong Kong for help. Hong Kong was where the commencement date of the Shanghai Stock Exchange was announced by then mayor and commissar Zhu Rongji, who picked up the mantle after an earlier proposal for a Beijing exchange was left in limbo by the political tension following the June 1989 Tiananmen... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2175980/hong-kong-has-played-outsize-role-contributing-growth-chinas-financial?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2175980/hong-kong-has-played-outsize-role-contributing-growth-chinas-financial?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Dec 2018 00:30:45 +0000 Investment bankers and financial consultants spent the past few weeks furiously working to turn Chinese President Xi Jinping’s November 5 blockbuster announcement of a new technology board on the Shanghai Stock Exchange into reality. The ambitious, but sketchy, plan seeks to entice China’s most innovative start-ups to raise funds at home by adopting a registration system just like in developed markets, where initial public offerings (IPOs) can be launched based on financial needs, investors’... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2175977/chinas-stock-market-needs-ditch-its-patchwork-rules-clean?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2175977/chinas-stock-market-needs-ditch-its-patchwork-rules-clean?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Dec 2018 23:00:00 +0000 Deng Xiaoping inspected the guard of honour at the tarmac of Singapore’s airport, walked up the steps to his Boeing 707 and then turned around to wave goodbye. After the aircraft doors closed, he gave his staffers a dressing down. The Singapore he had just seen, in 1978, was nothing like the brief he had received. There had been no cheering Chinese crowds and the city he had visited for four days was more advanced and modern than any city in China. “His brief must have come from communist... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2175872/friendly-panda-fiery-dragon-how-china-and-asean-fell-and-out?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2175872/friendly-panda-fiery-dragon-how-china-and-asean-fell-and-out?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:30 +0000 Riki Leung looks around Wong Tee Plaza, with its well-lit stores displaying brand-name clothes and cosmetics and music in the air, and says: “This feels like Hong Kong, just less crowded.” Located in the centre of Shenzhen’s Futian central business district the five-storey shopping centre is above Convention and Exhibition station that connects subway Lines 1 and 4, and boasts 232 brands of food, clothes, entertainment and other services. On a Sunday in October, it is nowhere as crowded as a... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/2175608/day-out-shenzhen-food-shopping-and-karaoke-just-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/2175608/day-out-shenzhen-food-shopping-and-karaoke-just-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Nov 2018 01:00:45 +0000 Hong Kong and Shanghai have different starting points in internationalisation and different missions, but they have the same goal, which is to serve China’s needs of reform and opening-up and boost the country’s financial competitiveness in the world, according to a former top Chinese official, reiterating the political message from Beijing. At a meeting with a delegation of top officials and business leaders from Hong Kong and Macau earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping praised the... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/2175693/beijing-sends-clear-message-hong-kong-join-forces-shanghai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/2175693/beijing-sends-clear-message-hong-kong-join-forces-shanghai?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Nov 2018 00:01:58 +0000 The past 40 years of reform and opening up in China have not only been about massive investments, infrastructure projects and turning the country into the world’s second largest economy. The years of the Cultural Revolution left mainlanders with little to watch on television and at the movies other than propaganda. As China opened up, Hong Kong television dramas and movies offered a glimpse of the outside world, city life and of what China’s big changes might bring. When the mainland was ready... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/2175516/hong-kongs-film-and-tv-industry-after-40-years-chinas-opening?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/2175516/hong-kongs-film-and-tv-industry-after-40-years-chinas-opening?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Nov 2018 23:00:15 +0000 In the 1980s, they were used to publicise official campaigns such as the war on poverty. In recent years, they have been used to promote commercial products, from car brands to dietary supplements. Whether by the government or business, slogans on walls have long been a popular way of getting a message across in China, particularly in rural areas. Here’s a look at how the use of slogans and advertisements in rural areas has changed in China over the past four decades. Poverty alleviation In the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2171845/one-child-policy-online-shopping-catchphrases-40-years-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2171845/one-child-policy-online-shopping-catchphrases-40-years-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Nov 2018 00:01:57 +0000