China
Maoist China in microcosm: Old Kiln, by Jia Pingwa, reviewed
Smouldering resentment flares to self-destructive violence in a remote village as the Cultural Revolution serves as a pretext for vengeance and exploitation
Could the giant panda be real?
Even in the past century the animal was considered so exotic that many doubted its very existence
Is Xi Jinping’s time up?
Stories about Xi Jinping’s father, Xi Zhongxun, are blowing up on social media. He died in 2002, so why the…
The disposable vape ban has changed nothing
I felt a mixture of annoyance and relief when I bought my first non-disposable Elf Bar last weekend, ahead of…
Donald Trump can be sensible
We’ve learnt three things about the future of world trade from the temporary reprieve over tariffs that the US has…
Letters: Our private schools are China’s next target
Ka-shing in Sir: Ian Williams highlights (‘Chasing the dragon’, 3 May) the degree to which the Chinese state has acquired…
How China bought Britain
Somewhere in the bowels of the Foreign Office, civil servants are still working on the government’s ‘China audit’. The report…
The Chinese tried to get me drunk
China: what next? Around the time of the millennium, I wrote that during this century, many of the world’s great…
Britain needs a Rearmament Isa
The City’s self-styled ‘cheerleader in chief’, Lord Mayor Alastair King, on a recent visit to Beijing and Shanghai found leading…
The Boden Belt: the Lib Dems are the new party of the posh
The English social season has begun, kicking off with Gold Cup day. But this year, there is a new common…
China is not the West’s environmental ally
In the fight against climate change, China loves to present itself as the world’s White Knight. Armed with wind turbines…
Channel 4 shouldn’t get to decide the next Archbishop
Obviously, it is difficult to defend the leadership of the Church of England, and I am inexperienced in that art;…
Is the future of democracy in the balance?
Economic insecurity, intolerance and fear, combined with public expectations that the state will fix everything, are seriously endangering western democracy, warns Jonathan Sumption
What economists don’t get about Trump’s tariffs
We already knew that most economists are quite bad at economic policy. Unfortunately, foreign policy appears not to be much…
DeepSeek’s cheap information comes at a high price for the West
This week, Chinese technology has shown the West the challenge it faces – ruthless, implacable and impossible to ignore. The…
Rachel Reeves owes Brompton bikes an apology
I long to write less about Rachel Reeves and more about world-beating British businesses – such as Brompton, the folding…
Time is running out to tackle the dangers posed by AI
While we can all appreciate the benefits of AI, it is developing faster than anyone imagined, with no consensus on what constitutes acceptable risk
Give Trump’s realism a chance
In one place at least, the reaction to Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal has…
Keir Starmer wants to redefine crime and punishment
How far should a government go to stamp out people smuggling? This month, the Home Office is set to introduce powers that…
The architectural provocations of I.M. Pei
When first considering architects for the new Louvre in 1981, Emile Biasini, the project’s head, liked that I.M. Pei was…
‘They don’t want me to rise again’: China’s gene-editing scientist on why he’s back in the lab
Before he agrees to be interviewed, He Jiankui has one request: that he is introduced as a ‘gene editing pioneer’.…
A dreamy, if overly ambitious show: Silk Roads, at the British Museum, reviewed
Towards the end of the British Museum’s Silk Roads show, there is a selection of treasures found in England. Among…
Will China soon rule the waves?
On Sunday morning, a communications cable between Sweden and Lithuania was damaged, almost certainly deliberately. Just hours later, the C-Lion…
Labour’s Chinese takeaway
I was thrilled to learn that our government intends to enjoy an ‘open’ relationship with China – one of my…
Stalemate over Taiwan is the best we can hope for
A good outcome is the tacit recognition on all sides that we currently lack the means to solve this intractable problem, says the former diplomat Kerry Brown
