‘May You Live in Interesting Times’

School of Contemporary China Studies Assistant Professor David O’Brien looks ahead to what the Year of the Rooster might hold for China. There is a well-known supposed Chinese blessing that is in fact a curse – ‘may you live in interesting times’. Whether it will turn out to be a blessing or a curse it …

A Moving Display

By David O’Brien, Assistant Professor School of the Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo. As President Xi Jinping received the warmest of warm royal welcomes in Britain some eyebrows were raised back in Beijing when a 800 year document limiting the power of the British monarch was quietly moved. The Magna Carta, …

One store with different tales

By Dr. Xiaoling Zhang, Head of the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, The University of Nottingham Ningbo China. With China’s rise to a global power, we are seeing an increasing amount of literature predicting China’s future(s). It is safe to say that the next five years will witness more of this kind being churned out. …

More ‘Tigers’ in President’s Sights.

By David O’Brien, Assistant Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham Ningbo. The Communist Party of China faces threats from dangerous internal cliques who are ‘parasites’ harming both the country and the people, official state media reported this week. Such strong condemnation is certainly striking and would seem to indicate that President Xi …

Dream On

By Kim Willcocks Senior Tutor for Reading and Writing, Centre for English Language Education, University of Nottingham Ningbo Xi Jinping’s contribution to the arsenal of warm and fuzzy CCP catchphrases is “the Chinese dream” and recently I’ve read about it more and seen it plastered on the billboards around Ningbo more. Seems that someone’s trying …

The Constitution and Rule of Law

By Dr David O’Brien, Assistant Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham Ningbo. Following last month’s 4th plenum meeting of the Communist Party Central Committee, China is to get a new day of celebration. December 4th is now to be marked as ‘Constitution Day’ and according to official news agency Xinhua: “[n]ationwide activities …

Party’s Reform Plan

By Dr. Zhengxu Wang, Associate Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, and Deputy Director of the China Policy Institute, at the University of Nottingham, UK. Last week saw the eagerly anticipated event of the Plenum of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee. It was planned as a milestone in China’s reform history, as the …

The Chinese Dream Controversy

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 …