Archive for Category: "Society & Culture"

Austinite Exports Football to China

Austinite Exports Football to China

Memo Mata came to China six years ago for a change of pace. As he put it, Mata wanted to explore the world. Now Mata, a former Westlake High School player who suited up for Texas State, is helping mold an unlikely relationship between the National Football League and a growing Chinese fan base.

Organic Food is a Luxury in Shanghai

Organic Food is a Luxury in Shanghai

Throughout this sprawling cosmopolitan city, Jiashan Market and similar projects have arisen to meet a demand for healthy, sustainably produced foods, and a growing desire among Shanghai’s wealthy elite to adopt more environmentally conscious lifestyles.

Heading In A Greener Direction: Jiashan Market

Heading In A Greener Direction: Jiashan Market

Located in the heart of Shanghai’s French Concession, Jiashan Market is a residential and business community that focuses on fostering an environment that sustains healthy lifestyles. Inspired by the concept of sustainability and an eco-friendly ideology, the people of Jiashan Market are trying to nudge Shanghai—and China—in a greener direction.

A Dress Bespeaks Style and Freedom

A Dress Bespeaks Style and Freedom

When a woman wears a Chinese qipao—pronounced “tee-pow”—people notice its distinctive design. A tight-fitting dress that usually falls above the knees or ankles, the close fitted neck and buttons for doing it up along one side of the body make the qipao unique. Although a dress with traditional roots, Chinese women haven’t always been permitted to wear it.

New Mental Health Law May Signal Reform

The current draft of a new mental health bill, made available for public viewing and comment on the Legislative Affairs of the State Council website June 10, would ban compulsory mental health screenings and would allow patients diagnosed with mental disorders to be discharged from the hospital at their discretion. Patients with serious diagnoses would require the consent of their doctor or guardian.

Youth Miffed Over Muzzled Microblogs

Youth Miffed Over Muzzled Microblogs

Twitter might limit social media users to 140 characters, but microbloggers in China face a different order of restriction. Sina Weibo—China’s most popular microblogging platform—functions similarly to Twitter in terms of post-length limitations, but it is also subject to the censorship rules of the Chinese government.

In Search of Old Shanghai

In Search of Old Shanghai

The bartender poured and the lemon peel danced in the cocktail glass, as the six-piece jazz band played “Shanghai at Night”—a tune all the rage in the 1930s—for an audience seeking a sense of Old Shanghai. If anyone could deliver, it’s the Old Jazz Band. Known throughout Shanghai and beyond, the band—average age of 75-years-old—has played the famous Peace Hotel over parts of four decades.

Down from the Mountain in Rural China

Down from the Mountain in Rural China

All across China, the government is relocating citizens to ease growing pressures on land use—and often inciting a public outcry. In May, a man from Fujian Province suicide-bombed a government building after officials demolished his business. But in mountainous Zhejiang Province, some citizens are more than glad to be moved closer to villages with higher standards of living.

School Reform Recasts Rural China

School Reform Recasts Rural China

China, with its fast-paced population growth, is now faced with the task of educating 26 percent of the world’s students on 2 percent of the world’s resources, says Gordon Sang, professor of education at Beijing Normal University. With 80 percent of China’s population living in rural areas, the government has recognized an outstanding need to modernize schools and improve teaching efficiency.

No Sheriff In This Town

No Sheriff In This Town

Xiejiaqiao, like many rural villages in China, tends to police itself. While a pair of police officials from the county level visit the village twice a month for a report on area stability, the closest thing to local law enforcement in the village is a three-person “Violence Avoidance Committee.”