Category Archives: China

‘Ordinary’ Chinese vase sells for almost €8m after ferocious bidding war

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Tianqiuping-style porcelain sells for nearly 4,000 times its estimated value after buyers are convinced it is a rare artefact

An “ordinary” Chinese vase put up for auction in France and valued at €2,000 (£1,745) has sold for almost €8m after a ferocious bidding war among buyers convinced it was a rare 18th-century artefact.

At the sale in Fontainebleau near Paris, auctioneers were astonished as the offers from about 30 mainly Chinese bidders kept on coming. When the hammer fell the vase had been sold for €7.7m – almost 4,000 times its estimated value. With the seller’s fees, the final purchase price was €9.12m.

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High-profile China #MeToo case settled in US out of court

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Liu Jingyao launched civil proceedings in 2019 against retail billionaire Liu Qiangdong

One of China’s biggest and most divisive #MeToo cases, which had been set to play out with extraordinary transparency because of its US location and was closely watched by millions inside China, has been settled out of court.

Liu Qiangdong, a 49-year-old online retail billionaire who also goes by Richard Liu and is known as China’s Jeff Bezos, had been accused of sexually assaulting a then 21-year-old Chinese graduate when she was studying at the University of Minnesota and he was visiting on a business trip. Liu has always denied the assault accusations, saying it was consensual.

In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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Hong Kong pro-democracy figure Ted Hui sentenced to jail over 2019 protests

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Former legislator, who fled to Australia last year, said earlier that any sentence would not harm his reputation or lobbying work

A Hong Kong court has sentenced pro-democracy figure in exile Ted Hui to three-and-a-half years in jail over charges related to the 2019 protest movement.

The ruling in Hong Kong’s high court on Thursday, reported by local media, is the first time someone has been sentenced in absentia over the protests.

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Return to Dust, Chinese hit film about rural hardships, disappears from streaming platforms

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Film’s sudden disappearance in China prompts censorship accusations amid heightened sensitivity ahead of key Communist party meeting

A popular Chinese film depicting a love story amid the hardships of life in rural China has been removed from all streaming services just weeks after its release, and discussion of it censored on social media.

Return to Dust had been widely praised by audiences for its realistic and moving depiction of rural life in China. For the same reason it had also drawn criticism from nationalistic voices accusing it of portraying China in a negative light.

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Apple shifts some iPhone 14 production from China to India

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Move taken against background of China’s Covid lockdowns and geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington

Apple has begun making iPhone 14s in India, as it moves some production away from China for the first time against a backdrop of Chinese Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns and geopolitical tensions between the US and the country’s communist government.

A production line in Chennai has begun operation, assembling the iPhone 14 for the domestic Indian market. The move, which marks the first time the company has assembled iPhones outside of China in the same year they were released, is part of a plan to disentangle its manufacturing operations from the Chinese state.

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China growth lags Asia-Pacific for first time in decades as World Bank cuts outlook

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East Asia and Pacific annual growth forecasts downgraded from 5% to 3.2% as China’s economy cools, largely due to zero-Covid policy

Covid-zero policies and the housing market crisis have put China’s economic growth behind the rest of the Asia-Pacific region for the first time in more than 30 years, according to World Bank forecasts.

In a biannual report released on Tuesday, the US-based institution said the annual growth outlook for East Asia and the Pacific region had been downgraded from 5% to 3.2%. However much of that decline was down to economic woes in China, which constitute’s 86% of the region’s economic output.

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A Ponzi scheme by any other name: the bursting of China property bubble

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Only state intervention can save the day, but the pain is likely to fall on ordinary citizens, say observers

A little more than a year ago, a Chinese property developer largely unknown to the outside world said its cashflow was under “tremendous pressure” and it might not be able to pay back some of its eye-watering debts of $300bn (£275bn).

Today, that company, China Evergrande Group, is all too well known as the poster child of the country’s economic woes. House prices in China have fallen in each of the 12 months since Evergrande’s now prophetic warning, with Xi Jinping’s government now preparing to throw billions of dollars at a property market that experts say increasingly resembles a giant Ponzi scheme.

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Turtle concern: Australian businessman denies threatening to sell Conflict Islands to China

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Ian Gowrie-Smith says he was frustrated the Australian government did not respond to urgent funding request for turtle conservation

The owner of 21 tropical islands off the coast of Papua New Guinea says he never threatened to sell them to China and his main aim is to save the turtles that nest there.

Ian Gowrie-Smith, an Australian businessman and investor, bought the Conflict Islands, which lie less than 1,000km from the Australian coast, almost two decades ago.

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Russia’s allies China and India call for negotiations to end Ukraine war

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Moscow isolated at United Nations assembly, with no major country siding with it

China and India have called for a negotiated end to the Ukraine war, stopping short of robust support for traditional ally Russia.

After a week of pressure at the United Nations general assembly, Russia’s foreign minister took the general assembly rostrum to deliver a fiery rebuke to western nations for what he termed a “grotesque” campaign against Russians.

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China says US sending ‘dangerous signals’ on Taiwan

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Comments from Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi come after meeting with US secretary of state Antony Blinken on sidelines of UN general assembly

China has accused the United States of sending “very wrong, dangerous signals” on Taiwan after the US secretary of state told his Chinese counterpart on Friday that the maintenance of peace and stability over Taiwan was vitally important.

Taiwan was the focus of the 90-minute, “direct and honest” talks between the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, on the margins of the UN general assembly in New York, a US official told reporters.

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China sentences man who attacked women at restaurant to 24 years

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Assault by Chen Jizhi and his friends on 10 June has sparked a national debate over gender-based violence

The main perpetrator of an assault against a group of women at a barbecue restaurant in China has been sentenced to 24 years in prison, after the case sparked a national debate over gender-based violence.

Chen Jizhi started hitting the women after they rejected his “harassment” in the early hours of 10 June in the city of Tangshan in Hebei province, east of Beijing, the court said in a statement.

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China ready for ‘fight’ over international action on Xinjiang human rights abuses

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Threat comes as UN member states meet in Geneva amid pressure to take action on a damning report on abuse of Uyghurs

A Chinese envoy to the United Nations has warned western nations and allies that Beijing is ready for a “fight” amid growing pressure for global action against China over its human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

The threat follows the release of a report by the UN office of the high commissioner for human rights which found the government was likely committing crimes against humanity with its abuses of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang.

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China’s former justice minister faces life in prison amid purge of security officials

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Fu Zhenghua, who had led several high-profile investigations into corruption, was accused of accepting bribes

Former Chinese justice minister Fu Zhenghua, who had headed several high-profile investigations into corruption, has been jailed for life for accepting bribes, state media says, as a purge of officials intensified ahead of a key Communist party congress.

Fu, 67, was handed a suspended death sentence that will be commuted to life imprisonment after two years, with no possibility of parole, according to state media on Thursday.

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Patience with Putin may be ebbing among friendlier countries

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Turkey, India and China respond cooly to news of planned referendums in Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia

Signs that some countries willing to tolerate Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are losing patience have emerged as Turkey, India and China responded cooly to the announcement that four Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia were planning referendums on joining the Russian Federation.

Turkey, which has been at the centre of mediation between the west and Russia, issued a sharp rebuke, saying in a statement that it was concerned by attempts to stage unilateral referendums.

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Hong Kong journalist allowed to travel to UK after court grants bail

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Ronson Chan was arrested in September as part of an ongoing crackdown on dissent and free expression in the city

The head of Hong Kong’s journalists’ association will be allowed to travel to the UK for an Oxford fellowship after a court granted him bail and declined to place restrictions on his movement over a charge of obstructing police officers.

Ronson Chan was arrested on 7 September while he was covering a residence meeting at a Hong Kong housing estate. Police allege he refused to provide ID and behaved in an “uncooperative” way despite multiple warnings, and he was charged this week. Chan has claimed innocence, saying he was within his rights to ask police for identification before he produced his.

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Chinese police detain ‘godfather of film industry’ over abuse claims

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Du Yingzhe, a well-known tutor at a prestigious teaching academy, accused of abusing at least 19 students

Chinese police have detained a man over the alleged abuse of at least 19 former students at a prestigious tutoring academy, after a viral article outlined one of the country’s most shocking #MeToo cases in years.

Du Yingzhe, 40, was a well-known tutor at Shadow Road, which assists high school students to get into the country’s best art and film schools. On Monday Du was accused by a former student of harassing, grooming and raping students, including some who were underage and a 17-year-old girl who fell pregnant.

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China’s Lipstick King reappears, months after Tiananmen ‘tank cake’ row

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Celebrity livestreamer Li Jiaqi returns to screen after nearly four months of silence following a broadcast showcasing a tank-shaped dessert

China’s leading shopping livestreamer, Li Jiaqi, has returned to online commerce platforms almost four months after his feed was suddenly cut, which viewers suspected was linked to the errant appearance of a tank-shaped cake.

Li, also known as the Lipstick King for his ability to move huge amounts of product on his sales channels, briefly appeared on Alibaba Group’s Taobao marketplace on Tuesday evening.

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Will China’s plan for a ‘green silk road’ live up to environmental promises?

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China has pledged to make its Belt and Road initiative greener, but critics say environmental guidelines ‘nonexistent’

In July 2019, China rolled out the red carpet for the Bangladeshi prime minister, Sheikh Hasina. Flown to Beijing by the Chinese government, she was greeted with an honour guard and banquet and received by the president, Xi Jinping, and the prime minister, Li Keqiang. Three days later, she returned to her capital, Dhaka, with nine agreements worth billions of dollars to build power plants and provide other development assistance.

Hasina’s short visit benefited both countries. Big new infrastructure projects would help lift living standards in Bangladesh, but also enable China to strengthen its influence on its fast-growing neighbour of more than 160 million people.

This article was originally published by Ensia

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Ukraine war to take centre stage at UN as west and Russia vie for support

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The general assembly is expected to see fresh tussles over future of Ukraine, as well as the threats of famine and the climate crisis in the global south

The UN general assembly summit this week will be dominated by a struggle – between the US and its allies on one side and Russia on the other – for global support over the fate of Ukraine, as the global south fights to stop the conflict from overshadowing the existential threats of famine and the climate crisis.

With a return to fully in-person general debate, presidents and prime ministers will be converging on New York, many of them direct from London, where the diplomacy got underway on the sidelines of the Queen’s funeral.

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Indian government accused of ceding land in Himalayas to China

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Locals claim ‘buffer zones’ have been established in areas previously under Indian control

Indian people living near the country’s disputed Himalayan border with China have accused their government of giving away swathes of land after both sides agreed to withdraw troops from some contested areas and create buffer zones.

Earlier this month, Indian and Chinese troops, who have been locked in a tense border dispute since June 2020, began to draw back from the contested area of Gogra-Hot Springs after an agreement was reached to disengage.

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