Society

Controversy over a British royal using his pedigree to sell milk in China has erupted into a race-related scandal after celebrity anchor Piers Morgan mocked the Chinese language on live television. Peter Phillips, the 42-year-old grandson of Queen Elizabeth, was initially criticized after he appeared sipping a glass of milk in a commercial by Shanghai-based Bright Food Group, China’s second-largest food conglomerate. In the ad shown on Dragon TV, Phillips boasts of being raised on Jersey milk from the herd at Windsor Castle before savoring the milk in a room that looks like an English aristocratic home with a view over Shanghai. Piers Morgan, host of the ITV show Good Morning Britain, then f

A Chinese city has apologized for naming and shaming people for wearing pajamas in public. In a crackdown on “uncivilized behavior,” the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou on Monday publicly disclosed the information of seven citizens who fell afoul of the supposed dress code. A now-deleted online post on the city's official social media accounts publicized the surnames, headshots and redacted ID numbers of six women and one man going about their day in colorful PJs. It also included their places of "crime." The campaign is an example of China’s efforts to shape citizens’ seemingly innocuous behavior to carry out its vision for “civilized” society and the increasing role of technology in enforc

Liang Jun, a woman who became an archetype for the ideal socialist worker, died on Tuesday in the northern Chinese city of Harbin. She was 89 years old.  Liang, who had been sick for the past two years, was famous in China because she was featured on the country’s 1 yuan banknote, which pictured her contentedly driving a tractor. The banknote was released in 1962 and stopped circulating in 2000. In 1950, Liang was hailed as “China's first female tractor driver” by People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece. That same year, she became a “national model worker,” which is an honorary title given to those deemed to have contributed significantly to building a socialist society. The title w

A Muslim job seeker in China is less than half as likely to get a response from employers than their Han Chinese counterparts, according to a newly published study.  In an experiment carried out in 2017, researchers sent out more than 4,000 fictitious resumes from candidates identifying themselves by ethnicity – either Han, Hui or Uygur – to companies in major cities across China. The findings were published in December 2019. The Uygur and Hui, the two biggest Muslim-majority groups in the country, received far fewer replies than the ethnic Han job-seekers, according to the study, titled “Anti-muslim bias in the Chinese labor market.”  A Hui applicant is about half as likely to get a callbac

A Chinese charity has come under fire after it admitted that a large amount of money donated by the public did not reach a poverty-stricken college student suffering from complications due to malnutrition. She eventually died. The case of Wu Huayan, 24, who became ill because she had been subsisting on only rice and pickled-peppers for years, highlighted the challenges that China faces in its drive to eradicate poverty by 2020, which is a major policy goal for the Communist Party.  China has managed to successfully pull a large portion of its population out of poverty since it began market reforms in the late 1970s. However, the country now has one of the most unequal economies in the world,

A research paper filled with praise for the author’s supervisor was met with a wave of ridicule and anger online in China’s latest academic scandal. The paper published in the Journal of Glaciology and Geocryology seven years ago suddenly went viral last week, after some internet users posted screenshots of the article on social media.  Many people were shocked to find that the article on ecological economics was actually filled with extravagant praise for the author’s supervisor Cheng Guodong and Cheng’s wife Zhou Youfen.  Cheng was also the chief editor of the Journal of Glaciology and Geocryology.  The 35-page paper by Xu Zhongmin, a specialist in frozen ground and permafrost with the sta

A sinkhole suddenly opened up in northwestern China’s Qinghai province, swallowing a bus just before evening rush hour. At least six people were killed and four are missing.

A viral blog that attacked Australia’s failure to stop the months-long bush fires and implied Chinese firefighters were braver and more patriotic has stirred vigorous online debate. The post, published on China’s Facebook-like WeChat, contrasted the situation in Australia with China’s largest-ever wildfire, which lasted just under a month in 1987.  The article quickly racked up more than 23 million views, but was criticized by high-profile media commentators for insensitivity and using nationalism to generate cheap viral clicks. Friday’s article, titled “If it weren’t for the Australian bush fires, I would’ve never known that China was so powerful 33 years ago,” also suggested that Australia

The last thing Shanghai man Tony Qian expected while walking with his wife on grassland below the 28-floor residential buildings of their community was to be hit by a falling piece of dog excrement. And yet, as he looked up to see where the foul missile had come from, he saw a tissue fluttering to the ground which, on closer inspection, was stained with the same muck which had struck him on the shoulder. Qian was lucky. There have been numerous reports in recent years of critical injuries and deaths caused by people flinging dangerous items – including a bicycle, stroller and even a kitchen knife – from their high-rise windows. But his efforts to bring the poo perpetrator to justice went now

Every year, the northern city of Harbin puts on a festival that features structures — sometimes delicate, oftentimes gigantic and always beautiful — built entirely out of snow and ice.  This year's festival is no different. It features frozen worlds, ice dragons and even the occasional penguin parade.  Take a visual tour of the 36th Harbin Ice and Snow Festival 2020.