Amber Light From the Party

If, as Adam Przeworski defines it, democracy is the “institutionalization of uncertainty,” the 17th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was one of the most democratic in Chinese history. But this was not the sort of uncertainty that Professor Przeworksi had in mind – and it’s not necessarily good news for either the Chinese people or a world whose fate has become increasingly intertwined with China’s.

China says Canada-Dalai Lama meeting “disgusting”

Harper defied China on Monday by receiving Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader in his office in Parliament, with television cameras and photographers present. He presented the 1989 Nobel laureate with a maple-leaf scarf.

“It’s gross interference in China’s internal affairs. The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao declared.

The Battle of Beijing

You can always count on the Olympic Games to provide drama. Next year’s games in Beijing will be no different; they too will produce powerful stories and riveting television. But this time the images will not just be athletes overcoming the odds or breaking records. They will also focus on the clashes between the Chinese police and the activists who will arrive from all around the world.

Unreported World: China’s Olympic Lie

The Upgraded Censorship in Chinese Blogosphere

“Number 33721 user, please pay attention. You have violated the Regulation on Internet Security and Management of the People’s Republic of China. Your IP is under surveillance now. Please do not publish such posts which contains reactionary or anti-China content. Otherwise, we will work with China Internet Monitoring agencies to take extreme measures.”

From Darfur to Shanghai

So let’s put this all together. The price of oil hits a record high. A Chinese oil company may soon become the largest corporation on the planet. And violence directed against Chinese oil companies in Africa is on a steady rise.

There’s really no way this can’t get worse.

Culture Differences

China’s youth: Me, Me, Me!

TIME magazine’s Simon Elegant writes about China’s self-obsessed and materialistic “Me generation,” the under-30-year-olds who are more concerned about money and status than democracy and equality.

The Sound, Not of Music, but of Control

Marxists once referred to religion as the opium of the people, but in today’s China it is the music promoted on state-monopolized radio that increasingly claims that role. China’s leader, Hu Jintao, has talked since he assumed power five years ago about “building a harmonious society,” an ambiguous phrase subject to countless interpretations.

But Chinese musicians, cultural critics and fans say that in entertainment, the government’s thrust seems clear: Harmonious means blandly homogeneous, with virtually all contemporary music on the radio consisting of gentle love songs and uplifting ballads.

China’s grip on Tibet

Tibet has for centuries been considered a satrapy of China, although it had virtual independence when China was weak. Tibet is not internationally recognized as an independent country. Not even the Dalai Lama himself insists on independence. Yet China trembles.