No Escaping from the Thucydides Trap
October 9, 2015
By Flair Donglai Shi, World Literatures in English (MSt) at University of Oxford. The whole the-rise-of-china-and-power-shift discussion has been heated up again since Xi Jinping’s first visit to the US as the president of PRC, despite its presence in the American media having been largely hijacked by the visit of the Pope. At the end …
Is China’s International Strategy a Trojan Horse?
March 15, 2015
By Joseph Healy, MA student in Contemporary Chinese Studies, UNNC When President Xi Jinping said in January 2014 that China would become “proactive” in international affairs, did this signal that China was abandoning its “non-interference” foreign policy stance, first enunciated as the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence by Zhou Enlai in 1955? Is the growing …
Situating China
September 11, 2014
By Jessica Brown, Studying History and Politics at the University of Nottingham, UK. A Western-centric notion is often applied when considering China’s role on the world stage. As the Asian giant grows internationally through its economic liberalization and consequent development, questions loom over what role it will play in international relations today. Will it develop …
Another economic milestone but does it actually mean anything?
January 25, 2014
By Dr. David O’Brien, Assistant Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. In a matter of weeks China is very likely to surpass the United States and officially become the world’s leading trading nation. According to official figures the value of China’s imports and exports in 2013 reached $4.16 …
A world of shared influence
November 13, 2013
By Dr. Xiaoling Zhang, Head of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Associate Professor in Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham. Soft power has beguiled governments around the world. Appealingly, it serves national interests, cheaper than the exercise of hard power (money and force), at least in the short term, …
Overtaking the UK, chasing the US… in property prices
October 16, 2013
By Dr. Youqing Fan, Assistant Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. The slogan ‘Overtaking the UK, chasing the US’ proposed by Chairman Mao in 1958 has now been realized in China. The rapid growth of its economy has enabled China to overtake the UK in terms of Gross …
The Chinese Dream Controversy
September 18, 2013
By Angela Wang, Assistant Research Fellow to the Dean of Arts & Education, At The University of Nottingham Ningbo. The Chinese Dream has become a blazing topic for months, prominent in discourse within every field (economic, political, entertainment, academic, individual, etc.). Ever since the central government implemented the idea of a Chinese dream, it has …
Shanghai, Then and Now
August 30, 2013
By Boon Hooi Hong, Studying Chemical Engineering at the University of Nottingham Malaysia. It was 2003 when I first visited to Shanghai, exactly 10 years ago. I remember it clearly as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) incident happened in the same year and it affected China greatly especially the economy. As an innocent teenager, I …
Religion in China: Christianity
August 29, 2013
By Ademola Akande, Studying Mathematics at the University of Nottingham UK. At virtually every place we visited, there was a substantial amount of fetish practices and beliefs proudly displayed to us tourists as Chinese history and culture. There was in fact a religious sculpture erected in front of a restaurant where we had lunch. However, …
China and Industrialisation
August 28, 2013
By Calvin Johnson, Studying Economics at the University of Nottingham UK. Over the past two weeks, I have had the opportunity to experience and witness the transformation that has occurred in China in recent decades, creating China into a truly economic superpower. However this is an achievement that could have happened centuries ago, had China …